*sigh*

GAH.

Okay.

I'm currently at work and bored. I've been here since noon with nothing to do except knit and surf the internet. I somehow got vertigo again, so I'd love to lay down, but there's nothing to do here while laying down except sleep, and I kinda can't do that. Looking at intricate things (read: knitting or computer type) with the yellow walls in the background make it worse, I swear.

Anyway, I took some of this time to start looking at jobs and apartments. Again. Allow me to complain about both.

I knew before that I didn't really know what I wanted to do with my life, and now that's becoming hugely more evident. Just from searching around Monster and the college's job listing, my top two ideas right now are
(a) an all-encompassing marketing/advertising/PR job for a guy running a couple small businesses
(b) becoming a manager for a smoothie shop
The problems? Working for that guy would involve an hour-long drive south of Minneapolis every day - and that's not counting traffic. And the smoothie shop is pretty much exactly the business I want to get out of right now, since making ice cream got kinda old at the end. Hell, I just want to get out of food service in general, just because of my susceptibility to colds and such.
A lot of the places looking to hire marketing-type people want someone to be in charge of something. I don't want that right now. I want to brainstorm ideas as a team and decide from there if I like that career. And all that's available for writing also requests knowledge of like, medical software. Eep.

And then there's the apartment search. That gets a big WTF from me. I was snooping at 2-bedrooms today, in case I decide to room with my neighbor, and holy crap expensive. Not to mention that most of these apartment search websites suck. I just want to browse, not sign my name and address and phone number and email and first-few-born away. And if they do let me in anonymously, they'll provide me with apartments in all kinds of nearby suburbs when I just requested Minneapolis.
I also made sure to look at places that allowed pets. Those that do understandably want a deposit. $100/total seems crazy enough, even though it is refundable. One place wanted $100 nonrefundable plus $300/pet, not listing if the $300 is refundable or not. I'll keep looking, thanks.

Overall, I just want to figure things out. I don't want to look at ten different job categories and think, "oh, that could be interesting." I want to look at one category and think, "That's what I want to do." Maybe it will limit me, but at least I'd have a lifeview thought out.

Free day, literally

I was supposed to work 12-4 today. I got sent home before I could even clock in.

While I was wandering around at Target after that, I realized that this is another motivation for me to get a real job (read: get the hell out of the food service industry). Being sick at work sucks inandof itself, because you're feeling miserable and you're spreading germs to lots of people. It's easier to spread germs in food service. Even if I'm not contagious anymore, I'm still coughing. And that looks bad. Not to mention that I'm losing out on a lot of hours because of it. Tomorrow I might make a sign that says "I lost my voice" and pin it to my apron, because pushing my voice seems to make me cough more. I need to save my voice anyway, since it sounds like shit and I have to present this blog project thingy to the class in two days. Yikes.

But the good news is, even if it doesn't feel like it in the middle of a coughing fit, I am getting better. My cough sounds different every day, and I'm not doing it as frequently. I'm getting there.

Apparently Steve Page is on Facebook now. This is a personal profile, as opposed to a band profile on Myspace. Do I add him? He's advertising it, but it still feels a bit odd to me. *shrug*

Since I have the afternoon off now, I suppose I should like, do homework or do laundry or clean my room. Or maybe nap.

Hi, it's me. Again.

Today ='ed panic.

I was scheduled to work all afternoon with two n00bs. I was worried how well that would go over. They handled it pretty well, though. I still received a barrage of questions, but that was to be expected.

I had to call the boss four times though. All during busy times.
1) the register said "drawer open" and we couldn't do anything, and I couldn't find the manager's key with which to restart the register
2) nevermind, the register magically fixed itself
3) a guy from the coffee shop came over wondering if we could loan him a box or three of straws
4) the gift card machine stopped working
And call 5) was to tech support so I could fix the damn machine, all for a lady who said she'd wait through a five-minute call but then took her $20 and went awol halfway through, all while continuing to field such queries as "what kind of ice cream do I use to make _______" and "we're out of pineapple."

I deserve a raise, bitches.

I have a paper due Thursday, and I'm kinda torn on what to write about. There are four options:
1) Transgression (read: breaking a law or crossing a boundary)
2) Work (a specific moment)
3) Define a mood
4) Something you've always wanted to do but didn't/couldn't/haven't
#3 would be really hard for me to write about, and I didn't have any decent ideas for #4. That leaves #1 and #2. I've already written about work for this class, so I'd rather not do it again. My only decent idea for #1, though, was when the bf and I were bickering in an elevator in downtown Minneapolis over the summer, and his friend said "why are mommy and daddy fighting?", causing a ganger with a gun to glare at us. I don't think I could write for four pages about that. We had to write minipapers this past week, however, and the first topic I chose fit #2 perfectly. It detailed a phone conversation I had at work, and it's a funny-slash-wtf story. The only problem is that it wasn't even finished before I realized that it was twice as long as it needed to be for that assignment. So, maybe I'll write about that. At least I saved what I had written for the last assignment, so I can just flesh out what I already have.

Or maybe I could find a way for the transgression story to work. I could use all sorts of examples to show how much we bicker, and throw some moral in at the end. I don't know what the chances are of that plan coming out to 4+ pages, but it might be worth a shot.

K2tog, yo

The past few nights, I've been having dreams about knitting. Intricate knitting. And then I wake up with a full bladder.

This is irritating for a few reasons:
1) I hate waking up in the middle of the night. If I'm not going to get a full night's sleep, I at least want to sleep straight through.
2) Even if I have to get up and use the bathroom at 5am, I have to use it again when I actually get up at 7:30.
3) Why the correlation?

*changes topics*

I worked with Cold Stoner 4 Life yesterday. She's said that she plans to start looking for another job, but whatever, the name stays. Anyway. She tried conning me into working today.
her: "Grr, I don't want to be here. Want to work tomorrow?"
me: "What time?"
her: "My shift." (The day shift)
me: "Uh, I have class and my other job."
her: *pouts and walks away*
Um, ok? Just because I work day shifts on the weekend doesn't mean I can do it during the week. Remember, I'm busting my ass to finish college here. I should also note that she called at the beginning of spring break (the night we got back from Canada), said she needed someone to cover a couple hours, and couldn't remember if I was going out of town. I'm regularly scheduled for the same shifts every weekend. If I'm suddenly not on the schedule, that would typically mean that I asked for days off, right?

I should also also note that my boss wanted me to let her know when my last day would be, like, now. So I put in a note for a day in mid-May and left for spring break. CS4L then went poking through the boss' inbox, read the note as that same day in mid-March, and did the following:
a) panicked ("she quit but she was still scheduled! how are we going to cover her shifts?")
b) took my name off the contact list
c) convinced everyone else that I wasn't coming back
d) re-read the note a couple days later and saw that it actually said May
The mistake is kind of funny, but at the same time, I'm thinking of telling the boss. Here's another ordered list:
a) An employee shouldn't be snooping through a boss' messages, even if the bosses are out of town and also related to said employee.
b) I realize that I scribble sometimes, but seriously, it's not bad enough that you can't decipher between "March" and "May."
c) Thanks for changing paperwork and spreading rumors, bitch.

Heh. CS4L sounds like a robot name. I should go do my homework that's due at 2pm.

Well, that didn't last long.

I just got called into work for tonight, so no full day off for me yet. Dammit!

Also, my job makes my wrists sore.

Yeah, so. About that. (The second goal, which should've possibly been the first goal because it comes first chronologically, but whatever.)

Originally I was thinking that, in the summer following graduation, I would continue working at the Metrodome, plus pick up a second job to work mornings/days. This way, I could have one last chance to be a "kid" before getting a real job, while still saving up an asston of money for an apartment or whatnot. If the opportunity to get an awesome real job came along right away after graduation, I'd consider taking it, but otherwise, it'd be one last summer of crappy customer service.

But then I was at work yesterday. I work with a 21-year-old girl who doesn't go to school (although she wants to go to dental school eventually) and works at Cold Stone full time (or, as close to full time as you can get with Cold Stone, which isn't anywhere near 40hrs/wk, especially this time of year). I worked with her yesterday. I found myself wondering how she gets to know all these customers and their "usual" orders, and then it hit me: she's at the store at least five days a week. One could almost say she lives there, in an odd metaphorical way. She's earning $6.something an hour, and has no room for advancement (unless the boss decides, for some dumb reason, to make her a supervisor, which still doesn't mean much in the end since the job is more about working together with everyone than who has status and seniority over whom).

