Louis Vuitton Edition

  So, for the past month I put a hold on my travels and took a job at Louis Vuitton on Via Condotti. The director of the store is a friend, and he asked if I was interested in helping out during the holidays. Meet some new people and make a couple bucks...why not.
  This was the first real (non gymnastics related) job of my life. It was definitely a little strange going from just shorts at work each day while I was training, to wearing a black suit and tie everyday. In fact it was such a new experience, that I couldn’t figure out how to tie my tie properly on the first day. It was a definitely a little embarrassing having to ask for some help with my tie!
After getting a tour of the entire operation, I was brought to my work area where I would spend at least eight hours a day over the next month wrapping gifts and controlling the payments of ridiculously expensive bags, shoes, belts, keychains, luggage, watches, books, scarves, etc. Each day was basically me moving nonstop from one item to the next. Removing tags, wrapping, looking over receipts...never ending assembly line like repetition. I would normally work with a partner, and together we would try to get the bags to the customers as quickly as possible. I’m pretty sure everyone that works there hates this job. All of the other employees are required to do three hours a week of wrapper duty, and it is by far the job everyone despises the most. Those three hours were great for me though, because it gave me a chance to get to know a lot of the other LV workers. I ended up making some good friends, and since meeting new people was one of the reasons why I took the job in the first place, it worked out pretty well.
It's probably pretty boring being a wrapper during the other 11 months of the year, but during the month of December it’s nonstop movement. I actually lost weight over the past month because of my wrapper duties. Who comes to Italy and loses weight??!! The guy who spends eight hours a day doing wrapper duty at LV, that’s who (I’m pretty sure I put that weight back on though after my amazing eating display during Christmas and New Years...haha!).
Probably not surprisingly, the best part of each day was the hour lunch break. Most days I would eat in the employee break room. But every once and a while, when the weather was nice, I would take the short walk to Piazza di Spagna and eat my lunch on the steps. Being able to look out at Piero Bernini’s Barcaccia and down Via Condotti on those days was like a dream. It’s such a beautiful spot. I know whenever I go back I will always be reminded of my time at LV and those lunch breaks.
After the first few days of work I came to the quick realization that the financial crisis that most of the world is struggling with doesn’t really affect people who are able to regularly shop at Louis Vuitton. The amount of money that place rakes in is mind boggling. I won’t mention exact numbers, but I would leave most days just shaking my head when I saw the final total in sales each day. On top of that, there is another Louis Vuitton store about five minutes from where I worked!
The store has velvet rope with security at the entrance which was pretty amusing. It felt like the scene outside of a club in NYC. One day, two guys were waiting in line together to get into the store, and I remember thinking, “Those guys better gets some girls to bring in with them or security is never going to let them in!” Ok, it wasn’t that bad, but it was still a scene outside the store each and every day.

Some of the other highlights of my month were:
-Seeing a bunch of soccer players and other actors come through the store.
-The Pope driving past the store on Dec. 8th for the holiday, Immacolata.
-Louis Vuitton Christmas Party. Great location. Fantastic food. New friends...and a broken chair. Yes, I broke a chair that night while sitting during dinner. I still don’t know how it happened, but everyone saw me fall to the floor...not my finest moment. Haha!!
-Everyone realizing that I was an athlete after seeing some of my videos on Youtube. It was pretty funny seeing peoples reactions after finding out about my gymnastics career.

I will probably be starting up my traveling again soon, but this was a nice change that gave me a chance to see Rome in a new way. Thanks Max (Il Direttore) for the job...and thanks to all the other employees for making my experience at LV a positive one.