retail_whore

Merry Happy Whatever

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 17:28:45 GMT

I look and feel like a zombie. Yea retail hell! My boss even sent me home early because I was pretty much useless this morning. Yea for me! Now I get to do some last minute wrapping of stocking stuffers, have my mother over to exchange gifts, got to dinner at a place that doesn't even remotely cater to vegetarians (its a steak house), and then spend numerous hours with my extended family...all in the next few hours. I don't even have time to take a nice nap. I'm pretty sure if I even sit down on my couch, I will pass out for hours and hours. Retail has sucked my life forces dry.

But, my friend gave me a lovely jar of homemade bath salts. And, I can't wait to use them. I desperately need to just lay down in scalding hot water and relax. But, no relaxation for me unitl January 5th. Yea. I'm so happy.

Happy Merry Whatever-You-May-Celebrate (or don't celebrate). Its your call.
I want to celebrate with a 2-day nap.

So, ta-ta.

Sat, 22 Dec 2007 05:15:30 GMT

My husband and I both started off this year saying that 2007 was going to be "our" year. And, it was....kind of.

Midway through January, I took a promotion at work, which certainly didn't hurt our finances. Soon after, I purchased an incredibly helpful personal finance book to help with straightening out old debts, and it has helped greatly. I now have my finances tightly regulated and the checkbook balanced. Of course, there is still debt to deal with but its shrinking, and thats all that matters to me.

March- called my credit card companies and asked them to lower my interest rates. And they did. One went down nearly 5 %. I had made all my payments for at least 12 months ontime, and had the cards for over a year. So, they did it for me. Its made a huge difference in paying down debt.

April brought with it my bridal shower. People didn't have to get us anything, but we are tremendously grateful that they did. We desperately needed new towels and wash cloths since ours were turning to strings. We also got some financial help that we appreciate more than we can even express. I am fortunate enough to have the most generous, kindest family...especially my Aunt Deb. She helped with planning our small wedding, and contributed more than just her time. And for that we are eternally grateful. I really am the luckiest woman when it comes to my family. They all have their shortcomings, but they are all so wonderful.

May was the month most like the metaphorical "roller coaster of emotions" in 2007. 10 days before my wedding, I lost my grandfather, whom I was incredibly close with. He was the reason we were getting married in Florida because I knew he could not travel elsewhere to witness the event. So, I went down to Florida a week earlier than I had originally planned and spent that time with my family. I needed to see them. Sometimes, they are the only thing that keeps me sane. Moving on... The wedding was on the 24th. It was a day of panic and stress for me. I was flipping out because I hadn't seen Rocky alone in over a week, and he calms me down when I have panic attacks. Anyway, I was late to the wedding because I thought I lost Rocky's ring, but I didn't. It was hiding on my hotel bed. Our officiant was a little nutty, but her husband (the photographer) was great. Dinner at Shells Restaurant was amazingly good. The last few days in Florida were a little strained because no one knew what to say to my Grandma. Its easier now.

June and July went by very quickly as they were spent working my tail off. July also brought with it a terrible hail storm that caused over $4500 in damage to my Aveo. Fortunately, I only had to pay my comprehensive insurance deductible of $100. Took forever to fix it, but I got a free rental car out of it. Lost my other grandfather in July. Couldn't attend funeral because of the overwhelming loss I had already suffered just a few months earlier.

August brought a road trip down to Tennessee to got whitewater rafting with la familia. Excellent fun, except that we had to sleep on an air mattress that lost its air every night leaving us with aching backs the next morning. Oh well, what can you do? On the way home, we stopped and visited Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky, which was awesome. August was also when I finally sold my Aveo to a girl in Brighton. I am so glad to be rid of it, and I started to have panic attacks just getting into it. It started to feel like a death trap. I bought a 2005 Scion xB (my dream car!) in place of the Aveo. I love love love LOVE it!

October brought another road trip, this time to Pittsburgh to visit some family. I know, it seems like all I do is visit family. We just spent 2 nights with my Aunt and her family relaxing and some drinking. It was great fun until I puked...repeatedly. I guess you can't drink 8 glasses of hard liquor mixed with Coke on an empty stomach. I know better for next time. Had quite a few trick or treaters this year. I was sick and laid up on the couch, but I saw some of the cute costumes. Applied to Grad School at WSU for Library and Information Science.......

