Retro Hair

Everyone knows I dye my hair. So the S.B.A mentioned that my hair is always kind of blotchy...but
"its' so retro and cute, and it works on you."
Good save.
I just like to switch hair colors a lot, and I don't mind that people know that I dye my hair. Some people (not many) think it's natural. She was talking about how she wanted her hair to be black/burgundy, and she was asking about how she should do it.
She also commented/complimented me on my eyeshadow. Which I appreciated.

I was mid-shift today, so I worked noon to eight-thirty. The woman who was supposed to be at Register One called off because she was supposedly sick. And the woman who was supposed to be in Cosmetics works at a bank now and she didn't bother finding anyone to cover her shift before she left. So for a little while it was just me and the manager. But the guy in Photo showed up almost an hour late. So it will be just him and the manager closing. I was expecting some sort of guilt trip and luckily did not receive one.

Ungrateful People

We were so freakin' busy today! I rung up people non-stop from 4:30 pm until 9:30 pm. That was the latest I have taken my lunch in years.

This family of three came to my register. The dad was really tan with a big tattoo on his forearm. They were buying a swim noodle for the boy. Instead of saying 'thanks', the boy wanted to know why they got that ugly color. And then he bonked his mom on the head with it. All she did about that was tell him not to do that anymore. He was so talkative and disrespectful. I hope my kid doesn't act like that when I buy him stuff.

Voyerism in the Camera Department

One of the reasons I like being in the Camera Department is because I like looking at other people's photos. I scanned in a few pictures for an older gentleman, and he told me the guy in the picture was him in 1975. And he told me the woman in the picture was his wife, so I told him she was beautiful and I liked her sweater. There was another older picture of someone that I scanned for him, but he didn't tell me who it was.
A few of the images we processed were of flooding in people's homes.


I have also been picking up notes people drop on the floor. Post-its, shopping lists, and the like. They are like a small window into people's lives.

My wisdom teeth are coming in, I think. The pain is making me cranky.

Free And Funny

I was doing my overstock and facing and I decided to purchase the 8 pack of Bounty paper towels on sale for $9.99. I had a coupon. I also had a cart full of overstock. So when I got to the register I told the cashier I just wanted the towels. And crayons. I was getting ready to swipe my card and she said,
"Will you be making a separate purchase?"
"What?"
"Oh! Umm, nothing."
And then we both laughed hysterically.
I guess you had to be there.

I got a free 2-liter of A&W 10 Root Beer. It was on sale and I had a coupon. All I had to do was pay tax!

Inventory

Because of Inventory happening tomorrow, we had to stay late. I hope it was worth it.

Around 6-ish, I noticed that it had gotten way darker than it should have. There was a pretty intense storm! And it ended as abruptly as it came.

I was in Photo tonight, and I had the pleasure of helping out a couple of old folks. She had printed out a few pictures from the past. The husband usually sat in the car and honked the horn while she shopped. But he came in and asked if I thought he was good-looking as a young man. He was! There was a super-cute photo of two fat babies wearing a weird knit outfit, with a big bow-string around their necks. It was him and his twin. And there was another picture of him and his twin at their Bat Mizfah. (No, I am not Jewish, and no, I don't know how to spell).

Waste Of Time

I wasted a few hours pulling shorts unnecessarily. I spent all this time in the stockroom, putting stuff in totes, and bringing it downstairs. Only to find out that most of the stuff I pulled was actually overstock. That never would have happened if we had better communication.

I was really sad right before I left for work. I wanted to stay at home with my boy. He was looking especially cute and the sky was looking especially cloudy and I just wanted to hang out in my bed and/or putter around my house.

Nine Hours

Work today was long. Really long.

When I was going out to my car to get my newspaper, a regular stopped my in the parking lot and gave me a few baby books. One is about a kangaroo who may or may not be missing her pocket. Another was the Dr. Spock book, which I am totally excited about. There were some other ones that looked cool.

The night shift was short. The woman who was supposed to be in Cosmetics called off.

We were really busy today.

The Notebook

I found another Harriet The Spy ish notebook. This one is red and has a "durable cover", which is slick and possibly waterproof.

My new manager kind of reminds of the manager from Office Space. He has a very monotone way of speaking and he is pretty rude. The way he speaks to me (and probably everyone else) make me feel like I'm doing something wrong and/or I'm stupid. He is a micro-manager, which is annoying, because I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing.

A woman I've been seeing around for a while came into my aisle and asked about what shift I work. I told her, and she said she did the same when her kid was little. I said that it was kind of creepy driving home.
"It is creepy that time of night, right?" she says.
"Yeah, it is. But kind of nice and peaceful."
"Yeah, but serial killers live in the suburbs."

Good Visits

On my lunch, my husband called and asked where I was. Apparently my co-worker had paged a bunch of times and I didn't hear it at all. When I came out of the training room, I saw my wonderful husband, my beautiful son, and my ex-co-worker! They didn't come in all together. It was so great to see my boys in the harsh florencents of my ridiculous workplace.

I got to catch up with my ex-co-worker. She was super-cute!

I saw another mom; we talked about the size of our children, our pediatricians, other moms...you know, the usual.

It was nice to see folks who made my workday go a little better.

June 13 And Today, Father's Day!

On Thursday June 13 I worked a shift for my coworker. I needed the hours, I need the good workplace karma, and I got a babysitter (thanks Ma!).
When my hubs came to switch cars with me, he brought me his work van. Which is one of those white handyman/rapist vans. Right before we close, these two guys come in looking for C.Ds and/or DVDs. They had taken a few laps around the store and had gotten the attention of my co-worker. My co-worker watches them leave and we close up shop. While we are waiting for my manager to hurry the fuck up so we can get out of there, my co-worker spots my work truck. He starts to panic!
"Whose truck is that?! Do you think it belongs to those guys? Why would someone park there?!"
"Are you talking about the white work truck out there?"
"Yeah, the rapist's van?"
"Uh, that's my husbands. It's my ride home."
"Oh. Really?"
"Yes, man!"
Meanwhile, our co-worker has busted out laughing.

Today I was all over the place. My first 50 minutes were spent giving people lunches, racing around helping customers, and trying to get to my mangled Hallmark aisle.
I have decided I really need to pay more attention to the way people look, what they are doing, and what is happening in my store. In the event of a crisis, I need to be able to recall certain details.
Incidentally, I feel like I shouldn't have even been at work because it is my husband's first Father's Day. But obviously my manager doesn't care about my family time.

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.