SOMEBODY'S KNOCKING. SHOULD I LET HIM IN?

Around 10:00 this morning, Watson showed up at my front door. He announced, "I'm here for some Wii!" and proceeded to come on in.

I'm not at all used to people just dropping by, and I must admit I was taken aback that he showed up without calling first. In his defense, I have mentioned from time to time at work that he should come over sometime and play Wii with K. I never thought he'd just appear on my doorstep, but then again, that's how he rolls. I shouldn't have been surprised.

He was here for about three hours, until K had to get dressed for his soccer game. The boys played and played and had a great time. It was fun to watch them.

Ry spent the night at his grandparents' house last night. He didn't want to come home this morning, either. Being the middle child, he was probably really enjoying being the center of attention for once. While I can understand that feeling, I really missed him while he was away. When he got home, I grabbed him up in a big bear hug and was overcome with emotion. I sure do love that kid.

This afternoon I dove back into the Grocery Game, which I've been neglecting for the past few months. I am quite proud of my savings today:

Shelf price: $133
My cost after loyalty card discount and coupons: $46.55

GG'ing rocks.

THEY DID IT AGAIN!

For the second year in a row, the Houston Dynamo won the Western Conference Championship. Tonight's score was 2-0 vs. Kansas City. It was a great game, although not as good as last week's game against FC Dallas. The stadium held a record sellout crowd, but somehow we were able to get out of the parking lot much more quickly than we did last week.

More tomorrow! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO PEY

My baby hits double digits this year. Did anyone catch the plate number of the decade that just flew by?

Pey's party officially starts at 6:30 CST, although one guest is already here. The hellion from last year will be here soon, and as luck would have it, she's the only little girl who is able to spend the night tonight (three were invited). And I thought I had a headache last night.

Pey requested two cakes this year - one angel food, and one chocolate with everything (meaning chocolate chips baked in and in the frosting). I accommodated her, then realized that my daughter is having Angel Food and Devil's Food tonight. Does that mean something?

Work went well today. I worked alone in the morning, then Watson came in at noon. We got a lot done around the store - that kid's a real workhorse. The store looks good, and the afternoon just flew by. Right now, Jay is there, as are Pho and Dubya. Dubya's still in training, which is why Pho is there, and also why we have three people on the clock right now. Ugh.

Maybe I should have her re-train Jay while she's at it.

Nah.

Gary comes home from San Diego today. I will be glad to have him back in the store next week so that he can help out with some of the crazies that I got to deal with all by myself this week. Right now, though, I've got to focus on my baby girl.

Ten years, y'all. :(

PLACE HOLDER

That's what we'll call today's post, as I have a splitting headache and am heading to bed shortly.

First, a quick list:

• Today went pretty well at work, with just a couple of upset customers ... come to think of it, they probably spurred this headache.
• Tomorrow is Pey's 10th birthday, and I haven't gotten her gift yet. How does that song go? Oh yes - "There's ALLLLways toMORRRRow..."
• I started cleaning the house this morning for Pey's party, but still have a bit to do. I wish I felt better.
• New kid - we'll call him Dubya - started work this afternoon. He's got a great attitude, so I'm optimistic that his work ethic will follow.

I've got to stop there. My head feels like it's about to burst. G'nite, all.

Humpday!

I am still not sure how it got to be Wednesday already. You'd think that since I have three workdays under my belt this week, I'd have lots to say. Particularly since I work with the general public and put up with their incessant chatter/whining/griping/ praising/humming/singing whatever on a daily basis. I guess this week has been pretty uneventful so far.

I did find out that Jay has undermined the store again. He told a customer last Saturday that she could not leave her consignment items in the store "because we didn't have room." I could strangle that boy. When a customer wants to consign something, we make room.

It turns out that with a little shuffling, we would have had room. But Jay is extremely lazy and didn't want to deal with it, so there you go.

