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.