A Day in the Life of a Retail Assistant #47 
Hi Everyone! I hope you have been enjoying the beginning of March. We have had another new person start with us! His name is Josh and he is in fact a customer with us! He loves the place so much that he got a job with us! Make sure you say hello when you see him!
On Monday, myself and Porscha had plenty of online orders to pick to keep us busy! Once I had finished mine I helped out packing orders ready to be sent out, this has become a regular task for me now, in the meanwhile we had a lovely lady who wanted to start pipe smoking so Porscha suggested the beginners pipe tobacco and accessories lucky dip sampler. It really has everything you need to start pipe smoking. All she needed was a lighter of which I suggested an Honest Penryn pipe lighter, the angle helps aim the flame on the pipe better, making it easier to start smoking.
On Tuesday we had plenty of customers coming in for whisky! Firstly we had a family looking for a couple of bottles of anything around 12 year old. I suggested the Loch Lomand 14 year old as well as the Laphroaig 10 year old cask strength. Two very different whiskies but as I say, “variety is the spice of life”. Afterwards another gentleman came in and wanted to sample the Stalla Dhu range, he eventually settled on the Stalla Dhu Single Cask Saorsa. The fruity flavours and peppery kick really suited him. I also spent some time writing my article for the C.Gars cigar library, it’s all about CLE Cigars and the rich history behind them. Click here to view it.
On Wednesday, we were joined by our new starter Josh. Like i said at the beginning he was a customer here so has a basic grasp of cigars already! But there is always more to learn. He certainly is a character and great to talk to already, he has fitted in well and is already confident in talking to customers. I spent my time with him picking orders and giving him the basics of Cuban cigars and the history behind them. Josh prefers New World cigars so for him learning about Cubans was completely new.
On Thursday, Ciaran spent a lot of time with Josh, going through pickings as well as accessories. Meanwhile I was creating April’s C.Gars New World Subscription which is a beauty! This time I have included a cigar that hasn’t been on the UK market for very long as well as a nice gift! You always get a great bargain with a subscription as well as get to try something new. We had a customer who was initially being served by Ciaran, he wanted many different tins of snuff, while Ciaran was getting the snuff from the stock room, Josh started talking to the customer about spirits and we found out the customer was a gin drinker. I immediately got him to sample the Foragers Gin we have in house. He took a liking to the Black Label and purchased himself a bottle! This also helped Josh as he isn’t a gin drinker but now he knows what to do when faced with someone who only likes gin.
On Friday, I got Josh to pick the majority of pickings whilst I concentrated on stocking the shop with Ciaran. Ciaran ran through different scenarios with Josh and what to do, as Ciaran only started with us in January it was great to see and also helpful as what he considers a difficult situation I have been dealing with for years with no problem, so it was helpful for Ciaran to go through these things with Josh. In the afternoon it was the usual Cuban stock take but this time I did it with Josh so he got a feel for doing stock counts.
I hope you enjoyed this weeks going’s on in the Norfolk shop, I won’t be in now until Thursday as it is my birthday on Tuesday. The other members of staff will accept any late presents from you all 😉
So long for now
Oliver
