Just Finished Reading: Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex: The Lost Memory by Junichi Fujisaku
So here we are, full ahead into summer. Starting to get a little hotter out there. Not as much rain. When it DOES rain, it's usually a thunder storm, not the lighter, softer rains from spring. Allergies are starting to creep back. Things are starting to slow down.
I've been working quite a bit lately. Because a couple of people in my department are over 40 hours for the week (and remember, in retail, going over 40 hours is a BAD thing if you're not on salary) I have to cover some of the gaps. We're only budgeted so much money/hours you see so if some people go over one week, that has to be made up so the next week their hours are cut back. And you know me, Captain America over here. I always keep track of my hours and make sure I'm well within the proper range. As a result, I was working a full 40 hour week.
Things at the store were getting pretty tense there for a while. We got a new general manager 6 weeks ago. Over the past 2 weeks we've gotten two new assistant managers as well. We're short-handed in most departments and the people we do have need to go through more training. This is what happens when you have a steady wave of people quitting or getting fired. It just keeps on coming until you reach the point where most or all of the core group is gone.
So what do you do? You hold a meeting!
Actually it was a lot more helpful than it sounds :-) We just had a store meeting last night. They called in everyone and we sat around for 2 hours eating and discussing the things that need to be done. A lot of what we covered doesn't really pertain to us in the grooming salon but they want us to know what's going on too because right now everyone needs to pitch in. We've gotten permission to hire several more people and they've increased our budget so we can finally get some of the supplies we've been needing.
Of course, actually following the rules set down by the corporate office doesn't make EVERYONE happy. There are some rules we've been bending lately. Basically they told us it's ok to be a little flexible for the moment. It's the only way we can keep everything covered. But we're going to start easing back, little by little, and start following those rules.
Doesn't bother me in the slightest to be honest. Even if they totally enforce 100% of all the rules we discussed at the meeting, it's still a hell of a lot more relaxed than the way things were when I worked at KMart all those years ago. Besides, the rules make sense if you have enough people. So as we hire more employees, as more of them get trained and become "experts" in the various departments, we won't have to be as flexible. Everyone will know what they're responsible for and things should run a whole lot more smoothly.
Over in grooming, we're looking to increase our profits. We've only got the two groomers right now which limits how many dogs we can take in a given day and how late we can take them. We're going to try and hire a third groomer so we can increase our sales. The general idea is that with a third groomer, working afternoons into early evening, we don't have to squeeze all our dogs into the early half of the schedule. We can stretch things out and take in more dogs. Of course, this assumes we can actually FIND another groomer. There seems to be a shortage of them in the area right now.
Did a bit of shopping with CC on Sunday. Time for spring/summer clothes. We do this a few times a year now. We go out and hit the mall and pick up some new outfits for her. Ideally, we get pieces that will also go with what she has in the closet now so she can mix and match and have even more choices.
So that's Sunday. Just shopping and meeting. Not too bad :-)
Today I'm catching up on the OTHER stuff. For example, last week the hose coming out of the radiator sprung a leak and blew water all over the engine. I had clouds of steam coming out from under the hood. The truck also over-heated. Very nasty. I bought a new hose, got that all taken care of, but the oil in the truck, well that was pretty bad. It was due to be changed soon anyway and all that heat just didn't help matters any. So today I took the truck in for service. It's all better now.
I also did some shopping of my own. I read the last of the "unread books" on the desk here and had planned LAST week to get a few more when the busted radiator hose changed all that. So I went out today. Hit the book stores and picked up a few things. I also browsed the online book stores for things that will be coming out later in the summer so I have an idea of what I'll be reading for the next few months.
Haven't seen any movies lately. There are a few out now that CC and I want to see but we just haven't had the time to go. Maybe next week.
