Ever notice how it's the little things in life that amuse us so much? More to the point, ever notice how it's the silly little idiocies in life that amuse us more than anything else? Well, this is not as much ''the little blog that could'' as it is ''the blog that enjoys going up the down escalator in your local mall.'' Will it have anything of real importance? No, probably not. But enjoy the ride never the less!

 


This was originally scheduled to be the "Huzzah! Thank God It's The Last Friday For The Kiosk!" post. However, with 3 days left to before the winter kiosk was due to be closed, Head Office called us up and exclaimed in a cheerful voice, "Guess what? We've extended the kiosk for another full week! Isn't that great?"

They seemed awfully surprised by my slightly acerbic response of, "Okay, that's great, but since you didn't tell us until the last minute, and almost all of the staff there have already made other plans or gotten other jobs lined up for next week, who do I have left to run it?"

They were equally surprised when they said I could just push a couple of the store personnel over to the kiosk for some shifts, to which I responded with, "And now that my store employees are over at the kiosk, who do I have left to help me do precount for my store inventory?"

While I cannot say this head-up-assery comes as a complete and unadulterated shock, this does remain the latest if not most painfully obvious reminder that, despite what all the Emails and company newsletters say, proper inter-store/department communication is one of those "do as we say, don't do as we do" things as far as Head Office goes.

If I manage to survive next week without: a) killing someone, or b) dropping dead from exhaustion, I'll be impressed. As it is, I've already have to completely alter the store (and now the kiosk's) schedule at the last minute, and I'm hoping it'll still work out for everyone. To boot, it looks like I'll have to cover an evening shift at the kiosk after pulling a 6:30am start to the day for the store's inventory.

And if anyone at Payroll asks why I've pulled so much overtime next week...oh, the answers they'll get. To quote Chuck Palanuik: I am Joe's seething rage. (Which is a lot better than being Joe's colon, since that would mean I was quite literally full of shit. The smell alone would be atrocious.)

Beyond that, I'm maintaining as constructive an attitude as I can. Sometimes it's the simpler things in life that can help calm the seething rage: cute, fluffy bunnies, or chocolate, or in my case, killing a bunch of characters off in a fanfic. 3 Inner Senshi down, 1 to go. Ha ha! (I am Joe's homicidal impulses! Which would be much better than going "I am Metaluna!" mostly because it would mean I was on the tubes in Exeter's ship.)

Today's Lesson: watching an entire season of Avatar in a single 8-9 hour sitting has the surprising side effect of making your eyes start to cross afterwards. (Then again, it was worth it.)
posted by Phillip at 5:32 AM

 

It's February! January has come to its horrid, snowy end, and at long last the mall will calm down and I will have the chance to relax, breathe and become slightly more visible in the world (wired & otherwise) once again.

...well, except for all the work that needs doing this week, as we close the Winter kiosk down for next Sunday

...and except for the store inventory, which happens a week from Thursday (and which requires us to do a massive & frantic precount of everything in the back stockroom, and a bunch of annoying stuff out in the store, ie: wallets & winterwear)

...and except for the week-long trip down to Connecticut Mel & I will be doing a week after Inventory, wherein a much belated Commercialmas-ish celebration will be had with her family, and I will in all likelihood return to a store that will already be crumbling apart and require at least 2-3 days before it gets fixed up properly.


...hm, suddenly I find myself asking what part of February is supposed to be relaxing. (Note to self: kill anyone who dares to say "hopefully things will pick up for you guys in March", and blame their gruesome demise on El Nino.)


Today's Lesson: just when you think it's safe to finally have a day off, someone calls in sick, leaving you the only person available to take the shift. Because there's nothing better than minding a store in the midst of Superduperbowl Sunday and contending with everyone who wants to do last-minute shopping before the game. (Unless we get really lucky, and the game starts at 3pm our time...if that happens, the mall will get substancially quieter halfway through the shift.)

This prompts me to ask: does anyone have an actual, working katamari ball? I swear once I roll up all the annoying customers (and *cough* accidentally all of our winterwear too), I'll hose the Katamari down and return it to you.
posted by Phillip at 8:06 AM