Migraine Galore

 One of the things that has been causing me stress the last little bit, which kinda is like a cyclical stress....is the fact that my migraines have been returning more frequently.

Which is a pattern I have noticed in the last almost year since I first went to see a doctor about the migraines....is that the more stressed I am...the more headaches I get....which getting headaches also stresses me out especially if I can get rid of them. 

So like....get stressed out get a headache that won't go away get even more stressed out and get more headaches.....it's a vicious cycle really.

Which the main solution is....stop getting stressed out. 

But kinda hard for me to not be stressed when life kinda imploded in all directions.

In any case.

I had a check in appointment back in January to see how I was doing with my migraines. 

And we decided to up my dose of Topirimate to see if that would help me fully get rid of my migraines. 

As it's great that they have decreased....but the goal is kinda to not get any at all.

So I tried increasing my dose throughout January. First jumping up to 50mg and then a week later up to 75 mg when I was still getting migraines.....

Only to find that I was STILL getting migraines and that was kinda the highest safe dosage to take...so I went back to the doctor.....

And I asked to double check my vitamin B12 levels because the last time we checked those in July they were stupid high. Like broke the chart high.

And despite being told that high B12s won't cause headaches....a Google search (which yah who knows how believable those are) state that high B12s can also cause headaches. So too high of B12 or too low of B12 and I could get more migraines.

It was also decided that I would go off of the Topirimate because like...it's not helping the migraines go away so why continue them?

But I wanted to wait and see what my b12s were before making any decisions, though we did talk through a few other options of meds to take. 

And my B12s?

They're still high. Up in the 1000 number range. 

So instead of taking B12 daily I've decided on my own to decrease the amount of that vitamin I'm taking to only twice a week in the hopes that lowering the B12s into a more 'normal' range will mean a decrease in headaches.....

Again with the state of stress I've been in the last couple of months there's other mitigating factors to destress myself that I need to look into as well.

But at least decreasing the B12 intake is something tangible I can do.

Especially when I was told to "stay the course" so to speak and not change anything because otherwise my lab results looked normal so there was no concern. 

So I weaned myself off the Topirimate fully a few days ago. And for now I'm just keeping an eye on my vitamins and my stress and  you know.....ensuring that I have Nurtec on hand to take for those migraines that Advil and Tylenol don't help. 

My next check in is in May so we'll see how everything looks then I suppose and get an idea of maybe potential meds to take if my migraines are still being a pain by that point. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Check Your Messages

 So. 

In the continuing saga of me wondering where my coworker's brains are at.

We've had one of those... I guess it's been about a months worth...but one of those weeks where everyone and there mom is sick. Like right around Christmas everyone started getting hit with some sort of cold/flu thing. 

Which has continued into the new year with multiple people calling out sick this week. 

Which is pertinent because one of the main requirements needed to open the store is that we need to have two people present in the morning in order to get into the building. 

But due to call outs our usual morning person who comes in with the morning manager was out sick. 

And no one else was available to come in that early. So therefore the last couple of days we needed to delay our entrance into the store a little bit until the next person was scheduled to come in. 

Which hasn't been that big of a deal because yesterday it still gave me time to get stuff done before the main store opened and such. 

And the manager today was contacted via text and warned that there was no second person available for the normal time and that they would need to come in an hour later than scheduled because of it. 

A message that's pretty cut and dry....

IF

and I say IF

said person reads their freaking text messages.

Which I get. 

Not everyone is as connected to their phones as I am. 

I get it. Many people like living disconnected from their phones.

It's probably healthy that way.

But like....if it involves work...you should still check every now and then before your shift starts to make sure you haven't missed any messages. Especially if you're a MANAGER. 

Granted....said manager could have seen the message and just....elected to ignore it. 

It wouldn't surprise me...this manager is...well...stubborn...and completely awful at communication to be honest. 

In any case.

Head Manager and I were also due to come into the store at the EXACT SAME TIME as the opening manager with the delay that was given. 

But when we arrived we discovered the morning manager was already in the store.

And doing a little research we discovered that they entered the store at their ORIGINAL SCHEDULED TIME.

They hadn't made any effort whatsoever to come in LATER like they were told to. 

Plus they broke policy by entering the store without another associate with them. 

And I'm just left shaking my head.

Like....Why?

Did you not SEE the text?

Did you see it and think "Oh I don't need to listen to this?" 

I don't get it. 

But it's another tick in the list of frustrations I have against this particular manager.....

Like....communication is kinda important in this job....and you are very much failing at it morning manager. So much failing. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

What Does Priority Mean To You?

 One of my weaknesses as a manager that I've been working to overcome has been the ....well it should be simple...but the simple matter of delegation.

The process of dividing out tasks to my team so that I'm not the one trying to get everything done by myself. 

I struggle with this though.

Because it often feels like I could have done it much easier and much faster if I'd done it by myself.

Especially in the sort of situations where I DO end up having to do the task by myself after all. 

And it's especially frustrating when I give out tasks to others only to see them not get done.

And it's hard to know if they weren't done because the person didn't want to do them or they didn't have time to do them or some other factor prevented them from completing them. 

But like....coinciding with yesterday in "give a person a specific task and timeframe to get the truck done" it continued on into today.

Where I left my opening manager with a list of tasks that needed to be done.

Which amounted to like 3 things.

1. Open the store.

2. Finish the truck and clean up 

3. Do the required scans to check inventory.

and like a side project was "Hey give the cashiers this project to build so that I can finish this reset a different day. " 

And I get a message at the end of opening manager's shift. 

Hey there's still a bit of truck left and scans weren't done.

Which -_- not unexpected because it was a larger truck and we're still getting back into the groove of having one truck a day. But like....how could you not get truck done when you had EIGHT HOURS to do truck?

Okay more like SIX HOURS to do truck because the opening tasks can take a couple of hours.

And granted it's been a 'sick' week where we've had a bunch of people calling out for not feeling well, which was the case today as well so I get there having to be a bit of breakaway. 

but at the same time....I'd been hoping to have a bit more of truck done. 

But also it turns out that the task I set the opening manager to set the cashiers to do?

Didn't get done either. 

And I don't know if it was because the cashier was like "Nah I don't wanna" or if the morning manager didn't COMMUNICATE that this was a task that needed to be done and therefore the cashier didn't know it needed to be done.

In any case.

I get in touch with the closing manager to be like "Hey finish the truck and then do the scans if you have time but truck is the priority." because we're supposed to have truck done within 24 hours of it arriving. 

And also had the closing manager get the closing cashier started on the task that the morning cashier should have been working on. 

In any case.

Closer to the end of the night when the closing manager needs to be switching gears to start the closing tasks I get a text of "Hey we're still working truck but I got half the scans done!" 

And I'm just.....face palming.

Because TRUCK SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE FOCUS.

How hard is it to get through everyone's skulls that truck should have been done first?!

Like scans can be pushed off to a different day if needed. Truck? Not so much. 

And granted I'm sure that closing manager did some of the scans for a bit of those happy endorphins of "I completed a task" but at the same time. WHAT ABOUT THE TRUCK!

Sooo yah it's left me a bit frustrated to have multiple people ignoring the 'truck first' priority and just like....do their own thing. 

Especially when that means that I have even more on my plate for tomorrow when I go into work because now I have to fit in the rest of whatever didn't get done today with what has to be done tomorrow. 

So yah.

Frustrations all around.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Why Can't You Go Faster?

 There's a certain amount of frustration that occurs when things don't go to plan. 

Especially when it's over little things that shouldn't have caused the plan to derail and yet caused the plan to derail.

Like today with our truck.

After the last few months of us having trucks twice a week to account for the holiday demands...this week was the first week of us having just one truck again.

Which means instead of having around a dozen pallets to work ....we now have twice that many. 

Which means that I needed all hands on deck to try and get truck out and done as quickly as possible.

Which I warned various associates about. The "Hey, we're back to one truck a week which means we have nearly two dozen pallets that need to be worked TODAY so I need you working QUICKLY so that we can get this done fast!" 

And I hasn't passed my attention that the moment I say "Hey, I need you finishing quickly so I can put you to work elsewhere....." often seems to cause my coworkers to move SLOWER. 

Which is, to me, an obvious sign of "oh I don't want to do that job so if I take my time here I will be able to avoid doing that other job there." 

And like I get it. I get not wanting to do certain tasks.

But when I'm on a deadline and I tell you to move quicker, I really mean MOVE QUICKER. 

Like my petcare was doing really well today in getting done fast...like they were actually on track to be done on time today...and then they got to the fish wall and it took them like THREE HOURS to do like a  HALF HOUR job. 

It's just.....frustrating.

And I'm quickly losing my patience and understanding with it. Because like I've told them a million times the expectations and they're failing at the expectations and I don't know how to get it through everyone's skulls that they should make the priorities and a priority.

So yah.

Frustrations today.

So much frustrations. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Why Are You Like This?

 There's a certain frustration that follows when people can't follow directions. 

And really, it's probably part of the reason why I didn't post for a couple of months. 

Because a lot has been happening at work that was and has been stressful. 

And when I'm stressed out and don't really want to face my thoughts....I don't write. Because writing is how I process my thoughts. 

In any case. 

Part of that current frustration involves one of my fellow managers.

Who was my equal position wise, but I just recently jumped up to a higher manager position putting me over them in the tier of managers. 

And this manager... did not take the news well when they found out.

Which was a bit of a ??? moment for both myself and the head manager.

Because this management position has been open for months because for various stupid reasons it took forever to get through the interview process and to get approved to get bumped up to a higher position what with all the recent management changeovers work decided to do earlier last year. 

In any case. 

We had no idea this manager was interested in the open position.

Because they NEVER ASKED ABOUT IT. 

The closest to bringing it up was a complaint of "when is this position going to be filled?!" to which my head manager had responded "when I get applications and interview them then I'll fill the position" because with the new process we actually have to do the whole official apply online procedure and get interviewed and such rather than the old way where it was more of a 'here's quick interview click click your position is now changed!" 

In any case. Beyond that one singular comment this manager did not bring up wanting the open position AT ALL. 

And we kinda figured it would be a position that they would NOT want to apply for anyways because 

1. That position requires the manager to close once a week. Which this manager does not like closing and 2. Requires that you cannot work before a certain time. And this manager would much rather work early morning shifts...which the open position does not do early mornings unless there is no one else available. 

Plus this manager is just frankly...unqualified for the position because it's over a much larger aspect of the store that requires communication and organization and being comfortable in petcare as well as being comfortable with working the inventory in the store. 

So all in all not a good fit.

And yet. 

They were upset that they were never 'told' that the position was open. 

Like....pretty sure the manager LEAVING was the official opening, but also like they had asked WHEN we were getting the position filled and head manager had said "WHEN I GET APPLICATIONS" 

Like that had to be clear enough???

In any case.

The main frustration from this manager comes from the fact that they Cannot. Do. Their. Freaking. Job. or Follow. Freaking. Directions.

Like I am doing my best to communicate and to keep open channels so I can make sure the store is being run properly on my side, but this manager is refusing to play ball without some serious teeth pulling. 

I tell them to text me what tasks are left and they don't.

I give them a list of tasks that should be completed in a single shift.

And they don't complete them.

And more and more it's like "can we leave you alone to actually be a manager or do you need to be held by the hand and watched the entire time.' because we keep finding things and we're like ??? "how long have you been doing that for?" 

Like yesterday when I discovered there was a potential issue with the registers and when I asked "Were any of the registers off this morning?" to this manager expecting to hear "yah register # was short" and instead got "Yah all of them were off." 

When I knew head manager had closed the night before and therefore the registers should not be SHORT ANY MONEY beyond the maybe potential ONE register due to a different manager error a couple of days previously....

Only to have head manager RECOUNT all the tills and discover that no. NONE of them were short. They were ALL ON.

Which meant this manager had managed to MISCOUNT MULTIPLE TILLS and DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT IT to anyone until I had asked.

Makes me wonder just how often the tills are off when they open when they're actually on. It's just.....

It's just been so frustrating dealing with this manager.

And I can't tell if they're doing it on purpose because they're unhappy with me being the manager over them....or if they were really this incompetent the entire time.

Like I'm guessing it's more of the latter. But I wouldn't be surprised if there's a bit of the former because I'm quite open in trying to talk with and communicate with my coworkers and fellow managers. This manager? You can work a week with them and hear maybe 5 words.

So yah.

It's been a frustrating couple of months. 

Especially with the holiday crazy on top of it. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

2026 Decisions

 I came across a post a couple of days ago that said something like "There's literally no rules saying your New Years resolutions can't be for evil." 

Which at the time I thought was funny and I was like "what would I do if I made an evil resolution?" which honestly I couldn't think of anything that i wanted to do. 

But like.

The thought did keep crossing my mind today that some people DID wake up and choose violence on the first day of the new year.

Metaphorical violence in my case. Though I've seen plenty of news stories about actual violence. 

But like.

It's New Years Day right?

The day after New Years Eve.

The night where people STAY UP LATE to party. Like until at least midnight but more likely until at least 1am people are staying up if they've ventured out anywhere. 

Me. I was home by 1 am because I had to work today. So even though I was out until midnight with family and friends. I was being careful to give myself enough time to get home that I would still be able to get enough sleep to be fine at work this morning. 

And you would THINK that knowing that people stayed up late that the next day no one would really be in contact until like...later in the day.

Like bare earliest would be the typical 9 am time frame. 

