Big, Bad Boss

Maybe it's just stress, but Boss has been really rude, insensitive, and annoying lately. It's getting to a point where it's more than just him trying to do his job, he is making it a miserable place to come to work and people are getting fed-up with him!

Yesterday Shawty and Miss Tommy Texter were working on cash together, talking and giggling, but getting the job done! Boss thought they were laughing at the customers because of their race (which is completely ridiculous!) and yelled at both of them and sent one of them home early... for having a good time while working? I understand if they were shirking on their responsibilities, but they were helping the customers quickly and being friendly. Boss even told Miss T&T that she had better show up today prepared to work or to hand in her uniform when he sent her home early. He apologized to Shawty today, and maybe would have apologized to Miss T&T today too, but when she came in she was ready to hand in her uniform: "Do you want my uniform now? Or in two weeks?" 

For everyone who is having trouble with their boss lately, wistfully dreaming of being their own boss someday, this is for you... Just be glad this isn't your boss! (Warning: Language is NOT child-appropriate)!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aB-uW4lM_T4

♥K

Hey Baby!

So, apart from this being a catchy (but sketchy) new song... today's topic of the day is apparently BABIES! Everybody at work is abuzz with the latest gossip, Cat is preggers! I know, I was also shocked! The story is that it's Blue Eye's baby, but he doesn't know yet. However, I'm not entirely sure that she's even for sure pregnant even though she told Shawty that she was, and it could be her ex's baby since they were still together in September... So we'll see how that all plays out and I will keep everybody update with the ongoing drama at work! Just had to share with you all since I don't really feel like joining in on the work gossip too much, mainly because I'm worried that I'll slip up and mention something to Blue Eyes and he'll be like "Say what?!" Haha, that would be funny. And awkward. So I'll save the gossip for my faithful readers. Miss Tommy Texter who is still (regrettably) with us may also be a member of the prego club. Word on the street says that she went to a party and had sex with two different guys, unprotected sex. I'm a little skeptical that she actually is, but who knows, maybe Cat and Miss Tommy Texter can have their babies grow up together; they can have play-dates and matching sweaters... How dear... More to Come!

Feelings

Sometimes life can get pretty overwhelming.
As a child you sort of picture how your life is supposed to be when you get older, but as I approach my 23rd birthday, this is hardly the life I imagined: living with my parents, working fast food, no close friends. Feels like so far I am failing at things lately. Today as I was doing inventory at work (which I have to do every single week...) I just started feeling really down and depressed. Once I got to take a break from that I felt a little better, but the rest of today I still felt kind of lousy.
Sometimes as an unsuccessful loser with a university degree, you need to make sure you don't get too upset when things are going downhill. Here are some suggestions to help keep your spirits high when you aren't living the life you wanted...

1. Remind yourself you are still young
You still have plenty of time to do what you want to do, this is still your prime years. No matter what your age, it is right now that you have to work with and these can be the best years of your life if you put your mind to it. Don't get into the mindset that the best years are in the past and you have nothing to look forward to; stay positive!

2. Take some time to yourself
Everybody needs some time to feel down and tired and sad once in awhile. Let yourself be down. Spend a night in watching sad movies, eating ice cream, straight from the carton and wearing your comfiest pajamas. Or get all dressed up in your finest and head out for a night on the town. Whatever it is that you need to feel better, take some time and give that to yourself whether you need time to relax or time to get out and have some fun.

3. Spend time with the people you care about
If there's one thing that will add some meaning to your dreary life, it's remembering who is important to you. Spending time with family and friends is a good way to cheer yourself up.

4. If you don't like the way things are, then take steps to improve your life
If you are feeling depressed about where you are in life, then you are responsible for making changes to your life. Nobody else is going to change your job or find you a new boyfriend. Set some goals, and then figure out what steps you will need to take to make these goals a reality.

Everyone feels down sometimes. You can take some time to feel sad, but eventually you have to take steps to make yourself feel better. The responsibility is yours.

You're Fired!

