Tomorrow, my own personal hell will be over…
2 minute read
May 17, 2004, 10:44 PM
In case you’re wondering, since Saturday, I have been without my Previa after a brake pad fell off in the driveway. As a result, I have been without wheels, and have had to bum rides from the family to and from work. It SUCKS. See, my parents are using it as an excuse to bring up all the unpleasant topics they would like to bring up all the time, but can’t because I can leave. Now that I’m a captive audience, they used it as an opportunity to bring them up. Makes for a very long drive to Wal-Mart.
It’s best exemplified by this trip home from Wal-Mart, as said by Mom in the car: “So when are you going to lose some weight?”
Realize I’m not a fan of questions about weight in the first place, and I especially don’t give any weight to comments about it from Mom, since she seems to be obsessed with everything that goes into everyone’s bodies, and is obsessed with the appearance of everyone’s bodies.
These rides could be quite painless, and we could talk about fun things like my Web site, or Metro, or about whatever, but instead my parents bring up all the unpleasant topics. Not fun.
Continue reading…Categories: Family, Toyota Previa, Walmart
What a horrible dream…
< 1 minute read
May 16, 2004, 3:16 AM
This was quite a dream last night. For what seemed like ages, in my dream, I was constantly telling people to go to the registers, because the Service Desk was CLOSED for the night, and that I had no register in which to give refunds from, and that money transfers would not be available until the Service Desk opened. No telling why I was there in this dream (especially since I even acknowledged in the dream that I was in my bedroom at home), and for the customers to please GO AWAY!
I think this dream came from two things. One, yesterday was day six of an eight-day stretch without a day off. Secondly, yesterday was the day from hell at times, with it being Saturday, plus a number of people (one in particular) with a few screws loose.
And now I work the 7-4 at the Service Desk today. Hopefully today will make up for yesterday, plus I hope it makes up for that dream I had…
Rubber Duckie’s got a big mustache now…
< 1 minute read
May 15, 2004, 12:24 AM
Categories: Walmart
Dumb, dumb, dumb animals…
2 minute read
May 12, 2004, 9:58 PM
People really need to get a handle on their animals. On the way home from work, I nearly ran over two rabbits, three cats, and a dog. I didn’t actually hit any of them, thank goodness, though one of the cats was a very close call. We can’t fault people for the rabbits, since they’re wild, but for the cats and the dog, geeeeeeeeeez… People need to keep better tabs on where their animals are because it would really be a shame for them to get run over. I really don’t want to do it. Hit a skunk one time on the way home from Harrisonburg, and that was just ugly. And stinky. But people’s pets out on the road, that’s just unacceptable. People should show a little more love towards their pets and keep them out of harm’s way. That’s what we do with Greta. She has the whole house to roam around in, and her fenced-in yard, keeping her inside and safe, and keeping other things out.
Otherwise, though, tomorrow morning comes early, as I once again work the 7-4 shift, after three blissful days working the 11 AM to 8 PM shift at the Service Desk. I love that 11-8 shift. Not too early, and not too late. So tomorrow morning, I got up early.
Categories: Some people, Television, Walmart
This was one of those days…
< 1 minute read
May 7, 2004, 9:54 PM
We were very busy. Busy is good, I must say, though. Makes the day go by, and means job security. But nonetheless it makes you want to pull your hair out. Ah, well. Could be worse, though.
Meanwhile, I’m going to Washington DC tomorrow to do some serious railfanning. The goal of the day is to visit some stations I’ve never been to before, and look ’em over. Let’s admit it – I have plenty of pictures of Vienna. I have plenty of pictures of Rosslyn. I also have plenty of pictures of Ballston-MU, L’Enfant Plaza, Pentagon City, Metro Center, Gallery Place-Chinatown, Farragut West, King Street, Huntington, and such. But there are a number of stations that I only visited briefly, or only visited inside a train. Those are the stations where I’ll be visiting tomorrow.
And if I get a chance, I may also swing by the new World War II memorial, though I may forgo that on this trip, and just stick to WMATA. See, the WWII memorial is some distance out of my way, since the nearest Metro is McPherson Square, which is under Eye Street. That puts the Washington Monument a number of blocks out of my way. But we’ll see. If not, I’ll do it on my next trip.