The other night I went online and checked the store's security cameras while Jay was working. I also logged in to the store's computers via www.gotomypc.com so that I could watch exactly what he was doing. He spent a solid hour on WizardWorld or somesuch, even though I called him halfway through that hour and told him I needed the back section cleaned up. He grunted "uh huh" and hung up, then proceeded to sit there and surf the Internet until closing time. He only stood up and moved a couple of boxes at that point because Gary came in unexpectedly.

Gary and I have talked at length about what to do with Jay. On the one hand, we want to fire him; on the other, the store is desperate for workers. What I want Gary to realize is that while Jay may be a semi-trained warm body to cover the store when we need him, he is also hurting the bottom line.

I hired a new kid today, and he starts tomorrow. I'm optimistic about this one, and I sure do hope he works out because Jay really, really has to go.

Hmm, looks like I had more to say than I thought.

TUUUUUESDAY... AAAAAFTERNOON

Today was a busy day at work. I'm exhausted enough to say I'm "bone-tired," and that's a whole lotta tired, y'all.

Nothing spectacular happened today. The store stayed consistently busy, though, so I spent 95% of the day on my feet. My feet and calves are jonesin' for the jacuzzi tub right about now. I'm about to get off the computer and indulge them.

Updates to follow within the next few days:

• Jay is about to be very, very fired
• Fish needs to stop dragging out her story, darnit!
• Pey will be 10 on Friday - slumber party imminent (did I learn nothing from last year?) [see post from November 10, 2006]
  

Sorry for the short post, but I'm an aching fool. I'm going to go upstairs and see if I can't change that to just "fool." heh

WHY DO I FIND IT HARD TO WRITE THE NEXT LINE?
Oh I want the truth to be saaaaiiiid...

(I love Spandau Ballet. There, I said it.)

Today was crazy-busy at work. Gary is in California on a business trip, so I got to man the shop all by my lonesome today. For the most part, it was a good, albeit hectic, day. But there was this one real character, for lack of a better word, who now holds the title for being the first customer to insult me to my face since I've become manager.

I feel so validated.

So there I was, trying to do everything, as usual, when Numbnuts waltzes in. (To paint a picture: NN is a 50ish heavyset man with glasses and a false-to-the-point-of-being-obnoxious-sunny disposition. I have never seen him before in my life; he does not know me at all.) Fourteen other people are in the store at the time (I counted), and in between simultaneously answering their questions and ringing up their purchases and trying to list a bunch of items online this morning, Pley is a very busy girl - not at all upset; just busy.

Numbnuts sashays up to the counter and says to me, "Smile! It can't be that bad!"

I did not look up from my computer screen, but smirked in his general direction. Maybe not very professional of me, but man I hate when people insist that other people smile.

NN continues to walk around the store, picking up little glass trinket boxes and plunking each of them on the counter, as if he were the only person in the store and the counter was exclusively reserved for his stuff. He picked out nine things, and with each item he brought to the counter, he continued to urge me to "Smile!" "Come on, smile!" "Aww, just a little smile?"

Cue me picking up my imaginary .22 and aiming it at his head.

At this point I'm ignoring the guy because I'm becoming angrier with each passing moment. He walked away again, this time to the end of the counter where we keep a display of glass flowers. I hear him say "Hey!" and I turn to look. He pretends to throw a glass flower at my head. When I recoiled in surprise, he said, "Oh come on, that didn't make you smile? That was funny!"

Too shocked to respond, I just ignored him.

He finally came to the counter to pay for his purchases, and I asked him if that was all. He said, "Yes, except for that smile. Can't I get just one?"

In a quiet voice but no doubt with a touch of anger, told him that one of my biggest pet peeves was when people insist other people "just smile," and that it was none of his business, and that he didn't even know me so how dare he insist I do anything.

That shut him up.

When I finished ringing up his purchases and wrapping all that damned glass, he took his bags and started to walk away. He stopped a few feet away and this exchange occurred:

NN - "You know, everyone has pet peeves."
Me - "Yes, I realize that."
NN - "One of mine is people who are blunt and rude."
Me - "Oh really. Well, you're welcome to leave now."

