A rainy afternoon

I was just thinking the other day that it looked like my plants could use some water. They got it this afternoon. It rained for a couple of hours, and on my way home. What a slow drive! I just hate the idiots who have to drive 70 when the rest of the traffic is going 45. When someone blocks them, then they tailgate, and when one car has its brake lights lit, the rest of the people slam on their brakes. Cripes!

But anyway. This morning started with a visit from my management company’s plumber. My garbage disposal stopped working last week, and they came yesterday to fix it while I was at work, but of course I wasn’t home. They came this morning, while I was still hanging out in my robe before work. Ahem.

It seems a penny fell into the disposal, and even though I heard it and turned the disposal off immediately, I stuck my hand in it and couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary. So of course, even though it was rattling, it didn’t rattle for long. In fact, it didn’t do much for long, because it stopped working shortly after that.

So the guy figured out there was a penny inside, but when he tried to get it out, it just kind of slid down the side of the disposal and inside it, so there is no getting the penny out. But at least it works. I missed it.

I was the mid HC today, and it went pretty well. Norma has been off for a few days, so we are all just kind of cruising along. I did more cashiering today than anything else, but during this time of year, that’s about par for the course. I don’t mind, I am just glad I’m working and not having to beg hours off of people.

It started raining about 4:30 here. It was a heavy, cold rain, not the kind I enjoy. At least I made a wise decision this morning and took my umbrella into work instead of leaving it in the car. Heh. I walked over to the grocery store after work and bought some things for lunches and snacks. Isn’t this just a pretty sight??

Colorful food

Yeah, dry jammies, M & Ms and DVDs of the Muppet Show. What more could one ask for?

Cleaning crew

I had to work the closing shift today. Norma wanted me to work it because she also scheduled a cleaning crew for me. Inventory is coming up, and that is apparently the time to do a good cleaning on the front end.

I had three people scheduled for four hours each to clean. They got six registers done. I thought they did pretty good getting as much done as they did, but one of them seemed somewhat disappointed they didn’t get further.

They did a very thorough job though! They washed everything, and vacuumed out underneath the computers and in the space where there is a huge mass of wires. In fact, one of the guys took the vacuum and reversed the hose, and just blew all the dust out. There was an actual dust cloud on one end of the front end for a while. Then he vacuumed the air to get all the dust sucked back up. Heh. They did have their fun.

Meanwhile, I went between them and running the front end. Mary, one of the other HCs that was promoted when I was, worked the mid shift today. I don’t work with her much, but I was interested to find that she was seldom on the front end. I just wonder where do they all go? I am always on the front end, unless I’m called somewhere else. The other HCs (except for Liz) just are gone.

Oh well. I know the cashiers like it better when the HC hangs out with them, and face it, that’s where the HC should be.

The manager who worked tonight, Steve, is my favorite manager to close with. He is very easy to stay one step ahead of, and I love being able to say “It’s already done” when he asks about something. Tonight he gave me a project to do (which entailed me directing other people) and by the time he got to the front, it had been done. He didn’t mention it, but I know he noticed.

I like working with Mac too, but Mac is more of a teacher, and I kind of feel like I should know some of the things he is telling me. Eventually I’ll figure him out, and know what he would expect me to do.

Anyway, time for bed. I work the mid tomorrow, and it’s already after midnight.

Looney tune morning

After closing last night, I had to open this morning. I don’t mind doing it, once I’m up… it’s just getting up so early when it’s midnight before I get to bed.

I was scheduled to work in returns. The opening manager, Liz, wasn’t there at 6:30, so I started things for her by opening all the tills. She got there about 10 minutes after I did, so I helped a bit, but really didn’t do much.

Right after we opened, I noticed a homeless man standing out by the fountain display we have outside. We also have a little pond set up there, and they put some little yellow duckies in it. This particular homeless man was talking to the little yellow duckies. For about an hour. He would stop if anyone went outside and tried to talk to him, but as soon as they would chase him off he would come right back. Like a bad penny, sort of.

