I thought I'd better stick my head in the door before people assume I've died
I've been in a somewhat isolationist mood since the beginning of the year. I read the comm regularly and reply here and there but I haven't felt the burning desire to post.
A couple of weeks ago I left work rather livid with the intention to dig out my ranty panties when I got home and blister the air with my scathing invectives about Walmart, but when it came down to it I was just too tired.
Since then things have evened out. I had my yearly evaluation and, while it wasn't terrific it wasn't bad either. It did tick me off that the two 'needs development' issues could be at least 50% attributed to the lack of promised help, which I pointed out in my comment section while owning my own partial failure to prioritize properly. I did get a nice raise though, nicer in fact than any raise I got from Blockbuster before I became a salaried manager. And as I said, things have calmed down.
I continue to apply and interview for other jobs and in fact I was offered 2 jobs, but one was less money and not that much more attractive a job and while the other was a nice pay bump and looked interesting, it didn't come with full time hours and she couldn't say when or if full time would be offered. I can't afford that.
On the bright side the boss' boss' boss made it known that he's of the opinion that department managers should be working through the week (when the bulk of everything happens) and have off Sat & Sun when the emphasis is mostly on customer service. This is the way it always was - kind of a perk for making it to dept mgr, too - but just a few months before I was promoted Dave thought we should work at least one weekend day and that our other day off couldn't be Fri or Mon. So unless you were grandfathered in, not only did you not get the weekend off, you couldn't have your days off together.
Unless I was sick there have only been 3 instances in the last year when I've had 2 days off together - last fall when I used my couple of days of personal time for a tiny little vacation, the couple of days after Xmas when I was exhausted and making a Christmas for my brother, and New Year's eve and day when I was also exhausted. This has been very hard on me. I really need my days off together so I can have one day to play slacker and one to get shit done. For the past year I've mostly never felt really rested or actually gotten much of anything done.
Next week is my last week of separated days off although this week I had yesterday and today off so that I could work on Wed, the first of the month. The first is when the bulk of our price changes drop down and since this was the first '1st' since the beginning of the new fiscal year, we got deluged, especially softlines. I heard the guy from pets and paper goods and chemicals complaining that he had over 800. I just looked at him and laughed. He asked how many I had. I said "Try over 5000." The rest of the departments don't realize that the clothing areas don't just get a single markdown for an item. When a t-shirt goes on clearance it's every size of ever color of that shirt. And that's multiplied by my 3 departments. The nearest to my 5000 price changes was 3600 in ladies' wear. Wed and Thurs just wiped me out, even with some help, and I still only got it down to about 1500. Others have continued working on them the last 2 days. Here's hoping they're done when I go in tomorrow.
With some of my hard earned money (the kind I earn flat on my back with a needle in my arm) I finally bought myself a new TV for my bedroom. My old one was a clunky little thing over 20 years old with a built in VCR that didn't work (so I couldn't attach a DVD player) and so old the cable company's computers wouldn't recognize it so I could only get channels 2-12 on it. I set it up yesterday and the picture is gorgeous, but I'm still only getting channels 2-12 because the little cable box is bad. I wasn't willing to go the the busy office and wait for a new one today so they're mailing it. It should come before the end of the week. I can wait.
The last couple of days I've been reading and watching old movies - The Birds, Marnie, Mysterious Island and Elephant Walk (all movies I'd love to remix in writing) and I've been watching S1 pf Downton Abbey on Netflix. I'm enjoying it immensely.
Lastly,
dine has been doing the '100 Foods You Should Try Before You Die' meme and I wanted to give it a go. Like her I'm doing more than just the bold and italicize your various answers. So here are the first 20:
100 Foods You Should Try Before You Die
1. Venison - love it! I actually had some today in the form of summer sausage given to me by one of the mighty hunters at work.
2. Nettle tea - I’ve drunk many herbal teas where nettle was a main component so I’m very familiar with its taste, but I don’t believe I’ve ever had it straight.
3. Huevos rancheros - a favorite every time I was in Mexico but oddly enough I don’t believe I’ve had it here in the US. Strange.
4. Steak tartare - I’ve tasted raw beef before but never this particular dish with all its components.
5. Crocodile - I’ve had alligator. I wonder if the taste is approximately the same. Alligator is very lean and dry, somewhat like goat meat. I had alligator sausage at a Cajun restaurant called Kiki’s Bon Temp Maison.