And he did. A lady standing next to the counter said it was all she could do not to applaud. She said she completely agreed with me and that she thought I had a lot of patience.

Of course, she didn't know I'd already fired my imaginary .22 through NN's fat head.

FOUR NOVEMBER

I have so much to say about yesterday...none of it good. It's difficult to formulate cohesive thoughts about the depressed state I was in all day.

Was it the fact that I was leaving behind the last "young" decade in my life that spurred the thoughts of intense loneliness, the feelings of agony and despair, and even the wish to end it all? Could it be as simple as turning another year older? The depths to which my mind dropped were frightening, and I am frankly amazed that I'm sitting here right now typing all this out.

I was depressed when I woke up yesterday, and as the day went on, things just got worse. The nicer my family tried to be, the sadder I got. At dinner, my husband asked me if it was just "the birthday" that was making me upset, and I burst into tears and ran from the room. I begged everyone not to take pictures of me - me, the consummate scrapbooker, didn't want a single photo to commemorate my birthday.

When it was time for me to blow out the candles on my cake, I had been crying so much that I was out of breath, and it took three tries to blow out four candles. I was sad because I knew that my wish wouldn't be granted. In the light of a new day, I am glad for that, as what I had so desperately wished for was to be...gone.

Today is a little better, but I am still weepy and cry at the drop of a hat. I do not know what is wrong with me, but hopefully tomorrow, when I'm back at work, I can gain some perspective. Either that, or I'll be so busy that I won't have time to think. I am hoping for the latter, as my thoughts of late are scaring me to death.

PLACE HOLDER

Today's my birthday. I'm thirty-ten. I don't have time to post much now, but will update later. Just didn't want to miss a day so early on in NaBloPoMo.

DAY TWO

Catchy, no?

No.

Yesterday was a very busy day. At work, I spent part of the day processing new items into the database, part of the day on the phone dealing with customers checking on how much money is in their accounts "because it's November now" (Side note: The system is updated on the SEVENTH, people! The 7th! Every month, same thing! Calling on the 1st will get you nowhere, as I explained last month - and the month before. And don't argue with me - what I'm telling you is all spelled out in the contract you signed, too.), and part of the day dealing with personnel issues.

Personnel issues...sigh.

This time, it's Jay. Jay has been employed at the store for about two weeks. He came highly recommended - honor student, teacher-praised, Eagle Scout, even. He went through a week of intense training with his peers, the assistant manager, and me. He's made a bunch of mistakes, but I'm pretty liberal with the learning curve and don't expect perfection right off the bat.

Day before yesterday (Halloween), he was supposed to be at work at 3:45. He came by the day before and said he'd be late because he got a callback for a school play. He said he'd be at work by 4:30. Well, five o'clock came and went and he didn't show up. I called his cell phone and got no answer, so I left a message. About sixty seconds later he called back and said he'd "just finished" and would be at work within 10 minutes.

He showed up 18 minutes later and I gave him two easy chores to complete before closing - organizing the large stack of empty boxes we keep stored in the back, and inputting some items into the database. I'd already coded and priced the items, so this particular chore was one of the easiest I could have given him.

Jay does not have a key to the store, so I told him to call me when he was closing and I'd come back to lock up. Then I left to get home for my kids' Halloween (much of which I was dreadfully behind on because I'd had to put in over 9 hours in the store that day thanks to Jay). The store closes at 7:00, so when I didn't hear from him by 6:50 I went ahead and drove back up there. I got there at 6:58 to find the lights off and the sign already flipped to "Closed." Jay had already balanced the till and taken out the trash, too.

I have to interject here that one of the owner's pet peeves is people closing the store early. Even a few minutes early bugs him, which I can understand because how frustrating is it to run to the store to find that they've closed up early...

I asked Jay if the evening was busy, to which he replied no, that there had only been one person in the store the whole 1.75 hours he'd worked. He set the alarm, I locked up, and we both left.

