I've got my sights set on you,
And I'm ready to aim,
I have a heart that will,
Never be tamed,
I knew you were something special
When you spoke my name,
Now, I can't wait to see you again...
I've got a way of knowing,
When something is right,
I feel like I must have known you,
In another life,
Cause I felt this deep connection,
When you looked in my eyes,
Now I can't wait to see you again,
The last time I freaked out,
I just kept looking down,
I st-st-stuttered when
You asked me what I'm thinkin' bout
Felt like I couldn't breathe
You asked what's wrong with me
My best friend Lesley said
"Oh she's just being Miley!"
The next time we hang out,
I will redeem myself,
My heart ache it can rest till then,
Whoa! Whoa! I,
I can't wait to see you again,
I got this crazy feeling
Deep inside
When you called and asked to see me
Tomorrow night,
I'm not a mind reader,
But I'm reading the signs
That you can't wait to see me again
The last time I freaked out,
I just kept looking down,
I st-st-stuttered when
You asked me what I'm thinkin' bout
Felt like I couldn't breath
You asked what's wrong with me
My best friend Lesley said
"Oh she's just being Miley!"
The next time we hang out,
I will redeem myself
My heart ache can rest till then,
Whoa! Whoa! I,
I can't wait to see you again,
I've got my sight set on you,
And I'm ready to aim,
The last time I freaked out,
I just kept looking down,
I st-st-stuttered when
You asked me what I'm thinkin' bout
Felt like I couldn't breathe
You asked what's wrong with me
My best friend Lesley said,
"Oh she's just being Miley"
The next time we hang out,
I will redeem myself
My heart ache can rest till then,
Whoa whoa I,
I can't wait to see you again,
Whoa whoa I,
I can't wait to see you again.
2008-09-04
I st-st-stuttered when you asked me what I'm thinkin' about
I try not to get too caught up in ranting about work. Everyone gets frustrated with their job at times; everyone has to deal with incompetent people, and everyone hates it. I don't think my case is overly unique or special, or that I'm the first person that's had to go through things like this. But some times, I really, really need some catharsis. So, this is really just going to be a bunch of bitching about incompetent people that I have to deal with at work. If that doesn't interest you at all, stop reading.
The first thing that really annoys me is that I suspect *everyone* bitches about everyone else being incompetent. However, I find it hard to believe that everyone is incompetent. I must firmly believe that there are people who get things done, and people who fuck things up. Sure, everyone makes mistakes, but how they're handled, and further mistakes avoided, is a huge indicator of a person's worth. I'm not expecting perfection; everyone makes mistakes. However, you have to learn from them, treat them as a learning mistake, not just a pile of shit that needs to be cleaned up.
As an example of that, and my first official rant, there are several people in our franchise office. I don't like to name names, so I'll call them "M" and "J". They both handle the issues with Pulse, our new point-of-sale system. They're also handling all the issues that come up with the new products, sandwiches and pasta. There's a lot of new products that we have. Those all have to be entered in the inventory screen. They all have vendor codes, prices, inventory units, etc. It's a lot of stuff, but this is a huge paradigm shift for, much more so than anything else I've seen (other than the Pulse adoption, of course) in the three years I've worked for the company.
And they keep fucking up THE EXACT SAME THINGS.
I'll let them know that an inventory item doesn't appear on the ordering screen, or the inventory screen (I'm particularly interested in learning how they manage that in the first place), and they'll put it back on. Of course, in doing so, another item will be wrong. Or they'll erase the vendor code from another item, so we can't place any food orders until they correct that. Or they'll mess up the ideal use system, so that the automated inventory system doesn't realize that yes, every sandwich uses three full pieces of sliced provolone.
There's the same issues with HR. We submit vacation requests, and never hear back from them. We hadn't heard back about the request by the time that week started, so the employee, living paycheck to paycheck, made the decision to work that week, being unable to take a chance of messing out on an entire week's work. Of course, two weeks later, we find out he had approved it, and just not bothered to let us know. The only message we had received was something cryptic about how his start date wasn't until this next pay week, which we weren't 100% what that meant.
Then, of course, there's the referral bonus situation. That's one of my favorites. We have a referral bonus system; if you refer another person that becomes an employee and works at least 100 hours, you get a bonus (the amount varies based on the position the person you referred works in). We had three people receive referral bonuses fro four employees (one person had referred two people). However, instead of giving the bonuses to the people that did the referring, as it should have been, they gave the bonuses to the people that got referred.
What was really, really frustrating, but not surprising about the entire thing, is that when the company was late in paying out money it was supposed to, it was an incredibly long, uphill battle, but when they were owed money, they reacted to the situation immediately. Nice example to set. I'm especially sensitive to this issue, as I'm currently waiting for a referral bonus for Janelle. She hit her 100 hour mark almost a month ago. They have until our next paycheck to have it show up; after that, I'm going to raise hell. I'm also ready for them to screw up my vacation. What's really fun about that is that they're going to figure out a new way to screw it up, due to the year between the first and second times I worked for the company. It affected my service shirt, but in a hugely detrimental way. I'll give them a chance to do it right, but I'm completely prepared for them to fuck it up.
Of course, none of that matters if we don't get some new people working on the inside. We definitely couldn't handle me not working for a week. Hell, I can't even take an extra day off during the week right now (though if school gets very hectic, I might have to. At that point, it'll be an ultimatum).
Then there's commissary. I'm prepared to cut them a lot of slack, as the issues they deal with are bigger and more widespread than our franchise office. However, they also fuck a ton of shit up. On a delivery almost a month ago, they gave us a case of blue cheese instead of marinara. No big deal, everyone screws up. The issue I have is that here we are A MONTH LATER, and we're still trying to get the problem corrected. There was a case of cheese they marked as damaged that we never got, and we still haven't received a credit for it.
Miley Cyrus -- See You Again
The first thing that really annoys me is that I suspect *everyone* bitches about everyone else being incompetent. However, I find it hard to believe that everyone is incompetent. I must firmly believe that there are people who get things done, and people who fuck things up. Sure, everyone makes mistakes, but how they're handled, and further mistakes avoided, is a huge indicator of a person's worth. I'm not expecting perfection; everyone makes mistakes. However, you have to learn from them, treat them as a learning mistake, not just a pile of shit that needs to be cleaned up.
