Oh Look. Another Stressful Day

 *collapses face down onto my bed and screams into a pillow*

Well....today....today has been a day. *exhales*

Like yesterday already had it's own stresses as 

1. I was still coming down from 'ah my car is broken!' stress -the clicking noise went away btw.

2. We had one person leave early and another come late yesterday leaving us short staffed---but i also received a phone call about today's closing petcare shift where the worker wouldn't be able to make it in due to their plane being delayed (as they're just getting back from a trip) due to weather so I had to see if someone could switch shifts with them (they coudl!!) 

3. We were expecting a visit from our Temporary DM today so yesterday, on top of the various stressors, I also had to work to try and make my department look nice and also make sure the ENTIRE store was Faced and ALSO looking nice.

Which led to us not clocking out until our actual clock out time of 10pm last night. -I usually try to get out earlier if possible---

To find out this morning that our closing cashier also called out today and NO other cashiers could come i so my mid manager volunteered to come in a little later so she could stay a litle later into the evening and thankfully our mid cashier of the day was able to stay a couple of hours longer unti close so we HAD the coverage. But it was just stressful knowing we were still short staffed one person....though it was a rather slow day today so yay.

But there was sooooo much other stress placed upon me today too.

Luckily none of it car related so yay for small mercies.

But 1.

The temporary DM visit....well....it went?

Like apparently Core looked great, but Petcare? Petcare 'needs work' *glares into the middle distance* as well as salon. Which okay. Petcare and Salon always have areas of improvement.

But like this dude's .....I just want to strangle him?? Pretty sure he's never worked a day in Petcare in his life.

As his notes of things to 'fix' just basically added more tasks onto our already laden backs. Like...HOW are we supposed to get EVERYTHING done in the TIME FRAME you want us to get it done in when you DON'T GIVE US THE PEOPLE OR THE HOURS TO GET IT DONE IN?!

Like we have two back room areas to hold animals in. One for our new arrivals so that we can make sure the animals are healthy before they come out onto the floor. 

And the other for our 'sick' animals where we can isolate them from other animals until they get better.

And we've been told for years that it needs to be 'hospital clean'

Which okay. We do what we can.

BUT this DM's definition of hospital clean?

He wants us cleaning ALL THE FREAKING SURFACES IN THE ROOM. Every. Single. DAY. 

The walls, the door, the floor, the tables, the freaking paper towl and hand sanitizer dispensors. EVERYTHING needs to be wiped down..

BUT. We can't keep cleaning supplies in the room. Oh no. Those have to remain on a cart. We can't have brooms in the room. We can't have a little thing of drawers to store things in.

No basically the rooms should only hold the cages w/ the animals in them, the medicine with the charts (in the sick room) and like the garbage can.

It's SOOO Stupid. LIke I get it You want to keep the potential of diesese transference down. 

BUT WIPING DOWN THE WALLS?!?!?! Like none of the animlas EVER TOUCH THE WALLS. WE don't even touch the freaking walls beyond like hanging clipboards on hooks!! WHY DO THOSE NEED TO BE CLEANED?!

And like we're not even allowed to have fans in the room to help cool them down. Noooo because they could 'spread disease' which okay fair. But our back rooms are notorious for being difficult to maintain the temperature for. They get too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter.

And the DM is like "Well if they don't meet temperature perameters you just need to place in a work order and if you place in enough work orders they'll come install a little unit in the room to get it fixed." 

OR YOU KNOW WE COULD JUST SOLVE THE PROBLEM AND HAVE A FREAKING FAN IN THE ROOM. because corporate is NOTOROIUS for taking forever to fix a thing IF they fix a thing so I don't foresee us ever getting 'mini unit's installed in those rooms. Ever.

And ilke this temp DM has to be a bit OCD and/or germaphobic because he was being sooo nitpicky on things. "This isn't clean enough. This doesn't go there. You can't have this, this also isn't clean enough, you need to be giving more of this."

Just. GRRRRR.

It all had me seeing Red because SERIOUSLY our Normal DM NEVER had a problem with ANY of this and it's just like the dude is creating more work to create more work and I HATE HIM for it. Ugh.

So yah. Not fun times there.

At least the dude finished the visit and LEFT before I came in for my shift because I'm not sure I would have been able to play nice if I'd been dealing with him in person. XP ugh.

In any case.

The rest of work had it's usual crazy with the added "I need to drive to the vet to grab some animals from there" stress. 

BUT ALSO

I got to call the Tech Support line AGAIN.

*exhales* this is like what? The 5th time in as many days? At this point I have to be considered some sort of expert because I've had to take apart so many pieces of the registers over the last handful of days to figure out what's going wrong with them. Ugh.

In any case.

Our new Pinpad for Register 4 arrived today!

And since I'm going to be out the rest of the week, Head manager wanted me to try and get it installed before I left as they really want to have 4 ready for black friday in a couple of weeks.

Which because of the network issues we had in getting 4's computer connected to the network, we'd been instructed to call the tech people FIRST so that we could give them the Pinpad's Mac Address so they could connect the new pinpad to the new network and hopefully save us a lot of 'turn it off and on and off and on and off and on" shenigans..

And having never taken apart a pinpad before....it was rather the interesting experience to get the old one off the mount and put the new one on the mount, but I managed it!!

And that should have been it. According to the first tech guy I spoke too it after he connected it on his end, I should have had it installed without issue on my end.

Ha.

Ha. 

HA.

Nope. I mean at least I put it together correctly so it TURNED ON and WORKED. But after starting up register 4 and getting it up and running...the pin pad only showed a "System Info" screen....and nothing else. 

Which meant ANOTHER call to the tech support line.

Where a DIFFERENT dude helped me to connect the pinpad correctly. Which involved a lot of key tapping on his side and me standing around being useless beyond a 'turn it off now on again' procedure.

BUT we got the pinpad working!!

And with that was the final test run of trying to do a transaction on register 4 to see if it would work.

Which the Transaction worked!!

But the receipt....didn't print out. 

Luckily the Tech dude called back as he said he would check back in and see if it was working....and the printig out the receipt issue was another one of those easy to fix problems.

As 1. half of the cables hadn't been plugged in and after plugging them in we neglected to turn the register off and on again. So that helped but 2.

Apparently the same cartridge that does all the things with the checks....also helps to print out the receipts. And register 4 doesn't have that cartridge in it as we don't have another new one yet to replace it.

BUT I pulled out register 3's cartridge and tested it on register 4's reciept printer and IT WORKED!

So yah. We just need to order in a new cartridge and WALLA!!!! Register 4 will be up and running and ready for black friday! Huzzah! 

*fingers crossed* That that' means the end of me having to call the tech support for register related issues.

At least I know I don't have to worry about it for a few days since I won't be at work. but boy am I glad I won't be at work.

The past three days have been sooooo stressful.

I'm ready for a break.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Check Please?

 Along with the car drama yesterday....I also gotta have fun with more Work related Register techy calls too.

As Monday was to be the day of me calling the tech people to say "THIS is what is wrong with the check reader on Register 1. Fix It." 

