Harriet The Spy

I was facing the stationary aisle and I noticed that the black and white composition notebook with the taped binding is on clearence. And that made me think of Harriet The Spy, both the book and the movie. The book, of course, was better. I went over to the 19-year-old I was working with, and I asked if she knew Harriet The Spy. She did not. I remember the movie coming out when I was in the 5th grade. And reading the book in 3rd or 4th. And when I realized she had no idea what I was talking about, I felt really old.

I found a Post-it. It said
Kohls
excercize
and some other things.

I was trying to sell some gum to a guy I was ringing up and he said he wanted it to be one of those "freaky, weird flavors". He said,
"The ones that seem like ex-boyfriends. You know, fun and delicious at the the beginning..."
"And then leaving you with a slightly disgusting aftertaste?"
"Yes. Yes! We are well on our way to writing a country song."
Then there was an awkward silence while we waited for him to finish paying.

There is something long with my left eye. It is red/bloodshot, my bottom lid hurts, it hurts to blink and close my eye, and there is greenish pus coming out my tear duct. It started hurting around ten-ish.

There Was Still 10 Pictures Left!

The first call I answered was from the pharmacy.
"Customer service needed in pharmacy."
One of them wanted me to get his fucking keys from his car. Bullshit. I was so astounded, I actually got them. And the call was from the guy who was been working for our company for 25 years. So maybe it's ok. But not really.

Even though there was four people on staff for most of the evening, it was basically just me and the guy at One. Not really sure how that happened, but I was a little annoyed.

This guy drops off a disposable camera. After taking all his info, and then processing his order, I tried to open the camera. Turns out there was at least ten photos left! I thought I had ripped the film, and exposed the whole thing, but I'm not sure I did. I also had this horrible feeling that the camera was from their wedding, or a vacation years ago, or the last pictures they took of their now-dead mother. The photos were actually for the woman's client for court in the near future. Why they didn't finish the roll or use digital is beyond me. I called her to tell her what happened, and I said I would do my best to make sure the photos were o.k. She was much more friendly then I thought she would be, but it is possible didn't fully understand what I had done.

I had two more problems with processing orders. But I can't get into that now. I'm too tired and sad.

Midshift Mayham

I kind of like midshift because I get to see both the day and the night crew.

With the day shift I got stuck at the register and had to yell out to the guy who was supposed to be at One, so I could get him to come back. I hung out in Cosmetics for a little while, and rung up the S.B.A. She spent more on nail polish and nail accessories than I did on groceries at the bulk store.

Later in the evening, I went on a hunt for the A Good Day To Die Hard and Hansel and Gretel for our resident repo man. I finally found them after rifling through all the DVDs, while I was standing on milk crate. (We have the DVDs up high.) When I rung them up, the total was more than he thought it would be. There was a loud argument and joking around between us, wherein I told him the high prices were karma for doing repo jobs on Christmas.

I had been feeling ok, and maybe even pretty good for most of the day, and by the end of the day I was feeling blah and kind of stupid. Bummer.

Condumdrum in Camera

Around 11:15 this evening, a guy came in wanting to make a photo book for his son's granduation. But I didn't know where the photo books were. I thought about calling the Head Photo guy, but my manager wouldn't let me:
"You want to call him now? It's the middle of the night! Are you crazy?"
I just felt like the guy needed assistance. He says he is too busy during the day, which I think is kind of ridiculous. But he also came over from our competitor, and I felt like we should have made his time worthwhile.

I did something this evening that made me really sad. I poured several gallons and 1/2 gallons of (almost) expired milk down the drain. I feel like if I could get a food pantry or shelter representative to come by and take it before it officially expires, the milk could get into hungry bellies and empty cereal bowls. The amount of waste we produce is unbelievable. I hope I can enact some policies that will reduce some waste.

Two For One

I couldn't post yesterday because my computer was on the fritz. Again.

Anyway, yesterday a regular from my day shift came in. He was pretty drunk. He started off by saying that the neighborhood is going to shit. He wanted to know what I was doing (periodic counts) and he wanted to know if my ponytail has always been that long. (Yeah, for a while). Then he said that I should write a book about my life. I'm on it.

We have a visit tomorrow, from a whole crew of important people. So we had a few extra people, overtime was allowed, and things were hectic. I built a sidepanel and ran around doing the usual. But I felt like I was missing something or was forgetting something. Hope the visit goes well. Word is, the visit is happening at 5 pm, which means I'll run into them. I better be wearing a great outfit.

Two Down, Three To Go

I was about 20 minutes late because my babysitter was late. But we clocked out about 20 minutes late. Staying true to my belief that everything evens out.

We have a bizarre, but kind of effective thief on our hands. He wears Sherwin-Williams gear all the time. The first time he came in, he tried to short-change the guy at One. Unsuccessfully. The second time he came in, he spent a lot of time in the pain/sleep aisle yelling about medicine to make meth and 'a fungus among us', referring to the fungal foot cream. He seemed to be yelling for help, which I ignored and now feel stupid about because when he was gone we found two empty packages of fungal cream. He was hanging out in the aisle with a guy he pretended to know at the front register. They hugged like old pals and the white-clothed thief paid for his $17.99 cream. After that guy left the thief pretended to have left his wallet elsewhere. Gone was the cream! The first time he came in he pretended to know an old buddy too. And his buddy started asking the guy at the Front about milk while he asked for change. Several times.

We were really busy today. Not sure why.

I had the pleasure of ringing up a suspicious and demanding older woman. When she buys toilet paper she needs three sets of double bags, so she can split up the package of toilet paper. She says she feels too uneven while she is walking when it isn't bagged like that.

The first photo customer I had came in wanting to scan a picture probably from the 50's or early 60's. One of the women in the photo was said to be her mother, whom she has never met. I like when customers tell me stories like that.

It Gets Interesting At Night

The girl working Cos at night came up to me while I was putting away my overstock. She asked what she should get this guy she has been seeing for a few months for graduation. We discussed. Guys are hard to shop for. I suggested fragrance, accessories, boxers, a magazine subscription. Previously she asked the guy working Camera, and he suggested a nice card and a meal. He said that if someone did that for him, he would hang onto that card for years and reread it. She told him she wanted to get him something extra. So he suggested a gun.

The same girl told me that one of our regulars came in and brought her a bag of clothes. I noticed those clothes, in a grungy department store plastic bag, sitting by the register, for quite some time now. The guy who gave them to her is asking her how they fit. She wanted to know what she should do about it. And she wondered aloud why that gentleman would bring her clothes. Did he think she doesn't have any? Is he trying to get in her pants? Is he trying to preform an act of charity?

Being midshift requires a lot of running around, which is what I did. I organized the clearance section, and then bought a whole bunch of it. I gave lunches and breaks and did some overstock.

Also, I finally bought a box of Mike N' Ike Cherri and Bubbs, which is a box of cherry and bubble gum flavored Mike N' Ikes. 89 cents. Yum.