GinaP. This is Your Life!

   It’s time now kiddies for a look back. Yes, like one those cheesy television shows, this is a Worst Year review!



   In the year 2009, I have had quite a time as you full well know. My dog died in March. I went to the doctor about my acid-reflux problem and almost had to pay over $600 for some blood tests. My grandfather died. My mom had more brain surgery but this time it left her with zero short-term memory and needing 24 hour care. We had to start taking her to day care so someone would be with her. I regaled you about how little free time I have between two jobs, school and being a care taker. I told you about how I was having issues at my primary job and to top it all off I had a personal medical problem. I think that is all clear enough now to tell you all about. Basically my period was being sketchy. I believe it was simply due to stress, but being a paranoid person I took like 5 pregnancy tests over 2 months. Now it seems to be okay but not great. Sorry, no baby.


   Let me remind you that this was never a contest about who has a worse lot in life. This was simply my story. If you want to share your tales of life suckery with me, I will openly listen.


   I suppose since my blog revolves around 2009 being a terrible year that I should shut this operation down in 2 days. Thanks for reading if anyone did. My next idea for a blog, assuming that 2010 gets better for me, would be a movie themed blog since they are my passion.


I want to leave you with a line from the They Might Be Giants song “Don’t Let’s Start”. “No one in the world ever gets what they want and that is beautiful. Everybody dies frustrated and sad and that is beautiful.” I think that sums up 2009 for me.

Happy Winter Solstice!

   I was so worried that X-Mas would bring misery. I thought for sure this terrible string of bad luck would culminate on the biggest day of the year. Granted, X-Mas didn’t go exactly the way I wanted, but it could have been a lot worse.



   We experienced Blizzard 2009 here in the Midwest. What made travel impossible was the fact that the blizzard remains from two weeks ago were still lingering. So I believe we got 12-14 inches on top of 8 inches of snow, not to mention the drifts. I saw some drifts over five feet high. What this means my little interested blog-lovers; I couldn’t get to work on Friday or Saturday. I missed out on the busiest days of the year at the theatre.


   At first I thought they would have to close the theatre on X-Mas, but apparently the district manager said no. But if you think about it, that is a movie theatre’s largest fiscal day, they can’t close unless it is the last resort. And I heard that families came out in their big SUV’s. That’s so smart right? “I believe I will endanger my family’s lives to go see It’s Complicated!”


   I was spoiled for Christmas. I got to eat prime rib, play monopoly (which my dad hustled me at) and play online poker with my dad and brother. I got an SD card for my camcorder, new ram for my computer, loads of gift cards and a new winter coat. Then I woke up the next day and couldn’t get to work either.


   Unfortunately my boyfriend got trapped at his house because the plows do such a lousy job in his neighborhood. And once they plow one lane, which I assume is supposed to be for emergency vehicles, they just leave it! Going up a blind curve hill in one lane is awesome fun!


   Really what I thought would be terrible turned out to be pretty okay. My mom was confused for some of the day about my brother and my gifts not being wrapped and being somewhere in the house though. And later she asked where my son was…I think she meant where my boyfriend was. Sometimes he’s my husband and now sometimes he’s my son I guess.

It’s the Final Countdown! 4 days left.

Stress Limit Breach Approaching. Abort.

   Today I got talked to about something I did wrong at work. This is the third time someone’s talked to me about this item. Not because I made the same mistake but because three separate people talked to me about the same issue. I felt like I was in the movie Office Space where the main character has about eight different bosses to tell him about his TPS reports. So, yeah….today is awesome.



   I hate how busy the holiday season is, and I never find myself on the side of society that has time off during these weeks. I am forever stuck in the working class rut known as a bitch to everyone else’s needs.


   I do have X-Mas eve and New Year’s Eve off, but most other days I am working doubles. I like my other job, but I hate working two jobs. I keep thinking when I get done with school it will help ease my stress, but I don’t know if I can make it, I have 8-9 months left.


Countdown to the end of this year? 11 days. Come on, baby, come on!