*exhales* 

Like...at least the call didn't take 2 hours this time? No it only took about 20 minutes.

But it is a bit frustrating to have to do all the 'techy move this around' stuff while the dude on the phoen types away at his computer and has me do this and that and the other.

BUT.

We got it figured out what was wrong with the check reader.

And it was one of those stupid simple solutions where it would have been a waste of time to send a dude out here to fix it.

No. All the register needed....was a new strip cartridge. 

As there's this cassette tape esque device inside the printer/check reader. 

And the strip on said reader...can wear out.

Turns out. That's what happened.

So all we needed to do was to pull out the old one and put in the old one and walla!! The Check Reader is Now Fixed!!

Supposedly.

We wouldn't know for sure if the issue was fixed until we tried a check on Register 1 again.

Which....with me having car problems, and it actually being a busy Monday...I didn't want to risk taking Register 1 out of commission if the check reader still didn't work..

So we waited until tonight. After close. Since I was the closing manager today. To test the check reader.

Which I was already mostly confident it would work, as I did remember to check my bank account before I came into work today and it DID show that my check from Saturday night had gone through. (so no stolen fish for me, they were all rightfully purchased lol) 

So it would mostly be a matter of seeing if the printing on the check part of it would work or not.

Which it took a minute to be able to actually USE the register after we closed because we had 2 customers still in the store when we closed. and the First one decided that at like...idk 2 minutes before close?? He wanted to rent out a carpet cleaner. 

.....I'll never understand last minute shoppers. Never. 

And my cashier took FOREVER to fill out the paperwork for the customer to be able to rent the carpet cleaner.

But luckily I hadn't yet shut down register 2 just in case register 1 had issues so I was able to help the other customer still waiting to be checked out.

ONLY. She wanted to take advantage of our sale of "buy 3 get the 4th treat free" deal by splitting up her purchase so that she'd save more money on the 'free' treat rather than less.

As usually the least expensive item receives the discount.

So she bought 4 $25 treats on one transaction to get 1 of those $25 treats free.

And then she bought the rest of her stuff and 4 other under $8 treats on the second purchase.

Which turned a maybe 5 minute transaction into a Ten minute transaction.

Which worked well enough I guess as me and the other cashier ended up finishing with our customers about the same time so we could kick them out of the store close together.

Which meant that I could FINALLY test out another check on register 1. 

AND IT WORKED!!

Woot. No "Did I steal this aquarium gravel and decor?" question for me tonight!

So yay for 1 broken thing fixed on register.

Now I just need to wait for the pinpad on Register 4 to come in to see if THAT finally fixes all our problems so that we can have 4 up and running for black friday.

Guess we'll see.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Whelp. It's the Battery....Right?

 Whelp.

I've had a rather stressful day today.

So like.....a few weeks ago I helped to jump an old ladies car right?? With my own car???

And like....I had noticed after helping her start her car that when I left for the day, that when I started my own car...it had had a delayed starting sound to it.

Kinda like the "Hey your car battery is dying" sort of sound.

Which was semi concerning because like....I'd literally just bought a new car battery?? Like I remember it being cold when I got it so it had to have happened sometime between October of last year and March of this year. But like...it's a recent new battery. So it shouldn't be dying just yet!!

And like, I'd chalked it up to just the stress of starting the other person's car and it would be fine after that point

Only....my car continued to have a delayed start when I'd try to turn it on.

And it was getting to the point where I was like "Huh, I should go get that looked at."

And like I was literally planning to take my car to the Autozone to get the battery checked later THIS week on one of my days off.

ONLY

This morning when I went to leave for work....

My car wouldn't start.

It made that ancient chugging "I'm tryign to start up" noise and the clicked a bunch.

but no car started.

Which when it's seven in the morning and both your roomies are asleep....is not a good thing.

So I was like "Okay, I need to either get a) my car started by a roomie helping me to jumpstart my car or b) have a roomie take me into work.

And I like dithered for a good two minutes on which roomie to wake up before finally knocking on upstair's roomie door.

Which is NOT fun to do to be like "Hey....my car won't stop can you help me?"

Especially since I knew she'd had a late night before and also that she didn't have to get up for her own job for another couple of hours. 

*exhales*

In the end we decided that it would be best if she just took me into work and would come pick me up after as she was concerned my car would die AT work if we got it jumpstarted here at the house and I would have to get it jumpstarted there to get back home.

So she took me into work with the plan to get my car jumpstarted when I got home so that I could drive down to the Autozone to get a new battery since this one was /obviously/ bad. 

Fast Forward to this afternoon after getting home from work.

And we're having to play a bit of ring around the rosie with our cars.

Because unlucky me...I'd parked on the right side of the garage. And my battery was on the Right side of my car.

While BOTH my roomies car batteries were on the LEFT side of their cars. 

So the jumper cables couldn't Reach both batteries. *exhales*

We ended up enlisting the aid of two neighbor guys to help me roll my car out of the garage, and then push it back into the left side of the garage so that my roomie could pull into the right side of the garage and her left battery would be close to my right battery and Walla!! We could get my car jumped!!

*shakes head*

Funnily enough....like the old lady I helped before...my car wouldn't start up until we fully completed the circuit on the batteries. So instead of 'grounding' the black clamp to somethign metal in my car, we needed to place the clamp on the negative point of the battery to get my car to start up.

And I was like WOOT!! It's started! Time to go get to autozone.

Only. As I was backing up out of the driveway. I noticed my clock in my car was flickering. :S And none of the dials were really responding. So to try and test it out I switched from reverse to drive to pull back into the garage to see if the dials would show me using slight accleration....and my car died again. Right there in the driveway. 

*exhales* 

Like. That's not a Good Sign. 

As that probably meant that that wasn't the battery that was the issue. XP booooo. 

No apparently there's a part called an Alternator that helps to keep your car charged between driving???? And my roomie thought I hadn't been driving enough to keep the charge going or recharge the charger?? whatever. It wasn't working.

but like....my car was at my house....and if it couldn't hold a charge long enough to get to a mechanic....how in the world was I going to get my car fixed?!!? 

I tried knocking on the other next door neighbor's door...because he's a bit of a car guy with his friends as they come over every weekend to do car related things it feels like....only he doesn't answer.

So.

I call the next best person I know.

Which is my brother.

Like he's not a mechanic, but Mav has worked on his own cars before with the help of his best friend who IS a mechanic. A Semi-Truck Mechanic. But still. They've done car related things!

And so I explained my problem to him and he's like "Yep. Sounds like the alternator. Let me youtube it real quick and see if I can fix it. Oh look! I think i can fix it!!"

And then was a whole unhelpful time of us trying to figure out just what type of car I had and what engine I had and what part would be needed for said car. And the stupid little Car Manual that i had would NOT give me ANY of the numbers I needed to figure out the right part.

Like whoever made the manual in the year 2000 forgot the "Oh your car is this type with this body and this engine and this other fancy terminology."

In any case.

My brother was confident he could buy the right part and then drive down here and fix my car for me which YAY! 

lol as I desperately needed to have a car. Because I have work shifts both Tues and Wed so I need to be able to get places those two days at least.

