Thursday, December 30, 2004  

Shhhhh.! It is so quiet here today. I can't figure out why. I woke up after 9 and it seemed like something is wrong or something. Ya look outside and it's drizzling RAIN no snow (thus the picture to remind me that snow is possible...) and there seems to be no traffic in the hallways or roadways outside. Very eerie feeling. 

   [ posted  @ 7:57 AM | ]

I don't care that Christmas is "over." I'm leaving the tree up at least a few more weeks bc i love it, and i'm waiting for Minnesota to get a real dump of snow. Like big one dump.

I took the car in to get a wash today. You could not read the back licence plate. That would mean it's too cruddy and she needs a washing. There/ That's done.

The store is still standing and it actually looked half way decent. The new signs are up and i took our little christmas tree down and put it in back lock-up. I decided that since i will probably work there until i die, I could leave the tree there with all it's lights and ornaments for next year when i haul it out again. As depressing as that may sound, I remind myself that there are people who are desperately searching for a job at all, who are trying to support little kids who need to eat and get new shoes, and there are others who hate their job with so much hatred that they can't even smile -- ever. Some people have to clean those portable toilets for a living. Other people have to wipe butts or care for the terminally ill. Some people have to clean up rotting dead people in Indonesia. I just have to sell office supplies and make people's retail dreams come true. Not a lot to ask for now. I'm sure the Good Lord will open up other avenues for excitement in the future.

One day, I was looking at some of the ridiculous DVDs they send us to sell for the Holidays. Now, I've never actually seen an episode of THE WIGGLES, but I know what it is. And we had a holiday DVD of THE WIGGLES and I was looking at the cover. There were grown men dressed as ... [there are no words] ... play things, and I started talking to people about how these men get up in the morning, take a shower, read the paper, and get to go to work, and their job is to be a WIGGLE. That's their job. They dress up in costumes, sing and play the most stupid idiotic music imaginable. They are grown men, like in their 40's who shoot these awful kid videos all day. That's their job. If their wife takes them to a dinner party, and they meet a stranger and the dude goes, "So... what do you do for work?"

The Wiggle Guy would answer, "I make children's videos. I'm A WIGGLE!"

And as I thought about that one man's humiliation (or pride, as the lot might fall in that direction) of having to live his life as a WIGGLE, I decided that being a Sales Supervisor is not so terrible after all. My picture might not appear on the cover of a DVD anywhere for any reason, but when i go to sleep at night, I'm not a Wiggle.

Now, one last thing. The Good Lord has intevened, because we had a customer service score of under 9.38 for the longest time. And if we could not get a customer service score of at least 9.41 (on the surveys you take online when you buy things at our store, it says there is a website to go to on the top of your receipt. After you answer ten questions on a scale of 1-10 [clean restrooms, fast checkout, prices easy to find, knowledgeable associates, etc.,] we get the grades on the email and 40% of my chance to get a raise is dependant upon that score being at least 9.41.) I prayed about this seriously because there would virtually be no way for me to get a raise this year (and i didn't get one last year bc our profit and loss statement was all messed up) without that score.

And

Wouldn't you know that somehow over the weekend, the last weekend that would count for us, some angels came and visited our store, took that darn survey, and bumped us up

to

a

9.42 !!! That ends the year ! We made it!!!

God is cool. So, i still don't know if or what kind of a raise i might get, but at least we'll get the right score on that part!

Oh, last thing. I also prayed 2x tonight with two different associates about things that we needed for customers who were on their way to get things that no one ever checked if we actually had them in stock. After two people looked for the stuff and could not find it, i stopped us and said we need to pray about this and we prayed in Jesus' Name asked for His grace, and His mercy on this situation, and by golly THERE WAS THE STUFF! Right in aisle 4!

   [ posted  @ 9:47 PM | ]

Yay!

I am home from my marathon trip in Wisconsin where i stayed at a total of 3 ppl's houses and bought an orphanage's load of YARN. My trip back to MN seemed to last about 40 days and 40 nights. I don't know why it dragged on and on and on. I was so happy to see the s169 sign... happy day.

I got a whole ton of stuff for xmas. I can't really name favorites bc i love everything I got. I love the new tv/dvd combo (which was a suprise!), my Sweat Pea doll off Ebay, all my Coca Cola stuff (can never get enough) and the awesomely cool clogs Terri made me with real leather bottoms. I most enjoyed hanging out with the fam and am going to plan a week's trip sometime in the spring to go back so it's not so long between visits.