If you've read CC's blog then you know she's going back to Manila in July. Still don't know when that's going to happen. Her boss leaves tomorrow and is staying there for the rest of the summer. Once she's checked things out, she'll know when she needs CC and for how long. Hopefully CC will only be there for a week or two. Get's pretty damn lonely and boring here when she's on the road and unlike her Dallas trip, she can't come home on the weekends. Worse, we won't be able to call much either. International calls are EXPENSIVE so we'll have to go back to the old ways, using online chat and e-mail.
You know, there's probably been a whole lot of little things that have happened along the way and I was meaning to talk about them. Can't remember what they are of course, but I'm sure I had a lot. The only things I can remember at the moment are the ones I CAN'T blog about. Maybe I'm tired. I did do quite a few things today. Still have a few more left for tomorrow. Yeah, I think I'll just shut it down now and go watch some TV or play some video games. I think my brain needs a little R&R :-)
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Monday, June 12, 2006
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Three Things
Currently Between Books
One drawback to the 4-day work week is that there's no Wednesday; there is no middle of the week. Today is day two for me and I found myself thinking at one point, "Great! It's Thursday already! Just two more days to go until the weekend." Later the same day, that turned into, "Crap, it's only Thursday? I've still got two more days left!" I suppose this is one of those "glass is half full/empty" situations and it mostly depends on what happens that day.
Two VIP's were visiting the store today. We had the regional manager (which isn't that big of a deal since he comes through every couple of months anyway) and the head of grooming . . . for the company. That's right, the woman who is in charge of grooming policy did a walk-through today. The good news is that we passed with flying colors. The bad news is that there are going to be a few LITTLE changes made around the salon that will take some getting used to. It's always harder to adjust to the little changes. We'll manage though. At least we got good marks and she actually complimented me on how I dealt with a potential problem with one of the dogs (an old case of brush-burn that I accidentally aggrivated because no one knew about it). So score one for our side :-)
Three things came to mind while blow-drying a golden retriever this afternoon: damn these dogs really shed a LOT, this is going to take me a while to clean up, wow, so this is what it would be like to stand in the middle of a cotton candy machine :-)
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One drawback to the 4-day work week is that there's no Wednesday; there is no middle of the week. Today is day two for me and I found myself thinking at one point, "Great! It's Thursday already! Just two more days to go until the weekend." Later the same day, that turned into, "Crap, it's only Thursday? I've still got two more days left!" I suppose this is one of those "glass is half full/empty" situations and it mostly depends on what happens that day.
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Two VIP's were visiting the store today. We had the regional manager (which isn't that big of a deal since he comes through every couple of months anyway) and the head of grooming . . . for the company. That's right, the woman who is in charge of grooming policy did a walk-through today. The good news is that we passed with flying colors. The bad news is that there are going to be a few LITTLE changes made around the salon that will take some getting used to. It's always harder to adjust to the little changes. We'll manage though. At least we got good marks and she actually complimented me on how I dealt with a potential problem with one of the dogs (an old case of brush-burn that I accidentally aggrivated because no one knew about it). So score one for our side :-)
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Three things came to mind while blow-drying a golden retriever this afternoon: damn these dogs really shed a LOT, this is going to take me a while to clean up, wow, so this is what it would be like to stand in the middle of a cotton candy machine :-)
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Tuesday, May 30, 2006
One Hot Weekend
Just Finished Reading: Ghost in the Shell 2: After the Long Goodbye by Masaki Yamada
Well, I managed to survive the very long work stretch. Nothing really important happened, nothing worth blogging about. Just more gossip, most of which can't even be proven. Nothing that would show up in the newspapers.
What DID happen, happened smack in the middle of what was supposed to be my nice, slow, relaxing long weekend. Monday, on what turned out to be the hottest day of the year so far, our AC died. Oh yes, it died completely. Never let it be said that our AC does a half-assed job when it dies.
Even worse, this happened on a holiday. Monday was Memorial Day so there weren't any repair people working the complex. We had to pretty much just sit here and take it and wait until Tuesday.