AND YET. 

I got woken up multiple times before my alarm went off by people TEXTING ME. 

And some of them I could forgive. Like older relatives who get up at the crack of dawn or friends in other time zones who may have forgotten the time difference. 

But I had like SIX different people texting all before 9 am. 

The one text I was most annoyed by though was my freaking guy manager.

Who I had told on TUESDAY to text me on WEDNESDAY what he'd gotten done during his shift so I could continue on with projects and know what got completed and what didn't. 

Did he text me Wednesday?

No, he decided that it was best to text me at SIX IN THE MORNING on NEW YEARS DAY. 

Like the morning after everyone has PARTIED ALL NIGHT AND SHOULD BE SLEEPING IN. 

Yes. I had to work. But dude. CHECK THE SCHEDULE And SEE THE TIME I WORK. 

I wasn't in the store until 9. You could have texted me much closer to that time.

Like granted we're usually in the store about 7 am. But like it's a HOLIDAY the hours are DIFFERENT TODAY. 

So yah.

I was irritated.

Like dude WHY. 

*exhales*

So yah. Apparently some people did wake up today and decide to be inconsiderate to others and their sleep schedules. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

What Do You Mean Meet At A Specific Time?

 With the frustrations I've been experiencing this past week with work and my coworkers...it's kinda no surprise that it carried over into my vacation just a tiny bit.

And really the frustrations just stem from little miscommunications. 

Where plans are talked about and one person thinks the details are one way and another thinks the details are another way and plans get messed up a bit because no one was on the same page like we thought we were.

Like due to the stress of work I'd given myself permission to just...sleep in. 

There was no set timeline to meet in Moab for our Family Vacation today so I gave myself permission to just rest my body and wake up when I woke up and I would get down to the city when I got down there to meet up with everyone. 

Which meant that I actually didn't wake up until nearly 10 and didn't really end up leaving until closer to Noon because getting up and moving and packing took a bit longer than I had planned.

As I'd originally thought I'd be leaving around 9 or 10...but I was more tired than I realized because I slept in so long.

Still not a big deal. One of my siblings wasn't leaving until 11ish anyways either so it wasn't like I was that far behind....and I was still going to be early as it turns out they were leaving later than expected too closer to 1 instead.

So I figured it would be a nice mellow drive down and I could meet up with family that was already there and chill and enjoy the time while waiting for everyone else.

Only to be told like halfway down that the original plan was to meet at 2pm so we could have lunch at my Daddoo's favorite place. 

And I was like ??? since WHEN?

Because I knew that we were going to eat at the favorite place when everyone met up.

But did not recall there ever being a TIME connected to it. It was more of a nebulous "We'll eat there once everyone gets here." 

Plus like I wouldn't be getting down there until AFTER 2 because I had no idea I'd need to be down there by that time.

So plans had to be adjusted to account for everyone's expected arrival.

But it just left me feeling wrong footed and frustrated because like....I try to be on time to things and with the frustrations of plans not going to plan this past few days at work to already have our Moab Trip plans going off the rails was even more frustrating. I just wanted to have a good time and relax with family.

Like I knew things weren't going to go fully to plan. We have multiple families with kids meeting together with various different needs so most of our plans were vague anyway. But still. It's stressful to realize you've thrown off someone's plan. Especially when it's like there was no communication that THAT WAS the plan.

Like I said. We got it figured out. Switched things around and such.

But it was frustrating. And not at all how I wanted to start this vacation.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

And The Frustration Continues

 Have you ever reached the level of frustration where you're just beyond frustration? 

Like you recognize that you should be frustrated but you've been frustrated since Tuesday for various reasons and therefore are just....beyond caring. Like apathetic levels of frustration of "Of course this didn't work out. Nothing else has worked out why would TODAY be any different?"

Yah. That was today.

We were supposed to have our District Manager come by today. To you know visit the store.

Which meant that I spent yesterday trying to get a laundry list of things done and directed my mid manager and closing manager to get certain tasks done so that I could finish the remaining laundry list of things that needed to be done but also get all the Thursday tasks done that need to be done on Thursday while also doing like final facing and presentation to make sure that the store looked all nice and pretty for the District Manager to show up. 

I gave Mid Manager ONE task. Get all of our Halloween product out onto the floor and make sure there's no holes in it. Fill it all up and make it look pretty. 

Which they didn't start said task until TWO HOURS LATER when closing manager came in. So I was like okay closing manager go help Mid Manager with the Halloween stuff.

But also I gave the closing manager like 4 things to get done last night.

1. Make Sure Halloween was out, with tags, and there were no holes.

2. Make sure the end caps were all pretty with NO HOLES.

3. Print out some 4x5 tags for certain areas that needed it.

4. Make sure the feeder tanks get scrubbed -I had told Petcare to do this as well but also gave Closing Manager this task to make sure they got done.

What did I find when I got into work this morning?

NONE OF IT HAD BEEN FINISHED.

Sure. Halloween was basically all out on the floor with exceptions of a couple of larger items but there were still HOLES in the Halloween section that hadn't been filled.

EVERY ENDCAP HAD A HOLE IN IT WHERE PRODUCT SHOULD HAVE BEEN PLACED.

A certain pallet I said "Hey this needs to be tagged with 4x5 tags" WAS NOT TAGGED.

AND THE FREAKING GOLDFISH TANKS WERE NOT SCRUBBED.

Which is super frustrating because I gave Closing Petcare TWO TASKS to do to prep for today's visit and that was "sweep behind the fish wall and scrub the feeder tanks" and they did NOT scrub the feeder tanks.

So I was like "Okay. Opening Petcare the DM is coming in today I NEED you to scrub those tanks BEFORE they arrive at ONEish okay? Okay" 

And expected petcare to be done and ready by one. 

Was it? NO. 

Like I don't get it. I say there's a visit and it seems like petcare moved SLOWER because I'm here running around with my head cut off because I'm the ONLY manager scheduled for the morning shift with NO MID manager today to cover me and by the time petcare takes their lunch at NOON the feeder tanks still haven't been scrubbed and the DM could literally be showing up any minute because even if we were told 1ish they could come in earlier.

So despite telling THREE PEOPLE to scrub the FREAKING GOLDFISH TANKS I ENDED UP BEING THE ONE TO GIVE THEM A QUICK SCRUB so that they didn't look like a disaster. 

And that was on top of getting rid of the holes in Halloween and filling the end caps and trying to get pricing done and facing the store because of course closing manager DIDN'T FACE THE STORE BEFORE LEAVING. Along with a million other tasks I had to also do while being the ONLY MANAGER.

