Saturday, February 26, 2005  

Holy Schmoley I still have the cursed gift card; not sure what to do with it yet. LOL That's my update.

I was on over-nights this week and if only HGTV had been there to film our back-room make over... holy crap we got so much done on Thursday night it was like slow going at first because i had to transform this supply room from complete PIT full of steel, fixtures, garbage, shelving, poop, and heavy things for a girl into a beautiful organized wonderment. The first few hours were very hard because it was just overwhelming to think of how i was going to conquor it - i had been given permission to throw a lot of stuff away but my problem was that i am too afraid to get on the skinny walker ladder and put the fixtures way up high. Some of that stuff was really heavy and the ladder is basically as wide as i am (it has hand rails, but it's not like you can hold on to them when both hands are holding shelving) and i was too proud to ask for help bc my store manager and logistics manager who were also doing the overnights had their own work to do, and i still feel like i'm trying to prove myself as a great asset to the team. Well since no one had a great plan, I just started moving what i could, and organizing it.

At that point a few hours into the thing, Ron came in and got on the ladder (this was an answer to prayer bc i didn't ask for help, but i think he got the hint that i wasn't getting on that ladder to do the heavy lifting, dang) and he started hauling stuff to the way top steel (it's quite a haul... i should take a pic for you) - and then i started helping him so he didn't have to climb up and down. Eight hours into the make-over, i finally got what i'd been waiting for all week from him, "Good job Katie." That's about all you'd get out of him (he's like this old army general guy go go go hard worker perfectionist). And when i had got the PIT cleaned up that's when he finally stopped and looked it over and paused and said good job to me. That was worth all the bleeding hands, cuts, smashed thumbs, nicks and scrapes on my arms, aching back and shoulders!!! At about 5:00 a.m. i still had a half hour left before i'd approach over-time, and i started organizing one of the supply lockers. The people who had my job before me must have never heard of throwing things away... how many boxes of paperclips can you need? I am all for hoarding at my own apartment, but at work, it's clean clean clean and throw throw throw away! So i spent a half hour throwing things out and then i had to leave.

Gee real exciting week. I'm caught up on my sleep now and am going to spend the day working on some music for the band and finishing up my outline because i'm teaching for two weeks when Pastor Craig goes to Brazil with the sr. high.

Last Tuesday, myself and a few other womens from my youth group made a meal for a family in our youth group who's mom is got cancer really bad. I don't think she's going to die, but she's on chemo now. We made them a chicken noodle soup and salad and took it over there and prayed with them. Making the meal was kind of funny bc none of us had used the church kitchen before and didn't know where anything was. But even tho it was a little rough going, as soon as we walked into their beautiful home Lauren (the daughter) and the mom got all teary eyed and just gushed with happiness bc at the end of a long day, the mom said she is so tired and the church has been so faithful to help out and bring them healthy meals so she doesn't have to stand and cook. The amazing thing to me was that the mom was not full of self-pity. She just stood there and praised God for bringing her joy and happiness in spite of the horrid pain and said how faithful He'd been. She said sometimes she just lays on the couch and can do nothing but lay there bc it's so painful but she can call out to God and he always comes thru. Whew that was an emotional night... she probably ended up ministering to us more than we did to her by bringing her soup. So when we stood in a circle in her kithen holding hands and praying together, her prayer was so genuine and knowing she was that close to God and her hope really touched all of us. I have a great church family!

   [ posted  @ 9:43 AM | ]

"What Would You Do?"

Votes required at end of this post in comments section. Please help!

OKay so i'm cleaning the furniture pad at work. Actually i'm just walking by it and twice i noticed what looked like a blue piece of garbage under one of the chairs. Finally, on my way out of the store for the day, i felt guilty because i had not picked up the garbage and i heard echoes of all the speeches i give about "did you do the best you could today?" or "Why do you wait for other people to do what you could yourself?" or "If you see something that needs to be done, just take care of it - we're a team."

So i moved the chair and picked it up. It was a gift card for Kohl's dept. store !!! Right away, I thought that it probably has no value and that is why someone left it behind.

So i took it to the manager and said that i found it on the furniture pad but i claim it if no one else does. Well i got back to work the next morning, and it was still laying on the desk right where i left it. Normally, drivers licences or things like this are locked up in our safe until someone claims it. Well i was mad that he didn't do anything with it, SO I PUT IT IN MY POCKET!

My plan was to take it home and do a gift card balance off their website.

Well i just did that, and guess what: it's worth $50.00.

Would you

a) Just use it. Take it and buy that frying pan you've always wanted.

b) Take it back to my store and leave it in the safe with a note on it that if it is not claimed by one week from now, it's mine

c) Take it to Kohls and see if they could track the owner down somehow

d) It's cursed. Throw it away!!

   [ posted  @ 3:31 AM | ]

LOVED "Idol" last night!

My favorite part was when that young girl freaked out and hugged the judges and then runs out and she says, "These heels are too big to run in these shoes," and then when she gets on the elevator she's like "thank you thank you, oh it's 'L' for lobby, right? okay, thank you thank you." HAHAHAHAHA i was laughing so hard and had to rewind it. (Due to the fact that i was asleep by 4:30 p.m. yesterday and slept until 2 a.m., i have to tape most of my favorite tv shows) which include

1. Super Nanny (the kids change, but the only problem i have with the show is that each week the fixes and the dialogue by the Nanny is always the same)
2. Apprentice
3. Survivor starts TONIGHT
4. Joan of Arcadia
5. American Idol
6. Any special on Mike Jackson the FREAK
7. Without a Trace
8. NBC's new sitcom "Committed"

and you've got your staple shows like Guiding Light & Ellen.

OK bye.

   [ posted  @ 11:28 AM | ]

Hey look my dad sent me a cool present (early) for valentiMes ! Remember when you were in grade school and kids called it "valentimes" ? haha! Work's going super great and this is a reminder that SUPERMAN (I) is on Turner Classic Movies tonight! 

   [ posted  @ 4:15 PM | ]

Mission Accomplished.

Day two at my new store. Yesterday I left there unsure of what i was there for and feeling sort of out of place. Today (already!) I found my niche and already have a bigger list of to-do's than i could ever handle. A great feeling. I also am realizing how much of a powder-puff i've become bc after doing some pretty intensive activity stocking the paper yesterday right away at 5 a.m., I am feeling it in my arms now. Good ol' manual labor.

Today I was running the sales floor for most of the day since were short-staffed, and had everyone laughing and working real hard for me. I even got one of the girls who was on the pukey side and wanted to go home bc she was feeling like crap laughing out loud, so that was good. I couldn't exactly spare her to send her home, so i tried to make her environment as fun as possible. She did a good job.

The CopyMax supervisor came up to me personally and said that she finds my style of sales leading a refreshing change of pace bc a lot of the people are too bossy and too demanding, but i made it fun and it was fun listening to my chatter over the walkies. Oops, did i say COPYMAX??! We're not allowed to use that word anymore. It's Print and Document Services. sorry.

I was told by several people that it will be nearly impossible to get along with my immediate supervisor, Ron. He's my logistics manager, and everyone all said (seperately) how he's very stern old army guy who is strict and clean cut and "by the book." (He is grey-haired and OLD but he moves faster than a hornet, DANG!) So I made it my mission within the first week to get him to buckle over in laughter at some stupid corney thing i say. Well it's day two and i had him eating out of my hand several times today - also he bent over in laughter at something i said about Murphy's Law. Whenever i start to talk to him now with my querky smile on my face, he already lights up and i can tell he can't wait for me to say some funny thing...

Plus it was even a better feeling when he was already coming to me for help and ideas, and after i expressed my thoughts that he actually is going to put my advice into plan TOMORROW MORNING. It's one of those situations for me where you don't want to believe your own press, that everyone says i'm so great and i do a great job. But after today, I was starting to believe it, because to earn the respect of someone who just met me and to have him coming to me for ideas, and then not only listening but actually doing it, that's huge!

So, I've found my new home and i'm so happy! (no mom i still don't know how the money is looking yet.)

   [ posted  @ 1:12 PM | ]

“Hall of Fame”

 (formatting problems with this post. Go figure.)

Exactly 1 month shy of my

4-year anniversary. It was my last day at

the good old store today… It would have

been a terrific day had ½ of my

associates not been popping what

I call “stupid pills” – general idiocy and

other nonsense. All morning long

I got these stupid questions like

“where is __thisproducttheyshould

knowwhereitis___ ?” I was so frustrated.



Then after I had my lunch I felt a

little better and was stir-crazy to get out of

there but one of the young ladies was making

me a cake (on her day off)

and she was running  late. She called me 3x

to make sure I would not leave.

She's been talking about baking me a cake

since she heard i was leaving,

and i asked her please to not do that, unless

she was also going to include

Chris in it (bc he's taking my spot and is

getting no recognition for his

pseudo-promotion). And she kept asking me if

i wanted the cake

yesterday or today, but she was in the running

for Snowball court and

had the dance today but she would still bring

it if i wanted it today. I kept

saying "how embarrassing" and asking her not to

bring in a cake unless it

was sugar-free, haha, and telling her she

didn't have to do that but she did.

So then i asked her if she was going to make

a cake, could she use icing to

write, "How embarrassing" on it, and sure

enough, she did! It was chocolate

cake w/ chocolate frosting and pink icing

that said "How embarrassing"

hahahahahaha! (that's my new phrase of the month.)





   She kept saying she was going to miss

me and I started asking around

and some of the other girls said yes she

was taking it really hard, that she’s

talking about it a lot at school and such.

And then everyone started to break

down and they were all saying this was a

hard adjustment for them and they

were going to miss me bc even tho I get

really strict of crabby sometimes I’m

a good supervisor and I am like a big sister etc.



   So then all day they were recounting

the many things i say out of habit (and

consequently drag them into it to and

make them day it too)

and get everyone else to say. Such as when

the alarm goes off and you brought

in a product from Target that didn't get

de-activated and it trips the sensors and

the loud alarm goes off, i always say

"OMG HOW EMBARRASSING" bc i think

they should just shut those things off.

What a terrible experience to come into a

store and have the alarm go off (or even

as you leave; it's not a deterrent to theft!).



Other examples:



- Me singing the burger king song from the flash movie



- Singing "I love office max"



- "Do you want an apple pie with thaaaat"



- "You can't always get what you want"



- "My name is _____ and i have a crush

on eeeevery boy" (from Teen Girl Squad)



- "Lobster sticks to magnet, yabadabba"



- "Who dat?"



- Calling people "Homie Jones"



- Worrrrrd



- Calling you your first name with

the last name "Butaphucho" or "Badabingo"

- “A wave of babies” and other stuff

 from Teen Girl Squad



- Carrying around "my wand" and using it

as a Bob Barker microphone (oops i think i

left that behind, dang!)



and doing interviews (sometimes forgetting

to stop the interviews, and sticking the



wand in a customer's face lol)







And other things i'm sure i'm forgetting.

So she came, brought the cake



and we all sat around and ate it and then

i left in a hurry bc i was an hour late from

when i was supposed to leave @ 3

(i opened @ 7) and drove off realizing i left my

wallet there and forgot to leave my keys !!!

LOL So i had to turn around after going

to the bank. I kept assuring everyone that

even tho they think the store is going to

crumble and fall apart that everything

will continue and they will be fine without me.

Besides, i have another store to

infiltrate... Updates to follow.

   [ posted  @ 4:21 PM | ]

"How Embarrassing" part deux

I don't steal. I think the only two things i ever stole were in 1st grade. Yes i stole the Dr. Seuss "Foot Book" from the teacher's library, and i also felt guilty for years for stealing Billy Spindler's hot wheels flat bed truck with a red cab door on the back. And i do repent of those things.

But ya know in the movies on the last day of someone's work, they are always escorted out of the doors by security and they have one of those brown banker's boxes [from aisle 10] of all their crap? Today was kind of like that, only it was just me and Emily (the dreaded operations sup., who i will NOT miss one bit) and instead of the banker's box, it was a very smashed small christmas tree and a big huge bag of christmas decorations.

Well I asked Emily to please look thru everything bc we have been having some internal theft problems lately and since it's not me, i didn't want there to be ANY suspicion with me on my last night at the store taking out two huge bags of crap. So i took everything out and showed it to her piece by piece. Christmas lights, ornaments, the dollar-store village, blah blah (this stuff should really be thrown out - it's so gross and old by now) and of course since i didn't steal anything, there was nothing in there suspicious. I promised her i didn't tape any sticks of ram or memory cards inside the branches of the Christmas tree, and we were good to go.

I forgot to arm the store perimeter alarm, thankfully -- and as we were walking out OMG
the stupid
SECURITY ALARM BY THE DOOR GOES OFF
AS I WALK OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

stupid stupid stupid. [If i had armed the alarm, it really would like i was trying to steal, as we only have 86 seconds to get out of the building!]

So i was so "embarrassed" and we were laughing our butts off but i can only imagine what she was thinking because maybe i really did tape a calculator (9 have been stolen so far) inside of the branches or something... and i don't know if my face flushed red, but I was so frustrated because i couldn't figure out what was tripping off the alarm! So i took things out piece by piece from the bag and then i realized it was my Caedmons Call CD Mike brought back for me - we never de-activated the sensor on it. He's had it since like Thanksgiving and I've missed it SOOOOOOOOOOOO much and then since i realized that was what it was, i just ran it over our de-sensor thing and then i was good to go (after i set the alarm, of course). Sheesh.

Thief.

P.S. Totally off the subject: I am soooooooooo sick of hearing Green Day's Boulevard of Broken Dreams e v e r y w h e r e I g o ... can we say OVERKILL people???!!! Ugg!

P.P.S. We are finally selling something TRULY cool @ work... Watch for a superbowl commercial about it... Ipod look out...

   [ posted  @ 8:39 PM | ]

I gotta find me one of these guys. haha!

   [ posted  @ 2:13 PM | ]

Not sure what this says about me:

I took my Christmas decorations down yesterday.

I just made the cut-off. The day before FEBRUARY.

However, the header is staying up thru Winter bc it rocks!

   [ posted  @ 7:16 AM | ]

We've finally turned a corner with the youth band(s) i'm working with! All year long it seemed like i would even dread going to practices. We've got a wide variety of ages and talents all mushed together and Monday night practices have sometimes been a real PILL to get moving and sound like anything decent. But last night i met an hour early with a new drummer, who is in 8th grade. I had my doubts if he was going to be able to rock with me very much. I honestly thought he'd be able to do like one kind of beat and nothing else, and i doubted he could keep time.

So i brought a pile of music and put him thru the paces and tried to find a song he COULDN'T play good on and he's just as good as the drummer i've been working with all year! I was freaking out happy! Austin, our regular drummer who is in 9th grade came up on stage and sang with me for sound check. And he never sings but he's GOOD TOO! So as students started to trickle in for reg. practice time, they heard Austin and they were like WHOA YOU GOTTA SING !!! And we were all amazed little Josh did so great on the drums.

Then we had our little Bible study time and prayed together and then when it was time for normal music practice (my co-leader is up on stage the next two weeks so i have some time off) they really did great again. We are finally seeming to sound like something and better than that we are really having FUN and getting along well. It's hard to mesh 8th thru 12th graders boys and girls and get that result. And then add to the fact that they are all trying to better their talents and compete with one another for "who sounds better" -- the results could be very yucky but they are turning out great.

Plus on Sunday when we did 2 songs for Jr. High the kids were so into it! They were dancing and jumping around and laughing with us. So much FUNNN!

   [ posted  @ 6:40 AM | ]

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