So it sounds like I have an interesting day ahead! Now to go to sleep and rest up for it…
My birthday is in 24 days!
2 minute read
May 6, 2004, 3:10 AM
My birthday is in 24 days, which makes it May 30, which means that today is the 6th. If not, I got up at 4:00 for nothing.
But anyway, though, I figured out what I want for my birthday. So tell me… do you know who this is?
Twelve hours at work…
2 minute read
May 4, 2004, 12:56 AM
This is what happens when we don’t have enough help at the Service Desk. So I worked extra beyond my regular shift to cover the Service Desk. And I did pretty darn well, too. Sometimes on a regular day, I get fatigued in the last couple of hours. On days when lunch doesn’t agree, I get fatigued soon after lunch. This, by the way, led to my no-rich-foods-for-lunch rule, which came about after I ate some of the very rich (and very expensive) “Cherry Cheese Delight” that we sell at the Deli proceeded to not agree with me, and wrecked the entire second half of my day.
Still, today I was going like gangbusters from 11:00 AM when I came into work, through my hour-long lunch break where I had a hoagie and some fruit, and right on through to 11:00 PM when I finally was able to get the heck out of my little Service Desk cave.
And just think… I’ve made it through however many days I was scheduled for, and now I’ve made it to my two days off! And what am I going to do for these days off? Gooooooooooood question! I know that I’m going to spend at least a little time on the phone, trying to find a good price for a garage to put new brake pads on the Previa. Additionally, I need to also find someone who can look at my car’s air conditioner and tell me what’s wrong with it. Since trust me… no air conditioning during the warmer months is HELL. And considering that the air conditioning was weak in 2002 and non-existent in 2003, I have a feeling it may just need a “recharge”. Of course, it might just be more than that, which means it can get quite pricey.
Categories: Food and drink, Retail, Toyota Previa, Walmart
We’re Wal-Mart. We have TAPE!
< 1 minute read
May 2, 2004, 8:36 PM
I admit it – we at the Service Desk have tape. And tape really does hold the world together. How does one prove this? Just watch me some time. The item is busted, and obviously unfit for sale. The package is a mess, or it won’t go back in right. How do you close it up? Tape! Good old tape. Fixes things right up.
A customer today said forget the happy face, we’ve got some serious tape going on.
Otherwise, though, I had Bill Cosby’s “Little Ole Man” song in my head today. That’s the one where Bill Cosby talks about the little old man sitting on the step, with the tear kinda trickling down his cheek. He says, “What’s the matter?” and the man says, “A train just ran over me!” He says, “Mmm. How often does this happen?” And the man says, “Every day, about this time.” And Cos says, “Well, why do you just sit out here, then?” And the man says, “Because I cannot believe that it’s happening.” So Bill Cosby says, “Reach out! Take my hand! You’ll understand!” and then the chorus says, “Everything is all right, up tight, out of sight!”
And now I’m going to do some much needed Web site work. New store stuff, hopefully a new quote, and some other miscellaneous stuff.
Categories: Schumin Web meta, Walmart
“It’s my nightly meringue mask…”
< 1 minute read
May 2, 2004, 4:03 AM
In case you’re wondering, no, I do not mash my face into a cake every night, a la Mrs. Doubtfire. But, in the breakroom at work yesterday, I did do a near-perfect imitation of Robin Williams as Daniel Hillard as Mrs. Doubtfire going “HELLO!” right after he mashed his face into that cake to make up for the fact that Mrs. Doubtfire’s face was run over by a truck.
Meanwhile, I so hate mornings. I have to work 7 AM to 4 PM today. For me, that means getting up at 4 AM to have enough time to perk up and get ready for work. It should be known that I have a big soda and turn on Ducktales on Toon Disney right when I wake up for these early shifts. I so love watching Scrooge and crew, and this episode was amusing, watching Fenton Crackshell, the man behind Gizmo-Duck, deal with a conflict between his girlfriend as Fenton, and this robot maid who has a huge crush on Gizmo-Duck. Either way, it was quite a hoot, as he managed to keep his girlfriend plus get rid of the robot who loved Gizmo-Duck. And he kept his secret identity a secret. If only all of our problems were able to be resolved in thirty minutes, minus time for commercial breaks. That would be nice… imagine that in real life. You’re about to get decked by someone, and inches before you get slammed, it’s like, “HOLD IT! We’ll be right back!” and then people try to sell you the newest way to get your clothes bright shocking white. Then we come back from the commercial, and then get clobbered.
