The Adventures of Being Me

Interesting. Had a coworker who trained me on the night audit duties arrive to inform me I'm no longer doing the night audit cause I made too many mistakes. The accountant, front desk supervisor, and the night auditor held a meeting behind my back to discuss the new arrangement. Apparently I was expected to master in 4 weeks what took my coworker 3 months to master, then had my support taken away when the general manager didn't want to pay for 2 night auditors in the same evening because hotel guest numbers were declining. What mistakes was I making, I have no idea but apparently I po'ed the accountant enough to conduct a meeting behind my back to remove me from my duties without telling me how to do my job correctly. I see how things work around here. Guess I better look for another job cause I can't afford my paychecks being slashed. Merry Christmas to Me.

December was all preparing for Christmas. Put up my Mom's decorations and then my own. Her decorations take a few hours, mine took 15 hours. Then began the baking of cookies, cakes. pies, fudge, toffee, and almond bark pretzels. Need the whole month to complete those. Delivered treats to my chiropractor, vet, mechanic, postal carrier, and Mom's retirement apartment receptionists. Brother and wife had a small dinner in their house with our siblings plus Mom's cousin. Aunt from Omaha is coming over for Christmas Day at Mom's place. With Mom's brain capacity diminished, aunt is doing all the dinner planning. I get Xmas Eve and Day off so will finish my French Silk pie on Eve to spend Day with my sister's family. aunt, and Mom. Sister's cat Sammie died last week from kidney failure so still mourning that loss. Post later.

Twas the night before Christmas and I could hardly bare it Not a creature was stirring not even a ferret The stockings were hung on the bookcase with care In hopes that St. Nicholas would bring toys to share The ferrets were nestled all snug in their bedspreads While visions of red balls and feathers danced in their heads I Bilbo was curled up on Mama’s pillow With Misty on her feet like a fluffy marshmellow When out on the lawn I heard a dog bark I sprang from the bed after viewing a bright spark Away to the window we pounced in a flurry The ferrets jumped out of the sheets in a hurry The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow Covered up the leaves where raccoons like to go When what to my wandering cat eyes should appear But a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer With a little old driver so bright red and quick I so badly wanted to give that toy a lick More rapid than ferret bites his coursers they came And he whistled and shouted and called them by name Now Sparkle, Now Snowb...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my family and friends. Worked the overnight shift at my hotel job New Year's Eve. I worked on snack shop inventory so at my midnight I was either counting the Cheetos bags in the snack shop or in the storage closet. New Year's Day I slept at the hotel for 8 hours and then worked the afternoon shift. The day before New Year’s Eve we had 9.6 inches of snow delivered by Mother Nature and snowplows were still moving it out of the way on New Year’s Day. Then the next day I got called into work because a coworker got into a car accident. I explained that I had spent the past 24 hours at the hotel and completely exhausted. Poor manager had to work a double shift (overnight and morning shifts). Later, I realized I didn't even have clean uniforms to wear if I had said yes. Happy New Year to Me. Worked the tax office again to the dismay of my hotel manager who needed me to work due to a 2nd coworker getting into a car wreck. I got to pic...

Sent a card for great-niece's 6th Birthday. I told the clerk to place $15 on her gift card. Well, clerk typed in $50 so wrote a note my niece can use the rest of the amount to buy her daughters Christmas presents. Got all the Christmas decorations up in 15 hours over 2 days. Had my exercise for the month. Put up my Mom's decorations too, Checked on my weight loss prgress and 5 pounds lighter on scale. Can't complain. Started watching holiday movies. Don't have cable or satellite so my 25 Days of Christmas movies are on DVD. Been doing the night audit mostly by myself, but still have the babysitter to train on new things that come up. Got my Christmas cards done so have to prepare the letter to add to the package. My borher will host the extended family gathering and Mom will hostess Christmas Day. Went shopping for ingredients for my goodies and will get started on them soon. Well better start my Christmas letter now.

