Casey McKenna

This job has been mostly about showing face to accounts we care about and maintaining good relationships. While not sales, the merchandiser is the one who is seen most often and the entire company is judged off my daily performance. In this role I've expanded my knowledge (and yes, appreciation) of fine wines, both domestic and foreign, as well as learned to better interact with account managers and other vendors.

Other duties:

• Monitored inventory levels and kept adequate stock in product displays on sales floor.
• Verified products appeared at correct locations in proper quantities.
• Ensured proper arrangements of products based on vintage on shelf.

This has been a part-time job working in the oldest (and arguably best-known) wine shop in Madison. It has been a great way to transition my skills earned as a merchandiser in the industry to be an asset to our staff and our clientele. It's essentially just a shop clerk, but it's important to engage with customers to build rapport and loyalty, and it's a super fun job where I can help people by giving personal recommendations to help them shop. The money is nice, but I genuinely enjoy this job for the fun of it.

In this role, I was expected to manage putting away large orders of liquor and wine to various stores, ranging in size from a few cases to several hundred each day. I learned to manage my time, monitor and control my energy use (not to waste all my energy in the first hour of the day), and to ask for when needed. I learned less about specific wines and spirits in this job and more of the logistics of sales for these items, as well as the culture of offices (this job being the first I'd had in this area).

Other duties:

• Coordinated with delivery drivers to plan a smooth drop-off and check-in process.
• Kept our accounts happy by being fast and efficient and keeping out of the way of shoppers.