Anyway, though, that’s enough out of me… I should be getting ready for work now…
Categories: Television, Walmart
Today was a slow day…
2 minute read
April 26, 2004, 9:41 PM
I was surprised. Today was surprisingly slow. Of course, it makes more sense when you think about it. It was Monday, and it was raining. Two things that keep people inside. But all in all it was a good day nonetheless. I’ve been minding my use of the squawk box at work, since people say I page too much.
Meanwhile, the smokers in the smoking room have been having some good-natured fun with me. After going in the smoking room once to talk to someone and being unable to breathe, since the smoke was so thick in there, I vowed never to enter the smoking room again. So when I need a section of newspaper that the smokers have in there, I have to ask for it. I open the door, and ask if I can have the section. They tease, once even blowing a big cloud right on it. Of course, they don’t mean it to be mean, but it’s amusing nonetheless.
I also had a lady who reminded me of Mecca from Potomac Hall today at work. I’m explaining what’s going on with her refund, and all of her options and asking how she wants her refund, and she’s giving me this hard, ugly stare. If her eyes were lasers, they’d have burned a hole in me in no time. Then she acted all arrogant and like she knew it all, and acted like I was an idiot for asking what she wanted me to do.
Today was a good day!
2 minute read
April 22, 2004, 5:42 PM
What can I say? It was payday. Payday always a good thing.
Interesting thing today was the amount of Today’s Special references I inadvertently threw in at work today at the Service Desk.
For instance, someone brought up a toy shark to the Service Desk for us to send off to get put back. I commented, “There’s that guy from my fin club again.” I don’t recall which episode of Today’s Special it’s from, but the reference is from a 1984 or 1985 episode, with Sam referring to that shark we occasionally see in his computer room.
Another one was to a coworker friend later on in the day, where I said, “The only person I know who lives in a department store is a mannequin and wears a magic hat!” Customer overheard me and recognized the reference as being to Jeff the mannequin, and mentioned a Web site about Today’s Special that they thought I should visit. That was amusing, because the Web site they were referring to turned out to be my own. Small world.
Categories: Walmart
I place a strong value on consistency.
2 minute read
April 17, 2004, 12:14 AM
I have come to the conclusion that Wal-Mart could schedule me just about any weird hours that they want, just as long as I can have those weird hours for a few days in a row. For instance, this Saturday, April 17, marks the third day in a row that I will be working 2 PM to 11 PM. And then Sunday I do that schedule again. It’s nice because it gives me a chance to adjust and get a routine. Just like if I work 11 AM to 8 PM, I like to do that for a few days in a row, which I actually did last week. I think I could even do the 7 AM to 4 PM shift just fine, if I had it more than one day at a time. Usually when I work an early-morning shift (yes, 7 AM is early for me), I get it for like one day, and that is usually surrounded by evening shifts.
What gets me all screwed up is when my work schedule is all over the place, working early morning and late evening in the same week, often on adjacent days. I try to come to work fresh as a daisy every day. Of course, I shower with soap and all that, and would do no less, since I place a high emphasis on grooming and looking good, making sure that when I pass through those sliding doors in the morning that everyone looks at me and admires how nice I look and smell.
But when I say “Fresh as a daisy” in this case, I mean feeling it. You know how it is. Some days, you just are kind of dragging, and need a few swift kicks to get going. Other days, I am just light on my feet, and just all sunny and really exemplifying our happy-face mascot.
And consistency is what keeps me running full-steam-ahead.
Meanwhile, I’m still working on uploading the forums to their new location on my site. Same forums, but at a far more convenient URL.
Categories: Walmart
“I’d like to know if you all sell vibrators, but not the sexual kind.”
2 minute read
April 15, 2004, 1:00 AM
A customer actually did ask one of our associates that one time (not to me). But that’s besides the point.
