Lady xanax where were you last night? All the cracks in your makeup are starting to show…

-Duran Duran

I am not on xanax… but it’s a lovely, mellow song, and I happen to be listening to it right now.

Today was… interesting.

Since my car has a dead battery (and I don’t have a license, anyway), and both my parents now work days, and because my brother’s boyfriend (who is living with us at the moment) is still gone on vacation with his family, I had to be dropped off for work super early. And when I say super early, I mean I got dropped off at Hy-Vee at 7:30 in the morning. I didn’t work till 11am. I killed maybe an hour and a half in Hy-Vee, where I ate breakfast at the deli. Then I went over to work and killed no less than 2 and a half hours. I was browsing shopping for about half an hour.

The other day I bought two boxes of cheap blonde hair dye, and I used one on my bangs, to discover it really wasn’t the shade I wanted. Doesn’t look bad, I just wanted a lighter shade. So I returned one of the boxes and exchanged it for a lighter shade. I want to dye my bangs and a tiny bit at the very back of my hair, underneath everything else. I want that done by Halloween so I’ll be dyeing my hair Sunday morning, because I work at 12:15.

Also, I forgot today work was having an employee potluck that cost 5 bucks a person, with proceeds going towards breast cancer research.  Luckily, I had bought two cheap boxes of fruit snacks just to leave in the break room as free game (because when someone left poptarts and popcorn in there for anyone to have, I had some, so I wanted to return the favor). I just decided to leave those out for the potluck.

But yeah. Work was a bit hectic for a while. I had someone’s debit card be declined and she wanted to pay for part with the card and part cash. I had no idea what to do so I clicked misc. tender. Luckily, she had enough cash and I gave her change, but I had to have someone go on the computer and get the info, then void the transaction, then put it in as cash, and I was really upset that I’d get in trouble for that.

I was informed that people have screwed up far worse than that, multiple times, and not gotten fired. There was also an instance where a total was like… 66 and some change. He gave me the right amount, but I only typed in 56… so I had to type the other 10 in by itself and for a few horrible seconds I worried I fucked that up, but everything was fine.

I work tomorrow from 9:30-3, Sunday 12:15-5:15, and on Halloween from 2pm-7pm… but we’re allowed to dress up at work.  So everyone will get to see my 80s tastic costume. Speaking of which, on Halloween I want to be dropped off super early so I can look for something I want at hobby lobby.

ANYWAY.

After work on Halloween I’m planning on going to one of a couple bars that is within walking distance of my house. I hope it’ll be fun. If not I’ll just go home.

ANYWAY. Sorry. I wanted to hear (err, see) myself talk. The reason I wanted to do this is that I’ve decided something.

I’ve done this sort of thing before and not stuck to it, but today is the final straw.

I got a can of wild cherry pepsi at work (before I started), and I felt so guilty about it that I’ve decided that would be my last soda until Thanksgiving. And on days I don’t work, I’m going to make a habit to exercise for at least half an hour. Ideally I want 45 minutes, but I’ll go with 30 as a minimum.

I want to keep up my summer weight loss, and since I don’t have the paper route anymore, I have to find some other way to keep that going. I’m holding steady so far but I want to actually lose.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have random, meaningless internet crap to do before I collapse in my bed… and it’s so cold that I have to go find some socks to put on. It has to be VERY cold before I will suck  it up and wear socks, because I HATE socks.

Anyhoo, everyone, don’t be dicks to each other, and like don’t do anything TOO stupid on Halloween.

Well, you gotta be crazy, baby

Well, I haven’t written here for a while so I figured I could shoot you a short entry before I go tackle the load of dishes soaking in the sink. And I’ll see if there’s any laundry that needs to be done. I’d check the mail but now we’re lucky if we see our mail before 4pm.

Working at my new cashiering job has been going pretty well. I have noticed a few things, though, that probably keep us from doing more  business.

For one thing, almost none of the clearance merchandise rings up right. Then we have to void it off, override it, and more often than not have to call a manager over. This irritates people.

Secondly, all the damn questions on the pinpad. First there’s a survey that asks how likely they’d be to recommend the store to their friends. THEN, if they have a reward card, it asks if they want to add an email address. Especially with older folk, they just want to get in, pay for their shit, and get out.

Also, we’re supposed to ask if they want to use a company credit card, and if they don’t have one, we’re supposed to ask if they want to apply for one.

I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve heard anyone ask that question since I started working at the store in August.  As a shopper, I hate having a barrage of questions thrown at me. I just want to buy my shit and leave. I can only assume the same for most other shoppers.

Also, half our registers don’t work right. One of the registers has a deactivation pad that doesn’t work. Several of them have issues with the large scanner working, so people are forced to use the hand scanner for everything.  Also, when our ancient registers freeze, we have to take the time to reboot them. We can’t print the receipt off for the customer, we can’t complete the sale… so the customer has to sit there for what seems like forever until our computer boots back up, and THEN we have to call a manager over and it’s just a big hassle.

I just think that if some things were improved and done differently, we’d get more business. But what do I know? I’m just a peon at the register.

I get along with pretty much all of my coworkers, so there aren’t really any problems there. My biggest problem is the odd computer program they’re using to schedule us. I get hours like 10:15-4:45, or 11:30-5:15… it just makes it hard for me to remember when I get off work. When I have hours like 2-7… I don’t have to look at the clock and go ‘Shit, did I get off at 6:45, or 7:15? Or 7:30? I don’t remember. And I can’t exactly whip out my phone to check my hours.

On all accounts, though, I have it pretty good, considering that I have a job.

If you missed it, I’m now 25 years old, which feels really weird. I don’t feel like I’m 25 at all. I’m still a few cars behind on the maturity train, but I’m making great progress. It feels good and weird at the same time.  Sometimes I just stop and think to myself “You know, just a year or two ago, I would have reacted to that situation totally differently, yet here I am.”

On the other side of the coin, though, are those instances in which you still react somewhat childishly, even though you know better. After the fact, you’ll be like “What the fuck did I just do? I’m 25… not 5.”.

I think the difference now is that I’m more aware, and I try. I make an effort. Admittedly, I don’t make as much of an effort as I could, but I’m really trying.

I’d like to ramble on and on about that, but I have shit in the house I should probably get done before people start getting home from work. I will probably continue this later when my brain feels like being a little more coherent