First Day Jitters

I slept like crap on Wednesday night. As you all know, I was informed Wednesday afternoon that I was indeed hired at Sears Portrait. I had to quickly figure out who was watching the kids and I ran into a couple of snags. Luckily I got out of their when everyone broke for lunch so that I wouldn't have to rush home for soccer or leave my sitter with 5 kids for over an hour (it gets hectic adding two school kids to the mix when all they want to do is run off their energy they built up during the day... trust me, I dread it and I do it daily. There was no way I was putting that on someone with only one kid LoL).

I got to work super early and had no idea how I was supposed to get in (Sears doesn't open until 10, I was due to start at 10). I scoped out the entrances to see where I would go in and then realized I had to pee. I walked in the mall to use the bathroom and could feel my stomach tightening. You would think I never worked a day in my life... although it has been like 5 yrs since the last time I had a real job and I was never very good at staying long.

I finally made my way to the portrait studio and there was NO ONE there. I waited around for the opening associate to come in and then I got to see how to get started. She was counting down the drawer when our first appointment came in. I took charge and had her fill out the information sheet they always make you fill out when you come in (I've been going to Sears Portrait for 7 1/2 yrs, I know a little bit about how it works LoL). Another trainee came in and we shadowed the associate on a session with a little one year old cutie. He had the cutest smile but would get his grumpy face on and crack us up. He wanted to constantly be on the move but we got a decent amount of shots and fulfilled the pose quota. By the time the manager arrived (he was running late) a group of 8 came in for their 1030 appt 20 minutes early and they had been waiting a while. The little boy we just shot was getting hungry and even more grumpy so mom had to leave with him and decided to come back later in the day to pick out her portraits.

The manager took the large group and another woman that was waiting for her appt was taken in the other room. The other trainee and myself were told to shadow the manager, which to me, was not a good idea considering the room is so small and there were already 5 adults and 3 children in the room (not including the photographer). I feel like we were making the kids nervous being in there... so many unfamiliar faces. One of the mom's made a comment that she thought her daughter was "watching the girls in the back" and that was why she wasn't smiling. Sorry, I was just doing what I was told. This group took awhile to finish up because we had to get lots of different group shots. There were quite a few cute pictures but some just were not very good but they had no choice but to buy some because out of two options there was no real winner. I got to see how they make their photos "pop" and I so wish I had that program on my computer.

For the rest of the day we spent more time learning how to use the camera and how to edit the pictures. By that time my feet were killing me, so was my back, and I could feel a migraine coming on. I was going to stay til 330 but there really was no point since they break for lunch from 2-3 so I'd be coming back for 30 minutes, so I just went home (the manager okayed it, don't worry LoL).

I go back on Sunday, a busy day, to observe some more. Then on Monday I get to practice with the camera and the editing. Next week should be fun. I just hope I remember everything. I'm so forgetful.