Empty

 Another chip, another blow.

Today my bucket found another hole.

A drip. A drop.

Takes everything I got.

To smile. And pretend.

That it's okay. It'll soon end.

Where's a patch? Where's a hose?

Who knows when the leaks will close.

So here I go, and toil away.

Hoping my bucket will be filled today.

Yet the sun has set. The bucket's dry.

I huddle in my room, and silently cry.

For where is the water I desperately need?

To nourish my own growing seed?

Gone to others. Gone away.

Nothing's left for me this day.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi 

The Wrong Number

 Ah. The irony.

You see. I've been complaining off and on like the entire week about the fact that people -different people- keep texting me at like 7 freaking 30 in the morning and startling me awake and therefore triggering my stress response which tenses up my muscles which then triggers a migraine that I haven't been able to get rid of for days now.

And so last night I was like "Woot! Day off tomorrow! I can totally rest."

And my head manager was like "Yes! Rest. Relax. Don't even think about work tomorrow. Turn your phone off or something."

Which...I didn't turn it off.

I did place it on the floor where I would be less likely to hear it go off. 

But I ended up being wide awake at like 6 am so didn't really sleep much anyways.

Which was probably a good thing.

Because guess who texted me at like 8 this morning?

Yep. 

My head manager.

*shakes head*

There was an issue with this morning's safe count. In that the manager who counted was off by a little bit.

And when they pulled the documents from last night...the documents they pulled didn't match what they were seeing in their own count.

So head manager was texting me to see why it was so 'off' between last night and today.

The reason?

Opening manager was looking at the wrong document. They'd pulled the wrong one. One from last month's counting instead of last night's counts.

It was easy enough to see...mostly because I noticed the signature on the bottom of the paper wasn't the right one. As I had had my new manager do all the signing of the documents last night when I was showing them how to do all the money related stuff.

And their signature wasn't on the bottom of the page.

So yah. Easy fix. Find the right papers.

Double check the counts.

And yah. They ended up finding what was wrong so yay.

*shakes head*

Still funny.

But oh so frustrating.

That head manager told me to not worry about work and then proceeded to worry me about work first thing this morning. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Manager in Training

 It was another day of me technically being alone as the closing manager.

I say technically because our newest manager was also scheduled to work tonight.

But they haven't yet been trained in all the manager duties. And therefore can't really be left alone to watch over the store just yet

Which was tricky.

Because again...I didn't have a midday manager. 

As technically I was originally scheduled for the midshift. But because my other manager switched today's shift with the cashier's shift yesterday....

I ended up switching my shift back a couple of hours so that I could be the closing manager.

Which on the one hand. Still really grateful that switch happened because trying to work yesterday had been soooo difficult. 

But on the other hand....it's not fun being the only manager in the store.

I mean, I've adjusted to it and it doesn't stress me out as much as it did in the beginning anymore.

But still. I do like having my fellow managers to rely on.

Thankfully we had more coverage tonight than we did yesterday.

Thankfully it was a slower day so I didn't have to interact with people, because yah...still got the stupid migraine though it's moved behind my right eye now. XP bleh.

But it also gave me the opportunity to do a little bit of unofficial training with my new manager. Showing them the ropes on how to use the registers and count the tills and such.

So yah.

Overall good day despite the migraine. And my new manager did rather well in the store. 

As I did have to leave them to fend for themselves while I took a lunch break. But the store didn't burn down in that half hour so woot! lol

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Migraine Woes

 I ended up with a major migraine today.

Like a nuclear one.

One that interfered with my ability to actually well...work at work. 

Which you know it's bad if I can't go to work. As I've worked through many a migraine. But this one? Yah...it was probably triggered by stress. Because yah...constantly getting worked up early in the morning is. not. fun. 

And like I tried to head it off before going into work.

But nope. Work stress triggered it back. 

Work stress made it worse.

*exhales*

And I'm extremely grateful that one of my other managers ended up switching shifts with the cashier today. Because my midday manager ended up leaving an hour or so into their shift for health related reasons as well.

Which would have left me as the only manager for most of my shift.