As an example of that, and my first official rant, there are several people in our franchise office. I don't like to name names, so I'll call them "M" and "J". They both handle the issues with Pulse, our new point-of-sale system. They're also handling all the issues that come up with the new products, sandwiches and pasta. There's a lot of new products that we have. Those all have to be entered in the inventory screen. They all have vendor codes, prices, inventory units, etc. It's a lot of stuff, but this is a huge paradigm shift for, much more so than anything else I've seen (other than the Pulse adoption, of course) in the three years I've worked for the company.
And they keep fucking up THE EXACT SAME THINGS.
I'll let them know that an inventory item doesn't appear on the ordering screen, or the inventory screen (I'm particularly interested in learning how they manage that in the first place), and they'll put it back on. Of course, in doing so, another item will be wrong. Or they'll erase the vendor code from another item, so we can't place any food orders until they correct that. Or they'll mess up the ideal use system, so that the automated inventory system doesn't realize that yes, every sandwich uses three full pieces of sliced provolone.
There's the same issues with HR. We submit vacation requests, and never hear back from them. We hadn't heard back about the request by the time that week started, so the employee, living paycheck to paycheck, made the decision to work that week, being unable to take a chance of messing out on an entire week's work. Of course, two weeks later, we find out he had approved it, and just not bothered to let us know. The only message we had received was something cryptic about how his start date wasn't until this next pay week, which we weren't 100% what that meant.
Then, of course, there's the referral bonus situation. That's one of my favorites. We have a referral bonus system; if you refer another person that becomes an employee and works at least 100 hours, you get a bonus (the amount varies based on the position the person you referred works in). We had three people receive referral bonuses fro four employees (one person had referred two people). However, instead of giving the bonuses to the people that did the referring, as it should have been, they gave the bonuses to the people that got referred.
What was really, really frustrating, but not surprising about the entire thing, is that when the company was late in paying out money it was supposed to, it was an incredibly long, uphill battle, but when they were owed money, they reacted to the situation immediately. Nice example to set. I'm especially sensitive to this issue, as I'm currently waiting for a referral bonus for Janelle. She hit her 100 hour mark almost a month ago. They have until our next paycheck to have it show up; after that, I'm going to raise hell. I'm also ready for them to screw up my vacation. What's really fun about that is that they're going to figure out a new way to screw it up, due to the year between the first and second times I worked for the company. It affected my service shirt, but in a hugely detrimental way. I'll give them a chance to do it right, but I'm completely prepared for them to fuck it up.
Of course, none of that matters if we don't get some new people working on the inside. We definitely couldn't handle me not working for a week. Hell, I can't even take an extra day off during the week right now (though if school gets very hectic, I might have to. At that point, it'll be an ultimatum).
Then there's commissary. I'm prepared to cut them a lot of slack, as the issues they deal with are bigger and more widespread than our franchise office. However, they also fuck a ton of shit up. On a delivery almost a month ago, they gave us a case of blue cheese instead of marinara. No big deal, everyone screws up. The issue I have is that here we are A MONTH LATER, and we're still trying to get the problem corrected. There was a case of cheese they marked as damaged that we never got, and we still haven't received a credit for it.
Miley Cyrus -- See You Again
2008-08-29
Now are you sure you want a piece of me?
So I've had a couple weird dreams lately.
I want to start blogging again more regularly, especially what dreams I can remember.
I had a sex dream last night> I don't have many dreams where I'm having sex. There wasn't anything strange or terribly notable about that dream other than that, though - I think it was Faith Nelson that I was having sex with. Good stuff.
Another dream I had recently saw me as a police officer for San Marcos. We were in front of Domino's, and a monster was attacking, it was a lot like Cloverfield. We were running to our car, which was on the other side of the parking lot. We got in our car as a huge tentacle hit the parking lot behind us, and a lot of little monsters disgorged. One jumped through the car window next to me; it looked kind of like an armadillo. Very weird.
Those are the only two that I can really remember recently.
Britney Spears -- Piece of Me
I want to start blogging again more regularly, especially what dreams I can remember.
I had a sex dream last night> I don't have many dreams where I'm having sex. There wasn't anything strange or terribly notable about that dream other than that, though - I think it was Faith Nelson that I was having sex with. Good stuff.
Another dream I had recently saw me as a police officer for San Marcos. We were in front of Domino's, and a monster was attacking, it was a lot like Cloverfield. We were running to our car, which was on the other side of the parking lot. We got in our car as a huge tentacle hit the parking lot behind us, and a lot of little monsters disgorged. One jumped through the car window next to me; it looked kind of like an armadillo. Very weird.
Those are the only two that I can really remember recently.
Britney Spears -- Piece of Me
2008-08-28
So, today was the first day of school. Good stuff. Let's review what happened.
First, I got there about an hour and a half, almost two hours too early. I wanted to make sure I could find a parking spot, which was kind of silly on my part. I should have gotten my stuff together and gone and worked out beforehand, but I'm still trying to figure out how I can incorporate some DDR into it, with the student center being so far away. I don't mind the walk, but I definitely have to shower afterwards. I mean, get there at six, do a little elliptical to warm up, then move on to the weights, then go play DDR, then shower? That's a decent plan; the only problem is that I lose a good half hour walking all the way to the Student Center to play DDR, then all the way back to the Rec to shower. I think, though, that that's what's going to end up happening.
So anyway. First class was Probability and Statistics. It's in the same room that I had probability the first time, which is okay. The teacher has a Ph.D in Prob., which is kinda cool. A few cute girls in the class - they're all math majors; most of the guys are CS majors. Not much to say from the first class, other than that we get daily homework, which isn't something I had my first semester. Two guys from previous classes are in that class, one who's okay and one who's incredibly, incredibly annoying. The guy who kept complaining about the professor giving us assignments that he hadn't given us sufficient information to complete (which he had, just fyi).
