So, lots to write about. I'll start with the stuff I posted that I was going to post about - in my metapost, if you will.
Because I know I sure will. Or something like that.
First, Ray had his baby! Yay! Well, I guess you could say Heather had it, to be fair and all. It was the 22nd, she's healthy and everything. I need to send them some congratulatory messages. It's very exciting. It's hard to believe, I s'pose. We're closing together on Sunday - theoritically - so I'm sure I'll get to hear all about it.
Speaking of babies, Saxton is getting bigger every day. We had Sunday brunch at Mom's, it's just incredible watching him grow. I mean, I hate kids and all, but I won't deny the miracle that is human life.
Simply stunning.
Next, my truck. Um, what was I going to post about? Oh, yeah. So I noticed it was hissing after driving it, and I could smell coolant. I took it over to Meineke. It's a weird little shop, and I got annoyed when they let that girl cut in front of me that last time, but I do like the way they take care of their customers. They're very sure to provide you with a written estimate before they do anything, or call you if they're not there. That was one of the problems I had with B&M - I would always very specifically tell them I wanted them to call me before they did anything, and they never did. Hell, one time, we got the truck dropped off there around eight am; it was pushing four, and we hadn't heard anything at all from them. They said they'd be able to look at it before noon, so we were getting a little concerned. We called, and they had already diagnosed and fixed the problem. I mean, yeah, that's kinda good, except we had specifically requested a call before any work was done. So yeah, that got a little annoying. I went to Meineke once for an oil change, and to get the brake light thing checked out. No problems there - the check brake light was on 'cause a tube had somehow been disconnected, no extra charge at all for diagnosing and fixing it. So yeah, I'm going with them for right now.
I called at like 1:30, asking how long the wait was (I had to be to work at five). They said they had an open bay. I got there, it had been filled (Hmm). But yeah, it was some girl waiting to get her brakes checked out. She was reading America: The Book, which is just awesome. I thought I might have recognized her from on campus, but didn't say anything. Yeah, it wasn't until about 3:30 that they were able to look at Chelsea. One hose had holes in it, two more were wearing thin. I told him that I'd get it fixed there, *if* they were sure they could have it done by 4:35 - it was 3:45 at this point.
I started getting worried about 4:40. At 4:45, they came out and told me that they had the wrong hose. I told them I had to be to work at 5, the lady working the desk drove me home, let me change, then drove me to work. Weird, but it works. They dropped off the truck at a few hours later. I was ansy with someone else driving her around and what-not, but everything turned out okay.
So, next on this wildly sporadic, topic-hopping adventure: movie night. Jason and I have been hanging out at my place after work, watching movies. First night was just the two of us, watching Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. It's not a porn, as my mom seemed to think. But it's FRICKIN' AWESOME. Very sarcastic, witty dialogue. I'm taking it up to Rose and Lilie tomorrow night, I think they'll love it. The second time, it was me, Kenny, Ambra, and Jason watching the same movie again. Finally, Ambra, Jason and I watched Momento. I was the only one who hadn't seen it. Fantastic movie.
Let's see, what else, what else?
Yeah, we've got two new drivers at work, Kyle and David. We always seem to hire drivers in pairs - Enrique and Greg, Ryan and Kenny, David and Kyle. It's notable because we associate the two of them, even though they've never met before they started working, and will generally only be associated as co-workers, not like a deep bond or something. That sentence didn't make a lot of sense, so bare with me. Anyway. Closed with Jason and Kyle the other night, that was a lot of fun. I want to say that was the night we watched Momento. In fact, I'm almost positive, 'cause we gave Kyle a hard time about not joining us - his girlfriend was down from Austin or something. But yeah, they both seem to be working out well. David kind of reminds me of Rick from Sonic, but only in a physical sense. He's a little taller, a little wider, but definite physical resemblance. Psychologically, nothing like him. He seems really cool, though. Kyle is always described as a new Mokry, but I don't really agree. Time will tell, though.
So, Rebecca. She's the girl at Jack-in-the-Box that makes me feel weird whenever we make eye contact. I mean, it's just a little crush. I've been talking to Rose, and there aren't really any ways to approach a female in the service industry. I'm sure it's happened once or twice, but it won't this time. It helps if you're like really hot and they make the first motion, but failing that, you don't really have many options. I dont know what I'm saying - I'm sure there's a way, I just don't have the confidence to do it. I figure females receive all kinds of unsolicited attention as it is - *especially* those in the service industry - and I don't want to exacerbate the problem. To be fair, though, at the moment, she's *way* in the back of my mind. That's only because it's been such an awesome three days. We'll see what happens when I'm back in the daily grind, if I get to come back up to Austin very often. I hope I do. I like it up here. So yeah, she's cute. Really pretty eyes. That's... about all I have to say on the matter for right now. Probably *it*, as well. I mean, probably all I'll have to say about it.
So I'm still up in Austin, hanging out with Rose and Lilie, which is nice. Looks like I'll be crashing here tonight too. It's... confusing, to say the least. Simple, but confusing. Easy, but hard. A, but not a.
Good times.
I think too much, and not enough.
So... what else? I don't know. I'm still bummed about this whole Domino's thing being taken off of my time frame, about my social life being all twisted up, I just feel like I've lost control for the time being. It's time I started taking it back, I just have to take the first step. That's the hardest. Well... I'll be able to take it in one area, not sure about another. I think it'll just keep going on like it has been, failing something catastrophic to act as a catalyst and force me to break out of it.
So, back to work tomorrow. I have two closing shifts, a day off, then a long inside shift, then close on Sunday. I have to go in to talk to Gina as soon as I'm backin town, which will probably be around 11 am tomorrow or so. I have to remember to ask Lilie if we can set her alarm clock - it's not quite as loud as mine, but it'll do - before we crash out.
2006-06-28
2006-06-27
You're my shining star, you're a million miles away
So yeah, I most of this post written out already, but I started playing WoW, and something froze up (Not on my comp. at the moment, long story), I had to restart, and it lost the post.
That sucks.
Lost my appetite for WoW for the moment, so I'll slog through retyping most of this.
In Austin right now. Yeah. Was here last night too, didn't plan on being back until tonight, but a last-hour executive order kind of changed that up. I was woken up this morning by a call from Gina. Apparently, she heard from Regina and Kassandra at the manager's meeting today that I was thinking about quitting. So she decided to call me and get right to the heart of the matter. That's something I highly agree with - not going by rumor, but just finding out for yourself.
So anyway.
I told her I'm in Austin right now, that I didn't know when I'd be back in town. Which is true. I'm kind of hanging out here right know; the aforementioned call was around 3:30 - 4, so it's another late afternoon wake-up. It's anyone's guess about tonight, I haven't decided anything yet, but that's only half of the formation. But yeah. I have to go talk to her as soon as I'm back in town. I don't know how they found out to begin with. There's only a few ways I can think of off the top of my head. It's doubtful, but certainly possible, that they both read my blog. Possible, but VERY doubtful. I'm almost willing to rule that out as a possibility right from the get-go. Eileen might have heard somehow - how, I can't fathom, but bear with me - and told them, but that's also uplausible, for two reasons. First, if she had heard that, I think she would have told Gina about it, instead of just talking to two other GMs about it. Second, I won't flatter myself into thinking that I'm a topic of conversation between my DM and two GMs at other stores in another town. That really only leaves one thing I can think of. I mean, I'm not upset. Well, yeah, I'm upset at the situation, at what's going to have to happen. I never indicated that I wanted it to remain completely private, and I can't say that I wouldn't have done the same thing in the circumstance.