Which would have meant that no matter how crappy I was feeling....I would have been the only manager on duty. Which meant I couldn't just leave. 

BUT.

Because one of my other managers switched shifts.

It meant that they were here. In the store. Present. For like the entire evening.

Which was great because by like...idk 4pm? I was so unfunctionable.

Like the migraine had gotten to the point where I felt like throwing up any time I tried to stand up.

A sign of a nuclear migraine for sure. 

And trying to walk around, talk to and help customers, and like...be in the store for another 5 hours in that sort of mindframe?

Yah no. Wasn't gonna happen.

I needed to go home. To rest. To sleep. To do something to try and get the migraine to go away.

Which I was reluctant to do because if I left it would mean that I was just leaving my other manager as the cashier, and my petcare person in the store.

Two people. For the closing shift? Ha. Not a good idea. Especially when we hadn't yet been hit by the dinner rush or anything.

Thankfully though, my morning opener for petcare was amazing and chose to stay a few hours over the end of their shift to help support the store.

Which allowed me to go home.

Where I took a shower, put in a movie, and crashed for like 2 hours. 

And by the time the movie ended...I was feeling much better. I mean...I still wasn't 100% because the migraine was still present, but at least it was more manageable. I could function through it at least.

And I knew that the last couple of hours of us being open could get rather crazy.

And not knowing how long my morning petcare person was planning to stay....

I chose to head back into work to help support during the last little bit that the store was open.

Thankfully it wasn't too crazy. Surprisingly I managed to time it well enough that I got back to work only like half an hour after my morning worker had left for the day.

Meaning my manager/cashier and petcare person were only by themselves for like maybe half an hour in the store.

Which was good. That we were able to have the coverage and such.

And I managed to help out wherever I could.

Though by the time the store closed my migraine had begun to get stronger again. So I was more than grateful to finally head home and crash.

But yah.

Yah for things working out so that I could go home.

Because I don't know if I would have survived otherwise. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Startled Awake

Okay. I'm guilty of this too--though in my defense when I text people early in the morning it's because I know that they are usually already awake.

And maybe people are still thinking that I work morning shifts.

Maybe they're thinking I'm already awake.

After all for most of my work career. My shifts have started in the pre-dawn hours of the day.

But with the pandemic and cutting of hours and me becoming a manager.

My shifts have changed. 

They're no longer as early they used to be.

And maybe the fact that people have been isolated for most of the past year. That they haven't had much contact besides what you can get through technology...maybe time no longer has a meaning to them. They don't realize that because they're awake...doesn't mean that everyone else is awake too.

And like....it's been bugging me recently.

Because growing up. I was always told that you don't contact people before 9am or after 10pm unless it's like an emergency.

And because of this mindset...it's hard to not wonder "What's wrong?!" when my phone goes off super early in the morning.

Like. Obviously something has to be wrong if you're texting me before the sun is up.

And maybe I'm just sensitive to noise.

But like....for the past couple of weeks....like nearly every day....people have been texting me before 9am. Before the sun rises. and startling me awake.

Which is sooo annoying. Soo frustrating. And it's triggered more than one migraine from me waking up and stressing over issues that really shouldn't be stressing me and probably wouldn't have if I'd been awake already or like well into my day when said text was sent.

But noooo.

I haven't been able to sleep well for a while.

And I've basically reached the point where I'm tempted to leave my phone in a different room when I go to bed just so I can have some peace of mind and be able to actually rest. 

Unfortunately...my phone is my alarm clock for waking up for my shifts that I do have scheduled in the morning...

But yah. Definitely feeling the need to disconnect from being 'reachable' for a bit. As it's getting old quick how often people wake me up.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Going Back To Normal

The Walmart by my work got rid of their 'directional' signs in the aisles. 

You know the signs where they say "Enter Here" Or "Do Not Enter" to try and make it so their aisles were just one way...

Yah. They're gone at the store I shop at.

Which...it makes sense with people getting the vaccine and the state mask mandate ending and such---you know how the 'pandemic is coming to a close' that it would seem kinda silly to keep up the 'one way' aisles (when a bunch of people couldn't follow those directions anyways) as social distancing becomes less of a 'thing' to have to work with. 

