8-26-10 Thursday (Day Off Battle Again)

What a week.   First off, I’d like to acknowledge Laurie’s comment on a previous post:

Challenges, schmallenges.  Laurie - misfortunes, misadventures, bad days, they all “sell” babe.  It’s either that or I change my header photo to the nude picture of me eating grapes.  Trust me, no one wants to see that mess.  So… that leaves bitching, moaning, complaining and general ranting.

Monday evening I came home to find that our Google account had been hacked.  Yeah some ass wipe out of Germany sent spam email to all my contacts.   Rant #1.

Rant #2: Today was supposed to be my day off.  BUT at 11am yesterday my boss tells me he’s got to cover for a guy at another store who had a death in the family.  So in other words, I’d have to come to work.  I told my boss I was EXTREMELY unhappy.  I emphasized it.  I went on to helping customers.  Boss man leaves at 12, I’m by myself.  He calls me about the day off situation.  I let him have it.  I said things:

“I’m so pissed off right now it’s probably not the best time to talk.”  He persisted.  OK.  “I start working my ass of in this shit hole of a mess place.  You work me 60 hours a week which doesn’t include the “lunch time” you people (yeah I said that) immorally deduct for the lunch hours your employees don’t even take.  Then, when my day off rolls around I have to drive a frickin’ hour each way to unlock some doors because you guys don’t have a key and can’t get your shit together.  (Yes, I said that).  You continue to walk all over me while I’ve been short handed since I started and all you want is more.  I gotta go, I have customers waiting and it’s only me.”

A while later he called back and said he rearranged his schedule so I could have Friday off.

I was gutsy but you know something, if I let them walk all over me, they’ll obviously continue to do so.  I was looking for a job when I found this one, and I can certainly look again.

So now, today my boss calls me and reminds me I should be “flexible” about time off yet later makes another comment about how many hours (lower than I’m working now) ideally I should work.  Maybe if I had had a couple of my mid-week days off I wouldn’t bitch about 1 or 2 here and there.  Maybe I could leave early here and there to make up for it?  Ugh.

8-22-10 Sunday (What A Crock)

We started out our day by getting out of bed way too early.  Maybe it was the anticipation of going to Ryan’s Buffet for waffles and omelets?  Maybe it was because we’re old.  Either way, we had breakfast (we totally blew off lunch to offset the big breakfast) and then went on to BJ’s for some of our shopping. 

After BJ’s it was on to Walmart.  This week’s big purchases?  A new crock pot.  We got an UNelectronic one so that if a power outage occurred, the cooker would resume once power was restored.

The cool think about the slow cooker is that it came with labels that I can insert into the holder.  Look:

It came with preprinted and blank cardboard inserts that go right in front of the Hamilton Beach logo which is equipped with a frame.  Cool huh?

We also picked up a new toaster.  We use it almost every day and think that maybe it was worn out.  English muffins, which I eat daily, took a long time to toast and even on it’s highest setting didn’t brown it much.

 

After shopping we worked on getting the RV batteries charged up.  Eventually after jumping the batteries, we got the generator running and then the engine batteries charged. 

We went to see a house for sale.  It was a small house on an acre of land in south Charlotte for $75,000.   We’re not ready to buy just yet but always keeping our eyes open.

The day went by so quickly.  Back home to prep, season and vacu-suck some steaks as well as prepare Tuesday’s redo of our failed corned beef with cabbage crock pot meal.   Some pictures of Dasher and Clea in the kitchen:

Oh, and this creepy, hairy spider at the trash can in the back yard:

And finally here’s some pictures from work.  This is the “lube pit”:

Attractive job, eh?

Time to go finish making dinner, eat, watch TV and relax.  Till possibly Thursday…  see ya!

8-21-10 Saturday (Trailer Trash)

Sunday is a permanent day off for me since the store is closed.  We continue to be short staffed with the need for another service advisor.  Upper management had someone selected but she changed her mind after committal.   Oh well.

Yesterday I sent the porter to buy a refrigerator for the shop.  It’s one of those small one’s since that’s what we had there previously and that’s really all the room we have for it.

I was amazed to discover earlier in the week that we have no first aid kit.  There’s the remnants of a Walmart-ish looking $15 kit laying around.  Automotive repair can sometimes equate to many cuts and scrapes and I can’t believe that’s all we had.  Pitiful.  I ordered a big kit through our OfficeMax account.

On my day off Thursday, they discovered the cinder blocks above one of the shop doors was sagging and dangerous so they closed it off and are getting a construction company of sorts to repair it.  I’m gone 90% of one day and see what happens?   The place falls apart without me.  No, literally.

In other news of damages… sometime last week Jim discovered this:

Yes, a hole in our couch.  We can’t have anything nice.  So Dasher is banned from the furniture when we’re not on it with him.  We’ve revived our old trick of using clear carpet runner turned upside down on the furniture.  Home Depot usually has the best kind; the one with sharp “spikes”.  This deters the pets from walking or laying on said surface.  

It’s cheap and effective.  It can be rolled up and put under the couch when we have company over and don’t want to look like trailer trash.

