$5

I got a tip! I helped this guy load his pictures, then I trimmed them so they fit in the envelope he has to send to the city. Obviously I did awesome, because he threw me a five.

This week has been going super-slow. Me and the guy at Register One switched places so I was relieved of the monotony of the evening duties of Photo.

I helped out my favorite regular again, and she was more hilarious tonight then she was last night. She told me about her and her husband's eating schedule (she doesn't cook on Sundays) and I told her to eat her vegetables. When we got to images she already printed, I let her know. Then she had a few questions about the price. (Actually, one question repeated).

I chatted with a mom of an older boy, who said that yes, the Tooth Fairy comes to boys, and perhaps she would bring me her son's old Halloween costume (pumpkin-related) but only if it wasn't in storage. Understandable. And appreciated.

Apparently I had an evaluation tonight. Whatevs.

Voyeuristic Photo Tech

A new grandma came in a wanted to print photos of her brand-new grand-baby, still in the hospital. Her son wouldn't let her use the flash, so we had to work around the florescent lighting. When the photos came out, they were very yellow, and a tad green. She hadn't bothered to correct them at all. I told her I would able to fiddle with them on the main computer we had. She was to come back after dinner. (She took her son out for a celebration dinner...not sure how I would feel if my hubs was out and about right after I gave birth.) I was able to color-correct the images to an acceptable near- flesh tone. There was still a green and yellow tint, but it was slight, and it just showed where the images were taken. One of them was of the proud papa and stressed-out newborn. There were some hospital see-it-all lamps behind them, and when I adjusted the brightness and the color, the lamp glowed from behind them like an translucent and eerie (in a good way) cloud. It looked almost ghost-like, and despite the modern equipment and clothes, it looked like it could transcend through time. They were memorable and beautiful images, and I feel blessed to have been able to see them. I wish there were more pictures of my birth experience.

Sometimes I feel very lucky when people allow me access to their images. I very much enjoy the glimpse into people's lives. It gives me time to think about the fact that even in this day and age, we still like our images printed, we still need to have a snapshot of that birthday or that car ride. I also like looking through old photos and postcards when I browse in antique stores. I'm that nosey.

A photo regular of mine came in, having stolen her husband's camera when he was sleeping so she could make prints of his images. We spent a long time talking about her fish images, which were of the fish they caught, her with the fish, and some fish guts on the ground. I printed 246 4x6s for her because her husband is a good photographer and had images from 2010. She can't see very well, and has a really thick accent, and she is getting old and crazy. But I like looking through her images, because evidentially she is very active. I also helped her pick out mousse.

When my coworker went on her fifteen minute break, I thought she went on her lunch, which means I thought it was a lot later than it was. The day dragged on.

Before And After

Before Work:
Yesterday:
 I read (in one day) a book called The Customer Is Always Wrong-The Retail Chronicles. It was pretty awesome. A series of essays, illustrating the back stories of how a person gets into retail, what happened to them while they were there and how they are different and intrigued because of the experience. If you read this, read that.
Today:
I was cooking lunch for me and the boy, and I set a pan of grease on fire. I tried to cover it, I got totally freaked out, so I grabbed my son and ran out the door. We called 911. There is some damage to my home. Obviously the ordeal was stressful. Then I went to work with soot on pants.
Also Today, But At Work:
I clocked in three minutes late, which as you know, I hate. Then we left early. Time seemed to go by super-fast. I had no photo orders to speak of, so it was pretty much like I was on the floor.

The Game

It took me almost my entire to realize why we weren't that busy. Go Bears!