The ASM, Mac, got him taken care of, when another man who had come in the store left. When he went past the security things, the alarm rang, so it sure seemed like he’d picked something up in the store. I was closest to the door, so I said, “Sir? You set off the alarm..” and he totally lost it. He accused us of manually tripping the alarm just so we could give him a hard time.

I quietly tried to calm him down, but it wasn’t working. He pulled out his phone and called 911, and told them that he “feared for his life” and that we were threatening him, touching him (ewwww…. ICK!), and beating him with pipes and pieces of wood. At that point, the two of us who were in that area didn’t care AT ALL about what he might have had in his bag, we just wanted him out of the store.

We called the manager, Mac, and he came and got the guy outside at least. I kept an eye on them, just in case the guy decided to claim that Mac attacked him, and it was obvious Mac wasn’t having an easy time of it, either. It wasn’t long before the police came and stuck him in their car and calmed him down. I don’t know where he went after that, but he didn’t come in the store.

Jeebus. And all before 9AM.

Working there reminded me of why I enjoy working in returns. Part of the reason I really enjoy it now is because I don’t have the responsibility of deciding anything. I can just watch what other people are doing.

I went to lunch, and came back to two managers in returns, all for one person who apparently brought back some blinds that were trashed. I missed the whole thing, but found out that he made such a stink about them not taking them back that they called Mac over to talk to him. They refunded the blinds, but then he was “attempted” in the computer, so he is basically done returning things at the Depot.

We also had a man and his wife who brought in a receipt from a customer agreement. The agreement apparently included a drill that they wanted to return. I explained that we could only give them store credit, because the “receipt” they brought us was not itemized, and as such was not a valid receipt. The man got angry immediately and said that he had a receipt, and I HAD to refund it.

Now that makes me reluctant to refund anything for this man. I explained that he could go to Encinitas where the agreement was sold, and get cash back or whatever, but that we could not process another store’s agreement. That wasn’t good enough. He had me cancel the refund I gave him because it was only store credit, and only for a sale price, which wasn’t enough for him.

So I sent him to the service desk, because he INSISTED that we should process that return, and he KNEW that we could access that agreement. OKKKKK.

Guess what. The service desk wouldn’t/couldn’t process the other store’s agreement. His wife, who previously worked at a Depot several years ago, went to talk to the hardware guy to try to get him to make us refund their money. Jeebus. The hardware guy explained there was nothing he could do, that if we said we couldn’t refund it, we couldn’t.

So she ended up coming back, and getting what had been their original refund. Interestingly enough, her husband, the creep, did not come with her. Even though I wouldn’t have done it, I would have loved to smirk at him while I was refunding her again.

Business as usual in returns. Tomorrow I close again, so at least I can get lots of sleep tonight. Mr D called to see if I knew who had won the Super Bowl (he’s at work) and I just had happened to turn the game on at the very end, so I actually knew. I kept yawning, so he knew I was pretty tired. It’s almost time for bed for me!

Oh the things you see!

I closed at work today, which meant I had the morning off. I slept in a bit, then ran a few errands. In the rain. Ick. Still better than snow.

Since it was raining, and Saturday night, it wasn’t very busy. With Goldie gone (I think she’s officially done now) no one had filled her spot on the schedule, so we were one cashier short tonight. That was fine, we really didn’t need her.

One of my cashiers took the initiative to get the vacuum from the lumber department and suck all the ick out of the self checkout registers. It was quiet enough to have one cashier, and one person at SCO. That was me.

While talking with one of the cashiers tonight, I realized from what she said that I am an anomaly of sorts; I am the only HC who actually spends time on the front end at night. Everyone else leaves, and lets the cashiers without supervision or backup. These are MY people, and I can’t just abandon them. They are my responsibility, and what they do reflects on me. It amazes me that the rest of them (with two exceptions, May and Liz) don’t feel that way. Jeebus.

So we had a bit of time for fun. We talked and cleaned, and enjoyed ourselves. We don’t always have to push. Since there were only the three of us, and one in returns, I hated to get them too involved in anything. It can get busy all of a sudden and then there’s no one available. So we just took it easy.