After the initial class in Derrick Hall, I have to go through the Quad and to Centennial Hall - G01, for Chem II. This is the first of my insane professors. Quite insane. Anal compulsive, control freak, no patience for students; take your pick. We spent almost the entire 1:15 going over the syllabus, which is fine, since he's very, very clearly communicating what he wants from us. Oh, did I mention that the syllabus is TWENTY PAGES? I am in no way exaggerating there - 20 full pages of syllabus. The only mitigating factor I can offer about that is that the last three pages are duplicates of test information - the cover sheet and supplemental materials given to us, so that we can "familiarize ourselves with it". Even with that, we're talking SEVENTEEN PAGES. He gave us optional problem sets and reading - oh! He doesn't use the textbook that all the other teachers use; he uses his own textbook, which has EVERY POWERPOINT SLIDE, with room for notes, every problem, everything. It's pretty nuts. Anyway, optional daily problem sets. Weekly quizzes as well, But check this out - he does a weird thing with attendance. You have to have 80% attendance to even get a grade for the class. Whatever. Then, you're not allowed to leave after taking a quiz, or you get a 0 for that quiz. That seems kind of redundant, a little heavy-handed. So yeah, those weekly quizzes? The first one is over the syllabus. I'm going to repeat that, as it bears repeating. The first quiz is over the syllabus.
Walking to the chem class, there was this huge traffic jam in the middle of the Quad. It was like a giant, giant clump of students, half going towards Derrick, half towards Old Main, and they were barely moving. I'm a big guy, but I'm not always comfortable fighting my way through a crowd.
After Chem, I had Intro to Fine Arts (Music). Janelle met me outside, because she's good friends with the professor, and wanted to introduce me. It's interesting, 'cause she's always been "Billy's little sister" and "Bambi's little sister", so I get to follow her legacy for once, and I think she liked that.
Anyway, the professor for that class is also crazy, but in a good way. There's two girls, though, in the class that more than make up for that. One WON'T SHUT UP. AT ALL. EVER. I mean, yeah, there's a major participation component of your grade, but you don't have to earn it all on your first day. I'm not looking forward to having to do all this artsy stuff, but I think I'll be able to manage it.
The last class I have is Data Structures with Gu. The desk in that class is quite possibly the smallest desk I've ever sat in. Yeah, I'm a big guy and need to lose weight, but that thing is just ridiculous. I might have to play a little musical chairs and find the most comfortable one.
(How many times will they mention the urn? We understand that it's an important kayfabe element for his character, but you don't have to bash it into our heads every thirty seconds).
The class itself looks kind of interesting. I've already done Data Structures, but in Java, so for me, this class is more about learning C++ than it is data structures and algorithm analysis. That's going to be interesting.
Artist -- Title
First, I got there about an hour and a half, almost two hours too early. I wanted to make sure I could find a parking spot, which was kind of silly on my part. I should have gotten my stuff together and gone and worked out beforehand, but I'm still trying to figure out how I can incorporate some DDR into it, with the student center being so far away. I don't mind the walk, but I definitely have to shower afterwards. I mean, get there at six, do a little elliptical to warm up, then move on to the weights, then go play DDR, then shower? That's a decent plan; the only problem is that I lose a good half hour walking all the way to the Student Center to play DDR, then all the way back to the Rec to shower. I think, though, that that's what's going to end up happening.
So anyway. First class was Probability and Statistics. It's in the same room that I had probability the first time, which is okay. The teacher has a Ph.D in Prob., which is kinda cool. A few cute girls in the class - they're all math majors; most of the guys are CS majors. Not much to say from the first class, other than that we get daily homework, which isn't something I had my first semester. Two guys from previous classes are in that class, one who's okay and one who's incredibly, incredibly annoying. The guy who kept complaining about the professor giving us assignments that he hadn't given us sufficient information to complete (which he had, just fyi).
After the initial class in Derrick Hall, I have to go through the Quad and to Centennial Hall - G01, for Chem II. This is the first of my insane professors. Quite insane. Anal compulsive, control freak, no patience for students; take your pick. We spent almost the entire 1:15 going over the syllabus, which is fine, since he's very, very clearly communicating what he wants from us. Oh, did I mention that the syllabus is TWENTY PAGES? I am in no way exaggerating there - 20 full pages of syllabus. The only mitigating factor I can offer about that is that the last three pages are duplicates of test information - the cover sheet and supplemental materials given to us, so that we can "familiarize ourselves with it". Even with that, we're talking SEVENTEEN PAGES. He gave us optional problem sets and reading - oh! He doesn't use the textbook that all the other teachers use; he uses his own textbook, which has EVERY POWERPOINT SLIDE, with room for notes, every problem, everything. It's pretty nuts. Anyway, optional daily problem sets. Weekly quizzes as well, But check this out - he does a weird thing with attendance. You have to have 80% attendance to even get a grade for the class. Whatever. Then, you're not allowed to leave after taking a quiz, or you get a 0 for that quiz. That seems kind of redundant, a little heavy-handed. So yeah, those weekly quizzes? The first one is over the syllabus. I'm going to repeat that, as it bears repeating. The first quiz is over the syllabus.
Walking to the chem class, there was this huge traffic jam in the middle of the Quad. It was like a giant, giant clump of students, half going towards Derrick, half towards Old Main, and they were barely moving. I'm a big guy, but I'm not always comfortable fighting my way through a crowd.
After Chem, I had Intro to Fine Arts (Music). Janelle met me outside, because she's good friends with the professor, and wanted to introduce me. It's interesting, 'cause she's always been "Billy's little sister" and "Bambi's little sister", so I get to follow her legacy for once, and I think she liked that.
Anyway, the professor for that class is also crazy, but in a good way. There's two girls, though, in the class that more than make up for that. One WON'T SHUT UP. AT ALL. EVER. I mean, yeah, there's a major participation component of your grade, but you don't have to earn it all on your first day. I'm not looking forward to having to do all this artsy stuff, but I think I'll be able to manage it.
The last class I have is Data Structures with Gu. The desk in that class is quite possibly the smallest desk I've ever sat in. Yeah, I'm a big guy and need to lose weight, but that thing is just ridiculous. I might have to play a little musical chairs and find the most comfortable one.
(How many times will they mention the urn? We understand that it's an important kayfabe element for his character, but you don't have to bash it into our heads every thirty seconds).
The class itself looks kind of interesting. I've already done Data Structures, but in Java, so for me, this class is more about learning C++ than it is data structures and algorithm analysis. That's going to be interesting.
Artist -- Title
2008-08-15
Now are you sure you want a piece of me?
Grr. So, I walked out of my shift at Wal-Mart (this was like a year and a half ago, don't get confused) to accept a position at Sonic with Javi as an assistant manager. I knew it was going to suck, and it didn't disappoint. It really, really sucked. I mean, it wasn't a surprise, I can't stress that enough. I knew it was going to suck. I was just sick of Wal-Mart, and was ready to return to an environment I knew.
Of course, I did the same thing in four (?) months when Sergio called and asked me if I wanted to come be an assistant for him, now that he had the store. I did that, and haven't really looked back since.
Until now.
Things have been pretty crappy lately. I mean, this sounds like just a lot of whining. Dylan keeps saying "Any day you're above ground is a good one" and "Things could always be a lot worse". I know both of those things, and I don't get all melodramatic or lost perspective on things. However, I'm a passionate person with strong emotions, and I'm not good at controlling, restraining, or hiding those emotions. Today, I was really thinking about quitting. Things are getting bad. We've only hired ONE new insider, and he SUCKS. I should clarify, that I don't expect too much from new people. They're going to be rough. They're going to have a lot of questions. It's a lot of stuff to pick up all at once. I can understand all that. I encourage them to ask questions when I'm training them. I let them know that it's much, much worse to not ask than to ask a question you think might make you look stupid. However, we do expect you to start learning things at *some* point. You have to ask a question once or twice, no problem. When you ask it the fifth time, maybe there's starting to be an issue. I mean, we've got Katy working inside now; she's been a driver for a while now, but she's probably only got a little more experience than he does, and she's orders of magnitude better. We've already given her the ability to authorize stuff on carryouts, edit orders, the whole package. That sounds pretty dumb and insignificant, but it's a measure of her progress.
So that's fun. It's alleviated a little bit by Sandra's return next week. There's a bit of an issue, though, since her, Josh, and Lease all want to open. There's only seven opening shifts; well, nine, if we do two on Saturday and Sunday (and we'll need 'em once football starts), although I suspect Q will cover some of those by work 12-10 shifts on the weekend. So some of them are going to have to work nights, which is good, 'cause that will put some major strength back in our night crew. I mean, it's a far cry from when our inside crew consisted of myself, Joe, Ashley, Sergio, Jess, and Jen. Any one of us could open or close at the drop of a hat, and any two of us could handle a 50 pie hour (to say nothing of the time Jess and I had an 111 pie hour).
To make things even worse, Jenni and Gina were both there when I went in to work today. Seeing Gina always makes things suck; normally, having Jenni there would be more than enough to make things great. Of course, that wouldn't be the case today. She came by the store for two reasons - one, to tell Q about who he needed to talk to about the dorm stuff (which is also what Gina was there for, kinda; I suspect she was there to talk about sandwiches and pasta, but that's what they were talking about when I was there). The second reason was to let us know that she wouldn't be returning to us. It wasn't really a big surprise; she'd been gone all summer, and had only been working one shift a week before that. I'll finish this later.
Piece of Me -- Britney Spears
Of course, I did the same thing in four (?) months when Sergio called and asked me if I wanted to come be an assistant for him, now that he had the store. I did that, and haven't really looked back since.
Until now.
Things have been pretty crappy lately. I mean, this sounds like just a lot of whining. Dylan keeps saying "Any day you're above ground is a good one" and "Things could always be a lot worse". I know both of those things, and I don't get all melodramatic or lost perspective on things. However, I'm a passionate person with strong emotions, and I'm not good at controlling, restraining, or hiding those emotions. Today, I was really thinking about quitting. Things are getting bad. We've only hired ONE new insider, and he SUCKS. I should clarify, that I don't expect too much from new people. They're going to be rough. They're going to have a lot of questions. It's a lot of stuff to pick up all at once. I can understand all that. I encourage them to ask questions when I'm training them. I let them know that it's much, much worse to not ask than to ask a question you think might make you look stupid. However, we do expect you to start learning things at *some* point. You have to ask a question once or twice, no problem. When you ask it the fifth time, maybe there's starting to be an issue. I mean, we've got Katy working inside now; she's been a driver for a while now, but she's probably only got a little more experience than he does, and she's orders of magnitude better. We've already given her the ability to authorize stuff on carryouts, edit orders, the whole package. That sounds pretty dumb and insignificant, but it's a measure of her progress.
So that's fun. It's alleviated a little bit by Sandra's return next week. There's a bit of an issue, though, since her, Josh, and Lease all want to open. There's only seven opening shifts; well, nine, if we do two on Saturday and Sunday (and we'll need 'em once football starts), although I suspect Q will cover some of those by work 12-10 shifts on the weekend. So some of them are going to have to work nights, which is good, 'cause that will put some major strength back in our night crew. I mean, it's a far cry from when our inside crew consisted of myself, Joe, Ashley, Sergio, Jess, and Jen. Any one of us could open or close at the drop of a hat, and any two of us could handle a 50 pie hour (to say nothing of the time Jess and I had an 111 pie hour).
To make things even worse, Jenni and Gina were both there when I went in to work today. Seeing Gina always makes things suck; normally, having Jenni there would be more than enough to make things great. Of course, that wouldn't be the case today. She came by the store for two reasons - one, to tell Q about who he needed to talk to about the dorm stuff (which is also what Gina was there for, kinda; I suspect she was there to talk about sandwiches and pasta, but that's what they were talking about when I was there). The second reason was to let us know that she wouldn't be returning to us. It wasn't really a big surprise; she'd been gone all summer, and had only been working one shift a week before that. I'll finish this later.
Piece of Me -- Britney Spears
Grr. So, I walked out of my shift at Wal-Mart (this was like a year and a half ago, don't get confused) to accept a position at Sonic with Javi as an assistant manager. I knew it was going to suck, and it didn't disappoint. It really, really sucked. I mean, it wasn't a surprise, I can't stress that enough. I knew it was going to suck. I was just sick of Wal-Mart, and was ready to return to an environment I knew.
Of course, I did the same thing in four (?) months when Sergio called and asked me if I wanted to come be an assistant for him, now that he had the store. I did that, and haven't really looked back since.
Until now.