6. Black pudding - never had this but wouldn’t mind trying it.
7. Cheese fondue - I was in college during the 80s - of course I’ve tried fondue! I even threw a party where the main food items were a cheese fondue with all its usual accompaniments and a chocolate fondue flavored with kirsch and served with fruits (fresh and dried), marshmallows and angel food cake fingers.
8. Carp - According to my dad, the best recipe for cooking carp is to take a cedar shingle, lay out the cleaned fish, stuff it with onions, herbs and butter, season it well, lay strips of bacon on top, bake it, then throw away the fish and eat the shingle. I’ve had smoked carp that was pretty tasty but carp is like catfish, they’re bottom feeders and how they taste is very much dependent on what they eat.
9. Borscht - I haven’t tried eating beets in years. It’s one of the few things I really hated as a child. So no borscht.
10. Baba ghanoush - I’ve tried it and it was OK but I’m not a big fan of eggplant. I’d much rather have hummus.
11. Calamari - I adore deep fried calamari. That’s the only way I’ve tasted it though.
12. Pho - never tried it but it sounds delicious.
13. PB&J sandwich - I was the weird kid that never like PB. Still don’t. I think it’s pretty much all about the texture because I love things made with peanut butter - cookies, candy, peanut dipping sauce, etc.
14. Aloo gobi - I had to look this up. I’ve had an Indian dish with potatoes and cauliflower before, don’t know if that’s what it was called.
15. Hot dog from a street cart - more times than I can count but not for years.
16. Epoisses - Had to look it up - no. I’m not a huge cheese fan and especially not of stinky soft cheeses. I generally prefer my cheese mild although I do like a good tangy chevre.
17. Black truffle - I’ve had black truffle oil but never the actual article.
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes - my favorite kind! I’m not much of a wine drinker but when I do drink it I prefer sweet non-grape wines. I actually have several books on wine making and would really like to try my hand at it. Blackberry, elderberry and apricot wines are favorites.
19. Steamed pork buns - delicious!
20. Pistachio ice cream - one of my dad’s favorites after Black Walnut so yes I’ve tasted it but it’s not a favorite. I’m a fan of all things chocolate but I also love fruit flavors.
This is what happens when I don't post for awhile - I ramble. And I don't need an excuse to ramble!
I hope everyone's new year is going smoothly so far.
A couple of weeks ago I left work rather livid with the intention to dig out my ranty panties when I got home and blister the air with my scathing invectives about Walmart, but when it came down to it I was just too tired.
Since then things have evened out. I had my yearly evaluation and, while it wasn't terrific it wasn't bad either. It did tick me off that the two 'needs development' issues could be at least 50% attributed to the lack of promised help, which I pointed out in my comment section while owning my own partial failure to prioritize properly. I did get a nice raise though, nicer in fact than any raise I got from Blockbuster before I became a salaried manager. And as I said, things have calmed down.
I continue to apply and interview for other jobs and in fact I was offered 2 jobs, but one was less money and not that much more attractive a job and while the other was a nice pay bump and looked interesting, it didn't come with full time hours and she couldn't say when or if full time would be offered. I can't afford that.
On the bright side the boss' boss' boss made it known that he's of the opinion that department managers should be working through the week (when the bulk of everything happens) and have off Sat & Sun when the emphasis is mostly on customer service. This is the way it always was - kind of a perk for making it to dept mgr, too - but just a few months before I was promoted Dave thought we should work at least one weekend day and that our other day off couldn't be Fri or Mon. So unless you were grandfathered in, not only did you not get the weekend off, you couldn't have your days off together.
Unless I was sick there have only been 3 instances in the last year when I've had 2 days off together - last fall when I used my couple of days of personal time for a tiny little vacation, the couple of days after Xmas when I was exhausted and making a Christmas for my brother, and New Year's eve and day when I was also exhausted. This has been very hard on me. I really need my days off together so I can have one day to play slacker and one to get shit done. For the past year I've mostly never felt really rested or actually gotten much of anything done.
Next week is my last week of separated days off although this week I had yesterday and today off so that I could work on Wed, the first of the month. The first is when the bulk of our price changes drop down and since this was the first '1st' since the beginning of the new fiscal year, we got deluged, especially softlines. I heard the guy from pets and paper goods and chemicals complaining that he had over 800. I just looked at him and laughed. He asked how many I had. I said "Try over 5000." The rest of the departments don't realize that the clothing areas don't just get a single markdown for an item. When a t-shirt goes on clearance it's every size of ever color of that shirt. And that's multiplied by my 3 departments. The nearest to my 5000 price changes was 3600 in ladies' wear. Wed and Thurs just wiped me out, even with some help, and I still only got it down to about 1500. Others have continued working on them the last 2 days. Here's hoping they're done when I go in tomorrow.
