And All Is Beautiful

I had an eventful weekend, despite the early disappointments of Saturday. I napped for quite some time after I wrote my update Saturday and spent the evening sewing, surfing the net, talking and gorging myself on watermelon. (As an aside, I’ve been wondering if other languages also include the “water” description in the name they have for the fruit. So, if you know, please share your linguistic knowledge!)

I spent the night elsewhere but will get to that later. Sunday I woke up, drove home, slept some more, and then woke up about 9:45am to get ready for the whole second job thing. I was really tired, which I think had something to do with how I spent the night and staying up late, but I also suspect it might have something to do with my low hematocrit level, as that is usually indicative of anemia, one of the symptoms of which is of course fatigue, weakness and a general malaise. Drs. Google and Goodsearch can’t tell me for sure if this is caused by iron deficiency or some other lack of nutrition, which is what I suspect. Even though I eat a ton of spinach, but it’s the easiest explanation and one that doesn’t involve something wrong with my gene expression or something.

(Really, I just wanted to use the phrase “gene expression.”)

So, I got up, showered, filled out my employee handbook quiz and direct deposit slip and then headed off to work. I took 287 to Baseline and just took Baseline all the way over to the store. I was contemplating how difficult it would be to ride a bike to and from, but that’s just crazy talk. It’d probably take me an hour or more to get there by bike and I’d be all hot and sweaty and gross once I got there, so that’s not gonna happen. There is a bus route though, that goes all the way down Baseline, so I might look into parking at one of the parking lots near 287 and Baseline and then just taking the bus the rest of the way. It might end up saving me gas money, and it would be neat to ride the bus again for that little bit. We’ll see though, since I don’t know what the bus schedule is like.

I got the store and parked and texted about how damned nervous I was and then sucked it up and went inside. I told Cindy, who I later found out was to train me for the first part of the day, that I was there to see Paula and she directed me to the office, so I went up. Paula had my apron and time card (it’s a credit card type thing to clock in and out) and set me up with a locker in the break room and then threw me out on the floor with Cindy to train me.

Some of you may know that I’ve never worked retail before. Ever. Not even a measly summer job when I was a teenager. I’ve worked for three employers in my life (and I didn’t get my first job until I was 18), all office jobs with no face-to-face contact with customers or clients or anything even remotely retail-like about them.

The novelty of it, the people I worked with and the fact that it’s a craft store all combined to result in a totally fun time. I expect this to continue for awhile. I’m not easily jaded, (even though sometimes I think I ought to be), so even if I had worked retail before, I think I’d probably still be just as excited.

My feet were sore and my back ached (after only four hours) and I was thirsty and hungry when I left, but it was so much fun. I’ll have to get better shoes to stand around in all day. Right now the dress code is pretty relaxed, but starting in September we’re all required to wear khakis (pants or skirts), button-down black shirts (polos or dress shirts) and solid white or solid black shoes. (The red aprons will also be going away, which seems almost sacrilegious, because what’s a Michaels without the red aprons?!) I’ve got to purchase all of that (so it’s a good thing I’ve got a second income – ha!) so I might go and get some solid black shoes now, just to have them and break them in or whatnot.

I did well with the money and making change and my drawer balanced and I only inconvenienced one customer. Well some others might have been inconvenienced, but not because of anything I did really. With this one customer, she had to write a check and I totalled everything without realizing that she had an errant paintbrush to add. So she had to void the initial check and write another one. She was pretty patient though and I thanked her for that profusely.

I’ve just got to get used to the store, which won’t take too long since it’s a craft store and given the amount of time I’ve spent in craft stores throughout my life, it’s kind of intuitive to me how they’re set up. Also, I’ll have to get used to being able to answer questions regarding sale items, etc, but again, that’s not out of the ordinary or going to take too long. My next shift is Saturday, from 11am to 6pm. I’ve definitely got to get the new shoes for that one. I’ve requested time off for the weekend I’ll be in Canada – I’m not sure if that’s been approved yet or not. The company has online access for your hours, time off requests, keeping track of hours, etc. It’s pretty neat. I’m not sure yet when paychecks are, but I’m not expecting one for at least a month, which is usually the way it goes I think. My current day job is really quick with the payrolls, but I know most other companies take a week or two after the payperiod ends before the pay date. For instance, I filled out my timesheet today for the payperiod ending yesterday for DRS and I’ll get paid for those two weeks on Wednesday. It’s a super quick turnaround time, so I have to keep reminding myself not to expect that from Michaels, too.

In any case, I’m really excited about the whole second job thing and fully expect this to last awhile and continue to be optimistic about it and enjoying it. And hey, I get a 25% discount!

I rang up three different employee sales yesterday, which was pretty fun. Everyone seems to buy the candy that’s up front. I guess it makes sense since it’s 25% off and all, but it seemed kind of funny to me. I hope that I won’t spend too much on candy and things while I’m there, but we’ll see how it goes. I did a good job of not spending anything after my shift was over, which was really tempting. I do think I want to buy a rotary cutter and self-healing mat though, for sewing stuff. It will make cutting the fabric for napkins a breeze!

After I got home I made some yakisoba (no pictures this time) with tofu and mushrooms. Something crispy and green would have been nice, but I’ll remember that for next time. In the process I burned my finger with hot oil, which was pretty damn painful. I left it alone last night basically and put some Neosporin on it and a bandaid this morning since it was bothering me a little more when it would rub on anything and I didn’t want it bothering me all day at work. After that I started listening to Ender’s Game on audiobook and was cutting out fabric for cloth napkins. I thought it’d be nice to rest my head for a bit and took kind of a long nap, but it was nice. Later I went and had an adventure downtown, which was totally fun, even though Hellboy II was lacking a little. Guillermo del Toro’s imagination is fantastic and seemingly bottomless, but it was Hellboy, so you know. I think I’m going to check out other things he’s done too, because I really do love his style.

I got to sleep somewhat late, but slept more peacefully than I have in ages, I think. It was quite nice. I woke up late this morning as I had intended to get to the DMV to get my plates at 8am, but I didn’t leave my place until 9am. I had the time off from work until 11am anyway, so I figured I’d use it to my advantage. It took me about 5 minutes to get my plates which feels like a fluke. As I was walking out I was wondering if the girl who helped me had forgotten anything because it just went so damn quick. The price was stupidly high ($291.40), but it happens. I know what to expect for next year so I can plan for that, which is nice. I put the plates on Penelope and was a little disappointed that they weren’t totally cool, like 219-LNG. (2.19 being my birthday and LNG short for Lang or whatever.) They’re decent though and with some help, I discovered a great acronym for the letters: Sexy, Intelligent Girl. Hehe!

I’ve really got to stop by the bank and deposit some funds as I’ve got a ton of checks floating around that will totally NOT be covered if everyone decides to cash them at the same time. Also I should get my mail. I will write more later.