Crunched like dry leaves... for time that is

Hello all.
Things have been catching up with me. I am doing a 225 hour internship this semester, and need to start going in more. Then there is homework. And office hours. And shifts. Oh yea, and regular classes. Deadlines are popping up left and right. Maybe I will find time to sleep soon, or hang out with friends. In the mean time, coffee is a wonderful thing. And prioritizing what to accomplish during shifts and office hours. Sometimes the things that you want to do during office hours are not the most urgent things that need to get done, but you still have to do the work. What is really getting me through shifts is our outstanding crew though. Knowing that when I open Thursday mornings, Melissa just knows her stuff and hops to it makes it easier to count out the bank, or when she notices that the garbage needs to be taken out so we have a more hygenic environment. And closing last night, when Sam B, Steph Thomas, and I had an impromptu Time Warp Dance party while closing up-sometimes these things just happen when you're in the Zone (haha). I think we hired a great group of people, and it is making working here a really cool experience, especially during crunch time. Keep up the great work guys!

Celebrate Halloween with a sample of Pumpkin Ice Cream!!!

The title of this blog is a catchy phrase that I use when handing out free ice cream samples. It works....sometimes lol.
So for the past 3 weeks I have been doing our promotional tables. I created a poster board replica of our 5 TV's behind the bar. Each small TV has information about the Zone or pictures from past events. The middle 'video wall' is where people write their favorite TV Shows. I thought it would be a cool way to know our customers favorite shows so that we know what should be on our televisions. The Office, House, and How I Meet Your Mother are the most popular.
We have also been giving out candy and coupons to people who correctly answer trivia questions about the Zone. This has been fun because people give the most outlandish answers. For instance one of the questions is how many pool tables do we have. Recently someone answered 8....Yeaaa....she won candy for effort.
My biggest dilemma is trying to find something that will defiantly draw people in. Candy is cool, but some people really don't want to give up a small fraction of their time to win the delicious treats. So my task is to find a successful giveaway. Something not to expensive but will attract a lot of people to our table.
If you have suggestions or feedback let me know, because it will help our promotions in the long run.

Phylisha =)

Volunteer Pictures for the NJWAN 5k

7AM blowing up balloons!

Cheer Squad III - Bridget and I

the bus -- visit that website to see how you can help!

Jess, Dom, Joelle, and Phylisha aka Cheer Squad II

Pumpkin Palooza

Sunday we had our monthly staff meeting. The first meeting in September was a lot of information and was honestly pretty boring. For October, we decided to end the meeting with a fun activity and also introduced our Employee of the Month award. Each month the managers and Matt will be choosing one staff member that has really embodied our T.O.K.E.N philosophy and is overall a great asset to the RutgersZone team. Our five finalists were Nick, Melissa, Jaime, Bridget, and Nicole, who each received a $5 RU Express gift card. And the winner was... BRIDGET! Bridget is a great team player and always greets the customers with a positive attitude and a smile. She not only won the title of Employee of the Month but also a $25 RU Express gift card. Yayy!

As I mentioned, we ended our meeting with a fun activity. Keeping with the Halloween spirit, we carved pumpkins! Each manager had a team of 2-3 crew members and had to carve their pumpkin in a RutgersZone theme. My team (aka the best team ever) consisted of Nick, Nicole, and Jess. Our immediate idea was to use our RutgersZone mascot/employee Domo! Jess sketched Domo's likeness onto the pumpkin and then Nick and Nicole got to work carving our just the right pieces to make the pumpkin look fantastic. Of course I supervised the process and stayed out of the way while the creative genius' were at work. When all the

teams were finished Matt picked out the best pumpkin. Surprise, surprise. We wonnnn!

NJWAN Walk/Run for Fun!

This past Saturday was our first Volunteer event! It was a big success. We volunteered for NJWAN which is an organization that benefits woman with HIV/AIDS. They were hosting a 5k walk/run and needed volunteers to help with registration, setting up, distributing water/snacks, and cheering on the participants. Matt picked me up around 6AM with coffee and donuts! It was early and we were both a little out of it but that only added to the experience.

