Grocery stores, buses and cold weather
"One can survive everything, nowadays, except death, and live down everything except a good reputation."
- Oscar Wilde
So as events start to weave, emerging patterns form as colors blend together. I am starting to get the sneaking suspicion that I am learning a valuable lesson here of my own perceptions.
Work started, and I received my first paycheck yesterday. It was low, but it was something. And something, as we all know, is better than nothing. I said before that Safeway is eerily similar to Winn Dixie, and I stand by that opinion for varying reasons. The register system is pretty much the same. I pretty much already know most of the functions, and my coworkers are baffled by my ability to exceed their expectations as a newbie. But I kind of feel that by revealing that I left a grocery store in a much higher position would only alienate them rather than impress them. And it kind of depresses me, anyway. But its easy work, steady work, and it gives me the opportunity to continue looking for a job where I want to be without the constant anxiety of not having any income.
Another similarity is the people. Just like those who have ever worked at restaurants completely relate to "Waiting" because they have met all those people, I too have met all these people before. There are the douchy, arrogant bosses, the guy who claims to make way more than what you have been told is the glass ceiling, the 16-year-olds who say "I'll never work here past 18" because they still have dreams, the front end manager who has worked there so long that she seems to think what she does ever day means more than just a paycheck just so she can wake up in the morning and everyone is pissed because they know they are worth more than this. Its good to be home.
The differences I have found are minor, but kind of baffle me. They use a software that makes it so registers are monitored by the lane and not primarily the cashier. So basically, there are tills at every register, and as needed or interchangeably any cashier can sign on their own numbers onto any register. At lunch, my relief will come up to me. I can sign off my numbers and they will sign on their numbers without any exchange of a till. I don't understand how this creates better accountability. I asked one of the others how they deal with shortages, and they said that if there is a problem they will begin an investigation. But they believe this is a much better system. I feel its more work, but maybe I don't have enough experience with it.
Another difference is just plain annoying. At Winn Dixie, dealing with WIC was annoying but simple. You keyed in 15 sign on, and just started scanning. If it wasn't WIC approved, the register screamed at you and you told the customer who complained but had to go along with that. Its different here. There is no function for it. You just have to know. If you don't know, you have to look it up in your handy dandy reference guide, and oh yeah, by the way, you have a line piling up. Its just irritating.
But all the produce codes are the same. I remember a lot of them, but I get a little mixed up sometimes. They also have a huge organic produce selection, so anything organic just has a 9 before the regular code.
I have been taking the bus just about every day to work. Louis brings me in or picks me up if he is off work, and for the past week I have been able to coordinate it pretty well. Unfortunately, I know I am going to come up against certain obstacles. The bus system in Vancouver is very limited. It is designed very conservatively. Whereas a large city might run buses till at least midnight to 2 am, this bus system is pretty much done at 9 pm... on the weekdays. The weekends are even more conservative. Its 6 p.m. Saturdays and 5 p.m. on Sundays. Another obstacle of the bus system is that buses really don't run that often. I have to coordinate the two buses I take to work to be on time. One runs every half an hour and the other runs every hour. Its really just a waiting game. Sometimes it is timed just right and I can get right onto the second bus within minutes, and other times it hits so that I am waiting a half hour. The buses convene at a mall so its really not so bad. I walk around, take a stroll through the food court enjoying the samples. Like I said, it has been working out so far because I have been working either hours that I can catch the bus or at times I can get a ride, but it looks like this Saturday I will be calling a cab as I will be getting off right as the buses stop and Louis won't be getting off of work for several hours. Its not the worse thing in the world, but it is very interesting. It is making me really cherish the moments I had with my car. Enjoy your car. It is your rainbow of liberation.
One downside lately to waiting for the bus has been the cold. Oh man, has it been getting cold out. It got so cold one day, it hurt to be outside. It got down to the teens one morning and it has been below freezing for the better part of a week. And raining. I don't like freezing rain. But everyone here has been talking about the snow. Its funny how they seem to get just as excited about it as we do in Louisiana. Every customer I've had in the past couple days, and all the employees are constantly keeping tabs on it, running inside and announcing it with glee. It was a little warmer out today. Kind of nice actually. I am curious to see what kind of winter we will get. I have been told by the natives that they think it will be an unusually cold winter. I guess we'll see what happens.
I am coming to an understanding, I think, about opportunities and choices. I've always felt that there are no bad choices, only decisions that lead to a reaction. There are no what ifs because there is no way to know how things would have turned out otherwise. So we just continue to make choices, hopefully with wisdom if not clarity and take the outcome, good or bad, as a learning experience to influence the next decision. I have found lately, after coming out here, that I have made a lot of choices that have me questioning my judgment. Sometimes I feel I am acting irrationally or out of fear, and worse sometimes not acting at all. I don't feel that I am the person I thought I was, but as I come across these challenging issues, I think I am given the opportunity to assess myself and learn from my mistakes.
Its definitely interesting.