Cold Stone is her life. I don't want it to be mine.

I keep envisioning myself working for MPR or something. It would be awesome to have a set salary instead of a shitty hourly wage. I would love to work forty hours a week, not twelve hours on the weekends. Hell, I don't even want weekends. Perhaps I'll keep working at the 'dome - and/or the Xcel, once baseball season is done - on weekends for a while, just to help save money. At least there's room for advancement there. If I do well enough as a stand manager, I can get promoted to a deck supervisor. I don't know if I want to be a deck, but still, the option's there.

But to deck or not to deck is beside the point for two reasons:
1) a position hasn't opened up and/or I haven't been offered the promotion
2) decks are typically expected to be at every game, which I won't have time for since I WILL be getting a real job after graduation!

Yes-sir-ree. Granted, this requires constructing a resume from scratch, and perhaps actually figuring out where the Career Services department is on campus, but I can do it.

New goals: complete resume - at least a draft - over spring break. Get it looked at/corrected in the following week. Start sending it out in April. Accept awesome, non-customer-service job offer in May. And begin knitting the wavy scarf tonight.

Goal setting

This blogging daily thing is getting frustrating. I keep thinking of topics to write about, but then I always get distracted and don't post when I should, and then multiple topics pile up and I feel like I have to write a little bit about all of them. That wasn't my goal with this blogging project. I wanted to challenge myself to write as much as possible about a single topic. Overviews and summaries would, for the most part, not fly. By allowing myself to slack, I'm really not living up to my challenge, and that kinda disappoints me.

That being said, I'm almost done with the headband ear warmer thing. I just have to sew on a button or bead or something. That'll be tomorrow after work. Hopefully I can have pictures and thoughts on my knitting progress posted by Monday. (Goal #1.)

I also had some thoughts about my future (read: jobs) today that will surely continue tomorrow, so unless something major happens, I plan to post about that after work tomorrow. (Goal #2.)

I'm too tired to come up with any more coherent thoughts. In closing, the boyfriend says "don't you wish those hookers were hot like me." Yeah, I don't understand him either.

Five

Hello, blog. Five days. It's been a while.

1) My last day at the truck stop was on Friday. Not only that, it also happened to be a close-early-day due to remodeling. Hells yes. The only drawback was that the floor to the back room was being retiled, so I couldn't get back there to have the satisfaction of punching out for the last time. Oh, and when I was dusting products I accidentally knocked over a bottle of Aqua Velva, which went sploosh onto my pants, which left me smelling like minty old man for the rest of the night. No offense intended to Aqua Velva users. I just can't stand the smell and the flammable nature.

2) We once again have Reese's Pieces at Cold Stone (although it's probably temporary). I was reminded of Katie's Reese's pronunciation guide-slash-rant when several people ordered "Reesies" this weekend, but I seriously twitched when a girl ordered "Reesies Piecies." WTF! Mispronouncing "Reese's;" I can understand that to an extent, since it's a name of a person. But "Pieces"? That's clearly an actual word!
I was able to spread some friendly education, though (I hope). As much as I wanted to start screaming a sermon at people, instead observe the following examples of excellent customer service:
--"Um... I'll get Reesies Piecies and a brownie." "Ree-SAYS Pee-SAYS and a brownie, coming right up!"
--"Um... I'll get Reesies..." "Ree-SAYS peanut butter cups or Ree-SAYS Pieces?" "Ree-SAYS peanut butter cups."

3) Earlier this week, my computer decided to restart itself twice within a 24-hour period, and the buzzing noise continues to irritate me. Assuming what I want is in stock, I'll be buying a new one tomorrow after class. And then once I get everything transferred, I can finally take it out back and pull an Office Space on it. It's a fitting sentence for a machine that doesn't like to run more than two programs at once.

4) Boy on a Stick and White Ninja had wonderful Valentine's Day comics.

5) I really need to start on my hall council projects and wiki homework.

Free... almost

I put in my two weeks tonight. I'm currently way too tired to be excited. However, when I was walking back up front after taping the note to the office door, I could feel myself beaming more than I ever have in that place. And my coworker noticed the beam and knew damn well what that note was about. And was jealous. Heh.
Anyway, I decided to play it nice for now. The note I put in tonight talked about my busy schedule and emotional issues (read: it's my fault). I'll be putting in another note on my last day, detailing why it's not just my fault, before merrily skipping away.
Oh! and I talked to my boss at Cold Stone about it. I was planning on telling her I was going to put in my two weeks then ask for another day or two each week. I told her about the two weeks, but before I could say anything else she said she'd be adding hours soon and that she'd probably be able to work me in for an extra day or two. Sweet. My bosses there rock.

This will be good for me. I'll have more time to devote to homework. More time to hang out with friends. More time to knit and make jewelry. More time to watch TV and movies (with my Monday nights free, I'll be able to watch Heroes again!). More time for me.

Apparently the heat went out in this building earlier. No wonder my room's freezing. Luckily my bed is lofted, and is therefore always toasty. I'm gonna go sleep there for nowhere near as much time as I need.

Stress-B-Gone

I wish I had more time to blog. I didn't get to blog (or get today's homework done) yesterday because I worked again.

I've made up my mind that I'm quitting that job. I've tossed the idea around quite seriously for a month or two, but I'm for sure now. I'm working over 40 hours a week between my three jobs; granted, I'm only taking seven credits, but when you factor in my depression/anxiety issues, that equals stress up the wazoo. I can't deal with the stress anymore. I'm sick of it. I'm sick of dealing with coworkers who do nothing but backstab each other. I'm sick of having a boss who (a) thinks she's the exception to every rule and (b) refuses to hire anyone when we're insanely short staffed (and this is after she put an ad in the classifieds looking for applications).

I can't quit yet, though. I need to be a geek and type up a solidly written letter of resignation. Must... finish... homework... first...

brrrrr

It's cold outside. What do YOU do?
a) stay at home
b) indulge in coffee and other warm beverages
c) flock to Cold Stone and eat ice cream

If you are like most people in this town this weekend, you chose option c. No kidding. I don't get it either. Does everyone like playing word association or something? "Man it's cold outside... hey, Cold Stone has the word 'cold' in it, let's go there!"

Today I kept myself [relatively] sane by heckling customers. However, by phrasing these comments like "it's COLD out, how are we this busy??" and directing them more towards my coworker, everyone in line laughed and thought I was talking about every single customer except him or her, and thus, I got away with it. I love being clever.

Mystery!

I don't know if you believe in this kind of thing or not, but hear me out.

I've worked evenings at a gas station since October, and have sensed some creepy things in that time. Most of the time I'll just hear one of the bathroom doors close, when I clearly did not see the door in question open and there is no one anywhere near the store. Once I was cleaning a shelf and felt a cold breeze come up behind my left shoulder, and when I turned around the only person I saw was my coworker giving me a "you're kinda crazy" look from the other side of the store.

And then I worked last night. I was on bathroom cleaning duty. Most of my coworkers will prop the door open while cleaning, but I find it's easier to shut and lock the door. I don't know, I guess I like avoiding people sometimes. Anyway, I was in the women's room and wiping the counter down when I heard the door handle jiggle, followed by a knock. I called "just a minute!" as best as I could through my impending laryngitis as the handle jiggled one last time.
Upon exiting the bathroom, my coworker asked what I had yelled. I repeated myself, explaining that someone had knocked on the door. He looked at me as if I had grown antlers and said that no one had been in the store.

Um. That's kinda creepy.

Later he started telling me about how he's heard the door-closing sounds before too, in addition to various creaking noises that can be likened to someone walking on stairs (of which the store has exactly zero), and that it all gets creepier the later you're in the store (i.e. when it was still open 24 hours). We spent the rest of the shift pointing out every time we heard the door close, and we both heard it every time.
He's not the only one who's confessed this to me, either. Everyone's heard it. One of the openers even claims to feel like someone's standing over her shoulder in the morning.

I'm curious about this spirit now. No one's ever felt threatened by it, just creeped out. From now on I should take note of this stuff. Like, what time does the door closing start? I did an insanely quick Yahoo search and came up empty, although I did discover that another gas station in town sells E85. Nifty.

(And yes, I'm entirely aware that it's possible this guy was playing a prank. But with everyone noticing the same things, I have to be skeptical.)