Week One
Its been awhile since Ive been on here, so I will try my best to pick up where I left off.
June 11th. I have no complaints with turning 25. I did the whole family thing on Sunday, like always. Then on Monday Steven decided to drop off all the things I have left at his place. Of all days, I wish the exchange didn’t have to happen then. But regardless, it was a nice excuse to hang out for a bit. My original plan was dinner and drinks or dinner and renting a scary movie from Redbox, but right when he walked in the door, he told me not to seduce him. Haha. So the safest idea was to go to lunch. I only suggested going out for a drink because I thought it would help take the edge off, but surprisingly enough, it wasn’t as awkward as I thought it would be. We ended the day wandering the pet store and I helped pick out his next fish, a red and black beta with a beautiful fin. Steven is a lot stronger than I am. Something I admire. Seduction was definitely at the top of my list, but after hearing him talk about how things are better for him now that we’ve separated, all could think of was the quote, “If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it's yours. If it does not come back, it was never meant to be.” At the end of it all, I am just happy that hes happy. Not a whole lot more I can say about it.
My dad and I always reserve Monday’s to be our practicing day. He’ll try to leave work early (or on time) and I will make the effort be home. Since my Birthday was on Monday, we did things a bit differently. Normally we practice whichever song we are working on. Currently it is Stray Cat Strut by the Stray Cats. But this time he let me pick and we went back to some of my old favorites. I picked Hide Your Love Away by the Beatles and House of the Rising Sun by the Animals. Those were my top two songs that are a lot of fun to play. Birthdays for me have always been different than the norm since I never was the party girl type. 25 was nice and sweet.
Towards the end of the week things got a bit busier since I had to prepare for my 40 hour work week that was soon to be starting. I posted my list of accomplishments already. It was all pretty simple to do, except my stereo. I wish I would have done things differently on that one. I had no idea what needed to be fixed or how to go about fixing it. I found a place with positive reviews on Yelp and headed out towards Pasadena. I talked with the guy and the end result was he gave me a new amp which is placed in my trunk behind my back seat. Then I got a new stereo face plate thing. I asked for the most basic, simple kind. I went to the wall and picked one out, it was the simplest one in the store. Or at least it looked that way. It was currently 11:30am and he said to come back around 4pm. This is the part I overlooked. I didn’t consider time to install everything and I walked home. The place was on Foothill and Rosemead. Not too far, about four miles, but I wasn’t dressed comfortably for the walk in the hot sun. I had no sunscreen, was wearing dark jeans with a dark blue tshirt, and shoes that are not the best for a thousand mile walk. I was texting Steven for a bit and it helped time go by much faster. I got home an hour and a half later, but that also includes a stop at the bank and at Tenju to get some tea and rest for a few. The price overall was more than I think it should have been which is why I took out some cash to pay for it before telling my dad how much it was. I only showed him the receipt with the total I put on my credit card instead of the total price. I wish I would have shopped around more to compare prices, but I needed this done instantly and the way I see it, I paid for the convenience. I don’t remember the exact name and model of stereo I picked out, but when I got there, the guy said he upgraded it for me at no additional charge. I now have a stereo with HD channels, the option to hook up an ipod, and I can play music from a flash drive. Its cool, yeah, but it has too much going on. 18 presets that I feel obligated to fill. The main thing I do enjoy is how it shows the name and artist on the front. It took me almost two hours for the walk back. Mainly due to the fact I was sore and tired, but also it was too hot outside and I had sweat dripping down my neck. Sexy. Haha. I just wanted to get my car and go home. I didn’t want to sit there and have him show me all the new features. The sound is hit or miss. I haven’t found the best balance between bass and treble. And sometimes I hear crackling coming from the speakers during music and commercials, regardless of my volume level. My original speakers were fine, he didn’t replace those. I think there is a loose wire or something that causes the weird sound sometimes. My car sings to me though, finally, and its still a good thing.
Wednesday June 20th was orientation. Not a whole lot to say on that one. Thursday and Friday was Twist. That is where we are assigned to a Fresh and Easy store nearby, for me it was Alhambra, and we work there from 9-6. I stocked shelves, bagged groceries, baked cookies, and cleaned up/organized the freezer and storage area. It was exhausting. Cool part though was another intern livess near me and we were able to hang out/bullshit for most of the day there. During lunch at Flame Broiler, we realized that we live incredibly close to each other. She lives right across the street from Rosemead High, which is less than two miles from my house. So we decided to carpool to work.
My first day was Monday, June 25th. My schedule is flexible for the most part. Just show up between 8-8:30. I try to go in at 8, take a half hour lunch, then leave at 4:30. Monday was slow and my boss even apologized for the lame day ahead. My computer isn’t set up yet and there wasn’t a whole lot for me to do other than bitch work, like scanning papers. She took me on a tour of the city and we visited Hawthorne, a location where they hold the training sessions. That killed an hour or two, then I came back and sat around for a while. I tried finding my carpool buddy so we can go on lunch together, but I couldn’t find her. Luckily I drove and had the freedom to leave the office on my lunch break. I heard the beach is only five minutes down the street, so I went to explore. It literally is down the street. I stopped at Ralphs to pick up some lunchables and juice, then parked my car along the beach where the meter parking is, and I was able to sit in my car eating while looking at the ocean. I planned a half hour lunch but ended up being an hour. They are flexible on that too. I can decide if I want a lunch between 30-60 minutes.
