The December Edition

I'm very lucky. My family and friends are healthy people and happy people. Sometimes I realise how fragile it all is, how much of it really is luck.

We never know what's around the corner. I'm so grateful for the luck, while it lasts.

SAY IT WITH NUTS

Working at Arndale turned out to be a pleasant way to earn a few extra dollars before Christmas. The store was not busy in the slightest - seriously, these staff would have a heart attack working at TTP. This was bad for the company of course but dare I say, quite relaxing. I also enjoyed the fact that it was a small team. There was Midge (normally I don't use names but hers is so distinctive to her character that I must), who I had met but never known well before. She's the one who trains all the new staff and does all that 'See and Respond!' crap and I had found her tiresomely perky in the past. My respect for her has really grown. She comes across now as someone who is quite fulfilled in life, someone who throws themself into it and appreciates the small things. She's not afraid to say *nice* things to people which is a surprisingly rare quality, and one that I admire.

Also working at the shop was M, a very sweet guy who I could have talked to for many more hours that we had available. Guess what? He's married! Bahaha. Married crush.

Then there were the four 'newies'. Generally they were very good, and I didn't have any troubles leading them at all. I liked working with two of them in particular - one girl who was only just fifteen and had quite a good little business head on her, and another who had just finished year 12 and was the closest to my age. The other two weren't bad, but I think they might have struggled in a higher-pressure environment. Or actually, maybe shone. Who knows. I just know that when sales did gradually start creeping up, there was a few little *headpalm* moments. Like the girl who called up Midge at 9pm the night before her shift to say she 'didn't know what to do' because her friend had 'invited her to the beach' and oh boy, can I get a little guidance on this, boss? Or the other one who would stand there holding the sample bowl after I told her that we needed to fill gift packs before giving samples, and after I gently took it out of her hands and repeated myself and nudged her towards the gift pack boxes was like 'oh ok... so filling... baskets?'

IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR

I really enjoyed Christmas this year. On Christmas Eve I sold cheap booze on the hostel balcony and befriended a few new guests - honestly, if for some reason I didn't get paid for the extra hours, I wouldn't even mind. Christmas day was at our house, with us, Grandpa, my dad's sister and her partner, and DW. Then on Boxing Day we went to at Kristy's with my mum's side of the family, the 6 little cousins and 5 big ones. Good times.

JINGALABELL JINGALABELL JINGJINGALING LING

H is off today! To India, where she will be living and travelling with her man for two months (assuming she doesn't come down with Japanese Encephalitis, of course =P ) I saw her off at the train station this morning... then came home before anyone else was even up, and napped for another hour or so =P

PROCLAMATION DAY

I hereby proclaim that before I go out this evening there will be much time spent reading and watching TV (up to date with Survivor... maybe time to break open that Greys Anatomy that mum brought back from China). It's the beginning of my four (4!) days off, the longest break I've had in... a while. I will definitely appreciate it.

Man on the Moon

Last Saturday my last shift at the nutshop. Well, the previous Saturday had been my 'official' last shift, and my co-worker was all lovely and we had a nice shift and chatted a lot and hugged goobye and whatnot. She is, as DW put it, the kind of girl who has butterflies and rainbows surrounding her. And I mean that in the nicest possible way. She's also the kind of girl who studies a lot and makes sure she doesn't work over the limit that will reduce her youth allowance money. So, when she saw that she was on the roster for the next week as well, she was a little peeved. Hence I covered her half-day shift last week and had a real last day.

I have to say, its probably a good thing I did, because otherwise I would have left with a far too optimistic view of nutland. Saturday coworker #2 is a girl who I also like, but have a more rocky relationship with. About her, DW would say, 'she has good knockers'. She's fun to be around when she's in a good mood, but when she's not she can be quite painful. Insert political family-business-bitchiness about how some people can afford to sulk around and still have a job, while others had to earn it, blah blah blah. She's the daughter of the manager. With that though, some people can perhaps afford to quit with less personal ramifications. Anyway. She was in a shit from the very start when she came in half an hour earlier than she was supposed to, at her mum's mistake, and all I had the whole morning was bitching about how the shop was left crappy last week, how the new girls were crap, how she's going to have to work both days of the weekend now, grah grah grumble snoot. I sympathise, sure, but it was a nice thing to leave. Guess who gives a shit how much you had to cook on a day where you were nearing $30 an hour? Guess who cares whether some barely-sold product has a full display? Well golly gee, keep guessing, because its not me.

Tomorrow I'm going to enjoy my free morning in true commo-lezzo-poofo style and make lentil burgers.

That is all.

A very retail Christmas to you and to you

Another Christmas Eve at the nut shop, another dud Christmas shirt. When grabbing one off the rack at Cheap as Chips I guess I was too distracted by ensuring that it was a tolerable colour (black... red and white aren't really *my thing*, yanow) and a decent size (i.e. somewhere in between kidswear and tent) to notice that a bulging cartoon thermometer isn't the best thing to have in vicinity of the word 'naughty'. Oh dear.

