Holy Crap!

The folks on the news said it might happen, so when I got up this morning and looked out the window I saw the proof - it was SNOWING!! Holy Crap!! Well, that's what I exclaimed. Yes, it's December and all, but it's been a VERY long time since I lived in a place where it snowed right outside of your house =-p. So I got up and went outside to take some pictures and to try to catch a few snowflakes in my mouth, and then I called some people to say "Oh my gosh - it's snowing!" and then I went back inside to where it was warm =-). Later in the afternoon I made a snowball and threw it at the garage, but I didn't make any snow angels or anything.

In other news - my job drama continues (the scheduling manager scheduled me for every single day I asked for off for my friend's wedding (not that I told them why I needed the time off - when I don't respect you you don't get all the details), claiming she never got my note (I had left two of them). They don't seem to understand that I don't care if I'm scheduled, but I won't be there =-). So when I go in tomorrow (Wednesday - today I guess), they are going to tell me what they have decided. I love that they think I care =-p! Of course, they don't realize that I was going to quit by the 14th at the latest, so they have no idea that I will care very little if I have to quit a week sooner.

And I'm thankful for...

Let's face it - I'm pretty good at being thankful for the important stuff (not that you see it on this blog, but I am). Maybe there were some annoying Jr. High years, but after that, I've pretty much known that my family kicks ass and that I have some amazing friends.

I worked this Thanksgiving, and then I went and hung out by myself as I ate some Mozzarella sticks. I didn't care that much that I had nothing to do and no one to do it with, and a few people even took the time to call and wish me well, so it was fine. But it got me to thinking.....besides the genuine stuff, what am I thankful for? And here it is - I'm thankful for my underpants =-). I finally bought the Superman underwear that I've been wanting for a while - and I love them =-)! I now have two pairs of super underwear! And when I wear them I am transported back to the days of UnderRoos and I feel like the Super-Shababbler!! Woohoo! Yay for Superman underpants!!!!

All in a day's work...

I know in "real" life I'm very vocal, but in "work" life I tend to be rather quiet (depending on the job and my comfort level). On one of my most recent shifts someone poked me in the side to try to make me jump, and she said she only messed with the quiet ones. Hehe - if she only knew. I'm a good worker - I come to work on time and I do my job. Do I dance across the hall with bells on, no, but who does?

So, the conclusion to my Saturday night shift was a bit unexpected. You've seen me complain here before about my bitchy manager. Well - this didn't involve her, it involved the one who I had thought was rather calm and collected (aside from the cussing out of an employee and manager he had thought were talking about him - but I didn't witness that directly).

I won't get into all of the drawn out tidbits of the "discussion." But - basically it all started after he asked me how I was doing after I was once again being let off much after the schedule said I would be. Mind you, by this point I know they don't let us off on time, but this night was on top of every other night every single employee has had to stay way past scheduled. And the fact that they never ask you if it's okay - they just assume you are their indentured servant for the duration. I said I was fine and he said that now was the time to share anything that was on my mind as he was providing me with the opportunity.

So this seemed like the perfect opportunity to bring up, rationally, that I found it frustrating that we never got off when the schedule said we would. It all went downhill from there. He immediately started blaming the servers - me- the world - you name it, but everybody except for management. I also told him I found it frustrating that when we were understaffed that the managers didn't help - even when people were actually leaving the restaurant because it was literally impossible for us to get to them in the expected time frame. Again - everyone on the planets fault besides management, and in his huff, he even told me that he also would let us run ourselves into the ground (meaning he'd let us bust our asses as we tried to accomplish the impossible) because it was our fault for not reporting the amount of guests accurately on our tickets. Um okay. I never even knew that was a problem.

So things escalated, he accused me of having an attitude and I told him he had asked me a question and I had answered it, I also told him he was having an attitude with me. He told me that I had started "bitching" at him. Believe me - this is not the case, I know I can rant, but I can also be extremely rational and I was trying to present myself carefully so that he didn't take offense. Failed there! You'd think I'd stolen a 2 year-old's teddy bear and started punching it!

So on and on things went and he started threatening to cut my hours and suspend me. He told me he'd cut me down to one day a week and he'd make that one day Thanksgiving. Big deal Ass Hole! He wanted me to call his bluff and tell him not to suspend me or cut my hours, but I just kept huffing back "Fine!" He didn't expect that. Let me tell you - the best "I don't give a damn" tool to have in your arsenal when your immature boss is threatening you is the knowledge that you were planning to quit in a few weeks anyways =-).

Ya, as much as I dislike loads of things about the job, I could still use the money. I want money for my Vegas trip!! But I won't be annihilated if I lose a job I was planning to quit anyways. The ONLY reason I give a crap is because I don't want to have to check that damned "have you ever been fired" box on applications from here into eternity.

And for those of you who still assume I was the instigator, any of you who know my Dad know how calm and collected he is....well, he has been informed of things as they happened and he thinks the manager was way out of line. So as he threatened to suspend me and cut my hours I followed up with my request for the number for the labor board. Homeboy made the mistake of calling my bluff. Angrily told me to go right ahead and that the number was "up there" - so I wrote it down. He kept telling me to go ahead and call them. Alright then - consider it done. Unfortunately for him, he does not realize the cardinal rule of not messing with the Shababbler. Don't doubt me! I had thought about calling the labor board, but probably would have been too lazy to do so, but if you want to holler at me To go right ahead, you can bet your ass I will.

Anyways - that's my joyful little work story =-). As of my departure I was not fired, suspended, or reduced (hours), but who knows what I shall see when I next go into work. It will be interesting to see how the managers treat me because I know they will have been warned. Will it be eggshells or thorns? I'm hoping it will be middle ground....but at the same time, I'm also not concerned because I know he has no grounds for disciplining me and that if I had any desire to waste the time and energy taking them to court I could. I don't feel like wasting that much energy on such a negative and unproductive endeavor, so let's hope my countdown till quitting goes smoothly. It will be like the Christmas chocolate countdown calendar's - each day I work is one less day until freedom - yay!!! Now I'm feeling all warm and fuzzy inside =-)!

And the spelling word of the day is...

Today has been a really up and down day - some out of the ordinary highs and lows. However, the day has a definite highlight =-). By the end of this year two of my oldest friends will have gotten married, and they also happen to be sisters. The Summer wedding was a high stress affair, but the Winter wedding is going to be much more low key and done up in fun Las Vegas fashion. Woohoo Vegas - here I come!! Part of the reason the summer wedding was so stressful is that the bride and the fairly conservative mother didn't see eye-to-eye on a lot of things. It was a rather religious ceremony and the parents wanted a good example to be set.

So you can imagine the confusion created as the Winter bride told her sister that their mother wanted to get a stripper, preferably an Elvis stripper. Hehehehehehehe =-p!!!! The summer bride who had the stressful "good example" wedding told her sister that she must have heard wrong and that certainly their mother must have meant "singer" especially since she said Elvis. So I spoke to the December bride and she told me they were trying to figure out what exactly their mother had really meant, but for me to hold off for now on planning any bachelorette shenanigans.

Well, their parents consider me a third daughter, and so I decided to call up today and my plan was to eventually get around to settling just how she was spelling this two syllable-S word. Stripper/Singer - they start and end the same, but happen to have two very different meanings - hehe.

I talked to both of the parents for a bit and then the Dad got off the phone and the Mom went right in to telling me she wanted to get a stripper. S-T-R-I-P-P-E-R - yay!!! I told her both of the girls were shocked she had suggested it and didn't quite believe it was true, but she said she just wanted to make sure the Winter Bride had some fun. YAY!!! As you can imagine, when she started questioning me about how to go about things, I was delighted to share my knowledge =-). I definitely know where to find lovely male eye-candy in Vegas, but I have always "gone to the restaurant" (so to speak), I have never ordered in (which somehow seems seedier to me). She evidently had called the hotel to see if they just happened to have strippers on staff (or some such thing), and although they did not, they assured her that in Las Vegas it was quite easy to find as many as you wanted. I'd rather go admire the eye-candy in mass, but she'd rather do it in the hotel room where all the ladies can get a kick out of it. Being the dutiful bridesmaid and honorary daughter that I am, I told her it would be my pleasure to help her out =-).