Officially I think they said the high was 91 or 92, something like that but we had such AWFUL humidity it felt much worse. It's the kind of weather where you walk out the front door and your shirt just STICKS to you right there. Doesn't come un-stuck until you get into some serious AC. For those of you in Manila, that's pretty much a normal day for you so you know what I'm talking about. :-)
The guy was over this morning and got the thing working again. I hope it STAYS fixed this time. Given how ugly it was Monday, the last week in May, we've got the potential to be even hotter later in the summer. So keep your fingers crossed for us. I don't want to have to be going in to work just to cool off :-)
Let's talk about fleas for a minute :-) You know what they look like. You know what they do. Well, it's that time of year again. They're back and they're breeding. If you've got pets, make sure you give them a good flea bath and then use the drops on them to keep the fleas from inviting themselves into your home. Already at work I've seen some pretty bad flea infestations. And, like I said with the AC, this is just the last week in May. Still plenty of time for things to get MUCH worse.
Sunday dance class is over . . . sort of. It's over for the current styles of dancing so we won't be doing tango and foxtrot. It also means we'll have a different instructor coming in. That part kinda sucks or at least has the potential to suck. We like the guy who taught the tango and foxtrot. Who knows what the new teacher will be like. Maybe the new teacher will be all grumpy all the time or prissy or arrogant or who knows, just not nearly as friendly as the other guy. It'll be fun to learn a different dance step I suppose but I was really starting to enjoy the other class. Hell CC was actually letting me LEAD on Sunday. True story, at one point during the lesson she says to me, "Wow, you're really getting good at leading!" And I said to her, "No, actually I've been doing this all along. You've just finally started LETTING me lead." :-) Let's hope she continues to let me lead with the new dance steps :-)
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Well, I managed to survive the very long work stretch. Nothing really important happened, nothing worth blogging about. Just more gossip, most of which can't even be proven. Nothing that would show up in the newspapers.
What DID happen, happened smack in the middle of what was supposed to be my nice, slow, relaxing long weekend. Monday, on what turned out to be the hottest day of the year so far, our AC died. Oh yes, it died completely. Never let it be said that our AC does a half-assed job when it dies.
Even worse, this happened on a holiday. Monday was Memorial Day so there weren't any repair people working the complex. We had to pretty much just sit here and take it and wait until Tuesday.
Officially I think they said the high was 91 or 92, something like that but we had such AWFUL humidity it felt much worse. It's the kind of weather where you walk out the front door and your shirt just STICKS to you right there. Doesn't come un-stuck until you get into some serious AC. For those of you in Manila, that's pretty much a normal day for you so you know what I'm talking about. :-)
The guy was over this morning and got the thing working again. I hope it STAYS fixed this time. Given how ugly it was Monday, the last week in May, we've got the potential to be even hotter later in the summer. So keep your fingers crossed for us. I don't want to have to be going in to work just to cool off :-)
-----
Let's talk about fleas for a minute :-) You know what they look like. You know what they do. Well, it's that time of year again. They're back and they're breeding. If you've got pets, make sure you give them a good flea bath and then use the drops on them to keep the fleas from inviting themselves into your home. Already at work I've seen some pretty bad flea infestations. And, like I said with the AC, this is just the last week in May. Still plenty of time for things to get MUCH worse.
-----
Sunday dance class is over . . . sort of. It's over for the current styles of dancing so we won't be doing tango and foxtrot. It also means we'll have a different instructor coming in. That part kinda sucks or at least has the potential to suck. We like the guy who taught the tango and foxtrot. Who knows what the new teacher will be like. Maybe the new teacher will be all grumpy all the time or prissy or arrogant or who knows, just not nearly as friendly as the other guy. It'll be fun to learn a different dance step I suppose but I was really starting to enjoy the other class. Hell CC was actually letting me LEAD on Sunday. True story, at one point during the lesson she says to me, "Wow, you're really getting good at leading!" And I said to her, "No, actually I've been doing this all along. You've just finally started LETTING me lead." :-) Let's hope she continues to let me lead with the new dance steps :-)
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Wednesday, May 24, 2006
The Long Week: Day 3
Currently Reading: Ghost in the Shell 2: After the Long Goodbye by Masaki Yamada
Yes, I know, there are no postings for days 1 and 2 of the long week. The reason for that? I was too busy to post anything.