Its the time of year where we decide which of the 'newies' we want to keep on after their stints as Christmas casuals. One girl first struck me as very outgoing, confident with customers, chatty, etc. I liked her. However, conversations behind boxes in the back room have revealed that I am perhaps the only one of that opinion, and that in fact many people have indicated to the manager that they 'won't work with her' as they find her incredibly grating and annoying. Attempts to convince me first seemed like outraged gibberish. "Have you seen the way she stands? Yes, exactly like that! With her hands on her hips! And she does this and this - " "And the way she leans on the counter..." "I showed [other new girl] how to change an EFTPOS roll and she kept just looking! And now she'll probably think she knows how to change it too!"

THE HORROR! EFTPOS ROLL INITIATIVE!

Having said that, I can understand some reservations. While I think it's a little bitter to stop potentially valuable people working because they seem too good too early, or some such, it is true that you need a degree of... compliance... when you're new at a job. When we say jump you say how high! When we say fill you say how full! Etc.

Anyway, we have these stickers that say 'I made the biggest sale today!' and this girl decided to take one for herself. "Was mine the biggest sale? If not, I'll just write 'second biggest' on there! BAHAHAHA..." Apparently she actually did this when somebody 'overtook' her sale. Whatever. (I'm sorry, this anecdote seems to have been bogged in backstory, like a hiker caught in quicksand). A while later I'm on my break, eating a pretzel at the back room table, when I hear the pissed-off voice of another staff member, who is the manager's daughter and the biggest detractor of this new girl. "A second-biggest sale does not exist," I hear her saying, the frost of her statement practically seeping under the back room door. "Whatsoever!"

Buh... um. Point taken, these stickers shall not be donned lightly! But... this staff member was adamant even later on that there was no such thing as a second-biggest sale. There... kinda is. I mean. If we're being technical, here.

PET HATES OF NUT SHOP

Customers who don't get that two products may be different prices. "These are the same price, so can you mix them together?"
"Actually, they're different prices," (said politely) "But I can still mix them together for you..." (proceeds to weigh out separately.)
"No, they're the same price."
"Well actually they're not -"
"They're both seven dollar bags."
"Um, one is seven dollars for 250 grams, the other one is seven dollars for 210 grams, you see? They're a different kilo price. But thats ok! I can still mix them together."

The fact that it is a months-long process to get a shirt in another size, and even then it seems I only have a choice of short and square or long and rectangular. You'd think, being in a job involving much bending and squatting, they'd make a blouse that didn't expose half your back every time you dug a scoop from a lower display... but no. After many buttons fell off my old shirt I ended up with a super large one, and without the curves to carry it off I resemble an orange tent in my work uniform. However, I guess it has the pleasant rare bonus of everyone exclaiming with surprise over my figure when I come into work out of uniform as if they'd forgotten I had a a torso under there.

The family-oriented staff team can be quite bitchy and cliquey.

Customers who think they're really funny. "It says grab a bag, does that mean I can grab it and not pay? Nyuh nyuh nyuh. See darl, grab a bag. Hah."

Despite the fact that there are many undesirable customers, some staff bitch about customers who really aren't that bad. In fact, the main problem may be that they're Asian.

Customers who can clearly speak fluent English, but just jab at displays instead of reading the labels on there. Um, there's a curved wall and a bunch of products between your finger and my line of sight. A little clearer, please? I guess there are probably more illiterate among us than I'd realise, but. Come on.
"That one."
"The dry-roasted mix?"
"No, that one."
*Leans exaggeratedly over counter to crane at where customer is pointing* "The... unsalted millionaires mix?"
*Jabs harder* "THAT ONE."
"I'm sorry, I can't see from this side - second one along?"
"THAT ONE. The... the MIX."

Gah. Even if you can't read, use some bloody communication. The one in the bottom corner? The one with all the peanuts? I get way more irritated by English speakers who can't communicate than I do at ethnic sorts.

THINGS I LIKE ABOUT THE NUT SHOP

It's easy to roster time off.

Being part of a 'team' does has something going for it, at Christmas at least. The hostel is good in other ways (gee, maybe next post I'll do a comparable list! Won't that be exciting!) but being part of a group can be sort of nice. Sometimes you want to be a cog in a big established machine rather than an eccentric doo-hickey that you can wind up to totter along by itself. (Um).

For the most part, customer requests are simple and easily fulfilled. This is an overlooked good point. Also, even the most annoying customer? They leave. Could you imagine if they lived in the shop, and on top dealing with all their requests and concerns you also had to collect their rent, except they had no money, and they were waiting for Centrelink on Tuesday, and maybe you could kick them out but they have nowhere to go and they'd live in the car but its raining and the wife's got the flu, gee maybe they could do some work in lieu of payment but then they leave and don't do that and then they come back breathing their smoke in your face and getting up close with their grotty teeth and saying that they want to sort out the payment, like didn't we already DO that, I believe there are still bathroom tiles needing to be scrubbed which you dodged out of, IN A SYSTEM WE WORKED OUT TO KEEP A ROOF OVER YOUR HEAD, so maybe they could rock up to work if they're not going to pay, and then you can't get stroppy with them because they've befriended other staff always want to speak to someone 'higher' and of course they're going to pay, otherwise why would they have come back? Do you think they're a bad type or summink?

Uh.

I think I've spent too much time at work these last few weeks. At work, or at Christmas 'do's'. This post is clearly deteriorating. I don't mind either job at all, and I do like seeing family and friends as well, of course, but you know. A girl needs a little hermit time every once in a while. On that note, you can't just sit rambling away your thoughts forever. Boyfriends are coming over soon, gifts are to be exchanged, and somebody made a calender appointment on my phone with 'location: DW's pants'.

Merry Christmas. Seriously =)

Asleep in Imperfection

The computers at work used to be somehow linked with those at our 'sister' hostel, so someone there could take temporary control of our screen to run software protection programs or whatever. The curser would start moving at its own accord despite any attempts of my own to change its direction, programs would be clicked on and opened, and even after I knew what was happening I still liked to stare at the screen in a 'whoa, my computers gone crazy!' way. The fact that somebody could at any moment log in to 'my screen' and see what I was looking at served as a vague, but not particularly heeded, incentive not to slack off with too much free internet browsing. However, with the purchase of a new computer, I had erroneously figured that this little trick could no longer be done. Unfortunately there's nothing TOO exciting/humiliating to report, but yes, it can be done, and the cute young computer guy can intrude on your message board browsing. He was very sweet and would not even close 'my crap' when I said he could, and told me the icon to look out for which would come up when someone logged on next time. Funny thing was that minutes before I had actually considered posting on here. I'm quite glad I did not, because while its not particularly juicy its certainly a more overt invasion of privacy and would have been all the more embarrassing.

Said computer guy, who has a somewhat girly name reminiscent of bananas in pajamas, is actually a pretty awesome person to have around. The first time he came into reception to do something I had to message one of my friends purely to tell them that the hottest guy was here. When he turned out to be sweet, clever and actually a lot of fun to talk crap with, I became even gladder that he was hired to work on our computers and being paid in 'credit' (i.e. free accommodation and beer) rather than actually just paid and sent on his way. The nights that I was house sitting for my aunt in a suburb close to the city I left late after wasting time talking to him about sea creatures. Then last shift we shared quite a giggle over my sleazy and short boss's antics, including his insistence that his chair be as high as possible. Good times.

So, I'm...
-Listening to an Augie March CD which my dad kindly downloaded for me.
- About to start planning my timetable for next year, which is always kinda exciting, but actually ridiculously happy to be on holidays.
- Still only working one day a week at the nut shop, which is perfectly fine by me as that day is getting busier and busier as we move into December and typically entails being responsible for the store as well as a heap of 'newies' who vary in degrees of competency. Actually, I don't mind training and helping the younger girls, but I don't like the feeling of being stressed and overwhelmed with the knowledge that its on my (and one other older girl's) shoulders to run and organise everything. I was kind of glad the young ones stayed until almost 5:30 last Saturday, and left seeing that we were still there with work to do. Yes, this is why we get stroppy when you stand around doing nothing!
Its not that bad, in fact most of the girls are quite good and I'm sure they're held to higher expectations than we were when we started. Even the ones who aren't the brightest have amusement value. (You stopped filling because the box ran out? Why, isn't it lucky that it's on top of a pile of new boxes! You dragged me over to ask whether a lady with 'some discount thing' could get it off the total price or just one gift? You know, I think the large writing that states ONE SINGLE GIFT might give us the answer there!)
I just need to work on my perception. Mind over matter. There's got to be a balance between 'meh, fuck it' (i.e. being happy for every second customer to leave in frustration and for the store to be a disgusting mess) and 'aagh!' (i.e. giving a shit and rushing around trying to stop the above happening). What would the nuts (eh. heh.) who have succeeded in this company say? Something like, "I really thrive on the challenge of leadership in a busy and dynamic environment!"? Pity that makes me feel a little naseous, otherwise it could become my new mantra...

Anyway. I also...
- Am on the lookout for books I want to read/get for Christmas. At this stage my
'list' is only non-fiction stuff about consciousness and neurological wackiness, as well as something about the history of censorship in art. I'm also reading 'how-to' library books about writing fiction, which is a topic I somehow enjoy reading passively about, but actual fiction? Not so much with the reading it. Or even the writing of it, despite what a peruser of my check-out list might believe.
- Began running again as of yesterday, which made me surprisingly happy.
- Have birthday and Christmas presents pretty much sorted for some people, but not at all with others. Hmm.
- Feel an abstract urge towards domestic pursuits like cooking and growing plants in my room. I could grow a plant in my room! Like a window box or something! What a revolutionary idea.
- Am particularly fond of the lamented notion of purity in 'There is No Such Place'. Whatever that means.
- Know that I've got two distinctions so far, and am pretty confident of a third. That sounds impressive until you look at the fact that my grade for torts is actually like ten percent lower than it was in the first semester... how did that happen? Oh wait, I know how it happened.
- Feel like watching an episode of Scrubs before I pick up my sister from work... so best I stop blathering.