Tempered Fragility

Well, it’s MS Word again, unfortunately. When I finish transcribing my interview tomorrow, I will log on and post this along with yesterday’s entry, but for now I guess I’ll ramble on a little about my day.

When I woke this morning, I felt like crap. It’s been going on for a while, and I’m really getting sick of it. I get plenty of sleep, yet I wake feeling groggy and bleh. As it turns out the heater was on, and my door was closed. Overheated, much? I still have the headache now, and it makes working an absolute charm. Bloody children.

Speaking of work, I got a raise today! I was originally making $15.00 an hour, which I thought was pretty awesome, especially when I compared it to the $13.50 an hour I was making at the video store. As it turns out, $15.00 is pretty average, because I’m now earning $23.00 an hour. I made today, what I used to make in two, almost. Awesome.

Since I banned myself from the internet, I have learned- well, actually I haven’t learned anything. I miss checking the forums that I frequent, I miss chatting on MSN, and I miss updating my website and reading comments. I miss reading blogs! Still, I am actually getting work done, and so it seems that the ban is working. Hopefully I’ll be back for a little bit tomorrow - until then! *wave*

(Written on the 7th of May, posted on the 8th of May, and backdated to reflect when it was written.)

Tonight was my last shift at the video store; Michael had all of my other shifts covered, even though I said I would work the two weeks notice period. He called while Emma and I were working; basically, he said thank you for working, and he wished me all the best. He also said if I ever wanted to go back in the future to let him know. I thought that was really nice of him, and I know he’ll be a good reference.

I’m going to miss working there, really. Not just because of the job, or the people, but because working there was reminiscent of the time when I was living with Gentil and we were happy. It was a reminder of that, and I think it made leaving there a lot harder. I will miss the girls, of course; I have their numbers though, and I plan on messaging them from time to time. They’re all invited to my 21st as well.

Last night I completed the last mission in the Prophecies campaign, and now I have a quest that gives 20,000XP as a reward. That is a scary amount of XP - imagine how long and hard the quest is going to be. Oh! I also gained the Tyrian Explorer title, meaning I have (finally) explored over 60% of Tyria. I can’t believe how long it has taken me to get there.. possibly because exploring really bored me at first.

My breakfast tomorrow morning was cancelled, so now I can help Mum get the children up and out the door for school. I’m excited about tomorrow; no girls, no Stephen, no whining or fighting. Just Mum and I, and a broadband internet connection, rofl. I’m looking forward to the peace and quiet though, seriously.

Alright, I’m off to play SQ now. Goodnight, everyone.

Well, I know I said that in yesterday’s post I would tell you all about the day before yesterday, but somehow that didn’t quite happen. Never mind! Now you get two days worth of interesting information ALL AT ONCE. Amazing, I know. Ahem.

So, I worked on Sunday night, and although things weren’t hectic, Emma and I didn’t stop the whole night. There was a lot to do, and we did get swamped a few times by returns. I think putting covers out was the most difficult thing to do; every time one of us picked up a stack, the front counter would get rushed by people. Luckily I didn’t have to close on Sunday, although I did have to wait for Aleeya to show up.

Now, this next part is a little bit of a rant. See, Aleeya was supposed to start at 6pm. At 6:05pm when she still wasn’t there, I called her to see where she was. She answers the phone, all nonchalant, like she had no idea what the time was. I ask her where she is, and she says ‘Around the corner’. Right, okay. At 6:20pm, she walks in with not even a ‘Sorry’ to me or Emma. Seriously, she just breezed right on in.

I passed on the message that Liz had left for her, about taking rubbish with you when you leave. Oh, and also? LOCK THE FREAKIN’ DOOR. Her and Emma had left the top bolt on the door unlocked on Saturday night. I showed her how to lock the door, and tried to make her understand just how important it was that the shop was closed up properly every night. I don’t think she cared, to be honest.

Oh, did I mention the customer I had, who demanded, “Don’t do me any favours! Don’t act like you’re doing me a favour!” See, we have a rule at work that if a customer has an overdue DVD on their account, they can’t hire. Generally we don’t stop hires if the DVD is a weekly, but this woman had a new release overdue. I was fairly certain that a mistake had been made on our end, and so I decided to let her borrow anyway.

She wasn’t having any of that, though. She yelled and motioned and went on and on about how it was our fault, and was I saying she was a THIEF? Because she wasn’t, and she wasn’t about to be blamed for OUR mistake. Oh, and also? NO FAVOURS! Rawr! In the finish, I told her that I was breaking the rules for her, and if she continued I would change my mind. She said she wasn’t going to borrow anyway, and NO FAVOURS!

I put a note on her account, and it reads: “Customer came in to borrow, still had ‘Perfect Stranger’ on account, but was returning different copy. Asked her about it, and told her she could still borrow, but she became rude, loud and obnoxious.” I have every faith that Kathie, Michael or Liz will ban her when they read it. That’s what she gets for being such a bitch. People underestimate the power of lowly clerks.

In other news, I also had a regular customer come in earlier in the day, when I was by myself. She has two children, and one of them makes me cringe every time he enters the store. He is like a mini tornado; all energy and motion. I wouldn’t mind so much about the cleaning up when he’s gone if she at least made an attempt to watch him; I’ve had to bring him back inside from the main road more than once.

What makes this woman so memorable is the fact that she always speaks down to us when she is in the store. If I could draw I would sketch a picture of this woman, and you would laugh with a kind of horrified guilt, just as I do whenever she leaves the store with her mini tornado child. Anyway. On this memorable occasion, she came in with her usual haughty attitude - and she had pegs in her hair.

I kid you not. This woman who acts towards us like a Queen to her servants was wearing pegs in her hair. The bright plastic kind, that you hang clothes up with. Now, I understand that with Mr. Mini Tornado running around the house, things might be kind of hectic; hell, I’ve experienced the chaos myself. But never - and I mean never - have I (or my poor, frazzled mother) left the house with pegs in our hair.

It brightened my day to see that cold, aloof, holier-than-thou bitch running around with pegs in her hair, let me tell you. Almost as much as realising I could just tell Emma to clean up the mini tornado’s mess did.

Oh, and in other news? I quit my job. =(

I had work tonight, and - as I predicted - it was busy. Very busy. My feet are killing me; I keep getting shooting pains up and down the back of my calves, and the soles are so sore that it hurts when I put pressure on them. I think my collapsed arches are causing problems, and are probably the reason that my back is so sore. I keep getting sharp ‘twinges’ - usually on the right side - and I know that when I lie down, I’ll be in pain for a while.

We celebrated Easter today, and the girls enjoyed themselves a lot. We invited Tori and Azz over so that Tori could hunt for eggs as well, and I think she had fun, too. Tomorrow we have celebrations at my aunty and uncle’s house, and I have work again - 4.30pm until 10pm. Not looking forward to it at all. I really wish that Michael had just given me the time that I asked for off, but no, he had to do four weeks of rosters in advance.

I moved a whole heap of furniture today, from one room to another, and I hope to get some more done tomorrow morning. Hopefully by Tuesday or Wednesday I’ll be done, and everyone will be in their respective rooms. I hope, anyway - it’s an awful lot of work that has to be done.

Anyway, I’m exhausted. To bed, I think. Night.

Well, I did say that I was going to post a longer entry tonight, and I’m sure that it will be. Maybe. By a few words? Characters? I’m exhausted tonight - and I know I seem to spend half my life exhausted, but this is for a good reason - because I had to work tonight. I worked for six hours, and I know that it isn’t long in the general scheme of things, but when it is blazing hot, and there is no air conditioning and you work alone for two hours, it’s kind of tiring.

Yes, you read right. I had to work from 8pm til 10pm tonight on my own, because Aleeya called in sick and didn’t bother to cover her own shift. I called Sophie - no answer. Liz had already worked, and besides, she has two kids and has barely seen them since she started her traineeship. Kathie ‘doesn’t work on Sundays’, and Michael - for whatever reason - didn’t like the idea of me calling Eleisha. Emma was able to stay until 8pm, but she had homework to do.

And so, I had to close on my own. And of course, those last two hours were absolute hell. I had a couple come in, really lovely people, to borrow some DVD’s. When they brought them to the counter, I had to inform them that they had been banned, and I COULDN’T TELL THEM WHY. We’re not allowed to read the notes to customers, and I wouldn’t have read this one anyway: “Customer complains too much: GO ELSEWHERE.”

I told him to see Michael about it - because Michael would let him sign up again if he confronted him - and the following conversation takes place:

Him: “I have a job.”
Me: “Well, maybe you could call him. I can’t do anything about it, unfortunately.”
Him: “I have a job.” (in a singsong voice, like I’m an idiot)
Me: “Well, I have two part-time jobs, attend TAFE full-time, and I can still manage to make the time for a phone call.”
Him: “… Why was I banned?”
Me: “There’s no note here saying why it was placed. You’ll have to see the boss.”
Him: *mumbles incoherently*
Me: “Look, I can’t lift the ban, and getting pissy at me isn’t going to help, okay?”

After that, they accepted the fact that they were banned and left. I was genuinely sorry that they were banned. I absolutely hate telling people that they can’t borrow - especially when they’ve spent a while picking out DVD’s - but I can’t remove the ban or I’ll lose my job. I can’t tell them what the F11 says either. I can tell them if it’s because of late fees, and in some cases (if they pay their fees) I can remove the ban, but in that case? I couldn’t do anything.

