Late, Again

I was two minutes late. But we clocked out a 1/2 hour late. So I guess it all evens out. I was mad about having to stay late...but I got over it.

I wanted to get full case done, but I was stuck doing trivial things for the manager, and getting called up to the front register a lot. We were really busy.

When I was putting away stuff my manger gave me, I asked this guy if he needed help finding anything. And he listed a bunch of symptoms and asked what he should get to relieve them. What about me looks like I would give sound medical advice?

I Forgot!

About two minutes before I was supposed to clock in, I realized that I forgot my uniform shirt! Luckily, I was able to borrow my co-worker's. I left him candy as a thank-you.

I thought I was really on top of things today; I did what my managers told me to do...I was getting things done, and going fast. And then, at about a half hour before we clocked out, I realized I forgot some important things. Like facing aisle 7, and taking some boxes to the baler. Dang.

I got to order some stick balloons! I look forward to their arrival.

The Rumors Are True

I worked the midshift today, and I feel like I worked hard. However, there is a rumor spreading around that I don't finish my projects. Which is true, so I guess it would just be a fact spreading around. I'll tell ya, the reasons for me not finishing my projects are the following:
1) I get a list at the beginning of my shift, and that list expands and contracts like a living entity. It makes it hard to prioritize and actually finish anything.
2) Customers.
3) Unforeseen incidences.

I drank two Rockstar Punches so I was feeling a little discombobulated.

I really hope I don't get fired, or written up, or anything else that could threaten my employment.

Friday and Today (Saturday)

Friday:
I received the balloons that I was allowed to order without supervision. Hence the Nightmare Before Christmas and red heart-shaped-with-a-moustache balloons. I blew them up, then moved on to another project. Which I didn't finish. And it occurred to me that I very rarely, if ever, finish the projects assigned to me. It's a mystery to me how I remain employed. And I found out I got a raise. Go figure.


Today (Saturday):
The pain in my feet is incredible. We got out late (35 minutes) for the following reasons:
1) My manger has poor time management and didn't start closing procedures till way to late.
2) My store manager scheduled someone who could not make it. But she consistently can't make it and my manager consistently schedules her.
3) We were super-busy.
4) My feet hurt real bad, which made it hard me to move it the hell along.

While I was at the Register, I saw three boys who looked a lot alike (brothers, obviously. possibly triplets) hanging around the Hallmark aisle. They had some kind of verbal altercation, and one bro punched the other one in the jaw. The punchee turned red and looked pissed, and then the three of them left. They fourth guy who was unrelated came to my register to purchase a pop, and I asked him how they were doing. He hadn't even seen the punch, and then he seemed worried that he had to get in the same car with them.
Later one of the brothers came in with the friend, and two hipster girls. They got two cans of Brisk. The boys stayed in front of the girls the whole time. I wonder where the other two brothers were?

Shout-Out!

I wouldn't scan this woman's coupon. It was for a $1 off a Greencard purchase of $150 and she was putting $80 on her card. I scanned a coupon from her before, which I shouldn't have scanned. So this time I wouldn't scan it, and her face turned bright red and she told me that the other store scanned it. I nodded, and then she called me unethical. So be it.

I had two visitors today! You know who you are. It broke up my day, and I was glad to catch up. Thanks guys! Miss you!

Before work I was really sick; throwing up, achy, had an awful headache, neck ache, and shoulder ache. I was a little queasy when I got to work, but I felt o.k through out my shift. I have to remember to maintain good posture and not slouch around like a Photo Troll. My shoulders are consistently tense. I need to make an appointment.

The manager that I screwed over yesterday barely spoke to me today. But I wasn't the only one he was ignoring. I did notice that there were some baked goods on clearance that I resisted purchasing today. Tomorrow is another day.

Weight Gain, Price Checks and Rehab

For some reason, one of my regulars thought it was appropriate to let me know that I did, in fact, gain weight after the birth of my child. I did know that, and I'm ok with it. But I wanted to tell him how inappropriate it is that he would say something like that. But I was afraid if I opened my mouth, I would fly off the handle. So I said nothing. And his wife was embarrassed that he said that.

I tried to finish a project for a manager and I totally screwed it up. I think I was supposed to put all the baked goods up, wherever they could go. But I couldn't find a lot of the mylars and I wasn't sure where to put things. After putting a bunch of stuff up, I realized I forgot to date them. When I did date them, I realized I put the wrong date on. So basically I just moved a lot of stuff around, in and out of different milk crates. I left a crazy note, and I feel terrible. I hope my manager doesn't think I'm a dum-dum. And I hope I don't get fired.

The guy that came in drunk the other day, came in drunk again. He was with his woman, who was ignoring him. And he asked me if he had said anything wrong, or if he got crazy. I guess he had a black-out. He was really worried about what he may or may not have said.
I told the next person in line that at least he stopped doing blow. She mentioned that she was a consular at one of the intense rehab around here. We had a transaction-length conversation about being ready for  getting help and getting clean and sober.

We got out early.

Free Items And Almost Free Items

I got two free bottles of Purex laundry detergent. And a  80 count package of Dentyne Ice gum for 64 cents. And a roll of store-brand foil for 63 cents.

I wish I could tell some of our customers that leggings are not pants.

Mixed Signals

Last night one of my regulars came in drunk. He said he was on his way to stalk Lewis Black. He also said that I was The Queen Bee and he has my back. I appreciate the sentiment, not the inebriation.

My manager called me into the office to tell me not to tell him to 'relax' in front of a customer, especially when I (supposedly) asked him for help. But then he bought me an Affy Tapple.
P.S: I apologized to him for seeming disrespectful. Prior to the Affy Tapple acquisition. 

Venus Flytraps

We have Venus Flytraps! They come all in a neat little row, in a box that says,
Mother Nature's Savage Garden
and they come with a little plastic top over it. Love it. I will probably purchase one at some point.

I helped this woman purchase a memory card for her camera. I tried to explain what a gigabyte was, but when she told me she still had a rotary phone, I stopped. We turned on the camera to make sure everything worked, and she held it up...and took my picture! Not sure why, but she showed it to me before she left, and I look like I'm telling somehow how it is. Very accurate.

Speaking of photos, I fixed a jam in the phaser printer all by myself! And I located an order I thought I deleted and/or lost. But not after I made a slightly frantic call to the Head Photo tech. And then sent a slightly less-frantic text to the Head Photo tech.

There is an angst-y high schooler who comes in. She has bright dyed hair (pink, green, blue) which she keeps combed to one side and has to constantly pull it to one side with a head flip. She usually has an attitude, and today was no different. But she also had two fake liprings in. I guess she's just trying something new.

I rung up this guy who asked me how my night was going. I told him that it was going good, but I wished it was busier because it keeps me focused. I told him I feel flighty and weird. And he said,
"Oh yeah. Standing around and talking to the product and yourself."
For some reason the way he said it cracked me up.

We got out early. The new guy is good. 

Russain Mullet

The woman who has cancer came in. She was buying a Lunchable and a disposable camera for her son who is going on a field trip. She has a sense of humor about her situation. Because she has to, she says. Apparently when the cashier up front up asked if she wanted to donate to the Susan B. Kohmen foundation she told them that she was donating her own boobs to the foundation. And the cashier didn't laugh. I said maybe it was because it is hard for people to understand and find humor in jokes like that. Which is when she told me she has to joke. Then she told me that she'll get new boobs. Which will be like mine. So I bounced them at her, which luckily she thought was funny.

I printed some photos of someone's facebook profile. The quality was very poor. And the rest of her photos were self-portraits, and her phone was in the way of her face.

Money=Purchase

We were short today. Again. And we got out 25 minutes late.

While I was on the register covering a lunch, this woman came in a got me all kinds of frazzled. She brought a bunch of stuff, and I was too polite to ask if she had money. She had been in earlier and got to the register, and didn't have any money, but was snacking on her wanna-be purchases. This time around, she still had no money. I told her politely that she needed money to finish this transaction. She said that she has no money, but she just asks people to pay for her stuff. So I told her that she should gather her money first before coming to register. She nodded and said was very agreeable about being so difficult. Over the next twenty minutes she got people to purchase her two boxes of sleep-aid, a six pack of Diet Coke, a yogurt, and a caramel. While she was standing next to this guy who was trying to finish his transaction, she started breathing all heavy. The guy asked if she was ok, and she said she would be as soon as I gave her the cigarettes. He told her that probably wouldn't help and she got irate with him, telling him that the smokes would help. Then she told me to get them for her, so I explained that I had to finish the transaction with this gentleman. She was obviously not quite right, but I told her I would call the cops if she continued to hang around. My co-worker said I had balls for telling her how "the shopping experience" works. (I.e: you need money to make a purchase.)


I've grown to expect this kind of nonsense. But it is still stressful.

95%

Yes, that was me saving 95% on my purchase today. Go me!
Robitussin 4oz $4.99
Lays Pico de Gallo 91/2 oz $1.99
Lays Lightly Salted 9 1/2oz $1.99
Advil (that new shiny one) 20 ct $3.99
I had a $2 Advil coupon, a $3 Robitussin coupon, and a $5 blanket coupon.

A Jewish woman called me a "mitzha". Perhaps? Obviously not the correct spelling, but she meant it as a compliment. She had negatives she wanted prints from, and she wanted to know how long I had been working there. She was at one of our stores but she left because she felt like the women at Photo was too young and hadn't been working there long enough to know what was going on. I had to break the news to her that we don't deal with actual negatives anymore. But I called another store for her, and she really appreciated it. And I told her I understood about the feelings surrounding negatives.

The Injustice!

I was puttering around on Freeflys.com (not at work) and entered at sweepstakes to win free milk. I won! They emailed me a coupon, which I printed out, with low ink. So my store didn't accept my coupon! My manager said he would about a week ago, then decided not to today. So on my way home, I stopped by the other store and they were able to use my coupon. Because it is real. And I wanted my free milk!

The soundtrack my store is playing makes me feel like I'm in a weird B-movie.

Cancer

I put up new price changes. Prices are rising! Up and up. We had to put up new ad tags to match those higher prices. It is a little alarming when prices goes up and paychecks stay the same.

A regular of mine announced to the rest of the line, but mostly to another mom, that she had just been diagonosed with cancer. No one really knew what to say. But it was scary and awful. She tried to lighten the mood by saying that she was going to lose her hair.