You see, I have found a non-sexual vibrator. Let me tell you about my experience with my cell phone today. I went to DC as planned. I was planning to meet up with Dad midway through the day, since he was coming up to DC as well. Well, I was concerned with being able to hear my ringtone (which is Sakura Saku from Love Hina, a Japanese anime cartoon) on the Metro, with all the other background noise from trains and people and such. So I set it to ring and vibrate.
Now I keep my cell phone in my right front pocket when I’m out and about. So there I am railfanning on a Rohr train, on the Blue Line between Pentagon City and Pentagon. Next thing you know, I feel this fierce vibration on my leg, and Sakura Saku starts playing. Let me tell you, I nearly SCREAMED when that thing started vibrating on me. That’s definitely one way to wake up a 28-year-old rail car. I’m sure the other passengers would have really appreciated it if I’d let loose with a scream. As it is, I jumped up from my railfan seat when that thing went off on my leg.
Needless to say, I will never, ever, ever, ever, ever put my phone on vibrate again.
Categories: Cell phone, DC trips, Retail, Walmart, WMATA
Good morning!
3 minute read
April 12, 2004, 4:33 AM
My goodness, I hate mornings! But that’s what my day’s going to be today, as I have to work the 7 AM to 4 PM shift at the Service Desk. I don’t know what it is about me, but I’ve never been able to handle the mornings like I do the afternoons and evenings. I so can’t stand mornings. I’m no good before at least 10:00. Those 11 AM to 8 PM shifts on the Service Desk have spoiled me. Thankfully, though, I don’t get these early shifts that often.
Also, I had an interesting thing happen to me last night. I was investigating a troublemaker on the forums, and was zapping some rather obscene posts that this individual posted. All of a sudden, the posts reappeared, plus the forum went out of maintenance mode (which basically turns off the boards temporarily), which I put it in while Entangled Web moved me to a new server.
Turns out that while I was working, the DNS change, which usually takes a couple of days to propagate across the Internet, reached me while I was working on the forums. Thus I went from my site on the old server to my site on the new server. And in an area that made it through just fine.
The forums weathered the move just fine, but you know one thing that didn’t? The main site. Now before the DNS change reached me, I had made a small change to the splash page on only the new site (changing the © date to 2004, which I’d been meaning to do for a while) so I would know that it had cut over. Turns out I didn’t need to. The site looks like a bomb hit it! Basically what happened is when they moved my site, they didn’t get it all over there in all the right places. So now I have to fix it all up and get it running right again.
Categories: Schumin Web meta, Television, Walmart
Server moves and long lines…
2 minute read
April 11, 2004, 12:09 AM
Well, today was an interesting day. The day before Easter in Waynesboro reminded me of just before Christmas in Staunton. Totally slammed. My father even commented to me when I got home that he drove past Wal-Mart and it looked like we were mobbed. My reaction? “You’re not kidding!”
On the Service Desk, our line was “out the door”, curling out of our little cave and out to near the restrooms. And that’s with three of us on there. Talk about busy.
And I also got to be a cart pusher for about an hour and a half. I, along with a cashier, helped one of our regular cart pushers with clearing the lot. I’d done it once before, and helped show the cashier (who’d never done it before) how to use our cart machine (which basically pushes a long line of carts automatically). And so in showing her the ropes, I tell her, “Make sure you’re not standing in front of the cart machine when you start it up, and don’t get in front of the cart machine to stop the carts. It will knock the wind out of you.” And the biggest offender when it comes to doing that is me. Without even thinking, I’ll be standing in front of it, staring at the machine, and start it up with the remote control, and have to quickly get out of its way. Or we’ll be taking it with a line of carts to the next cart corral to load them onto the machine. Without even thinking, I get in front of it to try to stop it, quickly realize I’m going to get run over, and then quickly get out of the way again. I nearly got the wind knocked out of me by that thing today, but I managed to get away in time. Yeah, I can be a great example sometimes. Watch me tell you how to use the cart machine safely, then watch as I show you how I learned the power of that cart machine. But we got the job done, and I managed not to get killed while doing it.
Categories: Walmart