With some of my hard earned money (the kind I earn flat on my back with a needle in my arm) I finally bought myself a new TV for my bedroom. My old one was a clunky little thing over 20 years old with a built in VCR that didn't work (so I couldn't attach a DVD player) and so old the cable company's computers wouldn't recognize it so I could only get channels 2-12 on it. I set it up yesterday and the picture is gorgeous, but I'm still only getting channels 2-12 because the little cable box is bad. I wasn't willing to go the the busy office and wait for a new one today so they're mailing it. It should come before the end of the week. I can wait.
The last couple of days I've been reading and watching old movies - The Birds, Marnie, Mysterious Island and Elephant Walk (all movies I'd love to remix in writing) and I've been watching S1 pf Downton Abbey on Netflix. I'm enjoying it immensely.
Lastly,
dine has been doing the '100 Foods You Should Try Before You Die' meme and I wanted to give it a go. Like her I'm doing more than just the bold and italicize your various answers. So here are the first 20:
100 Foods You Should Try Before You Die
1. Venison - love it! I actually had some today in the form of summer sausage given to me by one of the mighty hunters at work.
2. Nettle tea - I’ve drunk many herbal teas where nettle was a main component so I’m very familiar with its taste, but I don’t believe I’ve ever had it straight.
3. Huevos rancheros - a favorite every time I was in Mexico but oddly enough I don’t believe I’ve had it here in the US. Strange.
4. Steak tartare - I’ve tasted raw beef before but never this particular dish with all its components.
5. Crocodile - I’ve had alligator. I wonder if the taste is approximately the same. Alligator is very lean and dry, somewhat like goat meat. I had alligator sausage at a Cajun restaurant called Kiki’s Bon Temp Maison.
6. Black pudding - never had this but wouldn’t mind trying it.
7. Cheese fondue - I was in college during the 80s - of course I’ve tried fondue! I even threw a party where the main food items were a cheese fondue with all its usual accompaniments and a chocolate fondue flavored with kirsch and served with fruits (fresh and dried), marshmallows and angel food cake fingers.
8. Carp - According to my dad, the best recipe for cooking carp is to take a cedar shingle, lay out the cleaned fish, stuff it with onions, herbs and butter, season it well, lay strips of bacon on top, bake it, then throw away the fish and eat the shingle. I’ve had smoked carp that was pretty tasty but carp is like catfish, they’re bottom feeders and how they taste is very much dependent on what they eat.
9. Borscht - I haven’t tried eating beets in years. It’s one of the few things I really hated as a child. So no borscht.
10. Baba ghanoush - I’ve tried it and it was OK but I’m not a big fan of eggplant. I’d much rather have hummus.
11. Calamari - I adore deep fried calamari. That’s the only way I’ve tasted it though.
12. Pho - never tried it but it sounds delicious.
13. PB&J sandwich - I was the weird kid that never like PB. Still don’t. I think it’s pretty much all about the texture because I love things made with peanut butter - cookies, candy, peanut dipping sauce, etc.
14. Aloo gobi - I had to look this up. I’ve had an Indian dish with potatoes and cauliflower before, don’t know if that’s what it was called.
15. Hot dog from a street cart - more times than I can count but not for years.
16. Epoisses - Had to look it up - no. I’m not a huge cheese fan and especially not of stinky soft cheeses. I generally prefer my cheese mild although I do like a good tangy chevre.
17. Black truffle - I’ve had black truffle oil but never the actual article.
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes - my favorite kind! I’m not much of a wine drinker but when I do drink it I prefer sweet non-grape wines. I actually have several books on wine making and would really like to try my hand at it. Blackberry, elderberry and apricot wines are favorites.
19. Steamed pork buns - delicious!
20. Pistachio ice cream - one of my dad’s favorites after Black Walnut so yes I’ve tasted it but it’s not a favorite. I’m a fan of all things chocolate but I also love fruit flavors.
This is what happens when I don't post for awhile - I ramble. And I don't need an excuse to ramble!
I hope everyone's new year is going smoothly so far.