There may not be a lot of posts on here this week again because i will be working very long hours back at the ranch, i mean STORE. That is, if it is still standing.

Now, i just have to finish up my candy jar of chocolates so i can lose all the weight! haha

   [ posted  @ 2:59 PM | ]

When I was a tiny tot (with my eyes all aglow) this was the specialest time of the year and I could not wait for Christmas Eve to get over with, so that the special Christmas Eve night would happen. We'd get our presents from Gramma Clair, put out the cookies and milk for santa, and i'd stare long and hard at that fire place trying to picture what Santa'd look like when he made it out of there.

Remember the iron soldiers that guarded the fire?

I remember staring up into the sky all those times trying to see the sleigh and lights and Rudolph!

Anyways this will be my last post until after Christmas, i think. I am so glad to be off of work. I am so sick of people who know nothing about digital imaging (people, you should really do your homework before you ask me to pick out a 400$ camera for you, i could easily rip you off...) and having to explain what a megapixel is, and what is optical vs. digital zoom and i'm so sick of people thinking the more megapixels they have, the better quality the picture will be.

I came up with the winning question today.

I started asking people, "Did you ever get an email from someone where the picture they sent you was 8x bigger than your computer screen and you had to scroll all over to see it?"

They answer, "yes, a lot."

I ask them to clarify, "You know, like the kid's eyeball is as big as the screen?"

"Yes."

"That's what happens," I tell them, "When you save files as 4, 5 or 6 megapixels. All you are doing is making it so big no one will want to look at it. And if you are really planning to make 20x30 poster sized prints of the tree in your front yard, just where on earth do you think you are going to go to print it???? Your printer at home can't go bigger than 8.5 in one direction!"

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

I know there is more to it than all that, but for your avg. joe home user, 3 megapixels is all you could ever need. I talk more about start up time, battery life, screen size, shutter speed, light modes, picture modes, and ease of use (or control if you want that.) But i was so sick of explaining the same thing to people. They come in there expecting to have to spend 3-400$ when something that is 100$ would suit them just fine. I also made it a practice with every jerk who thinks he knows more than me, to tell him not to buy anything from me. I am convinced nothing will make them happy and i don't want them to get it home, hate it, and then return it. That really hurts our sales figures. I told quite a few people, "I just don't think i have what you need," if they started acting like they thought i was "lesser than" or anything like that.

OK i'm rambling bc i am avoiding packing. I need to GO!!

M e r r y C h r i s t m a s ! ! !

   [ posted  @ 7:45 PM | ]

Amy wrote about her students all getting her gifts for Christmas.

Paragraph.

One of my students gave me a gift on Monday and it's little baked treats - really great. I think they have my same caramel recipe (tho their's somehow is more hard as a rock) and the creamiest peanut butter balls ever. BUT. I just am getting down to the bottom of the little gift box it came in (it looks like a chinese food container) and

THERE

IS

A

HAIR

AT

THE

BOTTOM.



O m g.

I don't think it could be my hair (tho my hair is e v e r y w h e r e here). OMG! LOL

i think i will still eat this bc i don't have any other food in the house, and these sweets are sort of my supper (just got off work not too long ago).

I'd take a pic of it for you but it doesn't show up well enough.

OK then!

   [ posted  @ 9:47 PM | ]

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!" We got the tiniest of dustings of snow on the ground. It is super duper freezing here and I don't mind, as long as my car starts. And it's been doing just fine.

My first of 3 marathon long days at work yesterday when actually way better than i would have imagined. 12 hours walking around a very cold store with short sleeves staring at the same shelves can be kind of draining. But i had that "Ding fries are done" BurgerKing flash movie in my head and i was singing it all day. I didn't really care how annoying i was. People just put up with me. Or, if you're Emily, the new operations supervisor, you go hide in the cash office all day until I leave. She kept asking me when i would be off work - i think it was a hint. She's just going to have to learn to live with me and my ticks - I have to do what I have to do to get thru the day. If your thing to get thru the day is avoiding me bc i'm singing "i work at burger king making flame broiled whoppers, i wear paper hats/ WOULD you like an apple pie with THHAAAAT" then you do what u gotta do.

Is that how you spell Whoppers?