Fast forward to yesterday morning. I got to work and found that he had done absolutely nothing the night before - the boxes were still a mess, and the items I'd left to be entered were still sitting there. Even the till was not balanced correctly. Jay had had time, however, to change the radio from easy listening (which it is supposed to remain on all the time, since customers can hear it) to an urban rap station. The owner has a large sticker affixed to the radio - "Do Not Change Station" - which apparently went ignored, much like my instructions the night before.

Jay was supposed to work again yesterday afternoon, beginning at 3:45. When he hadn't shown by 4:05, I called his cell phone again. He said he'd gotten sick at school but would be at work in ten minutes (what's with the ten minutes thing, anyway?). Forty minutes later, he shows up and says he'd been throwing up. Gary immediately sent him home, but not before letting him know that he still had a responsibility to the store and must CALL if he ever can't be there.

Gary and I both doubt Jay is actually sick. But even so, he can't keep up this M.O. We depend on him, just like we do on every employee, to be there when scheduled. This is not Jay's first job, so I'm stumped as to why he thinks he can just not show up without letting anyone know.

He's under a 30-day contract - signed by both Jay and his parents - and honey, the countdown's on!

This afternoon I'm interviewing a potential new employee. If she gets hired, I'll add her to yesterday's list of players. Wish me luck!

KICKOFF!

So today is the first of November, eh? I'd like to know what the heck happened to September and October. This year has just flown, and I am not appreciating the accelerated speed at which my life is passing by.

Anyway, welcome back, NaBloPoMo. This year I shall endeavor to write wittier, more clever, and maybe even more sarcastic posts. I do not know if the latter is even possible, as I'm already pretty sarcastic, but that's why it's called an "endeavor" and not a "guarantee."

Maybe I'll start off the month with a list of the players in my life. Just to set the stage for my millions of readers. You know.

M (aka "DH") - my husband; best friend; shall I go on?
Kane - eldest son; started high school this year; loves ROTC; great kid; wants his own room
Ry - middle son; started junior high this year; incredibly smart; always ready with a joke and a laugh. Oh, and he knows Star Wars trivia better than George Lucas himself. Oh yes he does.
Pey - youngest and only daughter; in the Gifted program at school; beautiful and talented; loves to sing; wants a puppy of her own
Bailey - damn dog

Dad - actually my stepfather, but since my real father is below slime, I consider myself fortunate to be able to call this guy Dad
Jude - Dad's live-in girlfriend (they're both over 50, but that's still "girlfriend," right?); love her love her love her
Nony - younger brother; lives in Oklahoma; divorced from the best thing that ever happened to him; I love him more than pie but damn he's stupid
Tree - youngest brother; is a cop; love him to death but cannot stand his girlfriend (wish he'd taken a clue from Dad in the girlfriend department)
Clueless Beyotch - said brother's girlfiend (that's not a typo); couldn't stop running her mouth if her life depended on it; no one in the family can stand her
EMTsis - sister (one of the twins); fantastic medic; love her but we don't agree on parenting styles, and that causes drama sometimes (*I* believe in discipline and the idea that kids don't get to run things; EMTsis defers to every.single.thing her 11-year-old daughter says)
Tnk - sister (other twin); got married last weekend; is a cop; nearly killed by a drunk driver in March 2006; have more in common with her than with EMTsis, but not as close to her as I am to Jen...
Jen - best friend since we were kids; love her better than a sister
Mary - very good friend since we were kids; lost her son at age 4

Gary - store owner and my boss; friend; major co-irker
Watson - 18-year-old co-worker; super personality; love him; he says he's "part of my family now"
Zac - 17-year-old co-worker; likes soccer; semi-weird; won't be a frequent character in my blog posts
Jay - 17-year-old co-worker; loves singing and acting; may be gay; nice kid but not the best worker in the world - but he's new, so we'll see
Pho - 17-year-old "assistant manager" at the store due to her longevity (one year - working two days a week, woohoo); does NOT deserve that title; other kids at work hate her and are coming to me about it; Gary and I don't agree on what to do about her; more drama to follow, I'm sure

That's all I've got for now, as I need to get off here and get to work. Tomorrow is when the juicy stuff starts! No, really! Okay, maybe!