And like my closing manager came in at 1230 but we were still doing lunches for everyone so my lunch point would have fallen at 1 right when the DM came in and I was like....that would not be good so I chose to skip my lunch since I was off at 3 and about to go on vacation so me not taking the half hour didn't really matter hours wise, so that I could focus on helping Head Manager finish getting the store looking tidy and ready and Head Manager helped me finish up a few of my tasks I hadn't quite gotten to yet because I had to finish what the CLOSING MANAGER SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN DONE YESTERDAY.

And it's frustrating because closing manager is seeking to take over my spot IF I ever get promoted to the PL position and so far closing manager is hardcore failing to prove that they can handle my job because they can't even handle doing the tasks I set them in a timely manner and can't even properly do their own current job because their current job should be ensuring that the STORE IS PROPERLY FACED AND LOOKING PRETTY by the end of the night.

So yah. A day of frustrations. 

Made even more frustrating because the District Manager NEVER SHOWED UP.

So I spent 2 days stressing and running around making things looking good and SKIPPED my lunch for NOTHING. 

Like I thought the DM would be coming in to like maybe get an opinion of me before approving my promotion because it sounds like they need to approve before I can get promoted and YET they NEVER CAME INTO THE STORE.

Just ugggggggggghhhhhhh.

It's been a week built with frustration upon frustration and it's a good thing that I'm vanishing for a week from work for a vacation because if I had to see any of my coworkers again tomorrow or the next day I would probably strangle them and scream because they have been SO UNHELPFUL THIS WEEK. SO UNHELPFUL. 

I need a break.

Seriously.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

How Long Must You Mourn?

 It's probably a sign that I'm getting 'old' but I really am tired of all the 'drama' with my coworkers.

To the point where I'm really apathetic to it all.

Especially this past yearish because it feels like every day just brings another 'problem' that shouldn't be a problem. 

Whether it's call outs for being 'sick' AGAIN. 

Or call outs for other reasons.....

I am getting sooo sooo Soo very close to just snapping and being like "I'm sorry, but I actually need you in the store, you need to come in."

Because seriously how many times can you get 'food poisoning' that only lasts like a day? STOP EATING WHATEVER YOU'RE EATING. Or DOING WHATEVER YOU'RE DOING TO GET SICK ALL THE TIME YEESH.

But it's also the annoyance I have with my coworkers who constantly go "I need more hours!" and then constantly go "Hey can someone cover my shift?" 

Like....You can't really get MORE HOURS if you don't WORK THEM. 

Like last night I had a coworker text at ten freaking thirty at night ---which GURL you SHOULD NOT BE TEXTING THAT LATE. 

Asking if someone could cover their Saturday shift.

Why? Because their dog was going to be put down today and they apparently needed the day AFTER off as well. 

Like...you don't work at all Friday and you NEED Saturday off too? For your dog? 

Like. I get it. Pets are like family. Losing a family member can hurt.

But like....it's a DOG. 

And I recognize it's apathetic of me to be like that. But seriously. I can get needing the day off for the day you are putting down your pet. We did that last week for a Groomer who had to put down one of their pets. They asked for the Saturday off. We gave it to them. But they didn't ask for MULTIPLE DAYS. 

Like. My sweet summer child. Mourn for the Friday, but please  come in and WORK YOUR FREAKING SATURDAY SHIFT.

Like this coworker only works maybe 2 shifts a week and wants 'more' hours but anytime we try and schedule more than like 2 shifts a week they call off at least one of those shifts. And usually at least one of those shifts in a normal week they end up calling off anyways or needing to leave early so like....it's not really OUR fault YOU'RE not getting hours when YOU'RE choosing NOT TO WORK. 

Especially since I found it annoying that this coworker had the gall to ask for someone to cover their shift when they refused to cover someone else's shift yesterday when I was looking for someone at all to cover a sick coworker. 

-Hence my apatheticalness. I'm so sick and tired of there being like no motivation to work. To be at work. 

And the kicker is that others in the group chat finally were able to figure out how to cover the shift for this coworker and the coworker was like "Oh hey wait! My dog is actually doing better so we're not putting her down today! So I could come in and work tomorrow if needed, but otherwise if I can still have the day off that's fine I have a lot to do." 

Like..... *face palm* 

I'm just annoyed.

Like. Yes. It's sad when a pet passes away. I'm sad for you but that doesn't mean you need to have like a multi-day grieving period for it. 

*exhales* 

Again. I recognize I'm being apathetic about the situation. But with the sharp increase we've had in call outs this year....it's kinda par for the course at this point. 

If my coworkers could just remain healthy and like...stop calling out....so I could have one less stress on my shoulders that would be nice.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Sticker Shock

 Had a bit of a heart attack moment today.

Which isn't the greatest when dealing with a more major migraine that makes thinking and dealing with problems ... rather difficult.

It came down to getting more migraine medicine. As I knew I had refills but when I went into the pharmacy app...it said that I didn't have any refills...even though the doctor said I would.

And the app said I needed to tell the doctor to tell them to do the refills....so I told the doctor...who got back to me with a ??? "What do you mean you're requesting refills I gave you refills?" 

Which turns out that the pharmacy app doesn't talk to the freaking website because the pharmacy website when I ventured on there to look at it for funsies...showed my refills there just fine but the app still showed nada. 

Which gee. great. Thanks. Thanks for making me look silly in front of my doctor. *exhales* 

In any case I go to get a refill....and get quite the sticker shock.

Because instead of the expected $20 I was expecting to show up as what I would need to pay to get the rx refilled.....the website was showing that it would cost nearly $1,200 to get the migraine medicine.

Like. 

WHAT

I knew the stupid idiotic tariffs would make things more expensive but THAT?! Expensive?!

WHAT?!

How could it go from $20 to $1,200!?!?!? I can't afford that. Not gonna pay that for EIGHT pills. That's ridiculous. 

And it was heartbreaking because like the migraine medicine has been sooo helpful and I'd literally just take my last one earlier today to get rid of the migraine that decided to strike last night.

So I was....not at my best. Because WHAT?!?

And once I got my head a bit less throbby I tried to call the pharmacy itself to be like "Hey, is that the cost with insurance or without insurance?" because I know meds are more expensive without insurance.

But unfortunately stupid AI struck and I was stuck dealing with an AI person on the phone who 'could not answer' that specific question. They could tell me how much the medicine cost but couldn't tell me if that was with or without insurance. But if I tried to get to a representative I was told I would have to leave a message and I would be called back the people were able to call me back.

Like.... I just want to talk to a real person. Why can't I talk to a real person now?!

*exhales*

Ended up, once the migraine got more under control and I had my energy back going to the pharmacy itself to be like "Heeeeey, I tried to refill my Rx online but the price was much higher than normal and I just wanted to check if that was right."

And it WAS NOT right.

No. 

Apparently the website likes to glitch on occasion and show the RETAIL price of the medicine rather than the price you pay when you have insurance.