But I was like "Okay, worst case scenario. I will just borrow my Dad's car." Because in the unlucky/lucky part of this scenario was that today was the first day of yet another cruise for him. So like...it was frustrating to not have him here to help me out with figuring out what to do with my car but like that meant he wouldn't be using HIS CAR so worst case scenario if it wasn't the alternator or Mav couldn't fix it....I could borrow his car until he got back and we'd figure out where and when to get me a new car at that point.

ONLY.

When I informed Daddoo that I was going to have Mav bring down his car just in case I needed to borrow it. -And if I did then Mav's wife would come pick him up from my house after she got off work to take him back home- My dad informed me that....he'd taken the car keys with him on the trip. 

*face palm*

WHY?!!?

Like. Every. Single. Other. Cruise. He's gone on. He's LEFT behind a key. 

WHY THIS CRUISE?! WHY TAKE THEM!?

And I was like "What about the spare keys?"

Nope. No go there. My step-mom had taken hers with her. So the cars at my dad's house are basically just sitting hunks of metal until they get back from their trip. *exhales* 

So. Frustrating.

So now I was like....Okay...now what?

Because I knew my brother and his wife would need both their cars. And my one roomie wouldn't be able to give me a ride into work because she is also leaving on a trip tomorrow and leaving her car with her parents -as they're closer to the airport- and my other roomie wouldn't be able to take me into work because we worked opposite shifts this week where she wouldn't get home until AFTER I needed to get into work.

So I was like. Sister!! Kikay would let me borrow HER car. Since she doesn't always use hers.

Only she kinda hemmed and hawed and was like "Maaaaaaybe???" It was like a 'tenatitive' yes to borrowing it for just two days if needed. 

So basically.

I was screwed. And like...while I knew my sister was a kinda option I've also never driven her car further than like....a block? And the thought of having to make a 40 minute drive IN THE DARK in a car car when I'm used to driving taller cars...on the HIGHWAY....yah....I would do it if I'd have to but I was half convinced I would die if I did.

In any case.

Basically everything now was riding on my brother's ability to fix my car.

Because the only other possible option at this point would to be to beg my fellow managers to give me a ride into and from work for Tues and Wed.

*exhales*

Such good/bad timing. Like the 'good' timing is that I only work 3 days this week so the stress is only for Tues and Wed. The bad is like....the fact that EVERYONE is gone on vacation this week. UGH.

In any case.

My brother arrived like an hour after dark. (because yay daylight savings making it dark at 530pm now) 

And we managed to jump start my car enough to get it pulled back into the garage -where there was a bit more light- and onto some blocks -so that my brother could get under the car easier if needed- and then he went to work.

And guys...Youtube is mostly your friend. It's amazing how much you can google/youtube to get answers on how to fix things.

Didn't tell us that the alternator in my car had THREE bolts instead of 2 like we originally thought.

But Hey. My brother -after remembering to disconnect the battery, and a quick trip to Home Depot to get a 12mm wrench to better fit a narrow spot to get the stupid bolt undone...---

Managed to take out the old part and insert the new part!!!

It took about 3 hours because yah....never done this before.

BUT. He got everything back in it's place without breaking anything so woot!! lol. 

And after a quick jumpstart with his car....My car started back up!! Woot!!!

We did a quick test drive too and it didn't die on the road and would start up and shut off normally. So double woot!!

The only slight concern I have at this point is that the engine is making a 'clicking' noise as we drive kinda like the baseball card in the tires of a bike sort of sound. Which everyone else is like "Well I think it sounds normal for an old car." but I'm like "No it hasn't made that noise before!" sooo yah.....we'll see if it still happens after sitting overnight. But like....if anything I do plan to do an oil change on the car soon as it might just be making noise from having low oil from what my neighbor says....so yah.

But!

My car is FIXED.

So I don't have to worry (so long as my car starts tomorrow) about how I'm going to get to work anymore. So woot!!

lol and funfact about Alternators.

Apparently they're supposed to last either 7 years OR about 150,000 miles.

And my 22 year old car....has just under 156,000 miles on it. 

So like. 

That alternator did its job so well! To last 22 years!? Because like...no one in the family could remember it needing to be replaced before. So yah. Ancient machinery part did it's job well. lol.

So grateful that my brother was able to come down and get my car fixed for me. So grateful. 

One less stressor to deal with.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

The Check Reader

 So. 

In a last minuteish preparation for Black Friday, we've been trying to make sure all our registers are fully functioning right? Right. 

And one of those 'test' things that we needed to figure out was just What Exactly was Wrong with the Check Reader on Register 1.

Because apparently the tech guys don't like the vague "It's just not working" answer. No. They want specific details. Like is it the strip, the wire, the computer, some other random part?

Which in a way makes sense because like....you don't really want to have to send a guy all the way out to the store if the issue is like a two second "turn it off and on" again sort of solution.

So. Since I was working a closing shift tonight. 

And I happen to be one of those people who still uses checks on occasion. I decided to bring in my checkbook to work and after we had closed for the night, would attempt to buy something using the check on the Register 1. Just to see what exactly went wrong.

So.

I ended up attempting to purchase some angelfish. As I've gotten back into a kick of buying them for my 125 gallon tank and we got in 4 rather pretty ones that were still there at the end of the night. Sooooo. Fish!! 

In any case.

After the last super slow customer had finally left the store.

I had the cashier ring me up for fish.

And used a check to pay for it.

Which is a whole process in of itself. 

-Which is why we're glad that it's rare for people to use checks. Usually it's little old ladies buying a bunch of cat stuff--

In any case.

You have to put the check in the reader a certain way. And then press buttons on the register to make the machiney thing scan the check and do its beeping thing and then flip the check over to do more scanny beepy printy things and walla! Check read.

IF the check machine is working properly.

Which this one was not.

No we got to the flippy part of the check process and the register suddenly was like "Communication error!!!" 

And then totally froze out the computer. Like it would only give you 1 option after that point and no amount of manager key usage or other button pressing would get you away from an endless loop of "Try it again. It still didn't work. Try it again. It still didn't work." 

So we had to like totally shut down register 1.

-Which is why I waited until after we'd closed because losing a register right before the closing rush can be BAD. 

So while Register 1 was restarting....

I went to register 2. Where I knew the check reader was working. To try and use my check there.

As we weren't certain that the check had actually 'gone through' on 1 or not since no receipt printed out.

But when we got to the check reading part of Register 2's thing....

It barely did the first scan through before it was like "ERROR!! DUPLICATE CHECK!!"

Which....did that mean the check went through on 1?? It had to right?? But no receipt printed out....and the transaction wasn't showing up in my history on the register....so did I or did I not purchase the fish??

After a brief call to my head manager to explain the issue.

We decided that I would take the fish home. And head manager would try to do some research on their end, and I would double check my bank account for the next couple of days. 

And we would basically worry about if I'd paid or not on Monday.

Sooooo I may or may not have technically stolen fish tonight?? lol Depends on if it turns out I actually paid for them tonight or not.

So I guess borrowing with permission is the correct term.

So yay new fish!!

