Surprise!

 Working Retail you kinda come to expect having to deal with random and odd things. 

Most of the time it's people related odd things.

But then occasionally something just...weird happens.

Take the other night.

I was the closing manager on duty which meant that I'm in charge of counting the tills at the end of the night and balancing everything and getting the deposit ready and such.

And we have these black boxes at each register that we use to hold the bigger bills that we get in in the store.

These black boxes are opened at least once a day every day. Because we at least have to check them at night to make sure there's no money in there when we balance the till.

So I go to close down the last register.

Which is usually the first register. aka the register that gets used all the time. And therefore ALWAYS has money in the black box because we rely mostly on register 1 for customers and use the remainder mostly for backing up if the lines get long.

And I pull out the black box. 

Open the back.

Reach in to grab the wad of bills and coupons in there.

and a MOTH flies out of the box and at my face!!!

A MOTH

Like. This box is opened DAILY. 

HOW did a MOTH get into that?!?!!? 

And it wasn't like one of those tiny moths either.

No the body was at least the size of a quarter if not bigger. 

*shakes head*

I'm assuming that it somehow managed to climb in through the money slit overnight and couldn't get back out. 

It's just....so weird.

Like you don't expect a bug to come out at you from there. Ever.

Like EVER.

Crazy.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Where Was the Common Sense?

*exhales* 

Sometimes....sometimes I wonder what in the world is going on in my coworker's heads. 

Especially with our current newbie. 

Like I know they mean well. I know that they try to make things....easier....but they end up making life more difficult at work. 

It's like a "That was a cool idea...but bad execution." sort of thing.

But mostly it's a "How did you get THAT out of what you were TOLD?" 

Like.....

So yesterday and today we had a Fish Adoption Event at my store.

The first of it's kinda really. As Starsmet hasn't ever done one to my knowledge. 

Where we got in 47 larger fish that were in need of homes. (46 technically as 1 Silver Dollar unfortunately didn't survive the trip to our store) 

And like since we've never done this before...there's been a bit of a learning curve with it.

Like realizations of "Hey this fish are gonna be a lot bigger than our normal fish....how are we gonna safely get them home?"

Which the solution was to have the DC send us extra bags for the larger fish.

But one of my other coworkers also had the idea to save the styrofoam boxes that all the fish came in so that we could place our largest fish in bags and then put them in the box so that they could safely travel. As some of the koi and catfish we got in were as long as my forearm if not as long as my arm. So like...HUGE compared to our normal under hand sized fish. 

And yesterday our Greenie coworker was the closing Petcare. 

But it was okay because one of our experienced workers was there to show them the ropes. To show the greenie how to catch the larger fish and fill out paperwork and such.

Only it appears that the knowledge went in one ear and right out the other. *exhales* 

My greenie coworker had watched my experienced coworker catch one of the larger koi and place it in a large bag and then place it in a styrofoam box for the customer to take home.

We only had like...12 of those boxes. And I know 2 were used yesterday before I left. 

My Head Manager came in around 11 this morning.

In time to hear my Greenie coworker (who got the unfortunate clopening shift of closing last night and opening this morning) ask "Hey can you get more boxes from the back?"

Only...there were NO more boxes. 

Which was weird because They should have only been used for our largest fish. The 6 giant Koi potentially 3-6 of the larger catfish and like maybe 3 of the Cichlids we got in. 

Which there were still THREE large koi and THREE large catfish and ONE large Cichlid that would potentially need those boxes here in the store. 

So we should have STILL had boxes.

But we didn't.

Why???

Because my greenie saw my more experienced coworker put the koi in a bag in a box for the customer for the adoption event and just assumed that ALL of the adoption fish had to be taken out that way. No matter the size.

Which meant that customers took home 5-8 inch fish that didn't really need the boxes home in these GIANT boxes and GIANT bags. 

Just.... just.....ugggggggghhhh.

Like WHERE was the common sense? 

WHERE?!?! 

HOW could you look at our smaller handsized fish and think "Yes, this fish needs a giant bag and box!!" 

I just...I don't understand.

And it's sooo frustrating because it left us scrambling to figure out HOW to potentially get any of the OTHER fish home. 

Our current solution is to just use our large garbage bags and double or triple bag the fish.

But luckily no other fish were adopted after I came in to work....

But it's just....a headache. Like. WHY. I know the greenie meant well. But WHY. 

*exhales*

Still. Our adoption event was a success overall I feel.

As we managed to adopt out 25 fish out of 46!! :D So just barely over half the fish found homes! Woot!!

Though that leaves us with 21 fish that are still looking for homes. 

*shakes head*

Currently we have the space for them, thankfully, to hang out at our store. But hopefully we can find them homes sooner rather than later. We'll have to see how it goes. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Upcoming Upheaval

 I received some ... ... not great news this morning. 

My Grandma Dirchi, the last Grandparent I have....ended up in the ER last night because apparently she's been unable to go to the bathroom for a couple of days. 

Which. Is not good. 

Further testing has shown a mass on her Pancreas. 

And the doctor has confirmed that what he's seeing looks like an Advanced Stage of Pancreatic Cancer with a Tumor that's compressing the vessels that go into her abdomen and liver. 

They're waiting for more results to get a better idea of what's going on.

But there's a strong chance that my grandma won't see the end of the year. She may not even make it to Thanksgiving.

And it's....hard to think about.

Like you never want someone to pass away. Especially family.  

But in another sense I've been.....kinda expecting something like this? Like I've known that my Grandma hasn't been doing the best recently and that she's been in a decline. 

But there's a difference in knowing that she's going to pass away sometime in the future....and in knowing that it's gonna happen sooner rather than later. 

There's also all the thoughts of 'what isn't going to happen now.' 

Like knowing that when I do eventually get married and have kids....my kids will never know any of their great-grandparents. 

But there's also the thoughts of what has happened. Like she's not going to see me married with kids, but at least she has seen my siblings get married and at least my siblings have a couple of pictures of grandma holding their babies. 

It's...yah....it's mixed feelings.

And I honestly don't quite know how to react to it all.

Part of it is because I have a bunch of other stressors on my plate currently. Most of them work related. And this year I've been kinda in a "focus on this crisis and then worry about the next crisis after this crisis is over" mode. 

So my focus this week has been mostly on the Fish Adoption event happening tomorrow and Saturday.

But now I also have the worry of being able to see my Grandma at least once more, but being comforted in the fact that I saw her just a couple of weeks ago as I had dropped by to visit her after I'd finished helping my Brother with a bit of cleaning up of his house and helping him and his family move out. 

There's the stress of knowing that my Daddoo is gonna be returning early from his Summer Home (they were planning to be back next month but the deadline has been greatly pushed up) to be here for his Mom, but at the same time knowing that My Brother and his Family are currently living in my Daddoo's Winter Home as there's been a bit of a gap between them moving out of their old home and moving into their new home. 

There's the pressure knowing that more than likely the two families will be living under the same roof for a couple of weeks. Because there's no way for my brother to move into his house sooner when both he and his wife are working and thought they still had nearly two months to get out of Daddoo's home and that they'll need help moving out quicker but my work schedule prevents me from being able to help when they need help. 

There's the stress of knowing that my godparents will be flying out 'soon' to also see Grandma and that they will be staying with me, but I most likely won't be able to get the time off from work to chauffer them around and might not see much of them because again I've been scheduled mostly closing shifts since my bestie left. So there's a bit of conflict and stress there as well.

There's....just so much going on right now....

I just....I'm not sure how to feel. 

So yah. Rough day. Lots of feelings and thoughts. 

I just hope that it all goes...well...as well as it can go. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

Goodbye Sun

It's been...kinda a weird month?

Like month and a halfish?

Because usually I work mostly morning shifts. 

One closing shift. The rest are mornings.

But that's changed recently. 

It went from 1 closing and 4 opening to like 2 closings and 3 openings....and now I'm doing like 4 closings/mids and 1 opening shift.

And I know the root cause of this sudden shift.

It's because one of our main closing managers (and my work bestie) quit. 

And despite knowing that they were quiting for months in advance....no moves have been made to replace them yet.

And it's frustrating in multiple ways to have to work so many closing shifts.

Like part of it is just because there's a lot of flux in other areas in the store right now too with multiple workers starting their new semesters in school, others going on vacations, and yet others needing to be out for various sicknesses and surgeries. 

So I have no idea if this is a new permanent thing or if it's just a temporary thing that will change once things 'settle' again.

Honestly, I'm expecting it to be like this until into the New Year if no new managers are hired. *exhales* 

And it sucks major.

Because I do not want my life to be work.

Working 11-7 or 2-10 is not my ideal. It's like...the entire day is taken up with work. You can't do anything before and can't do anything after. (because who wants to get out of the house and do things only to go and do work things after?? Not me.) 

I much preferred having morning shifts that allowed me to do things at night. (not that I did much. I'm an introvert I like staying HOME) 

But there's like....no one else management wise that /can/ work closings? 

Like I have one other manager I've been switching with where one of us is working the mid and the other will close.

But we have FOUR other managers. Why are only TWO of us constantly closing?

Granted 2 of the managers are stocking managers which means they need to be present in the mornings because that's when we work truck.

Head Manager apparently shouldn't be working closings?? Like they're a morning or mid morning manager only because there's supposed to be there for 'most of the day' -plus they also have family obligations and such.

And VP Manager...usually works the mids only. With oneish closing shift a week. Only they've been having multiple health issues over the past little while....it's been hit and miss for how they'll do at work each day.

But like....in a 7 day week...I feel like -negating the 2 stocking managers- that with FOUR other managers in the store we should each be only working like 2 closing shifts in a week. 

I just....*exhales* It's frustrating. I much prefer my morning shifts. There's less stress and less customers. 

Like...granted. The change of pace of working mostly closings hasn't been ...bad... per se. I've enjoyed it to an extent. But it's not something I want to be doing long term. I like temporary changes. But I do not want this to be permenant. 

Yet as it goes....I don't see how it will change. It's probably only gonna get worse with the holidays.

*exhales* 

The joys of being a manager apparently.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

It's Gonna Be Big ... Right?

So. My store is doing something different this weekend.

In like the 11 years I've been at my job....we've never done a Fish Adoption Event. 

But it was a concept brought up...somehow in some way....that our DC fish supplier has fish that are 'oversized' ones that are too big to usually be sent out to stores since not all our fish tanks are the same size. 

But our store has some bigger tanks and room for extra fish.

So we volunteered to receive in the oversized fish. Some Cichlids, Catfish, and Koi that are 'too big.' 

And like it didn't seem like that big of a deal. "Yes, let's get these fish adopted out and find them homes. We'll set up a few tanks and such for them."

But....corporate is making it a big deal.

Lke apparently the entire company is gonna be watching this weekend to see how this "Fish Adoption Event" goes. Because if it goes well then that means that there's potential for other sister stores to partner with this DC and other DCs to hold more fish adoption events for fish that are 'too big.' 

But if it flops....yah I don't want to imagine what happens if it flops. On the good side it will be just a 'oh hum guess we won't do that.' thing. But if it's more.....more? Idk. It's....stressful not knowing how this is going to turn out. 

Like we've been given permission to write off as many tanks and such that we need to make it look good. Make the event a success. There's been adverstising -flyers-, there's been talk of doing ballons and making it all fancy and like....apparently it's going to be featured on our store sites and such? Like the pressure. *exhales* 

I liked this concept more when it was just a lowkey thing. "Hey we're adopting out some fish." but now it's a whole production and I do not want to deal with it....and yet I'm dealing with it.

Lke the set up and such has been fun. The anticipation for seeing these larger fish is huge. 

So I hope it goes well. I hope it's a success and that we'll do these events will become more popular and commonplace.

But we won't know. Not until it happens.

So yah...the stress of this upcoming weekend is something I do not need in my life right now.

And yet here it is.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

The Stumbling Blocks

 Have you ever wanted to ...start something? Or at least get back to something you haven't done in a while?

And like...the moment you decide "Yes!" I'm going to do the thing! 

Something happens and you just like...get knocked off your feet?

Kinda got a double whammy of that yesterday.

Like. I've been thinking for a while "Yes, I should get back to blogging." Which starting it back up on the 13th anniversary of me starting blogging felt like a good time to start.

But there's also been this thought in my head the past monthish of "I want to go back to church." 

Because I haven't been to my ward since ... like the Spring? 

And I heard a couple of weeks ago that my current ward was combining with another ward. 

Why? Because both wards were tiiinnyy by themselves. Like I thought I was just coming on off weeks because there would only be like maybe 30 people there.

Yet apparently that was the norm.

Which is weird for a ward where you expect at least around 100 if not up to 300 people.

In any case. I decided to make the effort to go to Church yesterday because 1. I wasn't sick/headachey 2. I wasn't working 3. I was in town and had no family obligations.....and I really just wanted to check out the people and see if there were any guys I might want to talk to.

Yet....

It's ... frustrating.

Because like I have this desire to go to church. This desire to hear the gospel. This desire to be spiritually fed.

Yet. it's the PEOPLE in the ward that end up stressing me out and make it difficult to want to go. I already deal with so much stress at work that I don't want to just add another stressor onto my shoulders. Church should be a place to relax. To listen to the spirit. To enjoy being around others.

And I can't.

Because. EVERY. SINGLE. FREAKING. TIME. I go to church....there's always. ALWAYS someone behind me that's coughing. Aka. That's SICK and Should BE HOME and not SPREADING THEIR GERMS EVERYWHERE.

*exhales* 

Like it makes me sooo frustrated that it feels like people totally forgot about the pandemic and it's affects. Like if you HAVE to be at Church then why not WEAR A MASK?? *shakes head* 

Having had to work in a pandemic world in freaking RETAIL the entire time and constantly be on guard at work to avoid getting sick there....it frustrates me to no end that there are still individuals in church who....just don't care about the potential harm they can do to others by coming in sick?

Like I get it. It wasn't really something people thought about before COVID. People would go everywhere sick all the time before that. It was the norm. 

But I feel like this is a norm we shouldn't have gotten back to. Like if you're sick. STAY HOME. Missing a day of church isn't going to affect your spiritual well-being. We did like a whole year or two of 'church form home' it's fine to take a 'sick day' and STAY HOME. 

*exhales* 

So yah. It...it was hard. It IS hard to want to be at church when I know that the people there....just...I don't want to say 'don't care' but like... I would like to not have to worry about getting sick from being stuck in the same room as a hundred other people for an hour or so. I can't relax and focus on the spirit and the teachings around me because I'm so focused on Hacking Hannah behind me who coughs every 3-15 minutes during the meeting. 

Like this is why I haven't been to church since the spring. Because the thought of getting stuck sitting near another coughing person stresses me out. It triggers migraines. I GOT a migraine yesterday because I was SOOO tense that entire hour that I was barely breathing. 

I could have avoided the migraine by just staying home.

And like I want to get back into the habit of going to church. I want to participate in my ward and go to activities and soicalize. 

But I can't do that if individuals in the ward keep retriggering me by being SICK. *exhales* I don't want to be places that stress me out. I really don't. And who knows it may be another month or so before I attempt again because I do not like getting migraines. I do not like being in situations that give me migraines. 

It's just...frustrating.

Also frustrating because it also prevented me from making a strong restart in continuing blogging. Because I wanted to post yesterday. But with the migraine looking at a computer screen to type and having the brain power to write is definitely a no go. 

So yah. Starting blogging again is getting off to a rock start.

Going back to church again is also back to a rocky start. 

The joys of trying to re/start things. 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi

13 Years Later

 It's weird to think that even a couple of years ago I thought that I would never not be blogging.

Like it was easy to write and post my thoughts most every day. The main exceptions being if I had a really bad migraine, or happened to be out of town.

But like. Blogging was just something I did....

But then there just came a point where it just....faded out.

Which honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a bit of depression involved.

Because thoughts of "what is the point?" usually don't follow more happy/positive individuals around. 

My voice has been...mostly silenced for the past little while. Even though I know I have things I can write about I just haven't had the energy to like...take the time to write it out. 

In some ways I miss the 'old days' where I could blog daily. Where I was posting stories monthly.

And I finally feel like I may be coming around the curve. Getting my energy up. Getting my motivation up.

It's hard to know for sure....but like....this past week I've finally felt like I could breathe. That I'm not going from stressing about one crisis to the next. From trying to solve one problem to solving the next problem. I can breathe for a moment. Relax for a moment.

And hopefully that moment is long enough to get those creative juices back up and running. To have recharged myself enough to see the work ahead of me and not worry about the effort or time involved but instead looking forward to seeing the end result. 

September has always been a month of beginnings for me.

Let's see if we can begin once again.

Happy Blogaversy guys.

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

-Sarnic Dirchi