Which YIKES. Over a $1,000 for 8 pills? WITHOUT insurance? O.o That's soooo crazy and that's such a stupid high mark up. Like....I get its fancy medicine but it shouldn't cost THAT MUCH. Yeesh.

In any case.

I am extremely grateful that I still only had to pay the $20 and was able to get my Rx refilled right then and there. 

Especially since I have another trip coming up in a couple of weeks that will involve a lot of hiking and I wanted to have the meds on hand just in case I need them. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Look at the People

 It's kinda amazing how quickly something can change. Like literally in an instant the situation can go from being one thing to being something completely different. 

For example today.

After work I was meeting up with a friend at the store because I needed to check with a gift card that I had given them for their birthday.

Because I had discovered the evening after giving them their gift card and while preparing for a trip...that I had somehow ended up with a SECOND gift card in my bag of groceries...when I'd only bought one. 

And I had no idea if the gift card that I had given to my friend was the one I had bought or the one that had stuck to the other when I hadn't realized it. 

I'd tried checking the receipt to see but didn't see any indication of which one was the right one. 

And with me going straight on vacation....we had to wait until I got back and our work schedules lined up enough that we both had time to meet up so that I could figure out which gift card was meant to be theirs.

And today was that day.

And I showed up at the store a little bit late because I had just gotten off work.

And had expected my friend to already to there waiting for me...but they'd been delayed as well.

And when I walked up to the Customer Service thing there was only two people in line.

Nice and short.

but my friend was going to be another 15ish minutes if rush hour was kind to them (it was not kind to them) and I kinda needed both gift cards to make it easier to figure out which one was the one that I had bought.

And it was kinda amazing how in the space of like...10 minutes the line went from having like 2 people in it...to having like 8 people in it. 

To be honest it made me rather frustrated. 

Like. If my friend had been there at the same time as me we would have only had two other people in front of us. But now I was looking at an ever growing line that seemed to have like 15 people now in it and just for seeing it becoming like a 30 minute ordeal just to wait in the line to be helped.

And considering I'd gotten off work right at dinner time....I was tired. I was hungry. And I was just a bit grumpy from work stuff. So to be made to wait longer and to see a long line forming when it could have been avoided.

Yah....I was rather frustrated. 

Especially considering my friend ended up being like 30 minutes late.

But at the same time....it was kinda crazy....because by the time my friend showed up?

The line had vanished.

There was once again just two people in line before us.

So the wait wasn't long at all.

Like I've seen it happen a ton at my own job. Where there's like no one in line for the register and then suddenly you have a dozen people in line out of nowhere.

But it was crazy to see it happen in a different location.

And to have it be like....dead...and then 20 minutes of crazy...and then dead again.

Like my friend had no idea that the line had gotten so long it was heading out into the main part of the store out of the customer service area.....

Only I had known because I was there standing nearby watching the line grow.

Only I was aware how it had gone from 2 people up to like 12 people and back to 2 people in like 30 minutes.

It's crazy.

Crazy how quickly things can change.

And how you have no idea what could have just occurred right before you showed up or right after you left.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Can't You Just Work?

 Wednesdays seem to be such a problem day to work.

Which ... honestly every day at work probably has it's typical trends of being the 'problem work day' 

But considering I usually don't work Wednesdays....

the fact that whenever I do work Wednesdays it feels like something goes wrong...

Makes me less inclined to want to work Wednesdays.

Though I suppose the same could have been said last year about Tuesdays when like literally we could not afford to have anyone call out on Tuesday because no one else was available to work Tuesdays besides the people already scheduled and yet everyone decided that they must have Tuesdays off or call off Tuesdays for various reasons.

In any case.

Wednesdays.

I was already expecting the day not to go quite to plan as I figured that truck wouldn't have gotten as far as I would have wanted it to which would have left us behind for today's plans.

Which surprisingly truck was further along that expected....but the morning manager didn't get the remaining things done as quickly as expected and therefore...put us about on the timeline of delayed that was expected.

But the delays were kinda exasperated by the fact that our morning cashier decided that they wouldn't be able to work their full shift today.

Why?

Because they'd only managed to get an hour and a half of sleep last night.

Which.

On the one hand I do get the struggle. I've had bad nights with migraines where I haven't slept much.

But I've still managed to function well enough at work to...you know....stay the entire time like a good 99% of the time. I've only left work early a handful of times....and that's because of a still active migraine....not from lack of sleep.

But perhaps my priorities are way different than the younger generation. Which is "Work is first priority." 

In any case.

Morning Cashier wanted to leave around lunch time. About 3 hours earlier than scheduled.

Which meant we did not have a cashier for 3 hours.

Which meant that morning manager and I would need to take turns watching the register.

And I was being rather reasonable being like "Hey, I do not want to watch register for 3 hours. So I was thinking we could switch off. Either every half hour or every hour what do you think?" 

And Morning Manager agreed to every half hour.....

Only to try and get out of it twenty minutes later with "Oh but I'm so busy can't you switch with petcare?"

Like dude. YOU HAD ALL MORNING TO GET YOUR TASKS DONE NOT MY FAULT YOU DIDN'T GET THEM DONE.

Plus like. I have alllllll MY tasks I need to get done too. You're not Special. Why should YOU get special treatment when I too need to do things? At least I'm not making YOU do the entire 3 hour stint.

Yeesh.

In any case.

My empathy for my coworkers, despite the week long break from them. Is still at an all time low. Mostly because they keep creating more work for me and don't give me any relief in return.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Seriously. What Was Accomplished?

 *exhales* 

I get that work can get busy. Especially in the evening. 

There's usually a rush of people right after the mid manager leaves. So the last couple of hours that the store is opened can be a rather hectic time. Especially if you get needy customers that demand your time and attention.

But at the same time... for the most part, when I close, I don't let that affect how closing goes. 

Like yes, there are bad nights where facing is hard to get done and sometimes it's just a cursory facing at that to make it look kinda nice. 

But like....

You would think after being told that the store hadn't been faced and that the PRIORITY after I left for the evening for the closing manager was to FACE THE STORE would be that the store would GET FACED.

But NOooooooooo

Like on the surface walking into the building this morning things looked okay.

But when I went to check on Cat Food. The section I specifically pointed out as needing to be faced so that we could do counts in the morning. 

What did I find?

Exactly.

An untouched section.

Like sure. I could see on the very last aisle where my manager had started facing. 

But the rest of the section?

Nada. 

Zip.

It was untouched. No effort made whatsoever to make the section look pretty. 

And it was just....irritating. Frustrating. I was annoyed to the point where I was giving myself a headache because my closing manager had ONE TASK and FAILED TO DO IT.

And of course the excuse was "It got busy right after you left. I was doing a, b, c and d and by the time I looked up it was half an hour before we closed and I hadn't done any of the closing tasks yet." 

But the closing manager 'tried' to get cat faced.....by telling our Petcare person to face it....which they obviously did not do or IF they did it they did NOT do it RIGHT because it looked untouched.

And it's frustrating because like the closing manager should be WALKING THE STORE before leaving for the night to make sure things look okay ---which yes I don't always do that, but I am usually walking the store right at close to make sure there's no customers AND I'd have already faced the areas so if anything it would be looking for obvious items out of place. 

But like.....it's so frustrating. So. Very. Frustrating. To set someone to a task and to have it unfinished. Just GAH.

I'm so glad I'm gone from work for the next little bit because I've had it. 

I need a break from the work stress. Stat. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

What Was Accomplished?

 I kinda hate to say it...

But it's probably a really good thing that I came in to work today to cover my other manager's shift. 

Because like....if she had come in...she wouldn't have worked truck because she probably wouldn't have been feeling well. And if she hadn't come in and no one else could cover...then truck wouldn't have been touched much regardless....of her presence or not.

But like. My presence made a tangible difference in how much of yesterday's remaining truck got knocked out today.

Which is great in that I won't be caught off guard at 'how much' of truck was left when I go in in the morning. 

But it would have been quite a mountain of work left for me to slog through compared to the hill I managed to chip it down to today.

Which really just begs the question of like.... WHAT WERE MY OTHER MANAGERS DOING ALL DAY!?!?! AHHHHHHH.

Like Yes, morning manager as the opening tasks that need to be done to ensure the store is ready for the day. But that at most takes a couple of hours. 

But when I came in a couple of hours after that point...it seemed like they'd just barely started working on truck right before I arrived....which isn't great considering the store had been opened for a couple of hours by that point....

Like We still had quite a bit of truck left. Like at least a half pallet of dog food that I can remember. Maybe two? since the manager was working another one...maybe it was an unfinished one from last night. 

But like....

None of the totes had been touched. The cat cans hadn't been finished last night and so those had to be finished.

It was just like....

Trying to figure out just how much would have been done if I'd actually not been present.

Like morning manager got the rest of the dog food put out and was working on a cart or two of totes that I could tell....

And when closing manager came in I had them start working on cat totes...which was like...maybe 8 boxes? And I ended up doing ONE of those boxes and it took them like SIX HOURS to work on SEVEN BOXES. Like it DOES NOT TAKE AN HOUR PER BOX WHY ARE YOU SO SLOW?!?! AHHHH.

Like in my eight hour shift I managed to do two carts filled with cat cans, 16 boxes of petcare totes, a cat totes, and a cart and a half filled with dog stuff all the while multitasking helping in petcare, picking orders, covering lunches, and other things. Like....I did SO MUCH in my eight hours....

And like....if I hadn't been there.....what all would have actually gotten done? A couple of pallets of dog food? maybe 8 boxes of cat? MAYBE? IF the closing manager WORKED on truck at all? Because opening manager is NOT GREAT at communicating what needs to be done. So maybe Truck wouldn't have been touched AT ALL once morning manager had left. 

It's just....frustrating....how slow some people move and like....what doesn't end up being a priority on their list even when they're told it should be a priority. 

Like I mentioned multiple times to the closing manager that "we're 4 hours behind on truck so we need to get this done." and they still moved SO SLOW. Just. *bangs head against wall* 

I'm not looking forward to tomorrow. Because it feels like I'll be the one doing all the work. AGAIN.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

It Was Expected

 It's kinda exhausting ... to mentally have to prepare yourself to not get a day off. 

Like since last Saturday that's kinda been my mindset...maybe even before then. 

Because my EL manager has been sick for a while...dealing with morning sickness and a couple other issues on top of that. 

But like.... the illness has been bad enough she's had to go to the hospital a few times because she can't hold down food, and barely can hold down water on a good day.

Which isn't great when you're trying to get nutrients for yourself and for your little one. 

I'm really hoping that this is just a first trimester illness for her and things will improve after that point...because having to deal with 9 months of stress is not great for her.

And not great for us either. 

Because it sucks at the moment to schedule her and wonder "will she be able to come in today." 

Hence my mindset the past week or so. 

Just mentally preparing to have to come in on my day off, or stay longer for a shift, or go without a middle manager and not be able to take a lunch. 

And even when she does make it into the store....she's basically a ghost manager. Because if she's not in the bathroom throwing up then she's hiding in an office trying to not throw up. 

So while she's present...she's not present....

So it came as no surprise when I received the call tonight.... that she's called out for tomorrow....on my day off ... and that I was asked if I was able to come in to cover her shift.

Which yah. I am able to.

I'd already mentally prepared myself for the possibility. 

But it would be nice to just be able to you know.... relax on a day off without worrying about how the store is doing or how the EL is doing and how coverage is going. 

Like...I'm going on vacation this weekend.....and I'll be out of the store for a while....

And it's like...will the other managers be okay without me there? Especially if the EL is constantly calling out? 

Like we haven't managed to fill our empty manager position. 

I can't imagine how well it's going to go with us being down 2 managers...and maybe a third manager if the EL keeps calling out for illness....

I've wondered more than once if I should just cancel the vacation and stick around.

But at the same time....

I'm kinda tired of catering to everyone else's issues. 

I've had this vacation planned for a while now. I had no idea my EL was expecting when I did my vacation plans. I was trying to plan it where we'd be fine with coverage.

Like...I was doing all I could to make sure we'd be fine when I was gone.

And I hate that it feels like I'm screwing over the store by going on vacation...when I did everything I could to ensure that this week would be an okay week to go. 

It's frustrating.

So frustrating. 

But at least I was already mentally prepared for tomorrow. So I can get tomorrow's shift out of the way and then my obligation to help out at work for coverage will be done for the week. 

*fingers crossed* that everything goes well.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Worn Down

 The thing about being stressed is that .... after a while, it kinda wears you down.

And usually it's easy enough to head it off. By resting. Getting enough sleep etc.

But I've been pushing myself a bit more the past week or so because we've been trying to get a ton of stuff done before I head out on vacation, but also because there's been so many people calling out sick this week that it's messed with plans and schedules and such.

So I haven't been able to rest and relax as much as I've wanted to. 

and even if I am resting I'm probably stressing in my subconscious because I've been worrying about how work is going to function while I'm gone.

Add into that going in on my day off yesterday to cover for 3 coworkers who called out sick....3 coworkers who I've interacted with in the past few days....

It's no surprise that today I've been feeling a bit crummy.

Achy muscles. Tightness in the chest. A slight dryness to the throat. A slight runniness to the nose....

All the signs that I'm probably coming down with something. A minor cold at least. 

I hope it's just a minor cold.

Because I do not want whatever crazy my coworkers got because it sounds much worse.

But it also has me stressing out more because I've been looking forward to this vacation for like a month now....and to be at the finish line and to get maybe sick?

Yah. I'm so frustrated at it. 

Because if I get sick I won't be going. I'm on driving by myself anywhere if I'm feeling crummy. Plus I don't want to get my family I'm visiting sick....

So right now I'm in emergency. "TRY EVERYTHING TO AVOID IT!" mode.

Which mostly involves just resting/sleeping and drinking lots and lots of liquids to try and flush out anything in my system ASAP. 

Because I would much rather be out having fun on a vacation than home sick and miserable.

Hopefully I can manage to get this slight cold gone within the next day or too.

Though tomorrow is going to test it for sure since I have a long 10 hour shift in front of me.

Ugh.

Wish me luck.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

So. What Do I Owe You?

 I have to say. 

I'm glad I don't have to deal with billing in my job.

Like the closest I could get is if a grooming customer doesn't pay for their groom. But we just call them and are like "Hey you didn't pay." and if they still don't pay then we put a block on them to prevent them from grooming with us again and call it a day.

But today I decided to drop by the doctor's where I had gotten my CT and MRI scan done when I finally decided to go to the doctor about my migraines a few months ago and they recommended doing a CT and MRI to make sure there wasn't anything going. 

There wasn't.

Which is annoying to get tests that show that there's nothing wrong with you that you then have to pay for. 

Said tests were done in May.

And after like a .... couple of weeksish? I got billed for what I would need to pay for the CT scan that insurance wouldn't cover.

Easy peasy. Paid it right away. Didn't like paying it. But paid it right away. 

And I expected the MRI bill to come pretty quickly after that.

But....it's been radio silence. 

So it's just been hanging over my head.

And I was like....Okay.... maybe the MRI just takes longer to go through insurance? 

I mean I've had an MRI done before where they didn't find anything. But that was done way back when I was in college and I was still on my parent's insurance. So like...no idea how long it took the bill to come through.

I'd kinda put it on the back back back back burner.

Until I'd recently got notified about my dental related claims. 

So I went into my insurance website to check that out. Since I have dental and medical under the same insurer....I was like "Well let me look at the medical stuff too." 

and Medical.....medical showed that the insurance had processed my claim for the MRI....way back at literally the same time the CT scan was processed.

But I hadn't received the bill.

Tried going into the patient portal for my doctors to make sure I hadn't missed an email there....

And nothing. It didn't show I owed anything.

So like.... confusion much?

Like the insurance site gave me the option to pay what it claimed I owed the doctors.....but the doctors had never billed me....and like I didn't want to pay something I didn't owe. 

So I decided to continue waiting....

Until today.

Because I got another notification about when I went to the dentist for my cavities last week....

And still no notification about the MRI. 

So I was like. Well I have the time today and the energy today. So I went by the facility to talk to the billing department just to see what was going on.

Because I had no idea how much I would owe for sure. 

And I didn't want to have the bill suddenly sprung on me if I could help it. 

I also didn't want to have my bill sent to collectors and get hounded for that. Especially if I'd never been notified.

I don't even know how long they wait before they start hounding you for bills.....

In any case.

When I got to the office both receptionists were on the phone with customers who were also trying to figure out their bills....

But from what I overheard both receptionists were dealing with customers who had bills that had actually gone to collectors. 

Which. Oof. 

That sounds like a nightmare. Like apparently the collectors charge interest on the bills.....which is just cruel in my opinion. Like there's a reason why the bills were probably not paid yet. But like one receptionist was saying one customer owed money to them from like 4 years ago. 

But it sounded like the one receptionist was having a better time with the one customer compared to the second receptionist. 

They kinda looked and sounded like they were two seconds away from throwing the computer. They were on the phone with the same customer the entire time I was there. And it kinda sounded like they probably had had to explain the same thing multiple times to the customer. 

Which basically boiled down to "We don't have contact with the collectors. We can't access their information. They can access certain things but don't have power over other things. No you only owe us this amount of money. The interest is owed to the collectors. We don't get the interest money. The collectors do. If we got the interest money WE would be the ones charging you interest and WE would be the ones hounding you for the money the Collectors wouldn't be involved at all."

So yah. I did not envy them that phone call because it just sounds frustrating. On both sides. Because I get not wanting to have to pay more money than you have to....but seriously if the bill has been unpaid long enough to get the collectors on your back.....that's...not great either. 

In any case. 

It does make me wonder how long they wait for a bill to remain unpaid before sending it to collectors. I'm guessing it probably depends on the facility. But who knows. 

Needless to say I was a bit nervous. 

Like I'm pretty sure not paying any bills for like 3 months isn't long enough. 

But it made me all the more eager to make sure that I got my own payments squared away so I would no longer have to worry about potentially owing money for the MRI. 

So when the first receptionist finally got off the phone. I explained my situation. That I hadn't received an MRI bill yet and just wanted to check in and see if I actually owed anything yet or not. 

Turns out. 

I didn't. 

O.o

Why?

Well. 

After insurance I owed a certain amount of money. 

Which surprisingly was only like $80. 

Considering the CT scan I ended up having to pay like nearly $300..... 

It's kinda crazy the difference in how much you owe depending on the procedure with insurance. 

In any case.

I technically owed $80. 

But before the procedure they had had me pay like a $50 fee. 

Which went towards the $80. 

Bringing me down to $30 owed. 

BUT.

I had also paid like a $30 fee for the CT scan? 

(I remember paying a copay before the procedures but don't remember the cost for it. Just was like "Okay makes sense I need to do a copay) 

But then I also paid for what I owed for the CT scan after insurance....without taking into account the $30 I'd paid beforehand. 

Which left me with an extra $30 credit....

Which they had already kinda in their computer system used to cover the rest of what I owed for the MRI scan. 

So the receptionist was like "They kinda already just assumed that $30 was going to the MRI which is why you never received a bill because they already considered you squared away, but here let me make it all official and move that officially over." 

And walla!

So turns out. I didn't owe any money for the MRI. 

YAY.

Like annoying that I had like 3 months of back burner stress that didn't need to be stress.

But yay that I didn't have to spend MORE money at the moment.

Even though $80 is a lot better than like another $200-$300 that I had been expecting. 

Though it does make me wonder like....if I never went back to that doctors place again and I still had that $30 credit....what would have ended up with that $30 credit? 

Would they have just ended up keeping my money? Or would they have eventually sent it back to me with a "oh hey we charged you too much. Oops?" 

Somehow I think it's more the former rather than the latter. *exhales*

In any case.

I'm just grateful that I didn't owe any money. So yay! 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Where's the Hours?

 Not gonna lie.

Kinda not looking forward to this work week.

Mostly because it's the most that corporate has screwed us over in hours so far. 

Because, despite the promise of 'oh we'll get you more hours with this whole management restructuring' thing they decided to do.

We're getting LESS.

Like Head Manager has looked into last years hours and we're consistently being given EIGHTY HOURS LESS to work with in the store each week as compared to the same week last year.

And it freaking sucks. 

Like no manager can be scheduled a full 40 hours like we used to.

It's hard enough as it is to get them their full time hours.

Not to mention trying to get all our associates the hours they need.

Seriously.

This week we were cut so low that there's no Cashier scheduled for the first hour that we're open EVERY SINGLE DAY this week.

There's a GAP in either Cashiering or Petcare or BOTH. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. This week. 

It's completely stupid.

Like there's no reason to not be giving us more hours besides freaking corporate greed trying to squeeze out any extra penny they can from their workers in 'not paying them' as they can. 

And it's so frustrating.

Especially since I've been with Starsmet for nearly 13 years now.

It's frustrating because when I started we had 2 openers 2 closers in petcare. We had 1-2 cashiers at a time. We had an actual morning crew of 3-5 stockers who would come in in the morning. 

And now?

There are some stores that only have Petcare people present in the store long enough to open the department and to close the department down. So like maybe 3-4 hours? 

Because of LACK OF HOURS.

Like Corporate keeps telling us that "Customers are important." but HOW can we SHOW THEM they're important if THERES NO WORKERS IN THE STORE TO HELP THEM.

Not to mention all the extra work the Managers are expected to cover. Like we have to do all our tasks but then also try to do all those tasks while also covering backing up the register, backing up petcare, covering petcare, doing all the stocking tasks, dealing with whatever drama grooming constantly has going on and whatever computer work we need to do.

It's sooo stupidly frustrating. 

I hate it.

So. Much.

Especially because knowing that we have a gap on register means that for the first hour of the day one of the morning managers will need to watch the register. 

Which again takes us away from our tasks.

I hate it. 

I didn't apply to be a freaking cashier. 

Yeesh.

I'm hoping that I can avoid being the one stuck on register duty.

But I'm already anticipating that I'll be needing to do it at least twice this week. If not more.

Guess we'll see.

I'm just hoping that hours will start increasing again with the holidays approaching.

But if recent trends are anything to judge by. 

I'm not that hopeful it will occur. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Soo Expensive

 I've always kinda wondered about the customers who just seem to like ... not pay attention to the world around them? Like if it doesn't involve them personally they don't care. 

And there's multiple instances in regards to this.

But the one that comes to mind is just....when customers complain about prices increasing on product they buy. 

Like today I had a customer insist that a specific cat toy she's 'always' bought has 'always' been like $1.99. But it was ringing up at the register as $2.99 today and "that had to be wrong." 

Which yes, prices can sometimes be wrong. So I went back (with the customer following me) to double check.

And she pointed to the tag saying $1.99. Going "That's it!" 

And I had to point to the price tag two tags over --as the cat toys were all mixed together into multiple bins. Where it said $2.99. And show them that the UPC on the tag matched the price on the shelf and that indeed the price for her little cat toy was now $2.99 instead of $1.99.

The kicker was.... the shelf strip didn't have any new stickers on it. So the prices for those toys hadn't been changed since we reset that toy section...and that toy section was reset months ago. 

So like....I'm sorry? That prices rose in however long it's been since you last came in? But like....they rose? 

She was like "Why did the prices increase!" 

And I ... I was *gesture to the world on fire around us* 

Like...lady. Do you live under a rock? 

EVERYWHERE has been increasing in prices. 

We literally had TWENTY-FIVE pages of price changes a couple days ago that we had to go through and change the prices on items to make them MORE expensive. 

"Why?" are the changing? Who knows. It could be manufacturing costs. It could be general corporate greed. It could be the stupid Tariffs. It could be the phase of the moon. Who knows. 

But overall. It's kinda a stupid question at this point to ask "Why are things more expensive." 

Like if you pay attention at all to the political world you KNOW why things are getting stupid expensive. 

GREED. 

Is there anything I can do about it? 

Not really no. I'm a cog in the wheel. I'm not the battery that runs the entire clock. Sorry not sorry. 

But seriously.

It is frustrating. 

Because owning a pet is beginning to feel like a rich person hobby. 

Like big bags of dog food are routinely $50-$100 now. 

Cat food is not far behind.

The animals themselves have gotten more expensive too.

Like when I started hamsters were like $10. This week the price increased a $1 to be $23 each. 

Parakeets used to be like maybe $20. They're now $45. 

The freaking Conure that sold for $350 at one point increased it's price last week to $800. 

Fish tanks too have doubled or tripled in price. a $30 ten gallon tank is now usually $80. 

Fish themselves have gone from being $1-$3 to $3-$5 for the 'cheaper' ones. Like guppies and platys and such. 

Crickets have gone from being like 10 cents each to 17 cents each. 

Everything is getting more expensive. 

And I keep hoping prices will decrease....and they don't.

At this point it's mostly a matter of keeping an eye out for a good sale and stocking up while you can because who knows what the future will hold. Your $70 on sale for $45 today may a few months down the road become $90 on sale for $70. 

It's frustrating. 

And I feel for customers who come in expecting their items to be a certain price only to find they've become more expensive. I feel that burn too. 

And who knows when or if that burn will ever fade. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Red Means STOP

 I feel like the heat is probably melting people's brains.

That, or they just get into 'automatic' mode and stop thinking. 

In any case. 

I nearly got into a car accident today. 

Where I was running an errand after work. 

Waiting in the Turn Lane for my light to turn green.

And I got the Green Arrow. So of course since I had the right of way. I started going. 

And across from me, the other side also got their green turn light as well. So those cars started going to turn left too. 

But then this freaking red pick up truck. Who was in the regular "go straight" lanes. 

ALSO started going. 

Like DUDE. 

You may see cars moving in your peripheral. BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN YOU CAN GO TOO.

ESPECIALLY when I am TURNING. RIGHT. IN. FRONT. OF. YOU.

Like I lay on my horn honking for all I'm worth and the DUDE is completely clueless. Doesn't see anything wrong with him still continuing going straight EVEN THOUGH I'M CROSSING RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM AND HONKING. 

I don't think he realized anything was wrong until AFTER I had crossed in front of him -swerving to avoid getting hit and he maybe just maybe saw the line of cars ALSO turning right behind me. and MAYBE just MAYBE he FINALLY looked up and realized that HIS light was still FREAKING RED. 

*exhales*

In any case. 

My car and I made it through the intersection safely even if my adrenaline was pumping for a good five minutes afterwards. 

Didn't help that there were TWO other instances I encountered on that drive home today where I had the freaking green light giving me the go ahead to move into the intersection and here comes a car blazing through the FULLY RED LIGHT. 

Like guys. GUYS. 

RED. MEANS. STOP. 

Yeesh.

Needless to say. I didn't make any other pit stops and drove straight home because I did not want to deal with any other dumb drivers today. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi