Lack of Judgment? You decide

I feel so special, I've never gotten so many comments before. I thought y'all might want to see what I looked like. The previous post is a picture of me on my friend Michael's back; we are on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. It was taken on our senior trip in April 2003 (and if nobody's ever bummed around D.C. on crutches, it is an interesting experience!)

I am really too stubborn for my own good. I got bored after about two hours of nothing yesterday. I wanted to be at work. I kinda dragged myself in there today. I had a 2 to 5 shift and then an on-call from 5-8, which meant I had to ask if they needed me to stay, basically. I asked Kathleen and she said she wanted me to stay, so I said OK just like I always do. I then went in the back to eat for a second. I wonder what I looked like today cause everybody kept asking if I was OK. I always said yes, as I do when anybody asks me that question.

But when I was sitting in the back and my friend Alisha asked, I told the truth. She immediately was like, "What are you still doing here then?" I replied that I wanted to keep working so we could get out of there early, and Alisha said that I wasn't much help because I wasn't able to work up to my usual pace. Which was a good point. She said that if I didn't tell Kathleen that she would. So as soon as Kathleen finished saying, "Nettie and Alisha need a project," Alisha went, "I can stay, but this girl has an infection and is in serious pain." Kathleen was immediately like, "Why didn't you tell me?" I said something about not wanting to let her down, and she replied, "You work so hard. You take extra shifts and you stay late. If you're sick, you're sick. I don't want to make you worse." I knew I was beaten at this point. Kathleen continued, "I want to hit you. I really do. Not hard!"

Harmony yesterday just didn't need me, cause the store was deserted due to the ice. But I actually made Kathleen mad, I think. She went into mom mode, going, "Did you go to the doctor? What are you drinking?" etc. I know I'm not indispensable, I just hate to play the pity card. Plus the CEO of the whole company is coming this week, and everybody is freaked out about it. Everything has to be perfect. I know some of y'all are going to want to lecture me about taking better care of myself, and you'd be right. Maybe I'll learn something from this- you can always hope, right?

Me in D.C. 

Just What You're Looking For

I got exactly what I needed, and I guess wanted, today. But it all came about in a rather convoluted way. Originally, I was scheduled to work from 1 to 7:30, but Denise had a shift she couldn't make, so we switched. I worked for her Monday and she was supposed to work for me today. I then picked up Alisha's shift from 11 to 2 today. My plan was to do that, stay later if they needed me, and then go baby-sit at 6:30. I had a conversation with Harmony before I realized Denise wasn't there, consisting of, "You don't look so hot." "Yeah, I'm sick." "What are you doing here then?" At which point I couldn't think of a good reason cause I felt so lousy, and she went, "You people, always coming in here...." When two rolled around, I asked her what she wanted me to do about Denise's not being there, and she just said, "Don't worry about it. See ya." If they had asked me to stay, I would have; I'm too stubborn to give in. But I think Harmony would have smacked me if I'd even raised the question. I must have looked really bad. I'll have to remember to thank her for that. And make sure neither she nor anyone else at BBW ever reads this. When I got out to my car, the Martins had called saying that the party they were going to was canceled cause of the ice and she didn't want me to have to drive over there anyway. So that's how I got the rest of the day off. It's just what I need- a chance to get some rest and heal- and exactly what I never would have given myself. I know God is working in this, because it never would have happened so perfectly otherwise. I get the day to rock out to my new Cranberries greatest hits CD, drink hot chocolate, and do what I wanted to all along- nothing.

