My boss laughed at me on Friday.

He had just asked me about my New Year's resolution. My resolution this year is to be nicer.

Generally, I'm a nice person. I truly am. I'm polite. I have decent manners. But since I've started working in retail, I've found that I'm just not that nice to my co-workers. Oh, I'm pleasant to them. I just don't like them very much and it makes me "short" with them.

Maybe it's because I truly love working in retail and most people who work in retail just see it as a means to an end. They don't care about what they are doing or how poorly they are doing it.

I am now a bridal consultant in my store and it is something I have wanted to be since I first started working for my company. It took me 6-1/2 years to make it to that position and I would like to hang on to it.

I shouldn't have to do much selling of merchandise (china, crystal and silver) other than enticing the brides and grooms to register for those items. We have had so much turnover in the tabletop department that I've been forced to sell again. It has made me very testy not because I don't like selling, but because I have bridal consultant job to do and I haven't been able to do that properly and I feel that has hurt me.

Currrently in our department, we have one lady who has been with the company 7 years and she is a good salesperson and pleasant with customers. I don't really have a complaint with her other than she is slow, slow, slow. And she is sick a lot. And she can't really do much real work. So, I guess I do have a complaint with her. But I would take her over the rest of them -- I call them Gladys Knight and the Pips.

Our other full-time person, just joined the department in early December. She claims to have just graduated from college but I really find that hard to believe. This lady, is just not cut out to work in retail. She doesn't like that customers ask her things. WTF? I've showed her over and over and over again how to use our computer system, but before she'll lift a finger to tap on the keyboard, she asks me to answer whatever question she is searching for.

The other day the phone on my desk rings, and Pip #1 answers it at the wrapstand despite the fact that I was sitting not 3 inches away from the phone. Four seconds later my phone rings again and I notice Pip #1 is hanging her phone up, which tells me she is transferring the call to me.

The lady on the other end is calling from another store and she wants to know if we have something her customer is looking for. Well, I go get the merchandise take down the information so the sale can be recorded and take it over to Pip #1 to do the deed. I ask her why she transferred the call to me? She tells me, the lady asked for the china department. Somewhat stunned, I say, "You are the china department." To which she says, "No, I was told we are tabletops." [sic] WTF?

Well, it's true the department as a whole is called Tabletop but for Christsake we sell CHINA! It's at this point that I look her in the eye and say, "I'm the bridal consultant, not the china department please don't transfer anymore of those calls to me."

Pip #2 is gorgeous lady. Part-time. She joined us in early December, too. Simply beautiful. She should be selling cosmetics. Anyway, she hasn't shown up on time, yet. She's not real smart either. And while she's beautiful, she always looks like she might just be getting a migraine headache. Sort of a scowl on her face when she has to think. When human resources sees these ladies coming in with stilettos on, they should know the person has no retail experience.

Pip #3 is not too bad, except that she's young. Just out of college with a degree in biology. Yes, put that education to work in the china department that pays maybe $8.00/hr. She has a tendency to talk on her cell phone or the department phone for vast amounts of time. She can start a project, but I doubt that she has ever finished one. Pip #3 likes to leave me little notes like: Please order this for this customer. Please call this store for this. I can't find this. etc.

And now for Gladys Knight. Oh boy. She's my new part-time bridal consultant. She came from downstairs -- the fashion side of the business. Fashion and home are two completely different worlds in retail.

Apparently, she "knows" someone because I don't understand how someone like her actually got a job that took me 6-1/2 years to get. It took her no time at all. Management thinks very highly of her and that says a lot about our management.

Gladys claims to also be a fashion designer. She doesn't sew. She doesn't make her patterns and she doesn't sketch her designs. She says she has a really good seamstress. I think she means she knows a fashion designer.

In the retail business, the people who work in the stores generally aren't allowed to take a vaction during the months of November and December. I've known people who have taken time off without pay but never one to take a paid vacation during that time. Gladys did. She went to Beijing. She told me it was for her fashion design business -- to make contacts. Management told me the trip had been planned and paid for for a long time. She told someone else that it was free trip and couldn't pass up the opportunity. Whatever the truth is, excuse me if I'm a little bitter.

Gladys has yet to show up on time. Seriously. She has never been earlier than 15 minutes late. Lunch hours last 1-1/2 to 2 hours. I could go on and on about her but I'd just make myself upset.

So, that's my whining on work. I'm done. I'm over it. I'm going to be nice.