Why was George Clooney at The Target?

September 15, 2011

Yesterday at The Target was fairly busy and the workload typical with two semi-major exceptions.  The first was that Target released a new line to Target by the well-known Italian designer Missoni.  Yes, I know that it is a team of designers, but that is really not the point to my story.  Nor is my point about how crazy people went for this stuff, cause they did. 

As an aside and obvious contradiction to my point that the release was not the point, I knew this line would do well.  I have learned to judge the popularity of "the next big thing" by whether or not I find it appealing.  If I think it is odd looking or even ugly, I know it will do well.  Other than my ability to pick an awesome wife, I have no sense of fashion or awesomeness. 

I think Missoni is interesting, but nothing I would wear or have in my home.  Whenever I see the trademark zigzag print, I think of Charlie Brown.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b4/CharlieBrown.jpg

You may have to right click on that link and then click upload to see it.

I once gave a female guest a hard time about the outfit they were purchasing (how to help guests 101 on display there), and she felt free to tell me that she refused to take fashion advice from someone who wore the same clothes everyday.  Touche.

So the beginning of my workday had me rallying my team to fill in all the empty space where the Missoni product had sold. 

Then came the phone calls for interviews.  This sometimes happens during the holidays as TV news gathers info for seasonal shopping stories, but it does not usually happen in September.  However, due to this big release making national news, the local news wanted in as well.

Since I was really the only manager in the building yesterday, I had to field some of these reporters and their questions.  The first interview was with this young lady for WLWT Channel 5.  Her name is Valerie Abati.  She was very nice and weighed about 75 pounds.  Here is her picture since some of the guys in the store were jealous that I got to speak with her.

http://www.wlwt.com/image/17794618/detail.html

She is an experienced reporter, I decided, since she interviewed guests about Missoni, but not me.  She knew who belonged on camera and who did not.

However, another reporter from WCPO Channel 9 came in and wanted to interview me as a follow up to a national survey regarding seasonal hiring.  She came in and she took some store video and then hooked me up for the interview.  I have been interviewed before, and they generally ask you about 10 questions, your answers take about 15 minutes, and then you watch the news later.  For me, that usually means they can scratch together about 30 seconds of quality material.

The same thing happened last night as Beth watched the news.  After first wondering why George Clooney was being interviewed and identified as me, she put on her glasses and realized it really was me.  Fortunately, she recorded it because she blinked the first time and missed it.

So there I was on the television last night.  If you stop by, I will show you the recording, otherwise, you may be able to find my name (spelled wrong) mentioned in a story, but the video was not saved for posterity.  I am pretty sure it will not go national.

I sincerely hope it won't since as I watched myself; I could actually see the wheels turning in my head wondering when she was going to be finished so I could get back to work.  Also, the content of what I said may or may not have been entirely accurate.  It is weird what your brain tells you to say versus what actually comes out of your mouth.  Phenomenon, do do da do do.

I figure if you add all my TV interviews together, I should accumulate enough for my 15 minutes around 2022.  By then my hair may be as gray as George's.