Respect Thy Budtender
Written By Kristine Freeman
“ You pull up to an impressive storefront decorated with ribboned panels of wood and live succulents in hues of green and purple. The glint of gold and glass though the window along with the leafy smell in the air is a hint of what’s to come. You cautiously take a step into an open lobby; to your right is a desk and to your left a flowing fountain.
The person behind the desk greets you and asks for your ID.
You’re directed to a nearby employee; her smiling face and friendly greeting put your nerves at ease. After exchanging names, she asks whether you’ve shopped for cannabis before and, when you tell her you haven’t, not to worry because she is a budtender. When you ask her to repeat herself, she adds that others might go by cannabis consultant or even sales associate, but either way, she is here to be your guide. “
From Red to Pink - Part VIII: Hot Pink mess
Written By Lindsey Gunter
Listen up people: You can be a big, bad whatever, but if you put two types of weed in the bag, you’re doing bad business. Period. It’s unacceptable. I could not believe the blatant illegality of this, outside of the poor planning and product development. Such shamefully low regard for the consumer. There is only one C.O.A. for good reason, and besides, people have eyes and can clearly see a difference.
'Red would never have done something like that' I remembered thinking to myself. What a shame it felt like at times, everyone from the teams I worked with running dispensaries were scattered all over the place by now, and couldn't likely come in to see what all that I learned from them could make.
For some, after the amount of drama that had so far unfolded, they were starting to feel embarrassed about even being associated with the place. I wondered what my own late business owning mother would say about Pink as I watched ownership and the owner's assistant show family around the dispensary around holiday time.
From Red to Pink - Part III: THE STARTUP
Written By Lindsey Gunter
Getting hired at “Red” was a surreal blur, and the company itself was more the latter definition of startup. By the time I got my red jacket, I was already elbow-deep in the supply chain and hooked on the nitro cold brew available on tap, as well as absolutely loving the company culture. I never personally found it to be as hostile and bro-like as some might suggest, just the usual pronounced levels of ego from upper-management, slowing down decision-making from time to time due to petty, pseudo-professionalism. Nothing anyone hasn’t seen before.
Remember that part in Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, when Jack Skellington discovers Christmas Town? Yeah, that was me. Something new and exciting was happening to me! What I used to think was boring business information after watching my parents grow a small business into a multi-million-dollar corporation my entire life, revealed itself to be an enterprising acumen paired with passion-fueled intuition. But there was also another aspect that came with this new job that I wasn't expecting.