So yeah, where does that leave me? Not entirely sure. I haven't had a chance to talk to Gina yet, other than the abortive phone call, so I can't really gauge her mood. I think she'll be sympathetic, to a point. I don't know if she'll let me hang on as a part-time driver, or if I'm going to ask. I *still* haven't gone by the Wal-Mart Distribution Center to apply, nor have I started looking for anything else. I've got way too much inertia - especially the 'at-rest' part. I think it's my subconscious aversion to change. Well, at least ambigious change. Most people, I feel, favor good change and dislike bad change. It's ambigiougs, uncertain change that people react to differently. I can't say that I always react to it with aversion, though (I like that word at the moment, prepare for it to be used often). I guess it just depends on my mood. Sometimes, I really like chaotic things, change swirling around too fast to keep up with.
Hell, come to think of it, I have that problem a lot. I have problems filling out personality quizzes - again, my answers vary way too much depending on my mood, which can vary drastically. I mean, I know most people have mood swings, and I don't think mine are particularly noteworthy. Just something I've noticed, something that annoys me from time to time. So anyway.
I'm not entirely sure where I was going with that. I'm kind of, well... not depressed, I don't think. Definitely something negative. Started feeling kind of ansy last night on the way up here, but once I got here, well... hanging out up here has a tendency to supress any negative feelings I might have. At least, for a while.
So I guess I'll have to tell Gina everything, go over the entire speech I've been mentally rehearsing for a while now. It also means I need to find a new job. one that's going to allow me to go back to school. The Distribution Center remains my best chance by a long shot, and it's going to be my first stop. Possibly tomorrow, depending on what happens tonight, definitely Thursday at the latest. After that, I'm not sure.
I just..., I don't know.
Oh, god. That style of typing I just slipped into, yeah... I've been at this screen for too long. I'm just going to go to the other side of the living room, sit in the chair, and watch Law & Order. I don't know how long I'll be here.
Unknown -- Also Unknown
That sucks.
Lost my appetite for WoW for the moment, so I'll slog through retyping most of this.
In Austin right now. Yeah. Was here last night too, didn't plan on being back until tonight, but a last-hour executive order kind of changed that up. I was woken up this morning by a call from Gina. Apparently, she heard from Regina and Kassandra at the manager's meeting today that I was thinking about quitting. So she decided to call me and get right to the heart of the matter. That's something I highly agree with - not going by rumor, but just finding out for yourself.
So anyway.
I told her I'm in Austin right now, that I didn't know when I'd be back in town. Which is true. I'm kind of hanging out here right know; the aforementioned call was around 3:30 - 4, so it's another late afternoon wake-up. It's anyone's guess about tonight, I haven't decided anything yet, but that's only half of the formation. But yeah. I have to go talk to her as soon as I'm back in town. I don't know how they found out to begin with. There's only a few ways I can think of off the top of my head. It's doubtful, but certainly possible, that they both read my blog. Possible, but VERY doubtful. I'm almost willing to rule that out as a possibility right from the get-go. Eileen might have heard somehow - how, I can't fathom, but bear with me - and told them, but that's also uplausible, for two reasons. First, if she had heard that, I think she would have told Gina about it, instead of just talking to two other GMs about it. Second, I won't flatter myself into thinking that I'm a topic of conversation between my DM and two GMs at other stores in another town. That really only leaves one thing I can think of. I mean, I'm not upset. Well, yeah, I'm upset at the situation, at what's going to have to happen. I never indicated that I wanted it to remain completely private, and I can't say that I wouldn't have done the same thing in the circumstance.
So yeah, where does that leave me? Not entirely sure. I haven't had a chance to talk to Gina yet, other than the abortive phone call, so I can't really gauge her mood. I think she'll be sympathetic, to a point. I don't know if she'll let me hang on as a part-time driver, or if I'm going to ask. I *still* haven't gone by the Wal-Mart Distribution Center to apply, nor have I started looking for anything else. I've got way too much inertia - especially the 'at-rest' part. I think it's my subconscious aversion to change. Well, at least ambigious change. Most people, I feel, favor good change and dislike bad change. It's ambigiougs, uncertain change that people react to differently. I can't say that I always react to it with aversion, though (I like that word at the moment, prepare for it to be used often). I guess it just depends on my mood. Sometimes, I really like chaotic things, change swirling around too fast to keep up with.
Hell, come to think of it, I have that problem a lot. I have problems filling out personality quizzes - again, my answers vary way too much depending on my mood, which can vary drastically. I mean, I know most people have mood swings, and I don't think mine are particularly noteworthy. Just something I've noticed, something that annoys me from time to time. So anyway.
I'm not entirely sure where I was going with that. I'm kind of, well... not depressed, I don't think. Definitely something negative. Started feeling kind of ansy last night on the way up here, but once I got here, well... hanging out up here has a tendency to supress any negative feelings I might have. At least, for a while.
So I guess I'll have to tell Gina everything, go over the entire speech I've been mentally rehearsing for a while now. It also means I need to find a new job. one that's going to allow me to go back to school. The Distribution Center remains my best chance by a long shot, and it's going to be my first stop. Possibly tomorrow, depending on what happens tonight, definitely Thursday at the latest. After that, I'm not sure.
I just...
Oh, god. That style of typing I just slipped into, yeah... I've been at this screen for too long. I'm just going to go to the other side of the living room, sit in the chair, and watch Law & Order. I don't know how long I'll be here.
Unknown -- Also Unknown
2006-06-24
Maybe I'm the one to blame, to think that you could be the one
Quick post, since I only have ten minutes before I have to start getting ready for work. I'm just trying to organize my thoughts, make sure I get everything in my next post that I want:
Maybe more. We'll see
Jojo -- Leave
- Rebecca
- Momento / Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
- Kyle and David
- Ambra
- Lilie and Rose
- (Not playing) WoW
- My truck
- Ray and his daughter (!)
- Work - Manager meeting
Maybe more. We'll see
Jojo -- Leave
2006-06-20
I just want your touch, your company
So, 1.11 is finally out, and everyone's having issues getting it.
Good times.
Looks like I've got about another forty-five minutes before I get to join in on the fun. LHC is going to be an absolute bloodbath. Well... they're supposed to be adding in guards similar to the Cenarion Stronghold in Silithus. EPL is going to be an absolute bloodbath, however. A lot of the new items look pretty cool, though, even the ones obtainable outside of Naxxramas, which I doubt I'll ever get to see. Well, before the expansion, anyway. It's going to be a pain in the butt being an Arcanite Transmuter, however, until the market on Arcane crystals normalizes back out.
Work hasn't been that bad lately. Turned in my form for vacation, which Gina approved; we just have to see if Eileen and Mike do so as well. I really, really hope they do. I mean, I've earned it - it's a reward for having worked there for an entire year. Oh, wow. Today is exactly one year. Good times. Got a phone audit, accidentally said 'poop' in front of her. I asked her what toppings she wanted, I swear she said "Pepperoni, cheese, and, um, lemme go ask my sister real quick.' But no. She said 'pepperoni, cheese, and mushroom.' I have no idea how I made that error. But she called back to tell me it was a phone audit, then told me I got a 90, so I didn't do *that* badly. Closed Saturday night, had to go in early Sunday morning to go get wings so we didn't run out - we sold over 50 on Saturday, for whatever reason. I got there a little after 10; I wanted to wait a bit, so I wouldn't be in the way or anything. I get there at 10:15 or so, Travis is sitting out in his truck. Turns out no one was there yet. I had looked at the schedule last night, I knew Gina was supposed to be opening. I called her, woke her up; she thought she was closing, but I made sure she knew that no, she was supposed to be opening. She told me to open the store up, get everything put together, she'd be there as soon as she could.
