Gwen

  When I was a buyer for Belk, my departments included Housewares, Stationery, Luggage, Records, Toys, Candy, and a few other things.  At first, they also included Bedding, Draperies, and Rugs.  It was just way too much, especially my expertise didn't include those last three things, so my supervisor hired a woman to buy those items.  Her name was Gwen.  She had an eye for style that I never had.

 Gwen and I became good friends.  We would sit out in Columbia Mall and watch the people walk by.  We would make up stories about them.  One day, I saw a good-looking woman walking with a plain looking man.  I asked Gwen why that was, and she explained that the woman looked better next to the main, and the man was proud to be next to the woman.  It made sense.  Gwen was the better looking of us two.  We would go out to lunch at nice restaurants, and we would alternate giving the tip to the waitress.  It was always $1.  Keep in mind that this was in the late 1980's, when food cost a lot less.

 One day, she asked me to go with her to a rug store downtown to see about buying some of his goods for our store.  The owner was Iranian.  She knew about his culture, but she was insulted that he talked to me the entire time, despite her asking questions to him about his rugs.  She was so mad that she didn't buy any of his rugs, even though they were a good price.  She also asked me to go to Batesburg with her to check out the Belk store there.  She had bought some Linens for the store and wanted to see how they were doing.  I drove the company car to Batesburg and parked right out front of the store.  As we were leaving, I went out to open the car door for her.  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a man, with a mad look on his face, walking fast towards us down the sidewalk.  Gwen yelled at me to get in the car.  The man stopped and stood at the front of our car with his hands on his hips. We guessed he was mad, because I had opened the car door for a black woman.  We were glad he didn't have a gun.

 Gwen and I were in a discount store one day checking prices of similar items to ours.  As buyers, we were told to go to stores and see what they were selling their stuff for, so we could undercut their prices.  We saw a middle-aged woman walking down the aisle by herself towards us.  As she got closer, Gwen picked up a random item off of a shelf and said in a voice loud enough for the woman to hear that this would look great on our mantle in the living room.  She just wanted to see the look on the woman's face.  We laughed at the woman's shocked expression.  I did the same thing later with another customer.  Sometimes, you just have to have fun with total strangers.  

Batesburg

  Belk Columbia had a small store in Batesburg, SC.  The buyers in Columbia would put in small amounts of merchandise for that store.  Much of what they brought into the store was used as a test market to see what would sell.  It was primarily a clothing store for men, women and children.  They had very little Home goods.  What they did have consisted of was a little bit of Housewares items.

 I was working in Accounts Payable, and we got an invoice from Samsonite for 23 pieces of Luggage that was bought for the Batesburg store.  We had no paperwork from Batesburg that they had received the Samsonite.  I checked with the buyer to see if she had bought luggage for Batesburg.  She said she had to test if the customers would purchase the luggage.  I then called the store and asked the manager if they had gotten any luggage.  He told me that they hadn't.  I read off the invoice to him and said that the luggage had supposedly been sent to East Main Street in Batesburg.  He told me that his store was on West Main Street.  The manager drove out to the address on East Main and found that it was a house owned by a man.  He found the man in his garage with a bunch of boxes of Samsonite Luggage.  The manager told the man that those boxes belonged to Belk and had the store's name on them.  The man said that they had his address on them, and he was keeping them.

 The manager called back to our office to report on what had happened.  I called the Lexington County Sheriff's Department and reported that a man had stolen a lot of luggage from Belk, and that he had it in his garage.  They sent a car out to the man's house to confirm that the boxes were in his garage.  The deputy explained to the man that he had essentially stolen the luggage from Belk, and that he was to return it to the store.  The man told the deputy that he thought he had won a sweepstakes that he hadn't entered and got the luggage for free.  He also told the deputy that he had given one piece away to his neighbor.  Upon urging from the deputy, the man returned the luggage, minus one piece, to the store.  

 We paid the invoice in full, despite not getting it all in the store. I hope the woman who got the free Beauty Case enjoyed it.

Records

  Whenever I went to a town, I looked for a record store.  I loved shopping for records.  You never know what you might find that might be underpriced and rare.  Unfortunately, there were folks in some stores that felt they could overprice records, even if they weren't rare.  Stores in Atlanta, Nashville and Charlotte were usually overpriced, but sometimes you could find a bargain.  I liked to go to smaller towns to find the real bargains.  When I was working at record conventions, it was important for me to cut the price of my records by a couple of dollars, so I would sell them.  You could price something top dollar for what it was worth, but you would probably never sell them.

 There were two stores in Charlotte that I liked to go to.  One specialized in cd's, and the other one had lots of records and memorabilia.  Just like in adult bookstores, it was important not to make eye contact with other customers.  There was really no need to share any expertise you might have in whether or not an item might be a good deal or not.  

 One day, I was in the store that had a lot of cd's.  I was wearing my Rolling Stones concert t-shirt that my brother had bought for me in 1988, when he went to their show in Clemson.  I liked the shirt.  A guy came up to me in the store and asked me if I liked the Stones.  Well, of course I did.  Why else would I be wearing that shirt?  I replied that I did.  He said he liked the Stones, too.  That was nice.  He then asked me if I wanted to come back to his place to listen to his music.  I politely said no, but I was also realizing that this guy was trying to pick me up.  I have nothing against gay people, but I don't go that way.  I decided it was time to leave the store without buying anything.  I never wore that shirt again, when I went to Charlotte.

Wandering

  There are a lot of techniques to acting.  Some actors will totally immerse themselves into a character, and they will be that character even at home. I don't like to do that.  I will develop a character, but it remains onstage.  I loved doing accents.  I worked for three months developing an English accent for a play at Anderson College.  I listened to records and speeches to hone the accent.  It turned out okay.  I used the accent in other places besides the stage just for fun.  I had to do an old Jewish man's accent for another play.  It was all about the cadence.  I did a northern American accent for another play.  I can also do a backwoods Southern accent on demand.  Accents allowed me to delve deep into the character and make it more believable.

 As I have said before, I have had to deal with terrible stage fright.  Even though concentrating on my lines and blocking out the audience helps with being afraid, I found one technique that helps with the fright that works the best for me.  I don't know if anyone else uses this technique, or maybe I am the only one, but it has to do with wandering.

 I know my lines (usually).  I know who my character is (always).  I know where I need to stand on the stage (mostly).  So, if I have all of that down, I like my mind to wander.  I think about other things.  Sometimes, I will look out into the audience and make eye contact with someone.  Just for a moment.  Sometimes, I will see someone in the audience who is not paying attention.  Just for a moment.  Sometimes, I will think about other things like what am I going to do when the play is over.  Sometimes, my mind will just take over, and I think about random things.  It is almost like my stage presence, and my mind are in two different places. This is how I have learned to relax on stage.  It isn't like I am in a dream world, or a drug-induced trip.  It's like I am looking down on myself doing my work.  It is very calming.

 I don't recommend this technique for everyone.  If something goes wrong in a play, as it often does, you have to be able to adapt to the moment.  If that happens, it is best to come back to the reality of your concentration to fix it, so that the audience never knows.  Most of the time, they never do.