Lunch

The fun has begun regarding folks on the other side of the register telling me how I should look. One of my regulars came up to let me know that I was 'skinny girl pregnant', meaning that I look pregnant not fat. Because to this woman, being fat is the worst thing possiable. I'm fairly certain that she has body dysmorphic disorder and/or a regular eating disorder (like anorexia or bulimia). I know that she has gotten a boob job and liposcution. She said with her first kid, she thought her and her husband would be together forever so she 'let herself go'. She blew up to 200 pounds. She kept emphasizing that it is important to keep one's weight down so as not to allow one's man to get away. Whenever she comes in she tells me how hot I am. Obviously she doesn't hold me to her own impossiably high standards. Which I appreciate.
A woman who was listening in to our conversation said that she wondered why women today didn't bounce back to their orginal weight after having kids. In 'her day' 'all the women' just went about their business and dropped all the weight very quickly. She said she left the hospital in the clothes she wore before she got pregnant...which I doubt. Her comments irritated me greatly. I suggested that people are eating a lot of processed foods these days, which can make it hard to lose weight.

There is tension between me and my co-worker regarding lunches. I want my lunch at a certain time, which happens to be the same time she wants hers. She is so passive-aggressive, and she is tricky. But I am aggressive, so we'll see.

I told my co-worker that I went to the pool today, but I couldn't really swim because I was trying to prevent my 1 year old from dunking. He said that he wants kids really bad, and he wanted me to know how lucky I am. I know.

Party Cake Peeps

That is the new flavor of Peeps I saw in the seasonal aisle.

A few minutes before we left, my co-worker made me really mad. I had put a bag of Epson salt in a spot with no mylar, where it didn't seem to go. But it seemed like a good spot. She asked if I had done that, why, and told me that she went to put it in the stockroom. I didn't apologize. And she said she didn't want out boss to say she couldn't face well. First of all, he does say that occasionally. And I take care off all kinds of stuff for her. I put up her stock, I answer her calls, I do her tags...She has no right to come at me like that. When she wants her lunch at 8:30, I'll be taking my lunch at 8:20. So there.

I spent too much looking at nothing...eyeliner, crackers, mylars which didn't mean anything...and I barely got my ad tags done. My boss asked if I was going to get them done, and I said 'no'. Which was true.

I overheard part of a phone conversation between the Head Pharmacy guy and presumably some old person. The Head called someone to tell them that a Tech had been to that person's house, that the Tech waited for ten minutes, and then they left. Our guy had to repeat several times what pharmacy he was from. When I poked my head in (to the pharmacy) to tell him that was an awesome overheard phone call, I startled him.

I spent most of my non-working day being sick. So I really didn't want to go in.

Short Staffed

My co-worker called off an hour and 45 minutes before her shift. She may or may not have a foot injury. There was wild speculation as to what could be going on with her. Because this is not the first time she has done this, I hope that she gets some kind of warning or write-up or something.

I still feel that the new guy is questionable.

What Day Is It?

The first thing my co-worker told me was that the Asian woman I helped yesterday came back in today. She wanted a full refund for her passports because I accidentally charged her for four sets instead of three she actually got. I told my co-worker that I hope she doesn't come back in looking for me. He said that she speaks very broken English. I told him that a person can still punch someone in the side of the neck even if they can't speak English. He laughed.

I helped two girls with their photo order, which I had to redo because there was gunk on the scanner which printed out on their photos. The image was a studio shot of mom and baby, and on the bottom of image were two hearts with baby faces in them. The baby was not as cute as they thought. Or as cute as mine. I'm just sayin'. I obviously did not say that to them.

During lunch, I read the paper. And I brought yesterday's paper with me, which I didn't notice until halfway through. It really threw me off.

I finished my closing duties early, so I was able to spend a half hour putting up ad tags. Not gonna lie, I was pretty proud of myself. I was moving really slow for most of my shift, and doing warehouse was hard because my back was spasming. But I don't feel as if I'm as lazy as I think my co-workers think I am.

Plan B

There is a note in the office that said we got a customer complaint because someone in Cosmetics laughed at a female customer because (or while) she was buying Plan B. I wonder if that is true. If it is, my co-workers need to work on compassion and commen sense. But it is possiable the customer misinterpreted the emotions during the transaction.
A younger woman, late teens or early 20's, asked me if I worked there. I admitted I do, and she asked me to help her find ' the morning'.
"The morning after pill? Plan B?"
"Yeah."
I showed her where it should have been on the shelf, and then had to ask the pharmacy. The pharmacy had it, and offered an only slightly less expensive store brand.
When I handed her the pill and started stocking other things, she stood there awkardly for a second. And then said
"Uhhh..."
I asked her if she needed anything else, and she wanted me to ring her up. Because the worker at One was a male. While I was ringing her up, I thought about making small talk, or asking if she had taken it before...but I decided against it. I was really casual and non-judgemental about her purchase, as I should be. She came back later in the evening to get hand soap.
After the pharmacy closed, I realized I should not have left the rest of the Bs behind the register. What if someone had needed it? Tomorrow I'll try to remember to grab those.

