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Dear Reader,
This year's annual Write a Dear Reader Contest launches September 14th. The hardest part about writing is facing a blank page and coming up with an idea. Here's one to think about: If you could do somebody else's job for a day, what would you like to do? I took the challenge and I wrote about it...
The last time I went to the garden section in a Walmart store, people thought I worked there. I spent over 30 minutes answering customers' questions about plants, fertilizer and top soil. Most of the people I talked to were Northern snowbirds, who had decided to become year round residents in Sarasota, and when they started gardening, they realized they had a lot to learn about the different kinds of plants in Florida.
All of the employees in the garden section wear a dark green top, and on that particular day, when I was planting a row of pink pentas in front of my house, my gardening outfit was a plain, dark green T-shirt, tan shorts and tennis shoes. I was short six plants, so I jumped in the car and headed to Walmart to buy some more. I didn't get cleaned up before I went, so I guess my dark green shirt, and the dirt under my fingernails suggested I was a seasoned, garden center employee. I didn't mind the questions at all, in fact it was a lot of fun doing somebody else's job for a while.
This wasn't the first time I did somebody else's job. I used to write a column called "Sorry We're Closed," when I published a business magazine (in Madison, Wisconsin), and I thought it would be fun to work in a grocery check-out line for a day, and then write about it. So I contacted the manager at one of the local grocery stores and he thought it would be great PR for the store. He gave me an employee manual for cashiers. and set me up with a two-hour, hands-on training session to learn how to run a register and check groceries.
When my big day came, I wore a smock with the store's logo on it and a badge that read "In Training." The manager put me in the "10 items or less" check-out aisle, I wasn't convinced his idea was a good choice. Because when I go through the 10 items or less aisle, I assume I'm going to get quick service. I wasn't sure I could guarantee fast service to any customers whose groceries I rung up, especially if they were buying fresh fruit and vegetables.
I had memorized the codes that had to be punched into the register when you ring up fruits and vegetables--but a Gala apple and a Fuji apple look pretty much the same when you don't have the sign in the fruit department telling you the difference--because they're both a pale red color.
But eventually, I did get in the groove, and by the time the lunch rush started, I was ringing up items like a pro. It was a wonderful experience!
Start thinking about ideas for my annual Write a Dear Reader Contest today. I'm looking forward to reading your entry this year.
Thanks for reading with me. It's good to read with friends like you.
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
AUTHORBUZZ: THE RIPPER GENE (Thriller) by Michael Ransom
Are we all really created equal? FBI agent Dr. Lucas Madden discovers a genetic pattern in the world's most notorious serial killers...and must revisit his mother's unsolved murder when a new psychopathic killer emerges in the Mississippi countryside of his youth.
Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on THE RIPPER GENE to read more and to email author Michael Ransom, you'll get a reply.
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