Right now I'm on day 3 of a 6 day week. This comes after just one day off from LAST week so it stands to reason that right about now I'm starting to get a little tired of that drive to the salon. Don't get me wrong, I like the job and I like the people there but DAMN I've been spending a lot of time there lately.
Day 1 wasn't all that exciting from a work standpoint. It was more of a gossip-oriented day. We didn't have that much to do so for the first hour or so Rogers, Amanda and I were talking about what's been going on in the store. We got a new General Manager recently and she's brought over one of her assistants from her previous store. And we also managed to squeeze in some stories about former employees. Just pretty much the usual BS session that happens on slow days in any office.
After a while the shifts changed, people went home, dogs got picked up and it was time for the daily cleaning. Pretty boring stuff which is why I'm not going to go into detail here. I mean, do you REALLY want to know about the size of the hairballs I pulled from the sink? :-)
Day 2 was a little more interesting. Rogers and Amanda both had the day off. It's their one day off this week. They were both a little grumpy that they have to work 7 days without a day off (actually Amanda didn't mind, she wants as many hours as we can give her). Me, I only work 6 days in a row but unlike those two, I only get the one day off. So where they've gotten 2 days off then work 7, I worked 3, got one day off, then work 6. But I digress :-)
Day 2 was the day for the substitute groomer. Someone had to cover for Rogers. The girl we originally had scheduled to fill in couldn't make it for some reason so we had to find someone else. Rogers, who was in charge of all this, got the deaf groomer from the Cordova store. Yes, you read that right, the woman is stone deaf. We made quite a pair yesterday.
It wasn't as bad as I thought. She's REALLY good at reading lips and clearly she lost her hearing after learning how to speak because she talks quite clearly. No problems communicating, which is good, and she was very nice, which is even better.
The only real problem with day 2 was that the rest of the store knew it was just us back there. Why is that a problem? Because some people seem to think that if you're deaf, or hard of hearing, you're automatically STUPID. Prime example, they were answering all our calls for us. Why? I have NO idea. I can hear the pages just fine and there's no problem talking on the phone. But tell some people you can't hear very well and they decide you need their expert assistance. After a while that sort of thing gets annoying. Finally the assistant manager on duty that day reminded everyone that I'm hard of hearing, not a complete moron. I answer the phones all the time.
It was also a pretty busy day for us back there. We've got the long weekend coming up for Memorial Day so you've got a LOT of people going out of town on trips or having parties of some sort. That usually means they want the dogs cleaned up RIGHT NOW! Honestly, I had to turn away SO many people who wanted to come in because they were leaving town on Wednesday and for some reason didn't think they needed to call in advance. Imagine it, 3 pm on Tuesday they're calling wanting to get their dog shaved down so they can go on vacation Wednesday morning. Some people just don't think things through.
Not sure how many dogs I washed yesterday but I do know that my commission total was around 80 bucks. That means, roughly, 160 bucks worth of sales so that's quite a bit of washing. Don't think I'll actually GET my commission this week though. I'm scheduled for 43 hours this week so unless I keep having days like that, my hourly will be higher.
So now we're at day 3. I'm not going in until later. It's my short day so I've got a few hours to kill. Spent one of them sleeping, which felt pretty good :-)
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Yes, I know, there are no postings for days 1 and 2 of the long week. The reason for that? I was too busy to post anything.
Right now I'm on day 3 of a 6 day week. This comes after just one day off from LAST week so it stands to reason that right about now I'm starting to get a little tired of that drive to the salon. Don't get me wrong, I like the job and I like the people there but DAMN I've been spending a lot of time there lately.
Day 1 wasn't all that exciting from a work standpoint. It was more of a gossip-oriented day. We didn't have that much to do so for the first hour or so Rogers, Amanda and I were talking about what's been going on in the store. We got a new General Manager recently and she's brought over one of her assistants from her previous store. And we also managed to squeeze in some stories about former employees. Just pretty much the usual BS session that happens on slow days in any office.