November, the husband and I road-tripped to Cleveland, Ohio for some touristy junk for a weekend. We went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Super cool. Also, went to the house where A Christmas Story was filmed. Pretty cool. Its a rad house surrounded by ghetto. We thought we may be shot at one point when a crazy man ran up to our car at a stoplight. But, we survived to tell the tale. We at a Denny's Restaurant, which I know now is always a mistake. It was horrible service combined with shitty food. Even the onion rings were nasty. Got my acceptance letter for grad school!!! :) :)

December. Busy as a bee. Work is insanity. Money is being spent like crazy. I love giving gifts, so I spent money. But, I also paid down my debt considerably this year. And, I didn't charge a thing. I used my debit card, and finally (at 26) adopted the motto "If you don't have the cash, you can't have the item." Basic principle, but sometimes hard to follow when you listen to our bullshit society encouraging us to buy buy buy all the time. Also, got my auto insurance payment dropped $30.00/month! w00t!! Bought my textbooks and am ready for classes to start.

Overall, the year had its ups and downs, but it still leans more toward good than bad. Its been since August 2005 since my last back surgery, and I am on a new medicine to help rebuild bone lost. Hopefully everything will work out. I am hoping 2008 will bring happiness, health, and a little more security to our lives.

Here's to living life to the fullest and being thankful for every single good thing to happen this year and next.

Selfish Much?

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 07:02:02 GMT

So, truly, I am happy for my cousin. She's in love and getting hitched. Great! Fabbity-Fab! Her husband-to-be is great as well. Both are doing very well financially for themselves as they are contracted engineers with the US government. Congrats on being killer at math. The problem I have with the situation is this: The Registry of Death! So, I am all for people being specific as to what they desire for their wedding gifts. The root of evil is the store they have registered at. Its (literally) a store I will NEVER shop at due to the purely outrageous prices for everything. The cheapest item on the registry (a splatter guard for a sauce pan) was $30.00. I could just go to the dollar store and get her 30, which would be enough to last a lifetime. There is not one item on the list that isn't name brand.

Now, my family is by no means poor. We hold our own financially. But, the fact remains... this registry and the selfishness it entails are ridiculous and embarrassing. I always knew she would try to cash in on the kindness and generosity of our kind family. She could have had two registries, I suppose. One for those who are also brand-whores, as I like to call them, and another for people who can't afford 30 bucks for a fucking splatter guard. Insanity. I registered (because I was forced by the mother and the mother-in-law) for gifts for my wedding. But, I chose a place where people wouldn't break the bank should they be kind enough to purchase something for us. I chose Target. AND, I was kind enough not to ask for ridiculously expensive things. I needed a clothes basket...and the cheaper the better. Everything (except one set of dishes priced at $60-with 4 place settings) was $25.00 or less. My cousin, on the other hand, asked for -prepare to be dazzled- a $60 cereal bowl by Mikasa. And actually, she asked for 12 of that item. Are you fucking kidding me? $60 bucks for a single cereal bowl!!

You know what she's getting from me? A gift card for $20 to Target so she can buy toilet paper...maybe even the expensive stuff. I buy the cheap paper, because really, I'm only going to wipe my ass with it. This wonderful cousin of mine needs to learn that we aren't all math geniuses with incredibly high-paying jobs. Some of us (even though we are college graduates, too) just cannot bear to spend our hard-earned money on a 60 dollar cereal bowl.

Thankfulness...

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 04:19:43 GMT

Let me start by saying that I LOVE giving gifts. I need to give. Its like an illness. Actually, its karma. So many wonderful people have helped me in such varied ways that I need to give back. To not do so would be selfish. I have such wonderful friends who always know how to cheer me up and make me not feel like a useless lump of flesh. So, I gave my friend a lovely hat and scarf, which I'm pretty sure she liked. She's my homey and I'm so thankful for her friendship.

Now, on to the thankfulness of which this post is titled.

