Today was my first day interning at Maria's book shop. To start, Jeanine Costello, my supervisor, introduced me to the staff and gave me a lengthy overview of how business is recorded at marias, how products are ordered, and how to calculate which books did well on the shelves, and which ones needed to be replaced. After that, I removed the Black History books, and replaced them with women's history, craft books, and an entire ceiling to floor display on colorado and the surrounding area for tourism. Then, I alphabetized some of the classic books, organized the kids section and the puzzle section, and created a list of the most popular books that week. I learned more about customer service, even though I haven't interacted with any customers yet. I also learned more about organization and the psychological ways businesses order the layout of the store. Ms Costello, mentioned earlier, demonstrated respect by being kind and courteous to the staff, customers, and me. I demonstrated integrity by not skimping on my assigned jobs, and working with quality. The entire staff demonstrated effort, helping customers, answering questions, and doing various business related tasks. Ms Costello demonstrated refinement, by refining my first displays and showing me how to better arrange the books, but as time went on, I refined my own displays, earning a “well done” from my supervisor. In all, I had a positive first experience at Maria's, and I hope to work there in the future. 

Today, at Maria's bookshop, I worked with Nina, the executive manager of Maria's reading room, a nonprofit organization partnered with Maria's bookshop. To begin, I selected a set of books to give to the county jail, as reading selection for the inmates was sparse. Then, I put the numeric code of the books into the maria's “sold” catalog. After that, I went to the reading room, and alphabetized the entire reading selection, which was over 600 books. Next, back at Maria's, I created a list of books to be added to the selection at the reading room, based on the titles and genres I found lacking. Finally, I began to sort various books into different genre categories, helping organize the jail’s library. The entire staff showed respect, treating the customers kindly, even when they didn't buy anything. I used integrity when I was on assignments, always staying on task and completing work well, earning my supervisors trust. Nina showed effort by doing her work and helping manage my tasks, at the same time. As the day went on, I earned her trust, and became more independent. Nina also demonstrated refinement, adding to my lists of books and by refining her work. In all, I had a busy 2nd day at marias, and learned about how sales are monitored at marias, as well as how to quickly alphabetize a selection of books.

Today was more exciting than yesterday. To begin, I checked the returnability of books that didn't sell, then delabeled them. This was tedious, yet satisfying. Then, I created another endcap display, titled “Owens Recommendations”. Then, I recreated the selection of books I recommended, and posted them on Maria's official website. After that, I went to the upstairs lounge and offices of marias, and began to sort out the ARC books. ARC stands for “advanced reader copy", and essentially is a book that hasn't been released to the public yet, is still in its final editing stages, and is sent out to various places so they can review the book and get an early taste. The ARC books are sorted by month, and with February passed, I removed the books, and reorganized the other ones. After that, I sorted through the damaged books at Maria's, getting some ready to donate, and finding a few to keep. Mary demonstrated respect by treating me like a coworker, giving me responsibilities and acting with kindness. Aj demonstrated effort by interacting with each customer in a patient and positive way, and giving them her full attention. I demonstrated integrity by completing my jobs quickly and efficiently, always being on task. Finally, Kira demonstrated refinement by cleaning up the cluttered donations section, and organizing the books. In all, my third day was fun and enjoyable, and I learned a lot about how businesses operate. 

Today, my job was out on “the floor”. That means that I was helping customers, shelving books in the main sections, cleaning shelves, and even working the cash register and completing transactions. I learned how to work the system Maria's Bookshop uses to process payments, and I learned a valuable saying in retail: “The Customer is Always Right.” This means that to please the customer, you must let them have their beliefs and their own ways. Sam and Mary Ellen taught me how to use the register, and supervised my first transactions until I became more proficient. As usual, everyone in the store showed respect to the customers, but most notably, Sam showed a massive amount when helping customers. He would strike up conversation with just about every customer, making them feel appreciated and respected. Mary Ellen also demonstrated this when a very insensitive customer came in, looking for a specific edition of a book, in hardcover format, notably with a blue cover. They were very insistent on the blue cover part. Instead of getting annoyed at the customers' repetitive demands and disrespectful comments and nature, Mary Ellen dealt with the customer in a positive way, sending them away happy even though they didn't get their “first edition hardcover book with large print and a blue cover” book.  Sam also demonstrated effort when interacting with the customers, and treating them individually instead of as a group. Clint demonstrated integrity by owning up to his mistake, using too much cleaner on the book shelf, making the surface overly wet and unable to house books to the moment lest in damage them. Finally, I demonstrated refinement by learning from my mistakes when shelving books. I misplaced a few, but after I gained the proper knowledge of where to shelve certain books, I fixed my mistakes and eliminated future ones. 

Today, my job was on the receiving end. I worked with Gennys, unpacking boxes of books, organizing and labeling the new arrivals. However, a few books were damaged, so I had to file claims with the publisher for credits, due to the damages on their part. Then, I organized invoices for the previous claims, to see if our claims had been met. Most of them were, but a few did not have a match, so Gennys showed me what to do with them. Gennys demonstrated respect by being kind to me and her coworkers, and never becoming irritated or annoyed when I had a question. I had a lot of questions, and now I know the answers to them. Jeanine also demonstrated effort by working hard to make sure that Maria's book shop was running smoothly, as well as ordering new books for Maria's. Mary demonstrated integrity by working on her tasks cheerfully, in her secluded office upstairs with no one to monitor her activities. Finally, I demonstrated refinement by refining my way of unpacking books: At first, I cut open the box, then arranged the books, then scanned them, then labeled them, and then organized them again. I refined this process by removing the first step. In my refined way of doing things, my actions were: open box, unpack books, scan, label, and then organize. In all, I had an amazing internship with Maria's bookshop: The staff were amazingly kind and helpful,  and I did interesting things.