Nothing but the negatives

Glum, tired, whiney, depressed, angry, annoyed, frustrated, apathetic, sad, discontented, gloomy, selfish, bitter, moaning, pathetic, bothered, irritated, irrational, stressed, achy, void, vacant, repressed, unimpressed.

blech. blah. boo. hmpf.

gray, charcoal, brown, black

dark clouds. sleet. snow. blizzard. ice. mud.

war. death. taxes.

$7 lunch? Reasons why I need to change my diet...

From left to right top row: Minute Maid Cran-Apple-Rasberry juice (25% juice, 60g sugar), lemon bar

From left to right middle row: chocolate-peanut butter thingy, chocolate-maple sugar roundette

From left to right bottom row: Dublin Irish cheddar, Cabot Cheddar, roll

Um... uh... not exactly healthy, eh? Not a single veggie and even the "fruit" is questionable. And for this I paid $7? Holy mother of mercy.

Touch Test... 1, maybe 2?

Yesterday was really low on the Touch Test meter. I remember touching HB's arm at lunch. There might have been another touch here or there in my department, but that was it. I expect more tonight at the g-store.

So far today, I am at zero with touches.

Aladdin and Jasmine - no more evil eyes?

When I worked at the g-store Tuesday night, I had a chat with Checkout Supervisor Sally. I asked CSS how things went down with Jasmine. I had heard she had a talkin' to. I will paraphrase the conversation she had with Jasmine.

CSS: About the other night... Do you think you did anything wrong?
Jasmine: No, but MHS shouldn't have sent me home.
CSS: So, you don't think taking a 55 minute break was wrong?
Jasmine: No.
CSS: Would you have done that when I was working?
Jasmine: Of course not.
CSS: So why did you do it when MHS was in charge? She did what she had to do. What do you think the consequence should be for your action?
Jasmine: Uh, I could do carts? [Ed note: "carts" refers to getting shopping carts in the parking lot, which is a normal task required of employees.]
CSS: Are you serious? That is something you should be doing anyhow. I could tell you to do that right now. Even cleaning the bathroom is part of your normal job.

So, CSS told me that I shouldn't have any problems from Jasmine or Aladdin for that matter. I mentioned his "evil glances" and she said to let her know if it was happening again. ha ha ha ha

What not to say when somebody has been ill...

A co-worker who was out sick a couple of days just had an odd conversation with another co-worker. I thought it was worthy to blog.

Friend: wow, ODDBALL* is such a sweet girl
Friend: i just ran into her in the bathroom and she was like "whoa, are you ok?"
Friend: to which i replied, "yes, i've just been sick, i'm not quite myself yet"
Friend: and she goes "oh. ok. .... did you just throw up?"
Friend: me: "uh, no."
Friend: her: "oh, cause you look like you just threw up."
Friend: me internally: "wow, thanks bitch, that was a great way to tell me i look like shit!" me externally: "nope."
Me: ohmigawd
Me: what the hell?
Me: I need to see this for myself
*ODDBALL - changed to protect her identity

NOTE: Friend looked fine. A little tired, but fine. What kind of person says "...you look like you just threw up?"

Touch Test Day 4 - and the G-Store - more with Aladdin and Jasmine

Touch Test: Day 4 unveiled itself with 0 in the morning (I left Megan's and went home for a nap.) By the end of the shift at the g-store, there were 3 hugs/back pats (Caity, Jen's b-friend) and several customer-passing bags, reciepts kind of thing. That is hard to guage without a clicker. Maybe I should get a counter to see if that really ups the stakes. I would have to say the touching was less than 10.

As for the g-store drama.... I checked with one of the supervisors about Jasmine's behavior problem from last week. She reported that Jasmine was sternly talked to and written up. This is not good for Jasmine. But hopefully it will teach her to be more timely. I am not looking to get her fired, but I can't take her bad behavior anymore. Talking to her hasn't done any good in the past, but maybe being written up will. As for Aladdin, he's a piece of work. During my shift, I would get the evil glances. When I approached the breakroom, Aladdin and Jasmine were in there. She saw me and said something to Aladding. He whipped his head around to sneer at me. I made a point of avoiding them while I was in there. I didn't need to worry too much, because they left soon after I arrived. When I went to sit down, I was facing the store floor. I glanced around as I began to sit down. I could see Jasmine and Aladdin walking down the stairs and go over to the elevator area to steal a kiss (they do this all the time.) He saw me ( I swear I was just glancing around and not stalking them) and grabbed her hand. Just before they disappeared behind a row, he glanced up to see if I was watching. Of course I was! After his dramatic flare of whisking her away!

I don't know if they are working to night, but it should be interesting....

Touch Test Day 3 - Star Wars party and WW

Before I mention the Touch Test, here's pretty much my Saturday story.
I went to WW in the morning and weighed in. It wasn't good. So what did I do next?

I went to Megan's house where she was having a Star Wars weekend and ate.
And ate.
And ate.
But before all of the eating of food I didn't need to eat.... When I arrived, they were watching the Clone Wars cartoon series. There was a friend of Megan's and her brothers and nephew and niece. Eventually my friends from Company X showed up, but they weren't very interested in watching the movies. They opted for playing games and puzzles. I continued my eating binge and watched Episodes 3-6. Thankfully Megan is from the same purist school I am as far as Episodes 4-6 go. We watched the originals. Not the enhanced versions. It was nice. I stayed the night, though didn't get much sleep between the house sounds and hard floor. (I am such a princess that way.) I left before breakfast and went to the g-store.

Touch Test: Day 3
The morning slid by with no physical contact from anybody. When I got to Megan's the test was deffinately in full force. Huggers and kids. Touch happens. I hadn't seen Amanda in ages, so there were about 4-6 touch moments from her alone. There were a few others. I think from DK 2 (hello and goodbye). We had a visit from Darth Vader and Boba Fett, and Ember (the niece) needed me to hold her hand 2x. In a rough estimate, I would say there were about 15 touches, with a third of them being hugs.

Jasime and Aladdin - Drama at the g-store

I arrived at the g-store about 10 minutes to 7pm. When I got into the breakroom, I saw Jasmine and Aladdinon their way there as well. Once they got inside, I took a glance at the clock on the wall and on my phone. It was 6:53. I clocked in and got downstairs at 7pm. I checked the schedule to see when Jasmine was due back. It said 7pm. Now, I don't care if people take a 20 minute break. It always takes a couple of minutes to get to the breakroom and back, especially if you have to buy snacks. Even with Jasmine, who is notoriously late, I have no problems with a 20 minute break. But she's been talked to before. She knew she had to relieve somebody so they could take their break. One of the clerks asked me if she should be paged. I said, "No. She knows when she is suppose to be back. Let's see what she does." After about 15 minutes, I could see her at the end of the store talking to her mother who works in another department. Jasime could see me watching her. I did nothing. I figured Jasmine would eventually come back. And she did. 40 minutes after her break had been over!

While Jasmine was gabbing with Aladdin and her mom, I asked the PM if I could send Jasmine home for being late. The PM fully supported my decision. So, when Jasmine came back, I pulled her aside to talk to her. I said, "Jasmine, I am really bothered by something. You are 40 minutes late from your break. Because of this, I need you to clock out and go home." She looked at me with almost a vacant expression and said,"Oh. Okay." Jasmine promptly turned around and clocked out.

Aladdin finds out and is furious with me. He finds the PM and yells at her to fire me. FIRE ME? ARE YOU KIDDING? Here's a rough interpretation of what happened:
Aladdin: You've got to do something about MHS.
PM: What are you talking about?
Aladdin: You've got to fire her.
PM: Fire her? For what?
Aladding: Because she sent Jasmine home. You have more authority than she does. Fire her.
PM: No. I am not going to fire her.
Aladding: But she can't do that!
PM: Yes she can. Every department runs differently. She came to me about it, and I fully support her decision.
Aladdin: But can't you tell Jasime to just clock back in and work in my department?
PM: No. She doesn't work when she is here, and I can't and won't do that.
(Aladdin storms away, but returns shortly.)
Aladdin: I am going to tell HR on her. She can't do that.
PM: It won't do you any good.
(Aladding huffs off in anger, only to return again.)
Aladdin: I know what MHS's problem is. She's jealous.
PM: Excuse me?
Aladdin: She's jealous because she doesn't have anybody to hug or cuddle during her breaks.

(ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME?)

Touch Test - Day One - Part 2; Day 2 the noon report

I started to forget about the Touch Test at the g-store. However, I would say I probably had about 10-12 "touch" moments between passing change to customers, taking their discount cards, and a pat on the shoulder or arm here and there. No hugs. Just brief touch moments. Stay tuned for more.

As of this posting, I touched KS 2-3 times on the shoulder or arm. I have to say he's an easy target as he sits right next to me. That's it though. Nothing else

Touch Test - Day 1

Have you ever noticed how often you touch or are touched by people? The passing of change to a waiter, the fingers touch. Patting a friend on the back. Hugging your mom/dad/friend. I read a study ages ago in a Glamour-esque magazine that conducted a test with a few women around the world. They reported for a week how often they interacted (touched or were touched). The results as far as I remember, was that the Japanese woman was touched the least, whereas the woman from Mexico was touched the most. The Americans were divided by their ethnic backgrounds - the Italian-American got lots of hugs and touches, but the English-American didn't.

So, here's my test. Yesterday I touched people. No return touches. KS = 3x (poking at him 2x, slap 1x). RF = 1x (he doesn't like the hugging thing, so I poked him in the arm.)

I think I will do this for a week to see how often it happens. If you are a co-worker reading this, don't try to upset the test. If you are not normally touchy with me, don't start now. :-) I am just curious to see what happens.

Best Beer Town - in the world. Burlington near top!

This just in... Burlington, Vermont is deemed one of the best beer towns in the WORLD. Wait until you read the cities it beat out. I can't believe it. OMIGAWD.

I am a hamster...

...running on a wheel of stupidity and forgetfulness.

Why?

Because I want to help Company X be a better company, but I feel they don't want to listen to my ideas and suggestions. I like to contribute my ideas. But I keep getting shut down. However, it works if customers complain about the same thing I complained about before they finally listen. I am an idiot. I forget that I have been through this time and time and TIME before with Company X, yet I keep offering up my suggestions only to have them dusted under the carpet. Why do I keep doing that? It's not that I am a masochist. I DO want Company X to succeed. I want it to be the best X of it's kind out there.

Sigh. It just gets really frustrating. And that I keep on doing it over and over again is lame.

I am a hamster on a wheel of stupidity and forgetfulness.

Things that go bump in the night...

I have trouble sleeping. There are several reasons why.

1. I stay up too late
2. I sleep on a matress on the floor, which isn't the most comfortable
3. My cat Sammy, the bulemic, keeps me up or gets me up
4. Dust
5. Sounds on the street (snow plows, neighbors, birds)
6. Health (my weight, nasal passages, allergies etc.)

With that said, I toss and turn throughout the night. I will wake up, turn over, sleep. I will wake up, be thirsty, get a drink (by the bed) and sleep. Cat jumps on me, I wake up, push cat off, sleep. Sometimes I talk in my sleep. But last night, I woke up at 5am hearing a building door slam shut. In my haze, I thought it was my landlord either opening the door or coming in (I am upstairs from them and we have a connecting door.) I opened my eyes and said something like, "I'll be right there. Hold on a second!" I had the full intension of getting out of bed to open the door for them, or whoever it was. But I promptly fell back asleep. Freakin' weird. I heard about people on some medication who sleep drive. That would be me, I know it.

April showers bring what - SNOW, did you say?

It's April. It's suppose to bring showers of RAIN, not SNOW. What the heck? Being the flatliner or whatever they call those of us from out of state, I thought that maybe we were over the snow.

Nope. Still snowing. This is what I woke up to. Sure, it's mostly slush now, but it is deffinately snowing. Has been almost all day.

Please come soon Mr. Sunshine. I need you. We need you. Stephanie told me that her dad remembers an entire year where it snowed every month. If that happens, I am moving immediately.

How I love Target

Saturday, I drove about 2 hours to Target in New York. Vermont is the only state besides ALASKA and HAWAII that doesn't have a Target store. What kind of backwards place is this to not have a freakin' TARGET? They have Evil Walmart here, but not a TARGET?

Anyhow, back to my story. I picked up Stephanie and we had a delightful drive down Vermont, across to New York and down a bit just before Saratoga Springs. There was a nice sized mall, where the lovely Target lives. We walked through it to get to the food court. There, before us, was an Arby's (yet ANOTHER company not in Vermont) where I endulged my senses with a Beef 'n' Chedder. It was so delicious. We walked around the mall for a bit before reaching our destination.

Why drive over an hour and a half to a store that has merchandise similar to a Walmart or Kmart? Because it is SIMILAR but NOT the same. Target has much better prices and quality than either of those places. Plus it is a little bit of home for me. I spent about $150, which was about what I expected to spend. I managed to get some necessary things and some treats. I also got a baby present for my friend Sarah's new son, Logan. That was a good score. We had a great drive back. Stephanie and I have very compatible tastes in music and her Ipod was a nice treat.

Oh, how I love Target. Sigh.

A few nice things from last week...

In seeing how gloomy I get, I thought for the moment, I would remember a few nice things from last week.

1. My department not only reached our monthy goal, but exceeded it by over $20k!
2. My clients who I thought would be PO because I billed them though they weren't launched didn't get PO'd.
3. I saw a few good movies
4. I went to a Tupperware-like party hosted by one of my G-store peeps, Sofia. It was nice to get out and about. Afterwards, I went to dinner with Jenny and Caity from the G-store. We had a really good time. I am hoping to go out with them again.
5. My cat, Sammy the Bulemic, only barfed once this week
6. The sun shone brightly 2x this week
7. DPW (Double Punch Wednesdays) was good
8. I had a nice venting session or two with co-workers
9. I did my dishes
10. I played Mario games with Stephanie and ate Chinese food