I don't know bc i eat at McD's, Taco Bell, Arby's and Cub.

Lastly, I'm begging anyone who has not got my christmas gift for a LONG SLEEVE Dark Navy Blue shirt with no logo on it, size L. It must have a button down collar. I am freezing at work and have no way to warm up besides clutching at my arms with my cold hands LOL

   [ posted  @ 6:53 AM | ]

Holy balogna, no time to breathe this week. Is it "bologna?"

I never looked at my work schedule and for some reason he's got me doing 8 a.m.'s to 10 p.m.'s everyday since i'm working a 4 day work week. You have any idea how annoying a small store gets after you've been there 10 hours? And what is worse: we don't have the Christmas musak station on (we have no choice on that one) so if i'm not over by the lame stereos we sell, i don't hear anything cheery.

We had quite a bit of ice yesterday and strange weather. The freezing cold temps here at least sort of (but not really) make up for having no snow. I keep telling myself it could be 60 degrees outside and no snow. At least it's trying to seem like it is sort of winter.

And the best news is that i'm getting to stay home thru the 28th instead of the 26th! whoo hoo!

   [ posted  @ 4:08 AM | ]

It's Ultimate Baking Sunday over here at the apartment. So far, i've only made one batch of sugar cookies. And i'm tired. And i don't feel like making any more treats. I am such a loser of a cooker that i had look up what a quart was. DO YOU KNOW??? If the popcorn thing recipe calls for 3 quarts of popped popcorn, what does that mean? I found out here at this easy site. So it's like 12 cups of popcorn which is no problem.

I was up early with the peeps at band practice this morning. A group of about 10 sr. high students wrote a REALLY COOL skit to perform for the jr. high: what it would look like if Jesus had been born in 2004. Mary was "Maria" - a girl from your school. Her boyfriend, Joe, is told by a strange guy (angel) in the locker room after a basketball game that things are going to be scary for a little bit but that he needs to stick with Maria, even tho the whole school is rumoring that they are sleeping together because she's pregnant. But Maria and Joe are known to be "religious" so it's a real scandal. A bunch of Maria's friends corner her in the bathroom, where she has just taken a pregnancy test, and pressure her to get an abortion. She says no. [In church last week, Pastor said that if Christ were born in today's time, there is a 1 in 2 chance that he would have been aborted, because that is how high, world wide, the stats are for abortion: 50% of babies are killed.]

There were a bunch of really short scenes seperated by darkness, music interludes, spot lights, and they all wore wireless mic's. It was so good. I was so proud of them all especially because no adults help them. Oh, and then instead of shepherds, they had 3 kids from the skate park find out that a baby was born in a truck (the strange man told them) so they went and brought the baby gifts. A tiny skateboard, a blanket, and a nalgene bottle. It was just darn cool.

OK i gotta get back to the baking: now that i know what the heck a quart is. A quart, if you don't know, is 2 pints. and it takes 2 cups to make a pint. There. You learned something today.

   [ posted  @ 2:07 PM | ]

FREAK SHOW!!!
I'M SO TICKED OFF!

I cashed a check for $4 from Dell without reading the stupid fine print and they signed me up for some bogus program for $140!!!!!!! $%^&W%$$%@$%@# I'm so mad! I can't get ahold of customer service this late at night but I WILL NOT PAY THIS! Looks like other people have had the same problem. I need to close out my Dell account!!! BEWARE!

And don't anyone tell me the irony of this, after i posted that "man 1, Bank 0" thing.

   [ posted  @ 9:01 PM | ]

What I'm bringing to Amy's for treats on Xmas:

No caramels this year. I am contemplating MAYBE making them but I found some new recipes I wanted to try instead. If those go really smoothly, I will go and get the stuff for caramels.

1. Pinky's Christmas cookies. I will bake them here and bring them to mom's to frost. But I'm not going to mess around with making frosting. I buy the stuff from Betty Crocker. Yummy & easy.

2. Butterscotch Chocolate Popcorn square things. Looks really good and gooey.

14. Triple layer mint chocolate brownies.

28. I may bring this Triscuit recipe I found but I'll have to bake that @ Amy's bc it's got to go in the oven and be served shortly after. You just melt some cheeses, black olives and green onions and top the Triscuits with that. Something a little more salty may help us get thru the afternoon of all the rest of the sugar I'm bringing.

kidzfromonetoninetytwo: I really want to make my caramels too but I just don't know how much time I will have in the next week because of working mid-shifts. OMG it's 7:45 and i really need to go try to be tired.

   [ posted  @ 5:38 AM | ]

Finally finished wrapping all my presents just minutes ago.

I had to do an overnight @ work so i saved some boxes for the occassion as I was putting the truck away. I knew just which sizes to look for. Maybe that's like the ONE benefit i can list of working there this time of year. Matt my buddy from AL called me in the middle of the night to say HI and i let him know some of the new things we got on the truck. That was cool.

I am particularly proud of my Name Gift which i won't tell you which one it is in the picture, but it will be a puzzle as to what is in there when ppl see it, I think. Also, notice white trash cord still runs the floor. Also, notice the truth: those are INDOOR/OUTDOOR bulbs. Just the kind we had when i was growing up on our tree. Some people laugh at my HUMONGOUS bulbs and say "why in the world you have outside lights on your tree? They're HUUUUUGE!" But they look so Christmas-sy to me. And i will not let anyone tell me that they look yucky because they don't. Now, I admit I cannot get them to all stand up straight, but at least I don't have PINK lights on my tree like SOME PEOPLE omg.

   [ posted  @ 5:34 AM | ]

Omyday! I finished my first scarf from start to finish just minutes ago!!! I even tied on tastles (probably spelled rong) I am so excited! It didn't even take me 3 days to make this, and it's like five feet long! I ROCK! And, i don't want to give the orphans this one, bc i think it is so cool! And SOFT! 

   [ posted  @ 12:32 PM | ]

Umm, we really need a big snow here. Come on, weather. When is it going to snow???  

   [ posted  @ 7:18 PM | ]

It's really true what they say about the stupidity of people calling in for tech support.

Yesterday there was a lull in the afternoon at work, and i took a "computer question" on line 1. First when someone asks for help with a "computer question" or asks for a "computer guy" or "computer whiz" it's usually someone who knows NOTHING about computers at all and it's a dumb question like "do you sell Windows 98?"

No, we don't.

Then, the person usually starts telling me the numbers on the front of their computer. "HI. I have a Gateway 2000xbn42qc and ..." I usually have to take my hand out of my pocket, grab my tounge with all 5 fingers and hold myself from saying "GATEWAY??? THAT WAS YOUR FIRST MISTAKE, LADY!" and then control the laughter.

Anyways yesterday a lady called in and tells me she was "just in my store" (why the time frame is supposed to make a big difference here, i don't know, but people always have to tell me they were JUST HERE as if the newness of their machine would help it be less complex to them) and bought an HP PSC 1315. (Here, the #'s do matter, because these style numbers are as dear to my heart as close friends or family members... I have everything memorized...). She says she is on step 12 of the installation guide which so far has gone fine, but she looked all thru her box and cannot find the "alignment page" to put on the scan bed to test the scanner.

Now, if i did not have Blonde Genes in my family pool, i would have realized right away what she needed me to do, but the StupidPills (tm) she took for lunch must have transmitted their dorkvibe onto me over the phone wires, and I was lost. After i asked her a series of questions like "You didn't buy a display, did you?" I had to go open a box up and dig thru it to see if she was missing an "alignment page" with a series of lines boxes and grids on it.

I could not remember why this would have any significance in setting up the unit, as i am the one who puts all the machines out on display when they are new and we NEVER use the installation guide for anything. Nevertheless, i went and got a box off the shelf, took it to the service counter, opened it up, dug thru the books and tried to find what she was talking about in the setup guide. I was looking at it... Again, we never look @ the instructions. You take off all the little pieces of tape, put the ink in, and plug it in and turn it ohhh .........................

Ohhhhh I took her off of hold, and asked her if she ever turned her machine ON after she put the ink in, because by default it would have printed THE ALIGNMENT PAGE FOR HER!

DUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! (5 of you were already thinking that, and are frustrated realizing it's my job to do this and i didn't get it yet...)

So she said since the instructions didn't specifically tell her to TURN IT ON that she would not do that, but i said it was totally OK. She was so happy when that thing started printing. Well, first it sputtered and guttered a lot - because this is a particularly NOISY machine, not on my highly recommended list, but for some reason, females are drawn to this machine 20x to 1 when they go down this aisle, i can't figure it out. That one, or the 1350. Both for it's compact size, price and it's look, i guess. But i'm not a big fan of HP anymore since i understand Lexmark and they give me prizes for selling their stuff.

So when we both figured it out, we had a good laugh, she was so happy i took the time, and then she asked me to put another one on hold for her bc she was going to buy it as a gift. So then i told her to make sure to request a gift receipt, which led to another 3 paragraphs of info for her bc she had never heard of such a thing... a receipt without the $$ info on it... she loved that! Then she thanked me over and over and over.

HP Tech Support ain't got nuttin' on me.

   [ posted  @ 6:28 AM | ]

Hey welcome my sis Terri to the world of blogging!!! My family list is growing. Now if only mom and dad would start one!! Plus she picked a blogger account which is one of the most popular to use, and also easy!!!

Click for Howdy Goudys!

   [ posted  @ 2:31 PM | ]

Some poor orphan (in what will probably end up to be a very hot climate) is going to get this triple wide scarf after i'm done with it. Let me tell ya the story...

First of all, some of you have seen the pix of my last knitting (if you want to call it that) project which is still on the needle, because i think it's terribly ugly and even tho i'm making these for charity, it still would be nice to give something as beautiful as what i would like to personally receive.

I don't know much about knitting, but if YOU do, you'll know there isn't much to know! So I was at Wal-Mart the other day (omg i go there more often now and did you know they have EVERYTHING THERE??!!) I feel like complete trash of humanity shopping there. It's so disorganized and messy and just a dump, but ohmylanta it is so cheap and I could spend all day there filling up my sqeaky cart. Well i wanted to go check out the yarn because besides what my mom gave me in October, i didn't have any and i had a friend who showed me a scarf she made and it was so cool. It was made with really big needles and really kooky yarn and i wanted to do that. Well they didn't have much of a selection, but i picked out some really soft bunchy kinds that had baby blanket stuff written on the label all in pastels and such. You can see from the colors in the pic how cool the yarn is. And i got size 15 needles (those were the largest i could find there) and decided i was going to start a new scarf.

Well in just HOURS (compared to weeks with that other rug/doormat/scarf/thing) i ran thru a whole ball of yarn (i'm sure there's a proper name for it and some of you are squirming bc i didn't use it) and it's so soft and wonderful!!! ONLY i should have just done the cast-on of 13 stitches like the book said!! INSTEAD I DID 24 so this thing is bigger than the orphan's whole family!!!! She'll just have to fold it in half and wrap it around her sweaty shoulders and neck. And within 2 days my soft baby yarn scarf will be brown with dust and the love of Jesus.

So i'm almost ready to start another one bc i have to back to WalMart (where they have EVERYTHING) to get more yarn to add to that triplewide and this time i promise it will just be 12 or 13 stitches. So that means it will go SUPERFAST and be twice as long and i can crank these suckers out by the boat load and just think how much warmer all the orphans shall be!!

JOY!

   [ posted  @ 7:27 PM | ]

Did you ever wonder what is wrong with "Dolly" on the Island of Misfit Toys???

It is one many mysteries i have pondered over the yearz. Tonight i decided to do some investigation. It just so happens that i am not alone in wondering this...

Read really cool article here.

   [ posted  @ 6:54 PM | ]

One more mystery solved. You've always wondered what this song was about. Now you can find out. So this time sing it w/ some meaning. Click for Auld Lang Syne!!

I was thinking of this the other day how people sing this song, and have no idea what the heck they are singing about.

When i was little we sang this song at the Assemblies and i never stopped to think about what it actually meant. The words are so KingJames that it was a melody w/out much meaning. It goes

Great is the Lord
And greatly to be praised
In the City of our God
in the mountain of Holiness (so far that part is at least sort of easy to understand...)
Beautiful for situation (huh? That still makes no sense)
The joy of the whole earth
Is mount Zion on the sides of the north
the city of the great King (The last two lines, i always thought were a QUESTION that was not being answered. Like, "Where is Mt. Zion? Is it on the side of the north? The one that's the city of the great king? Who can find it? Where's waldo? Where's Mt. Zion?")


Come to find out, as most songs you sing in church are, this is direct from the King James version of Psalms 48
Psalms 48:1-7 1 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. 2 Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. 3 God is known in her palaces for a refuge. 4 For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together. 5 They saw it, and so they marvelled; they were troubled, and hasted away. 6 Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail.

etc. Anyways that's my mystery (two mysteries!) solved today. Now i'm going to go watch some soap opera and cloud up my morals!!!

