I don't need no stinkin' StairMaster!
Well, this was supposed to be a short, easy week for me with a 3 day weekend but that didn't turn out to be the case. In one respect my bank balance will be happy but I'm pretty pooped.
I was originally scheduled to work Mon-Thur, 4 am to 10 am with Fri, Sat & Sun off. I knew I'd probably work longer on Monday because Sharon was still on vacation and the price changes were all mine. But since I didn't have to spend the first 2-2.5 hours on my regular job (I don't do it on weekends and holidays) I could concentrate on the not too terribly many price changes and done with work by about 11:30. Sharon was back on Tues but out of the clear blue sky, instead of the normal 100-200 prices changes there were over 550! Sharon found out that the company is doing a push on price changes (mostly going up) from now until about the 9/22. We'll be getting approximately 500 price changes a day from now until then. The rules are that if you have over 250 price changes in a day you can let some slide until the next day but not the clearance or temporarily lowered ones, and then they have to be taken care of the next day. Well, there's only Sharon and myself. The man who used to work in the cash office and could have been a big help has retired. There's a young lady who knows how to do them but it's been probably 2 years since she's had to help and she has her own job. There's another lady whose job is a little floaty and varies but she needs to be taught and still has her own responsibilities. So yeah, just me and Sharon basically. On Wed, after doing my regular job, I volunteered, like an idiot, to tackle the fashion lighting. Most of fashion lighting also requires changing the price tag on the display thus doubling the number of tags. Add to that most of those displays require going up a ladder to reach them. I climbed that stinking ladder 25-30 times. I was so damn sore by the time I got home just before 2 pm and had a crappy night's rest because of it. We only got about halfway through the price changes so the remainder was added to Wed's total bringing it up to nearly 797. To top it all off I had to leave by my scheduled time of 10 on Wed because I had a mammogram scheduled (luckily across the street) at 10:15. True, I was out of there by about 11 am and could have gone back but I said screw it and came on home. My right knee and left hip were screaming at me!
On Thurs the price changes had risen to 986. I stayed until nearly 2 pm again and Sharon stayed until nearly 5 pm. I wasn't scheduled on Friday but I came in at my regular time. The price changes were actually down a little. Only 794! I stayed until nearly 2 pm again and when I left the number was down to a little under 500. I'm dreading what Monday will bring. They'll get their price changes done but in no way will it be on the company's timetable, and our store manager is fine with that. He cautioned us not to hurt ourselves. Quite the difference from the general manager of my last job.
So, I have today and most of tomorrow off but everyone has to show up from 6 am - 8 am tomorrow for the yearly, pre-Christmas season meeting. They give us breakfast (sausage patties, biscuits and sausage gravy, orange juice, coffee, white and chocolate milk) and we sit around and watch a slide show and listen to the managers recap the past year and talk about the 'new and exciting' things that will happen next year. It's tedious but it's still far above WallyWorld. Of course that wouldn't be hard.
I'm not doing much today. In a bit I'm going to close up the apartment, not only because it will start getting warm in here but because I have to run the dishwasher (which brings more heat and humidity) and I also need to do some cooking. On Monday we're having kind of a chili and soup pot luck and I volunteered to bring in a batch of Mexican style chili con carne (basically a bean soup with chunks of pork, onions, peppers and spices) and then tomorrow I'm making an orange bundt cake to take in. I put them beans in for a quick soak this morning but I have to rev up the pressure cooker for the package of pork neck bones (give it such a good, rich flavor) and then while the bones cool and I pick them I'll start cooking the rest of the soup with more pork stew meat and the beans. I also have a large batch of hand lotion base to make because I have two orders to fill. Then tomorrow is cake day and some laundry.
Next week is going to be a long one. I already had pretty much a full schedule with the addition of having to work 4 hours next Sat so only a 1 day weekend next week. Also, I've informed Sharon that I am scheduled next Fri from 11 am to 7 pm (boo!) but on a register so she needs to talk to management if she wants my help with the price changes which will still be piling up. It won't hurt my feelings at all to not be on a register. I'll have to remind her again on Monday. Aaaand, I'm getting a fever blister. It always appears like a pimple in the middle of my upper lip. I should go to the store for some Abreva (that shit's expensive but it really works) but I probably won't until tomorrow after the meeting.
I hope everyone affected by Harvey and in the path of Irma is safe. (And the fires in the northwest.) Two Lowe's employees in Huston lost everything. Their houses and all their possessions are basically gone, but they're safe. This payday when I go to Walmart to stock up I'm buying a couple of gift cards that will be sent specifically to them as well as donating through Lowe's. Lowe's is doubling all employee donations through the end of the year. Or would that be called tripling because whatever we donate they'll donate twice as much. Originally they were just going to match but then they stepped it up. We're also collecting and shipping donations of bottles of water. Sure, the company makes money off of the sale but the shipping is all on them which pretty much negates most of the profit. It makes me feel pretty good to work for a company that gives back to the community in so many ways (local projects that we do, Habitat for Humanity and then things like this). To give them their due, Walmart is pretty good at pitching in when help is needed in the community. If only they were as good to their own employees.
Also, I'm trying to get in touch with a friend I met through fandom back when I was a neophyte fangirl just discovering The Fast & the Furious. I've lost touch with her but I realized just last night that she lives not too far outside of Brownsville, TX on the Gulf coast. I checked and she lives further inland than I thought - nearly 70 miles - but has anyone heard anything from
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