a bit bruised

What do you put on a bruised ego?


Yesterday I got a phone call from the manager of the Bloomington receiving department. He wanted to tell me that he was on the committee responsible for bringing up receiving issues with corporate. He told me that he was going to the first meeting in Oct., and if I had any concerns I'd like brought up, I should get them to him before then.


My first thought was: Why wasn't I asked to do this?


I have been a receiving manager at least 3 or so years longer than this guy. I work in a significantly larger store, hence a larger receiving department. My department was one of the few in the district actually finishing our deliveries by the end of the day. I remember this guy calling me with questions when he first started out...and HE gets chosen to be a part of this group?


Now, the fact that I'm not sure I would want to be a part of this group has no bearing on the fact that my ego has been bruised. I didn't even know such a group was being created. I don't know if I was even being considered. The store this guy comes from is the one our District Manager came from so maybe she pulled for him. Maybe they wanted someone from a small store because they had larger stores represented already?


All I do know is that I was annoyed and a little hurt, probably for no reason other than my ego could use some bolstering right now and this seemed like a little poke in the gut. Errrggghhh....

Money is the root of all evil today.

Hey gang. Not a whole lot to report as I spent most of my weekend watching seasons 2 and 3 of Arrested Development. Hence the pic of the yum-tastic Jason Bateman. He's grown up well eh?

Just a quick story for you:

Recently I went on vacation to Arkansas. I took two of my remaining 6 days of time off. When I return, it took a while before I looked at my paystubs. First, because it's like pulling teeth to get someone to open the drawer to get to them. Second, because I have direct deposit I don't need to access them in order to have money.

I noticed I didn't get paid for either of my two days off. I left a note about one of the days figuring I'd just use the other to have one final full week of vacation. One of the ubers decided to add my prior unpaid vac. day to my last week of vacation. Fine, not a problem. Or atleast, there shouldn't have been a problem.

For reasons that probably involve the sacrifice of small animals and the laying of hands upon the shrine of the CEO, the company doesn't just pay you the extra vacation hours on your next check. Instead, it gets logged onto your next check and they do a paid out/cash advance at the store. Why? Fuck if I know.

I got my paycheck for my final week of vacation and notice that somehow, even with 48 hours of time listed, I made less than the check from the week prior when I had just over 40 hours. Hmmmmm. Looks like a screw up to me. I scan over the usual listings of amounts taken out for taxes, etc. when I notice a paid out of $85.

Strange, I never got handed this elusive $85. I asked the supreme uber about it today when I got to work. Seems someone did the paid out while I was on vacation. Obviously the most logical time to do it. Then no one bothered to tell me about it. There was an unsealed envelope in the locked change drawer up front with my name written in small letters on it. The envelope had been shoved to the back of the drawer. I'm wondering if anyone would have ever told me about it had I not discovered the discrepency.

I'm surprised anything functions in this place.

WATCH IT:

Arrested Development--all three seasons--everyone is brilliant, but my faves have to be Jason Bateman, Michael Cera and Jessica Walter. NO TOUCHING!!

LISTEN TO IT:

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club--Berlin--I think this is the best song on the new album. Great to have on while driving.

READ IT:

Too tired. Read something later. Sleep now.

OH--the quote "You watched it. You can't unwatch it." is from Futurama. The "contest" doesn't seem to be going well, so from now on I'm just going to tell you who said what.

Drinking...only without liquor

Didn't have a picture relevant to today's blog so I just decided to pop up one I took of The Forum in Rome. The building to the far upper left is called The Wedding Cake. It's a big, white building that, when originally built, did not appeal to those who wanted to preserve the antiquity of this area of town. The Wedding Cake reference is a bit of a slam, but apparently people have eventually gotten used to the place.

Today was sort of a crappy day. I wasn't in the best mood when I came in the door and things did not improve. I don't want to bore you with the details, but suffice it to say a major project was taken on with little to no planning. Sadly, this lack of planning seems to be the norm at work. My little corner of the store is being over run in part because of the lack of planning and the seeming lack of concern over the lack of planning. Once again we go "oooohhh...we can make shit loads of money...let's do it!" without considering the logistics of the actual undertaking.