   [ posted  @ 11:40 AM | ]

We got a smattering of snow this morning.

It's mostly turned to rain today, and i went to Hallmark to get my cards. They had a bad selection in my opinion. Am i THAT late in buying them? Just not good ones to pick from.

The one pack of cards i really loved had a great cover but when you opened it, it said something about "happy holidays from a new address." I loved the card so much i was tempted to cover up that saying with something else i could paste in there, but that's literally TACKY, so i passed on them.

I was going to go to Kmart (they usually have great cards and a huge selection) or Target, but i didn't feel like making more stops today. It's my day off even tho i had to go in for a 2 hour leadership meeting this morning.

I got the awesome new James Taylor christmas CD (only at Hallmark) and i love it. But i love his music anyways.

Do you save your christmas cards from year to year? I do, and i hang them all over the door frames. I am going to set those up today... I've got cards from the last 7 years or so! Makes for a cluttered but spirited decoration, and CHEAP bc people send them to you!! But i didn't want to trapse all over town for cards most people just throw out.

   [ posted  @ 11:35 AM | ]

My el-cheapo budget glass frames popped apart at the screw thing when i was taking off my work shirt. Next time i won't be in such a hurry. Anyone got a really small flat head screw driver?

Oh well good thing i have a 2nd pair.

Libra
It looks as though you're once again making headway! Now that you are "gung-ho," planning for the future, why not enroll in an educational program, or take a trip? However, dear Libra, don't be so dazzled by today's bright outlook that you forget the business at hand. Accept this day for what it is: a brief respite amidst all the chaos. Tomorrow you'll return to your investigations refreshed.

Making headway. Yes it's true. I was not scheduled to work today. I thought i was. Went to work and worked anyways for 10.5 hours. I get to take Tuesday off instead. Redid the phones section (i make up my own plano's) and marked all the clearance stuff. Good riddance Motorola phones. Hate those things. Nearly every one we sell comes back as a return. Same for G.E., anything with the word BELL in it, and Olympia. Basically that leaves you with the two powerhouses
UNIDEN
&
PANASONIC

the only two kinds of phones i will EVER recommend.

As far as the "gung ho planning for the future" nahhh. One day at a time over here. Besides, your glasses could pop apart and ruin all the plans you had for the whole week.

Education or trip? Umm, how ya gonna pay for that?

Tomorrow i will return to my investigations refreshed??? Huh? Today was a brief rest at least it was not slamming busy at work, but a customer did use the F*-word several times with my boss. He just stood their and let her do it and then told her NO. LOL

   [ posted  @ 11:05 PM | ]

Today's Freaky Horror-Scope

Libra
There may be a frenzy of activity around you, dear Libra, but you will be able to handle it beautifully. Your charm and social grace will get you through any door you wish. You should be able to juggle many things at once, and others will look to you for support. You will have the level head and calm demeanor necessary to handle things diplomatically and honestly. Don't be surprised if things get more and more insane as the day wears on - but this shouldn't faze you one bit.

I'll be a monkey's uncle if that did not just totally describe the day i had today. I won't go into details about work this time. But we were severely understaffed for the neighbors (Target & Khols) having monster sales next door. I couldn't come up for air all day... left so much undone. Our sales goal was beat DOUBLE and

i
rock.

Plus, i didn't get swore at (only a few minor confrontations, which i blew off...).

   [ posted  @ 8:41 PM | ]

I spent most of yesterday fearing for my life.

All I did was answer the phone.

When confronted with danger or opposition at work from customers, somehow the grace of God allows me to go into this numb impersonal mode of behaviour in which I am very calm and almost too calm: irritatingly so.

Ring ring ring.

I picked up the phone. "Officemax featruing CopyMax this is Katie how may i help you?"

I hear the un-clarity of a cell phone in the background, and it sounds like the person is on the road. A woman says, "Do you have applications?"

I never know what people mean by this. I am wondering if it's another store and if they are asking if we have bulk of employment applications run off and if someone is on their way to get them.

Answered I, "You mean run off?"

"NO! TO BUY! FOR EMPLOYMENT!"

This lady is ANGRY. I notice this right away. Before I can answer her one way or the other, she cuts me off. "Is Israel there?"

Israel, my former store manager now works at a nearby store. I tell her that he's in Chanhassen now. This makes her more angry. I ask if i can please put her on hold to go check if we have the applications (we are normally out of them for some reason, but they are in aisle 7 and are $9.99; that much i do know.)

She lets me put her on hold. Actually she may have still been talking but i hit HOLD anyway. I go check, and we have plenty of them so i grab a package in case she wants me to reserve her one at the service desk. I pick up a different phone in aisle 6, take her off hold and let her know yes we do have plenty, and they are $9.99.

This sets her off like you would not believe. She starts to yell.

"I was just in there. I walked around your store 4 times and no one helped me. Where is Israel (she kept asking this, and i wanted to tell her it's over by Syria and Jordan haha)? When Israel was there, he helped customers! He showed me where things were! Now everytime I come in there there are no associates on the floor and no one helps anyone!!!!"

Now she has quit yelling. She is now screaming into the phone. I could not figure out what i did to deserve her screaming at me. I was also thinking that if she is purchasing applications, she's a business owner and I prayed to God no one applied at her business bc with such a short fuse, she cannot be very prosperous.

Answered I, "I'm am very sorry to hear that. I do apologize. We do our best to get to every customer, and all I can tell you right now is that we do have plenty of these applications and I would be glad to put one on hold for you..."

My niceness (overtly so) tripped off a sensor in this over-caffinated, vile, prozak-needing sorry excuse for a business person. She must have moved her cell phone about 2 feet from her mouth. I heard her begin (and i am truly not exaggerating) to let out all her demons... She is now in hysterics and i can hear she is crying very hard.

"F*** you, b****! F*** you! Your store f***ing sucks and I will never f****ing shop there ever again!!!!!" She continued to yell, but

With that, I had received enough abuse for simply being the one who picked up the phone and i hung up on her.

That occured with in the first hour of my work day. Immediately, I got on the walkies and alerted the crew of what just took place, minus the swear words, and I asked them to please try harder to get to every customer. I was so shaken by this that i had to go walk it off, and i had to re-tell the story all day just to be therapudic. All of the guys were on full alert for me, because I was convinced she was going to come back into the store with a semi-automatic and make me part of the 10 o'clock news. So EVERYTIME A WOMAN walked into the store, I was so nervous and was trying to read her body language and see if she was smiling and i would try to get to every person i could. I didn't hardly task at all, all day. I was making sure people were focused on customers.

To my knowledge, she never did end up coming in, however. It was the day for the CRAZY PEOPLE to shop. We had one very bad confrontation after the other there. Sean had someone scream at him bc he asked for i.d. when filling out a check at the register. A business owner would not believe me that i could not waive a majic wand and make a discontinued executive desk appear out of nowhere and when i told him it didn't bother me a bit if he shopped at "our competition" (which is OfficeDepot like a half hour away stupid dorks) he was so mad he went and found my manager, who had to deal with him for another half hour. This man was lacking brain cells too, but he was sent on an errand by one of his secretaries bc they found a desk online and could not order it (this is because IT'S NO LONGER MADE!). There was one story after the other of just angry crazy people. So by 2 p.m. I started to ask if there was something that happened on the news or what is going on...? No one knew.

[By the way, I never understand what kind of a threat it is supposed to be when an angry customer swears and says they are going to 'go to my competition'... for things i don't have anyway. If i were to count how many times a day i suggest they go to CompUSA, Circuit City, Radio Shack, Best Buy etc., i would count up real high haha. Why would i care if someone who is so rude decides to "shop my competition?" I'm glad! Get the heck out of my store! You're ruining my day! I will not bend over backwards to help people who are rude, who cuss at my associates, or treat me like cow dung because of whatever reason made them unable to crap today... I hope they do start to go to OfficeDepot. They suck worse than we do! They don't even have the RUBBERBAND MAN!]

Now, I hate to admit it, but yes since Izzy left our store, our customer service HAS dropped off the cliff. My store manager sits in the office all day long. I have to beg him to get his butt on the floor and help customers. My logistics manager sees what a mess receiving is so he is usually in the back room all day with another associate cleaning and such. I am so busy during the day trying to get prices changed, displays up, and machines put on display that i have not focused on sales leading or helping customers since Izzy left either (this is because logistics is in such a shambles.) But yesterday my boss WAS actually on the floor all morning since the store opened, he said, and he said he never saw a woman walk around the store 4x and leave empty handed. (If you are leaving empty handed when you shop at our store, we are instructed to announce over the walkies WHY - such as "that person was trying to buy a pet-bed & a fish tank and we don't sell them, so they are leaving empty handed.")

So he took it very personally as well. I told him the story with added flair to the "when Israel was here" part because I do kind of feel the same way as the cussing-lady. And i hope it was a wake-up call for him as much as it was for me.

It's weird ya know. Some people come into a store like ours and they stand there and wait for help before they even get in the door. They won't even attempt to go looking for what it is they need by themselves without an associate by their side. Other people just hate it when you ask if you can help them find something. (I normally ask and then add that i truly do know where everything is, and know most of what everything costs, how much our profit margin is, and what is the best bulk deal.) lol

Anyways so last night when I couldn't sleep i truly prayed to Jesus for this lady's soul. I asked Him to show her His love, give her business prosperity, help her to forgive, and help me to forgive too. Maybe you should pray for her too. If we all prayed a blessing on her head, maybe i'd be able to come back and blog tonight about how she returned to the store and said she was sorry :)

   [ posted  @ 5:50 AM | ]

Cue the song "Ain't that a Kick in the Head" by Dean Martin.

Last night when i was working over-night i had a mini-pow-wow with my fellow supervisor who is working logistics, and he told me that our new ops. supervisor asked him regarding me: "What's up with Ms. Negativity?"

LOL!

Very perceptive of her. He explained to her that i am basically running the whole store right now and i'm the only one really keeping it afloat (it is not an accident our store ranks so highly in sales figures in our territory... i'm driving this bus like a military commado). But then i spent the whole night thinking about it while i was stocking freight... It's no secret i can be cutting and cruel and decisively political in my approach to backtalking and getting what i want by working angles behind other people's backs. And it's no secret that when i get my mind set on something i'm going to try to stick to my guns as much as i can (tho i am known for backing down easily if you just give me a good enough rational reason to, and cater to my selfish interests, especially if you have the means to waive some type of monetary reward in my face... e.g. LEXMARK CONTESTS!!!).

But i spent the night praying for God to help me lead with more effectiveness among my peers. I shower our associates with affirmation and praise all the time. That's how i motivate. I'm constantly handing out star cards, candy, soda, prizes when people do a good job. But i guess among the leadership staff, i may not be getting my point across with much --what's the word -- winningness? because of how unbending i can be. I can be as correct as i want, but i'm going to work on making the change STICK by peppering it with more compromise and softening my approach. (We'll call that PEPPER-MINT!)

Well, we'll see. So, all night i was starting sentences with "I'm not being negative here, but..." hahah! Any advice from those who struggle with the same illness and came out ahead would be great.

We have this "Attitudes" flip chart that we sell by the registers. One of the signs that someone can put up on their desk is "If at first you don't succeed, TRY MANAGEMENT!"

Another one says, "Don't question authority: They don't know either!"

HAHA!

   [ posted  @ 1:51 PM | ]

IT'S SNOWING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also, can you see the UPS truck down on the bottom right, delivering some of your christmas presents to me so i can wrap them????

What a way to wake up, after doing a rough over-night at work! I think i went to bed at 7 a.m. I am up a little early bc Marks is supposed to come over for dinner if he doesn't have a service call to attend to and i'm attempting to make Terri's butterscotch dessert thing. Never made that one before and it sounds like you have to let some of the layers chill out before you can add to them.

LET IT SNOWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!! yay!

   [ posted  @ 9:33 AM | ]

So it took me two trips to WalMart (where they have *everything*) but i installed my first toilet seat today! Yes, i know this is something i pay rent for and my landlord would have been more than happy to invade my bathroom and provide a new seat for me but for some reason (again, i know that i am weird) i wanted to see if i could do it myself.

The first trip, i bought the wrong size and then had to return it. It was a standard size and i guess i have a longer bowl, so even tho i was going to try to make it work, when i sat on it, it reminded me of a toddler toilet, so i decided against that adventure. A 2nd trip to walmart is never too bad of a thing, bc as i have mentioned, they have everything there.

And, it turns out that it's not that hard to put on a new seat.

So, now you know!

   [ posted  @ 3:31 PM | ]

[=Links=]

[=Designed By=]