Things have been pretty crappy lately. I mean, this sounds like just a lot of whining. Dylan keeps saying "Any day you're above ground is a good one" and "Things could always be a lot worse". I know both of those things, and I don't get all melodramatic or lost perspective on things. However, I'm a passionate person with strong emotions, and I'm not good at controlling, restraining, or hiding those emotions. Today, I was really thinking about quitting. Things are getting bad. We've only hired ONE new insider, and he SUCKS. I should clarify, that I don't expect too much from new people. They're going to be rough. They're going to have a lot of questions. It's a lot of stuff to pick up all at once. I can understand all that. I encourage them to ask questions when I'm training them. I let them know that it's much, much worse to not ask than to ask a question you think might make you look stupid. However, we do expect you to start learning things at *some* point. You have to ask a question once or twice, no problem. When you ask it the fifth time, maybe there's starting to be an issue. I mean, we've got Katy working inside now; she's been a driver for a while now, but she's probably only got a little more experience than he does, and she's orders of magnitude better. We've already given her the ability to authorize stuff on carryouts, edit orders, the whole package. That sounds pretty dumb and insignificant, but it's a measure of her progress.
So that's fun. It's alleviated a little bit by Sandra's return next week. There's a bit of an issue, though, since her, Josh, and Lease all want to open. There's only seven opening shifts; well, nine, if we do two on Saturday and Sunday (and we'll need 'em once football starts), although I suspect Q will cover some of those by work 12-10 shifts on the weekend. So some of them are going to have to work nights, which is good, 'cause that will put some major strength back in our night crew. I mean, it's a far cry from when our inside crew consisted of myself, Joe, Ashley, Sergio, Jess, and Jen. Any one of us could open or close at the drop of a hat, and any two of us could handle a 50 pie hour (to say nothing of the time Jess and I had an 111 pie hour).
To make things even worse, Jenni and Gina were both there when I went in to work today. Seeing Gina always makes things suck; normally, having Jenni there would be more than enough to make things great. Of course, that wouldn't be the case today. She came by the store for two reasons - one, to tell Q about who he needed to talk to about the dorm stuff (which is also what Gina was there for, kinda; I suspect she was there to talk about sandwiches and pasta, but that's what they were talking about when I was there)
Of course, I did the same thing in four (?) months when Sergio called and asked me if I wanted to come be an assistant for him, now that he had the store. I did that, and haven't really looked back since.
Until now.
Things have been pretty crappy lately. I mean, this sounds like just a lot of whining. Dylan keeps saying "Any day you're above ground is a good one" and "Things could always be a lot worse". I know both of those things, and I don't get all melodramatic or lost perspective on things. However, I'm a passionate person with strong emotions, and I'm not good at controlling, restraining, or hiding those emotions. Today, I was really thinking about quitting. Things are getting bad. We've only hired ONE new insider, and he SUCKS. I should clarify, that I don't expect too much from new people. They're going to be rough. They're going to have a lot of questions. It's a lot of stuff to pick up all at once. I can understand all that. I encourage them to ask questions when I'm training them. I let them know that it's much, much worse to not ask than to ask a question you think might make you look stupid. However, we do expect you to start learning things at *some* point. You have to ask a question once or twice, no problem. When you ask it the fifth time, maybe there's starting to be an issue. I mean, we've got Katy working inside now; she's been a driver for a while now, but she's probably only got a little more experience than he does, and she's orders of magnitude better. We've already given her the ability to authorize stuff on carryouts, edit orders, the whole package. That sounds pretty dumb and insignificant, but it's a measure of her progress.
So that's fun. It's alleviated a little bit by Sandra's return next week. There's a bit of an issue, though, since her, Josh, and Lease all want to open. There's only seven opening shifts; well, nine, if we do two on Saturday and Sunday (and we'll need 'em once football starts), although I suspect Q will cover some of those by work 12-10 shifts on the weekend. So some of them are going to have to work nights, which is good, 'cause that will put some major strength back in our night crew. I mean, it's a far cry from when our inside crew consisted of myself, Joe, Ashley, Sergio, Jess, and Jen. Any one of us could open or close at the drop of a hat, and any two of us could handle a 50 pie hour (to say nothing of the time Jess and I had an 111 pie hour).
To make things even worse, Jenni and Gina were both there when I went in to work today. Seeing Gina always makes things suck; normally, having Jenni there would be more than enough to make things great. Of course, that wouldn't be the case today. She came by the store for two reasons - one, to tell Q about who he needed to talk to about the dorm stuff (which is also what Gina was there for, kinda; I suspect she was there to talk about sandwiches and pasta, but that's what they were talking about when I was there)
2008-08-13
Take the glitz back, I want the soul instead
Five months.
It's been about five months since I've posted. I'll try to catch up with what I've missed.
School:
School's going really well so far. Took those three classes during the Spring semester, got a 4.0. That was pretty neat. The day of Finals was kind of funny. They schedule like 2 hours for each final, and mine were back to back to back. Each final took me around thirty to forty-five minutes to do, giving me between forty-five minutes and an hour to kill between each final, in addition to the half hour break they already build in to the schedule. The obvious answer would be to use that time to review the material and/or study for the next final; the only problem with that, of course, is that I don't like to count on such intangible, unsure variables like that, so I was completely ready for each final. I went to a dining hall and grabbed some breakfast during one break, and I don't recall what I did during the other final. After the last one, I had to walk to work where Mom was picking me up to give me a ride home.
Something had gone crazy wrong with my truck. Ended up dropping quite a bit on new tires, then I had to have the engine remounted and stuff (they did it wrong during the original installation). That was fun. I ended up only taking three hours during summer school, one class during Summer I. Phil 1305, Introduction to Philosophy and Critical Thinking. The class was okay, I guess. Every morning at 8 am, for two hours, Monday through Friday. I ended up late to work quite a few days because of it, which was fun. I pulled a strong A in that class as well, which was really good, 'cause it was a Writing Intensive class, and I hate writing. It seemed like the more outlandish I made my conclusion, the better my grade on the test was. I don't know if it just did a better job of making my point, or my writing just got stronger as the semester went on, or the professor just appreciated someone who could effectively communicate the material and their understanding thereof, while still making their conclusion fun to read. I hope it was the latter, but I'm not counting on it. Whatever.