I talked to a woman who evidently is my friend. She told me her mom had her 76th birthday coming up (or had recently occured) and her mother was talking about how old she was. My friend told me she is 47, and her son is 26, but age is just a number. She asked how my son was doing, and said he is awesome, but when I said bye to him today (before I left for work) he cried as I was leaving. I told her that made me feel good, because it means he knows me and loves me, and doesn't want me to go. But its' bad for whomever I'm leaving him with. She said that is good, because only smart boys love their mother. Then she told me her son is bald, with a lot of tattoos and piercings, and he drinks and smokes too much. She told him that he has to think of his liver and kidneys because he is getting older. Apparently her son said that she was the coolest mom ever, but she needs to shush. Then she told me I was very pretty, and every time she sees a pretty girl, she wishes her son would find one, and settle down. When she had her son, he looked like a clone of his father. And his father told her, when she went to the hospital to give birth (without him?) he told her not to come home without a boy. When her son was little, he looked so much like his father, people joked that she wasn't involved. Her and her then-husband are divorced now, and her son resembles her more. While she was telling me all this, she seemed to be fighting back tears and/or a lot of emotion. She hugged me at the end of our convo.

I was suffering from sleep depravation and was feeling weird and out of it all day.

This guy comes in and buys a huge stack of newspapers, which he does about once a week. I'm pretty sure they aren't all current. Today he was buying some women's magazines too.

I asked my young co-worker if he's seen Clerks. Which he hasn't even heard of, because he is to young. But today was kind of a "I'm not even supposed to be here today!" day.

My manager doesn't know anything and I had to deal with a customer service issue on my own.

Baby!

I was busy closing and doing my thing, when two women with teeny-tiny new babies (with their weird-lookin' faces and odd-shaped heads) came in wanting a passport. I spent about an hour and a half with them. I was trying to get these babies faces, with their eyes open and both their ears showing. It was awful. The mothers weren't getting my hints about me needing to finish closing, or me having a lot of anxiety about taking their crazy pictures. The camera's batteries went out, and they still wanted me to keep going. I finally told them I couldn't do it anymore. They looked at me like I was crazy. They totally threw me off. I struggled to get all my shit done.

One of my co-workers turned out to be good to work with.

Day Three

We had no Cosmetics again today. Which was fine, because we managed to get out early.

My toes kept getting tingly and weird and painful. So yes, I need to make an appointment with the podiatrist.

No Cosmetics, Again

This woman had me print out one 4x6. I couldn't tell if she was trying to be difficult, or if she just couldn't print her own stuff. She had me print out homemade passport prints. (We offer that service for considerably more than 33 cents.) They looked like they might pass, but possibly not. Being the frugal mom I am, I suppose I should appreciate her effort.

One of my regulars came in, drunk. He told my manager that there were two kids outside soliciting for a non-school. My manager did nothing, so I went outside and told them they couldn't be on our property doing that. Then my regular started talking about how bad-ass I am, and how he doesn't like people fucking around in his neighborhood. He showed me his lighter, which was also a mini-knife. I was a little concerned about him busting that out at my register. And he also said that him and his business partner said that I look like Danielle from that t.v show, American Pickers. Right on.

My manager brought in some Polish candy, which I can get down with.

I spilled some laundry detergent in Aisle 7.

While I was facing Aisle 8, I noticed some bizarre packaging on a product called Zanfel. There were three faces, a before, middle, and after-product-use face. The first one was of the model weirdly puffy, in the middle one he was slightly less puffy. And the last one he looked relatively normal. The cream was for an outbreak of a rash from poison ivy, oak and sumac.

I saved 55% off my purchase of M&Ms and Oxyclean Stainfighters.

B.F.A

I was color-correcting a passport photo, and my customer asked if I had a photo background and/or schooling. Yes, I do! Thank you for noticing! He suggested I get a studio and do weddings and baptisms, like his friend. I probably wouldn't get my health insurance.

An old co-worker stopped by! Unfortuantly, when he did, I was trying to work on something for my present co-worker, who was off the clock, I had a passport to do, and there was a woman who was needing help upload her photos from her phone. So we really didn't chat.

For some reason, my manager didn't schedule someone in Cosmetics, so we were one short today. We got out only seven minutes late. The same situation is happening tomorrow, and I'm dreading it. We're "trimming the fat", I guess.

I got a few comments about my bandanna, which I wear frequently. But people acted as if it was totally something new.

I got my flu shot today. And the band-aid I got was super-cute. And my arm hurt for a few hours.

The Following

I really like the following of crazies I seem to have. There is a couple who comes to the photo kiosk to print their anniversary pictures, there is the pale guy who drinks a lot and has crazy conversations with me, and there are the various weirdos.

Parent's Night

Yes, that was me who "reorganized" the cases of Arizona Tea. And it was also me who popped a can of Mucho Mango. So yes, I am responsible for the stickiness that has occurred.

While I was sweeping, I found a crunched up piece of paper. It was blue, with child's writing, imploring the reader to come to Parent's Night. It made me kind of sad, the way I found it.

We were so busy at the end of the night. And because of a register melt-down, we didn't close until 12:10. And I may or may not have forgotten to close the door.

I have a lot of resentment built up because my manager does not seem to realize how much work I actually put in. He also leaves little messes all around the store that I clean up for him.

I feel that if a person has a part-time job, she should work at said job. She should be able to do what is required of her, because she is at work. It does not make sense to come late and leave early and ignore your co-workers pleas for help. But evidently, some people are allowed to do whatever the fuck they want.

Sundown comes at 7:30ish. Pretty disappointing.

Freaky Eyes

My eye doctor appointment went much later than I thought it would, so I went to work with my eyes super-dialated. It was hard to read the WIC numbers, and look at people's change. One of my co-workers said my eyes were really freaky, and to not look at her. And I rung up these two Koreans, one of whom asked me if we took Korean money.
"Not today", I said.  "Although I my eyes are still so dilated I might not know the difference."
He asked me if I should be wearing sunglasses, and I said that it seems to be getting better. He disagreed.

Our manager yelled at me and one of my fave co-workers! We apparently were talking too much.

I couldn't get into my employee info part of our website. This is turning into a great source of frustration for me. I need to know what is going on with my health insurance, profit sharing and 401(k). How am I supposed to manage my freaking money if I can't even navigate the website?!

Hi-Five!

A regular customer came in and said,
"hey, whats' up?"
he had his hand out so I gave him a hi-five! What the hell was that? It was totally weird and I don't know what I was thinking.

Another regular of mine came in and stood around Aisle 9 while he was waiting for his friend. He asked if 'they' were cool with my tattoos and piercings. I told him they were, kind of.

I printed several 5x7 folded cards, several different orders. They had princesses on them, and bizarre wording. They were cards from a soon-to-be bride, asking her friends to be her bridesmaids. I was confused about the Disney princess theme, which seemed childish. And she spelled maid-of-honor, "maid's of honor". Which is just sad. Hope her wedding goes better.

Awkward Since 1985

Their are groups of high school and middle school kids who come in and act a fool. Some groups are too cool for school, and they talk about things they shouldn't be doing. Other groups have weird inside jokes and say odd things to each other. In every group, someone is wearing a article of clothing that is too small or very weird.
Two girls in crazy but awesome outfits (involving a lot of t-shirt fringe and denium shorts) came to my register. They met up with two boys at the register. I think they all came from the football game. The girls were going to head over to the beach and the boys were trying to convince them not to go. Not sure why. There was a moment when the girls said they were going, the boys seemed like they were about to make fun of them. During that split-second, I saw the girls' face fall. I felt that sting of thinking that you're doing the cool thing and wanting to impress someone, only to have them make fun of you and saying you're doing the wrong thing. The boys kept looking over to me to see if I was listening, which I was, of course. Turns out the girls were going to the beach to go smoke cigarettes and/or pot.
Watching these groups reminds me of how awkward and awful my middle-school and high-school years were. I always feel like there is one kid who rules the roost and one kid at the bottom of the barrel. I worry about those kids who think that friends are the people who loudly make fun of you in a public place.

I mopped the floor. After I spilled a bunch of water in the closet. And instead of soap, I used some super-slippery floor treatment.

Today was pretty relaxing because I was at the Register instead of Photo. It was a nice change of pace.

I think I'm getting old, because I noticed that the high school kids are getting skankier and skankier. Girls are wearing almost nothing, or articles of clothing that are far too tight. And these damn kids get crazy! Talking about ratchet-faces, getting high, who they want to 'be' with, who is buying what...I just remember how I was in high-school, and I don't think I was like that at all. I was, however, a hot mess.

We got out late, even though all of us on the floor were ready.

I forgot how crazy and weird people when they come up to the register. I hear a lot of personal information and people's life stories.

That Is What She Said

We got out early tonight. To even things out from last night.

I had no socks on today. Don't tell the hubs.

I did a lot of passports. Its getting easier to color-correct while someone is breathing down my neck.

Summer Aisle

We would have gotten out on time, but my manager has poor workplace time management. At the beginning of the shift he tried to give me his work. And then right before I went on lunch, he tried to get me to head over to that aisle to take care of business. But I went on lunch instead. Then, while I was trying to face, and do my other closing duties, he called me over to scan stuff. Which I did, but I was super-salty.
We ended up getting out twenty minutes late because instead of checking out drawers, he was putting up add tags.
I don't know what he was doing at the beginning of his shift, but obviously it wasn't as important as what made us so goddamn late.

A coworker I really like working with will be around in the evenings now. I'm stoked. 

Day And Night

I had a mid-shift today, and the diffrence between the night and day crew was...night and day. Everyone in the morning was happy, enegenic, giggly, and hard-working. The night crew was more focused on stocking than customers, and they were not enthusiastic. There were more people during the day shift, which could explain the emotional diffrence.

About a minute after I clocked in, I helped an older customer. He had a hat that said he was a WWII vetern. I did a return for him, then I ran around the store to pick up his items, because he has a hard time walking. I did a stock check for him, and then I rung him up. While I was ringing him up, he asked me about the profit-sharing options for us and he told me that for every paycheck, I should invest some. And that is how I will become a millionare. Like him. Then he told me this story about visiting his brother in Wyoming, sometime around WWII. He told his brother he needed to go to the drug store, and his brother said to shout out the store name. So he did, in a sing-song voice, and a horse comes running up to the house. He got on the horse, and went to the drugstore of his choice (the only one in the area). To get home, he yelled "home" at the horse. He said that I am young and pretty, and have a lot of time to invest wisely. And he wanted to know if I was single.

I got the giggles a lot today. And I got a good deal on foundation, eggs, eyeliner, and cookies. (72% off!)

Lots of Things

For "lunch" at work I had a container of musk melon I bought at the farmer's market and two fold-over bags of pretzels I bought at the hardware store. And a Pepsi Throwback. I felt pretty good about this consumption.

I rung up a woman for some M&M's for her son's birthday. She doesn't come in often, but I recognize her for the following reasons:
1) she is small
2) she always has her own bag
3) she is always super-friendly and super-energetic, no matter the time
4) she always has coupons! and she is willing to tell me the date of the paper they came in. and she is always willing to engage in a brief conversation about coupons
The Harvest M&M's were on sale, but not the regular ones. We only had the milk chocolate peanut flavor in the Harvest, but she couldn't buy them because her son has friends with peanut allergies. She noticed the price difference and came back in for an adjustment (while still being friendly!). I returned the candy at the bought price, she "bought" them back at the sale price, and I didn't bother factoring in her coupons. She mentioned that, and I told her to consider the money she may or may not have "made" as a gift from God...or a gift to her son for his birthday. She liked that.

I turned down 2 Purex coupons because one was for the the crystals and the customer was buying the detergent, and one was for a size she wasn't buying. She didn't fight me, because she knew I was right. The Gain coupon she used had a picture of the laundry detergent on it, and she was buying the dish detergent. But the wording on that coupon didn't specify laundry, dish, or size. I scanned it, and it worked! Obviously that is how those folks on Extreme Couponing do it. Almost cheating...

My coworker has a thing about pens. She likes them to be gel, not ink. And they need to write smooth. None of that cheap stuff!

An older woman (elderly, even) came in to pick up some prints. She told me that today was the first time she ordered prints online. And she did it during her class. I thought that was so cute and heartwarming! Maybe she'll realize how easy it is and she'll be able to do it again by herself.

A disheveled regular came in to return some spray-on red hair dye because it wasn't "a necessity". She said she is on Link and she is putting stuff on credit...yet she buys "necessities" like Arizona Sweet Tea, a single-serve of apple juice and frozen chicken quesidillas.

As I've mentioned before, this shift gives me a lot of time to think.