The Adventures of Being Me

I got a message on my answering machine from Mom. My uncle died, her brother. Apparently he got up to go to the bathroom and collapsed on the floor. The coroner thought it was a massive heart attack (heart and blood pressure problems do run on that side of the family). Mom thought this happened yesterday and aunt has not called back with the autopsy results. He will be cremated and Mom was uncertain if he will be buried. No funeral plans have been set yet. I will miss his funny xmas letters from Spokane, WA where flowers grow bigger than here. I think he is a year older than Dad and just celebrated his birthday 4 days ago, so I would say he died at age 73.

Last night two coworkers were arrested and taken in handcuffs. One gal marked a bunch of $400 purses down to $5 and her husband came and bought them. Then another got in the game doing price overrides for the gal's husband. Yeah, I can see how the camera people would get suspicious of a guy buying a bunch of top of the line purses. Stupid people. Then a coworker and I saw a giant fuzzy camera and tripod go by, then later left. I thought they were a news crew interviewing shoppers. No, Ray Liotta was here in the Men's department by himself and I missed it. One coworker thought they were filming a training video by the register then asked, Is that Ray Liotta? Nobody got his autograph and he walked out of the store w/out fuss. I guess they are still filming his movie in Perry. Otherwise I struggled to stay awake all day. Later.

I forgot the Inauguration was today so I got up at noon. I watched the commentary of the speech President Obama made. Naturally I had to watch it so got online to watch the rerun on the internet. I was touched it made me cry. I liked the last part where he said that a man who 60 years ago would not have been served in a restaurant in this city has now taken a sacred oath. I also liked the part about our patchwork is our strength not our weakness. Those ideas are the things that make us Americans, we survive the worst and dream towards the best. If nothing changed there woud be no butterflies (I read this saying in a catalog and like to repeat it). If FDR can get us out of the Great Depression that crippled the world and win a two front war, I think President Obama can get us out of this mess.Later.

We got summer tan tops in the women's clothes. Spring is here.Got a safety matters email addressed only to me. To make sure accidents don't occur, stabilize mannequins before changing clothes and get help lifting heavy objects. Neither apply to me. I wonder if anyone from my store is reading my journal when talking about slippery boxes falling on my head last week.Got a "Friendly Reminder" reprimand from assistant store manager about the rules on breaks. The email was only adrressed to me so I call it a reprimand. No breaks before noon or after 6 PM for proper floor coverage. Work 4 hrs get a 15 min break. Work 6 hrs get 30 min lunch. Work 7 hrs get 1 hr lunch with 15 min break (unless we are busy then we get knocked down to 30 min lunch and no 15). During 15 min breaks we are not allowed to leave the store nor buy anything (cuz we are still on the clock). If we are scheduled to leave at 5 PM or 6 PM, we get no 15 min break even if we work over 7 hrs. THESE PEOPLE ACT...

It is snowing outside. I took it started right before I left work cuz the streets had not been plowed. It is so much fun to drive in the center of the road cuz I can't see the lines. How often does one get to do that? I drove very slow forcing the people behind me to zoom pass. I notice a lot of revving from trucks and Suv's making them fishtail when they turn. Then snow flies up when they try to stop. I skid every time I try to stop so I am not speeding up. Then someone had to turn right causing the 3 cars ahead of me to to slide and hit the curb cause this was on a curve (turning left). The one in front of me (Suv) hits the curb so hard he goes over and plops back down on the road. I have to hit the curb to keep from spinning as I try to slow down (turning the wheel to follow the curve), only I just brush it gently (I was going 25 at this point). Hitting the curb is also a good way to stop the car if you are skidding. I notice the Suv driving slower after that until he got to...

Came to work to be bored to tears and freezing so hang around the guy in the next section to warm up. He is from Mexico and moved to Texas 30 years ago. He moved here 15 years ago. I'm astonished he moved to colder climate. He laughs. He likes it here. He is fun to talk to. He complains how wives can be married for years and not know their husbands' sizes. Look at the labels in his closet before you leave the house if can't guessimate. I saw the assistant manager working at a cash register. I asked what she was doing there. Having fun, she replies. My lip is sore today but getting better. Frodo cut my lip pawing at my face this morning. I tasted blood and got out of bed so Frodo would stop. He does this when the alarm clock goes off and I don't want to get up, which is every morning.It picked up after lunchtime and had to help several people at once. I found out I helped the parents of a security guy the other day. I was happy they were happy with me even if I was busy ...

Very quiet today at work, everybody came yesterday. Naturally everybody looks at the clearance shoes, but few buy them. Had my coworker with me so got a few things done. Manager came by twice to give orders for inventory prep. We had to check all the shoes had boxes, every style is displayed but if there is a single shoe left then take that off display and put it in the back, move shoe care in backroom to another shelf where it is in her chart of the department, and finally grab all the shoes off the clothing displays so we know what we have. Apparently the guys don't change displays cuz there were shoes we no longer have and two pairs I couldn't locate where the box was. Clothing guys don't always put the boxes of the shoes they take in the correct place. That would make things too easy. enjoyed my full hour lunch and 15 minute break. Security guy had his break interrupted. Some guy wanted to try on a ladies coat in the men's department. Security guy asked if the guy h...

We had our big clearance sale today. We even opened a hour earlier than scheduled too. They shunned us about holding stuff for ourselves. No need to worry cuz we didn't have time for breaks to buy our holds. Natually everybody thinks everything in the store is half off. No, just the clearance is half of the clearance price. They also said we were are shorthanded today and I'm guessing cuz they didn't know 3 weeks ago when they made the schedules this big sale would occur. Had a guy argue over a sign. It said 40% off then had above it 50% off ("marketdown price" part was hidden by the frame of the sign) so that makes it 90% off the original price and he wants it 90% off the original price now. I'll solve the problem, I say, I'll take the sign down. I refuse to have this argument again. The clearance shoes are not 40% off the original price. Lifting the sign he sees the 50% off markdown price part. So anyway, I get someone wanting to argue over the price o...