It sucks, but there you have it:don’t complain too often, or people get sick of you, and then you can’t hire DVD’s anymore.

And you know, I realised when I was walking home that I forgot to wipe the counters, AGAIN. Damnit.

I worked at the office today, and honestly.. I can’t believe how frustrating my boss is. *sigh* He is a good man, really, but it is impossible to get anything done while he is hovering. Also, his tapes tend to deteriorate as time goes on; in the start his voice is nice and clear, but by the end he is mumbling, and I have to guess what he’s saying. Also, he has no concept of how long it takes to do things, so I’m either not finished by the time I have to go, or I leave late.

It just really frustrated me today. I was trying so hard to get the work finished (and there was masses of it), and he kept piling more work on me, or switching places on the tape, or switching files. Arrgh. It doesn’t help that he has very little understanding of how computers work, and he expects things to be done instantly. Also, I’m sure he thinks that the computer does all the formatting! He doesn’t understand that I make things look that good, rofl.

I did receive some good news today though; I am able to get financial help from CRS for my course and my books. Well, my dictionary, anyway. A $75 dictionary, mind you! They will also pay me back the money that I spent on my course. I was absolutely rapt when I found out, because I didn’t think they would support the writing course. Apparently after speaking to the co-ordinator, they thought I might be worth their time.

I found it amusing that at first, they were concerned that I was wasting my time, and now they’re telling me that I must have talent, to have gotten into such a respected course. Sandra actually sounded like she was in awe. Hilarious - now that they’ve been told how ‘prestigious’ the course is (her word, not mine), it’s alright for me to do it. There was no mention of job availability or demand this time, that’s for sure. Snobby people.

Anyway, I haven’t gotten anything done tonight that I wanted to, and I didn’t get into TS either. Sorry, Mum. I will see you tomorrow though; I’m hoping to get there at around 12pm. Do you want me to bring you anything? I’ll be up at 8am tomorrow, so feel free to call and let me know if you do. =) Otherwise, Gentil and I will see you tomorrow at 12pm.

Thanks for reading, everyone. =)

Today was - to put it bluntly - average. I woke up and got ready for class (Computer Skills), and got there a little late thanks to the tram being absolutely packed. Arthur didn’t mind, since he was only explaining how to replicate a mock police report - today’s lesson. After he had finished explaining, we all set about our work; I was finished in ten minutes.

After I left class, I went to the RMIT bookshop to get my Editing handbook. They actually had a security guy from RMIT standing at the door, allowing people in - a few at a time. It was like getting into a club! When I entered, I understood why immediately: there was upwards of forty people in there.

A quick count came to forty-eight, and that was only who I could see. Insane. It took me a while to find my book, because apparently I can’t read. Especially signs that are hanging right above two benches piled with writing books. *sigh* The line was huge, of course. A staff member walked along the line a few times offering lollies, which was cute.

After I bought the handbook (only $18.60!), I walked along Swanston Street and went into Strandbags, to look at a backpack that I saw the other day. It was still there, and I still really liked it; the pockets are all big enough, and the straps are comfortable. Since I’d been paid, and it was within the price I had put aside, I bought it.

Jump to work tonight; I got there at 7pm, in jeans with my mobile phone in my hand, and who is standing behind the counter? Kathie. Aargh! Luckily, she is all nonchalant about the dress code, and actually has her own phone on the counter, so I don’t get told off. The jeans rule is apparently out, Liz tells me later. Kathie even wears jeans now.

The reason the jeans rule is out is, quite likely, me. Because even though I do my best to always change into work clothes, when I’ve been at class and I’m going straight to work, I don’t always remember to change. So, yes. I showed up a lot in jeans. I also got called in a lot on very short notice, say for a 7pm shift at 7.02pm. So, I broke the ‘no jeans’ rule.

Good riddance, I say.

Anyway, tonight we must have had every difficult customer the store has. Seriously, we had a guy come in and tell us he had lost a DVD and shouldn’t have to pay for it, we had customers who went and turned whole rows of new release movies on their sides (Why? I have no idea.), we had people who just could not for the life of them understand the deals.

I mean, how hard is it to understand two movie deals? They’re not that hard! And no, three day hires are not counted as weeklies; that’s why they’re clearly labelled ‘3 Day Hire’, with bright purple stickers. Oh, but wait. You didn’t see the label, because you came up and asked me to find all your movies - and then put half of them back.

Then, of course, you have the people who try and bargain with you: “If I pay half of my ($78) late fee, can you delete the other half?” Um, no. I also can’t let you hire without paying your late fees if the boss has said otherwise. In other words, no, I will not risk losing my job so you can see “Horny Air Hostesses” tonight instead of tomorrow.

That is all.