So I didn't take any classes during Summer II, 'cause of the money I had to drop on my truck. I'm registered for 13 hours, 4 classes and 1 lab, for the Fall. Chem II, Chem II Lab, Prob & Stat, Data Structures, and Intro to Fine Arts. I even got some financial aid for this and the Spring semesters. It's pretty awesome. Class starts in about two weeks. I've got most of my textbooks, bought two textbooks online - ebay and amazon are pretty neat, around half price of what the bookstore wanted, *and* I could flip them back for most of the price. I still have to pick up my Chem book/lab manual at the bookstore; the professor wrote both of them. So that's fun. Got my classes blocked Monday/Wednesday, which works out well. I start at 9:30 both mornings; Monday, I go to 6-something, on Wednesday, I'm out around 3-something. Long days, but I'll be taking both days off work so I don't have to go in that night. I might take the occasional Tuesday night off as well, to give me some time to get some real sleep. Of course, that's all depending on the work situation, which will have to get better before I'm able to do so, but we'll get to that later.
And I'm officially a senior.
So I don't feel like going into work just yet, so I guess I'll go with personal stuff next. I finally started a good diet that I'm comfortable with, and I feel confident that I can stick with it, for the most part. Coupling that with the amounts of exercise I have lined up, I hope, I really hope, that I can finally lose some weight.
Socially, it's just as much of an abyss as always. Didn't talk to anyone in any of my classes over the fall semester, or the one I had in the summer. I ended up sitting behind this semi-cute girl over the summer, didn't really get her name or anything. She was a hippie (Wait. Her parents were hippies. I'm not sure?) from Austin. Anyway.
So still friends with Matt, we work out and/or play racquetball in the mornings when our schedules work out. Haven't talked to Cullen recently, though I hope to remedy that soon. Rose is moving out of her parents place, which is cool, getting a little one bedroom; I'm helping her move (no big surprise there). Haven't made any new friends (except at work, but that gets covered in the work section) lately. Maybe that'll change in the Fall. I doubt it, but whatever.
Work's been interesting. Our new GM is working out really well, he's a really cool guy. We're getting pasta and sandwiches in the next few weeks (Sh! Nobody's allowed to know that!), which means we have to regear a lot of things, and find room for a bunch of new products, and retrain everyone on new stuff. It's going to be somewhat more labor-intensive, which kind of sucks. The only good part is that we're getting some good stuff, like sliced provolone, genoa salami, and chicken. Of course, they don't really fit in with my diet, so I'll only taste them sparingly, but it'll probably positively impact sales.
Bill no longer works there; he left to go to Colorado or something, leaving me as the only MiT right now. Jen Fee almost came back, but she went to Kyle instead. I've mentioned to Ambra that she should come back and be an MiT for us; new gm, new dm, there's a good chance they'll let her. They should - she's well trained, she's smart, they let her GM a store for over six months. Oh, and we're NOT DATING, nor WERE WE EVER. They're cracking down ever harder on employee dating, transferred a GM to a completely different district because she was dating another GM. Whatever. We did hire this awesome insider named Becky, but she only worked here for the summer. That made me sad, especially when she left like two weeks ago. Thanks to that, we're still working on improving our inside staff. We need another shift runner or MiT, probably another insider or two. We did hire Janelle as a driver, that's pretty neat. She might be moving back here for her last semester and/or year of school, which would be interesting. Her and Mom don't get along as well as her and I do, so she's a little worried that it might not work out, that they're going to clash too hard much for her to live here. I keep telling her that it was hard for me at first, but that it got a lot better, especially once school started.
Anyway.
So that's what's going on with that.
Vanessa Carlton -- Nolita Fairytale
It's been about five months since I've posted. I'll try to catch up with what I've missed.
School:
School's going really well so far. Took those three classes during the Spring semester, got a 4.0. That was pretty neat. The day of Finals was kind of funny. They schedule like 2 hours for each final, and mine were back to back to back. Each final took me around thirty to forty-five minutes to do, giving me between forty-five minutes and an hour to kill between each final, in addition to the half hour break they already build in to the schedule. The obvious answer would be to use that time to review the material and/or study for the next final; the only problem with that, of course, is that I don't like to count on such intangible, unsure variables like that, so I was completely ready for each final. I went to a dining hall and grabbed some breakfast during one break, and I don't recall what I did during the other final. After the last one, I had to walk to work where Mom was picking me up to give me a ride home.
Something had gone crazy wrong with my truck. Ended up dropping quite a bit on new tires, then I had to have the engine remounted and stuff (they did it wrong during the original installation). That was fun. I ended up only taking three hours during summer school, one class during Summer I. Phil 1305, Introduction to Philosophy and Critical Thinking. The class was okay, I guess. Every morning at 8 am, for two hours, Monday through Friday. I ended up late to work quite a few days because of it, which was fun. I pulled a strong A in that class as well, which was really good, 'cause it was a Writing Intensive class, and I hate writing. It seemed like the more outlandish I made my conclusion, the better my grade on the test was. I don't know if it just did a better job of making my point, or my writing just got stronger as the semester went on, or the professor just appreciated someone who could effectively communicate the material and their understanding thereof, while still making their conclusion fun to read. I hope it was the latter, but I'm not counting on it. Whatever.
So I didn't take any classes during Summer II, 'cause of the money I had to drop on my truck. I'm registered for 13 hours, 4 classes and 1 lab, for the Fall. Chem II, Chem II Lab, Prob & Stat, Data Structures, and Intro to Fine Arts. I even got some financial aid for this and the Spring semesters. It's pretty awesome. Class starts in about two weeks. I've got most of my textbooks, bought two textbooks online - ebay and amazon are pretty neat, around half price of what the bookstore wanted, *and* I could flip them back for most of the price. I still have to pick up my Chem book/lab manual at the bookstore; the professor wrote both of them. So that's fun. Got my classes blocked Monday/Wednesday, which works out well. I start at 9:30 both mornings; Monday, I go to 6-something, on Wednesday, I'm out around 3-something. Long days, but I'll be taking both days off work so I don't have to go in that night. I might take the occasional Tuesday night off as well, to give me some time to get some real sleep. Of course, that's all depending on the work situation, which will have to get better before I'm able to do so, but we'll get to that later.
And I'm officially a senior.
So I don't feel like going into work just yet, so I guess I'll go with personal stuff next. I finally started a good diet that I'm comfortable with, and I feel confident that I can stick with it, for the most part. Coupling that with the amounts of exercise I have lined up, I hope, I really hope, that I can finally lose some weight.
Socially, it's just as much of an abyss as always. Didn't talk to anyone in any of my classes over the fall semester, or the one I had in the summer. I ended up sitting behind this semi-cute girl over the summer, didn't really get her name or anything. She was a hippie (Wait. Her parents were hippies. I'm not sure?) from Austin. Anyway.
So still friends with Matt, we work out and/or play racquetball in the mornings when our schedules work out. Haven't talked to Cullen recently, though I hope to remedy that soon. Rose is moving out of her parents place, which is cool, getting a little one bedroom; I'm helping her move (no big surprise there). Haven't made any new friends (except at work, but that gets covered in the work section) lately. Maybe that'll change in the Fall. I doubt it, but whatever.
Work's been interesting. Our new GM is working out really well, he's a really cool guy. We're getting pasta and sandwiches in the next few weeks (Sh! Nobody's allowed to know that!), which means we have to regear a lot of things, and find room for a bunch of new products, and retrain everyone on new stuff. It's going to be somewhat more labor-intensive, which kind of sucks. The only good part is that we're getting some good stuff, like sliced provolone, genoa salami, and chicken. Of course, they don't really fit in with my diet, so I'll only taste them sparingly, but it'll probably positively impact sales.
Bill no longer works there; he left to go to Colorado or something, leaving me as the only MiT right now. Jen Fee almost came back, but she went to Kyle instead. I've mentioned to Ambra that she should come back and be an MiT for us; new gm, new dm, there's a good chance they'll let her. They should - she's well trained, she's smart, they let her GM a store for over six months. Oh, and we're NOT DATING, nor WERE WE EVER. They're cracking down ever harder on employee dating, transferred a GM to a completely different district because she was dating another GM. Whatever. We did hire this awesome insider named Becky, but she only worked here for the summer. That made me sad, especially when she left like two weeks ago. Thanks to that, we're still working on improving our inside staff. We need another shift runner or MiT, probably another insider or two. We did hire Janelle as a driver, that's pretty neat. She might be moving back here for her last semester and/or year of school, which would be interesting. Her and Mom don't get along as well as her and I do, so she's a little worried that it might not work out, that they're going to clash too hard much for her to live here. I keep telling her that it was hard for me at first, but that it got a lot better, especially once school started.
Anyway.
So that's what's going on with that.
Vanessa Carlton -- Nolita Fairytale
2008-03-28
Put down that chainsaw, and listen to me
Facebook is really, really depressing.
Really, really, really depressing. I mean, yeah, it's great being able to see all my friends' status updates and share pictures and trade fun games and meet friends of friends and show off your favorite quotes and all this stuff. However, if you're twenty-five, still working on your BS (your first one), living at home, working as an assistant manager at Domino's, single with absolutely no prospects, overweight, and pretty pathetic overall, it can be depressing to see all your friends from high school doing graduate work and getting married.
Now, I pretty much got over the whole social yardstick thing. It's my life, I can't really compare it to everyone else - we each have our own path to travel through life, that kind of stuff. Whatever.
Of course, that doesn't make me feel that much better when I'm sitting in Discrete I and Alana is teaching the class across the hall.
Moving on.
I registered for summer classes. I think I'm taking ten hours over both summer sessions - six in two three hour classes, then four in a three hour course with one hour lab. Good stuff - Philosphy, Chem II, Chem II Lab, and Prob/Stat. Shouldn't be too hard.
Stopped by Wal-Mart and saw Rebecca earlier. That was really cool, we hadn't seen each other in over a week. She might have seemed happy to see me? I'm hesitant to actually saw that, self-esteem and our situation and all, but I think so?
I've been kinda depressed lately, but I think that might have snapped me out of it. Maybe, we'll see. Also, I keep staying awake for stupid long periods of time without any preparation or real reason. I'm not sure why.
I think Bill's probably leaving near the end of the summer, and Josh isn't going to be working very much after the spring semester ends. Sadness. Jaoquin is quitting, 'cause we're not really giving him any shifts. Of course, he had this annoying tendency to not be able to work the shifts he was given, so I don't feel too bad about it.
"Weird Al" Yankovic -- Dare to be Stupid
Really, really, really depressing. I mean, yeah, it's great being able to see all my friends' status updates and share pictures and trade fun games and meet friends of friends and show off your favorite quotes and all this stuff. However, if you're twenty-five, still working on your BS (your first one), living at home, working as an assistant manager at Domino's, single with absolutely no prospects, overweight, and pretty pathetic overall, it can be depressing to see all your friends from high school doing graduate work and getting married.
Now, I pretty much got over the whole social yardstick thing. It's my life, I can't really compare it to everyone else - we each have our own path to travel through life, that kind of stuff. Whatever.
Of course, that doesn't make me feel that much better when I'm sitting in Discrete I and Alana is teaching the class across the hall.
Moving on.
I registered for summer classes. I think I'm taking ten hours over both summer sessions - six in two three hour classes, then four in a three hour course with one hour lab. Good stuff - Philosphy, Chem II, Chem II Lab, and Prob/Stat. Shouldn't be too hard.
Stopped by Wal-Mart and saw Rebecca earlier. That was really cool, we hadn't seen each other in over a week. She might have seemed happy to see me? I'm hesitant to actually saw that, self-esteem and our situation and all, but I think so?
I've been kinda depressed lately, but I think that might have snapped me out of it. Maybe, we'll see. Also, I keep staying awake for stupid long periods of time without any preparation or real reason. I'm not sure why.
I think Bill's probably leaving near the end of the summer, and Josh isn't going to be working very much after the spring semester ends. Sadness. Jaoquin is quitting, 'cause we're not really giving him any shifts. Of course, he had this annoying tendency to not be able to work the shifts he was given, so I don't feel too bad about it.
"Weird Al" Yankovic -- Dare to be Stupid
2008-03-16
Can't stop loving you
Talked to Rebecca last night. She mentioned that yes, she hearts her boyfriend (through an anecdote about something at work). However, she did give me what I feel is final, incontrovertible proof that she doesn't think I'm a creepy bastard that's stalking her. We were talking as I was about to leave, and she kind of mentioned that I was in one of her dreams. She couldn't remember what it was about or anything. However, I submit that under no circumstances would you tell someone that if you fear they are a creepy bastard that's stalking you.