The Iceman Cometh

I don't know why it couldn't have waited two days (Mondays are evil!), but the ice began to fall tonight. We are forecasted for sleet and freezing rain (i've never understood the difference- anybody?) till about noon tomorrow, at least. I am conveniently scheduled to work at 11. Hopefully I will be able to make it in time. I hate driving in this stuff. We had a record-breaking ice storm last year and my poor car almost froze to death. I managed to dig up an ice scraper though- it looks like a lethal weapon, but at least I won't be repeating from the snow in December, which eventually wound up with me literally beating the ice off my car with a shoe. I thought I had a scraper in the trunk, but we are not prepared for winter weather here. It's true what they say about Southerners panicking at the first snowflake and running out and buying milk and bread, cause they are convinced they are going to be snowing in- I've seen it. I wish my work clothes were more substantial. I don't mind having to work, I doubt the mall will close. And even if it did, I'm sure the managers could come up with something for those of us there to do. Not that it would ever happen, we will never get enough to be literally stranded. It might be fun to be snowed in at a mall, I can think of worse places to be. I dunno how I'd explain that to my professors though...

I Talk About Work Way Too Much

I don't know what it is with lights recently. Tonight the lights at BBW went out. The emergency lights and the pink ones on the wall were still on though, so I guess you could say we had atmosphere. Or something. Of course, once the lights came back on, half the light bulbs had burned out. Harmony was like, "Oh forget it, they'll fix it in the morning." Kiernan asked me about my hobbies today, and I said, "Well, I have a website, a blog." And Harmony asked what that was, and I said that basically I yak about stuff. And she was like, "You write about us?" They both freaked out- "What are you writing?" I said that I wrote about how nice Harmony was, and Kiernan asked "When did that happen?" I went, "There was that one time!" And Harmony chimed in, "Yeah, she was dying! It would have been really horrible to be mean to her when she was dying!" I love these people. Denise called me Nettie Boo-Boo one day and Kathleen has latched on to it, she thinks it's cool. I don't mind. I've been called worse.

Banner

I had a good day of classes today. In chemistry, I not only understood what we were talking about, mostly, but I found it interesting- how soap makes you clean. Calculus wasn't all that interesting, but I understood it as well. Spanish weas easy, as usual, although he did tell us he has a diffferent way of teaching verbs that I had never heard before, basically a different order of simple before complex. And in psychology, we were talking about gender identity and I asked the professor about hermaphrodites. I have a strange sense of fun. At work I finally finished all the box up of stuff that has to go to storage. I think they left it all for me. Of course, now that I say it's finished, they'll find five more boxes of it. Oh well, it's still a good feeling.

Supercalifragililisticexpealidocious

The lights are back on in the bathroom. I think I preferred the dark, almost, because the flourescent lights get irritating. Today was pretty cool. I had to go in to work at 1:30, doing more box-up. I think they always call me in to do that, cause they know I'm good at it. That, and the store is allowed as many floorset hours as they want, and only a limited amount of sales hours that they are always going over. After my shift, I went to Old Navy and got some more tanks to layer under my T-shirts. I also went to Target and got a new purse that I desperately needed for 5 bucks. That was exciting. At 6, I ran back over to work for our surprise baby shower for one of the associates, Marie (she's due in February). It was so awesome- she didn't have a clue. They told her that we were all there for a reprimand meeting and she didn't suspect anything. When they brought her back, she stood there for a second as we yelled , Surprise! She was overwhelmed, really. She kept saying she was having to force herself not to cry. The managers chipped in for a double stroller, since she has another kid, and I went in with Kiernan, who made a diaper cake; it was really cool looking. I also had to meet my manager Kathleen's kids. She has a one-year-old named Isabel that they call Fat Baby. She looks just like Kathleen and loves to eat (obviously). She also has a two and a half year old named Lauren, who kept trying to claim everything as hers; Kathleen told her it was for the baby in Marie's belly. I only have a few shifts this week, it's very strange, cause I'm always there. I had a conversation with Adele that went something like this: Do you know what a workaholic is? You are one. All you do is go to class and work, right? Yep. girl we need to take you out! Yikes.

In the Darkness Is the Light

For some reason, all of the lights in our bathroom are out. At first it was only half of them, but now they are all gone. And since I can't sleep if I don't shower, it means showering in the dark. It's an interesting experience, but once you get used to it, it's kind of peaceful without the blaring flourescent lights.. We have been boxing up a lot of the stuff in our back room to take to our off-site storage. One of the other associates and I had to load the stuff onto the U-Haul and move it in the parking lot. Autumn did a lousy parking job, but I doubt I would have done any better! It is really windy out now, so it feels cold. I can't wait for spring to get here. It's going to be an awesome one cause by summer I will have turned twenty and will have a new baby niece or nephew, probably in that order buty ou never know! But that still isn't for another couple of months...and in the meantime, it could at least climb out of the 20s....

Everybody's Free....to Wear Sunscreen

You gotta love Super Wal-Mart. Where else can you blow 50 bucks on groceries at 1 A.M.? I really shouldn't go shopping when I'm hungry. Today was pretty productive I suppose. In class, we attempted to explain to the native Spanish professor that Southerners have unique words that must be taken into account when learning Spanish. He just looked mystified. So that was somewhat entertaining. As a reward for selling the 2nd most during the holiday season (Columbus was first), we get a pizza party hosted by the vice-president of Bath and Body Works. Which naturally has everyone in authority already starting to freak out that the VP is coming to our store in a few weeks. I get the impression they don't think it's much of a reward- the day we found out, all the other stores called to congratulate us and Harmony was just sitting there rolling her eyes and going, Do you know how much work this is going to be? I actually left on time today; they were messing with me, asking if I had a date, and I said yeah, with three little kids. So I guess in between class, work, babysitting, and food-obtaining I wasn't as lazy as yesterday. Stay warm, y'all!

All About....PJ's

I hate winter. I went to class today in actual clothes, and the only reason I bothered was because it was too cold to wear PJs. It's not like anybody cares if I do (and if they do care, so what?) and I don't think I even matched, but I was at least warm. I could have hung out in my PJ's all day, but I had to go in to work. So I had to not only make myself presentable but actually put on nice clothes and go play with all our new products for 3 hours. And then I got to come back and eat Chick-Fil-A nuggets with Ranch. In my pajamas, natch.
I feel like I should be writing about something more than just my life of school and work. I mean that's really all I do. Go to class, go to work, come home and watch TV. I should be making commentary on something deep and meaningful like I always intend to. But right now, I have nothing more than I Love the 90's Part Deux on my brain. Maybe next time.

Boink!

Oy, I don't think I have pushed myself so hard physically since election week. I guess when I find something I enjoy, really enjoy, I throw myself into it. Anyway, yesterday I went in at four to work (at least I got to sleep in, since we didn't have class) and didn't leave until 2:30, after the managers were nagging at all of us who had class the next day to leave already. Then I went back to the dorm and watched a lovely program on different methods of the death penalty, and how we are one of the few civilized countries that still uses it. I am a staunch Republican, but I don't believe in the death penalty. Nice food for thought before drifting off to sleep, huh? Today I dragged myself to class in my pj's (I love college, you can do that and no one cares), and then had to drive to my house to get my warm coat, cause it's 20 freaking degrees out. We did this massive floorset today, which was nice in a way cause the store was closed and we didn't have to dress up. Some of the Bath and Body Works stores extended their big sale a week, but as we are one of the bigger stores, we had to pretty much pull everything off the sales floor and either box it up or move it. We have a certain line of products called True Blue Spa, and it's nice stuff, it's exfoliators, masks, hand creams, etc. I have some of it...but after working with it for five hours today, I don't want to see it again for a long time....And your challenge for the day? See if you can find any semblance of a point in my above ramblings...

MLK Day

Personally, I think it's way too early in the semester to require a three-day weekend, especially since we won't get any more days off until spring break, barring a snow or ice day (hey, I can always hope!) I wonder if it says anything about USC that this is the only federal holiday that we actually get off during the year (not counting Election Day). We don't get Columbus Day off, although I personally think Columbus is highly overrated, since he didn't really discover America, but that's another story. We go to school on Veterans' Day, Presidents' Day, Memorial Day. Does this mean that the administration doesn't value our presidents and veterans as much as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.? Are veterans somehow less worthy of deserving a day off in reverence because they are numerous and somewhat faceless? Or have I just been at work way too long and I am making something out of nothing? USC does try to make Martin Luther King Day a day of service. I myself will be serving Bath and Body Works. Decide for yourself what that says about me...

The Old Man Is Snoring

I love all the people who visit this site; I am so glad I finally have readers! I enjoy all your comments, even the sarcastic ones, but I do appreciate your keeping it clean. Y'all come back now!

I hate rain. It took me forever to get home cause I had to drive so slow; it was just pouring. Still is. I was there till 1:30 cause my manager Kathleen, who is kind of my favorite manager, was going to stay and work on the floor, and I didn't want here to be there by herself, so I stayed and worked with her. It was cool, though, BBW is my second home and Kathleen is a really cool person. It's not that I'm trying to impress them, they are already keeping me, I just really love this job, and the people there. Most of them anyway.

I suppose I should be doing my homework, going to bed, all that good stuff, but I'm not. I'm watching Most Extreme Venomous Animals. They are showing these creepy people who lock themselves in boxes with scorpions and let bees sting them. Makes my skin crawl watching it. They put the most random things on this show. Now they have a man who thinks he became a zombie slave. Weird, not sure what this has to do with stonefish, but it's a good show for 2 a.m. And yes, I watch too much TV, but how else can I get useless knowledge and random bits of soundtrack to annoy my friends with?

Back to the Grind

School started again on Monday. I didn't want to come back, I enjoyed my vacation. Not that I had more than three days off, as in not working at BBW, but it was worth it, I get to stay on as a regular associate (as opposed to a holiday one like I was before). I screwed up on Tuesday and didn't pay my bills on time, but that actually worked to my advantage, since I was able to make sure I didn't get the same TA for organic chemistry that I had last semester. So having to reregister was OK. It's nice to have an Internet that's more reliable here. I got out early from lab since they don't actually start for two weeks, so I am going to catch up cataloguing all the stuff I've taped and not bothered to label.

Hi-ho, Hi-ho, It's Off to Work We Go

I got myself another triple today because I thought I only had one shift, so I took someone else's. Then I realized that made three. Oh well, it's not like I don't live at BBW anyway. It was an interesting day today. The prelude is, there are two sales that I was telling the customers about. The antibacterial soaps are 3 for $10 and our basic items (i.e. the lotions, shower gels in our core fragrances, they are called Pleasures) were buy 3, get 1 free. Anyway, most customers understand which of the items are included in the buy 3 deal. But I had this one woman who didn't seem to get it, so I patiently explained which items were included and I thought she understood. But when she got to the register and my manager was ringing her up, she insisted I told her the Pleasures were 3 for $10. And my manger was nice and said, No they aren't, but I'll give them to you for that price because of the misunderstanding. I was nearby and heard the next part, whcih was, sotto voce, "Maybe you should tell her so she knows." Kathleen, my manager, let another associate handle the sale for a minute, and was like, You know the antibacterial is 3 for $10, not the other? And I was like, Of course I do! Kathleen wasn't upset; after the woman left I told her how careful I had been to explain, and she rolled her eyes and said she knew, that some people were just like that. Everyone who witnessed it was on my side. I don't think I have a point here, it just annoyed me. I did my best. Jen, another of my mangers, did manage to amuse me today though. She said, you are such a nice and conscious person, but some of the stuff that comes out of your mouth.... It's amusing cause it's true. Most of the time I do manage to make people laugh though!

Happy 2005!

I'm not much into New Year's, but have a happy one anyway! Don't do the resolution thing either....It felt really nice out today, I think it was in the 70's. That's pretty typical for South Carolina. Last week I was scraping ice off the cars and today I didn't even need a jacket (of course I was working hard taking the trash out). I love it. I was watching the Twilight Zone marathon on and off today and yesterday. Some of them are actually scary, like the one about the killer doll, and others just really show the time they were made in (that would be the 60's) really accurately, in that a lot of them are about fears of alien invasions and being obsolete, technology and totalitarian governments taking over. I just realized it's MMV now...something to chew on...