After a while the shifts changed, people went home, dogs got picked up and it was time for the daily cleaning. Pretty boring stuff which is why I'm not going to go into detail here. I mean, do you REALLY want to know about the size of the hairballs I pulled from the sink? :-)
Day 2 was a little more interesting. Rogers and Amanda both had the day off. It's their one day off this week. They were both a little grumpy that they have to work 7 days without a day off (actually Amanda didn't mind, she wants as many hours as we can give her). Me, I only work 6 days in a row but unlike those two, I only get the one day off. So where they've gotten 2 days off then work 7, I worked 3, got one day off, then work 6. But I digress :-)
Day 2 was the day for the substitute groomer. Someone had to cover for Rogers. The girl we originally had scheduled to fill in couldn't make it for some reason so we had to find someone else. Rogers, who was in charge of all this, got the deaf groomer from the Cordova store. Yes, you read that right, the woman is stone deaf. We made quite a pair yesterday.
It wasn't as bad as I thought. She's REALLY good at reading lips and clearly she lost her hearing after learning how to speak because she talks quite clearly. No problems communicating, which is good, and she was very nice, which is even better.
The only real problem with day 2 was that the rest of the store knew it was just us back there. Why is that a problem? Because some people seem to think that if you're deaf, or hard of hearing, you're automatically STUPID. Prime example, they were answering all our calls for us. Why? I have NO idea. I can hear the pages just fine and there's no problem talking on the phone. But tell some people you can't hear very well and they decide you need their expert assistance. After a while that sort of thing gets annoying. Finally the assistant manager on duty that day reminded everyone that I'm hard of hearing, not a complete moron. I answer the phones all the time.
It was also a pretty busy day for us back there. We've got the long weekend coming up for Memorial Day so you've got a LOT of people going out of town on trips or having parties of some sort. That usually means they want the dogs cleaned up RIGHT NOW! Honestly, I had to turn away SO many people who wanted to come in because they were leaving town on Wednesday and for some reason didn't think they needed to call in advance. Imagine it, 3 pm on Tuesday they're calling wanting to get their dog shaved down so they can go on vacation Wednesday morning. Some people just don't think things through.
Not sure how many dogs I washed yesterday but I do know that my commission total was around 80 bucks. That means, roughly, 160 bucks worth of sales so that's quite a bit of washing. Don't think I'll actually GET my commission this week though. I'm scheduled for 43 hours this week so unless I keep having days like that, my hourly will be higher.
So now we're at day 3. I'm not going in until later. It's my short day so I've got a few hours to kill. Spent one of them sleeping, which felt pretty good :-)
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Wednesday, May 17, 2006
A New Look and a Long Week
Currently Reading: A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami
I finally got my 3-day weekend and it was mostly unproductive, which is good because I've got a long week ahead of me. Before this 3-day weekend came along I actually worked 2 weeks with only one day off in the middle. Things are in a state of flux at work you see. First, I got called in to cover for the other bather who decided to quit (without telling anyone) and then on Sunday our second groomer did the same thing. We managed to replace the bather pretty quickly and with someone who, so far, is doing a great job. Replacing the groomer will take a bit longer though.
What makes all this really stressful is that the grooming manager, our ONLY groomer right now, is going on vacation next week. Can't fault her for that. She's had her vacation plans on the calendar for months and she's definitely due some time off. Plus, her vacation involves travel which means hotel and transportation and reservations and so forth so she just can't cancel everything on such short notice. So what are we to do? Next week, starting Monday, it'll be me and the new bather and that's it. I'll probably be a little tired when it's all over :-)
There were some positives this past week. CC got me a new aquarium. Initially it was going to be for the guppies but then she saw the goldfish at the store and wanted a pair. We put them in the little hex where the guppies were but it was just too small. So rather than raise unhealthy goldfish, I told CC we could move them to the big tank and then move a couple of guppies into the hex. So that's what we did. We now have guppies, which mostly stay at the top of the tank,
and goldfish, which mostly stay at the bottom of the tank. So far there haven't been any incidents between guppy and goldfish though at one point this morning one of the goldfish smacked the other one while they were eating. He was defending his territory.