But boooo not working Check Reader. Though now, come Monday, I'll know exactly what to tell the tech dude on the phone what is wrong with Register's one check machine thingy. 

So here's to hoping that that's a quicker fix than Register 4's 2 hour long phone conversation attempting to get it connected to the register. *shakes head* 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Faulty Connection

 I was on the phone for two hours today at work.

Which is notable because like....working in retail most of our phone calls end up lasting under 5 minutes. 

At most if a customer is being more difficult...it could last up to thirty minutes.

But two hours?? Is a bit extreme.

Except in this case....it was because I was on the phone with our tech support.

As we've been trying to get our Register 4 up and running. 

Why? 

Because corporate came down and was like "Make sure ALL your registers are working."

And Register 4?? 

Hasn't worked in a long loooongggg time. 

Like I've worked there for a decade and....I'm not actually sure it was even working when I started.

Though I think when I started we had 5 registers at that point?? But got rid of one soon after?? But yah...I know Register 4 hasn't worked in at least 6 years or so. Because we've been talking about taking it out for years.

Like that was the plan. To take it out.

And because that was the plan....register 4 ended up being a bit of a Frankenstein creation. As we would take working pieces from that register to replace the broken pieces on the other 3 registers.

So it's been a bit of a....process to get Register 4 up and running.

The main issue was that it wasn't connecting to our store network.

Because we recently had an upgrade in that.

And because Register 4 was planned to be taken out....it was rather pointless to hook it up to the network if it was going away.

Only it's not going away now.

The last I dealt with register 4 and getting it 'fixed' the issues was that. And I'd been told to replace a cord and that they'd 'get back to us' after that was replaced. 

And I never heard back.

But today my head manager was like "Hey, where are we with this?" 

Soooo I got on the phone...expecting it to be like a 30 minute thing at most. Mostly a check in and such.

But No.

So turns out that the computer HAD been connected to the new network. Only it wasn't talking to said network. 

And the tech thought it was because a wire hadn't been replaced.

But the wire he was wanting me to replace was a different one from the one I'd been told to replace.

But it turns out, after testing a couple different things, that the wire itself works, only the phone said wire was supposed to go into....isn't working. 

Which is weird because that phone was working before we started messing wtih everything so who knows why that suddenly stopped working.

In any case, I was told to place the wire that was supposed to go into the phone directly into the register instead basically by passing the phone. 

And then?

Then it became a game of "Off and On" where the Tech had me turn on the register then off the register then on then off then on then off on off on off.

I probably turned that Register on and off like a good dozen times. *exhales*

Why did I have to do it so much?

Because the Register HAD been connected to a new IP address on the network....but every time we turned the register on....it kept trying to connect to the OLD IP address.

And the dude on the other side was struuuuggglllinng to get it to connect. At one point he even had to call in an engineer on his side to figure out what in the world was going on. 

BUT!!!

In the end. After 2 hours of me being stuck hanging out by the machine turning it on and off. We finally got Register 4 connected and up and running! Woot!! 

So we're soooo close to having it be useable in the store now.

The only other thing that is the main concern now is to get our pinpad for that register up and running because it's in a "Maintenance Required" standby phase that means that it's been....locked from tampering?? somethign like that.

Basically we have to get it replaced.

But after that....so long as the scanners and such on the register work....we should have Register 4 up and fully running soon!! 

*fingers crossed* that we get it all worked out quickly.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves. 
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Quick In and Out

 I do have to say...that the 11-7 midshift is my least favorite shift.

Especially since the last...three?? four?? 11-7 related shifts I've had have had me involved in throwing freight from the truck onto our shelves.

And like...stocking is okay. I don't mind it. In small doses.

But like when my entire shift is dedicated to the task??

Nope. I do not like it.

Though it's understandable I've been expected to do more freight as one of our main stockers has been out for the past couple of weeks, so the team has been down a member meaning not as much gets done in the mornings leaving more for me to do in the evenings.

*shakes head*

In any case.

I was able to get a small break from trying to finish the last of the freight from our truck by heading off to the vet.

As we'd dropped off a chinchilla with eye issues off this morning.

And a couple hours before the end of my shift they finally called back to say that the chinchilla was ready to go back to us.

Diagnoises? Poor thing has gluacoma in the eye. Therefore he needs to get surgery to get the eye removed as there's nothing else the vet can do otherwise.

The surprising thing about going to grab the chinchilla from the vet....was how quickly I was able to pick it up?

Like. Due to the crazy at the store I made it over to them barely 15 minutes before they closed. 

And like...in the past when we've come by...it's ended up being a wait to get our animal back. Anywhere from 10 minutes to like a good 45 minutes of waiting.

But today when I pulled in....I was literally the only car in the parking lot.

And they already had the chinchilla out and waiting for pick up when I walked in. I basically just had to pay for the vet visit, get the needed meds instruction from the tech, and off I went. Like I spent maybe 3 minutes at most inside the building. It was crazy!

lol though a really good thing, as work has been one of those busy Thursdays and I had literally vanished to go to the vet in the middle of the dinner rush. So the sooner I got back to provide an extra body on the floor to help customers the better.

So yah.

It helped to pass the time a bit. And I got to take a small break away from the chaos.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Let It Snow

 We had the first major snow storm of the winter today.

I mean, it snowed like....two weeks or so ago?? But it was mostly in the mountains.

This was the first storm to actually stick in the valleys and give...at least my area...a good two or three inches of snow, though I know other parts of the state received higher amounts. Like I heard my hometown got like 8 inches?

In any case.

It's kinda weird that it's still....snowing?

Like I'm used to most storms only lasting a couple of hours.

But this morning when I finally got out of bed like around 930ish...it was raining and who knew how long it had been raining for, but it was raining heavily enough that when I relcutantly ventured out to go grab the groceries I desperately needed....the rain thick enough that the windshield wipers were going like crazy...but also the cars on the roads were kicking up a lot of water into the air.

Which made driving along the freeway quite the experience. Nothing like driving thorugh a thick layer of mist where you can barely see the car's taillights in front of you.

I nearly chose to take the backroads back home to just avoid dealing with the misty driving, but when I got off the exit there was an accident up the road at the next intersection. I have no idea how big it was originally but there were 2 cars and 2 ambulances and like a good 6 police officers....soooo big enough??

In any case. I chose to take the familiar freeway back instead of dealing with the unknown city street driving...as in many ways that can be scarier with all the stopping and going and multiple points of access.

At least on the freeway there's a limited amount of ways you could interact with the cars around you.

But! I got home safely.

And had the excellent timing to get home like...maybe ten minutes before the storm switched from rain to snow.

And boy did it snow.

Like again, I'm used to storms only lasting a couple of hours.

But it's nearly midnight now and the snow is still falling steadily a good 12 hours later.

Which is great because my state desperately needs the moisture.

It's just weird. Weird to have it snowing for so long. 

Though it's very enjoyable....when I'm inside and nice and warm lol.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Back and Forth and Back and Forth

 I do have to say that my least favorite thing about work is when I end up feeling like I'm being pulled twelve directions at once. Especially when I know that I have no backup to help me out if things get busy so it stresses me out more as I'm trying to help customers out as quickly as possible so I can go to the next customer and gah. 

I hate it. 

And like.....in a way it's kinda of expected on a Saturday. Like it's the busiest day of the week for us. So of coures I'm going to be helping a ton of customers in a row.

But today was different because of just how much back and forth I ended up having to do today.

So. My store is set up that we have like all the animals in one corner of the store. The fish along the wall. The reptiles, birds, and rodents on endcaps along the center aisle. It's all nearby each other.

With the exception of Cat Adoptions. 

As the adoption center is on the opposite side of the store from the rest of the animals we sell.

Which I suppose, in a way, makes sense to keep the 'adoptable' animals separate from the 'sellable' animals. 

And like normally it's not that big of a deal. Regular days see us going to cat adoptions like two or three times to show cats to people who are interested.

But today...*exhales* today was one of those days. 

Like. It's a well known fact that when it comes to trying to open the department....the customers will decide to be needy right when I'm trying to feed the reptiles and take care of them in the morning tasks. 

There have been days when I literally open one reptile cage, have to go help a customer, open another reptile cage, have to go help a customer, open another reptile cage, have to go help a customer. And the 15 minute process ends up taking like 2 hours because customers keep interrupting me needing things.

The 'adventure' of today started about the point I reached reptiles. Which timewise was a bit after 10ish this morning. 

As I got a call that someone was interested in adopting a cat.

So I go over to adoptions to find a gentleman wanting to adopt another kitty to be a companion to the kitten he and his wife already have.

And he's set on this one grey 6 month old kitten....only the problem is....is that i noticed the tag on the cage, when I was cleaning the cage this morning, mentioned that the other orange kitten in with the grey one is the grey kitty's 'best friend' as they 'grew up together' in the same house. 

So I took that to mean that we should try to adopt them out together.

And the guy was like :S :S :S because having Two cats is fine. But Three??

But he was willing to try it...except when I got both kitties out of the cage, the orange one -a male- was too energetic for his tastes. The orange kitty would barely sit still in the arms and would much prefer to explore and such. While the grey one was more mellow.

In any case. He was video calling his wife at the same time and was like "I don't know." 

Like he was trying to get a kitty the same age. But I told him that so long as they were kittens they should be fine together even if one was slightly younger. And we had received in a bunch of kittens -2-3 months old- from the adoption group the day before. So there were a few as options.

So he was looking at another grey and white kitten and an orange kitten.

And somehow still had it in his head that he should be getting two...but like the dude already had two so he only needed one.

He finally decided that he wanted the grey and white kitten.

But wanted to go grab his wife and bring her in so she could meet the kitten and see if it liked her. 

In the meantime while he was running to grab his wife....I got called over to the fish wall because a customer needed help there.

And that conversation took long enough for the dude to grab his wife and come back. So as I was finishing up with that customer I got called back to the Adoption center for the wife to look at the kitty.

And needless to say....she fell in love with a different kitten. The orange kitten that was in with the grey and white one.

But the dude was still really smitten with the original grey kitten who should be adopted with her orange friend.

And the wife was like "We can't separate them!! But our apartment isn't big enough for the orange one too because he's so rambunctious." 

And they kept dithering over the various kitties. As he liked the grey female and the grey and white male while she liked a little orange male....

I ended up stepping away to call the adoption group to double check and see if the original 6 month old kittens needed to be adopted together...and the adoption partner was like "Oh no, they don't have to be." 

And the dude seemed really happy at that news, but the wife was still like "No!! We can't separate them!!" 

I ended up getting called back to the fish wall while they were dithering....and so I left them to figure out if they wanted the little orange kitten or the grey and white kitten or both....

To go help a family at the fish wall who wanted 8 goldfish and the Father wanted his kids to pick out the goldfish. Which okay. No big deal. Except the youngest child kept pointing to one of the dead fish in the tank and saying that she wanted "the floating one." which obviously I can't sell a dead fish to a child. Like. That's a big NOOOO on so many levels. But the stubborn child was refusing to pick any other fish and the father was being unhelpful and not paying attention at all so I finally ended up just catching a couple fish for the child because GAH.

And by the time I finish that up, I get notified that the couple at adoptions had finally decided on their cat. They wanted the little orange one. So I go back over there to help them fill out their paperwork and such, only they don't have the adoption fee with them (as we need cash or venmo no cards) so they ended up needing to do some shopping first so they could buy things at register and get the cash needed back there. 

Which was 'good' timing in that I finished with that to get called to the fish wall again to help a customer pick out a good dozen fish for her tank.

Finish that in time to help the couple grab their kitty as they were finally ready. And as the kitten is being placed in the carrier the wife is like "Oh! We want a second one!"

And like by this point I hadn't touched reptiles at all and was already sick of this couple so I gently but firmly put my foot down and was like "How about you take the orange kitten home first and see if your other kitty likes him before you bring home a second kitty. As it won't be good if your originally kitty ends up hating 2 cats and introducing one might be better to get a feel for it."

Thankfully they were like "Oh! That's a good idea!!" though they did have me put the kitty they were interested in on hold for a few hours just in case they decided to come back. -they didn't come back before the hold expired.

And I figured. Great! That's the end of adoptions as I head back to the fish wall because I've just been called there again to help a customer with fish.

As a reminder. Adoptions and the Fish wall are on opposite sides of the store. And like my store is either the largest or the second largest store in the state. Like most other sister stores are a half to a quarter of the size of my store. So it takes time to walk from one side of the store to the other.

And I'm just finishing catching fish when what do you know? A different customer wants to adopt a cat. 

*exhales* 

So I go back over to adoptions and thankfully the customers are set on which kitty they want after holding it. So I was able to fill out their paperwork and such quick enough and send them to finish shopping before I give them their cat.

Because I just got called to fish.

And as I'm finishing with yet another fish customer....

i get called back to adoptions to give the kitty to the new pet parent.

head back to fish because I've been called there again.

Only to get called back to adoptions for like what...the 12th time today? Because ANOTHER pet parent is is interested in adopting a cat.

So third cat adoption goes much like the second. The people are quick to decide their kitty and do the paperwork and finish that in time for me to get called to fish AGAIN.

So Off to fish I go.

Only to get called back to adoptions as soon as I'm done so that the 3rd adoptee can pick up their cat as they've finished shopping.

And like....I think somewhere in there I had enough breathing room to finish opening reptiles and to actually take a lunch break.

But it felt like I literally spent a good 3 hours in a row just walking back and forth between the fish wall and cats. 

Like my closing mangaer came in at 2pm and literally 5 minutes after she walks in she's likey "Hey people want to adopt a cat." and that's my FOURTH one of the day. And I do the exact same song and dance of the 2nd and 3rd one where I get them their paperwork filled out and sent them out to gather their kitty supplies before picking up the cat TO GET CALLED BACK TO THE FREAKING FISH WALL.

And literally as I'm at the Fish Wall I GET CALLED BACK TO ADOPTIONS to give the 4th adoptee their cat.

Like it was literally a *tear my hair out* sort of day.