So we hopped in the student life van - or taxi rather - to pick up everyone that was going to help out that day. THANK YOU TO MATT, MEL, NICOLE, BRIDGET, DOM, PHYLISHA, BECKY, JOELLE, AND JESS! Y'ALL ROCK :D

The weather was pretty cold when we arrived and during the event but this didn't affect how much fun we had. We all split up into cheering groups after blowing up balloons and getting all set up. I was with Mel and Nicole most of the day and we had a great time cheering on the runners/walkers. We had two signs that read "Good Job" and "Don't Stop Believing." We kept singing the Journey song as people went past. Mel even learned how to play Jingle Bells on her flute/whistle/noise maker - she's crazy but a great cheerleader :)

It was so rewarding to see how happy the participants got when we would call out their specific number and tell them good job. It was even more rewarding to see how thankful the woman running the event was to have us all there. It was a day full of thank yous and I think it is safe to say that we all felt good after helping out.

Being the Manager of Outreach really has its rewards I'm so happy to be able to help our community and bond with the staff while doing so.

Check back for pictures of the event!

-Ashley :D

Relax......

Yeah..... this pretty much describes my life right now.

After a chaotic week of exams and running on empty, I didn't think I had anything left of me to dedicate to work. You know, being a college student is great and all, but exams take the best of you. The worst part is when everything hits you at once!!

So, when I came into work this past week, I wasn't completely myself. It was one of those weeks that everything hits you at once. I didn't feel like I was doing my best, which provoked me to change the way I do things in my life. In the past I was always so good at time management, but these past few weeks proved to me that I was all mixed up. The best thing I could do was bring my best personality and just go with it. That probably was the best decision I made all week and even the customers noticed. It actually made me feel better about my week!

When I was about to leave the other day, I had a "moment" and thought that there was trouble with my bank. I am usually consistent, but when something like that happens, it makes you freak out.... at least a little bit. Needless to say, I overreacted for a bit and wasn't thinking clearly. When I took a few seconds to relax and reevaluate, I realized that I had overlooked something. It's so easy to overlook little things if you panic. It just made me realize that you can't sweat the little things and you shouldn't let it affect you at work. :)


Until next time,
Lisa

Woof Status

Last week started off pretty rough. I came into my shift Monday, after being a COMPLETE grouch at the Sunday meeting, with yet another bad attitude. Clearly it did not go unnoticed which prompted Matt and I to have a talk. When I went home that night, I realized bringing my emotional baggage into work was just going to spread a negative feeling to both staff and customers, if it had not already. For my next shift, I made sure I checked my attitude at the door and came in with high spirits. Work is much more enjoyable for me and the crew when we are working efficiently and having a good time.

For the manager meeting last night, we went over a lot of good points on how to improve our managing techniques. I feel as though I haven't been bringing up issues with the crew members that have been bothering me, so I will definitely work towards improving that this week and in the future. Also, this week I'm starting inventory and once it's complete it will help us out a lot and make everything a million times easier. yayy!

Coachella 2010 - Viral Marketing

Hello Blog-o-sphere...

I want to find a way to come up with a crazy fun amazing viral marketing campaign for the RutgersZone.  I love this video of the Coachella Music Festival in California.  No camera tricks or obnoxious jokes.  They market who they are....just at an angle we aren't used to.  Brilliant.

How do we do this?  Who are we?

October, yea.

So it's once again time for my blog. Some updates since the last time.
The Scarlet Knight Soul Mate Search has been moved to February, so keep your eyes out for a surprise Halloween themed program on the 28th! And keep thinking about your ideas for the SK's soul mate, we're just giving you more time to be awesome! Also, last Tuesday Casual Harmony performed at Tunes on Tuesday, which was pretty sweet. It was our first acapella performance in the Zone, and I was worried about the acoustics, but everything sounded great!
Tomorrow night we have our first open mic night at the Zone, and the first one that I have ever created or worked, so it should be interesting. I hope everyone shows up, and that transitions between artists go smoothly and that everyone has a good time! Make sure to come out and support your friends!

Also, the Jersey Shore season finale will be shown in the Zone this Thursday- bring your guido/guidette best! First 100 customers get free Stunna Shades starting at 10! Make sure to GTL before you show up!

The First 2AM

This past week was my first time closing on a Thursday at 2AM. I must say that although i was slightly dreading the long night it wasn't as terrible as I thought. That particular night differed a little from the usual Thursday though because there was another event taking place. In the student center outside of the zone, there were two tables set up for alcohol awareness and safe sex information. The safe sex table was giving out free condoms and had these plastic bulls that had a fact on them. I had to send my crew out to clean up the space a couple of times to collect all the condoms that people left laying around - that sounds strange - they weren't open; well not all of them were open. This is getting weird so anyway...

I think the crew is finally starting to feel comfortable with everything. At our manager meeting last week we realized that we were slacking a little in the training so this week I really tried to step it up and get all of the training out of the way!

This weekend is also our volunteer event for NJWAN and we have a lot of people coming out so I'm really happy the crew is just as excited as I am about it.

Keep checking in!

-Ashley

What A Knight!

We already know that there isn't a dull moment in the RutgersZone, something interesting is always happening. Today was no different. Our mascot, The Scarlet Knight, and his camera crew came into the Zone and filmed a segment for the Knight's submission into a contest. RutgersZone is going global!!! lol. The Knight did a spoof of The Jersey Shore, played some pool, and even flirted with Jess and Dominique.

Phylisha =)

Buzztime almost a buzzkill....

On Wednesday I went into the Zone so that I could talk to whoever would be working during Buzztime Trivia. I just wanted to make sure that they were comfortable with hosting the event. Adam told me that he would be working during that time, so I started telling him about the procedures to Trivia Night, when Joelle discovers that Buzztime was actually not working. Grrrr....

Lucky the problem was discovered about an hour and a half before the event so we had time. Together we tried every way we could think of to fix Buzztime. Every intial attempt failed. Turning the tuners on and off...didn't work. Changing the channel...nope. Looking for a solution on the website....=(. So I had to call Buzztime customer service and pray that they knew what was going on.

Turns out that the pesky little blackout on Sunday was the culprit. It turned the computer that controls Buzztime off. (Managers for future reference the Dell computer below the Buzztime tuners is for Buzztime....who knew? Obviously not Phylisha). So Latrice, the nice customer sevice lady, walked me through the process of fixing our system. It all worked out and Adam had a great night hosting Buzztime!

Phylisha =)

Bed Race - Charity Champions!

I could not be more PROUD of the crew members who participated and came out to support our winning team. Homecoming Bed Races is a fairly new tradition which involves several exceptional Rutgers Student Organizations who volunteer a night of their lives for this charity.

This year's fundraisers was dedicated to hats and gloves for the New Brunswick grade-school students, most of whom don't own a single pair of gloves and all walk to school .(an obvious concern in winter months)

Our team raised the MOST hats and gloves out of all the student organizations involved!




Talk to you soon,
Becky

Ultra Current

Wednesday Morning staff =)

Sam (left) and Sherina (right) are loving our new digital camera!

Thursday Late Night: BALLIN!

It was that time of the month again... the one time that I have to work the 11pm-2am shift at the Zone. After a very stressful and hectic week, I finished my physics lab and begrudgingly began the walk to the College Hall bus stop on Douglass campus. For some reason I decided to bring my iPod that day so I put on my headphones, turned up the House, and tried getting excited for work. The previous time I worked I was not in such a great mood/state of mind so I'm pretty sure Matt was surprised when I danced into the Zone at 10:30. I'm not sure if it was "Dynamite" pumping through the speakers or the fact that Matt told me we would be getting out early, but I caught my second wind. The crew did a great job serving all the cones and cleaning the space. They have definitely become more comfortable with the space and each other so I barely have to tell them how to do anything anymore.

Despite the fact that I often complain about work, I am really happy to have the opportunity to be part of the RutgersZone. I've been having a really hard time with getting all my work and school tasks completed lately and it feels really good to have people that are willing to listen and offer support and suggestions. I said it at the first staff meeting, but I really didn't know what to expect being put in this situation with six people I didn't know very well. I am so happy that we all get along and I have definitely made some great friends. I really hope that the crew have a similar experience and really enjoy the job and the people they work with. Waayyy too much emotion shared, very uncharacteristic of me SO DON'T EXPECT ANYMORE OF IT haha

Until next time,

Joelle

Photo Shoot!!!

During my shift on Tuesday, Matthew and I worked with Marketing on a photo shoot with all the delicious food the Zone offers. Perhaps it is my love for ice cream or my embarrassing appreciation (see also, obsession) with fashion photography, either way this was WAY FUN!

Marketing set up white paper (very chic) for the background and floor, powered a Nikon camera, and grabbed a tri-pod, while Kyle was blending milkshakes. I would top each shake with ribbons of whipped cream and lace chocolate syrup over each white layer for decor. Then we would make our specialty desserts, decorating each plate with a mired of red, brown, white, colors which compose our delectable Brownie Sundae and create a bright lime green mint chocolate chip sundae with marshmallow sauce and chocolate sprinkles. It was heavenly for the eyes and palate. Some lucky customers even got free desserts on this day. HELLO?! We weren't going to let it all go to waste! Next time, it could be you!!!

Examples Above

=)

---Becky

Stuff that happened in my shifts last week.

Hello readers- whoever you are. Create an account and comment, because I don't believe you exist.

Anyway, Tuesday night we had another Tunes program. It was an interesting experience. This was the first time we had more than 2 musicians hooked up to play, and we had a computer, guitar, bass, and piano hooked up. They started to warm up, and it sounded great, but they never stopped sound checking! I would be getting into a song, and then they would stop. 9:30 came and went, then 10... finally I had to go over and tell them we closed at 11! I didn't know what to do, but the artists seemed happy at the end, and we did have some people coming and going through out the night. Still, I guess I need to be more clear next time when I reach out to people! Tomorrow night, Casual Harmony will be performing, so come check them out!

Friday- I opened Friday for the first time, and oh gosh what a crazy shift. There was no ice cream left, so we were waiting for the ice cream delivery, and someone was supposed to be coming in to film- super crazy. The ice cream delivery got there, and it was a ton of ice cream. I mean a lot. We didn't have room to store them all in our freezers- so we had to scoop the little sample cups for the promo tables this week (everyone should go check them out!!). From basically the start of the day, me and crew rotated scooping, putting lids on, and labeling ice cream cups, then running them to various freezers. It was exhausting, the ice cream was so soft it was annoying to scoop, and if I ever smell pumpkin ice cream again, I will probs be sick. I don't understand why pumpkin entered the human diet. So strange. But hopefully everyone who checks out the promo tables will appreciate our hard work! (most likely though, they will eat the ice cream and have no idea... le sigh).

Finally, everyone should gear up for our big October program- Find the Scarlet Knight His Soul Mate! The goal is to help the Scarlet Knight find a companion, whether it be his princess, number one fan, best bro (brooomannce), or someone we haven't even thought of yet! All are welcome to enter, and there will be some pretty sweet prizes! I am kinda worried about getting it all done, but also know that it is going to be super awesome and lots of fun for everyone! Stay tuned for more details!!!

Blacked out..... in the Zone

Today started off as just a normal Sunday shift with football and fun all day long. I got done with my shift around 6pm, so I figured I'd just stay and hangout until our manager meeting later that night. Sam & I challenged one another to pool, Phylisha was cranking out tunes at the bar, and everyone was hanging out watching football. Everyone started hustling out after the games, leaving only the managers and crew members in the Zone.

Everything was great until the lights flickered and suddenly, in an instant, all of the power went out!!! My first reaction was "It wasn't me, right?" We all made sure that it wasn't an internal issue in the Zone. Once we inspected our area, we walked around the building and realized that power was out in the whole student center. SCARY!

Our reactions to the situation were shockingly calm and relaxed -- we didn't panic and we made sure that everything was okay in the Zone. We made sure to listen to the FM on duty for details, which I thought was really important.

