Early Thanksgiving

It looked like it was going to be the Sunday from hell: three screaming children, irritated and cranky customers and lines five people deep at each register. I had only gotten to work a half an hour before and already, I wanted to go home.

Then I noticed someone sitting in a motorized shopping cart. The customer looked female and her hair, short and blonde. I stopped and stared. She was also wearing a black jacket. No way, I thought. There's no way it can be her. Can it? I leaned over and took another look. My jaw fell open in shock.

It was Sharon.

I nearly dropped an S-bomb right then and there. I had heard that Sharon had gotten out of the hospital and that she had gone home but beyond that, I knew nothing. Now, here she was, looking a bit thinner than she was in August but otherwise all right.

I needed a moment, as I wanted to start crying. It had been touch and go for a while back in August.

Sharon came over and hugged me. Again, I was about to burst into tears but I was just so glad to see her. She can walk unassisted for short distances and she's admitted her taste in food has changed but she's better. She's a lot better. Which is a huge load off of the rest of us on the front end. To say we're glad is putting it very mildly.

As for Justine: she's undergoing yet another competency evaluation. This is her third, if I recall correctly. The prosecution thinks that she may be faking her mental illness, but others aren't so sure. Supposedly though, Justine has been telling people that she'll be home by Thanksgiving.

I hate to break it to her, but I seriously doubt that it'll happen.

--Weasel, "It'll be a good Thanksgiving this year, no matter who says what."

COMMUNICATIONS INTERRUPT: IT'S THE MOST WONDERF-HELL TIME OF THE YEAR

Holy geez. Last time I brought out a CI was right around this time of year, but in 2011. But it's not primarily my blog, so I'm not the bloody slacker around here.

WingTackLE (not to be confused with WingTackER, the W name I used LAST TIME ON RHYMES WITH IDIOT) is still slacking off, clearly. Not so understandable this time around, even though she's still doing the same damn things I naffed off about last time; scrawling less-than-furiously in notebooks, keeping me awake as she screws around on the Pokémon GTS looking for trades--the current X and Y games, naturally, and commiserating with anyone who'll listed about the latest news coming out of the Brewers organization (Corey Hart has interest from three teams besides the Crew but nothing will come of it until he's given a clean bill of health after sitting out the entire 2012 season). Again. The seeming usual.

Black Friday is UPCOMING, and WingTackle is not put out about the shifts she's working this year beyond having to work Thanksgiving Day at all. It means, unfortunately, another twinday of narcissitic shitheads giving her grief because they're not being served immediately--fuck those customers ahead of them, right?--and the fake-ass simpering dicks pretending commiseration that anyone at all has to work on such a family-oriented time of the year while simultaneously passing the plastic to her and shushing the three knee-high irritations who are all clamoring (and oh, YES, sometimes CURSING) for three different toys.

I see no reason to go out, either day, beyond giving her an escape during lunch and leaving a generous tip for whoever might serve us at whichever establishment we frequent. Mental health via Applebee's or somesuch. Yeah, it works.

She's quite better about the whole shooting thing, as you might imagine. The idiotic jokes from oh-so-'clever' people have trickled away to nearly nothing. Few jump at loud noises anymore. The shooter is a complete fruitbat. You can read up on this nutbar if you like, but you won't do it here, at least not by my hand.

Been keeping busy myself, when time allows. Usual crap, mostly. Been running, for a good year, an alliance on one of the mobile card games, MARVEL: WAR OF HEROES; our alliance's very simple blogsite is here, if you give a flying damn and/or play. Small community of players who've grown to be friends, I think.

+++PRIME OUT+++GODDAMN CAP WALLS+++

Loud as a Whisper

I know I haven't updated. There's been a very good reason. The past month has not been kind.

Those random shootings that have been popping up on television and dominating the news in the US hit far too close to home for me. In August, there was a shooting at my store. One of the cashiers brought a pair of semi-automatic pistols, along with 22 rounds of ammunition and shot a "rival" cashier. Her reasoning? The rival had been getting easier jobs and she shot her in a fit of jealousy.