It was during this lull that I had two people (one male, one female) go to SCO. They had a two-foot piece of ABS (plastic) pipe, with some fittings on both ends. They were keeping one end in their bag, so it made it hard for them to scan it. I offered to help them, and pulled them over to my register. I asked them to take it out of the bag, and that’s when this conversation started:

Me: Can  you take it out of the bag, please?

Him: Well, no… errr…. it’s kind of.. ummm.. embarrassing.

Me: OK, I just need to scan all the pieces though.

So the guy takes the pipe out, and slips one end of it into his sleeve so I can see everything but what’s sticking out of the end. It looked kind of rubbery, but nothing that we sell, so I didn’t push the issue.

Him: It’s kind of a … ummm… toy. For her. (He nods his head toward his girlfriend.)

Me: Oh. OK, well, whatever, doesn’t really matter to me. Just as long as you pay for the pieces. ( I look inside, and see a  piece lodged inside the pipe) We just have to get this piece out.

Him: Oh, the paper on that kind of got it stuck, you’ll never get that out.

He tells his girlfriend to go get another. This makes him pretty chatty.

Him: See, we’ve been here a couple hours working on this. I’ve got that reducer in there because I want to put a saw blade inside the pipe, and I need it to hold the blade tight.

Me: A reciprocating saw?

Him: Yes! And it can’t move, it just has to … well, I’m hoping it will work the way I want!

His girlfriend comes back with another reducer, which only has half a barcode on it. She offered to go get another one, but by this time I was dying because of trying not to LAUGH, so I just looked it up on the online book, and charged them that way.

Him: Yeah, we had about thirty pieces on there at first, but we got it down to these five, and I think it should work pretty good.

Me: Great. You don’t want it to be too heavy.

Him: Nope.

Transaction finished….

Him: Bye, have a great night!

Me: You too!

About ten minutes after they left, my returns cashier called and asked me what they finally ended up buying, so I walked over to returns. By the time I got over there, talking on the phone the entire time, we were all laughing, and when I told her what transpired (neener) on the front end, it drew in the two plumbing guys (Mr D and Jimbo) since they had both helped them at one point or another. We all had a good laugh over them!

At closing, there were only two stragglers in the store, so that went quick, and I helped the ASM empty SCO of all the money. Jeebus that guy is fast! And then we all punched out and came home. My returns girl said she couldn’t wait to get to her facebook tonight to post about the toy construction!

Rainy day

Today was not the best of days for me. I was tying one of my shoes this morning, and turned my head to look at something, and pulled a muscle in my neck. Not exactly the best way to start my day.

When I got to work, Norma was frantically working on the monthly quiz, and I took the phone and she went to lunch. After she got back, it started getting really busy, and I got a till and opened up a register. I was fielding phone calls, and just taking care of business when Missy came. I had given the phone to Norma by then for my break, and she passed it on to Missy, so that was the end of me being the HC for the day.

Fine. I let Missy do all the things I was supposed to do , because obviously she was in charge. I had a problem with that though, because Missy was nowhere near the front end, so when someone needed change, or a till, or anything only the HC could do, it fell to me, since I was there, and Missy was not.

At one point, I was the only cashier on the front end, other than the person at self checkout. I ended up finally just closing my line and going to lunch so I didn’t go over the dreaded five hours. Yes, there was another person there by then, but I left her alone on the front end to go to lunch. I HAD to leave, and since the phone wasn’t working at my register, and I had very little time to get back to the timeclock, there was nothing I could do but just leave. So I did. At that point I was irritated enough that there were two HCs there beside me, and I was the only one on the front end.

Rolly was there, and Missy. Norma had gone home. When I got back, my pin pad froze, so I could only do credit and not debit. Since by then another person had gone home, I was alone again. Rolly happened to walk by, and I told him I needed to reboot my computer, and he said to just go ahead and do it. I looked at him, looked at the four people in line at my register, and back at him. He finally got the hint, went and got himself a till, and opened up another line to take care of the people in my line. Jeebus. I really just wanted to punch out and leave.