The whole situation was a wake up call since we learned what to do in a situation like that, especially one that affects the whole student center. We made sure to lock up, clean up, and put away our perishable items appropriately. It was scary because I wasn't really sure where the ice cream was going - but now we know what to do in the future. More importantly, I know that I DESPISE dealing with blackouts, since I'm scared of the dark! :)

Stick with us,
Lisa

The Forgotten Pictures....

Call this a lazy blog if you want (as a sidenote it really wasn't because it took me over a half hour to format all the pictures *sigh*), but I feel like it's a great look back on the good times I've experienced in the Zone over its first month! They are all from my phone, and were originally intended to go on one of our social medias like Twitter. But I forgot a lot of them were there...so I'm posting them here =)

Radio City in NYC

Mr. P from Hibatchi Dinner

Our Bed Races Team!!!

True Blood Season Finale

Sunday Night Football

Phylisha =)

I am now the pool table technician !

I'm so excited I have a great story for you all.

So Saturday night we had two private events at the zone (yes, one of those was a bachelor party)! As we were setting up for the second event of the day, Matt and I were changing the light bulbs above the pool table. We're chatting and he's making fun of me and then OOPS - the light bulb went down the pocket ! Eeekkkkk. We both looked at each other in amazement like "Did that really just happen?"

We gathered the crew, which at that time were all girls. We each tried to squeeze our little hands down the pocket but in reality ended up pushing the bulb further and further down. We all tried to come up with creative ideas on how to get it out. Matt had the idea to use the Swiffer stick with tape to try and get the bulb to stick to the tape and then pull it out that way. After several failed attempts, Matt himself decided to try. Guess what happened??....

HE DROPPED THE SWIFFER STICK DOWN THE POCKET.

None of us could believe that now we had both a light bulb and a swiffer stick in the pocket. We tried using the pool table balls to move the objects around but I knew we were making the situation worse. Finally, Matt and I got underneath the table to do some investigating. Five minutes later, the entire upper part of my body was inside the pool table. I managed to get the swiffer stick out with ease, and even found an air hockey puck down there as well. The light bulb was tricky. It was sitting with the pool balls just trying to fit in. It did not want to come out. Matt came up with the creative idea to put the light bulb in a plastic bag and then break it. It worked!! We successfully retrieved the swiffer stick, the light bulb, and even a puck.

The events were successful and now I am fully confident in troubleshooting with the pool table.

I am now officially, the pool table technician.

Check back for some pictures of me inside the pool table that Matt had so much fun taking :)

Until next time

--Ashley

A Little Bit of Everything..

Hi all!

First and foremost - I want to thank everyone who showed up for Bed Races Thursday night. I'm so proud that as a first year team we were able to win the Charitable Chariot Award!! Woo hoo Zone!

Secondly, I'm really excited that we are working so well together as a team. Everyone is really getting into the groove of things and it's awesome to watch. I'm really proud of everyone for their efforts so far! You guys rock!

Over these few past weeks I've been a little concerned with cash management and ringing on the register. Although so many aspects of training have been covered, I still feel that the concept of cash management has a long way to go. I'm not going to lie, I'm a little nervous every time I count out the bank for my shift because you never know what can happen in the course of a day with the bank! It has nothing to do with the staff, it's just something I get weary about. Cash handling can be a little scary - especially as a manager! I've definitely been a little crazy when it comes to watching over my staff near the register (sorry! nothing personal!). Having one person ring and another make the products has really been a successful system for us so far and saves a lot of time! :)

It's fun (and nervewracking) to learn new things every week and roll with the punches. Hopefully my worrying will be toned down a bit.... HOPEFULLY.

Stay along with us for the ride,
Lisa

The Perfect Bank...(and Fish)

This night had to be one of the best ever!

Anytime I had previously closed, my bank had always been under or over what it was supposed to be. It really started to get to me (as you can tell if you read my previous blog A Letter). This day was different though. I had the new crew, Nicole and Sam (C or B, sorry still don't know which is which), with me closing. It was the night of the Reel Big Fish Concert. Not many people came after the show as expected but we did get some shirtless guys begging for water because they were exhausted from a mosh pit.

Nicole and Sam were great workers that night. We had to defrost the gellato case as a weekly task that night, and Nicole fit a good portion of the ice cream into the behind the bar freezer easing the work of having to take some ice cream to the CLC freezer. And Sam (I'm talking about the tall one with short hair) was great at cleaning and moving on to the next task quickly. Plus we did all of the closing procedures while listening to old school music. I'm talking The Temptations, Al Green, Marvin Gaye, and Smokey Robinson (what chayall know about that??? lol).

Anyway so the night was going great. It didn't take that long to close and I got to let Nicole and Sam leave quickly. I got nervous when counting the bank for the night. But by the grace of God and all things Holy.....I FINALLY HAD A PERFECT BANK!!! It made me so happy that I had to text Matt and tell him. Now I just have to do this every time I close and I'll be all good, lol.

Phylisha =)

Sunday at the RutgersZone

First off, great job to our bed race team! The entire event was a lot of fun, and I'm excited that we got a trophy! Next, Sunday at the Zone. Weekend buses are stinky because Livingston from College Ave is in the middle of both weekend 1 and weekend 2, thus meaning I need to leave earlier to get here and stay later to get home. I suppose it is better than walking though, especially as it is getting colder out, and because I had to leave earlier than I thought, did not bring a sweat shirt. Joy. We then opened up to find a puddle, meaning something was leaking. Fortunately it is not too bad, but still a special surprise to find during opening. Also, figuring out how to get the hot fudge machine to warm up correctly. Also, we realized that the dustbuster needed to be kept on its charger, otherwise the battery dies. These are all important things. I am also worried because this week we are supposed to start the point system, where crew are disciplined by getting various numbers of points for infractions. I hope everyone just is awesome so I don't have to give any out. So guys, wear your uniform, check next bus so you get to your shift on time, and be hygienic. It will be better for all of us. And be sure to check out Tunes on Tuesday this week- we are going to have a really cool performance!

Our first trophy!

Yay for us! Okay so the third annual homecoming bed races were last night and you want to know who won the Charitable Chariot Award? That's right, yours truly - the RutgersZone! This award goes to the team that collected the most hats/gloves for the New Brunswick schools - we blew everyone out of the water with our 277 pairs of gloves! As manager of outreach, I could not be happier that we got this award in particular. Check out the trophy! Hopefully this is the first of many to come!

All this excitement didn't come without its hard work and some stressful moments. Wednesday night was the decorating aspect of the event where you decorate the bed in whatever theme it is you choose to do. My planning team and I (thank you Nicole and Alexandria!) came up with all the details to do a pool table - since this is our most popular thing at the zone. We put together a list of all the supplies we would need so that Wednesday we would be all prepared and ready to go. However, Wednesday night came and i was BUGGING OUT. I'm not sure why I was letting all the stress get to me, but it definitely took its toll. I was really worried that the bed wasn't going to come out like we had planned and I really wanted to rock the races and show off our name and everything. I think I forgot that this was supposed to be a fun event where I got the chance to bond with some crew members and do something good for charity. Matt, my lovely, lovely, boss took me aside to remind me of these few things and once we started rolling on the decorating I started to feel better. Sometimes, you have to remember to just breathe.

So the big night finally came! Registration was crazy with all the teams and the costumes and the crazy beds. My team came pumped and ready to go. Dominique, Sam, Tiffany, and Mellissa, were absolutely fabulous and I'm so glad they decided to race. We won our individual race and were so close to making the top 8 - and by so close I mean we were number 9! I really enjoyed watching everyone get to know each other and laugh and have fun.

Thank you to everyone that came out and helped to participate! Ali, Becky, Phylisha, and Adam thanks for coming to cheer us on!! Also, whoever came to be a part of the cheerleading team that I didn't see/mention thanks a bunch! :)

One last thing! I kept thinking about what we were going to do next year when I remembered - I am A SENIOR and I won't be here next year! So for all of you that will be here, I hope you uphold what I am going to now consider tradition and get us another trophy!

Check back for some pictures of the event!

-Ashley