I was there the day it happened. Although I saw nothing, I heard everything. It was not a good day.

I've been coping as well as can be expected. I'm not as badly traumatized as some of the others. On that day, I refused to go home; I stayed until the end of my shift. It wasn't easy but I managed somehow. I will admit to grabbing a wine cooler when I got off the clock for the day. Experts tell you not to, as they advise against using a substance that is considered depressive but on that day, I needed something to calm me down. I will also admit to sleeping in until well past noon the next day, as I wasn't scheduled to go in. I will also admit to jumping at loud noises for a couple of weeks afterward and the sound of gunfire will make me flinch. I have no idea how long I will continue that behavior.

I am reminded of a strip from あずまんが大王 (Azumanga Daioh): when Chyo-chan mentions that she wants to study in America, her friend Miss Osaka says that if she does, she'll be shot. The first time I read that strip I shook my head and laughed. It really wasn't so bad here in the States, I thought. We didn't have that big a gun problem.

I'm not laughing anymore.

--Weasel

An Update

Yeah, I'm going to post more, as I'm doing this in Opera now. IE seriously sucks and though Opera is glitchy, it's a hair bit more stable. (You don't want to know how slow and unreliable Internet Explorerer can be.) I'll try to have my BotCon report up by the end of the week; wish me luck.

--Weasel

Lovely

Apparently, our latest member of management is Melissa, the same female who tried to ban me from the self-checks a few years ago. From what I hear, she's going to be a co-manager.

I could seriously cry now.

My Life as a WTF? Moment Part 2

Management has made me a patsy. Or rather, us a patsy. And by us, I mean the entire front end.

So we recently got a My$hare bonus but it was the paltry sum of $135. According to management the reason it was so low could be laid at the feet of the cashiers. According to them, we were doing too many ad matches, not getting perishable items back to the proper areas in time, etc. Yeah apparently, we're not doing our job.

Yeah, that's a load of crap and they all know it. It's the shrink that's killing us, the fact that we overorder crap and let it sit in the back until it expires, the fact that no one in the building cares enough to actually try and do their stupid job that's killing us. For example: Mike in Receiving had to throw out seven carts full of four month old yogurt that never made it to the sales floor; the stuff was shoved in a cooler and promptly forgotten. It's that stuff that's hurting the profits and not us cashiers.

But don't tell that to management. Since none of them are ever wrong.

And people wonder why I look forward to the Robot Apocalypse. Hey, the machines can't screw things up any worse than humans can, am I right? Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go do something useful, like hatch Elekid eggs until I get a shiny.

--Weasel, "If you need me, I'll be on Route 3!"

My Life As a WTF? Moment

It's been an interesting couple of weeks, to say the least. Everyone at work is on edge, my poor sweet car Scamper had to spend some time in a garage getting repaired (he's better now) and we've had yet another stupid snowstorm. Our Toy department has been utter crap and there's been nothing new in stock for weeks. On top of that, we've started a new system at my place of employment--now we have to scan our badge at a computer not simply at the start of the day, but after every single break. The system sends us to whichever register it sees fit and most assignments are total crap. Everyone hates the new system, the CSMs are constantly overriding it and it frustrates me to no end. Oh and on top of that, Transfomers: Prime will come to end with the latest story arc subtitled Beasthunters.

Yeah, it hasn't been fun.

There have been some bright spots to all the mess: the announcement of Pokemon X and Y, along with a brand new Eeveelution have helped keep my spirits up and my current shiny hunt--Elekid--have kept me occupied. We're getting Meloetta in March so there's a little something to look forward to in the meantime.

It can all get better. That's what I keep telling myself. Eventually, I might believe it.

--the very beleaguered Weasel

Still Here

The holidays have been rough--my days off have been split for the past several weeks but things are getting back to semi-normal now.

I'm just tired. Very, very tired.