As crazy as it sounds (yes, I know, everything I say is crazy), but staying at home on my second day off has actually made me miss work. I spent the majority of the day wandering around the house as the rain poured down outside - ironic how everyone thinks that it does not rain in Vegas. Oh yes, it does.
At one point, I went to the gym with my brother because I knew that my dad would pester me if I didn't go. I honestly was not in the mood considering I got my lovely period on Christmas and have been forced to book it to the bathroom every half hour in hopes that I wouldn't leak. I am sure you wanted to hear that.
Bah! I cannot think of anything worthwhile to write about. I want to. I really do. Look for that entry another day. I'll leave you with my usual list of thoughts...
I'm wired on my third cup of tea. I need to clean up my room, or get rid of some of my crap - I have nowhere to put certain things. I'm glad I bought that Depeche Mode album that I have wanted for so long. I really don't want to get up at 5 AM tomorrow. Movie tickets are overpriced. Meet the Fockers was better than I expected!
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Nothing significant has happened since my last blog entry - although I certainly hope that next time when something big does happen, it won't be a car accident.
Christmas is inching closer and closer, yet it does not feel like a holiday season. I have no reason to celebrate anything, and watching the shoppers rushing through the stores with their long gift lists, I am so grateful that I am not in their position. The four of us, being my parents, brother, and I, are only exchanging small gifts. Nothing big or expensive, but I honestly don't care. There are better and more important things that my mom should spend money on (like our monthly rent). My sister and her fiance were supposed to come to Las Vegas for New Year's. As usual, plans changed and they are not coming after all because of the plane ticket prices and the road traffic. Dorota called earlier this evening and told me that she is coming at the end of January to attend a show on the Strip, so I suppose I will be seeing my sister again. Justyna is so busy with her new job that she barely has time to breathe let alone visit us in Las Vegas.
More visitors are guaranteed, however. In the spring, Marek and Klaudia are flying from Poland for Dorota's wedding on the second of April. They also want to stay here a while to check out the sights and have some fun. Speaking of weddings, they got engaged two days ago, so it looks like I will be going to another wedding in the near future. It's also another good reason why I should go to Europe. Haha!
I am so happy for them (Marek and Klaudia). It's hard to believe that they have known each other less than a year and act as if they had known each other for much longer. Watching them together always made me so jealous that I have never experienced anything near their relationship. A part of me wishes for a boyfriend - the other part says I should be patient and let it happen when it happens. I wonder when that is going to be.
Several short thoughts: I'm drained and proud of myself. This green tea I am drinking got cold extremely fast. I want to buy a new CD. I still smell like chlorine even though I took a long shower. No more Starbucks coffee - it's too bloody expensive. I dread going to work tomorrow. Why does my hair take so long to dry? Sleep!
Christmas is inching closer and closer, yet it does not feel like a holiday season. I have no reason to celebrate anything, and watching the shoppers rushing through the stores with their long gift lists, I am so grateful that I am not in their position. The four of us, being my parents, brother, and I, are only exchanging small gifts. Nothing big or expensive, but I honestly don't care. There are better and more important things that my mom should spend money on (like our monthly rent). My sister and her fiance were supposed to come to Las Vegas for New Year's. As usual, plans changed and they are not coming after all because of the plane ticket prices and the road traffic. Dorota called earlier this evening and told me that she is coming at the end of January to attend a show on the Strip, so I suppose I will be seeing my sister again. Justyna is so busy with her new job that she barely has time to breathe let alone visit us in Las Vegas.
More visitors are guaranteed, however. In the spring, Marek and Klaudia are flying from Poland for Dorota's wedding on the second of April. They also want to stay here a while to check out the sights and have some fun. Speaking of weddings, they got engaged two days ago, so it looks like I will be going to another wedding in the near future. It's also another good reason why I should go to Europe. Haha!
I am so happy for them (Marek and Klaudia). It's hard to believe that they have known each other less than a year and act as if they had known each other for much longer. Watching them together always made me so jealous that I have never experienced anything near their relationship. A part of me wishes for a boyfriend - the other part says I should be patient and let it happen when it happens. I wonder when that is going to be.