Passports

I must have taken four or five passports today. Someone asked if we take pictures for Indian passports. We do not. We are in the States, so we take photos for U.S passports. I wonder where everyone is going? I used to be super-awkward at taking passports, and now I am a little less so. But I noticed that people need more direction than what I give them. I just give them a count-down and hope for the best. This reluctance to pose people, and instruct them on how to stand, is why I do not work in a studio.
Our new camera works better with no flash, at least color-wise. Which I found very surprising. Because we are in a store with florescent lights, I assumed that we needed the flash to cut down on the green. But we do not. How pleasant!

I had a hard time catching my breath for almost my entire shift.

One of my former regulars found me in aisle 8. He was really happy to see me, and asked me to smell both his wrists. He had been spritzing cologne on him, and wanted me to help him choose one. I did, although when he spritzed what he had ultimately chosen, it smelled mostly of alcohol. He said he hoped what he had chosen would go well with his man-scent. Then he told me that he was in a currency exchange the other, sniffed the air, and looked around to see a women he had dated 15 years ago. He recognized her scent! I chose not to make a joke about him being a dog.
Luckily, I got a call to the photo counter. I pretty much followed him down aisle 8, and mentioned that I was going to awkwardly follow him. He said that given all the things hes' done and seen, that wasn't awkward at all.

I really hope this thing on my finger isn't the beginning of a wart. Yuck!

20 + 3

I took in an order for 20 rolls of film from an elderly regular. She had an ad paper coupon for 'buy one set of film prints get one free'. Both of us read it as 'buy one roll processing, get one free.' So I placed the order, and mentioned that the coupon might not work. She looked really stressed out, so I told her that she wouldn't have to pay full price. She said that she doesn't own a computer, so she doesn't do all 'that photo on the computer stuff'. Her camera is the store-brand one; customers can bring in the used film for processing and get another roll free.
My customer also told me that her now-deceased father-in-law had a darkroom, was a professional photographer (sort of) and had 4x5 or and 8x10 view camera with a hood.
She thought that I haven't been working there that long. But its' been almost five years. And I told her I remember waiting on her before. She said she thought she would have remembered a cute girl like me. She should have, obviously.

I made three purchases today.
1) I got my free-after-coupon purchase
2) 'Food'. And a gallon of milk
3) Clearance Valentine stuff

We got out on time. And I'm still going to be too late.

Valentine's Day!

We weren't as busy as I thought we would be, based on the nonsense that happened last night. And the night passed by pretty quick. But I clocked out at 1am, and that was only because I told the manager I was leaving.

The new guy's God and my God are not the same. And when I suggested they might be friends, he reacted with disbelief. He also does believes being gay is a choice, and that it is wrong and possibly a sin. When I suggested he might be a hateful asshole, he recanted. Sort of.
He asked why I didn't like another co-worker, and because I am an over-sharer, I almost told him a lot of things. But instead I kept most to myself, and gave him one good reason. Then I mentioned that I can be pretty difficult, and just because I don't like someone doesn't mean other people shouldn't or the disliked is a bad person.

I was really agitated by the end of my shift.

Tis Was The Night Before Valentine's Day

I don't remember any other Valentine's Day Eve during which we were SO busy! It was pretty much non-stop ringing up the whole evening.

Although I spent some time binding books and re-printing passports, and dealing with that women that no one besides me likes.

The new guy seems suspicious. And he seems to have trouble facing. But we all did at the beginning, so I guess I should cut him some slack.

I hope tomorrow is pretty busy, but I also hope the time goes by a little faster. We got out at 12:58 today.

Passover Frogs

We have one bay of Passover stuff. It includes a bag of frogs, crazy-straws with frogs on them, and matzah cards. I'm not sure if Passover stuff is supposed to be cute, but this stuff is.

I got paid $1.80 in our rewards points for my purchase today. And I paid 20 cents out-of-pocket. I got two boxes of St. Joesph chewable aspirin and two Russell Stover candy hearts. Sweet.

I had to do a lengthy return for my co-worker. I also had to leave the register to do a passport. In the meantime, I couldn't ring anyone up. And because we didn't bother getting any of the items, I had to punch in all the barcodes. It was a ridiculous return.

Some older white guy came in and wanted me to help him find sweatpants. So I said,
"For you? So...a large?"
"A large? For me"
I couldn't tell if he was actually offended. I think he was.

Snitches

I told my co-worker what a snitch was. And we discussed some nuances in the English language.