Becuase from like 1030-230 all I did was walk back and forth between adoptions and fish to help customers with brief, very brief, breaks to finish opening the department and finish feeding the animals and get a break in myself.

Like even my head manager noticed how much back and forthing I was doing today. 

THERE WAS SO MUCH OF IT.

It was ridiculus!! So ridiculus!! 

My head manager told my closing manager 'Yah, Sarnic hasn't been able to get much done today as all she's done has been going between the fish wall and cats." 

Like you know it's stupid crazy when the head manager notices how much freaking back and forthing you're doing.

*shakes head*

So I was quite estatic to get off soon after that point because I was literally done with helping people. I didn't want to have to deal with the back and forthing anymore. I just wanted a break to breathe and relax and chat with my work friends.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Tired

 I'm so tired.

Like. I don't mind working a closing shift every now and then.

But doing three closingesque shifts in a row? 

It's exhausting.

I'm not used to it.

Sure I kinda got used to working 2 closing shifts in a row while my friend was out on maternity leave.

But 3 shifts?

With like all 3 of them attempting to be stocking focused?

I'm so tired. And sore. And achy...and ready to crash in bed for a good twelve hours or more because ouch I'm tired.

And today was just....weird in general. 

Because like, if I do work Thursdays....it's usually been a morning shift.

But today it was a closing shift.

Mostly because the usual Thursday closer is off on vaca.

And with my remaining managers doing what they can to use their vacation time before the end of the year....

It's unlikely that my schedule will stabalize with a normal day off any time soon. *exhales* 

We'll see though...

In any case.

Today was one of those busy Thursdays that we get like once a month.

Where it was constant running around backing up the cashiers and putting out various 'fires' around the store, while also trying to get stocking tasks done and...well....yah....

I'm ready to crash. Hardcore crash. 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Achy Again

Migraines are the worst.

Especially when I try to work through them.

Because I'm stubborn like that.

Like...I had plenty of time before work -since i had a closing shift- to work on getting said migraine gone.

Mostly succeeded. But it proceeded to hang and hover around me throughout most of my shift.

Luckily it didn't get bad enough for me to have to go home or anything. As I was able to take breaks when my migraines would spike and just rest with my eyes closed for 15-30 minutes with a heatpack over them and such.

But still.

I think it has to be one of my least favorite things. It's hard to function normally when your head is pounding like someone is nailing a stake into your skull. Especially when you have to contend with talking to customers and dealing with barking dogs, screaming kids, and squeaky dog toys.

Still. 

I have once again survived. 

Hopefully tomorrow offers me a respite. 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Jumpstart

It feels like this has become a more common occurence over the last couple of years....though in reality I've probably only done it like...maybe 6 times in 2 years? So like thrice a yearish? So it's not that often it happens.

But it feels like it happens a lot.

In that we have customers who end up having their cars die in the parking lot and need someone to jumpstart their car.

Like....do other stores get this problem?? Or is it just our parking lot?

In any case.

Most of the time when someone comes into the store asking if anyone here can jump their car.

I'm the one to volunteer.

Mostly because I'm probably the only one who has jumper cables in their car. Heh. (Thanks Daddoo. A Christmas Present that's come more in handy than expected.) 

So today.

I had one of our Bathers come up to me asking if I knew anyone with jumper cables who would be able to jumpstart a car. As one of our grooming customers. An older woman. Had just finished getting her dog groomed, but couldn't get her car to start.

So I volunteered.

Since I had the cables in my car. And I was free at that moment to go help out.

So I went out to her car, to check it out, and then moved my car over to her car.

-Which ha. Old car helping to jumpstart a new car. Funny.

In any case.

Grabbed the jumper cables. Figured out how to get her hood open and used Google to refresh myself on the procedure on how to safely attach the cables and what order to place the cables in. 

And after a few false starts with the battery. We managed to get her car running again! Woot!

Though she was still a bit worried about the car as the dashboard dials were acting a bit wonky and a flashing 'wrench' symbol was showing up on her dashboard. So I ended up giving her directions to a nearby Jiffy Lube as she was reluctant to drive home on the freeway when her car was acting off and the Jiffy was like a mile and a half up the road from us. So should be safe enough to get her there to make sure everything was fine with it and such.

But yah.

I helped the lady jump her car.

Which again. No big deal.

But she thought it was a big deal.

Big enough to give me a bit of a tip for helping her out.

And like. Sure. Tips come every now and then from customers. But usually it's like...maybe $5? And before today I'd never been tipped for helping to jumpstart a car.

But this lady was so grateful she gave me $40. 

Like. O.o

I tried to decline it. Because seriously. That's ALOT of money to give me. Especially when I didn't....well....like I did things? But like....it didn't seem like that major of a thing? 

But she insisted. Said she wanted to.

So yah.

It still boggles my mind a bit that she was so grateful for my assistance to just give that large of a tip.

It's crazy. But it definitely made my day better because it has been a day. *shakes head*

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Where's The Leash?

Sometimes I just have to shake my head at customers.

Like, anyone who's worked retail has experienced the customers who have sense of anyone beyond themselves. The ones who leave trash everywhere, who don't pick up after themselves, who leave messes in their wake and don't care that they made no effort to fix/clean it up. 

But there's other customers who just don't....think?? Like for some it's definite stupidity. But others it's probably a general naivety of "what could go wrong?!" where they just think what they're doing is fine.

Today....today it was with dogs. Specifically dogs not being on a leash.

Like. 

I don't understand the customers who think it's okay to have their dog unleashed in public. Especially when it's inside a store. 

And granted there's a minimal few dogs who are well behaved and will stay right by their owners and obey everything.

But for the most part? The customers suck at keeping their dogs next to them. They just set said dog on their ground tell it to 'stay' and then promptly turn their back on the dog letting it 'wander' because it 'won't go far'

Which we don't allow dogs unleashed in our store. For a variety of reasons. And it's amazing how some people just don't understand why that's the case.

Like yes, there's the 'trained dogs' who will obey their owners and stick nearby. But 99.9% of the dogs who come into the store have owners who have no clue what they're doing and have no real control over their dogs.

In any case.

Like....I don't see why they think it's okay to let their dog just wander around willy nilly.

LIke off the top of my head I can think of at least 3 issues.

1. There are customers who do not like dogs, are afraid of dogs and/or are allergic to dogs who are trying to do their shopping for their other pets in peace and will not appreciate your 'precious little baby' coming running up to them to say 'hi.' Because they don't know if this dog is friendly or if it's coming to attack them.

2. Other dogs may not like your dog. Your dog might not like them. Having both dogs on a leash will allow the owner to control them (unless it's those stupid retractable leashes) enough to pull the dogs away from each other if there's an issue. It's to keep all the dogs safe so that if there's a dog doing socialization training or just wanting to walk around without getting involved in the weather outside....they can do so without fear. 

3. We have automatic doors. If you don't have your dog on a leash there's a risk that they'll run straight for the doors leading outside. And said doors will automatically open. Your dog is not 'safe' and 'secure' in our building. Hence the leash. If the dog is on a leash it can't usually escape. And that decreaes the risk of said puppy dog running straight out the doors and getting hit by a car in either the parking lot or in the busy road that's literally right next to the store.