Then Rolly asked if I’d had my last break. Umm… how could I possibly have taken it?? Instead of saying what I wanted, I just said no, so he said I could take my break. I was actually surprised that I got one.

While I was back in the break room, it started to rain. Yippee. It was just one of those days from start to finish. At least my ride home was quick, even if it was a bit slow and filled with red lights. I can live with that.

And tomorrow is another day. I close, so I will have the front end by myself for the majority of my shift, and that’s fine with me. Time to relax with a movie.

Calling for help

Today was quite busy, at least for the number of cashiers we had scheduled. There is always the one who calls in sick, or just doesn’t show up, and everyone who’s scheduled isn’t always there.

I ended up cashiering most of the day, even the times I was acting as an HC, because a lot of the time it was just too busy NOT to be cashiering. I don’t mind.. I was at a lot of different registers, and even in returns for a while. I just LOVE returns.

One lady came in, with a whole bunch of stuff in a backpack. Five items, totalling $270. I was SO happy to see it suspend. She had taken them to another Depot earlier, and they refused to refund her money. Gee, I wonder why. Most of them “beeped” when laid on the deactivator, which a lot of times means that they didn’t go through a register on the way out the door.

So of course, we refused her store credit, too. She claimed she didn’t have a receipt, because it was her boyfriend’s stuff, and they weren’t together any more, and he wouldn’t give her the receipt. Like none of us have ever heard that before. She was quite unhappy, and asked for a manager. So… we called one.

The manager who came wasn’t an ASM, but a department head who had previously been an FES (front end supervisor). She wanted to see the transaction, but since we had already “attempted” her, it was gone. So we rang the stuff up again, just so the DH could see it, and train another DH, and she attempted her yet again. So it will show three refund attempts in one day. I can guarantee this chick will never get any refund from any Depot, unless she has someone else return the stuff for her.

And since the DH wouldn’t refund her stuff, she asked for the number of another manager, higher up than the DH, and she intends on calling tomorrow. I’m not sure she will get anywhere, at least not if the ASM looks at her refund history. Heh.

I also caught two people trying to sell a store credit. One of the returns people thought what they returned was kind of fishy, so she told me about it, and I followed them through the store until I actually CAUGHT them trying to sell their credit, and I made them leave. Hee! I just love it!

The last hour I was there was the busiest time of day. We had long lines, because there were only two cashiers and me, as the HC. We did what we could, and I kept paging for back-up cashiers. As usual, no one responded. Norma told me the other day that one of the ASMs wasn’t sure I was watching the front well enough, because he had seen lines on the front end. I explained to Norma that I usually don’t call for help because no one usually comes.. but she said that I just need to call. If no one comes, then at least the ASM knows I did what I could. It was because I never called for help that the ASM wasn’t sure I was handling it the way I should.

Yeah, it sounds fucked up, and it is. The lines are just as long, and it’s just as busy. But if I call for help, and no one shows up, that makes it all better. So I called for help about every 7 or 8 minutes. Just after it was my time to leave, the DH from the returns fiasco came to the front to relieve me. I was still there long enough to get my 15 minutes of OT for the day. I tend to get that every time I work the mid shift. Fine with me!

Heading off to bed a bit earlier tonight. It was 1AM before I got to bed last night, so I’m a bit more tired tonight. Besides, my book is calling me…

Scary times

I worked late today, which I kind of like. It gives me one morning, not on a day off, to get lots of things done. Like…

I went to the Post Office and mailed some things.

Came home, took my shower, and had breakfast.

Read emails, journals and played some Pogo.

Made lunch for work, and cleaned up the kitchen AGAIN. Third time in two days!

Went to the library to return some movies, and pick up a couple more.

Then I went to work. Norma sat me down in the office to tell me about the new “plan”. During the past week, two of the Depots in the San Diego area were robbed. A customer went to the service desk, angrily asking for a manager. Once the manager was there, the customer told her (in the first robbery) that someone called him because his wallet was locked in the vault, and he wanted it back, and he wanted it now!