Moving on.
Only two more shifts in my eleven shift marathon. Today's is going to be particularly interesting, since it's basically just me and Trey inside during a Sunday night, with all the kids coming back from Spring Break. Q said it's steady at best, trending towards slow, so that's a decent sign, though I think it'll get busier as the day goes on. Of course, we did manage to survive Saturday night doing about 25, so we'll see how it goes. Monday is going to be easy-peasy, with Sandra as my closing insider. The only negative part is that we're going to be doing the 3.99 medium 1 toppings again. Of course, we didn't really advertise it this time, so we'll see how that goes.
Vinylworxx -- Stop Loving You
Moving on.
Only two more shifts in my eleven shift marathon. Today's is going to be particularly interesting, since it's basically just me and Trey inside during a Sunday night, with all the kids coming back from Spring Break. Q said it's steady at best, trending towards slow, so that's a decent sign, though I think it'll get busier as the day goes on. Of course, we did manage to survive Saturday night doing about 25, so we'll see how it goes. Monday is going to be easy-peasy, with Sandra as my closing insider. The only negative part is that we're going to be doing the 3.99 medium 1 toppings again. Of course, we didn't really advertise it this time, so we'll see how that goes.
Vinylworxx -- Stop Loving You
2008-03-11
Finally got to get into it with a customer today about the whole "You Got 30 Minutes" thing. First, I do think it's really, really dumb for them to be using that. I mean, yeah, the vast majority of our orders do get to our customers within thirty minutes, and I don't think it's necessarily wrong to play up that; the problem, however, is that we did that 30 minute guarantee in the 80's, so *anything* with Domino's and the number 30 is automatically going to make that connection in people's minds. It's pretty unfortunate. Anyway. He also got pretty mad that our drivers don't carry parmesan or crushed red peppers on them. Seriously, though. I mean, if you can't eat something without a given condiment, that condiment has ceased to be a condiment, and is instead an integral part of the dish. Well, those aren't. Deal with it. We do charge for them. Think that's ridiculous? Shop somewhere else. Customer's choice, and all that.
So the guy placed his order, and I told him at the end of the order that it'd be 35-45 minutes. The guy calls back at thirty-one minutes, almost exactly. I know this because when someone calls back that's already placed an order, when you bring up that phone line, it says when they ordered. There's that, and there's the clock right next to that, so it's pretty easy to see how long ago they ordered. So yeah, he called back right at thirty-one, thirty-two minutes. He was calling about our 30-minute guarantee, which we don't have. He kept bringing up the commercial, which just says "You've got 30 minutes". It doesn't say "You've got 30 minutes, or it's free." It definitely doesn't say "You've got 30 minutes (or it's free)". It says "You've got 30 minutes (or keep waiting)". Again, I'm not defending the fact that they're almost definitely playing to the fact that we did have one, a long, LONG time ago, and people are definitely going to make that association whenever they see the 30. Whatever. But it's there, and we're doing the best we can.
So yeah, the guy calls at 32 minutes, and I explain about it being an estimate, not a guarantee. We go through this several times.
He then calls back another twenty-ish minutes later, to make another complaint. Basically, (a) his pizza took 40 minutes, and (b) the driver didn't have any peppers or cheese on him. I would have had a little more sympathy for this complaint if we hadn't already discussed (a) when he called back ONE MINUTE after thirty minutes, and I told him that it'd be 35-45 minutes for delivery. And (b), well, there's not a lot I can do about (b). It's how our franchise operates. I can't really defend it.
Moving on.
Four of
Hmm. I got caught up playing around on Facebook, and I'm really not sure where I was going with that "Four of" thing. I'll get back to that, if possible.
Oh! I remember. Maybe. I might have been going to say something about I've done four of my eleven consecutive shifts? Probably not. I can't see me saying "Four of" as the beginning of that sentence. Anyway.
So yeah, been dealing with a lot of ex's lately, primarily through Facebook. I let it do the 'automatic friend finder thing' with my gmail inbox, and that brought up Chelsea and Lilie, got to see them. Oh, and Terri. Saw Mindy while going through some photos to upload, and Carrie, and Nikki. Ashley ordered pizza last night.
So the guy placed his order, and I told him at the end of the order that it'd be 35-45 minutes. The guy calls back at thirty-one minutes, almost exactly. I know this because when someone calls back that's already placed an order, when you bring up that phone line, it says when they ordered. There's that, and there's the clock right next to that, so it's pretty easy to see how long ago they ordered. So yeah, he called back right at thirty-one, thirty-two minutes. He was calling about our 30-minute guarantee, which we don't have. He kept bringing up the commercial, which just says "You've got 30 minutes". It doesn't say "You've got 30 minutes, or it's free." It definitely doesn't say "You've got 30 minutes (or it's free)". It says "You've got 30 minutes (or keep waiting)". Again, I'm not defending the fact that they're almost definitely playing to the fact that we did have one, a long, LONG time ago, and people are definitely going to make that association whenever they see the 30. Whatever. But it's there, and we're doing the best we can.
So yeah, the guy calls at 32 minutes, and I explain about it being an estimate, not a guarantee. We go through this several times.
He then calls back another twenty-ish minutes later, to make another complaint. Basically, (a) his pizza took 40 minutes, and (b) the driver didn't have any peppers or cheese on him. I would have had a little more sympathy for this complaint if we hadn't already discussed (a) when he called back ONE MINUTE after thirty minutes, and I told him that it'd be 35-45 minutes for delivery. And (b), well, there's not a lot I can do about (b). It's how our franchise operates. I can't really defend it.
Moving on.
Four of
Hmm. I got caught up playing around on Facebook, and I'm really not sure where I was going with that "Four of" thing. I'll get back to that, if possible.
Oh! I remember. Maybe. I might have been going to say something about I've done four of my eleven consecutive shifts? Probably not. I can't see me saying "Four of" as the beginning of that sentence. Anyway.
So yeah, been dealing with a lot of ex's lately, primarily through Facebook. I let it do the 'automatic friend finder thing' with my gmail inbox, and that brought up Chelsea and Lilie, got to see them. Oh, and Terri. Saw Mindy while going through some photos to upload, and Carrie, and Nikki. Ashley ordered pizza last night.