GOIN' TO THE CHAPEL

Let's get straight to the bullets, shall we?

• Tnk's wedding is tomorrow. Tomorrow. Ohmigosh, we're never going to be ready. So much already done; so much left to do.
• I have completed almost all the decorations for the wedding. All that's left is what we need to do to the actual location tomorrow - set the tables, start the coffee, hang sheets on the walls, etc.
• Yes, I said hang sheets on the walls. The wedding is going to be held at my neighborhood's clubhouse, and while the building is new and clean and has a lovely view, it is also ... functional. Meaning, unless we want to see bright red EXIT signs in the wedding photos, we've got to cover those walls.
• We're not allowed to use tacks or nails to cover said walls. That leaves us heavily relying on the brilliant minds at 3M. I am praying with all that I am and all that I have that those "holds 100 pounds; leaves no mark!" gummy-backed hooks will actually live up to their hype.
• My refrigerator and freezer and ice chest, even, are stuffed with wedding consumables. We've got three pans full of roast pork, eight bottles of champagne, two bottles of sparkling cider, three vats of potato salad, and two gallons of sherbet chilling as I write this. In addition, I've got five bottles of sprite, two Sam's Club-size packages of rolls, and a large bag of butter mints, not to mention the five gallons of tea I'll soon be brewing. Fortunately, my stepmom is making the green beans. Woo, dodged that bullet! [eyeroll]
  
• That's just part of the food.
• Oh, we're also doing the music. DH actually needs the computer right now in order to burn the ceremony CD and the reception CD. Uh oh.
  
• My guest room overfloweth with wedding flowers and other decor. I have an eight-foot arch and two three-feet-tall urns, all complete with greenery, three bouquets, six boutonnieres, a guest book (that I made myself) and pen, forty punch cups and two punch bowls, forty champagne flutes, a dozen vases with flowers, and too much more to mention, really.
• I am running completely on adrenaline right now. My job keeps me "on" and on my feet for 10 hours a day lately; my family needs me before and after work; my sister needs me to help with ... well, everything; and I have zero time for myself. Sadly, I'm at the point where I literally want to start crying when someone asks me to do something.
• What I need right now is a big bed, TIME, and no one around to wake me or ask me for anything.
• I am looking forward to tomorrow, though. We have to be at the clubhouse to begin decorating at 9:00 a.m. We'll take a break sometime in order to come home and get dressed. Then the wedding is at 4:00. This will mark the sixth day in a row (seventh, practically) that I've been on my feet from sunup to sundown, and tomorrow I get to do half of it in heels!
• To Do List Before Bed Tonight: My eyebrows need to be plucked, my nails need to be done, and my hair needs to be washed.
• Whew, I feel myself about to cry again. I need some rest. Maybe after tomorrow.

Keep us in your prayers, send good wishes to Tnk & D, and have a good weekend. And thanks! :)

WARMIN' UP FOR NaBloPoMo

Much has happened of late, but alas, I have been remiss in blogging about it. Stupid of me, as I consider this blog my life journal.

So in typical Me fashion, let's get to the bullets.

• DH is in southern California again on another driving business trip. I went on the last trip with him, and I do not envy what he has to do while on them. First you sit down in the car. Then you drive, park, write, drive, park, write, lather, rinse, repeat. Occasionally you step out of the car to grab fast food, but the vast majority of the trip is spent sitting on your rear, and that quickly gets tiring. And painful, believe it or not - I actually came home sore from the last trip.
• I've been promoted to manager of the store. Go me. It included no pay raise and only a slight shift in responsibilities. However, all the teenagers who work there immediately stopped talking to me. Instead, they've mysteriously bonded with each other (guess I'm the focus of their negativity now) and are apparently telling each other that I'm a bitch! Score!
• I just remembered that I actually did hate high school. It's all bullshit.

Oops, time got away from me - I have to get Pey to school now. More later!

DRIVERS: PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, PAY ATTENTION

This is just happening too damned often: http://chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5178185.html

Jason worked at the same precinct as my sister, Tnk. Jason's brother Ty, mentioned near the end of the article, is Tnk's fiance's best friend.

We're all very saddened by this, particularly since Tnk's accident last year could very easily have ended up the same way. We are so blessed that she survived, yet can't help but feel extreme sadness at the realization that we could just have easily have had to bury her as to help her recuperate.

Jason's family will not have that choice.

Please pray for the family and friends of this dear man, and also for Tnk. She is struggling with feelings of guilt for having survived her accident. No one can really explain it, but at the same time, her feelings are understandable.

Thanks. Again. And please - hang up and drive.

AS THE TILL BALANCES

Fish, the till did balance - once I got there and adjusted it, that is. The new girl had paid out about $30 that she did not notate, so I just had to put that under Expenditures and Voila! Balance was restored.

Last night we went to hubby's sister's house so that the kids could play Halo 3 with my brother-in-law's XBox 360. They had a blast. That said, however, I absolutely refuse to get a 360 - the kids just bought a Wii this week (with their own money ... wow), and that brings our game system total up to around forty-seven. Let's see, we have the original Atari, two Nintendos, a Nintendo 64, a GameCube, an XBox (sans the 360), and now the Wii. Pey has a GameBoy Advance, Ry has a Nintendo DS, and Kane has both the GBA and the DS. If you toss in all the PC games we have, well, it gets kinda pathetic.

We do actually get out of the house sometimes, I promise.

Today has been fairly uneventful - among the five of us, at least one went to the grocery store and Office Depot, and did lawn mowing and tree planting and laundry. We also went out to lunch (Mexican food!) at Los Compadres - yummy, but gawd am I ever full. Bleh.

Tomorrow is back to the grind for all of us - hubby and me back to work; kids back to school. Next weekend should be doubly-good: it's a three-day weekend, and Saturday marks seventeen years that dh and I have been married. We've got some big plans which include an overnight at the beach while the kids spend the night at the grandparents' house. Heh, I can't wait... ;>

FRIDAY

Today hubby took the day off and stayed home playing video games this morning while I went to work. I know that sounds weird, but the truth is that we both really enjoyed it. I liked the feeling that he was just a couple of minutes away, and he liked...well, not being at work.

I came home early and we went out to lunch at a local place called Puffabelly's. They have good burgers and very good chicken fried steak. I got the burger and was only able to eat about half of it. It was huge.

After that, our car was blocked in by an 18-wheeler, so we couldn't leave. No biggie; we went for a walk around Old Town Spring, where I got a mint chocolate chip milkshake. I've never had one before, and it was delicious.

I got two phone calls from work while I was out to lunch. The new girl we hired has been "in training" all week, yet she seems to lack the ability to complete even the simplest of tasks. I'm going to go back to the store this evening and check her work. I suspect the cash register till will be quite a bit off.

Anyway, overall it's been a good day. Fridays usually are.

DIDN'T MEAN TO OMIT ANYONE

In my last post, I thanked, by name, the people who'd commented on my Appearances post. I just wanted to add here that I am also deeply attached to several other online friends, including but not limited to:

• EvilAmy, who sent me flowers last year when I was on the verge of a breakdown. She may have saved me with that gesture, and I'm betting she doesn't even know it.
• Fish, who I met at a Steve Burns concert and instantly connected with. I'll always treasure the memory of her calling me at 6:00 a.m. to pray for Kane when he had surgery last year.
• Katie, who has no idea how much I admire her - not only for her strength in raising a large family, but also for her raw honesty. Knowing I'm not the only mom who sometimes just wants to be left the hell alone is strangely comforting.
• Shelly, who I really REALLY wanted to meet when I was in SoCal, and who has always been very supportive of me, no matter how whack I got.

