All The Ones

I hadn't paid much attention to the customer at the register as my focus was getting him to move his cart enough out of the way that I could clean up a spill from someone's dog slightly earlier.

And I'd heard him counting "80, 81, 82! okay. I need to go grab my card I'll be right back."

As the customer had apparently only had so much cash on him apparently $82 and had left his card in his car so he paid with the cash first and then ran to go grab his card, finishing the transaction almost before I had managed to put the mop bucket away from cleaning up the spill.

I hadn't thought much more on it though.

Not until closing.

When I went to count Register 1 and discovered a huge pile of one dollar bills in the register.

Like usually we try and keep the bills more evenly spaced out so that we have some of each denomination in the til that would equal up to the specific amount of money we're supposed to have in each til.

So at most we would only keep like $40 in ones in the till. At most. Most of the time it hovers closer to $20.

But by the time I was done counting the pile of $1s there was $68 there. O.o 

And so I said over the radio to the cashier. "Did someone give you all their ones or something?" 

Cus it does happen on occasion. Where people will give us a ton of change or a fistful of ones.

and my cashier was like "Yah. Some dude paid like $80 in ones." 

EIGHTY DOLLARS at least. In ONES.

Like dude. 

Why and how did you end up with so many??? 

I'm guessing tips.

But it's also impressive considering that out of that $68, twenty of those ones were original to the register.

So we had $48 dollars in ones from this dude's transaction left by the end of the night.

which I suppose shows just how much we give out ones if we managed to nearly half the original amount because the til was pretty barren in other areas compared to the ones.

But still.

It's crazy to have so many ones together in one place lol.

I ended up exchanging most of the bills out for other bills so that we could once again not have a ton of ones in the drawer.

But yeesh. 

So. Many. Ones.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

At Least 18

I had a guy come into the store today, who I wouldn't have thought much about because he didn't ping me as the "Under 18" type so mostly I was preparing myself to answer a lot of questions about whatever pet he may have come into the store to impulse buy as I live in a college town and we get a ton of lonely students who think that getting a pet will solve their problems. 

So it kinda surprised me when he was like "How old do you have to be to buy a fish? 18?"

Which...usually if people ask me how old they have to be to buy something....they usually aren't 18.

And we don't sell live animals to people who aren't at least 18 because we don't want to get in trouble with parents who didn't realize their kid was going to buy a pet.

So I told him "Yah, you have to be at least 18 to buy a fish." and mentally prepared myself to ask for his I.D. if he did decide to try and buy one, just so I could double check and make sure he's legit. 

And the dude seriously was like "Do you check I.D.s here?" 

*shakes head*

Honestly we only check I.D.s on kids that look like they're too young. And half the time we just  go "How old are you?" and they answer and we go "Okay" if they say over 18 and "No you can't buy one" if they're under. 

But I'm not about to tell that to the dude. I'm like "Yes, we do check IDs here." 

And yah....he ended up vanishing.

But it's kinda funny because honestly, he looked like he'd be in college so if he hadn't asked about age, I would have assumed that he was an adult and wouldn't have asked him anything and he could have got a fish.

Silly him. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Spoil Me

 It's been one of those weeks where....idk...I've been wishing that someone would remember me. That I would come home and there would be an unexpected present waiting for me because someone saw something, thought of me, and decided to send it.

I suppose it was triggered earlier this week when an unexpected package did show up for me....but that was because I'd completely forgotten that I'd ordered the free COVID tests. 

Man. It was rather disappointing to open this mysterious package and see that. Covid tests. Bleh. Like good to have on hand just in case.

But after being informed by the roomie that I had a package waiting for me that I was 'certain' I hadn't ordered....it was a major disappointment. 

*exhales* 

Like...I like giving presents to people. I like sending unexpected things to family to brighten their day.

But there are days....where I wish they would return the favor.

Just...send me something. Something to go "Hey I saw this and thought it would make you smile." 

Of course....my family is a bit more concerned about money than I am at the moment since they have families and houses and bills and such to pay for. 

So they don't exactly have the cash to just....spend willynilly on something random.

And it's not like the family is aware that I'd like to receive gifts from them. 

How could they know I would like something to cheer me up when I tend to have the 'suffer in silence for the greater good' sort of ideology going on. I don't usually speak up when I'm having problems. And even if I do speak up....it's not like people's first thoughts are "Oh let's send her something!" 

Nope. That's my go to method. lol. "Oh hey you're not doing too good right now? Here, let me send you a gift to cheer you up!" 

In any case.

It's been one of those weeks where I miss the comfort of being...idk....remembered?

And I've been off and on clicking on Amazon looking for things to by myself just so I have something to look forward to before talking myself out of it because money and 'why should I spend this on myself do I actually need it?' sort of thinking.

But last night I kinda just....hit the tipping point? 

Probably directly influenced by the fact that I didn't get "alone time" in the house like I'd been expecting. 

But yah.

Last night I was kinda like "Screw it." and ordered myself a few things off of Amazon that should be arriving over the next week because I need  something to look forward to. A nice "surprise" to get upon getting home from a hard day at work.

Even though it's not really a surprise since I know what I'm getting. 

At least I can kinda pretend that it's....a present. idk. 

In any case.

Keeping up with the "Screw It" mentality. 

I ended up ordering myself some Texas Roadhouse to pick up once I got off work.

As it was confirmed (and actually happened) that my roommates would be out most of the day and that I would get a few hours in the house by myself.

