What's In A Name?

Maybe I shouldn't get so frustrated over this, but it's been slowly building up the past 10 years or so. I'd just like to slap the first person that made a variation of Rachel. Oh, and I'm not talking about Rachelle or Rochelle. Those are perfectly fine. I'm merely talking about the unnecessary desire to add an 'a' where there doesn't need to be one in the first place.

I understand there are some of you out there with the names Rachael or Racheal, and you can't really do anything to help that, but why is it so God-awful hard for people to spell my name? It's just gotten considerably worse over the last few years. You would think mine would be easier. Hey, it has one less letter than its competition, and it's been around much longer. I would think those two factors alone would work in my favor, but...no.

What annoys me the most is that this happens to me all the time with people who know me and have seen my name spelled out numerous times. They still have that itch to add another letter. Don't scratch it. Even if you can't remember if it has an extra 'a' or not, just write "Rach" to be safe. I'll even accept that. Just don't mangle it up by adding that letter. Yes, I take offense to it, and yes, it annoys me a great deal.

Do any of you have this problem with your names? I'm more than willing to hear empathetic complaints.

Typical Retail

It's been the week from hell at work this week. Ignore the fact that it's been busier than all get-out, and let's analyze the other background things that are going on. I can even categorize them for you if it makes it easier to read:

Ignorant Manager:
The other day, I was actually really busy doing work all day. I just finished putting out a bunch of stock, and I took a minute to check our mail. We've been getting a lot of e-mails regarding furniture being discontinued and such, so I wanted to keep up on that.
As I was reading over an e-mail, my store manager came up and automatically snapped, "Don't you have something to do?"
I gave it right back to her: "Uh, yeah, I'm checking the mail."
She really needs to lay off. She just automatically assumes I'm slacking off now. You need to find out what I'm doing before you snap at me or question me.

It really was stupid of her to say anything to begin with because I couldn't do anything that wasn't work-related on that computer anyway. All sites are blocked except for our company's. You're just making yourself look like an ignorant jerk (I could insert another word here, but I'll refrain).

Low-Staffed:
People have been quitting left and right [Can you blame them?]. Right now we have three people who have put their two weeks in (one of which is in our department), and they're not hiring anyone to replace any of them. In fact, corporate suggested we don't hire anymore people and just use the staff we have to fill in the empty spots [As if we don't have enough to do already.]. Boy, this is starting to sound like a typical business shortcut to me: "Let's save money for our company by burning out our employees. Let's work them until they're within an inch of insanity."

Right now they've sent the entire ladies' coats department down to Shoes "until further notice." What does that do to us upstairs? Well, let's see: The upstairs includes Baby Depot, Youth, Linens, and Ladies' Coats. They've already gotten rid of the Ladies' Coats manager (last year; she now works in Sportswear and occasionally Linens), sent the youth department manager downstairs to Sportswear, and my department manager is running Youth and Baby Depot. Now that they've sent everyone from Coats downstairs, we run that department, as well. We're already low-staffed in our respective departments, so you wouldn't have wanted to see the situation this weekend.

We always get a lot of buses from Canada every weekend. Last weekend was like Christmas time (our store made $85,000 and we got about 20-25 buses), and this weekend was only slightly less busy. It was still back-to-school time since a handful of schools in this area didn't go back until today. There weren't many of us upstairs to begin with, but they made three of us put in backup drawers (including me). Luckily, I didn't have to ring that day because they pulled me at 1:00, but the others did. I did, however, have to go down and help bag. How many people were left upstairs that day? Two. One in Baby Depot; one in Youth (which was one of our Baby Depot people). On a Saturday. Are they insane?

When my manager had to go to dinner, I came back up to take her place in the department. I was running around like crazy the rest of my shift. I helped one person after the next and almost every one said they were searching for 15-20 minutes, looking for someone to help them. At least they were understanding of my plight, but I am only one person, and this is just ridiculous. I never thought I'd see the day where I'd be the only person running most to all of the upstairs on a busy day.