I know I'm forgetting someone, and I apologize in advance. Just know that you all mean the world to me, and I love you more than muffins.

YOU GUYS ROCK

You know, I've had some good friends in my life. I've even had great ones - tell-all-your-secrets-to, commiserate-with, closer-than-sisters great. But I must say that I never thought I'd feel that way about people I've never met.

Yesterday was a very hard day for me, and all of you were right there when I needed you. So to Robin, Pez, Kim, and Beth, I say this:

Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

My world is a better place with you in it, and I love you all.

And hubby, for all you've done for me and for all the support you gave me yesterday through my umpteen desperate phone calls, I also thank you. You're my rock, and I can't imagine life without you.

APPEARANCES

Why do all the hairdressers I've ever met feel the need to comment on everyone's appearance? And what makes them think that their clients want to hear negative things about themselves? Because I've never once heard one of them say "oh, nice highlights!" or "what a pretty color your hair is!" Or anything positive for that matter.

My 11-year-old son, Ry, has beautiful light green eyes and jet black hair. He also has patches of gray hair on his head. He is not self-conscious about it right now, but puberty is approaching and I know that he probably will be sometime soon. You'd think that someone meeting a preteen with any kind of obvious physical issue would not speak of it. I mean, WHY bring it up? Because basically what you're doing is saying, "Hey, look how not normal you are!"

This happens to Ry every.single.time we take him for a haircut. And it's done L-O-U-D-L-Y.

Today it was my turn.

One of the store's "regulars" came in today. She is a hairdresser. She is also a pain in the ass, because she thinks she's the only customer in the world and we should bend all the rules for her. But I digress.

Let me paint a picture: I'm standing at the cash register. One of my co-workers is standing at the end of the counter. My boss is to my left. Three other customers are in line around the counter. This is the moment this person chooses to ask me what kind of shampoo I use. Thinking, wow, I am having a good hair day! (I thought I was), I answer "Pantene." She says, "I have this forty-dollar bottle of shampoo I can sell to you because I see that you're losing your hair. It's really falling out, isn't it?"

I was shocked into silence.

She kept on talking, and I finally looked her in the eye and said, "Stop. Stop it. Stop talking right now." She finally did shut up, paid for her purchases, and left.

I checked out the rest of the customers with a pasted-on smile on my face, and when they all left, I broke down and cried.

How dare she - or anyone - point out something like that in a crowded store? I don't think I've ever been so humiliated. My mother had thin hair, so I may have a predisposition for it. I didn't think it was all that bad, but now, of course, I'm upset and freaking out. I feel like everyone's looking at me and thinking the same thing.

Damn, sometimes I hate people.

SEVEN AND A HALF HOURS

On my feet today. It's not a record - that currently stands at 11.45 hours - but it's long enough. I listed only one thing on eBay, then spent the rest of the day managing the shop. I do enjoy my job; I really do. I am just so wiped at the end of the day that all I want to do is come home, take a bath, and go to bed. I'm exhausted.

But it's a "good" exhaustion, you know? I mean, I like being productive and making sales and meeting new people and even dealing with irritated customers. In fact, I think I may actually be pretty good at dealing with grouches - I've noticed lately that the madder they get, the calmer I get. That is totally not my personality, LOL, so I don't know what's going on, but I am thankful for it.

Today I had the following going on at one time:

• One annoyed customer on the phone
• One annoyed customer near the register
• Me trying to ring up another customer's items
  
• A child pulling over a large mirror
• Three customers trying to get my attention for "just one quick question"
  

(Truly, the latter are the most annoying of all. Dammit, wait your turn like everyone else!)

Somehow I handled it all. All by myself. And without losing my cool. I'm kinda proud of that.

In other news, Ry's bus came ten minutes early this morning. Naturally he was not out yet, so he missed it. I swear, I think I have bus driver issues EVERY year. I'm just waiting for the fun day when I get to deal with the bitches in the front office.

Dang, thinking about them killed my good mood. I think I'll go soak my feet now and revel in the warm bubbly water.

Toodles!