So yah.

I don't like customers who just....don't think. They don't consider the consequences. They just go "Oh let me put fido on the ground he'll be safe!" and think nothing more of it until one of us workers have to approach them and ask them to either a) pick up their dog and keep said dog in their arms or placed in a cart/carrier or b) offer them a temporary leash to use while they're in the store.

Like. 

It shouldn't be that hard.

And yet it is.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Tedious

 The 11-7pm shift is such a twilight zone sort of shift.

It's probably because I haven't worked that shift in a long while as I'm usually needed in the mornings or as like the closing manager.

And this past week I was scheduled the 11-7 shift twice. 

And both days of it were....disorienting in a way.

Because like it's too late to do morning tasks but too early to do closing tasks....and it kinda just leaves you in a limbo if there's not much to do.

Today....today was weird.

Like overall the day felt weird because we got in like the first autumn/winter storm of the season.

It's raining in the valley and snowing in the mountains.

And because of the cloud cover the lighting has just....been off all day. Making time pass strangely.

And work itself was just....it was off.

Because like....I kinda went in expecting to be more petcare focused even though I was scheduled as the mid manager.

Like. My friend was scheduled morning petcare which she hasn't done in nearly a year or so as she couldn't work much in petcare due to being pregnant....so I was going in expecting to be her back up after a fashion since it's her first petcare shift since having her baby.

Because like....it's a lot like riding a bike where you can just get back on. But I wanted to help her out as needed.

That wasn't quite what happened.

Like yes I would help out if she needed it.

But I spent most of my shift doing stocking tasks.

As we had a larger truck come in -which with the oncoming holidays the trucks are probably going to be bigger from here until mid december-

And my head manager wanted me to help finish the last little bit of truck.

Which was like 4 shopping carts filled with product.

Not really a big deal there.

Except TWO of those carts were filled to the brim with leashes,collars,harnesses etc.

And it took AGES to get all that stuff put away.

I mean part of it was due to being pulled away to help out the cashiers and assist customers.

But the carts took aaagggeeeesss to do. Like my entire shift ages.

Which is pathetic in a way.

But at the same time understandable because there had to be a good 100-200 items in each cart that we had to sort and put away. 

It was just....annoying.

And tedious.

Like I haven't minded doing petcare totes and such before.

But the leashes and collars are totally a different beast that I hope I never have to conquer again because Gah. It was tedious. So very tedious. 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Softly Stressed

 It was a softly stressful day today.

Soft stressful because like.... .... nothing majorly went wrong today? It was just....just....it was softly stressful because there was so much potential I guess for something to go wrong. So I was stressing over the potential of having a bad time when we didn't really have a bad time?

In any case.

It started as I arrived at work today because I only remembered basically as I was pulling up that my morning cashier would be leaving right as I was coming in. 

And like.... when I'm the closing manager, I'm totally used to having the last two hours of the store being opened having me be the only manager in charge.

And like it's fine to be the only manager in charge when my other manager goes on lunch because it's like 30 minutes of just me in charge.

But being the only one in charge for multiple hours during the middle of the day? 

That's a tad more stressful mostly because the middle of the day customers are a totally different beast compared to the dinner time night time customers. 

And it doesn't help that I'm not used to working the mid shift at all. Like being scheduled 11-7 hasn't happened to me for at least 2 or three months now. And if I do get scheduled the dreaded 11-7 shift....it's usually on like a Friday or a Saturday.

And today is Thursday.

And for the past like....8 weeks?? I've had Thursdays off.

So not only am I'm working on a day I've had off for like 2 months....I'm working a shift that I haven't worked in the same amount of time....

And to top it off....because my morning manager needed to leave early today. It meant that I would be the only manager in the store until the closing manager came in at 2.

So from 11-2 I would be the one in charge. 

Which is like prime lunch time rush chaos to unfold. 

And like....it was busy. Granted that. But we had enough coverage that it wasn't too chaotic though I was doing my best to be six places at once.

No what upped the chaos/stress level was that a little bit after 1pm my head manager sent me a text telling me that our District Manager was currently at our sister store. 

Or at least they'd been at our sister store around an hour ago.

Which meant that they could be showing up at our store any second now. Or if they were stopping to grab lunch first...would be showing up any minute now within the next half hour or so. 

Because our sister store is really only like a 15-20 minute drive away.

So it's totally feasible they could come to us and visit. 

So I spent the next hourish worrying that the DM would be coming with other Corporate people to come visit us.

WHEN I WAS THE ONLY MANAGER IN THE STORE.

AHHHHHH.

Like my closing manager was in at 2. So there was the chance that they would show up before the DM showed up.....

But until then I was trying to softly not panic about having to hold the DM's attention...while also desperately hoping that the DM would choose not to come to our store because they usually try to come to the store when the Head Manager is there and the Head Manager was off today. So like....they shouldn't come to the store....but there is the rare occasion they come to the store anyways even when they know the Head Manager isn't there.....

And at the same time I had to warn like everyone in the store to be ready just in case and since the DM was with Salon BigWigs I had to ensure that Salon was aware they could be visited and it was just a big stressful hour....

Until I got another text from the Head Manager a little bit after my closing manager showed up saying that they'd ended up at a different store in the next valley over.

Which since that valley is to the North of my store and in the opposite direction of my store.

Meant that we were in the clear.

Because if they wanted to visit us they would have come down to us first as it would be silly to drive to the sister store then drive back up to a different valley then drive back down to us.

So after an hour of stress....we were in the clear.

YAY!!

But ugh.

I hate that the DM has stressed me out TWICE this week and they weren't even ever in the store themselves!! Like How. Dare.

*exhales* 

I really hope this means they won't be coming by anytime soon....like I would love it if we could avoid seeing the DM until next year.

But odds are the DM will drop by when we least want them too....

In any case.

It was a stressful few hours for me at work today being the only manager with a potential DM visit hanging over my head.

*exhales*

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

A Favorite Food

 I made pepperoni crescent rolls today.

Which normally isn't really a notable thing to blog about.

Except.....

So. My sister has been working on creating a family cookbook.

It's been a 4 year task -one that she started right after Mother Dearest passed away- with a lot of stopping and starting and stopping again.

But she's finally gathered enough reciepes and organized them and got everything formatted enough to have our Family cookbook be sent to print so that each family member can have one.

And for the past....couple weeks or so? She's been giving us little check ins.

Letting us know the progress and such.

And like all last minute things....there were a few last minute recipes that other family members realized that they wanted to be placed in the cookbook. 

Mostly it's Daddoo's recipes that he's recently found and such.

But the most recent 'is this all the recipes you want' check ins.

Daddoo mentioned to Kikay that he'd found a list Mother Dearest had made at some point of some of her favorite family meals. And he wanted to make sure all the meals listed on her list had made it into the family cookbook.

And one of those meals was my Pepperoni Crescent Rolls.

Which it's just a simple meal of Pillsbury crescent roll dough with pepperoni and cheese and some parmesean cheese rolled up together and cooked. 

