Randomness

I hate Georgia in the summer. I saw the car thermometer as I was driving home from work: 102 degrees Fahrenheit (roughly 39 degrees Celcius). Humidity is somewhere in the 40 percent range, I think.

I want to migrate north for the summer. Somewhere like northern Canada. Where it’s cold, but they still speak something resembling English.

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As I was driving home, I was paying attention to gas prices. I drove past one gas station that was supposed to be $2.19/gallon, but they had misplaced the decimal, so it read $21.9/gallon. *snort*

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I saw a very pale, metallic lavender new model Volkswagon Beetle today. It was very cute. Ashley, I thought of you. It was too light for Liz, but I could so see you behind the wheel of that metallic lavender Bug. *grin*

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Work is. . .work. Today started out okay, because I was actually awake this morning, but ended up kinda sucking, because the grocery truck came in late. It’s usually there ready to be unloaded at 4 am, but today it didn’t get there until almost 5 am. So of course, things were a little late going up. We weren’t working any slower than usual, but Andrew (our barely-legal assistant manager) calls us into the office and tells the entire team of 5 clerks that “We’re really dragging today. No one is going home until that truck is finished!” Now ya’ll have to understand: a fully loaded truck – one of those huge tractor trailers full of groceries – will not go up in a day when it is there on time. We always spill over into the next day. That’s normal. So telling us that on a day when we’re an hour later than usual getting started is just ridiculous. Honestly. So, we all got to go home around 1:30 pm. For me that wasn’t so bad, because I had been scheduled to be there until 1 pm anyway. One of the girls who works with me, however, was supposed to go home at noon. She was not happy.

Anyway. . .you know, I haven’t actually said much about my job other than “I stock groceries”. Lets expound upon that a bit – I’ll tell you some things I’ve learned. Old people are pretty nice in the store until you can’t tell them where the ensure is or find exactly the flavor they want. Mothers are nice until you are in front of their cake mix, or stocking the baby food (because most likely, what they want hasn’t gone up yet, and you have to dig around on your fully-loaded pallet to find it). People in general are amused when they see you sitting cross legged on the floor so that you can stock the bottom two shelves, though when they say "You look comfortable down there" I have to work real hard to say "Yeah, it's great, why don't you come join me on the hard, cold, unforgiving parquet floor and stock flour with with me, 'cause its just so comfortable and so much fun". *blockheads* Some people are nice and will turn around when the aisle is blocked by a pallet and they can't get around it, some people will stand there giving you dirty looks while you frantically try to jack up your pallet and move it closer to the shelves - in the process, knocking off products and tags - just because they don't want to go around the next aisle to pick up something they need at the other end. Like it would take so much effort, and like they didn't have to go down the next aisle anyway - which they generally do. *grumble*

Now, I know that at some time or other, we have all picked something up and then decided when we’re leaving the aisle - or even halfway across the store, “Oh, I don’t want that”, and stuck it wherever was closest. But for the love of God, next time you do something like that, think of the poor sap that is going to be there that night closing the store, or the next morning trying to stock the shelves, who can’t find where something is supposed to go because the whole it is supposed to go in is occupied by something else. I mean, when I was blocking the shelves at closing on Sunday, I found bread (which is on aisle 1) in the paper towels (which is on aisle 11). This is ridiculous!! We've also found wrappers from the deli fried chicken shoved behind shelved products. I suppose thats one way not to have to pay for your lunch. I would love to catch someone doing that one day. . .Anyhow, I have found that shoppers are the laziest bunch of people you can find. I mean, I have stood there and watched as someone bends down, picks something up, looks at it, and sticks it back on the shelf right in front of their faces, just because they don’t want to put it back down a couple of shelves. Unfortunately, I can’t say anything about it, because I have to be bright and cheery to the customers while they are in the store. *sigh*

Oh, and can I say the I HATE the aprons they make us wear? ‘One size fits all’ my ass. Yeah, it might fit all those with NO BOOBS!!! On me, it always slips to the side, so one breast ends up hanging out of the apron, and that definitely looks strange. I tried pinning the apron to my shirt on that side with my nametag, but all that happens is that it pulls my shirt over. Again, *sigh*

What I would really like to do is transfer from stocking to cashiering. I have to check up on that. I think I’d actually like it a lot better. . .and the vest would definitely fit better.

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So, this week I’m staying at Ashley’s while she and her parents are up in Cape Cod with her stepdad’s family. His father recently passed away, and I think this is the funeral. I get along with the birds just fine – they ignore me, mostly. I keep getting odd looks from her cat, Bernie. When I first came in and told him I’d be staying with him for a few days, and that I hoped he approved, he let me pet his ears – so I took that as approval. But the first time I tried to play Lion with him – a game in which one throws his favorite lion toy and he goes after it, I got a look something like “What the hell are you doing? Don’t touch my things, bitch!!” So. . .apparently I’m not the right person to throw lion. That might have to wait until Ashley, Jean and Scott get back home.

BTW, Ash – I have no idea exactly how to fill the birds food and water dishes. . .I managed it, but I don’t know if the things are supposed to come open or what. I haven’t had to full their food, but I reached in, got the water, and kinda turned it upside down and filled it through the tray. It’s the only thing I could think of. *shrug*. It’s probably a whole lot simpler than that, but I blame my stupidity on getting up at 2 am.

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One of the things I hate most about the wonky hours is that I haven’t talked to Candice or Cesca almost all summer. I want to, but quite literally – I’m at work, asleep, or running errands for or with mom and Liz. I don’t call my own relatives, and barely talk to the people I live with. So to everyone that I haven’t called back – I am so sorry!!! I think about you every day, and hope ya’ll are doing well. Cesca, I do want to go to Ikea with you, but there quite literally isn’t a day that I can think of that we could do it. The days I do work, I’m friggin’ exhausted, and the days I don’t, I have to be in bed by about 8 or 9 pm to get up at 2 am the next morning. Plus the fact that I don’t have a car yet, and have to either use mom’s or borrow Ashley’s; Mom wouldn’t really look kindly upon me using her truck for that trip, I’m not going to borrow Ashley’s car for something like that, and I don’t want you to have to drive up to Lawrenceville, down to Atlanta, back to Lawrenceville, and back to Alpharetta. I’ll keep my eyes peeled and ears open for an opportunity, though, and let you know!!

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Wow, this turned out to be a longer entry than I thought it would. So, there we go, a real entry!! YAY!!!