A Rainy Monday

   Would you like to hear about a bad day; a “Rainy Monday” as Shiny Toy Guns would put it? That day would be yesterday, which was a Monday.


   While eating breakfast, at 6:30am, a horrible hour to be eating at, my dad informed me that the ice on the windshields outside was thick…and it was snowing. So I went out to my car early to throw on the defroster and work on scraping the windows. My dad helped me at the end, so it wasn’t too bad; driving was though! It took me an hour to get to work and it normally takes 20 minutes. This was a time where I got bored driving and my eyelids got heavy. And after 30-45 minutes I started to bake in my winter clothes in the warm car.


   I clocked in 40 minutes late. Then while going to the sales floor to do my thing, one of the buyer pulls me aside and tells me about a bunch of tags that need to be redone, most of which weren’t my doing. When I tried to explain why this problem happened, he just kept repeating,” Well, that’s on the packet information when you enter these skus.” He said that five times almost in a row.


   It only gets better kiddies. I had to run up and down the stairs to the sales floor to remake tags almost the entire day. The day was a blur of being busy. My co-workers went to eat lunch at Burger King and I had no money and I brought my lunch, so I ate alone. That didn’t bother me because I got some peace and quiet.


   In the last half hour of my shift I was chosen to organize a food day for next Monday and I had to get an email out in about 10 minutes because the rest of the time I had to work on two other problems.


   Then I battled the traffic back home. Normally when I leave I can get home in 20-25 minutes because I leave before the rush hour really hits. Yesterday it took me 40 minutes to get home. I would otherwise be okay with this except that I had to be to work at 5:30. I got home at 5:10. My dad had made dinner so I literally changed and scarfed down dinner in less than 10 minutes and left for work again.


   I got to the second job and that was actually peaceful. They allowed me to do some homework and then I got to leave 30 minutes early because all the closing duties were done, so the managers just locked up. I love having a second job where I can just turn my brain off.


   So yesterday, I froze, waited in traffic, baked, scrambled, hit the wall, waited in more traffic, scarfed and hurried some more. If you think this all sounds like a bad day you have to hear the kicker. I woke up at 4am with heartburn that morning and had it for an hour. I’ve never had heartburn last more than about 15-20 minutes and it’s also never hit me in the middle of the night. You may not believe me, but I actually thought to myself that this was a sign that Monday would be a bad day.




Countdown to New Years? 16 days.

Making it thru

    I think I have all my Xmas shopping done. Yay! We also had a snow day yesterday due to the blizzard here. I called my work to check the weather line and the main line had a recording of the president saying we were closed until 4p.m. I've never had a preemptive snow day as an adult. It was bad on Tuesday afternoon though. So today is my day off, I was off yesterday and I left after only 3 hours of work on Tuesday. I will be busy tomorrow! 

    We haven't owned a shovel since we moved to the apartment about 7 years ago. I decided we need one again and got one last night. I wanted that classic orange plastic one but Wal-Mart only had one shovel left and I wasn't about to hunt around so we have a green plastic shovel. My dad and I each had to dig our cars out with a broom. Our neighbors had a shovel on their porch so I went and knocked on their door to ask to borrow it. They acted like they weren't home. I heard them in there and then mysteriously their drapes closed down from their up position. Assholes! Apparently talking to other people is dangerous.

   Today my mom told me she left her winter coat at school. When I questioned this she told me it was her dental school that she attends twice a week in Rochester. So, yeah.... 

   Three weeks left to this terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year. 
  

   








Let's just get through this week and get to my friends' birthday next friday.

Pre-Xmas Woes

   Be thankful that everyone on your X-Mas shopping list can tell you what they want. I am having so much trouble shopping for my mom. She doesn’t want anything. She needs clothes because she has gained a lot of weight. I got her to try on a shirt that fit at Wal-Mart so I got that. I think my dad is trying to work with her on trying pants on so we know her new size.



   The end of the year is such a busy time for me at both jobs. At the movie theater, yesterday afternoon, we got the tree and some decorations up since it was slow. But people run around at my main work with their heads cut off to meet budgets and secure new-hires. Needless to say, it is a VERY stressful time.


   I wanted to see a movie last night with my boyfriend but a migraine put me into bed at 9pm. I read an article online that being an overweight female can increase migraines…awesome. Holidays are so full of temptation for me.


   The first week of my new class, which is algebra, went well. I don’t want to jinx it though, so let’s leave it at that.


   So I only have four X-Mas gifts left that I need to buy to complete my shopping list and anything after that is a bonus. If I can afford it, you may just be getting it.

   Only 25 days of this sucky year left! I'm excited, are you?

Times Magazine called this the Worst Decade Ever. See, I'm not crazy. Times has my back.

Updates with a side of Story

   I am currently having personal medical issues. They are not life-threatening or anything even close to that, but they are stress-related. This year is finally catching up with me physically. I will see how things progress and then if they get better, I will update you all.



   My Mom is having an okay time at home but she seems to be non-cognizant to anything going on around her. Have you ever thought to yourself, “Oh, little kids have it easy; they get to stay home all day and relax,”? But if you ever actually reverted to the age of 2 believe me, you would not like it. My Mom is basically in that situation. I don’t want to talk about what has been happening specifically, but take my word for it when I say it is embarrassing.


   Instead of kind of telling you guys what has been happening, let me document for you my night out on Friday. My boyfriend, three other friends and I went to the local comedy club in town. The host tried to offer us seats up front, which I wanted, but no one else seemed to, which I didn’t understand because this was not an insult comic. Well, I soon regretted not fighting them on that, because the waitress in our area was just awful.


   My friend told her twice, upfront, how the checks were to be separated: him and his girlfriend, me, my boyfriend and our other friend, for a total of 4 checks. I ordered a pretzel and dip appetizer. Ten minutes later I was told they were out of pretzels. As this was the second show of the evening, I didn’t mind, so I asked for the dessert list and chose the fried cheesecake.


   My friends’ food arrived maybe five minutes into the show. Meanwhile, thirty minutes later, when they were about finished, I asked where my cheesecake was. One friend at my table ordered cheesecake, but the regular kind, not fried. Here is where things got weird. The waitress said “That takes a while to make.” To which I responded “Okay.” And then she came around the table to my side and told me it only takes a minute to fry those so it will be right up. Hold it right there! Which is it lady? It takes a while or it takes only a minute? And looking around the place, most people ordered beer, so I am sure it would not take the chef thirty minutes to make some fried cheesecake even if it took “a while”. So I got my cheesecake five minutes after that, which of course makes me think what you are probably thinking: she forgot to place the order the first time around.


   The next headache was when it came time for the bill. We received one check for everything. Remember we asked her twice to divide out the checks. Some of my friends wanted me to pay it and then give me cash. Not happening, as I was poor. We flagged her down and told her again how to divide out the checks. We received three checks, one for each couple and then one for the other person. Remember, we wanted four. At that point, I thought, “Whatever” and paid for my boyfriend and mine on my card and took his money, but that was still half of the total bill. I wasn’t too thrilled since I only had about $130 in the bank and that total was $32.


   While all of these fun activities went on with the check, the comedians told us to fill out a comment card and give it to our server to be entered to win a prize pack. We all filled out comment cards and we were waiting for the last comedian to be done to give them to our server. We were distracted by the check ordeal and paying and then the headliner finished. Well, then the MC came back on and handed out the prize. Half of the crowd was audibly upset because they didn’t hand in their comment cards yet. I have two problems with this system: A. Why would I rate a person’s performance before they are finished? B. How could I give my card to the server when she hardly came around and when she did we had to correct her? Apparently you are supposed to rate everyone as Excellent and hand in your comment card early to win a prize.


   It was a decent night though. The second comic was much better than the headliner and we bought his DVD and talked with him. P.S. The cheesecake wasn’t worth the wait.




It’s true that bad customer service stories go much further than good ones.