Hello? Anybody there?

In a rare occurrence, both my roommate and I were home during most of the day on Friday. At one point we were talking as I worked on something in my room and she sat outside in the hallway. She took a call from her Mom on her cell and we talked some more before she made a bathroom stop and then went into her room. About 15 minutes later she started looking for her cell phone again because her and her Mom were going out. She couldn't find it anywhere. We retraced all of her steps and then some. When her Mom arrived she helped us look as we all tried to call the phone. Nothing. I had to leave for work and they went ahead and went out, but with how dependent most of us are on our cell phones anymore - it sucks not to know where it's at.

When I got home from work around 1 a.m. there was a note taped to my door: "Shababbler - I know this is going to suck, but we are 99% sure that I flushed my cell phone down the toilet so please use it as little as possible." In that vicious "oh-thank-goodness-it-didn't-happen-to-me-but-damn-that's-funny-as-hell" way I started laughing my ass off!!!! SHE FLUSHED HER CELL PHONE DOWN THE TOILET!!!!!! We're not just talking dropped and retrieved - we're talking full on flushity-flushed-flushed-flushed!! Oh DAMN - how much does that suck?!?!?!?! But - also funny as hell - hehehehehe!!! Since it was so late the only person I could call to tell was my brother, but in the couple of days since I have announced it to the masses because I find it horribly amusing.

Her step-dad came over the next day to try to get it out - ya she won't be able to use it anymore (unless it has superhero-sewer-fighting powers given by the gods of Verizon), but her house has one bathroom and it's pretty old so that little phone can't have been a bonus to the already tempermental plumbing! Some other guys came over to help and as they worked on things every so often her stepdad would call down the toilet asking "Can you hear me now?!" Hehe. When I got home that night the toilet was reattached and up and running, but I have no idea if they found the phone (I assume they did) or what kind of condition it was in. Talk about a crappy situation - hehe ;-p!!!!

Halloween & then some...

After I learned I wasn't actually going to be scheduled to work on Halloween (which is pretty much my favorite holiday anymore) I was super stoked and couldn't wait to figure out something to do. The Saturday before I met a friend and a couple of his friends after I got off work at a bar/club type place, but he didn't tell me that they had a costume contest that night =-(. He didn't know before he went, but he got there before I did - he just didn't realize I would have costumes at my disposal (of course I do!). So I was super bummed because I totally could have dressed up and I felt all stupid-conservative =-(. So he told me we'd dress up and go out Monday night (Halloween). I told him first I had to be around for trick-or-treaters (since my roommate never stays at homes and wouldn't even think about not hanging out with her boyfriend), so he said he'd come over for that too. Yay something to do! Monday morning - you're not going to believe this - I was actually out of bed and out of the house at 8 a.m. (phenomenal since that never happens if I don't have to work). My other friend had asked me to pick him up at the car dealership where he was getting his vehicle serviced.

So I went there and he took me to breakfast (but I had a really good coupon that covered most of mine =-p), and he had told me before that this one bar was having a costume thing so I asked him if he would go that night and he said probably maybe (had to work the next morning). I excitedly called my other friend and told him we'd give out candy and then go to that bar. Yay! Something fun to do!! So, when he called me back he told me he wasn't going to be able to go to the bar anymore - but he'd come over for trick-or-treaters. He had a midterm to study for =-(. This is the guy who is always telling me I need to just not worry about it and go out (the reason I rarely go out is because I rarely have money). I told him to forget the trick-or-treaters and just go with me to the bar later. No can do - it was going to be an all-nighter. GRRRRRRRRRR!!!!! THAT SUCKS!!!!! I was very disappointed - I already had my costume on and everything =-(. He said he thought my other friend was going, but I told him that friend was a maybe. So I called that friend up and he said he'd show up for a little bit. Alright, at least that's something.

So my trick-or-treater friend came over and he even dressed up for the candy-handing out. I answered the door most of the time, and we got way more kids than I expected. I was dressed kind of 70's funky w/my fro wig and disco ball earrings - but I don't know what I was....one little girl asked me what I was and I said I didn't know. Anyways - various kids complimented my costume and one kid even asked if the fro was real (he was just making sure).

So at 8 p.m. almost on the dot my trick-or-treater friend departed and I headed off to meet the other friend following the directions he had given earlier (and leaving a bag tied to the door with the minimal candy I had left)....telling me to go to this one street and turn right on 21st. It should have taken me 15 minutes - it took me about 40 or more =-(. Traffic? Not at all. Several phone calls to and from both of my friends did little to speed up the pace =-(. The friend I was meeting wasn't very patient with me on the phone when I tried to tell him where I was at - and he didn't understand how I was explaining my location. I knew he didn't really want to be out that night anyways, so as every extra minute ticked away I was getting more and more depressed - worried that he'd leave as soon as I showed up. It was also a matter of someone who knew where he was at and knew I had been there before, so he couldn't understand how I couldn't find the place. So I called my midterm-studying friend instead because he is newer to the town and has a map on his fridge. He very patiently helped me out and I had to call him back a couple of times. He told me he was going to buy me a compass. Want to know what the problem was? There are evidently TWO 21st streets. TWO!!!! How in the heck was I supposed to know that =-(.

So a million years later I finally arrived at the place and I felt like crying I was so frustrated. My fun and excitement had definitely fizzled. And in the hour and a half or so that we were there - my friend and I maybe talked for 10 minutes total. I think we were both probably projecting what the other person was thinking - him thinking I was annoyed with the directions, and me thinking he was pissed I didn't follow them correctly and he had to be out way longer than he had intended. Finally at 10:30 I told him we didn't have to stay because I knew he had to work the next morning. It's not like we were talking at all. He would have friends stop by who he would chat with for a while, but he's not much of an introducer - he introduced me to one person when they were done talking. So there were lots of fun costumes all around, but I just warmed a bar stool for an hour and a half.

So Halloween was much more of a bummer than I had hoped it would be =-(. Maybe I should have just stayed at home and handed out more candy. Hopefully next year will be better. Although - it was still way better than it would have been if I had had to work.

And that brings us to today. Not much news for today I suppose, but I did work tonight and the manager they just brought in is a total all-out bitch. She sucks - BLECK!!!! I talked to a few other servers tonight and they have the same assessment. I had to put in a recook a couple times tonight because I had brought out incorrect side-dishes and she barked at me in front of another server "ARE YOU NEW?!?!" I said yes. "HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN SERVING?!?! HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN AT THIS STORE?!?!" It was so rude. She is a raving, snappy-ass bitch. And then she has the nerve to try to go sugary-sweet when you leave and she says goodbye. Screw-you psychopath! I do plan to quit in December, and believe me, if it was closer to that time I would be sharing loads and loads of choice words with her. This place is pretty negative in how they approach things with all of the employees (servers, dishwashers, cooks) and they NEVER give you all of the breaks they are supposed to. I've maybe received 5% of the breaks I am owed and then it's only because I say something. I was talking to one of the dishwashers today and he said he frequently ends up working during his half because they yell at him that the dishes aren't done and then he does more and gets chewed out for working during it. They suck.

And tonight I came home after getting off only one hour after being scheduled off (it's usually 2 or more) at 11 p.m. to find some punk-ass PT Cruiser parked in my space! BEHIND OUR HOUSE!!!!! There's no question that it is not a public space. GRRRRRRRR! So I refrained from doing what I really wanted (slashing their tires), and I wrote a note asking them not to park there again - but it's raining so I'm sure the note will get all smeared.

On a positive note (I know - I so rarely have them), my roommate was home today and baked a bunch of cupcakes, so I had one of those after I scratched off the note =-). Yay homemade cupcakes!! Now I'm going to wander off and find something else to do for the next few hours.