Nothing too crazy meal wise.

But it was one of the first recipes that I created on my own after I'd moved to college.

Which means Mother Dearest made this list probably in the first year or so of me being at college as other later creations of mine that I knew she liked weren't on my list. 

In any case.

It just....it was just...heart warming in a bittersweet way to know that she loved my little crescent roll creation enough to put it on a list of her 'favorite meals' as I hadn't realized she'd loved them that much.

I mean....it didn't even have any pizza sauce lol since I can't stand red sauce on pizza.

Just cheese bread and pepperoni. Like....it's such a simple meal.

And yet she singled it out as one of her favorites.

And I never realized she liked it so much. 

So yah. It was a bit...nostaligic making the crescent rolls today for lunch as I haven't made them in a while....but they've been on my mind since Kikay brought up that they were on the list.

....yah. Kinda has me missing mother dearest a bit more today.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Pointless Stress

 I hate when I have to deal with pointless stress.

Like I can already stress myself out easily enough without an unnecessary burden being placed upon my already too tense shoulders.

Today at work we were supposed to have our District Manager drop by.

As there was this PetCare Walk that we -the Head Manager, VP Manager, and I- needed to complete. One of thsoe 'once a year' sort of walks.

-Which joy another walk we have to do. Whatever Corporate is on this year, their fascination with making us 'walk' the store in a variety of different ways multiple times a day with each walk taking anywhere from 10 minutes to multiple hours depending on the walk-- just shows that the corporate people have no idea just how busy we are in the store trying to help customers and do all the other tasks they want us to accomplish in a day. *exhales*

In any case.

This particular PetCare walk, we were told that the DM wanted to walk it with us in the store.

Which it's never fun to have the DM come into the store. Specifically because this particular DM enjoys nitpicking tiny details that in the grand scheme of things don't really matter. It's just nitpicking. 

In any case.

The DM was supposed to come in this afternoon to 'walk' the petcare walk with us.

Only the expected time of their arrival came and went....with no sign of the DM.

And like I said. Having the DM in the store is stressful. My fellow managers are worrying about making sure everything is up to standards. And like I try not to stress, but today our cashiers were...well the 'newbies' and the 'lazy' cashiers. Basically the ones who are too shy to really talk to customers, or the ones who kinda just don't talk to customers unless they absolutely have to.

So it was already stressful in preparing for the DM to come in and be disappointed again by the Cashiers not doing their jobs while on the registers. -aka greeting customers as they walk in-

But with out knowing what to expect with the DM on this walk....this too was stressful.

And all the stress kinda just builds up for me until I get a headache triggered.

Which I did end up getting a headache triggered.....

And it's so annoying because the DM never came in!!!

All this stress. All this worrying. All this plotting and planning.

For nothing.

It was pointless stress. 

And like....it's not like the stress can even go away.

Because there's a chance the DM might come in tomorrow or Thursday instead. 

Which would suck because today was the only day that the HM, VPM, and myself were all in the store together. 

*exhales*

So yah.

Fun times.

I hate it when things 'don't work out' when they're stressful things that trigger migraines.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi

Achy Achy Achy Achy Achy

 I've said it a million times before and I'll probably say it a million times more in the future.

But.

Headaches.

Are. 

The. 

Worst.

My brain is dead. Gonna go crash once more in the darkness.

-Sarnic Dirchi

Over Socialized

 Social interactions, especially since the pandemic began, have been a bit of a double edged sword for me.

Because like. In small groups, I do enjoy talking to people and hanging out and just you know, catching up on what's going on with everyone's lives.

I mean for a long while there was (though it's fading more and more as time passes) that slight paranoia lingering in the back of my head, wondering if interacting with this person is a good idea. Wondering if they're carrying covid. Wondering if I meet up with someone or go somewhere I'll catch the virus.

Again. The fear has faded a bit there.

But I have noticed that it's still....difficult for me to be social.

And like. I'm social all the time at work. I kinda have to be since it's a retail job and I have to help customers.

But like, that's a known social that I do. I know mostly what to expect at work. And I'm comfortable enough at work that while it can be stressful at times....it's not always a bad stressful.

Not like regular social human interaction is. 

Like I'm pretty sure that I shouldn't end up with a headache after any time I hang out with someone somewhere that isn't work or my home.

And it's even more annoying when I try to do prevanative measures to stop me from getting a headache. *exhales* And I still get one.

Like I get there's various factors that do and don't contribute to my headaches.

And social interactions can be one of them...especially ones where my body probably subconsciously decides to be tense when it doesn't need to be tense.

But it could just be....overdoing it.

Today for example...was probably a case of overdoing it. Just a tad.

Like I've often said that I only have interaction for one social interaction in like a week. One social interaction out of work that is. 

And on good weeks I can go out multiple times in a week -though just once a day- and be alright.

Today though.... I suppose you could say I had 4 different social interactions??? 

Like. I met up with Kikay halfway between her home and my home -aka dropping my car off in a random parking lot- so that we could carpool together up to one of our cousin's for her baby shower. 

So that's one social interaction. 

Then there was the baby shower itself. Which while still small aka less than 30 people there....held only a handful of individuals that I knew personally. But like there was 2 hours of socializing and chatting with the various people I did know.

Then Kikay, Skye, and I decided to go grab lunch afterwards at a local fast food place we like in Hometown. Which again is a different environment with different social interactions and complete strangers all around us.

And finally, the parental's, knowing that we were in town for the shower, wanted to know if we would be dropping by today to visit as well.

Which in of itself is familar so it shouldn't be stressful but was stressful this time around because I've already seen the Parentals TWICE this week. Making today the THIRD time I saw them and like....my life is not that crazy and there's not much to catch on in a WEEK especially when it's the third time I've seen them so it's left me floundering on just what we'd be talking about.

*exhales* and I suppose, thinking on it, the final stressor can tie in to the first social stressor in that Kikay and I carpooled back to my car and I hopped onto the freeway....only to get stuck in a major traffic jam for a good 20 minutes where we just inched along the freeway for 2 miles because an accident had closed 3 of the lanes leaving only 2 main lanes and 1 carpool lane open. *exhales* So like....that in of itself was stressful.

And....I guess with all that added socialness I should mention I've also socialized with my roomies today as well.

So basically.....

For trying to only stick to like one social interaction outside of work in a day or a week....I totally knocked it out of the park today.

So getting a headache shouldn't be surprising because like....the cards are all there. 3 different events. Shower. Lunch, Parental Visit. Stressful Driving cus Freeway driving is always stressful....and just like socializing in general. All give good reason why my muscles will be tense enough to cause a headache.

I just wish it wouldn't.

No idea how to fix it though.

Like does exposure help? Do I try and be social more to kinda of numb myself to being social so my body no longer recognizes it as a threat? Because like if even going to Church for an hour can trigger a headache....part of it has to just be social anxiety of a sorts....

But it's also quite discouraging and makes me reluctant to go do anything with people. Because triggering a headache is so bothersome and I want to avoid that particular pain especially when I experience it quite often already....

*shakes head*

No idea honestly.

I'll figure something out....maybe.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi