currently reading:
the taking by dean koontz

favorite new music:
elkland
flunk
the epoxies
new order

5-27-05:: friends and family have been voicing concern because when they visit this blog to see what's up with jerry v, they see there's been no updates for months. has this dark one finally exited the building? no.
when i was hired back in october of 2003 to start work with music city the original plan was to have me take the chattanooga store. the store had been a problem. alas, the company decided to give the manager there another chance to get things in shape, and i was instead offered the nashville store. i proved myself at the nashville store, and for whatever reason, the manager in chattanooga didn't meet the challenge he was given in that last chance. fall of 2004 talk began again of me going to take the chattanooga store. of course, for me to take the store meant that someone, the then manager, would be losing his job. firing a manager is no small matter. a pissed off manager can do a lot of damage. my cryptic comments about my future with the company looking good were references to the discussions of me taking chattanooga. i was depressed that it was taking so long. chattanooga meant advancement, and i surely was not happy with my then position, and salary. by january the deal seemed eminent. i became ever more consumed with the possibilities for my career and my life that taking the chattanooga store would open up. because my taking the store meant the then manager would be losing his job, i had to be very hush hush about the whole thing. with the whole situation being foremost in my mind, and not being able to speak freely about it, i suspended my blog entries. i had nothing else really on my mind to talk about.
april 1st the deed was done. they let that manager go, and i became the new manager of the store in chattanooga. unfortunately, there was a leak, and the then manager and staff got wind of what was going to happen a few days before it went down. as a big 'fuck you' they threw away all our store files, left shipments not checked in, and who knows what else (i know more, but for legal reasons i'm holding back). out of loyalty to the manager being let go the entire staff quit. bad side: i took a store with no staff./good side: i get to hire my own staff and train them my way. the store was a complete wreck. there was nearly $40,000 in dead inventory and unneccesary overstock. there are old consignments dating back to the year 2000. there was pornography hanging in the office. and there was basically a lot of just junk filling up the store. the inventory had been very poorly managed. consignments had been very poorly managed. the merchandising lacked understanding of retail traffic flow, and consumer behavior. and there were apparently a lot of 'wink-wink, nudge-nudge-special deals' for some of the regular customers. oh yes, there's more, but again, i'll hold my tongue for legal reasons.
so, i immediately had to scramble to cover current shifts while seeking out a new staff. bruce (president), perk (vp retail), roz (district mgr), jennifer (mgr - dickson, tn), and richard (music city), were very supportive the first 2 weeks as i worked to hire my staff. due to a weaker economy in chattanooga i was fortunate to find high quality applicants willing to work for what our company pays for new hire sales associates. i put together a great group of people. woody, carrie, and kris are all doing outstanding work. the last of them started work april 13. we have been working all this time to address the inventory mess and training on customer service. we are now addressing merchandising issues, and tackling the consignment mess left to us.
the events leading up to this, and the work i've been doing since have kept me from updating this blog. tonight is the first night i felt i was ready to sit down and do this thing. with this being a new beginning for me, i felt it was appropriate to take the opportunity to do a redesign of this thing. that led to another small delay. i'll be adding links to older sections soon, and i'm looking for a way to post more music samples without eating up too much free server space.
in moving to chattanooga i was insistent that i find a place close to downtown bars/restaurants, close to a college campus (utc), near major bus routes, and preferably in an old building or house. i was lucky to find all that.
i'm 4 blocks from bars/clubs/restaurants downtown

3 blocks from the art district and riverfront; 4 blocks from the main area to catch all the major bus lines; and about 3-4 blocks from utc campus. it's an old apartment building, and the landlord is a nice old guy, who seems pretty cool. i'm a regular now at the restaurant & bar taco mac. my favorite coffeshop is the badass coffeshop.

beth and julia took care of me

i still need to take pix of taco mac, but i'll offer a link. since moving back i've been hanging out a bit with my old high school and college buddy todd. michael and i hung out once. all three of my siblings have visited me at work. i'm glad to back near my family, and i look forward to us all being able to hang out more often.
pix on the way!