Fudging the numbers

Half full or half empty?

It's been a slow sales month for me at Olive Grove. Some blame the trans-seasonal weather, saying when it's really cold people will come shopping for winter clothes. Others blame GFCII. On my own part, I look to the days I spent working on discounted-price custom orders for a long-term customer when I could have been making full-price stock for the shop. Sometimes it's hard to know if you're better off with the safety of earning less per item on guaranteed sales or gambling on earning more on stuff that's not guaranteed to be purchased any time soon.

I was at Olive Grove on Wednesday and managed to take two full-price custom orders - one cushion for an 80 year old former conductor's birthday and one skirt for someone who didn't fit the ones on the rack. I gave my usual quote of two weeks to get the stuff made. At home I discovered that I had helpfully left one of my last batch of cushions half-finished as a reserve for my next custom order. Score! And I remembered that making one skirt takes no times compared to making six at once. I've managed to finish both orders today and the customers have said they'll pick them up tomorrow. That perks up my sales for the month considerably, and with only days to spare.

On top of that, the second half of my discounted-price custom order is being collected and paid for tonight. I love having all my orders finalised by the end of the month so I can turn the page on the calendar to a fresh new month to do with as I wish.

Of course, rushing to get the sales logged for May simply means I won't be starting June on a high point. I'm robbing myself to pay myself, which is a pretty victimless crime!