So I'm running around in my t-shirt and sandals, getting the makeline stocked up, sauce out, all that good stuff. I mean, I washed my hands really well and all, but it still felt a little weird. We even had one order, a single cheese pizza, that Travis took. He passed Gina on the way out. She came in, told me about Taylor's birthday party the day before. I went to Seguin, got wings, and came home. Then woke up at like 5:20 to my phone ringing. Gina's calling to find out where I am. Her words: "This is one time I can probably cut you a little leniency on being late, since you were here this morning covering my ass and all." Sunday night was okay, got kinda slow and had three drivers closing, since it was Kyle's second training closing shift. I was done with Sunday night paperwork about 3. Well... not really. I could have been done by 3, but Jess was running a little behind, so I took a 10 minute break, dragged a chair outside and just kind of chilled for a little bit. She showed up eventually, gave me Seguin's paperwork. I went home first, chilled out, then drove to San Antonio to drop it off. I HATE having to do that. It annoys the FUCK out of me.
But yeah, I was getting pretty tired on the drive home. It was about six am when I got back, maybe a little later. That, and I'd been driving almost the last two hours straight, and driving long periods makes me sleepy. I was really hungry, though, so I decided to go to Jack in the Box and grab some breakfast real quick. That, and they have orange juice, which was an exciting prospect. So I pull in, order, and drive up to the window. The girl manning the window was SO CUTE. Oh. My. God. She handed me my orange juice, I gave her payment, she gave me my change. As I was turning to put the change in the passenger side handrest, I just dropped it all over the cab. I'm still trying to figure that one out - I was tired, but I wasn't *that* tired, especially since I had finally been able to stop driving and talk to someone (albeit for not that long.) So yeah, I think it was a combination of being really tired (not much) and her being so attractive (mostly) that made me spill my change everywhere. I guess they had to do everything fresh, 'cause it took a while for my stuff. I mean, not overly long, just a little longer than usual. I'm not complaining or anything. But yeah, the girl was looking at me weird. I figure it was probably 'cause I was probably looking at her weird, 'cause I was mesmerized.
[Quick note: Work just called, wanting me to go to San Antonio to pick some stuff up, since the truck is going to be six hours late. Oh joy. I HATE driving long distances like this. I really, really hate it. Gawd, I can't wait to be out of this position.]
But yeah, she apologized for it taking so long, and I was off.
Last night, I went to Mom's to do laundry. I got to meet her new fling, Billy McAllister. He's... okay, I guess. Not weird, like Doug. Kinda quiet, reminds me a little too much of Mr. Becak. That's not a terribly bad thing, just a little weird. We watched 'The Island', a remake of the atrocious 'Parts: The Clonus Horror'. It wasn't that bad, almost passable. I did have to deal with them cuddling up, though, which was kinda weird. Mom also told me that she was having some issues with Janelle's new boyfriend being black. I mean, it caught me off guard, but I don't really care. Mom's older though, and inter-racial dating is something that was frowned upon back then, especially since she was raised by her grandmother, who taught her something like 'The birds all come to the same feeder to feed, and go to the same birdbath to bathe, but then they all go back to their own nests.' So she's definitely against racism, segragation, and discrimination, it's just this one aspect she's having trouble with. And she was telling me that she knows it's a bad thing that she's having trouble coping with it, so that's good.
But anyway.
Went by work after that to say hey to Ashley, who actually had a few questions for me, so that turned out well. I drove by Jack in the Box to get an orange soda, and sure enough, that girl was working the drive through again. I forgot my change, but went back, and Ashley told me she wanted an orange soda, so I went right back and got her one as well. The girl (who I would later find out is named 'Rebecca') was like, "Weren't you just here? And you forgot your change." I told her that yeah, I was, and that I got back and my friend was like, "I want an orange soda too."
Touching. Really.
So, yeah, there it is.
'Cause the girl that you know
Is not who I am
Good times.
Looks like I've got about another forty-five minutes before I get to join in on the fun. LHC is going to be an absolute bloodbath. Well... they're supposed to be adding in guards similar to the Cenarion Stronghold in Silithus. EPL is going to be an absolute bloodbath, however. A lot of the new items look pretty cool, though, even the ones obtainable outside of Naxxramas, which I doubt I'll ever get to see. Well, before the expansion, anyway. It's going to be a pain in the butt being an Arcanite Transmuter, however, until the market on Arcane crystals normalizes back out.
Work hasn't been that bad lately. Turned in my form for vacation, which Gina approved; we just have to see if Eileen and Mike do so as well. I really, really hope they do. I mean, I've earned it - it's a reward for having worked there for an entire year. Oh, wow. Today is exactly one year. Good times. Got a phone audit, accidentally said 'poop' in front of her. I asked her what toppings she wanted, I swear she said "Pepperoni, cheese, and, um, lemme go ask my sister real quick.' But no. She said 'pepperoni, cheese, and mushroom.' I have no idea how I made that error. But she called back to tell me it was a phone audit, then told me I got a 90, so I didn't do *that* badly. Closed Saturday night, had to go in early Sunday morning to go get wings so we didn't run out - we sold over 50 on Saturday, for whatever reason. I got there a little after 10; I wanted to wait a bit, so I wouldn't be in the way or anything. I get there at 10:15 or so, Travis is sitting out in his truck. Turns out no one was there yet. I had looked at the schedule last night, I knew Gina was supposed to be opening. I called her, woke her up; she thought she was closing, but I made sure she knew that no, she was supposed to be opening. She told me to open the store up, get everything put together, she'd be there as soon as she could.
So I'm running around in my t-shirt and sandals, getting the makeline stocked up, sauce out, all that good stuff. I mean, I washed my hands really well and all, but it still felt a little weird. We even had one order, a single cheese pizza, that Travis took. He passed Gina on the way out. She came in, told me about Taylor's birthday party the day before. I went to Seguin, got wings, and came home. Then woke up at like 5:20 to my phone ringing. Gina's calling to find out where I am. Her words: "This is one time I can probably cut you a little leniency on being late, since you were here this morning covering my ass and all." Sunday night was okay, got kinda slow and had three drivers closing, since it was Kyle's second training closing shift. I was done with Sunday night paperwork about 3. Well... not really. I could have been done by 3, but Jess was running a little behind, so I took a 10 minute break, dragged a chair outside and just kind of chilled for a little bit. She showed up eventually, gave me Seguin's paperwork. I went home first, chilled out, then drove to San Antonio to drop it off. I HATE having to do that. It annoys the FUCK out of me.
But yeah, I was getting pretty tired on the drive home. It was about six am when I got back, maybe a little later. That, and I'd been driving almost the last two hours straight, and driving long periods makes me sleepy. I was really hungry, though, so I decided to go to Jack in the Box and grab some breakfast real quick. That, and they have orange juice, which was an exciting prospect. So I pull in, order, and drive up to the window. The girl manning the window was SO CUTE. Oh. My. God. She handed me my orange juice, I gave her payment, she gave me my change. As I was turning to put the change in the passenger side handrest, I just dropped it all over the cab. I'm still trying to figure that one out - I was tired, but I wasn't *that* tired, especially since I had finally been able to stop driving and talk to someone (albeit for not that long.) So yeah, I think it was a combination of being really tired (not much) and her being so attractive (mostly) that made me spill my change everywhere. I guess they had to do everything fresh, 'cause it took a while for my stuff. I mean, not overly long, just a little longer than usual. I'm not complaining or anything. But yeah, the girl was looking at me weird. I figure it was probably 'cause I was probably looking at her weird, 'cause I was mesmerized.
[Quick note: Work just called, wanting me to go to San Antonio to pick some stuff up, since the truck is going to be six hours late. Oh joy. I HATE driving long distances like this. I really, really hate it. Gawd, I can't wait to be out of this position.]
But yeah, she apologized for it taking so long, and I was off.
Last night, I went to Mom's to do laundry. I got to meet her new fling, Billy McAllister. He's... okay, I guess. Not weird, like Doug. Kinda quiet, reminds me a little too much of Mr. Becak. That's not a terribly bad thing, just a little weird. We watched 'The Island', a remake of the atrocious 'Parts: The Clonus Horror'. It wasn't that bad, almost passable. I did have to deal with them cuddling up, though, which was kinda weird. Mom also told me that she was having some issues with Janelle's new boyfriend being black. I mean, it caught me off guard, but I don't really care. Mom's older though, and inter-racial dating is something that was frowned upon back then, especially since she was raised by her grandmother, who taught her something like 'The birds all come to the same feeder to feed, and go to the same birdbath to bathe, but then they all go back to their own nests.' So she's definitely against racism, segragation, and discrimination, it's just this one aspect she's having trouble with. And she was telling me that she knows it's a bad thing that she's having trouble coping with it, so that's good.
But anyway.
Went by work after that to say hey to Ashley, who actually had a few questions for me, so that turned out well. I drove by Jack in the Box to get an orange soda, and sure enough, that girl was working the drive through again. I forgot my change, but went back, and Ashley told me she wanted an orange soda, so I went right back and got her one as well. The girl (who I would later find out is named 'Rebecca') was like, "Weren't you just here? And you forgot your change." I told her that yeah, I was, and that I got back and my friend was like, "I want an orange soda too."
Touching. Really.
So, yeah, there it is.
'Cause the girl that you know
Is not who I am
2006-06-16
I don't know where we went wrong
Let's see, fun stuff today. Joe and I were scheduled to go to class this morning at ten. We were a little late - my fault - but still were going to make it. Except... we went the wrong way. For some reason, Joe thought it was off of 1604, and I couldn't remember how to get there, since I hadn't drive there in a while, and was pretty tired, so I didn't say anything or think about it. Well, we got to where 1604 hits I-10, and realized we had probably gone the wrong way. Joe called and talked to Gina; I was to attend the 2 o'clock class; he'd be unable to, since he had a meeting he had to go to later that day.
I didn't think too much of it - Joe said Gina sounded upset, but not unbearably so. So, I left here a little after one, got to '02 just after two, attended the class. As usual, total useless crap. The topic of the class was 'Food Ordering and Scheduling.' We learned things like 'Making a bad food order is detrimental in myriad ways.'; 'It's easier to have someone volunteer to go home early than to find someone to come in to cover a short-staffed shift'. I mean, truly revolutionary, ground-breaking concepts. Left there 'round 4:30, got to work by 5:30. I wasn't scheduled in until 6:30, but it was a little rainy, so calls were starting to come in, so I hung around. Gina was there, but just in the office. She pulled me back to talk to me a little before she left.
She told me that she had hoped that after the incident yesterday, that we'd get everything straightened out, and that it was pretty disheartening that we didn't. She used to be able to brag about us, how we were so awesome, that everything great coming out of her store was because of us, that she couldn't do it alone. But now, her only response would have to be silence, after our... issues. She basically made it sound like she was the laughing-stock of the entire company right now. It's an entirely unreasonable assertion, except that people missing class isn't a new issue. So yeah, she went on to tell me that I'd be receiving another write-up, and that being caught between a rock and a hard place, I am now a single write-up away from termination. Additionally, since this was a critical, it prevented me from receiving a bonus this period. And, on top of everything else, it intefered with my level assignment, since the class I missed yesterday was a fundamental, basic one.
Nothing terribly surprising there. I'll admit, I'm a little curious about Joe and what happened to him, having missed the same stuff as I, except he wasn't able to attend the 2 o'clock class. Overall, though, don't care. I was talking to Ray and James, and I've started to formulate a plan. I really, really want to go work at the Wal-Mart Distrbution Warehouse. After having talked to James for a while about it, it really seems like my kind of work: weekend shifts is three twelve hour shifts, then four days off (Saturday, Sunday, Monday). That, and it's pretty easy to pick up extra hours. You have quotas to fulfill, receive bonuses for doing so; it's particularly hard to meet them, as long as you work diligently and aren't lazy. There's never a shortage of actual work, so you're never stuck hunting for something to do or passing time with busy-work. There's frequent reviews and oppurtunities for raises, too. Also, I wouldn't be working in food-service, a) I hate it, and b) is just not good for me. That, and I won't have to be a manager anymore.
So, I've formulated a basic plan. I'm not going to do or say anything until I receive the paycheck for my week of paid vacation, which I become eligible for in... four days. I probably won't be able to take it until after Joe comes back from String Camp, which is fine. Anyway. At that point, I'll approach Gina and tell her that I no longer have any desire to be an MiT. I plan on telling her that I don't know if she will have any need of it, but I'd like to stay on as a part-time driver, drive maybe two or three shifts a week, rush or close. That, or turn in my two weeks notice; I'm not terribly picky about which. It'd be nice to have a little extra income on my days off, assuming things with the Distribution Warehouse work out. But I'm ready to leave Domino's, yeah. I really, really don't like working food service, and I don't make enough here to be able to go back to school. I'm really hoping to get this job at the warehouse, sounds like a win-win situation. So, we'll see how that goes.
I had a dream last night
A dream about you and me
Love should last forever, baby
Where are you now?
I didn't think too much of it - Joe said Gina sounded upset, but not unbearably so. So, I left here a little after one, got to '02 just after two, attended the class. As usual, total useless crap. The topic of the class was 'Food Ordering and Scheduling.' We learned things like 'Making a bad food order is detrimental in myriad ways.'; 'It's easier to have someone volunteer to go home early than to find someone to come in to cover a short-staffed shift'. I mean, truly revolutionary, ground-breaking concepts. Left there 'round 4:30, got to work by 5:30. I wasn't scheduled in until 6:30, but it was a little rainy, so calls were starting to come in, so I hung around. Gina was there, but just in the office. She pulled me back to talk to me a little before she left.
She told me that she had hoped that after the incident yesterday, that we'd get everything straightened out, and that it was pretty disheartening that we didn't. She used to be able to brag about us, how we were so awesome, that everything great coming out of her store was because of us, that she couldn't do it alone. But now, her only response would have to be silence, after our... issues. She basically made it sound like she was the laughing-stock of the entire company right now. It's an entirely unreasonable assertion, except that people missing class isn't a new issue. So yeah, she went on to tell me that I'd be receiving another write-up, and that being caught between a rock and a hard place, I am now a single write-up away from termination. Additionally, since this was a critical, it prevented me from receiving a bonus this period. And, on top of everything else, it intefered with my level assignment, since the class I missed yesterday was a fundamental, basic one.