The manager went back to get it, and when she came out, there was a man in a ski mask who made her open the door to the vault and he took all the cash. That would be a LOT of money. We take in a lot in credit cards and checks, but still, there is a lot of cash there between what comes in and what is kept in the back for change and tills. Jeebus.

Now the managers won’t go into the office for ANYTHING after 7PM. Anything anyone needs, they need to get it before 7. It doesn’t sound like a workable plan to me, but it’s better than getting robbed.

And they did it a couple days later at another store. So the HC is the backup plan for the manager. If we are not called off by the manager, we are to call 911.

At least it isn’t a group of guys with guns. That would be worse.

I really enjoyed the conversation in the break room tonight though. Two of the managers were talking about the “success sharing” which is like profit sharing. Any store that makes 103% of their sales plan will get an extra $15,000 to distribute among their employees. We have been at 106% so we for sure will be getting some nice checks at the end of March. And for this one, I am not only full time, but a manager, so I will get more than the average cashier. I was really disappointed last time, but hoping for a decent check this time. Guess I have to wait and see.

That’s my kind of news.

Tax day

Today was tax day. I got my taxes done by a CPA here, for half the price of last year. It was much less confusing this year, and I was in and out of the office within a half hour. Plus I am getting more than $5 over the price of having them done.. I am getting way more than last year, although still not the $2000 I would have liked to get. Heh. One can hope!

But I’m getting enough back to buy a new camera, which is the only thing I really need. My camera has a spot in it

UFO or spot?

that is visible in a lot of pictures. It’s really irritating to me. Since it’s not an expensive camera, it would cost more to clean it than to replace it, so I am looking in to that. I’m not buying one until I actually have the money, so I still have some time. Any thoughts from anyone?

Anyway, once  that was over, all  my out-of-the-house things were done, and I had several in-house things to do.

I put away my laundry that’s been occupying my couch for the past several days. I made a few food type items and got them packed up, and then cleaned up the kitchen…. twice. Yeah, I got a lot done.

I watched three movies, so I’ll make a trip to the library before work tomorrow. And to the post office to mail a few things. And then work at 2PM.

It will be interesting to get back and see what’s up. Shit happens there every day and I miss all the drama when I’m gone for two days! haha.

Just about bedtime here. I had to drag myself out of bed to be up in time for my appointment. I plan on getting LOTS of sleep tonight.

Shaken awake

I woke up this morning at 6:25 when my bed started shaking. Dang! In that weird state of sleep, I thought someone was in my bedroom shaking the bed to wake me up. When I was really awake, I realized there had been an earthquake, and I was feeling the tremors.

According to this site it was magnitude 4.4, and off the coast of Baja. I felt it about six minutes later. Weird. And a strange way to wake up.

So I got an early start to my day off. That wasn’t a bad thing, since I’d gone to bed pretty early last night. I like working early hours, but I also enjoy staying up late. The two just don’t go together.

I was in the kitchen when my phone rang. It was the Depot. The first thing  I asked was if I was late, or did I really have the day off. I think that scared me more than the earthquake! And yes, it IS my day off. Norma just called to see if I could cover some later hours this coming weekend. Instead of two opening shifts, I have a mid (10AM) and a closing shift (2PM) on Friday and Saturday. I have to open at 6:30 on Sunday, but I close again on Monday so I can get lots of sleep Sunday night.

Provided there aren’t any early morning earthquakes.

I went to the bank to get an interest statement to get my taxes done. Interestingly (heh) enough, I didn’t get statements in the mail because I earned less than $10 in interest for the year. Apparently I don’t have to report it. That’s a good thing and a bad thing. But.. anything I don’t have to report is a good thing. And I’ll see how it works out tomorrow. I’m just hoping for a refund, even a small one.

I went to the library.. I got an email that one of my dvds is due in three days, although I’d already returned it. The guy at the library renewed it for me, and said that sometimes when they come from other libraries they don’t get logged in like they should. I know I don’t have it in my house or car. Oh well.

I noticed that with the recent rain, some of my little cactus friends are looking pretty good. Actually the ones that perked up the most are the succulents…

February 2010

The two in the front of this pot, and the one off to the left are bigger and healthier working than they were.

