Jared is Superman

Yesterday this man pulled 17 hours of work between 2 stores. It was our annual Free Day in just 2 of our stores (the next 3 are soon to follow on March 28th). There are very few people who know what actually goes into pulling off a free day in one store, let alone 2! In fact, in our organization, there are four people that have an idea, and only 2 who REALLY know. Here is an idea (mind you, this is all in addition to a regular work week among all 6 stores):
Months ahead there is the planning before it goes to the store level.
Weeks ahead it goes to the store level- outlining to managers how to prepare for the day and giving a heads up as to when they will receive their materials and need to start in-store marketing. Those materials then have to be prepared to take to the store level. Even though we have done this time and time again, there is still about 20 hours of work that go into just the material prep and distribution (store signs, count downs, fliers, and more)
10 days before starts the in-store marketing to customers. We also begin marketing out of store because the idea is to get new customers out of the deal :) The hours spent on out of store marketing are about 10-15 hours within the 10 day time period.
The week of the event starts preparation of in-store supplies for the day of (decorations, food for employees, signage, ordering of product, employee and manager training, organization of sign wavers, store cleaning, and more).
The day of the event starts as early as your body will let you get up...or as soon as you can force it out of bed. For Jared, that was 5:45 am.
Before Open, Banners have to be hung, POS system has to be updated to match promotions, streets signs have to be placed, in-store decorating, inventory counts, and regular opening procedures all have to be done, sign wavers have to arrive and be instructed (sometimes this includes providing the ride), and extra cleaning that didn't happen the week before must get done now. It is best to start the employees in the neighborhood of 8 am to be able to accomplish it all.
Once 11 am rolls around, it looks like this:
Serving a line out the door for the rest of the day (a few 2-3 minute breaks from customers in there)
Filling machines constantly- the minute you get done with all 12, the routine starts over again.
Filling toppings- these don't run out as quickly and we have learned to have extra pans of the ones that do.
Cleaning the store front- tables, chairs, and floor- around the crowd of people. This gets tricky with the floor, seeing how it is EXTREMELY dirty, yet there are people standing on it, so a mop is out of the question. On your hands and knees with a rag (saying "Excuse me sir." Excuse me ma'am", "Move it kid", you get the idea) is the only way.
Dealing with outrageous customers- complaining just about any complaint you can think of over FREE yogurt.
Enjoying grateful customers that tell you how wonderful it is for us to do this- they show interest and concern for the work that is being put into the efforts of the day.
Remembering to inform customers about a list of things for which there is no time to tell them- gift card promotion, Bounce Back week, how the promotion works, explaining the flavors, find out if they are a new customer, etc. If it is a new customer, which we always hope it is, this list is a lot longer.
Getting employees to take a break.
Feeding employees
Tipping out employees at shift changes.
Handling the changing out of sign wavers and directing the next shift where to be. (Again, this sometimes includes giving them rides to/from the store).

Needless to say, at 10:00 pm we are more than ready to close the doors! And then the routine looks something like this, and takes all of 2 hours:
Telling customers for the next 30 minutes that we really are closed as they bang on the doors and windows.
Normal closing procedures.
Inventory count (cups and yogurt).
Taking down of all the signs.
Bringing in the street signs.
Taking down the banners.
Cleaning up the food brought for the employees.
Getting total sales, hourly reports on employee labor and register count-out to calculate the success and losses of the day (greater losses translate as greater success).

Now those 17 hours don't look so easy to handle. Add to that the addition of a Girl Scout Cookie promotion in ALL of the stores, which went really well. Now that alone would make a Superman, but there is another piece to the story.
On Thursday evening Jared said he was feeling a raw feeling in his throat. Corban had been experiencing a runny nose since the beginning of the week. Since Jared has been teaching him to kiss and he doesn't quite understand the concept of pursed lips, so you get the wide mouth kiss, that would explain Jared picking up the sickness. Friday he was completely wiped out, but still worked from morning 'til night. Saturday wasn't any better. About 2/3 of the way through the day I was telling him that I really felt bad for him and that it must be really hard. He stopped me and said, "Don't say that. Just call me Superman and it will help me get through it." And that he did!