If I were a drinker, I would have gotten plowed after work. I am amazed I haven't become an alcoholic or drug addict at this point. Instead, I stop by the grocery store after work to get my fix. Frozen pizza. Little to no effort on my part, which in my mind is a treat after slogging at the job. I almost decided to combine the heart-attack-in-the-oven with the what-the-hell-let's-add-yet-another-chin ice cream, but the thin, cute high school girls hovering by that part of the frozen food aisle made me reconsider.

Is it wrong to want to smack most of the people I run into?

FRODO CRIME UPDATE:

Got some much more accurate info regarding the hobbit. Seems he got 12 months probation and only had to pay back what he stole. Once again, you need to get confirmation when the story sounds too good to be true.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF WHY OUR TRAINING AT THE STORE SUCKS:

Warning: This will make more sense to my fellow co-workers, but I'll try to tell it so all can appreciate it.

When we pull returns at work, we have this handheld scanner we use. You scan the barcode and if the title is due out the scanner makes a deedle-deedle sound. You then look at the screen and see how many copies you leave on the floor and how many copies you pull.

The other day one of our somewhat ditzy employees was scanning returns to place them on the correct shelves in back. I happened to walk near where she was and noticed she was scanning every copy of the 1 title she had. After she scanned about 4 or 5 of the same book (hearing the deedle-deedle each time), she looked up at me and asked if the sound would stop when she'd scanned the number she was supposed to return.

Errrmmm...yeah. See, the TITLE makes the thing beep. It will beep for every damn copy until we in back actually process the return. She thought the scanner would just know when she'd reached the number she was supposed to pull.

Think of it like this...it would be like placing an item into the copier and hitting the copy button every time assuming it would stop copying on its own when it reached a number only you knew (and which you hadn't entered into the copier).

WATCH IT:

Arrested Development: I'm almost done with season 1 on dvd. It's really sad this show didn't make it past three seasons as it is easily one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

LISTEN TO IT:

Nine Inch Nails "Starfuckers Inc.": Currently...seriously, I'm at the chorus right now...listening to the live version...good angry music for my angsty, frustrated soul.

READ IT:

Esquire magazine: The current issue features a great story on the To Catch A Predator show and just how much the line between being a journalist reporting the story and one creating the story is being blurred on this program. I've never seen a whole episode, but this article covers one I'm glad I missed. One of the "suspects" killed himself. The entire process leading up to his death was a fiasco. Read the article and you will question just whether or not this program, or any that follow its style should be allowed on the air. Let me just say this...of the 23 men "arrested" none of them could be prosecuted because certain legal parameters were not met. I'm not talking little tiny writing at the bottom of the page legal issues. I'm talking basic requirements that were not seemingly considered...all for the sake of television and ratings.

Super Quick

The other day I stopped by the info desk to help a customer. She looked to be around 20, was chewing gum and BONUS! she was texting into her phone. I want to smack phones out the of hands of those who text while expecting to interact with another human being. I just think it's really frickin' rude.

Anywho, she says she needs help finding some textbooks. Now, for some insane reason, students around here seem to think we carry textbooks in regularly. This inaccurate perception probably has to do with the fact that our corporation "owns" the local college bookstore. None the less, we ain't got crap here...unless you are a nursing student, which is a whole other nightmare. I ask her for the first title and she says:

"Mechanical Dyna-mix and something..."

Errmm...what the hell?

She spins her piece of paper around and I just have to be snarky and correct her on her idiocy...'cuz it's fun and she looks like a perky sorority girl.

"Mechanical DYNAMICS and Results. I'll check." I say. Ends up the search was for her boyfriend who was "sick" and couldn't get his own freakin' books. When she became confused by my questions regarding which editions she wanted, she called her boyfriend and I had to talk to him on her phone. I had to go over all the shit I went over with her in regards to shipping times etc. Sadly, this mechanical engineering student didn't understand the concept of Labor Day. He didn't comprehend how not getting a delivery on Labor Day meant adding an extra day to the expected arrival date of his books.

Seriously, are people getting dumber or what?

I was tempted to ask the girl if you could get a free toy at the bottom of the Dyna-mix box.