Oily Skin and Interviews

I was on the floor until 8:30 pm, putting up tags and answering IC3s. Then I had to go on the register.

I had an improptu interview today, for the position I wanted. I only knew it was an interview because my boss said,
"I'm interviewing you for the position now."

I rung up this woman and her daughter, but before I did I overheard what the girl was saying about her face.
"I don't know what skin type I have. Like, I think it's oily, but it's not oily, like you-need-to-do-something-about-that-oily. It's just kind of oily. What should I do?"
Her mother seemed tired and she was overwhelmed by all the products her kid wanted. They spent about $80 and I just thought that they could have avoided that price tag with the use of coupons and better planning.

The crazies were out tonight. We got out early.

This Position Has Been Filled

I was in photo today, sort of. I was also on the floor, doing my mid-shift duties. Mostly ad tags.

Two older gentlemen came into photo today (not together), and I helped them out. Tried to, anyway. The first guy asked me to help print out his photos from his camera battery. When I told him it was his battery and not his memory card, he was kind of embaressed. He left and came back with his memory card, and we ended up printing over 200 of his photos.
The second guy came in with a woman, presumably his wife. He was all kinds of mixed up about the technology; he did some yelling, and getting indignant. Finally his woman told him to sit down, and look at the images properly. He asked me if I heard the way she spoke to him, and I said it sounds like she needs too. He thought that was funny. We went about trying to crop his photos, which took him a while to figure out what that meant. He seemed to understand color-correction, but the way he pressed the buttons, with little control and a lot of impatience, led to confusion and annoyance for everyone involved. Eventually we got him what he wanted.

Milk and eggs are on sale, so I filled them three times today.

Day Five and Six

I forgot all the madness that occurred yesterday. All the days blend together.

Today we had a visiting manager. I had a good time.
And tomorrow I'm going on an unpaid vaycay for a week! I'm super-excited!

Where Is My Photo Label?

*SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!*




I had another nine hour day today. And I found out that my pay is lower than other folks. Perhaps I should ask for a raise soon. If I don't get a raise by September, I'm asking.

The label-maker for the photos stopped printing, for no apparent reason. The label has the name, the order number, the price and the type of photos on it. So I decided to get crafty and make my own dang labels! I got all the info I needed, hand-wrote it on the label sticker, and rung people up all kinds of crazy. I would ring up an item (seemed to be a Dawn dish detergent or a box of light bulbs mostly), modify the price to reflect the price of the photos, and then write down what I just sold on a piece of scrap paper. I don't know how our inventory is going to look, but I'm pretty sure that is not my problem. The guy who closes in Camera was not pleased by this nonsense.

I saved 63% on my purchase of Diet Coke (3/$9 with a $1-off coupon) and some store brand eggs for a $1. I feel bad about buying non-free-range eggs but my hubs eats eggs every morning and things can get expensive!

Day Four

Wow. Today was a little weird. I'm pretty sure it was because of the heat.

I left my open Starbucks Frappacino on the shelf, along with my tags. Some kids came by and were looking at all the toys, and one kid picked up the lid and fucking LICKED it! I luckily was watching out of my periphs and said,
"Seriously? Are you serious? Really?"
When I told all my co-workers I got an appropriate response and when I told my regular about it he said,
"Now that either means that he wasn't raised right, he's a little weird, or he's got HIV and was trying to spread it."
Really? Are you fucking serious?
For the record, I did finish my coffee because the actual drink wasn't touched.

A regular came in at the last second and bought a bunch of heavy stuff. My co-worker went out to the lot to collect the carts and saw her trying to leave with two of them. They lock up when taken out of bounds, which he told her. So she left a cartful of stuff by the door. At 12:30 she came back and packed up her stuff in front of the door. I think she might have been drunk.

Two people called me fat, and two people hit on me. Everything evens out.

Day Three

We have a lot of our summer stuff on clearance, to make room for the school supplies! I can't believe we already have that stuff out. And yes, I bought some of the summer stuff; a baby flotation device, some fish toys, a badmitton game, and a frisbee thing.

I'm way too excited about the arrival of the school supplies. I really like planners, pens, and notebooks.

The tech came in to give us a new label-maker in the photo department. The label-maker was broken and the setting were wrong in the main computer. Now we know.

I got my raise. Although much smaller than it should be.

Day Two

I'm on day two of a six day work week.

My now-former assistant manager's last day was today. He seems to think that I will get the promotion that I may or may not be in line for, so he was giving me tips on how to be a good manager. I just realized I forgot to say 'thank you'.

Thank you!

Anxiety-Inducing Visit

We have a visit tomorrow, and even though I don't work tomorrow, I feel super-stressed about it. I started the closing procedure late, and I feel like I forgot to do something important. Also, this woman that I pretty much hate came in and wanted a canvas print from her phone images. I told her the resolution wasn't high enough to support a good image (and our photo app told her that too), but she said she would "risk it". So of course, they don't look that awesome. My manager said to make sure she gets charged for them because she was told ahead of time they wouldn't look that great. I got the paper loaded, the images printed, one cut, and I started to put together the canvas structure when my manager told me to start facing. I think I might have put a piece in wrong. I just feel like someone tomorrow will be agitated at me.

One of my co-workers noticed that I buy something almost everyday. True. Don't judge!

I got a terrible phone call from the hubs who said he kicked the garage door in to get to his vehicle and his keys. I obviously did not intend to put those turn of events into action.

Around ten or eleven the new girl came by to say 'hi'. I was very startled and asked if she was working. Dumb question because she was wearing her name tag. She was (obviously) and said she had been there since eight. How did I not see her for about three hours? Where was she? What had she been doing? I have a lot of questions.

Let go and let God. It is what it is.

Busy Bugs

We were so busy tonight! We got out late because of the crowds, and tomorrow we'll be getting out late  because we'll be prepping for a visit. If I'm mentally prepared for that sort of thing, I don't get as hostile.  I just can't understand why we're so busy these days.

While I was cleaning the women's restroom, I noticed a freaky-looking bug. It was reddish-brown; possibly a spider. At first I thought it was a Wolf Spider, but then it looked too oblong to be a spider. It crawled under the toilet before I could get too freaked out.
On the bathroom cleaning schedule sheet, someone wrote in that at 3:35 pm, the condition was "Bug flying". Who could have written that?

Yucky Hands Touching School Supplies

The toilet in the regular-sized stall won't stop running, so I finally put an "Out of Order" sign on it. But before I did, a woman used it while I was using the other one. She didn't flush, although she tried to, and she didn't wash her hands either! That is so gross, I can hardly stand it. I feel like my store is very germy, and not washing one's hand's after using the restroom is not making things less germy. I tried not to think about all the things she touched.

We have an endstand of school supplies. Already! And there is a half-page in the ad paper advertising some supplies on sale. I happen to love school supplies, probably because I don't go to school or have an office job. What I don't like about the supplies being on sale is that it means time is passing quickly, almost without my awareness.

A regular saw me and said "Back to Skinny Minnie, I see. That didn't take long!"
I laughed and said "thank you".

Crazy Bread

A woman has been coming in more and more frequently. She talks to herself while in line, but she listens and responds when people (me) speak to her. She has two clumps of chin hair, and the hair on her head is splotchy. Usually she wears a do-rag and I noticed some designs tattooed around her temple. I have to say, she as very pretty teeth, but everything else about her kind of grosses me out. It was about 80 degrees outside, and very humid, yet she came in in a series of layers, including a fleece hoodie. 

She came in several times, and the last time she had a dirty washcloth over her single-serving of orange juice. 

The time before that she had a fistful of white bread, and she left a large piece of crust on my register. 

Twice now she has introduced herself to me. Also, she keep her money and her card in a dirty white sock. Which she pulls out when its' time to pay, then she laughs and puts it away, then pulls it out again. 

I'm afraid that one day she will snap and get crazy on me. But perhaps I watch too many crime shows. 

Crying Over Spilled Milk

I did not cry. But I was very annoyed that the cooler was in the state it was. There was a gallon of spilled milk, which was difficult to clean up because the dang cooler was so crowded. I had to get in sideways, and then find the corner at the end to start filling the milk. My shoes may or may not smell like milk now, and I am very happy I didn't pay much for them. I lost a roll of paper towels and a bag of trash in there...my manager found them later, buried under many crates. It did seem to be a health/safety hazard in there.

I notice that I shop the department I am in, mostly. I was putting up ad tags and clearance tags in our summer/promo aisle and then I bought a few floaties. I was facing my grocery aisle, and I decided I needed the olives that were on sale. On the upside, even with all that crazy, I saved 59%.

Happy 4th of July! Yes, we will be open. But you won't see me because I have the next three days off! Go team!

The Fire Alarm And Crazies

Whoa. We got out 15 minutes late because my manager was on the phone with the fire alarm people. Our fire alarm went off, and my manager and I rushed to the fire doors to see if someone had left the building. The catch on the door was popped and I realized the trash had given someone access to our stockroom. However, upon further inspection by my manager, no one had gone into the stockroom except for employees. So how was the alarm tripped? I suggested something paranormal, and I do not think my manager appreciated my brainstorming. The fireman came one time, even though our alarm kept going off.

I rung up this woman who wanted to do some switcharoos with her photos. I hope I did the transaction right. This woman has come in before...talking about ex-boyfriends. But today she told me she came out on Facebook. And I heard her arguing with the pharmacist about the perscription strength. She had a few teeth pulled and just wanted some painkillers. There is something odd and kind of disturbing about her.

The Photo Department had almost run out of 4x6 photo paper, our most popular size. So I called our sister store and asked if I could have a few rolls of theirs. Whenever I call their store, the automated menu thinks I'm calling from a doctor's office so I have to navigate out of the pharmacy area. I finally get a hold of the manager, who reluctantly agrees to give me a roll. When I went into the stockroom, I was floored! The boxes extend to the ceiling and there are narrow little aisles to navigate around. It was like a freaky game of Tetrus. I got the wrong kind of paper. I will be going back tomorrow.

Economy As Described With Mucinex

We lock our Mucinex up in little boxes that we have trouble opening even with our magnetic key. My manager said that we spent millions of dollars locking things up, but someone will always find away around it. He says that because of the economy, theft is on the rise. Pretty soon, he says, people won't be able to afford to eat. We do price changes relatively frequently, and both of us noticed the rising prices. Our government should think about raising the minimum wage.

There also seems to be a rise of the mentally ill hanging out at our store. When we locked the door, this woman was hanging out in the handicapped spot in our parking lot. She was looking around like she expected us to open the doors back up for her. A car drove by, and she appeared startled. Prior to our closing, she hung out by the door and talked to herself.

Back again tomorrow.