November started with getting my phone and internet fixed. Got out the heavy winter sweaters from storage while I waited. Celebrated my sister-in-law's birthday with cake and ice cream. The hotel head housekeeper quit and maids began leaving the guest rooms they cleaned wide open with lights on so wondered if it was a protest. Until a new head housekeeper was hired, the maids didn't want to do their jobs. Celebrated niece's birthday at an Italian restaurant with cake and ice cream at their home. Celebrated cats Bilbo and Misty's 3rd Birthday with some catnip. Had to rake my own yard cause nephew was still working at a fast food place and can't come. I worked on my yard until too sore to move. Will just have to finish next spring. Made some goodies for the front desk staff to enjoy on Thanksgiving to find out on arriving to work on Black Friday that they didn't eat any of it. Spent Thanksgiving at sister's house and then took niece and nephew Black Friday Sh...

Started my new job at the new hotel after my birthdy weekend. No holiday pay for Labor Day at this hotel either. Drat. Had to do online trainign for nearly 2 weeks before reaching the front desk first day. I work with great people and a few handsome guys so no complaints here. (And please control your excitement of marrying every guy I meet cause I'm not their type). One gal got married and I met the other bride who checked into the hotel (employees can't stay at the hotel unless there is a great snowstorm that prevents us from driving home). I discovered my main purpose was to get the accountant off the front desk since they were developing a backlog in the accounting department. The shuttle drivers keep getting surprised I keep coming back to work. Um, is this new hotel that awful to work for that nobody in their right mind would WANT to be here? Heard they had to furlough 95% of the staff due to Covid and then discovered during the Black Lives Matter downtown riots, the hote...

The 20th Anniversary of the Terror Attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, plus a plane crash in Pennsylvania is soon here. I remember that day as if it were yesterday much like people remember Pearl Harbor or the JFK Assassination. On September 11, 2001, I was 26 years old and lived in a studio apartment. I worked at Payless ShoeSource at Southridge Mall (no longer there)and National Car Rental at the airport. I just started the car rental job the month before so I was still in training with the manager. No pets yet. I woke up exhausted from working 2 jobs at the same time. I didn't turn on the TV and just ate my breakfast to take off for work. On my way to work, none of the radio stations were playing music. All the stations were talking about some plane crash in Pennsylvania. I arrived at work and asked my manager what the heck was going on. She replied I missed the excitement that morning of every plane in the country landing at once and hundreds of people wanting ca...

It's the one day a year I admit my true age. Funny how that happens when hitting 46 (according to teenagers I'm ancient). I celebrated with my family eating pizza at my sister's house. I fed the dog pieces of sausage. I opened my Mom's gift which was cat socks she thought were cute. The problems with owning a cat is that every cat object people see they must buy for me. I have ferrets too. Got a foot bath for my aching feet and enjoyed it immensely. Pets were curious of the blowing bubbles. Gave myself a pedicure complete with pumice stone rub. I needed pretty feet and fingers to go on 2 interviews in one week. Then got another interview after accepting a job offer. Didn't get the job I wanted (sit at a desk and not talk to any customers), but work the same job at a different hotel for more money. Can't complain. Naturally old boss desired me to stay with them. I would only stay to be an accountant at their hotel. That job will never happen so out I go (Manager...

We had a hail storm that woke me up from my after work slumber. Sounded like someone hammering on the roof and someone throwing rocks at the windows. Look outside to find the hail coming down. Tried to record it, but my smartphone took a minute to turn on. I got the tail end of the hail falling, but missed the heavy downpour that woke me up. It resembled snow falling. Such as life. Missed the family reunion at my brother's house sleeping at home most of the day. I arrived after most people had left. Aunt was celebrating her 80 Birthday. My niece recorded my great-nieces playing in the backyard and shared it with me to see how big they are getting. Had 2 online interviews with prospective employers. Both rejected me later. Had a phone interview with a 3rd company and received another rejection notice. Celebrated my Mom's birthday with siblings at a restaurant. Siblings wanted to go to a fancy restaurant they always wanted to experience. I replied that our mother grew up on a f...