July 2009

Even the ones in the middle have grown considerably.

And in the other pot..

February 2010

Compare the plant on the far right to the one in this picture:

July 2009

I guess I need to water them a bit more during the summer.

Blue called me this afternoon, kind of freaking out because she called the Depot last night to call in sick for today (since she opens, she thought it would be better to give them advance notice) and heard from someone there that Norma was short with the person who replaced her.. but I told her that Norma likely had more on her mind and not to worry about how someone else read Norma’s attitude.

So. A fire put out. All in a day’s work. Heh.

A wild day

I was the opening HC this morning, and knowing that six cashiers called in sick yesterday made me a bit apprehensive about working this morning and actually being in charge.

And yes, someone did call in sick. My returns person. She was also sick yesterday, and I’m not sure if it’s an illness or the fact that her mother died about a month ago. Either way, she wasn’t at work.

So I needed someone there at 7 when we opened, and it ended up being  Louise, only because she was the only person there. Trust me, I didn’t want her there, especially after she told me I would need to walk her through the returns process. *Ahem* She has been trained in returns, at a previous store where she worked. She has worked entire DAYS in returns since summer. But suddenly she doesn’t know how.  The day was not shaping up well.

The next person in, at 7, was Rolly. Aha! The lightbulb goes off, and I switch the two of them and put Rolly in returns and Louise at the roll-up door (for contractors… it’s a bigger door and easier for those big lumber carts). That was at least a workable situation, and I sent her to break first because I really didn’t need to listen to her whine about “Can’t I have my break??” when it’s been a scant two hours since she’s been there.

Other cashiers came in at 8, and then 9, and by 10 we were rolling along pretty well, people were getting breaks and it was all working. Liz came in at 10, and I got my first break, which was actually my lunch break. I don’t like taking breaks while I’m in charge, because as soon as I sit down somewhere all hell breaks loose, and no one ever remembers where I said I would be.

Once I got back from my lunch, that was the end (pretty much) of me being an HC.  I was ok with that, because it was starting to get busy. Blue got sick out in garden and went home early, and with Liz running the front end things tend to be crazy, and I figured I could help best by just being a good, steady, fast cashier. I went from register to register giving people breaks, and honestly, I don’t know where the day went. Suddenly it was 1PM and I was on my last break. Woot!

May was the closing HC, and I had to ask her about a situation I had. I had taken a change slip (for $50) from one of the cashiers, Wink (male) and I am 95% sure I gave him his change, putting it where I usually do, between the scanning gun and the side of the desk. Wink asked me toward the end of the day if he should cancel his change request, or if I was still giving him his change.

Huh? He asked me for it in the morning, and this was after 1PM. He claimed I didn’t give it to him, which I suppose could have been true. I try to give the cashiers change ASAP, because I know how it sucks to run out of money. I counted the change drawer, and we were $25 over, so it’s possible I did forget. Anyway, I asked May what I should do, because Wink wouldn’t be able to close out his till without accepting the change request in the computer.

Yeah, it’s kind of confusing to explain, but I know what I’m talking about, and this way I can remember when it happened. Anyway, I ended up giving him his change, and that way it would make things easier for Wink at the end of the day.

May contacted the LP guy who just happened to be there, gave him the time of the change request, and he was going to watch the cameras to see if I did actually give him his change or not. Wink is new-ish, and sort of iffy.. Norma is “not real impressed” by him, and he has lost an $800 check in the few months he’s been there.  If I did give it to him, I think he just put it in his drawer and forgot about it. I guess we’ll see tomorrow. Err… Wednesday. I have the next two days off, so we’ll find out then. In the meantime, I’m not going to worry about it.

Disney on Ice was at the arena across the street from the Depot. Our parking lot was packed, even though signs say that we will tow cars that aren’t customers. The Depot would not do that however, because there’s too much to do without worrying about who is parking where. Besides, the parking lot is owned by someone else who administers all that. But the traffic sucked! I’m glad I was going the opposite direction of most of the traffic today.

And tomorrow, no traffic for me!