Tuesday was a similar slow day. Still no laptop for me to work with. Instead, I tagged along with a girl on my team and went to Ventura. We left at 9 and got back to the office at 2pm. Every F&E employee participates in a yearly survey about their working experience. They answer questions like “Do I feel valued at work, are managers approachable.” And so on. With the stores that get low scores, HR makes a visit to help mediate and take notes to create an action plan between the employees and the management. Only 8 employees made it to the store meeting, plus the manager and the district manager. Then Tania and I sat off to the side and let them hold their meeting, while occasionally throwing in input to help move the meeting in the right direction.
Granted it has only been a week at my job, this part of HR is definitely my favorite. I love meeting with employees and hearing them vent out their frustrations. Everything they have to say is exactly how I felt when I was working at Red Lobster. It is much easier for me to be open minded and put myself in their shoes since I have been there once before. After the meeting, Tania and I went to debrief with the district manager and the manager where we got to summarize and discuss possible causes for the root of the problem. I was able to give my opinion on certain topics and I felt valued. It was nice knowing what I had to say was not only appreciated, but it helped them see things differently. I can actually bounce ideas back and forth with these guys and fit in without feeling like just an intern.
We came back at 2pm. I had a meeting at 3:30 with my manager and our director to discuss my job and projects I’ll be working on. I still needed to fit in my lunch break. But then I was approached my Damon, the gentleman I’ll be working on the training project with. He isn’t in the office often. In fact for the month of July he’ll be in 8 out of the 20 days and today he was leaving the office at 3:30. So we had to talk then and there about the project. I rushed on a half hour lunch and made it back in time to squeeze in an hour meeting with him.
At the end of both meetings I was able to walk away with a better understanding of everything I’ll be working on over the next 12 weeks. But, I still have no computer and from 4-5:30, I sat around at my empty desk.
Wednesday, June 27. I came to work and found my laptop all set up at my desk. Yay. I had a meeting first thing in the morning with Valerie (my boss) and Noel (a girl I’ll be working on a project with). Valerie and I drove to Hawthorne for the meeting and I got some work done. After, Valerie and I drove around town looking for a Goodwill. Random, yeah. But Valerie is going on vacation and while trying to pack up, she found a lot of clothes she wanted to donate. The Goodwill was in the area, we just had a bit of trouble remembering where exactly. Finally, we found it. Then she drove to the airport and I got to drive the car back. Well, I went on lunch then went back to the office. HR has four company cars. This one was the Prius. I had to drive a freakin Prius. It was harder than I thought it would be. Valerie told me how to start it, but forgot to tell me about the emergency break. After ten minutes of pushing every button and hoping my manager calls me back, I had to ask the gentleman working at United to help me figure it out. This is where being cute and blonde really comes in handy. I turned up the charm and was able to get him away from guarding his post and in the car trying to help me out. I don’t understand why people use the emergency break anyway, especially when I was just dropping her off. Apparently, it is set up like trucks, where the e-break is a pedal down by the gas and regular break. I got honked at a lot trying to get lunch. I wasn’t used to the wide dimensions and had difficulty trying to park in the incredibly small parking lot. Eventually, I said fuck it and went somewhere else for lunch. My fall back plan of getting juice and a lunchable from Ralphs. I ate while driving and finished in the parking lot, then went back to work.
Thursday, June 28th was a learning day. From 9-6 I was with fellow interns taking a class about core skills and living service. I enjoyed it. We all took an hour lunch together at Chipotle. The food wasn’t that great. Ive been once before to the Alhambra location, which happens to be next to a Fresh and Easy. Its not my favorite, but the company of being around other interns was nice.
Friday, June 29th, I made it to work in about 45-50 minutes. Normally it takes closer to 80-90. I love the holidays. A lot of people take time off and the roads are much more open. The office was quiet. I work with a traveling team and they were getting some last minute training classes in before the holiday. Therefore, my row of people I sit with was empty. It’s a bit lonely sometimes. I had a few people come say hi to me, and my carpool buddy let me know when there was cake in the cafeteria. Then I returned the favor and let the other girl Im friends with from finance know about it, too. Theres always fun snacks that they put in the room for us. Usually its left over goodies from other meetings or samples from vendors. You can tell when its something good when you notice people randomly, yet quickly, heading to the cafeteria.
Im still trying to settle in and I hope I can get into a better habit of updating to prevent an information over load. Long entries get boring to read after a while. I mean, I get bored writing them, so I can only imagine that the energy dies down a bit towards the end. Just hang in there.