Several short thoughts: I'm drained and proud of myself. This green tea I am drinking got cold extremely fast. I want to buy a new CD. I still smell like chlorine even though I took a long shower. No more Starbucks coffee - it's too bloody expensive. I dread going to work tomorrow. Why does my hair take so long to dry? Sleep!
Saturday, December 11, 2004
Things that annoy me at work
1. Watching a hideously obese person walking out of Starbucks with a venti caramel frappucino topped with a shit-load of whip cream and caramel syrup before sitting their ass down in their car.
2. My hands are obviously full with the scanner and product and customer sounds off their phone number for their discount like somebody pressed the fast-forward button. Number one, do you fucking expect me to memorize your phone number when I moved here six weeks ago and still can’t remember my own? Two, do you think I can possibly manage juggling a scanner, your damn book, and type in the numbers at the same time?
3. People stand in line and come up to me asking for a gift card when a rack with the sign “GIFT CARDS” written in giant letters was standing directly in front of them the whole time.
4. I am in the middle of ringing up people’s things and they try swiping their debit or credit card through the machine. I’m not done yet, dammit!
5. My fellow employees and I stand outside the store doors before opening time waiting for a manager to let us in. Everyday, at least one customers charges through the circle and goes to the door, yanking on it like hell. So it will open for you and we’re standing out here for nothing?
6. Old people stand there and tell me they will be using their credit card when I just asked them if they were going to use their store discount card.
7. People who buy two or three hundred dollars worth of media and come back a few days later saying that they “changed their mind” and want to do a return.
8. I constantly walk back and forth through the store and nobody asks me for help. However, as soon as you go on I go on break or lunch and am on my way to the employee break room, I have customers coming at me from all sides with questions.
9. I am organizing the greeting card table. It is obvious that I am neatly stacking the cards and here comes this middle-aged lady that looks at a set of cards before putting it in the wrong pile. What. The. Fuck?
10. It’s the first transaction of the day and a customer buys a newspaper for fifty cents. They give you a hundred dollar bill and you only have about a hundred or so dollars in your register.
11. A lady came up to the head cashier and asked, "Do you have any gift cards without that guy's face on it?" The guy you are talking about, ma'am, is Shakespeare, only the greatest playwrite of all time.
12. Sometimes the volunteer gift wrappers do not get there early enough in the morning, so when an customer asks if we do gift wrapping, I have to do it. I am standing there are the table carefully wrapping the books like a pro and lady impatiently tells me that she has to go pick up her grandson in fifteen minutes. She wants me to wrap three sets of books and there is no one else there to help me. So you want me to do a shitty job, miss? No problem!
13. Today a couple and their kids gave me three gift cards to load. I write down the amount they want, and I am almost about to hit enter on the third card when they change their minds because they want ones that are "kid themed". Great. What a time to tell me NOW.
14. Another incident today was when some woman in her late fifties/early sixties came up to me and hurriedly mumbled that she did not need a gift receipt. Okay. So then I do the transaction and give her the bag when she asks where the gift receipt is. I said that she told me she did not want any. At this point, I am trying not stare at her ugly brown tar-crusted teeth that looked like they've been abused by years of smoking. She's annoyed with me, glaring at me like I am some kind of idiot, but is it really my fault that she mumbled in a noisy area of the store? I ended up having the head cashier cancel the transaction, I did a return on all the items, and gave the woman her damn gift receipt.
15. People rush up to me when I am in the middle of the store (holding something in each hand, of course) and fling a list of books at me asking where they are or if we have them. How the hell should I know? I'm not a psychic. Go to customer service! They've got the computer!
16. Shoppers lose all thought process and expect us to do the thinking for them. Not only that, but many choose to treat us booksellers as if we're uneducated dirt. They don't know us, therefore, they choose to patronize us. If it were not for the few that treated us with the respect everyone deserves, it would be extremely difficult working in an environment like the one I work in right now. At the moment, however, I think I have turned into the Christmas Grinch!