Funny how people have trouble understanding what "I'm broke" really means. It means: I have debt not savings. I work 2 jobs, 6 days a week and barely have enough to pay my living expenses. I'm not lazy, I'm exhausted. I don't have money to spare to pay for repairs, vacations, TiVo, Disney+, Netflix, fast food, or hobbies. I won't be remodeling anything in the near future. I seriously don't care what Martha Stewart would have to say about my boring meals with foods that are all the same color or my lack of themes or color schemes in my decorating. In fact, I seriously don't care what a man would think of my dirty house covered in pet hair cause no man will see it. I can't afford a luxury apartment or posh mansion you wished I lived in so you can swim in a pool for free. I am not buying movies for you to borrow for free. I can't afford a housekeeper to keep my house perfectly clean to your satisfaction. And my yard will never resemble a man...

I hate customer service jobs. Get someone who makes a reservation in the middle of night and demands their room at 2:30 AM. I am sold out tonight. The res they just made for today is good at 3PM, not 3AM when my guests are still sleeping (I am not yanking guests out of bed to give someone a room). Well had 2 reservations from the day before arriving and I checked them in. Now I am racist cause he's black and this is going on social media. I explained those people had reservations from the night before and I have to honor them past midnight. If their reservation was for yesterday, I would have gladly honored it at 2 AM. But it wasn't, it was made for today and the check in time is 3 PM. They explain they are from New York and unfamiliar with such things. Yeah, I'm sure hotels in New York have check in times too. They scream at me how heartless I am cause they have a little girl and I am throwing them out in the street (not exactly, I let them sleep in the lobby and let them...

Always fun to get yelled at by guests comparing my hotel to other hotels in the chain. Can't tell them the maids are working 9-10 hours in a day preparing rooms for arriving guests so they don't have time to service the stay over guests with fresh towels and sheets every day. Manager is even blocking new reservations from being made so the maids can keep up. Can't tell them manager forgot to order sugar packets so we ran out yesterday. I did find a few in the break room and then they refused take them, but will gladly whine how we don't have coffee cause we are out of sugar. Equal is just not good enough. Can't tell them the cook works alone and too overwhelmed to open breakfast an hour early for a sports team. Their extra help is at the front desk, which makes guests complain there is nobody at the front desk when I go help her. Can't tell them since our top manager quit the maintenance guy cannot seem to get the ice machine fixed or anything else fixed, bu...

Working at a car rental I once wished a customer a Happy 4th and they asked the importance of the day. I explained to the Italian tourist that it is our Independence Day. I suggested attending our fireworks display at the Capitol Building that also has the Des Moines Symphony playing music. Days later he returned his car to thank me for the advice cause he enjoyed the concert and fireworks. Took Eowyn ferret to get her stitches removed from her eye removal surgery. I say she is now a pirate. She doesn't like being approached by her eyeless side and turns her to see through her other eye. I wonder if she is going blind cause she follows walls plus crashing into furniture. She poops everywhere so has trouble finding the corners where I place newspapers for the ferrets. Now that she is healed I have to give her a steroid pill crushed and mixed in salomon oil. At first she objected (shook her head), but still licked the salmon oil that tasted weird. After a while, she refused to lick ...

I finsihed my latest novel so go chekc it out. https://southernbellenovel.blogspot.com/?fbclid=IwAR13Bpls3Cpsw3xcxm4Susjwd2HOTAWW0Yi82S-psyfaGC5L6j0GqgBckYI

Had 2 maids quit and a laundry person left. Finally got my extra refund from IRS from the change in unemployment being taxed. As it so happened, the state return also changed due to the unemployment change so got extra refund from the state too. It all went to pay down the credit cards. Poor Eowyn ferret with the swollen eye had to have her eye removed. Vet said there was a tumor pushing her eye out. He got what he could. He sent the tumor for testing and poor Eowyn has lymphona. I could pay a fortune I don't have to take her out of state for chemotherapy cause vet was certain her cancer would have spread throughout her body. Given he age, she could be dead in a year or two from natural causes so I questioned if it would be worth it. Plus, I work 6 days of week so I don't have time to take her out of state. I elected to make her comfortable, give lots of treats, take her out for freash air, and prepare to let her go. She eats well so she is good so far, just getting accustome...