CC and I also went to our first Tuesday night dance class and that was great! There weren't nearly as many people there which meant that, for a change, we could actually practice the steps over and over again without having to dodge other people. During the Sunday classes the dance floor can be a little crowded and we're always turning at the last moment or taking a sudden side-step to avoid getting run over by someone :-)
It's nice going to the dance class though. For one solid hour, sometimes longer, I don't have to worry about work problems or family issues or ANYTHING other than dancing the foxtrot or tango. It's sort of like a mini vacation.
Finally, you may have noticed that I changed the look of the blog. It's been due for a while. I've been using the same template since the middle of last year, same colors, same pictures. Last night I was doing some surfing looking for new templates, then I was over at the Marvel site just for the hell of it and at some point I put the two ideas together and came up with a Captain America template. Why Cap? Well, it's how I've been feeling a bit lately. Always coming to the rescue when someone else drops the ball. That's probably how I'll be feeling next week while I try to keep the customers happy even though we'll be seriously limited in what services we can offer.
Besides, Cap is a guy from the 40's. Betcha HE knew how to foxtrot and tango without stepping on anyone :-)
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I finally got my 3-day weekend and it was mostly unproductive, which is good because I've got a long week ahead of me. Before this 3-day weekend came along I actually worked 2 weeks with only one day off in the middle. Things are in a state of flux at work you see. First, I got called in to cover for the other bather who decided to quit (without telling anyone) and then on Sunday our second groomer did the same thing. We managed to replace the bather pretty quickly and with someone who, so far, is doing a great job. Replacing the groomer will take a bit longer though.
What makes all this really stressful is that the grooming manager, our ONLY groomer right now, is going on vacation next week. Can't fault her for that. She's had her vacation plans on the calendar for months and she's definitely due some time off. Plus, her vacation involves travel which means hotel and transportation and reservations and so forth so she just can't cancel everything on such short notice. So what are we to do? Next week, starting Monday, it'll be me and the new bather and that's it. I'll probably be a little tired when it's all over :-)
There were some positives this past week. CC got me a new aquarium. Initially it was going to be for the guppies but then she saw the goldfish at the store and wanted a pair. We put them in the little hex where the guppies were but it was just too small. So rather than raise unhealthy goldfish, I told CC we could move them to the big tank and then move a couple of guppies into the hex. So that's what we did. We now have guppies, which mostly stay at the top of the tank,
and goldfish, which mostly stay at the bottom of the tank. So far there haven't been any incidents between guppy and goldfish though at one point this morning one of the goldfish smacked the other one while they were eating. He was defending his territory.CC and I also went to our first Tuesday night dance class and that was great! There weren't nearly as many people there which meant that, for a change, we could actually practice the steps over and over again without having to dodge other people. During the Sunday classes the dance floor can be a little crowded and we're always turning at the last moment or taking a sudden side-step to avoid getting run over by someone :-)
It's nice going to the dance class though. For one solid hour, sometimes longer, I don't have to worry about work problems or family issues or ANYTHING other than dancing the foxtrot or tango. It's sort of like a mini vacation.
Finally, you may have noticed that I changed the look of the blog. It's been due for a while. I've been using the same template since the middle of last year, same colors, same pictures. Last night I was doing some surfing looking for new templates, then I was over at the Marvel site just for the hell of it and at some point I put the two ideas together and came up with a Captain America template. Why Cap? Well, it's how I've been feeling a bit lately. Always coming to the rescue when someone else drops the ball. That's probably how I'll be feeling next week while I try to keep the customers happy even though we'll be seriously limited in what services we can offer.
Besides, Cap is a guy from the 40's. Betcha HE knew how to foxtrot and tango without stepping on anyone :-)
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