But it was...kinda weird...I'm not sure how to feel about it after having those signs on the floor for like a year straight.

Like in many ways it was freeing. 

To not have to worry about looking at the floors and making sure that I was going down the aisle in the right direction.

It also helped to relieve the tension/irritation felt by witnessing other shoppers ignoring said signs and going down the aisle the 'wrong way'

Plus it made shopping..maybe a little quicker? I mean I didn't have to play ring around the rosie in order to get to the item I wanted.

But it was still stressful.

Having people approaching you from either direction.

Having people come near you and hover within six feet.

It was especially stressful when the individuals who've chosen to ignore the 'Masks Required' signs and wander around without masks....

Still.

Despite not liking being near maskless people.

It was nice to be able to just kinda...shop. And not have to think beyond the 'is the item I want down this aisle' sort of thoughts.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Need a Leash?

You know how people got (and still get) offended about being asked to wear masks?

Well...

Today I had a customer come into the store...without a mask on...which has been a rather common occurrence since my state lifted it's mask mandate. People think that since the mandate is lifted that they can completely ignore the signs saying "Mask Required" that are posted like...everywhere in our store and walk around.

Which they're able to do because our DM has directed us to basically have masks up front and keep the signs up but like...not to push anyone about wearing a mask beyond maybe telling them that we require masks in the store and direct them to the ones up front. 

In any case.

I actually wasn't approaching the customer today in regards to their maskless face.

No since the mandate ended I haven't really brought it up because a) I'm tired of being yelled at and b) I'm tired of the stress that comes with approaching said anti-maskers.

No.

I was approaching this guy in regards to his dog.

Why?

Because said dog wasn't on a leash.

And funnily enough...we require dogs to be leashed or contained in the store.

So either they have a leash...or you have the pup contained in a cart or in a carrier or something.

You can't just have the dog running around willy nilly for a variety of reasons but overall it falls under the category of 'safety' we don't want that dog getting hurt, or any other dog, creature, person getting hurt in the store because someone couldn't control their little fuzzy child.

So I asked the customer if he had a leash for his dog as they're required to be on a leash in the store.

and the dude was like "He jumped out of the cart."

Which funnily enough...the cart -our mini verson- that he'd grabbed has this nice "DO NOT PUT ANIMALS IN CART" sign on it that he too chose to not follow just like all the "Mask Required signs"

Said small carts have those little 'do not put pets in here' signs on them because the sides are much shallower than our regular sized carts and therefore make it super easy for animals to jump out of said carts and possibly hurt themselves in if the pet parent isn't paying attention. 

I was like "Okay" Cus I wasn't going to bring up the fact the cart clearly said "do not put your dog here." on nor was I going to bring up that "hey masks are also required here." 

No.

All I said was "Okay, but just in case the dog jumps out again, can I grab you a temporary leash to wear?" 

Because again. Dog needed to have a leash or be contained in some manner and the cart obviously wasn't going to do that since the dog apparently already jumped out once (if said dog was even in the cart in the first place)

But like...it would be easier to just have the dog on a leash and you hold said leash so doggie can wander around without wandering around too far from the owner....

However...the dude didn't take a leash.

No he legitimately picked up said puppy and walked right out of the store without another word. 

Like dude....I didn't say you couldn't have your dog in the store. Only that you needed to have a leash. And that I could go grab a temporary one for him.

*shakes head*

I thought he was just taking his dog back out to the car to leave it there and then come back to do shopping. But nope. Dude never reappeared.

And it just...like reminded me of the whole 'anti-masker' issue we've been having.

People don't like being told they can't do something.

And while we occasionally get the customer that gets upset at us for not letting their furry child have free reign of the store....

It wasn't something I had paralleled to the anti-maskers until today.

Like...it was a similar response to "Masks are required to be worn in the store, I can grab you one." Where I've had customers just leave. 

But with a dog.

Like dude. I was just asking you to leash your dog.

I wasn't even bringing up the fact that you should be wearing a mask as well....

*shakes head*

Got to wonder what he was thinking. Because I can't see why what I said would trigger him to just pick up the dog and leave....

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

-Sarnic Dirchi