Friendship- People like me. Surprisingly. I don't really know why. I'm not a brilliant or even funny person. I'm cynical, pessimistic, and sarcastic...pretty much all the time. I don't know why anyone would like me. SO, I'm thankful for the people who do.
Family- My family is wicked cool...at least for the most part. They all love one another and genuinely want to help each other out. They are loads of fun on vacations and holidays, and can often be spotted in large groups of very loud and obnoxious characters in public places.
Shoes- Wow, my feet would be hideous if I had to walk around in the snow all the time with nothing covering them. All calloused and such. And they would be cold, which I cannot stand.
Useless College Degrees- Really, where would I be without my useless social work degree? Well, let me tell you. I would be working at the bookstore. Oh, wait. I do that anyway....but I would be about $23,000 less in debt had I not gotten the most useless degree on earth. Yea college!
Debit Cards- They are sooooooo much easier at stores than writing checks. You know who writes checks? 90 year old women. And not only that, they write as slow as humanly possible while holding up the line for 10 minutes. Causing me to have to make the "sorry, I am trying to make her go faster" look to the customers in line behind her. I'm a horrible human being for getting so upset by this, but really, move into the 21st century people. If you absolutely refuse to switch to debiting, then at least start writing the check before you get in line. Its a general courtesy you should extend to the poor souls stuck behind your slow ass at the store. They'll thank you for it. Well, maybe not out loud, but I can guarantee they're thinking it.
Sanrio- How can one not cheer up when one looks at all the cute critters they design? My loverly (yes, I meant to spell it that way) husband has a gift under the tree for me that is in an adorable Sanrio/Hello Kitty bag with a cute tag. I can't figure out what it is, and its driving me nuts!
Neil Gaiman- Best fiction writer in the whole world. Shadow is such an amazing character, and I think I'm in love with him. Anyone who knows me know that I rarely read fiction, so Gaiman must be good. American Gods is my all-time favorite novel, followed by The Secret Garden by Burnett. Not only is Gaiman an amazing writer, he's also quite gorgeous. I just bought Fragile Things, and will be starting it as soon as I finish this ridiculous post.
Vegetables (and Fruits)- My all-time fave thing to eat. Especially Snow Pea pods. Food of the gods. Yes, gods. I'm not monotheistic...but that's an entirely different story. I'm a vegetarian, but before that, I still loved veggies above all others. My first love. Oh, shoot. I guess I should add fruits to my list of thankfulness. Fear not! My list has been amended. Pineapples are by far the tastiest things ever created.
Soy Milk- Its sweet, its nutritious, and its pus-free. Yup, I said it. Cows milk is disgusting in so many ways. Humans are the only species on this earth who drink the breast milk of another species...and drink it into adulthood. Kinda gross when you think of it like that. And soy plants don't feel the pain of swollen, chapped udders. You've found me out...I'm also big into animal rights.
Stupid Blogs- For allowing me to get out some of the pent up shit I'm feeling. Its kind of like a magical diary where people can anonymously read my thoughts. Zoinks. That sounds scary.

Wait! I forgot one!
11. WSU- For accepting me to their MLS (Master's in Library and Information Science). Thank you for taking the chance on me. I won't let you down.

Give Me Something To Believe In

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 16:39:34 GMT

What do I believe in?

Karma. Plain and Simple. What you do not only effects other people, it comes back to you. If you always treat others like shit, then shit comes your way. It may be a hard lesson for those horrible retail customers, but its the case. I am having a pretty good year since I realized this.

If only I could teach my customers this lesson. When they treat me like garbage for (literally) no reason, then it's bound to come back to them in this lifetime or the next. Take for instance the man I had on the phone yesterday. He was one of those men who thinks they're superior to everyone and feels the need to talk down to people like they're imbeciles. He had some books on hold for a week, as someone had made and exception for him since we are only supposed to hold them for 3 days. So, its been 8 days and we shelved whatever it was that he had had held. He called up to ask if we still had them, but knew no information about the book other than that it was green and about soup. Okay, I look up cookbooks about soup and over 125 come up on my screen. So, I ask the author's name....which is a very sensible next step in narrowing down the number of books. This apparently angers him and he starts yelling that we had 80 in the store when he was there and that they were by the front door. Okay, I go look all around the entire front of the store and cannot see anything that resembles his request. So, I pick the phone back up and explain that I don't see it anywhere. This, again, is not what he wants to hear. So, he says, "(my name), Are you even listening to what I'm saying?" Up to this point I feel I have been more than friendly in trying to assist him. I tell him that yes, I have been listening, but still cannot find what he is looking for without more information. He again responds with an attitude. "(my name). Are you looking with your eyes or are you only looking on your computer?" I don't know why I didn't hang the phone up right then. I should have said that I don't have to put up with the way he is treating me, but I didn't. I ended up getting snotty back at him. "Sir, first I looked with my eyes, and then I looked with the computer. I cannot find the book. Sorry." Of course my response to him had been very short and ended very sarcastic. Sometimes, you have to be. After that, he says in a very threatening tone, "Well, I'll be in on Thursday...and we can work this out then." "Great," I say and then I slam down the phone before I snap and tell him that I hope he chokes on his dinner or dies in a fiery car crash. I don't actually mean those things, but his condescending tone and over-use of my name drove me to the edge.

It seems that because one works in retail, they are set up to be treated like shit. Many of the managers do whatever the customer wants so that they won't get reported to corporate. I say, report me. Maybe I can get fired and get unemployment so I don't have to work the rest of the retail holiday hell. I'm so glad to be going back to grad school so I can get the funk out of retail.