On Sunday I had to run a backup drawer a few times, so my manager and one other person were left to run the entire upstairs. Yesterday, I was by myself from 7:30 on, but there were only three of us between 1:00 and 5:00. Granted, it wasn't overly busy yesterday (busier than I thought it would be though), but it's still stupid.
I wish a lot of customers would write to corporate complaining about this. They shouldn't have to rely on one person to help them all out. Needless to say, it's not fair for me to be pulled every which way all day and hear the potential whining of someone who had to wait a half hour to get help.

Thankfully, last night, one of the managers noted to a coworker that she thought I was doing a good job and am a good worker. It's nice that someone is noticing and not always assuming I slack off. Makes me feel like my work isn't completely unappreciated and thankless.

Drawer Mishaps:
As I said above, I had ring on Sunday as a backup. Unfortunately, I must have made a mistake somewhere because my drawer was $120 over. I've run a register hundreds of times at Dollar General, and I've never been over that much. In fact, I couldn't think of anything I could have screwed up on, so I was hoping it would be determined to be an electronic mistake.
Nope. It was apparently something I did. Now I'm getting written up for it. One more time, and I'm out the door. Quite frankly, I would rather not risk my job for something like this. Ringing on that register is a secondary job that they've required for us now. I'd so much rather be exempt from this. I can just go back to being a permanent Baby Depot associate. I'm also afraid to say anything because I don't want this situation to be misconstrued as purposeful so I could be excused from the registers. It's touchy. I just would feel more comfortable in a safe zone. I'd rather not touch their money at all if I can help it.

...And Styes:
All this stress has apparently caused a nice physical representation on my face now. I don't have one or two styes but three. I have one in the corner of my left eye and two on my right: one in the corner and one in the middle. My eyes have been so sore and puffy. Yesterday, my left eye was starting to bruise up underneath. One of my coworkers said I looked like a druggy. I could barely keep my eyes open, and they were somewhat bloodshot and watery. Like I needed this...
They're not quite as sore today, but they're still a little puffy and watery.

So there's my week/weekend in a nutshell. Can you see why I want to pull my hair out or jump off a cliff?

Ahhh!

I'm somewhere between ripping my hair out and jumping off a cliff right now. I'll explain more later...

Amen!

All the kids are back in school (excepting for Iroquois)! Did I ever share with you my utter disgust with the month of August and all the back-to-school insanity? Yeah, it sucks...
I'm just glad it's over with...for now. I can rest happily for a brief moment before the Christmas rush comes.

They Finally Got To Me

So I got put on the hit list for the registers, finally. I suppose it was only a matter of time before that happened. If they only had a clue how much I loathe ringing...I suppose it wouldn't make a difference.
Instead of just putting up with it--minus the whining--I'm blogging to complain about it. I guess I'm just not understanding this whole logic behind us being required to run a register. The cashiers aren't required to come up to our department and help out, and we have a huge shortage upstairs. I want to see them come up and help us sell furniture on a Saturday for four hours, and I'll raise them four hours of my time on that register.

We're the only department in that whole store that can't be left empty. It's like leaving John V. Shultz's entire sales floor empty while everyone runs a register. Who the heck is going to sell the furniture or help the customers? So having said that, what's the point of us being register-trained if it's just liable to leave our department empty or even more shorthanded if we're pulled? Pointless.

One other thing is that we were originally supposed to be 90% compliant, and it's now dropped down to 80%. That would be fine with me if they had the right employees exempt from running a register. Is Baby Depot exempt? I wish. Let's find the stupidest reasons to cut people out instead of the most logical reasons. We have ones that will quit if they're even signed up to train on the register (oh, how I wish I could say that to get out of this), our receiving department which alone includes about 6 people (more than any other area of the store), stupidity and/or mental cases, and loss prevention. The only ones I can understand are the mentally incapable and security. Everything else is just an excuse.

Since there's absolutely nothing I can do about this, I guess I'll have to just do my time down there for four hours today. After that, they better not call me down as backup. I'll do their required training, but you'd better find someone else from a different department to be your backup.

Stupidity Leaks

Working with the public makes you realize just how many idiots there are out there. It's amazing how many people won't use their heads for more than hat racks, but I suppose that's just what you have to deal with in this line of work. I was inspired by a certain customer last night to write this blog. This is an ode to you, Mr. Stupidity Leak #1:

• SL #1: The Bathrooms

Before asking an associate how to open the bathroom door at Burlington, make sure you've actually tried it. No, I mean, if you can't figure it out while you're there, you need only to read the sign that says either "Push" or "Pull" on your respective room. If you have to ask me after you've done this, go back to elementary school and learn to read, and ask for a bonus lesson in common sense.

Example: Last night I was on the phone with one of my associates trying to give him information for a piece of clothing someone was buying that didn't have a tag, and a rather large, dopey-looking gentleman interrupted me.
"Excuse me," he said.
You guys know how much I loathe being interrupted on the phone when I'm doing my job. I told my coworker to hang on a minute while I helped this guy. "What do you need help with?"
"I can't open the bathroom door," he said.
"Did you try pushing it?"
He just stared at me with a blank look and said nothing.
Ok, I guess I need to say something here. "Just push the door open."
He still stood there, staring at me, and he didn't budge.
Hello, in there? Anybody home? "Just go over and push the door."
Nothing.
Am I making absolutely no sense here? "Just push the door open." How many times do I need to repeat myself before you get it?
Finally, he said something: "It doesn't open."
"The door doesn't lock," I replied. "Don't touch the handle. Just push the door."
And yes, he's still standing there, staring at me.
I attempted to get back on the phone with my coworker, but the guy was still standing there. I finished my piece about a hundred times already. You can go now. "Just go push the door."
He finally left, and I didn't see him come back, so I'm assuming that my idea worked. Go figure. I suppose I do know what I'm talking about sometimes.

• SL #2: Amateur Theft

If you're going to steal something, it's a good idea that you don't inform an associate before doing so. Hey, if you do, that's great for us because you're just making it easier to get caught, but I'm guessing you want to be successful at the five-finger discount, so being busted isn't part of your game plan; I would assume, that is...

Example:We have a new girl in the shoe department, and yesterday was her second day. A woman walked up to her, and they had the following conversation¹:
"You got any floor walkers tonight," the customer asked. In other words, she's asking if we have any security.
"I don't know," my coworker replied.
"Well, can you find out for me? If you hook me up, I'll hook you up."
Needless to say, she told another associate or manager about this, so they were all over her like flies on crap.

• SL #3: Watch Your Kids

We don't run a free daycare at Burlington. If you're opting to shop with your kids, you need to watch them. We certainly don't get paid enough to do our jobs and babysit your children. Not to mention, we have quite a few dangerous spots in and around our department. A hot spot for kids to play at is the escalator. I'm certainly not cleaning up your kids' blood if they fall and crack their heads open. Pay attention.

Example: I watched as a kid ran up and down our escalators (of course, running up the down), and I yelled at him numerous times. He was probably about twelve, so he was certainly old enough to know better. His mother was nearby while I was yelling, and she'd occasionally look over when I hollered, but she'd never say a word and continued shopping. Typical.
Finally, he did his last pass up the down escalator, and I yelled at him. As soon as he made it to the top step, he tripped and fell. He landed face first at the top of the escalator. He was ok, of course, but it just goes to show that you should listen. I shouldn't have to yell at your kids anyway. That's not my job.

Just bear these things in mind when you go shopping. I'm sick of picking up the missing pieces of your brain.

¹Mind you, this was all hearsay, so I don't know the exact conversation they had, but it's something similar to this.