Hire a new maid. The elevator broke down and guests were trapped inside for a couple hours until the fire department rescued them. Had to deliver towels to hotel guests walking the staris cause they didn't want to come down. Poor Eowyn ferret got a swollen eye and had I to go to work so couldn't deal with it right away. Requested a vet appointment sooner than the 2 weeks that were avaiable online. Sent a photo of her eye and got an appointment the next day. Received ointment and antibiotics to give her in hope that it is just an eye ulcer. Eowyn did not like the medication. One day she climbed my shirt and plopped on the floor to remain motionless. Once I tried to give her antibiotic and ointment, she pooped so I know that part works. She gave me a good scare and then I had to leave for work so left her in a pet bed. When I got home she was walking around like normal so glad she was okay. Returned to the vet a week later and her eye ulcer was healed, but the swelling failed t...

Boromir has been determined to dig in the flower pot grave of my first ferret Faramir. After 3 years, I'm sure he is all bones now. It was quite emotional viewing Faramir's red burial shroud peeking out of the dirt. I don't know what Boromir smells, but he was scratching the towel I buried Faramir with determination. Also discovered Boromir doesn't like the wind chimes hanging from the gutters. He has visited the neighbor's yard enough tmes to be fearful of his dogs. Good. Hotel manager had to resort to hiring maids through temp agencies to get rooms cleaned. We gained a maid and lost a maid. Crossing fingers for my more staff. I missed Mother's Day caused I had to work and slept most of the day. Heard from my siblings they had a good one taking my Mom out for dinner and a good chat. Post later.

Had my last day at the tax office. Sink was clogged and printer was out of paper. Apparently the manager was not in any hurry to fix the issues. Oh well, not my problem anymore. Brushed the cats and had enough hair from the brush to make a new kitten. Rescued Eowyn ferret with a ponytail holder around her neck like a collar. Reminded me of the day she was scampering around with a toilet paper tube on her head. Ferret mom to the rescue. Had my heart attack for the day. Got home from work, open the garage door (the hard way by lifting it up), and rustling noise was heard by the garbage cans. All of a sudden, a fluffy brown rabbit with with powder puff white tail jumped out from behind the garbage cans to make a mad dash down the driveway and into the neighbor's yard. I guess I woke Mr. Bunny from his nap. Misty chased her first baby rabbit (relax, bunny escaped into the neighbors' yard). Luthien ferret discovered the dirt under the gate had been scratched away to create a hol...

Me Arriving Home From Work at 7:20 AM: Aaaa!!Thump!! Eowyn: Happy Easter Mom. You will never believe what happened with the Easter Bunnny last night. Me: I can't wait to hear why there is a cat pole string around my shoe. Luthien: Wait, I want to tell the Bunny Trap story. Boromir: Oh, hello Mom. I just enjoying the chocolate eggs we stole from The 🐰 Bunny. Mom: Go on Luthien. Luthien: Well, last night we couldn't find any carrots in the fridge so we used your carrot cake as bait. The plate was too big for a box or carrier so we placed the feather pole string on floor to ensnare The Bunny. Eowyn thought we should offer a napkin. Then The Bunny came inside and ate the cake. Boromir pulled the string to hold The Bunny while Eowyn and I hid chocolate eggs from his basket in the pantry. Next Bilbo and Misty got excited the pink feather was flying around and well, long story short: The Bunny escaped the string and left behind his basket. We got toys, chocolate eggs, and jelly beans...