Speaking of trailer trash, I want to tell you about our dear friends Carl and Tim.  You can click here to refresh your memory of them.  They were here in early January while we were moving in.  Oh, so the trailer trash part?  Well, they’re moving here.  Perhaps as soon as September.  They purchased a bumper-pull trailer, Tim is quitting his job of 20-something years and they’re gonna start a new life.  SW Florida has a tough job market, hence why we couldn’t stay there anymore.  Even Tim’s job has been downsized over the past couple of years.  I think and hope they’ll enjoy Charlotte as much as I do.  Fantastic weather.  Great scenery.  Mountains one way, beaches another, close to other states, seasons which are mild (to me), etc.   Anyway, check the comments.  Perhaps Tim will comment later about his reasons, feelings, further details, etc.

Here are some pictures of their trailer as it was originally listed on eBay.  They’ve been “remodeling” it over the past few weeks but I don’t have any updated photos.  Tim is technically-challenged and Carl hasn’t bothered I guess.  Hint, hint.

They’ve been working so hard on it.  I’m so excited!  We have some other friends who are planning to move here as well.  I won’t say who since I didn’t obtain their permission to mention them and not sure if it’s any type of secret.

Well, I worked today and am very tired.  Jim and I are cashing in a BOGO for a Mexican Restaurant we’ve not tried yet and then ice cream at Maggie Moos. 

8-19-10 Thursday

Thursdays are my day off, right?  Well almost.  A day or 2 after I blogged about getting the day off, my boss says, “You’re off Thursday right?  Well, I need you to come in to open up.”  Huh?  I questioned.  He’ll be out of town and the other Group Manager will cover for me but they don’t have keys to open.  Apparently I can’t even get keys to him before hand because he lives a couple of hours away.  Oh, so I have to drive 2 hours to unlock doors?  Yep.  Nice.

This morning I arrived to work at my usual 7:15.  We open at 7:30.  At 7:40 I call Mr. Area Manager.  He’s about 20 minutes away – he hit traffic.  You people suck.  At 7:45 my advisor arrives.  At 8:15 I leave, Mr. Area Manager had still not arrived. 

Some time yesterday while corned beef and cabbage slow cooked in the crock pot, the damn power went off again.  Another ruined dinner.  Jim called the power company who acknowledged the power failure a couple of weeks ago but says there was no reported failure yesterday.  They’re going to investigate.  They should investigate me a meal.  We ended up going to Chili’s for some 2 for $20 deal.  Tasty.  Fattening.  Ugh. 

Aside from the crock pot – power off problem, I couldn’t get my laptop to do anything.  Well, almost nothing.

What the ?  Ugh!  Thanks for the “prediction” ass munch.  Naturally, the F1 key did nothing.  No, buttons worked.  I restarted over and over and nada.  Good thing I back up everything to Carbonite online and to an external harddrive!  I scoured sales ads from Sunday and found an Acer laptop for $328 at Walmart.  The price was right.  I will never buy another HP laptop.  First the sound sucked.  Then the sound died.  Then the DVD drive failed.  Too many things under 2 years.  Jim’s laptop is an Acer and we’ve been happy with it. 

The license plates arrived the other day:

That’s all I have for now – live from my new laptop! 

8-14-10 Saturday

Yes, I’m tired but what else is new?  Let’s see.  Well, Jim pointed out that several weeks ago I turned down a possible job in Fort Mill, SC because it was too far and now here I am driving further to Rock Hill, SC.  Go figure.

The firm email I sent to my boss requesting the day off I’m entitled to paid off.  I now have Thursdays off starting next week.  I’m so excited I could spit, but I’ll refrain as I think spitting is gross.  Why do people spit?  Answer me. 

My store is a shit hole.  There – I said it.  I’ve complained about the no employee lounge, the microwave and fridge in a closet outside in the shop but I now have a funny story to reinforce my shit hole comment.  You see, Bob, my employee, Service Writer, was envying that I bring my own drink and sandwich each day.  I bring a pitcher of Crystal Light, a sandwich (3 points) and a Weight Watchers snack cake (1 point) in a cooler everyday.  Bob said several times “I need to do that too.”  So Bob decided to bring some food and store it in the mini-fridge out in the shop.  The problem was that the fridge was gone.  It belongs to the porter who took it home with him (for whatever reason).  The techs said he needed it for the weekend and was bringing it back in on Monday.  So, we as a shop, don’t even own a fridge for our employees.  As my friend John Anderson would say, “I just shake my head.”

Last night we were supposed to have that Weight Watchers burrito crockpot thingy but when Jim came home he found that the power had went off at some point and the food in the crock only read 130 degrees. It looked like curdled milk even though there was no milk in it.  We opted to feed it to the garbage disposal.  I hate when that happens.  Jim suggested Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner instead.  One day at work, someone brought lunch back for his team and he had their chicken tenders which he liked a lot.  We got to the restaurant which was like a sports bar atmosphere and extremely loud.  Jim ordered the tenders and realized it wasn’t what he had had previously.  There’s another place in town called Wild Wing Cafe.

Tonight we went to the “correct” chicken tender place, Wild Wing Cafe.  We met Deanna there for dinner.  I tried their wings and didn’t think they were all that great.  Jim enjoyed his chicken tenders.  We took the conversation back to our house over a bottle or 2 of wine.  I created a logo for Deanna’s upcoming business venture.  She had a draft of what she envisioned and between the 3 of us, we created a professional logo.  I can’t share it right now since it’s not registered yet.  She has a degree in her field of Human Resources so if you’re looking for advice from an employee perspective, check out her blog, Corporate Survival from the Bottom Rung.