What A Stressful Day

So you all know by now that I spent the day yesterday training for a new job. I was really excited about it because it seemed as if I finally had an opportunity to get out of where I'm at now. I've been waiting for this for quite a while.
The hours were perfect, the pay was better than I'm getting now, and I got weekends off, which is something I've been pining for. The office was really nice, the people were extremely friendly, and the environment was all-around pleasant.

So why didn't I take this job? The answer is simple: The job itself was crappy. What I wasn't aware of when I agreed to do it is that it would involve something I specifically said I didn't want to do. That is telemarketing. Maybe they don't consider it telemarketing because you're not selling anything--per se-- and it's for an organization, but you're calling 100 people a day and bugging them to sign up for a fund raiser. Regardless, you're calling people that don't want to be bothered. They either take it politely, yell at you, or just hang up. To me this is worse than straight customer service. At least more of these people want your attention. When you're on the phone, they don't want to hear from you unless you're telling them they just won a million dollars courtesy of Publisher's Clearing House.
On top of that, you had get at least 3 people to sign up each day. If you couldn't do that, you're booted. I hate quota jobs. That's too much stress.

I'm willing to take half of the blame for this because I didn't ask what the job entailed before accepting it. However, it's really their job to describe my duties during the pitch of the job. At the same time, they should have been looking at my notes and saw that I had a strong dislike of telemarketing. I established that at my interview at the temp agency. It shouldn't be my job to remind them. Of course, mistakes happen, so I'm willing to overlook that; however, the attitude could have been dispensed of when I called them last night.

After milling over whether to go into work the next day or just pull out of the position altogether, I decided against the former. I called the temp agency last night to say I wanted to cancel out on the job. I explained to the girl why that was, so she told me she'd have someone call me that night. Sure enough, the person I usually deal with at the agency called me from her cell phone, and by the tone of her voice, I could tell she wasn't too pleased.

"What's the problem, Rachel?"
I began explaining the issue with the job and why I wouldn't be taking it. I also explained how it made me feel uncomfortable to do that type of work. I decided not to mention the fact that I had already established to them that I would absolutely never do telemarketing but was offered this job anyway.
"Well, didn't (Anonymous) explain the job to you?"
"No, not really. It's partly my fault because I didn't ask either, but most of the time we spent hashing out how to make this work. It was either take the job now or don't take it at all, and I would have missed out on the opportunity. So I took it anyway."
"Can you at least finish out the week," she asked.
At this point, my manager had already changed my schedule back, and I had my mind made up that I wouldn't be showing up again because I feel too uncomfortable with that position.
"I'm sorry. I can't do that. My manager already switched my schedule back, and it was such an inconvenience when it was switched the first time around. I can't do it."
"Well, I ask because obviously we need to keep that position filled, so now we need to find someone to replace you."
I could tell she was upset with me at this point. I can't be the first client to pull out of a job though. At least I gave them 12-hours' notice when I was only required one hour.

I'm hoping I didn't burn any bridges with this temp agency, but a little more notice (at least a week would have been nice) and a better look at my file could have stopped all this from happening to begin with. I just can't see myself doing something I'm uncomfortable with just so I can have a job. I'll just keep the one I have until I get something that suits me.
That other temp agency I applied at is looking a little less icy than this one for the moment...

Double Standard

I think maybe an anonymous forum would be more appropriate for this blog, but I'm going to go ahead anyway and write it here because I feel it needs to be said. This is something that goes on way too much in Corporate America, and it's no wonder people get so fed up and quit their jobs.

There's an issue of double standards, and my workplace is no stranger to that. In fact, it happens on a daily basis; even several times a day. Some people are "allowed" to do certain things where others are not. In my case, there's a clique, and if you're not in that clique, you don't get the privilege of "breaking corporate rules," so to speak. Me? Well, let's just say I'm nowhere near being in that clique, nor would I desire to be. I'm quite content befriending people who don't back-stab and are accepting and courteous of others.

I had a situation tonight where I happened to sit down at our desk for a minute to relax while one of my coworkers was sitting at the computer. It was nearing the end of my shift, and there wasn't much to do. I'm not trying to justify my slacking off, but it was only for a minute, and that was all it took to get yelled at. My store manager came up and noticed this, and she was fired up:
"I am going to blow a gasket if I see you guys sitting at this desk again! I don't want to ever see another Baby Depot person on this side of the desk ever again!"

She continued to spout off comments, but I just walked away from her. Keep in mind that this was completely directed at me, but at the same time, it wouldn't have made a difference if I were sitting on the opposite side of the desk. This woman just plain-out doesn't like me at all. She gets pleasure out of making stories up about me and telling lies to my department manager to get me in trouble [She's guilty of this with other people]. Lucky for me, my manager believes my word over hers most of the time, which makes it much easier for the truth to be revealed, as she enjoys blowing every situation out of proportion to make the story sound more incriminating.

I completely take fault for sitting at the desk while on the clock. That was probably wrong, but heck, we've all done it. We're not machines, for crying out loud. Even management and the associates in the clique do it. What's funny is that they sit in that office for hours, eating their McDonald's and chatting the day away while they're on the clock, but if we sit down for one minute at the desk, we're threatened and scolded like two-year-olds. Figure this one out.

Another great example is this: We're not allowed to shop on breaks or while we're on the clock. Ok, that's fair enough. I'm hardly at risk of breaking that rule since I don't even shop where I work, so I think I can criticize on this one. On Saturday, I was changing our garbage while talking to one of my coworkers. He was sitting at the computer, and I saw our store manager walking over, so I warned him, but he didn't seem to care and still kept sitting. She came up to him and said, "Walk the floor and wait on some customers." No sooner had that come out of her mouth than she went over to the youth department and began shopping for her daughter...on the clock. It seems to me that you're not doing a whole lot of customer service while picking out clothing for your kid.

My point is to lead by example. If you want your associates to obey the rules of the company, you do the same. I know this will never ever happen in any company. As long as there are businesses in this world, there will always be double standards, but while a lot of people just put up with it, I refuse. I've seen management break rules everywhere I've been (it's almost obligatory anymore), but when you let some associates (people who are supposedly on the same level as me) break these rules with you--just because they're in your little teenage-like group--but not let others, then you're bound to have a revolt. On top of that, they gossip about us just like a bunch of adolescents who never grew out of their high school phase. Unfortunately, that's a whole other issue that would take up an entire blog by itself.

Whenever I happen to leave this place, I'm writing a letter to our store manager and sending a copy to corporate because there's no need for this to go on. Children could run the store more smoothly than this. Now, whether my letter would make any difference or not is beyond me (most likely, it will do nothing), but it's better than not taking any stand whatsoever. I'm willing to speak for all those in this company and any other company that feel like the "pee-ons" (that was deliberate, yes) because they either choose not to participate in the hierarchy of the corporation or they just don't fit into it by nature.
We're all people. Our only differences are our backgrounds and personalities. Can't we just leave it at that and abandon the childish gossip and authoritative ego trips? Yeah, you're a manager. So what? When I was assistant manager at my last job, I knew enough not to treat my employees like garbage. I thanked them for their work everyday, and I tactfully and maturely reprimanded them when they slacked off. I didn't speak to them as if they were my children. That gets you nowhere, and it's unprofessional and immature. I may be "a kid" to you, but I'm certainly not stupid and/or naïve.
If everyone followed this code of conduct, it would be so much easier to get along with our fellow coworkers.

Burnt Out

Sorry for not writing anything the past few days. I've been beyond exhausted and stressed out lately. On top of that, I'm in the middle of a seven-day work stretch, which is no picnic. I'm looking forward to having two days off together (finally) on Wednesday and Thursday. It's been a while since I've had two together (not since we were on our trip last month), so I'm getting tired out. Burlington. Overload.

While my department manager was on vacation last week, I had to deal with a pain-in-the-butt customer (ok, he wasn't too, too bad, but he was a pest). I don't really want to get into the story because the whole situation and the people involved just ticked me off beyond belief. God-forbid they read this, I may have unexpected unemployment. Definitely not worth it. I will say that I tried everything in my power to help out this guy, and it went unappreciated by pretty much everyone. Just another day at my job...

My poor husband is suffering because I've been too tired to do much more than sit in a chair, nearly passing out or sleeping. I did go to the Y with him last night, which has become a rarity for me the past few months out of a combination of laziness and exhaustion. I got about five different exercises in, and they were all good (my chest is incredibly sore today), but I was ready to crash when I got home. I've been so loopy the past few days that I find it hard to even function correctly at work. Everyday has been a struggle. Even when I'm driving in my car, I feel myself drifting off into another world, which I've never done before. It's kind of scary to think about because I could get in a serious accident that way.

Between working a lot and trying to figure out this whole Russian language situation I'm in, I'm getting tired out/drilled into the ground (whatever you want to say). I really want to take these Russian classes, but I don't want to pay an arm and a leg to do so, but I fear I don't have a choice. It seems that everyone wants to charge me for credits I don't want. My last hope is Behrend. I pray that I'll have some luck with them. Otherwise, I'll have to stick to self-teaching with my course book, dictionary, verb book, Rosetta Stone, and the occasional help from Olga.

I think I really need a break. Olga had suggested us going to Niagara Falls in September for a couple days. I told her I probably wouldn't be able to swing it financially, but Jon was able to work it out, and he said I'd be able to go. I just need to let her know. I'm sort of looking forward to it, so I can just get away from Erie for a little bit. Yes, I know, I just got back from a big trip, but I'm already tired out from work life again.

I need to unwind some way...

Knock Knock; Who's There; Interrupting Customer...

There are few things in this world that annoy me as much as customers who need constant "help" and attention. What's worse is when they interrupt you while you're with another customer and demand that you help them. Which one of us do you think is the rude one?

This happened to me yesterday. There was a lady who had called earlier in the afternoon looking for newborn sweaters. Olga had talked to her and said she was a real treat to handle. She ended up coming into the store a couple hours later, and she asked Olga for help in finding clearance receiving blankets. She showed her where we had very few left and walked away.

Meanwhile, I was helping a customer who wanted to put some things on layaway. They were inquiring about different things regarding the layaway process and payment options they had. The woman Olga had been helping interrupted us to ask where our clearance receiving blankets were. Knowing Olga had already shown her, I was a little frustrated but tried to point them out anyway. I then continued on with my customers.

They wanted to make sure that they could make payments over the phone (I was 95% sure but wanted to be 100%), so I called customer service. While I was on the phone, the woman from earlier came up to me and started saying something. Ummm...why do you think this phone is attached to my ear? That means, don't talk to me. Wait until I'm done. So I had to tell Lisa (from customer service) to hold on while I figured out what this lady had said.
I asked her to repeat herself, and she said, "I need some help when you're finished."
"I'll be with you in a few minutes," I replied.

When I found out they could make payments over the phone, I got off the line with Lisa, told the woman I'd be with her in a few minutes, and I went back to my customers. She followed me over to them and stood there. Ok...this is a little uncomfortable. I could tell my customers were wondering why she did this, but what could I do?

They showed me what pieces they wanted to put on layaway, and of course, the lady followed us down. I told you I'd be with you in a few minutes. Just go away. One of the items they wanted to put on a layaway needed to be checked to make sure we had it in stock, so I told them I'd check and be right back. The lady wasn't having it:

"I had to work all day. Could you at least point me where your clearance receiving blankets are?!?"
This is my problem how..? I thought we already went over this, anyway...twice. I pointed her to where they were if we had any left (I knew they were scarce), and she snapped back, "No, those are regular blankets! I want receiving blankets!"
I replied, "Well, we really don't have many (or any) on clearance at the moment. They'd all be there."
"Then where are your regular receiving blankets?"
I took her directly to where they are and pointed at them.
"Well?!? Where are they?"
Are you blind? Geez. I pointed again and said, "Right there."
"Oh," was all she could say.

That was the last of her that I had to deal with. Unfortunately, Olga had a little more to contend with. When she was finished shopping, she just stood at the desk while Olga was on the phone. She just stared at her waiting for some magical register to appear, I suppose. Olga had to stop her conversation to tell her to go downstairs to pay. Finally! Gone and out of sight!

I have to keep reminding myself that one day I'll be out of customer service.

Sellout

I was really excited when one of the temp agencies I'm with called this morning. I missed the call initially because I had my phone on silent from work last night, and I forgot to switch over to normal mode. I thought maybe they were calling to inform me that I got the job I interviewed for. Boy, was I wrong...

She explained that they had a little bit of an emergency and needed me to work somewhere until about 5:00 to fill in for a woman who called off. She explained that everyone else she had called that was a temp said they were busy and couldn't make it. I wasn't too thrilled as today was my last day I had off from work this week, and I wanted to relax, but for the sake of getting some extra cash and making myself sound like a good worker, I took the opportunity. I was responsible for answering the phone (two lines) and filing. How bad could it be?

I finally arrived at the company after missing it on the drive down and having to turn around. The woman (I'll call her "Jan") who greeted me was very friendly and cordial. "Jan" briefly explained what I needed to do, which was just as I was explained on the phone. I needed to answer phone calls, and she gave me a stack of papers she needed alphabetized. She apologized for the "busy work," but I was more than happy to have something to do to keep from biting my nails and pulling my hair out. She needed to run out for what she said would be an hour (it was actually four), so I was left alone in that building for my entire shift without a trace of another human being other than a coworker every one to two hours.

Everything was going as well as could be expected. I was bored out of my mind because it only took me a half hour to alphabetize that paperwork. The customers that called were cordial, and I had no problems with them. Taking messages was an absolute breeze. Why wouldn't it be? You don't have to deal with all the specifics. You just pass along the message to someone more knowledgeable. Well, that part was just fine.

What wasn't good were some of the coworkers that called every so often to check on things. They were asking me questions I didn't have answers to and were frustrated that "Jan" wasn't there to help them out. Ok, I can understand being frustrated, but I'm just filling in and have no clue what goes on around here. Every time they called, they made it a point to be rude, disrespectful, and degrading in regards to my mental capacity (insinuating I was an idiot at points by certain comments). On top of that, the two that gave me the problems were the owner and his son. Hey, I dropped everything to help you guys out on my day off. The least you could do is be respectful to me.

One instance was when the son of the owner asked if a fax he was waiting for had come in. I told him I didn't know anything about it but was just filling in for the day. He wanted me to check in the other office to see if it had come up. I said I didn't know if his was in there because he didn't give me any indication as to what it looks like. He told me to look and describe what was there because "I can't see it over the phone." No crap.

We determined that his fax hadn't come through, so he rudely asked me to call the company whose fax he was waiting for and ask what the holdup was and call him back. Ok, that'd be great if I had the number. I didn't bother to ask. I just wanted to get off the phone. I looked through their paperwork and was able to find the number for the company. I called there, and asked the guy the information I needed. He informed me that my "coworker" was bothering him all day and calling "every three minutes," and he basically wanted him to hold his horses. I'm thinking the same thing right now. I'll gladly pass along the message.

I called the coworker back and delivered the message. He told me to call back when the fax came in. I did.
"Yeah?"
"It's Rachel. Your fax came in."
>insert deafening silence here<
"Ok..."
"Yeah, it came in."
"Ok...I can't read it through the phone. You need to tell me what it says," he rudely replied.
Well, you didn't tell me you needed the info off it. Don't sit on the phone expecting me to read your mind.
I began trying to read the fax until he interrupted me because I was apparently telling him useless information off it.
"No! I don't need to know all that! Just read me the parts, ok? I don't need the model numbers, alright?"
Apparently, I read too much of the part names too because he interrupted me once again.
"No, not that! I don't care about that! Just read me the part."
Well, as far as I could tell, what I was reading was part of the name of the part. How am I supposed to differentiate?

