lulu-Oompahs Construct My Life

lululemon Athletica irks me as well as fascinates me. That little omega --- appearing on the hips, ankles, and racer backs of athletes and non-athletes alike -- suggests the buyer paid big money to show love of exercise and the environment.

I say this as a person who loves the clothing; my irritation stems from the fact that I can’t get a job there.

As a perky yoga and Pilates teacher, I'm like, "What gives?"

Perhaps I didn't get the job because I couldn't make it to the free Sunday yoga class prior to the interview. When I did go to the interview, I was ten minutes early. To my horror, I noticed that we were going to sit cross-legged on yoga mats, a horrible concept because I wore a slim fitting business skirt when everyone else wore athletic wear. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the interview, which included each of us telling our personal goals for the year.

Goal-setting is one of the things I love about lululemon's business model. Having worked in the corporate world, I like being recognized as a human. I also like that lulu hires yoga teachers, spin instructors, and marathon runners as clerks, also known as "store educators." As a result, I rarely have a bad time in lululemon. Every time I go in, people are nice to me. They say something cute. They ask what I do. They show me the store’s latest happy trends like organic cotton onesies, which happen to be by the Lincoln Center store’s goal wall.

Yes, goal wall. After my failed interview, I visit lulu's goal walls, a feature in all stores. These walls include individual employee's framed year-long, five-year-long, and 10-year-long goals.

Last week, an employee found me gawking at the Lincoln Center wall. She invited me to a goal-setting workshop the next day. I signed up and went.

In true lulu fashion, we ate fruit on yoga mats while a manager and the store running ambassador led us through detailed worksheets. The questions asked for our core values and how we’d like to live. The goals span the categories of health, career, and personal. They have to be 50% achievable, meaning they have to be big goals beyond what we normally do.

At the end of the workshop, we completed a goal table, just like the ones behind the black frames. I really enjoyed doing this. It took some thought: one of my year-long health goals is to join an out door hiking club and climb four area mountains by September 1, 2010. I decided on this because I already get enough exercise through work. However, I often feel imbalanced because I do my work inside on tiled or carpeted surfaces. I feel I would be so much healthier if I got out of the city several times a year.

I'll be blogging about my goals. I like them, and I still like lululemon even though I can't afford their clothes and they won't hire me.

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