Rip It Up And Start Again

After years of empty promises and inhaling bacteria-encrusted carpetry, my music store is finally getting its long overdue renovation this week. 8 o'clock am and I was there taking pictures of the construction crew tearing down and carrying away and all manner of drilling and sawing and noisemaking and scissor-craning and so long as they continued to drown out the new Usher album playing in the background I was perfectly "all good" with all that. That Classical Room is going away, which will undoubtedly piss off our snootified classical costumers more than they already are, having to dash through our store with their hands over their ears to drown out the devil's flatulence that we play over the speakers (that would be Madonna's new album, by the way) just to reach the sanctuary of the glass enclosure. But all that signage is coming down. If you look closely, the "T" in Tchaikovsky has already been scraped off, although they have mysteriously left the rest to go do something else. Yeah, a lot of half-assed tasks all up in this jank. At least the filthy carpet's going. It will all be replaced with new tiles. Wheeeee, so long dysentery, hello new moping nightmare!! :-D

And most of all, new CD bins. These are the ones we've had forever, which have understock shelves and are actually pretty tall. That top blue border comes about up to my ninnies... no, more up like to my Adam's apple. HA, I KEED, I KEED!! I don't have an Adam's Apple and ninnies! That would be silly. I have one, but not both. And yes, I'm not tellin' you which.

So here are the new bins. Much, much shorter, considerably wider, and uh, quite frankly, a bit ghetto-looking in my opinion. Like a girl at work said, we look more like a flea market than a music store. And they take up far more floor place so we'll have to space them super-super apart to make the aisles wide enough for baby carriages and wheelchairs. Although I'm sure our regular wheelchair costumers will be pleased as punch to have more CD within easy reach for a change. Oh, and that purple wall back there (our sprinkler room) had the big display taken down and painted over white yesterday, and the area will be wainscoted with wall slats where we will be hanging the Webkinz that are already there. If 44% of our yearly profit comes from CDs, then the rest of that must surely come from selling those cheap, perpetually shedding little abominations.

I will say though that the new bins do hold a lot more CDs than the old ones. Not that we have that many CDs to hold anymore from the way we recall it faster than we restock. And you see all those CDs with the orange stickers? Those are used CDs, and they are all getting pulled out of those bins and dumped someplace else. That someplace else...?

Yep, the soon-to-be-emptyfied CLASSICAL ROOM. This will all be used product soon, and nothing but -- with a desk for doing buybacks (which means I'll probably be trapped back here most of the day, every day) and an enormous nest for thieves since it's easier stealing used product than the new, shucked stuff. And all that covered equipment will be our new "burning station", which from what I hear means that soon you will be able to enter our store, download songs and burn our own CD, or even upload your MP3 player. This will be outside the room nearer to the entrance however. But I have to say I am a bit excited about the prospect of an all-used room to maintain, since I am really big on the used product and push that even harder than the new stuff, not to mention it's nearly 99% profit for the store to sell used anyway. All I know is that if they take down that giant painting of Bach, Beethoven, & Bernstein painted by my old friend Ted Liles I want to take it home with me instead of tossing it in the damn dumpster with the rest of the detritus. Or at least send it back up to Lebanon Valley where Ted lives now. I remember working under Ted at the old Music Man back in the late 80's/early 90's where he would paint all over the store, giving it so much character and individuality.

I guess the era of individuality is over for Planet Music. Oh, and we're changing our name to FYE soon, too. I suppose then I will be finally and properly assimilated by the Borg-like hive mind that is Trans World, and the girl you once knew as Melissa will be no more. Hey, maybe this means their evil Queen will make me wear tight and sexay uniforms like Seven Of Nine this time. Heck, I was the one who suggested the dancing cages over the Information desk for a rotating staff of go-go dancers. Heh. No Lada Edmund Jr. am I. ;-)