If I'm ever asked to go back there to help them out, they can forget it. Even though "Jan" was very pleasant, some of her coworkers were just rude and disrespectful. No wonder everyone was "busy" today. They've probably had to fill in there before and don't even bother anymore. I couldn't blame them either.
Ah, the sacrifices you make to prove you're reliable. I feel like I'm selling out.

Ah, Crap...

Well, I really have no new news along the lines of a job. I did go to another temp agency on Friday morning where they insisted on administering 10,000 tests to me. [By the way, I scored higher on the advanced questions of Microsoft Word 2000 than the basic knowledge. The woman that interviewed me said I was the first she ever encountered with scores like that. Hmmm...] They also offered me a job opportunity in McKean, which I hope I'll get called in to interview for. We'll see.

Since that's about all I have to update you on, let me just talk about something that annoys me even more than my job and the absolutely ludicrous customers that come in, and that is none other than porta potties. Didn't think I was gonna go there, did you? Well, I suppose the picture should have been a good indication.

I had to use a number of these while we were on our trip out west. It's never an enjoyable experience for anyone (unless you're into feces, disease, and things of the sort). Nothing annoys me more with these than when there's a brisk breeze blowing up through the hole. Am I the only one that has a hard time using the toilet when your behind is being fanned off? Is there any way they can get some air control installed in these? I suppose I shouldn't expect luxury in such a facility.

Not only that, but it's a hole in the ground. What if I drop something by accident in there? How in the heck am I supposed to get it out? At least if it's a regular toilet, you can suck it up and remove your item from the bowl (hopefully, you've dropped it before utilizing the can). Otherwise, you'd better have a fishing pole and bait in tow.
Oh, and complimentary toilet covers, soap, water, and air fresheners would be greatly appreciated. No one wants to smell the stank when they enter the box after Diarrhea Man...and he's always there and using the pot before me. It's especially bad when it's Explosive Saturday.

Convenience? Ha. Enter at your own risk.

Stress, Stress, Stress

I'm so incredibly tired and stressed out. I'm not even sure why I'm on here writing this blog other than to apologize if I don't blog as frequently as usual. I have to say I've been a little overwhelmed with my current job. Don't get me wrong: It hasn't been busy at all. In fact, it's been quite slow at work, which is part of the reason why I feel the way I do.

Every day I go in, I feel like I'm wasting 8 hours of my life. It's a thankless job (like many people possess), and I get no joy out of it anymore. The only things that keep me going are the couple people that help me get through the day and the fact that I desire to keep a roof over my head. Beyond that...well, there is no beyond that. That's where it ends.
Now they're doing register training at work, which shouldn't seem like a big deal, but I have one problem with it: It epitomizes everything I truly loathe about retail, and I'm being forced train on it. That's why I had set myself a goal to get a job by Thursday. Things are not looking up because I was being far too unrealistic.

I've now resorted to some serious job hunting, but it has produced nothing thus far because I didn't give myself enough time to make something happen (it's been slightly less than a week). Although I have two interviews at two different temp agencies (one tomorrow at 10:30 and another Friday at 8:30) and have sent my resume in for a job of interest, I'm still a little frustrated with myself.

It wasn't too long ago that I was sitting in this same position at a different job wondering how I could get myself out of this hole I was in. I let myself get wrapped up in the routine so easily that it's hard for me to pull myself out and move on. When I was at Dollar General I couldn't wait to leave; yet, it was so difficult to go. That meant starting over at a new place with new people and new routines that I wasn't familiar with. That's scary if you've ever had to jump from one job to the next when you've sort of made yourself a part of that old job.

This is my predicament today/tonight/this week/this month/this year. I want so badly to leave where I'm at, but I'm so scared. Can anyone sympathize?