So I figured I'd reward myself with food. As that's an easy reward to give myself since I don't usually have to worry about where to put the more physical things I end up buying myself.

And it was great.

Because I got off work and headed over to Texas Roadhouse --and got confused because the message said for me to park my car and text the number that I was 'here' and then 'wait' in my car but like....there was no curbside pick up signs at all in that parking lot --a really really crowded parking lot because go figure that having the restaurant near the mall would mean that the stalls were all super full and super crowded with cars at the dinner hour-- in any case. No curbside pick up sign had me confused so I parked....but I was so far away I figured they couldn't see my car so I head up to the curbside pickup window that I could see and just I get there I get a message on my phone that my order is ready and that I can come get it from the curbside pick up.

lol *shakes head* So apparently it was supposed to be a "Wait in the car until the order is ready and then come get it." situation. Having not done curbside pick up from Texas since they actually installed the window....I had no idea that that was the case. As last time I had to go into the building to grab my food. 

In any case.

I had excellent timing in that I was able to basically go to the window and go "Hey I need my order" and they handed it right to me.

Love the no waiting thing.

I even managed to get out of the crazy full parking lot decently easy because there were cars lined up everywhere waiting to move to other places around the mall. So the fact that I got to the main road with little issue was amazing.

AND THEN.

Like five minutes after I got home with my food, one of the packages I'd ordered last night ARRIVED.

XD so I had the wonderful 'surprise' of being able to open up a package and see the little carved Toothless Dragon that I'd ordered.

Dude's adorable and brings a smile to my face when I hold him in my hands.

So yah.

Spoiling myself is awesome.

Especially when things fall into place so that it's all easy and fortuitous and such. Definitely helped to lift my mood a bit. :D

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Space

There's a thing about being introverted....is that you're always delegating energy to interacting with people. And as a retail worker...alot of my energy goes to interacting with customers.

So I tend to value my alone time whenever I get it.

Which has been pretty rare since the Pandemic started because one roomie is still working from home most of the time and so therefore is always home.

And like...we don't always interact, but home always has a different energy to it when there's another person on site. 

You're not truly alone. Even if you're both hanging out in your bedrooms.

No.

It's not that common I get alone time here at the house.

And if I do get alone time it's only for like...a couple of hours.

But I tend to value those couple of hours of having the place to myself.

So when I get told by the roomies that they're going to not be home when I get home from work?

Oh. It's joyous news for me lol.

Which has made this week 'that' much harder.

Because this week I was told twice that I would have the house to myself.

Only to discover. Upon coming home from work.

That at least one roomie was still home. 

Because plans had changed.

And therefore they'd already done the thing or pushed back the thing and therefore....meant that I wouldn't have the house to myself.

To say it was disheartening was a bit of an....understatement.

I don't mind being around people....when I'm expecting to be around people.

But when I'm expecting to be alone and discover that that isn't going to be the case?

Yah. My introverted self doesn't like that.

I plan for alone time, I want alone time.

To have it happen twice this week where I could have had alone time and was denied it?

Yah.

It's not the end of the world....but it really just....disappointing. 

I so rarely get my alone time. 

To plan for it and not get it?

It sucks. 

*exhales* I have a third chance tomorrow to have the house to myself....we'll see if it actually happens.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Off Kilter

I got hit with a ... Dizzy spell today.

Not sure it was actually a dizzy spell.

But like. One second I'm standing there helping customers and the next I'm having to reach out to grab onto something because my sense of vertigo just went screwy. 

Like the world tilted slightly to the left for a bit. 

And I could feel that my body didn't feel quite right.

I could still move normally. Could still talk normally.

But my vision....it was normal....it just kinda felt like.... I don't know.

That moment of dizziness when you stand up too quickly. A slight sensation of movement when you're not moving. I guess sealegs like sensation where it feels like the world is wobbling around you but it's not.

And like...when I moved to walk, I had a bit of a moment of wondering if I was going to stagger into something. Tip over. Trip. Because I could feel that my balance was slightly off even though I could also see that I was standing up right and basically walking and moving normally.

It was the weirdest sensation. Not a fun sensation.

But like....I'm not even sure why it hit? Like I was two hours away from getting off my shift. I'd eaten lunch two hours before that. I was drinking liquids....

But I'm guessing it may have been just an....exhaustion response?? As I felt soooo tired today and I definitely didn't get enough sleep last night -stayed up too late reading- and with me being tense and probably not breathing properly.....

Yah. There's a bunch of reasons why the dizziness happened.

It threw me off though for sure. 

Though taking a bath to relax my muscles and a nap and eating a real dinner instead of snacking also seems to have helped it.

*fingers crossed* It doesn't return tomorrow.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Irritation

It's annoying.

I've had a sore throat off and on since before Christmas. 

And it's getting soooo frustrating that it won't just....go away.

Like it can't be COVID if it's stuck around so long. Sore throats shouldn't stick around for over a month.

So I'm pretty sure it's the stupid inversion that keeps descending in the valley. Bad air can cause sore throats right? Right.

That or I'm eating too much sugar.

Maybe a combination of both.

In either case. I notice that the sore throat doesn't usually appear when I'm home doing nothing but chilling.

But at work? Running around? Yah. Totally end up with a sore throat.

Ergo. Inversion bad air causing it.

That and probably stress.

Because I'm sure I'm probably stressed and it's causing issues.

Whatever the case.

I'm tired of the sore throat.

I just want it gone.

I want it to pack up and leave and not come back because having it off and on for over a month is really really really irritating. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi