Friday, March 18, 2016

Long End to a Long Week

This was a very long day, starting with a phone call first thing in the morning from Rose. Dad-Bruce was in the hospital again. They found a tumor in his neck. He was going into surgery soon. Supposedly, he had an excellent chance of recovery, but for now, it was touch and go. Rose also mentioned she found a part-time job - she put Khai back into after-school daycare.

I spent the remaining morning working my my fanfic and hiding from Charlie and the men working on the bathroom and kitchen. I actually ate downstairs in Charlie's kitchen to avoid them. Charlie has a good-sized kitchen, twice the size of mine, with a huge sink. He also has no tiles or rugs anywhere but the bathroom - it's all cardboard - and nowhere to sit. No heat, either. It was cold in there. And I still couldn't avoid his men, who passed through my apartment and his all morning. 

Went right into my story after breakfast. Luke's shocked at the state Leia's in when he arrives. She's battered and tattered and torn. She's more amused at his small size for one of Vader's men. He explains who he is and tries to get her down...before she reminds him she can't climb her own hair. He has to make a rope appear. The Tower is bound by spells that forbid entry or exit by magic.

Han meets them at the bottom, along with a battery of soldiers. Leia's less than thrilled with the way the guys have conducted her rescue. She grabs Luke's bow and arrows, shoots at the soldiers, then uses her own magic to make them all disappear and reappear at the stables. 

Headed out around quarter after 12 for lunch. I ate a quick meal of bacon and scallion quiche and a spicy-sweet iced tea at Common Grounds Coffee House. The tea was tasty as ever, but the quiche was disappointing. It was tough and hard to cut; I'm guessing it was overcooked. I also bought a massive peanut butter-chocolate chip cookie for a snack later.

Work could have been worse. I did do a lot of returns, rounded up carts, and pulled out boxes of plastic bags for the registers on the front end. I did have to take customers a few times. We got pretty busy, especially later in the afternoon. We're supposed to be getting snow on Sunday. I'd be more worried if the ground wasn't so mushy, it's unlikely it'll stick for more than an hour or two. It's not supposed to be THAT cold, either. Not that anyone ever pays attention to facts. They were still fussing.

Oh, and I finally found out why they have me bagging and cashiering. Apparently, I got three bad reviews about three weeks ago. Two said I was too slow. One was angry over something. I don't remember what I did to make someone angry, and I'm sorry if I'm slow. I go as fast as I can. I wish these people would try to understand that I am not a machine. I can only do so much. And why didn't my manager tell me this weeks ago? She "just didn't get around to it." Gee, thanks. I don't mind doing bagging, or anything that isn't cashiering. But why couldn't they have mentioned this sooner? Like, say, three weeks ago, when it happened. 

Not overly thrilled with my schedule, either. On one hand, slightly fewer hours, more in line with what I usually get at this time of the year. Still only one day off, though, Monday this time. Not only is there still a ton of vacations, but we're getting close to the end of the spring semester at most colleges. The college kids are too busy with end-of-the-year classwork to be able to take many hours. Also, we're coming up on Easter. Schools will be on spring break this week coming up or the week after. 

I did a very quick grocery shopping session after work. Even if I'd been able to use my kitchen for the past few days, I still didn't need that much. I was mostly restocking apples, bananas, and grapefruit. I didn't badly need cereal, but I couldn't pass up a really good three-day sale on Life. I genuinely did need sugar (Domino's was on sale) and shampoo (the Acme finally got Herbal Essences' curl formula in). 

Had dinner at Tu Se Bella's. I figured I deserved good pizza after the week I'd had. I got in ahead of the rush hour crowd. Had my slice of cheese and slice of broccoli and tomato white pizza and bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper at the table by the window. Ate and watched people come and go in the parking lot.

Charlie and his boys were still around when I got in. I put my food away, then went online and once again ignored them. Thankfully, they were just about done. Charlie gave me an update after they vacuumed the kitchen and returned the appliances to where they belonged. While the kitchen is now 100% fine, the bathroom was another story. They fixed the toilet and put a new drain in the tub, but the sink is toast. It hasn't worked right for at least eight of the ten years I've lived here. It runs sluggishly, no matter how much drain cleaner I dump down it. The guys said it's so old, they can't find the pipes to fix it. I'll be getting a new one on Monday. I'll be using the kitchen sink for the weekend. I have no problem with that - it usually works better anyway, even before the pipes were fixed. 

Oh, and Rose called tonight, not long after Charlie left. Dad's out of surgery, and he's doing well. He should be home in a day or two. 

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