Nothing terribly surprising there. I'll admit, I'm a little curious about Joe and what happened to him, having missed the same stuff as I, except he wasn't able to attend the 2 o'clock class. Overall, though, don't care. I was talking to Ray and James, and I've started to formulate a plan. I really, really want to go work at the Wal-Mart Distrbution Warehouse. After having talked to James for a while about it, it really seems like my kind of work: weekend shifts is three twelve hour shifts, then four days off (Saturday, Sunday, Monday). That, and it's pretty easy to pick up extra hours. You have quotas to fulfill, receive bonuses for doing so; it's particularly hard to meet them, as long as you work diligently and aren't lazy. There's never a shortage of actual work, so you're never stuck hunting for something to do or passing time with busy-work. There's frequent reviews and oppurtunities for raises, too. Also, I wouldn't be working in food-service, a) I hate it, and b) is just not good for me. That, and I won't have to be a manager anymore.
So, I've formulated a basic plan. I'm not going to do or say anything until I receive the paycheck for my week of paid vacation, which I become eligible for in... four days. I probably won't be able to take it until after Joe comes back from String Camp, which is fine. Anyway. At that point, I'll approach Gina and tell her that I no longer have any desire to be an MiT. I plan on telling her that I don't know if she will have any need of it, but I'd like to stay on as a part-time driver, drive maybe two or three shifts a week, rush or close. That, or turn in my two weeks notice; I'm not terribly picky about which. It'd be nice to have a little extra income on my days off, assuming things with the Distribution Warehouse work out. But I'm ready to leave Domino's, yeah. I really, really don't like working food service, and I don't make enough here to be able to go back to school. I'm really hoping to get this job at the warehouse, sounds like a win-win situation. So, we'll see how that goes.
I had a dream last night
A dream about you and me
Love should last forever, baby
Where are you now?
2006-06-14
Remember the promise you made
So I finally got written up today. I was wondering what it would take. Apparently, missing class, and not calling Gina about it. I don't really care, to be honest. I'm hoping to be at that job for maybe another month or two. We'll see how that works. I was riding with Joe down to the training class; he got caught up in Kyle helping his father, and was late getting back to town. I wasn't going to drive down by myself when he was going down as well, so I waited for him. NOTE: That last statement IS NOT an attempt to shuffle responsibility for my missing class on to Joe. I made the decision to wait around in town for him, it's MY FAULT that I wasn't in class, and I'm NOT trying to say anything otherwise. People ask why I didn't go, that's why. Important distinction, compared to saying it's Joe's fault I missed class. But yeah, Gina called my cell phone... well, she had Ashley call, told her to tell me that I'd better be there in fifteen minutes, that it wasn't an option.
I kind of have a problem when she phrases things that way. What if I had been in Austin? Somewhere without transportation?
That's just me being a smartass, though.
Moving on.
I went in, she told me that I'd disappointed her, betrayed her trust, and earned myself a writeup, and a stern one at that. She also asked me if there was anything bothering me outside of work, if everything was okay at home. I told her everything was fine - she's not someone I'm going to turn to with my problems. That, and I'm not really having any. Well, not outside of work, at least. I mean, yeah, I've realized I really HATE my job, that I don't want to be in food service/customer service (The first part is more important to not be in than the second), that going back to school and getting my degree is a huge priority for me, and I'm afraid that I've screwed things up enough that I won't be able to do it.
I'm not going to talk to her about that, though. At least not 'til I turn in my two weeks notice. I HATE working for a company based in San Antonio that makes no recognition or allowance for the fact that one of its major stores is based in San Marcos, and has another one in Seguin. The training classes, for example. We're paid for the time in class, sure, but not for travel, nor do we receive any compensation for the drive there and back. Now, for a high paying job, I can understand forced commuting, but it's really not worth eight fifty an hour. I mean, I applied to work in San Marcos. If I wanted to work in Seguin, or San Antonio, I would have gone to those cities and placed applications. I HATE DRIVING LONG DISTANCES. Anything above twenty minutes is just too long for me. Sunday night drives to Seguin or San Antonio are really starting to get on my nerves, although we at least receive gas money if we do the long one. And yes, I drove to Austin all the time to play DDR. That, however, is a little different. Shorter, first of all. It was MY CHOICE, on MY TERMS. If I decided that I didn't want to go, I could make that change in my itinerary. Going to North Carolina twice is another counter-example, and looking back, it's hard for me to believe I actually did that. Whatever.
And maybe it wouldn't be so bad if the classes weren't such a gigantic waste of time. But they are. I'm not saying training classes in general are a waste of time; quit the contrary. An efficient, effective training program, well thought-out and implemented to the benefit of the company would be, well, spectacular. Increase worker productivity, make sure everyone knows all job-critical information, let the employee's get to know each other and learn together... a ton of great stuff for everyone, with definite returns on the investment necessary.
But we don't have that. We have this kind of half-assed amalgram of, well, a bunch of crap. I mean, most of the classes could be subtitled "Jenn reads you the packet" or "Jenn reads you the Powerpoint Presentation" or, best-case, "Jenn reads you the PowerPoint Presentation, which is just an outline of the packet". Don't even get me started on the ones by Mr. John C Maxwell. So yeah, it's really frustrating to have to drive forty-five minutes, not get paid for the drive, sit through an incredible boring, worthless class, then have to drive back. Yeah, not so fun.
So, in closing, I couldn't less about getting written up. I mean, I'm not going to purposely provoke additional ones or anything. I'm not going to stop doing my job, or intentionally sabotage stuff, nothing like that. That's dirty and dishonest. I'll do my job to the best of my abilities as long as I have it.
But anyway.
Yeah, been feeling pretty blah lately, probably the last couple weeks. Dunno why. Probably just a bunch of little things getting to me. Something cyclical, maybe. We'll see.
Kate Ryan -- The Promise You Made
I kind of have a problem when she phrases things that way. What if I had been in Austin? Somewhere without transportation?
That's just me being a smartass, though.
Moving on.
I went in, she told me that I'd disappointed her, betrayed her trust, and earned myself a writeup, and a stern one at that. She also asked me if there was anything bothering me outside of work, if everything was okay at home. I told her everything was fine - she's not someone I'm going to turn to with my problems. That, and I'm not really having any. Well, not outside of work, at least. I mean, yeah, I've realized I really HATE my job, that I don't want to be in food service/customer service (The first part is more important to not be in than the second), that going back to school and getting my degree is a huge priority for me, and I'm afraid that I've screwed things up enough that I won't be able to do it.
I'm not going to talk to her about that, though. At least not 'til I turn in my two weeks notice. I HATE working for a company based in San Antonio that makes no recognition or allowance for the fact that one of its major stores is based in San Marcos, and has another one in Seguin. The training classes, for example. We're paid for the time in class, sure, but not for travel, nor do we receive any compensation for the drive there and back. Now, for a high paying job, I can understand forced commuting, but it's really not worth eight fifty an hour. I mean, I applied to work in San Marcos. If I wanted to work in Seguin, or San Antonio, I would have gone to those cities and placed applications. I HATE DRIVING LONG DISTANCES. Anything above twenty minutes is just too long for me. Sunday night drives to Seguin or San Antonio are really starting to get on my nerves, although we at least receive gas money if we do the long one. And yes, I drove to Austin all the time to play DDR. That, however, is a little different. Shorter, first of all. It was MY CHOICE, on MY TERMS. If I decided that I didn't want to go, I could make that change in my itinerary. Going to North Carolina twice is another counter-example, and looking back, it's hard for me to believe I actually did that. Whatever.
And maybe it wouldn't be so bad if the classes weren't such a gigantic waste of time. But they are. I'm not saying training classes in general are a waste of time; quit the contrary. An efficient, effective training program, well thought-out and implemented to the benefit of the company would be, well, spectacular. Increase worker productivity, make sure everyone knows all job-critical information, let the employee's get to know each other and learn together... a ton of great stuff for everyone, with definite returns on the investment necessary.
But we don't have that. We have this kind of half-assed amalgram of, well, a bunch of crap. I mean, most of the classes could be subtitled "Jenn reads you the packet" or "Jenn reads you the Powerpoint Presentation" or, best-case, "Jenn reads you the PowerPoint Presentation, which is just an outline of the packet". Don't even get me started on the ones by Mr. John C Maxwell. So yeah, it's really frustrating to have to drive forty-five minutes, not get paid for the drive, sit through an incredible boring, worthless class, then have to drive back. Yeah, not so fun.
So, in closing, I couldn't less about getting written up. I mean, I'm not going to purposely provoke additional ones or anything. I'm not going to stop doing my job, or intentionally sabotage stuff, nothing like that. That's dirty and dishonest. I'll do my job to the best of my abilities as long as I have it.
But anyway.
Yeah, been feeling pretty blah lately, probably the last couple weeks. Dunno why. Probably just a bunch of little things getting to me. Something cyclical, maybe. We'll see.
Kate Ryan -- The Promise You Made
2006-06-11
Thought you would treat me right
So, been a while since my last post. It will come to no surprise that I didn't do the followup post on Lilie that I had referenced, but it really wouldn't have been worth reading anyway. Or rather, to contrast it with everything else on here, it wouldn't have been interesting at all. Wait, that's not contrast. Damn.
Anyway.
So yeah, I'm basically moved into the new place. It's pretty cool so far. Got the couch set up, got the TV hooked up with cable and the PS2. It's nice having composite input, instead of having to depend on RF adapaters. I even picked up an input box, so I won't have to depend on them anymore. I can hook up the N64 as well, whenever I have an urge to play Blast Corps or Ogre Battle 64. I still plan on hooking up my old box and having a media server, but I have to buy a hard drive to do that, and probably the center of a stereo system, so I'll be waiting a bit on that.
So yeah, the move. Came down to the last minute, as usual. Had those five days off in a row, and didn't quite put to them as efficient use as I could have. But yeah, our move-out day was Saturday. Naturally, when I left for my 5-10 shift Saturday night, I wasn't done yet. Of course, to be fair, David wasn't either. He talked to the lady in the front office, and she said that as long as the keys were in the drop box when she checked it Sunday morning, it was fine. We were guessing around eight am, that was our goal. The plan was that I'd meet up with David at the apartment after work, we'd finish up.
Of course, it didn't happen.
I ended up having to close, which wouldn't have normally been a big deal, except I was already tired, and was planning on finishing up moving after work. David came by about twelve thirty, after calling me a record *three* times. So yeah, we talked about what we were going to do; he was going to finish most of the cleaning, get all of his stuff out, and leave his keys somewhere for me - either come back by the store and drop them off, or something. It got kind of busy at close - not terribly busy, but busy enough that I couldn't really do any preclosing. I helped the drivers get out of there, did money. I just had inventory left, but I just couldn't bring myself to get up and do it. Most frustrating. *Finally* got up and did it, got out of there at like five. Yeah, I know. Shut up. Came home to change and stuff. I actually dozed for like half an hour or so. However, I came to fairly soon, ran over to mom's, grabbed the vacuum cleaner, and got back to the Cedars. I was really, really tired and frustrated by that point, just wanted to be done with the whole damn thing.
Of course, at this point, I'd like to interject that yes, I know it was my fault that I was having to scramble at the last minute to get this stuff done, that I had more than enough time to have taken care of all this at a leisurely pace during my vacation, and that the fact that I squandered that time alloted to me was completely my fault, and that the negative experience I was going through at that point can be directly attributed to the aforementioned squandering. I know that, and do not shirk from responsibility for my actions, my decisions.
Moving on.
I got everything out, got the last cleaning up taken care of, got out of there. I locked the door for the last time at 7:52 (remember, our goal was 8 am), and dropped the key in the drop box at 7:59. Last minute? Oh yeah.
Drove back to Mom's to return the vacuum cleaner, she was actually up. I sat and talked with her for a little bit. It was embarrasing, but I actually broke down in tears in front of her - I was just so tired, frustrated, etc. She understood, though - "I guess I won't be seeing you this Sunday, huh?"
I love her.
So yeah, moved in at the new place. Kinda. The stuff from that last load is still out in the back of my truck. Well, most of it - I'm slowly moving it in, one piece at a time. The lamp came in; that's now in the living room. I donated the bust of Mozart to work, since I didn't want it anymore. It's sitting in the office right now. Most of my boxes aren't unpacked; I've been pulling out what I need, when I need it. I've got two and a half days off, though, starting Monday, and I hope to make some progress on those days. I'm fairly happy with my room - there's curtains in front of the window, so it stays fairly dark even in the middle of the day, which is nice. Overhead fan, also nice. There are a few things that are less than perfect, though. My desk is in my room, which is fine, but we ended up having to put it in the corner next to the bed, so my back is facing the door. I know it's silly, but I don't like having my back to the door. Also, Ambra's room is right next to mine, so I can't play music very loud when she's asleep (I learned that one the hard way). And, I keep hearing that out pool is absolutely terrible.
Overall, though, not too bad.
Let's see, what else...? Hmm. Oh yeah, work. Work's, well, interesting. I have one closing shift this week, which starts in about nine hours. I've been working late inside shifts, mainly with Gina closing, which hasn't been terribly fun. Tuesday night, I closed with Gina; I set the till and did a deposit before I left. She calls me after close, 'cause we were a hundred and fourteen dollars short. Her exact words: "Do you want to tell me where it is?" That's highly, highly offensive. Now, certainly, that amount of money short is something to be concerned about, I don't challenge that at all. But phrasing it like that sounds *very* much like an accusation. Unintentional, I hope, but still. It ended up being a mistake Jimmy made when he checked out a driver, coupled with Jenn entering in her deposit with two digits transposed.
We had an MIT rally on Thursday at Dave & Buster's in San Antonio. Total joke. I rode down with Joe; Sergio and Jenn also went from San Marcos. Jess sent Mel and Trevor. Good times. Let's see... we split up into four groups and did the 'Domino's Cheer', which I didn't participate in. Well, to observers, I did. We sat while Jenn talked to us about various topics - the OER form, the new MIT eval form, the hiring process, leading our shifts, etc. By "talked to us", I really mean "read powerpoint slides". Joe said on the way down there that he was going to walk out if that was the case, but he didn't. They served us some lunch, but I didn't eat any, since I had some Taco Cabana that morning. Stan said we could go play in the game room as long as we were back on time. Sergio and I both did - they had PIU 7th edition. I hate PIU - I have the hardest time telling the difference between jumps and runs, since there's no color differentiation to help you, only spacing, and I have a tendency to hold my head at odd angles which makes it hard to tell when things are aligned horizontally. But yeah, came back into the meeting room all sweaty, which was kinda funny. Walked up to the bar to get some water, and all the supervisors, Jenn, and Mike were all sitting there. Speaking of which, she (Eileen) started dancing a little during the break.
Horrifying.
We played Jeopardy at one point; I got one question right - name the five guiding principles, in order. There was also an auction. Top item was an Ipod Nano, which Jenn ended up winning; there were also five pairs of tickets to Fiesta Texas. Joe, Sergio, and I won one. Not a pair each, but one pair between the three of us. Still don't know how that one's going to work out. But yeah. Murph came up and talked a little bit at the end of the meeting. Nothing terribly impressive there.
Overall... blech.
We also had a mandatory meeting - I don't quite remember what day it was, though I'm pretty sure I closed that night - at like nine. We didn't know what it was about initially, though there was a rumor going on that they had found something objectionable on the cameras. That later turned out to be false. Everyone was there for once, which suprised me. Gina brought kolaches from Shipley's, and orange juice, so it wasn't a total loss. She addressed a few store-wide conerns while we waited on Eileen (who had called Gina to tell her to hold the meeting, and was leading it), who ran about five minutes late. She then dropped one word about what the meeting was going to be about - 'Myspace'.
I couldn't help but break out into laughter. Gina asked me to make sure I didn't do that in front of Eileen. I said I'd do what I could.
So Eileen got up and started talking. Overall, she was very vague, didn't really say anything specific. She talked about employees writing derogatory things about the company, their job, and customers on personal electronic things. She never said 'myspace' directly, but I'm fairly certain that's what she was talking about. She told Ambra that she had seen her myspaec profile (Not at the meeting. I'm just throwing things in randomly, 'cause I do that). She reminded us that that was strictly against company policy, made us re-sign the electronic use agreement form, and tried to feed us some TOTAL BULLSHIT about it being for our protection - that if some customer recognized themselves, they might get angry with a gun or sue us for slander or something. At this point, Emily raised her hand, and said something along the lines of "I really don't want to be a smartass, but it's only slander if it's spoken; it's libel if it's written, and it has to be untrue." Which is true - it has to be untrue, the person saying/writing it has to know it's untrue, and they have to have some sort of malicious intent. I didn't bother arguing that with Eileen, though. She also said at one point, "If you dislike your job that much, the door's right there."
As far as Joe and I can figure, someone at the office was browsing Myspace and came across an employee's page, which set off this whole thing. And, as usual, older people are rushing into things without trying to understand what they're dealing with. It's similiar to the MPAA and RIAA dealing with p2p networking and bittorrent - for the most part, they have no idea what they're dealing with, are trying normal tactics, and it isn't working.
IT'S CALLED VENTING, YOU IGNORANT JACKASSES!
I mean, I'll concede that an employee that isn't happy at their job isn't really a great employee. Well, it's not an optimal situation. But if that employee shows up every day, works diligently, and doesn't have any problems at work, does it matter if they go home and vent on their personal space? Okay, yeah, that can be a warning sign that they might quit one day or otherwise express their disgruntledness, but when you're dealing with every store in the company being understaffed, can you afford to wait and *only* have completely optimal situations?
So anyway.
Ambra finally stepped down as GM of Seguin. That's not too suprising. What's suprising is that it took her this long to do so. I was worried about her for a long time, when she'd break down in tears in frustration over the situation. She seems happier now though, which is important.
Well, she would, if the company would stop fucking her over. It's really, really frustrating to watch, since I can't really say anything about it. They won't let her work in Seguin anymore, since they don't like former GMs working in their old stores. In general, it's a fairly understandable rule - avoiding things like power struggles and awkwardness in general. Eileen herself proved the validity of this rule when she bitched to Gina about everything they had done to 'her' store after she left. So yeah, I can kind of understand the rule. But in this situation, I think an exception would be warranted. Jess (who took over Seguin, even though she just wants to come back to San Marcos) needs another driver, Ambra's willing to drive, knows the town well, and can swing to cover shifts, line, etc., when she's needed. She never really wanted Seguin in the first place, and was glad to no longer be there, so it's not like she'd be trying to hold on to the reigns of power or subconciously undermine Jess or anything. That, and she conferred with Jess a lot even when she was GM, so it's not like the employees would be confused with them both being in the store or anything.
To complicate matters, Eileen won't let Ambra come work in San Marcos, 'cause "we're dating" - which we're not. There's nothing between us, there never has been, and I highly doubt there ever will be. I mean, if I hadn't said anything *way* back when, this never would have come up in the first place. Admittedly, I feel kind of bad about it now. I mean, like half the company thinks we're dating, including most of the upper echelons of power. I'm sure us moving in together didn't do much to help quell those rumors. I personally don't care what people think about me, what they say about me, but it does bother me when that spills over to someone I care about. From our conversations, I gather that it doesn't really bother her either, but it still irks at me. I mean, if I wanted, I could go off the deep end and say that it's Chelsea all over again.
Luckily, I'm past that.
I hope.
Jojo -- Leave
Anyway.
So yeah, I'm basically moved into the new place. It's pretty cool so far. Got the couch set up, got the TV hooked up with cable and the PS2. It's nice having composite input, instead of having to depend on RF adapaters. I even picked up an input box, so I won't have to depend on them anymore. I can hook up the N64 as well, whenever I have an urge to play Blast Corps or Ogre Battle 64. I still plan on hooking up my old box and having a media server, but I have to buy a hard drive to do that, and probably the center of a stereo system, so I'll be waiting a bit on that.
So yeah, the move. Came down to the last minute, as usual. Had those five days off in a row, and didn't quite put to them as efficient use as I could have. But yeah, our move-out day was Saturday. Naturally, when I left for my 5-10 shift Saturday night, I wasn't done yet. Of course, to be fair, David wasn't either. He talked to the lady in the front office, and she said that as long as the keys were in the drop box when she checked it Sunday morning, it was fine. We were guessing around eight am, that was our goal. The plan was that I'd meet up with David at the apartment after work, we'd finish up.
Of course, it didn't happen.
I ended up having to close, which wouldn't have normally been a big deal, except I was already tired, and was planning on finishing up moving after work. David came by about twelve thirty, after calling me a record *three* times. So yeah, we talked about what we were going to do; he was going to finish most of the cleaning, get all of his stuff out, and leave his keys somewhere for me - either come back by the store and drop them off, or something. It got kind of busy at close - not terribly busy, but busy enough that I couldn't really do any preclosing. I helped the drivers get out of there, did money. I just had inventory left, but I just couldn't bring myself to get up and do it. Most frustrating. *Finally* got up and did it, got out of there at like five. Yeah, I know. Shut up. Came home to change and stuff. I actually dozed for like half an hour or so. However, I came to fairly soon, ran over to mom's, grabbed the vacuum cleaner, and got back to the Cedars. I was really, really tired and frustrated by that point, just wanted to be done with the whole damn thing.
Of course, at this point, I'd like to interject that yes, I know it was my fault that I was having to scramble at the last minute to get this stuff done, that I had more than enough time to have taken care of all this at a leisurely pace during my vacation, and that the fact that I squandered that time alloted to me was completely my fault, and that the negative experience I was going through at that point can be directly attributed to the aforementioned squandering. I know that, and do not shirk from responsibility for my actions, my decisions.
Moving on.
I got everything out, got the last cleaning up taken care of, got out of there. I locked the door for the last time at 7:52 (remember, our goal was 8 am), and dropped the key in the drop box at 7:59. Last minute? Oh yeah.
Drove back to Mom's to return the vacuum cleaner, she was actually up. I sat and talked with her for a little bit. It was embarrasing, but I actually broke down in tears in front of her - I was just so tired, frustrated, etc. She understood, though - "I guess I won't be seeing you this Sunday, huh?"
I love her.
So yeah, moved in at the new place. Kinda. The stuff from that last load is still out in the back of my truck. Well, most of it - I'm slowly moving it in, one piece at a time. The lamp came in; that's now in the living room. I donated the bust of Mozart to work, since I didn't want it anymore. It's sitting in the office right now. Most of my boxes aren't unpacked; I've been pulling out what I need, when I need it. I've got two and a half days off, though, starting Monday, and I hope to make some progress on those days. I'm fairly happy with my room - there's curtains in front of the window, so it stays fairly dark even in the middle of the day, which is nice. Overhead fan, also nice. There are a few things that are less than perfect, though. My desk is in my room, which is fine, but we ended up having to put it in the corner next to the bed, so my back is facing the door. I know it's silly, but I don't like having my back to the door. Also, Ambra's room is right next to mine, so I can't play music very loud when she's asleep (I learned that one the hard way). And, I keep hearing that out pool is absolutely terrible.
Overall, though, not too bad.
Let's see, what else...? Hmm. Oh yeah, work. Work's, well, interesting. I have one closing shift this week, which starts in about nine hours. I've been working late inside shifts, mainly with Gina closing, which hasn't been terribly fun. Tuesday night, I closed with Gina; I set the till and did a deposit before I left. She calls me after close, 'cause we were a hundred and fourteen dollars short. Her exact words: "Do you want to tell me where it is?" That's highly, highly offensive. Now, certainly, that amount of money short is something to be concerned about, I don't challenge that at all. But phrasing it like that sounds *very* much like an accusation. Unintentional, I hope, but still. It ended up being a mistake Jimmy made when he checked out a driver, coupled with Jenn entering in her deposit with two digits transposed.
We had an MIT rally on Thursday at Dave & Buster's in San Antonio. Total joke. I rode down with Joe; Sergio and Jenn also went from San Marcos. Jess sent Mel and Trevor. Good times. Let's see... we split up into four groups and did the 'Domino's Cheer', which I didn't participate in. Well, to observers, I did. We sat while Jenn talked to us about various topics - the OER form, the new MIT eval form, the hiring process, leading our shifts, etc. By "talked to us", I really mean "read powerpoint slides". Joe said on the way down there that he was going to walk out if that was the case, but he didn't. They served us some lunch, but I didn't eat any, since I had some Taco Cabana that morning. Stan said we could go play in the game room as long as we were back on time. Sergio and I both did - they had PIU 7th edition. I hate PIU - I have the hardest time telling the difference between jumps and runs, since there's no color differentiation to help you, only spacing, and I have a tendency to hold my head at odd angles which makes it hard to tell when things are aligned horizontally. But yeah, came back into the meeting room all sweaty, which was kinda funny. Walked up to the bar to get some water, and all the supervisors, Jenn, and Mike were all sitting there. Speaking of which, she (Eileen) started dancing a little during the break.
Horrifying.
We played Jeopardy at one point; I got one question right - name the five guiding principles, in order. There was also an auction. Top item was an Ipod Nano, which Jenn ended up winning; there were also five pairs of tickets to Fiesta Texas. Joe, Sergio, and I won one. Not a pair each, but one pair between the three of us. Still don't know how that one's going to work out. But yeah. Murph came up and talked a little bit at the end of the meeting. Nothing terribly impressive there.
Overall... blech.
We also had a mandatory meeting - I don't quite remember what day it was, though I'm pretty sure I closed that night - at like nine. We didn't know what it was about initially, though there was a rumor going on that they had found something objectionable on the cameras. That later turned out to be false. Everyone was there for once, which suprised me. Gina brought kolaches from Shipley's, and orange juice, so it wasn't a total loss. She addressed a few store-wide conerns while we waited on Eileen (who had called Gina to tell her to hold the meeting, and was leading it), who ran about five minutes late. She then dropped one word about what the meeting was going to be about - 'Myspace'.
I couldn't help but break out into laughter. Gina asked me to make sure I didn't do that in front of Eileen. I said I'd do what I could.
So Eileen got up and started talking. Overall, she was very vague, didn't really say anything specific. She talked about employees writing derogatory things about the company, their job, and customers on personal electronic things. She never said 'myspace' directly, but I'm fairly certain that's what she was talking about. She told Ambra that she had seen her myspaec profile (Not at the meeting. I'm just throwing things in randomly, 'cause I do that). She reminded us that that was strictly against company policy, made us re-sign the electronic use agreement form, and tried to feed us some TOTAL BULLSHIT about it being for our protection - that if some customer recognized themselves, they might get angry with a gun or sue us for slander or something. At this point, Emily raised her hand, and said something along the lines of "I really don't want to be a smartass, but it's only slander if it's spoken; it's libel if it's written, and it has to be untrue." Which is true - it has to be untrue, the person saying/writing it has to know it's untrue, and they have to have some sort of malicious intent. I didn't bother arguing that with Eileen, though. She also said at one point, "If you dislike your job that much, the door's right there."
As far as Joe and I can figure, someone at the office was browsing Myspace and came across an employee's page, which set off this whole thing. And, as usual, older people are rushing into things without trying to understand what they're dealing with. It's similiar to the MPAA and RIAA dealing with p2p networking and bittorrent - for the most part, they have no idea what they're dealing with, are trying normal tactics, and it isn't working.
IT'S CALLED VENTING, YOU IGNORANT JACKASSES!
I mean, I'll concede that an employee that isn't happy at their job isn't really a great employee. Well, it's not an optimal situation. But if that employee shows up every day, works diligently, and doesn't have any problems at work, does it matter if they go home and vent on their personal space? Okay, yeah, that can be a warning sign that they might quit one day or otherwise express their disgruntledness, but when you're dealing with every store in the company being understaffed, can you afford to wait and *only* have completely optimal situations?
So anyway.
Ambra finally stepped down as GM of Seguin. That's not too suprising. What's suprising is that it took her this long to do so. I was worried about her for a long time, when she'd break down in tears in frustration over the situation. She seems happier now though, which is important.
Well, she would, if the company would stop fucking her over. It's really, really frustrating to watch, since I can't really say anything about it. They won't let her work in Seguin anymore, since they don't like former GMs working in their old stores. In general, it's a fairly understandable rule - avoiding things like power struggles and awkwardness in general. Eileen herself proved the validity of this rule when she bitched to Gina about everything they had done to 'her' store after she left. So yeah, I can kind of understand the rule. But in this situation, I think an exception would be warranted. Jess (who took over Seguin, even though she just wants to come back to San Marcos) needs another driver, Ambra's willing to drive, knows the town well, and can swing to cover shifts, line, etc., when she's needed. She never really wanted Seguin in the first place, and was glad to no longer be there, so it's not like she'd be trying to hold on to the reigns of power or subconciously undermine Jess or anything. That, and she conferred with Jess a lot even when she was GM, so it's not like the employees would be confused with them both being in the store or anything.
To complicate matters, Eileen won't let Ambra come work in San Marcos, 'cause "we're dating" - which we're not. There's nothing between us, there never has been, and I highly doubt there ever will be. I mean, if I hadn't said anything *way* back when, this never would have come up in the first place. Admittedly, I feel kind of bad about it now. I mean, like half the company thinks we're dating, including most of the upper echelons of power. I'm sure us moving in together didn't do much to help quell those rumors. I personally don't care what people think about me, what they say about me, but it does bother me when that spills over to someone I care about. From our conversations, I gather that it doesn't really bother her either, but it still irks at me. I mean, if I wanted, I could go off the deep end and say that it's Chelsea all over again.
Luckily, I'm past that.
I hope.
Jojo -- Leave