Well today turned out to be a rather interesting day at work. It seems that since I've started this blog there has always been something mildly entertaining going on at work to write about. Someday I will be able to look back on my time here in the fast food industry and be thankful for all this wonderful material... Cat and Blue Eyes called in today...again...they weren't going to be coming to work because one of their friends was sick or something :S Not too sure exactly what was going on there, but Boss gave them one last chance, told them to either come in today or they were going to be let go. He has tried to be reasonable and understanding in giving them time off when they are sick, he even let them book Sunday off originally, but then they ended up trading shifts with other people and decided to work Sunday, until 5am when they texted Boss and let him know they were not going to be coming in. So I stayed an hour later and Boss wasn't able to post the schedule since everything is going to be a little different now since he had them scheduled and everything. I still tomorrow morning though. And I am going to be training people with a more regimented method of how to use the cash registers now. I don't mind. I think it's easy enough to pick up on (just basically counting your own till and being responsible for your shortages). The only thing that is going to make it messy is on busy days when we do the shift over from staff members mid-day on weekends. I think that might get a little confusing because it takes about 15mins to count the register and that is 15minutes where we can only have 2 people on till. It will all work out though, I'm sure of it.
One of the girl's who was supposed to be coming in today quit. Like, quit for good, is never coming back. She probably was going to be fired in the next couple of weeks anyway because she is pretty slow and stuff, but still, to just up and quit like that... Boss told me some people were going to be let go, but now with Cat and Blue Eyes gone, and this other girl quitting I am not sure what's going to happen! I was sort of hoping that Miss Tommy Texter would be gone, because she annoys me with her addiction to her phone, and not wearing her hairnet properly, and trying to be all promiscuous, and bumping into me when I am standing still at my till and maybe I am a little larger than normal, but I am not so big that I take up the whole freaking space that she can't fit her skinny butt through without hip-checking me! And she always looks out of it and like she hates everybody and that she has to come and work here. Maybe those aren't reasons to let someone go, but those are the reasons why I don't like her especially. But I try to not make a big deal out of it at work.
Some man gave me $20 today as a tip, to share with everybody... I gave it to Boss so he could hide it away and split evenly ($2 per person!) I probably could have gotten away with keeping it if I wanted to, but I'm honest, and it felt better to share it than to keep it for myself. But I still feel that it was crazy! Who has $20 extra that they can just toss away to their fast food server as a tip?! Seems crazy! Someday I want to be that kind of person. Make somebody's day like he did to me. Pay it Forward and all. We'll see how that pays off. It's important that even though you may be working what you consider a menial job that is beneath your education, you maintain your integrity and strength of character. It can be easy to get caught up in the drama of the workplace, but if you want to be successful then you need to keep the character of a successful person. And no, that's not just positive thinking.
Time to log off, fellow graduates, best of luck facing the world tomorrow,
♥katherine

Things Get Hot At Work

So today at work we had a fire, but first... let me share some of the latest work gossip with everyone. 

Everyone seems to be hooking up. We now have 2 couples dating, with another couple getting together officially soon. Plus a girl who wants to get with this one boy and kissed him after he drove her home (unfortunately for her, he is the one about to start dating someone, and it isn't her!) Our first couple consists of Blue Eyes and Cat. Cat broke up with her fiance of 5 years that she was living with to start dating/move-in with Blue Eyes after about a week of working with him. I'm not sure if that's love at first site, or just stupidity. I'm leaning towards stupidity though, and it shows at work. They are always bickering, and I have a feeling that it isn't going to last very long. Next up is the Hulk and Boy Band. Two high school kids and a little high school romance. Seems innocent enough. Really not worth talking about. What's really interesting is the Hulk. She's pretty crazy. She gets SO angry over the most insignificant things! Like actually angry! It's a little ridiculous. Whenever I work with her I always worry that she's gonna hulk out on me and punch me in the face or something. She hasn't so far, but then I haven't worked with her too often. Then there is the love triangle. Basically it consists of Shawty and Lil'A and Cheerio. Cheerio is madly in love with Lil'A or something like that. So she is constantly texting him and talking to him and about him, things like that. One night he drove her home and as she was getting out of the car she turned around and kissed him. Since that fateful night she has been trying to get with him. She's only 16 and she wants to get in bed with him. He's a pretty decent guy though and said no. Which I totally respect him for. He has his eye on Shawty though, and she likes him back. Apparently they hung out one night after work and are getting together which is going to break Cheerio's heart. Everyone is hooking up. It kinda gets a little discouraging being the odd girl out. At school there's so many people available for dating, but afterwards, it is hard to meet people. Especially meet people who are the same sort of age and unattached. I know they must exist somewhere out there, but I am having a hard time finding them. So I'm stuck with the guys at work, all young kids who are playing a Russian Roulette version of the Dating Game. Maybe they will find someone special, but odds are they won't. So I try not to feel too bad being left out. Of course it doesn't help when my other close friends and everyone from church is getting married or moving in with their fiance, having babies and buying houses. Where are single, post-grads supposed to go to meet potential dates??

Besides the relationships going down at work, there were other things heating up in the kitchen today. Well, not so much the kitchen (besides the obvious food, etc) as in between the kitchen and the front area. Teacher put a paper bag into the device we call the Chute which keeps the food hot. He was waiting on fries but had already gotten the burger and put it in the bag. We do that sometimes. To keep the food warm. Well today the paper bag touched the heating element and Bam! Flames! Hahaha! It was so amazing! I personally thought it was pretty hilarious, but not everyone else appreciated it in the same manner that I did. It made the day kind of exciting though and ended things off on a good note for me, oddly enough. I traded shifts with Teacher too so I am in tomorrow 8-3 instead of 11-7. Less hours, but I prefer leaving early. I am working Monday-Friday this upcoming week too, so 7 days on straight, but then I am supposed to get next weekend off (crossing my fingers and toes) and I can visit my school friends if the weather is good, or maybe I will just stick close to home. I haven't decided yet, and I don't even know yet if I do get the weekend off. Today I forgot to punch back in after break. What an idiot, eh? I was on break for over 5 hours... oops. I hope the Boss can figure that out and fix it....

Tips for Drivers

It was inevitable. I mean, it happens to everyone at least once, right?