2. My hands are obviously full with the scanner and product and customer sounds off their phone number for their discount like somebody pressed the fast-forward button. Number one, do you fucking expect me to memorize your phone number when I moved here six weeks ago and still can’t remember my own? Two, do you think I can possibly manage juggling a scanner, your damn book, and type in the numbers at the same time?
3. People stand in line and come up to me asking for a gift card when a rack with the sign “GIFT CARDS” written in giant letters was standing directly in front of them the whole time.
4. I am in the middle of ringing up people’s things and they try swiping their debit or credit card through the machine. I’m not done yet, dammit!
5. My fellow employees and I stand outside the store doors before opening time waiting for a manager to let us in. Everyday, at least one customers charges through the circle and goes to the door, yanking on it like hell. So it will open for you and we’re standing out here for nothing?
6. Old people stand there and tell me they will be using their credit card when I just asked them if they were going to use their store discount card.
7. People who buy two or three hundred dollars worth of media and come back a few days later saying that they “changed their mind” and want to do a return.
8. I constantly walk back and forth through the store and nobody asks me for help. However, as soon as you go on I go on break or lunch and am on my way to the employee break room, I have customers coming at me from all sides with questions.
9. I am organizing the greeting card table. It is obvious that I am neatly stacking the cards and here comes this middle-aged lady that looks at a set of cards before putting it in the wrong pile. What. The. Fuck?
10. It’s the first transaction of the day and a customer buys a newspaper for fifty cents. They give you a hundred dollar bill and you only have about a hundred or so dollars in your register.
11. A lady came up to the head cashier and asked, "Do you have any gift cards without that guy's face on it?" The guy you are talking about, ma'am, is Shakespeare, only the greatest playwrite of all time.
12. Sometimes the volunteer gift wrappers do not get there early enough in the morning, so when an customer asks if we do gift wrapping, I have to do it. I am standing there are the table carefully wrapping the books like a pro and lady impatiently tells me that she has to go pick up her grandson in fifteen minutes. She wants me to wrap three sets of books and there is no one else there to help me. So you want me to do a shitty job, miss? No problem!
13. Today a couple and their kids gave me three gift cards to load. I write down the amount they want, and I am almost about to hit enter on the third card when they change their minds because they want ones that are "kid themed". Great. What a time to tell me NOW.
14. Another incident today was when some woman in her late fifties/early sixties came up to me and hurriedly mumbled that she did not need a gift receipt. Okay. So then I do the transaction and give her the bag when she asks where the gift receipt is. I said that she told me she did not want any. At this point, I am trying not stare at her ugly brown tar-crusted teeth that looked like they've been abused by years of smoking. She's annoyed with me, glaring at me like I am some kind of idiot, but is it really my fault that she mumbled in a noisy area of the store? I ended up having the head cashier cancel the transaction, I did a return on all the items, and gave the woman her damn gift receipt.
15. People rush up to me when I am in the middle of the store (holding something in each hand, of course) and fling a list of books at me asking where they are or if we have them. How the hell should I know? I'm not a psychic. Go to customer service! They've got the computer!
16. Shoppers lose all thought process and expect us to do the thinking for them. Not only that, but many choose to treat us booksellers as if we're uneducated dirt. They don't know us, therefore, they choose to patronize us. If it were not for the few that treated us with the respect everyone deserves, it would be extremely difficult working in an environment like the one I work in right now. At the moment, however, I think I have turned into the Christmas Grinch!
Monday, December 06, 2004
Typical luck
You know, waking up this morning, I thought today was going to be a good day. My mom and I were planning on checking out a Polish store (I met a Polish woman yesterday at work; she recommended the store) then going to the gym. I also wanted to go exchange a pair of pants mom bought me at Ross for a smaller size before heading to Starbucks for my favorite grande iced sugar-free hazelnut latte with soy milk. But you know my luck.
Around noon, I was sitting in front of the television, ready and dressed with my hair freshly washed as my eyes intently watching a soap opera like I was hooked on crack. Actually, I wasn't that intr-holy shit! Does my dad really have to burst in on me like that! I almost had a heart attack! Okay, as I was saying, I wasn't that interested. I was halfway down the road towards boredom as the actors doled out the typical cheesy lines. My mom was sitting on the couch next the one I was sitting on when the phone rang. She got up, made her way into the kitchen, and as soon as I heard her shriek, "WHAT?!" in English with her heavy Polish accent, I knew something was wrong.
It turns out that my dad got in a car accident. He was stopped at a red light when some idiot didn't stop fast enough and rear-ended him. It pushed dad's Nissan Maxima into the truck in front of him and you know what the ironic part is? His was the only car that had to be towed from the scene of the accident. The other cars involved, including the one that read-ended my dad, drove away with barely a dent on their bumpers. The Nissan is currently parked on our driveway with the trunk and front pushed as if it were a giant abused coke can. My dad got out of it okay. Nothing major. He went to the hospital later and the doctors diagnosed him with strained neck muscles. My mom seems to be doing worse than he, however. She's been moping all day and groaning about the the $3,000 from her 401K that she gave my dad to fix the car. Another ironic point is the fact that the car was ready to be sold off and my dad was driving it to be smog-checked and registered at the DMV. So not only did my dad get a $1,000 ticket for no registration and no proof of insurance, but the car is only good for scrap metal and $3,000 have gone down the drain.
My dad is self-employed, making just enough money for the month to month bills with his car repair "business" he wandered into after he got laid off in 2001. You have no idea how many people have refused to give him work, preferring some snot-nosed recent college graduate instead. He's only fifty-three for Christ sake. They make him sound like a geriatric who can't make it up the stairs without clutching his heart.
Meanwhile, my mom has been sitting at the home for the past three months (since moving here) waiting until the employment agency would set her up with a job. The hospitals in the area have all given her the usual, "We have your application. Our manager will call you." The agency never calls her back and she usually has to call herself just to get an update. She got a job, apparently, but she's waiting until "they" send the confirmation for a computer class she took to get the job.
Don't get me wrong. I'm being optimistic. I call only laugh at this entire situation because things like this seem to happen to my family in waves. No matter how much we try, life seems to serve us shit on a silver platter. We have had more than our share of bad things. When will we get our share of good things?
Several short thoughts: Can I get malaria pills over the counter? I hate Bush. My hair looks horrible when I curl it outwards. I hate pop corn kernels when their shells get stuck in my gums. Never buy Asian-made cars; they're flimsy pieces of crap. I finally took four rolls of film to be developed. Las Vegas people can't drive... at all.
Around noon, I was sitting in front of the television, ready and dressed with my hair freshly washed as my eyes intently watching a soap opera like I was hooked on crack. Actually, I wasn't that intr-holy shit! Does my dad really have to burst in on me like that! I almost had a heart attack! Okay, as I was saying, I wasn't that interested. I was halfway down the road towards boredom as the actors doled out the typical cheesy lines. My mom was sitting on the couch next the one I was sitting on when the phone rang. She got up, made her way into the kitchen, and as soon as I heard her shriek, "WHAT?!" in English with her heavy Polish accent, I knew something was wrong.
It turns out that my dad got in a car accident. He was stopped at a red light when some idiot didn't stop fast enough and rear-ended him. It pushed dad's Nissan Maxima into the truck in front of him and you know what the ironic part is? His was the only car that had to be towed from the scene of the accident. The other cars involved, including the one that read-ended my dad, drove away with barely a dent on their bumpers. The Nissan is currently parked on our driveway with the trunk and front pushed as if it were a giant abused coke can. My dad got out of it okay. Nothing major. He went to the hospital later and the doctors diagnosed him with strained neck muscles. My mom seems to be doing worse than he, however. She's been moping all day and groaning about the the $3,000 from her 401K that she gave my dad to fix the car. Another ironic point is the fact that the car was ready to be sold off and my dad was driving it to be smog-checked and registered at the DMV. So not only did my dad get a $1,000 ticket for no registration and no proof of insurance, but the car is only good for scrap metal and $3,000 have gone down the drain.
My dad is self-employed, making just enough money for the month to month bills with his car repair "business" he wandered into after he got laid off in 2001. You have no idea how many people have refused to give him work, preferring some snot-nosed recent college graduate instead. He's only fifty-three for Christ sake. They make him sound like a geriatric who can't make it up the stairs without clutching his heart.
Meanwhile, my mom has been sitting at the home for the past three months (since moving here) waiting until the employment agency would set her up with a job. The hospitals in the area have all given her the usual, "We have your application. Our manager will call you." The agency never calls her back and she usually has to call herself just to get an update. She got a job, apparently, but she's waiting until "they" send the confirmation for a computer class she took to get the job.
Don't get me wrong. I'm being optimistic. I call only laugh at this entire situation because things like this seem to happen to my family in waves. No matter how much we try, life seems to serve us shit on a silver platter. We have had more than our share of bad things. When will we get our share of good things?
Several short thoughts: Can I get malaria pills over the counter? I hate Bush. My hair looks horrible when I curl it outwards. I hate pop corn kernels when their shells get stuck in my gums. Never buy Asian-made cars; they're flimsy pieces of crap. I finally took four rolls of film to be developed. Las Vegas people can't drive... at all.
Saturday, December 04, 2004
They say traveling broadens your horizons...
Some people call my interest in traveling an obsession. I call it a passion, realizing how much the subject is a part of what I think every day. I have found myself telling my coworkers about my experiences abroad, browsing through the travel section of the bookstore, or planning my next escapade to God knows where. If somebody asked me why I love it so much, I probably could not answer them. There is no clear explanation - at least in my case. It seems like each time I think back to Europe or envision myself wandering in some other country, my lips effortlessly curl into a warm smile. Why do I like it? I just do. Take a painting for example. You don't know why your eyes are drawn to it. It could be the color, the mood, the figures (or lack of figures), the brush strokes, and a variety of other things. With traveling, it could be the adrenaline you feel as soon as you leave those airport doors, the new language, the culture, or the history. It changes the way you think and feel about the world - including your tolerance.
So, yes, you are probably thinking, "Okay, what is Maggie scheming about this time?". One question: Hong Kong or Brazil? Dorota is going to Hong Kong in January on a business trip for two weeks, and Justyna is buying a ticket to go along with her. As soon as my oldest sister called me up and told my about it, all I could think was, "I wanna go too!" Then again, I also want to fly to Brazil for two weeks in February to visit a friend. The problem is that I can only afford to go to one or the other. The downside for Hong Kong is that if Dorota's trip was canceled, that would be basically wasting several hundred bucks of my own hard earned money. With Brazil, I would be going to a warm country with beaches and of course, Carnival at the end of February. Party central. And the beach sounds so good right now with it being thirty degrees fahrenheit outside. I wanna pack my bikini and just go already!
P.S. A few short thoughts: work sucks; my feet hurt; shoppers are mean; Starbucks coffee has WAY too much sugar; I should be getting my ass ready for the gym in about... five seconds.
So, yes, you are probably thinking, "Okay, what is Maggie scheming about this time?". One question: Hong Kong or Brazil? Dorota is going to Hong Kong in January on a business trip for two weeks, and Justyna is buying a ticket to go along with her. As soon as my oldest sister called me up and told my about it, all I could think was, "I wanna go too!" Then again, I also want to fly to Brazil for two weeks in February to visit a friend. The problem is that I can only afford to go to one or the other. The downside for Hong Kong is that if Dorota's trip was canceled, that would be basically wasting several hundred bucks of my own hard earned money. With Brazil, I would be going to a warm country with beaches and of course, Carnival at the end of February. Party central. And the beach sounds so good right now with it being thirty degrees fahrenheit outside. I wanna pack my bikini and just go already!
P.S. A few short thoughts: work sucks; my feet hurt; shoppers are mean; Starbucks coffee has WAY too much sugar; I should be getting my ass ready for the gym in about... five seconds.
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