There was one fake eyelash string in Aisle 9. I hope the person who lost it took the other one off.

We had a mystery shopper tonight; I hope I didn't ignore him.

Apparently we all need to say our branded salutations, and if we don't we might get written up. People from corporate have been popping in, unnoticed. I'm pretty sure I'm about to get written up, because I rarely welcome people into the store.

Tonight I spent a total of $5 on:
1 set of 2 energy shots
a Scooby Doo kiddie pool, with a sprinkler
L'oreal conditioner.
I spent that little because I combined the 'free' offer, clearance prices, and manufacturer coupons.
Now, how am I going to blow that pool up?

I printed out our coupon policy.

Employee Of The Month

Congrats to the Employee of the Month! You know who you are. I didn't even know we were actually doing that...

I heard that the second pregnancy can sometimes be harder than the first. For the past few days I have been getting a little naseous at work. Heartburn, and shoulder aches, and headaches too. And I get really tired, in waves. I hope it doesn't get any worse! I don't get full-on sick, I just get really uncomfortable. Which is almost worse.

I feel kind of bad for the new guy because we told him when his lunch was instead of asking, sometimes I don't answer his calls, his seems like he wants to chat (and I do not), and his body is still getting used to working 8-hour-retail. Like I said, I feel bad for him...but not bad enough to do anything.

These entries aren't as good as they used to be, I feel.

Chinese New Year

One of favorite, crazy regulars came in. She needed a lot of attention. And she wanted me to make a card with a photo from her CD. She needed to me to put text on her card; it turns out that was harder than I thought. She had a long statement that she wanted, and I was having trouble fitting it on the card. I finally figured out that I had to make several different text boxes. Then she wanted a free 4x6, which I wouldn't give her. Then I told her I HAD to go on lunch. When she came in, I had about five minutes to help her before I had to go the register to give the new guy his lunch. She was highly upset by this. I called my manager to see if he could help her and he said
"No"
and walked away. I gave him a crazy look because I feel that even if the customer is kind of insane, there is no reason why he couldn't help her. He was appalled that she didn't know how to scan. And he was rude to me and the customer. I'm thinking about telling the store manager about it.
I finally got her card printed. She seemed pleased with the result. And she gave me candy from Chinese New Year.

The new guy was o.k. He seems like a quick learner and he likes to make fun of customers with me. He's a little bit of a close-talker, though.

Its' Late

I talk a lot to some of our customers, and I hope I don't stress them out. And I hope they don't try to avoid me because I talk too much.

We have a ton of stuff on clearance! A half aisle! But I told myself that I wouldn't buy a brand name unless I had a manufacturer's coupon.

My co-worker told me about a problem she had with a few other co-workers. She didn't want me to talk to them. And I told her that wouldn't have happened to me because I get a little aggressive when I don't get my lunch.

Short Couponing

We were short again. The mid-shift guy, who was also the new guy, stayed an hour late. While he was on the register, the rest of us put up the ad tags. Probably not enough of them.

I rung up an extreme couponer. She paid 48 cents for four Bayer 24 count aspirin and four Speed Stick deoderant. We don't allow cash back overage, so I had to modify the last $1 to 88 cents. She paid only tax. When my co-worker tried to ring her up, she scanned the coupons in a different order than I did. And she rung the items up as quantity. Then the b-1-g-1 coupon didn't scan the right amount. We voided it and when I rung her up, it worked out. She only paid tax. She was nice about it, and didn't try to tell me how to do my job. I'll probably see her again.

I think I might have chatted too much with my manager.

Short Today, Again

Because that fucking girl quit without a two-weeks notice, we were short again. I was at the Register and it was exhausting.

We have a new guy, and I said a few words to him, but didn't actually formally meet him. I noticed he was wearing jeans, though. Fyi, we don't have 'casual Friday'.

Two young boys and an older man were shopping. The older boy took charge because the younger one didn't know what was going on and the man doesn't speak English. Sadly, the boy didn't understand our ad paper when it came to the Sunday coupons. So they didn't get all the deals they wanted.

I had some pinching, piercing back pain again. And that weird pain in my right butt cheek.

A guy came in and asked if he could pay in quarters. I told him that money is money. He hurredly counted them out, then mentioned that he owns a washing machine. For 'rent', the ones people use when they don't have their own. But those never come in just one...I wonder if he really does own just one.

At about 11:40pm this guy came in, and he was kind of an asshole. When he typed in his phone number on the pin-pad, he turned it far away from me, like I wanted his number. Then when I asked if he had his ID, he said,
"What do you think?"
What the hell is that? I just needed to see it to compare to his check.
Also, he couldn't find everything, but he didn't want any help with it, he just wanted to be mad.

When we left (28 minutes late) it was snowing. Nicely. Everything was finely coated and it seemed so peaceful.