Shoe Department

Monday Morning Music: All Your Favorite Bands

/ Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

It’s Monday.

Your mind is consumed with all things you have to do for all the things you have due.

After a weekend full of forgetting all your cares, the alarm on your phone reawakens all your troubles.

If only there was a simple solution. If only there was a way to stop worrying about all your problems. If only there was a way to take your mind off of yourself.

Maybe you could use a little Monday Morning Music.

dawes-albumOver the past few years Dawes has been churning out raw and honest music that hearkens back to the glory days of Jackson Browne and other west coast songwriters. While many of their songs tell long and intricate stories, the title track to their latest album tells a simple one. Continue reading →

7 Things I Learned From 7 Months At Kohls

/ Alex Doriot / 10 Comments

photo 2-7Seasonal. I was just supposed to be a seasonal employee.

In November of 2013, a few months after leaving my full-time position as a youth pastor, I began working at Kohls part time to help me earn some extra spending money for Christmas.

I thought I would work here for a few weeks.

Today, over seven months later, I’m clocking in at Kohls for the very last time.

Life has not panned out as I planned it in 2014. I didn’t find a full time job as soon as I thought I would.

But now, as I prepare for a new working opportunity, I’ve been wondering how to sum up my experience with Kohls.

Diving back into the world of retail after a 7 year absence has been one of the most challenging experiences of my life.

I’ve complained. I’ve cried. I’ve whined. I’ve moaned and groaned to my closest friends. I’ve screamed at God, wondering why He would let me flounder in a dead-end job without any hopeful prospects on the horizon.

I’ve struggled to figure out exactly what I’ve learned from this detour in life.

Maybe it is still too soon to tell what all my time at Kohls has taught. But I have come up with a few things that have surprised me along the way about myself as an employee, about consumer behavior, and about the retail world. Continue reading →

Who Do You Work For?

/ Alex Doriot / 2 Comments

photo-15I get asked one question almost everyday:

“Excuse me sir. Do you work here?”

Who me? The guy with the headset and walkie talkie on, the guy with the nametag and lanyard with the store name on it, the guy who’s putting all the shoes back on the shelf? Why yes, in fact I do work here!

I just don’t get it. To me, it should be obvious to customers that I’m an employee. I can’t quite figure out how some people can’t quite figure it out.

Apparently though, there’s something more I should be doing. My labor is not bearing fruit in their eyes.

Maybe there are other things I should be focusing on. I’m sure I could be talking to customers more, engaging with them instead of doing all the daily tasks of the shoe department. Maybe then people would recognize who I work for.

The whole thing makes me think of that age-old guilt producing Sunday School question: “If you were put on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to find you guilty?” Continue reading →