Got my stimulus check from the IRS. It will go straight to pay off my creidt cards. A car that constantly breaks down and losing my good job a couple years ago really hurt my ceredit cards. Sure I worked my tax place last year, but was employed most of the year until I started my hotel job last September. Bills don't go away when unemployed. Sure the extra unemployment was nice and helped pay the credit cards down. IRS declared an extension to file taxes. Yeah, the tax place is not staying open longing and will shut down as usual and any late comers will have to use our year around locations. Got the news a new tax law removed some unemployment from being taxed. Great, I already got my refund. Had to wait to see if I needed to do an Amended Tax Return to claim my extra refund. Congress, please try to finish your tax laws in December! At least I don't have to do an Amended Return, but have to wait until after the extended tax season to get over with before I receive my extr...

This month I met a new coworker for the tax office. I left when they arrived since we use the same computer (and I'm working 6 days a week due to my other job). Oh, they just worked 8 hours at their other job and working another 4 hours here to close the office. I would hate working 12 hour shifts so to each their own. Apparently someone quit last week without telling the manager and help was needed here. They usually work at another office. My hotel job began serving the hot breakfast again. Head honcho said Covid was over and everything was going back to normal. Ok, whatever you say. The unvaccinated lying in hospital beds would beg to differ that Covid is over. This is my first hotel job and only experienced their prepackaged Covid breakfast so this will be an experience. We even got a new pancake machine (I prefer waffles). My Verdict on My Hotel Hot Breakfast. It's food. Pancakes were a wee flat and hard to cut with side of my plastic fork. Cook said the new pancake machi...

Had a battle with the tax office toilet and couldn't unclog it with the plunger no matter how hard I tried. Didn't want to get poopy water on my suede boots. Complained to the manager and they put in a ticket to have it checked. Two weeks later, brown sludge is still in the toilet. Complained to manager again (I have complained 2 different weeks about this) and they said parts have arrived to fix the toilet. They said they closed the office and I could go home for the rest of the day. I told friends on social media I'm ready to quit this job if this toilet problem never gets fixed. Mom wrote a check for my new car. Family keeps saying I'm borrowing so much I won't inherit anything when Mom dies. What can I do? Employers who pay well refuse to interview me and jobs I can get don't pay the bills. What do people want me to do, start robbing banks? Stand on a street corner begging for change (I'll probably would make more money and not pay income tax on it cause...

Had my first day at the tax office. Nobody was there so had to contact manager who told me to get a key at another location. Got inside and was told to finish tax classes to start preparing taxes for clients. Can't get into the programs on the computer. I need username and passwords. Manager can't seem to understand this and simply tells me the password to unlock the computer. Client who made a reservation in the parking lot (sign on door state Appointments Only). Manager told me there was coworker coming at 4:00 and they live a hour away. Explain to client I can't get into the computer (didn't mention I also need to finsih tax classes to do their forms and someone was coming any minute. No coworker arrives and get ahold of the manager who explains the coworker is new and working at another location. I hate it when managers flat out lie to me. Client walks out the door upset there is nobody who can service them. Mentioned this on social media and a hour later manager sh...

Got a snowstorm right before New Year's Eve with 9.6 inches of snow. I came to work and got stuck in a snow drift at the entrance. I walked to the hotel and told my manager to call the snow plow people cause I won't be the last one getting stuck at the entrance (and 2 more cars did before they came). I got myself out of the snow drift thanks to the shovel in my trunk, drove down the street, and turned around to ram through the snow drift with a fury to make it through. Even though my ferrets love snow, they refused to go outside. I think one made it 20 seconds playing in the snow coming back inside. Baby it's cold outside. Stayed at my hotel until the streets were cleared along with 2 coworkers. Our beds are very comfortable and I enjoyed our hot bedtime chamomille tea. New Year's Eve I drive home from the overnight shift and stop at the grocery store. Leave grocery store to find my car has a flat tire. Drive slowly to the mechanic down the street and get a new tire. I ...