On my way home from work today I decided to stop and get gas. It wasn't so much my decision as it was the decision of the "low fuel" light that came on just before the turn off to the gas station. I go to the new Ultramar gas station usually. It's less expensive and closest to where I work/live. So I pulled in, masterfully choosing the right side that my fuel door was located on, made sure to turn off my headlights, pulled the keys out of the ignition, grabbed my debit card and hopped out of the car. Gas was 99.2 (for the cheap stuff, I'm too poor being a former-university student to afford anything supreme or ultra-fantastic for my fuel tank) and I filled her up! Almost got it exactly on too, you know, when you are filling the top and trying to make it right on the dollar... I was only one cent over. But that was okay. I still felt cool. And I was ready to head home.

I pulled the handle twice as the realization that my door was locked sunk in. Locked with the stupid keys sitting on the seat inside of the locked car. So I went inside and asked to use the gas station phone, I had locked my keys in my car. I felt like an idiot! And I'm pretty sure all the people working there realized I was an idiot too. So I called my mom and had to wait 10 minutes for her to show up with my spare keys so I could escape this embarrassing scene.

To avoid being stranded outside of your locked car, and needing to ask someone to borrow their phone so you can call your mommy to bring you your spare keys, I recommend the following, gleaned from my own personal experience...

1. Own a spare key - If you don't have a spare key then you are going to have to either break in, or get a locksmith. Which can end up being pricey, and generally more embarrassing

2. Get one of those magnetic key holding boxes and attach it to you car - It saves a lot of time and trouble if you just need to reach under your car and "ta-da! spare key!"

3. Know your car - If your car is a newer model (let's face it, fellow grads, with my empty-wallet "newer" just means a car just too young that if it was a boy I wouldn't date him, but if you are one of those lucky, spoiled grads whose parents supply you with a free, newer model car in an attempt to fulfill your need for parental love and attention with meaningless gifts...) then you may be able to unlock it using your OnStar. If your car is old enough to be able to use a wire coat hanger, then maybe you should plan on leaving a back door window always open just a tad.

4. Keep your cool, stay positive - Yes, it's embarrassing. Yes, you look like a fool. But it's not the end of the world. Laugh about it. And don't turn into some sobbing blob of frustration. And don't be the person who tries to open the door handle like 10million times... Once you realize it's locked, it's locked. Pulling the door handle isn't going to solve the problem, so quit standing around and fix it!

Hopefully, with these tips you will be prepared before the day actually arrives when you lock your keys in the car, but probably not. That's ok, just laugh it off and "ta-da! magnetic key holder thingy that contains your spare key!"

Everyone Needs a Starting Place

I graduated from university in April 2010 with an Honours B.A. in English. After four years of hard work, plenty of all-nighters spent writing essays, and a large student debt looming over my head, I emerged into the world eager to put my degree to good use. Thanks to a recession and my non-existent work experience, I eventually landed a highly-coveted job working as a cashier for a fast food restaurant.

---

I haven't worked a whole lot of jobs in my lifetime. I'm only 22 after all. How many jobs can you expect a person to have had by that time really? It's not that I am especially lazy or anything, kind of the opposite really. By the time I was old enough to have a real job that didn't involve newspapers and snow shovels I was involved in enough extra-curricular activities to keep myself occupied. I was part of Student Government, acted in and/or directed half a dozen plays, Yearbook Committee, Students Against Destructive Decisions, Terry Fox Committee, Poetry Club, School Newspaper Editor... the list goes on. I just really didn't have time to be working.

After my first year of university I came home to find a summer job, my first ever! I spent one day working at a factory to which I promptly never returned and then spent two months at Walmart. To be honest, I actually didn't mind Walmart so much. Maybe it was the memory of working in the factory that kept me cheerful, but either way I didn't mind the blue vests, and scanning merchandise seemed like a fine way to earn some money to start paying for my tuition fees. The next two summers I worked with my church running kids programs. At some point during these summers I realized that children were really evil little monsters and that maybe teaching was not the type of career path I really wanted to be headed on. So I tried to think about what I enjoyed doing. Unfortunately there isn't a lot of money in playing solitaire or sleeping in. At least not that I've discovered yet.

I've decided that what I do enjoy though is editing people's essays. Sounds kind of lame, I know. Even I think it's sort of lame, but that was the part that I was most looking forward to as a teacher (besides having the summers off). Of course there aren't too many opportunities for that sort of thing around here, and I have basically zilch experience. I don't think editing the occasional essay for a friend really counts as 2-3 years experience, and I'm not even sure I would trust those people to give me a good reference anyway. So for now after months and months of trying to find work, I got myself a job working as a cashier for a fast food establishment. Working fast food was one of my "rock bottom" jobs. The kind of work you tell yourself you will never do unless you hit rock bottom and there is no other available work and you are desperate for a job and money. That's the job I took.

Surprisingly it hasn't been too bad so far. I've been working there a month and time seems to just zoom by. Minimum wage doesn't even seem so bad when it's bi-weekly and I've been working full-time. The people are friendly. The gossip is entertaining. And everyone looks as stupid in their uniforms as I do, which makes me smile. I don't plan on staying there forever, but for awhile. After all, if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere....