As the Dollar Turns

Tune in tonight for some more drama in the Family.

We all know how the Swine Flu has affected a lot of people, and how terrible the symptoms are. Apparently my boss caught it (the doctor told her 30 minutes from the time she left the store, drove there, and went into his office) that she had it and had to stay out of work for 3 days. This happened Tuesday.

Thursday while I was working I disovered the candy expiration date guide and decided to look through our candy. We had some back in 2007 that was rock hard. Gross.

We also had a little friend in the store. He looks a little like this:


I've affectionately called him Malcolm. He got into that candy I took off she shelf and had himself a snack.

When my boss got back she freaked cause there was over $1000 in old candy, and she undid what the district manager told me to do and put it back on the shelf. Mouse bite marks and everything. She said it was still good.

Oh well.

If she really wants to sell bad food to customers go for it. It isn't my problem. And if asked what I did to prevent things like this I will tell them my actions were thwarted.

Malcolm is still running the store, he has evaded all the traps we have set for him and only comes out at night when no one is there to stop his snacking.

A lot has happened this last weekend. I thought my boss was fired (due to a lot of things against her, some illegal some that just made the regional manager just angry) but she overheard something from the other store and bawled on the phone to the district manager and now she isn't.

A fellow employee wanted to know: If you knew something that would get your boss fired on the spot and didn't say anything till now, a few months later, would you get in trouble for knowing and not sharing?

On a completely random side note: I burned my finger on the curling iron today and it hurts.

Turning Things Around

Ok, so I stopped by the store Tuesday afternoon, late afternoon, to see how things with with the big boss.

He hadn't shown up yet. So I was on the lookout for him while I was there checking on my schedule. I didn't want him to see me not on the clock standing in the cashier's area. Haha red mark on my status right? I managed to make it out on time though, so no worries.

I did get my hair colored, but it is salon styled right now, so no pictures till I can get my hands on it. ^_^

My boss let me come in late today for it, she said I am her best employee because I didn't get written up when big boss came in. Apparently he came in right before close and was furious that my boss had gone home early. So since he was in a bad mood to start he didn't like anything about the store. We have to work our tails off now getting things set to code. We had things too high, end-caps not set properly, displays wrong, things in the windows we shouldn't have, and let's not even go to the backroom.

I came in Wednesday to a crying boss, I just stood there thinking, and ... you want me to do what about it? I have been working here 2 months, I have very little to do with the state of the store. I feel a little bad, but come on. She went home early the day the big boss was supposed to come in. I can only give out so much sympathy to someone who knew what was going to happen.

I worked Wednesday, and today, and that is it for this week. I don't work again till Monday, maybe. I will have to stop by Saturday and get my new schedule so I can see how things are going. My boss can't take a day off, or leave early till everything it set in its place and like big boss wants them to be. She hasn't been pleasant.

Oh well ... it couldn't be called Family Dollar without the drama right?

Quick hide the treats! Looks like the parents are back!

I find it frustrating when you don't know your work schedule for the week. I have found myself like that for a while now. I worked on Friday and to my knowledge I worked again Monday at 8am, then Tuesday at 6:30am, the rest of the week wasn't written yet. So I wrote that down and moved on with life.

This morning when I got to work I started unloading the truck, thinking of all the possible ways we could get the 1300 piece truck unloaded before big boss came to see it. While unloading boxes on the chemical wall I was chatting with a coworker about it and he said I don't have to worry. I just looked at him strangely and said "Yeah, I come in at 6 tomorrow." He looked at me strangely and asked if she had changed the schedule.

Now I was really confused. So I marched myself to the front and looked at it. She had changed it so I don't come in Tuesday at all. I will not be around for big boss to come in. I won't even be unloading the boxes, organizing, zoning, nothing.

That is a load off on me, but now I have to work over my hair appointment, which she said I can have off. So I will call, or go in tomorrow and discuss it with her. Very annoying. I wish she just left it the way it was. I don't want to go in when big boss is in there, and I really don't want to go in at 6:30 tomorrow so I will go in in the afternoon and ask her if I can switch with another worker for Friday or Saturday. Annoying.

I was waiting for a call tonight, not sure if I was going in tomorrow, I was planning on switching a day already since my other coworker doesn't want that many hours, but the call never came. So I assume the plan is still as is.

Very annoying. I can't wait until big boss is gone and we can get back to doing things wrong again.

Too Good to Pass Up

Family Dollar started their super awesome deal today. They are selling all summer clothes for $1 and $2 a set/piece. They have some short sleeve onesies for that price too.

I had to go in at 7:00am to set it up in our store. But come on, how can you pass a deal up like that? They are some cute things too. It will last till everything is sold. Sadly there are only sport jerseys for the boys, except babies onesies.

Anyway, on to boring work information. I also had to go in early today so I can learn how to open the store and order items the store needs extra of. Strange that the newest cashier is in charge isn't it? Why didn't she bring in her assistants, who don't know how to do those things?

The Literary Word

The last three days have been consumed in reading. Or listening. When Mom went to Utah to visit an old friend she sent a book home for us to read. I was a little leery because it isn't something I would have picked up at the bookstore. I even remember walking by it saying "I would never buy this, how horrible." But there I was glued to my computer chair while I hung on every word. I found myself stacking dishes next to me, unable to take a second to run them upstairs. I would wake early in the morning and listen to it as I got ready for work. Think about at work all day, and rush home to listen to more.

I was hooked.

What are these books you ask? The Hunger Games.

And the second book Catching Fire.

I listened to both in three days! Suzanne Collins has a wonderful writing style, she keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole time wondering what will happen next. Wondering who will survive.

Here is a synopsis of the first book:

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games.

You don't get one for the second, it will give away what happened at the end of the first. Just read and find out. It is better that way I promise. I plan on buying them when I have the money to do so they are really good! And now I have to wait for the third to come out ... in one year!

On another note: They ended up not firing that girl, our district manager said if she was going to be fired it would have been the 31st, not this far into the next month. But my manager is under the microscope now. Our regional manager is going to be here on the 29th, the day after truck, to see how our store looks. We are going to have to haul butt to get it all done. We usually aren't done till Thursday, 3 days after truck. I am staying a cashier, but I am being trained as a manager/assistant manager. Maybe I will get a raise.

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

So there are some scary things happening at work. $100 is missing from the deposit last month and there is talk of firing someone because of it.

Remember when I wrote that my boss was gone for a week or so? Well, while she was gone everyone was written up for doing something wrong. Our district manager snuck in the store and managed to get out the front door with 4 shopping carts and a U-boat before someone noticed her. She took them out one by one and slowly too.

Another was written up for sitting on the counter ... for 5 hours.

Another was written up for having $100 missing from her till.

I was the only one not written up. I did get a verbal, but that was both my and my assistant managers fault. We didn't check the receipt of a former employee for the price she bought her item for. I gave her back $15 too much, she returned the extra money and I was given a verbal lashing over it, but no write up.

So ...

Since we may be losing one of our workers, over the missing $100, I might be getting a promotion to assistant manager. I am not sure I really want to. I like not being in charge of the scary stuff in the store. I like just hanging back and chilling as a cashier. I will be working 40 hours a week, and have a chance to get a raise.

I look at it as growth and experience, even if I am dragging my feet into it. There is a possible chance I may even be offered a store to manage. After I gain experience that is.

Just wanted to share the might-happen news. Nothing has happened yet, but my manager said she would pick me over a promotion than my fellow cashier (who might I add has been working there longer).

We will see, I just hope they don't fire her before the whole Christmas season ... I don't know how we will do it with only 4 people running the store. No breaks for me I guess. Busy Ashley.

And on a side note: This cat Maru is the cutest thing alive - His Blog Site
Here is a video: In the Life of Maru

So my car is a little crooked ... whats wrong with that?

It all started at Heathers house ... or on the way there. Apparently there was a lonely screw in the road that felt it needed a friend in the shape of my rear passenger tire. They became bonded quite quickly and my tire felt the need to let go of its previous friend, air.

We had dinner at Heathers house Sunday and when Ty and I got back to my car the tire was flat. So we sat down in the crusty sidewalk grass and changed it out for the donut.

No worries right?

The next morning, as I prepared to take it to Les Schwab my donut was flat. So Ty called his girlfriend to come pick me and the tire up and we drove to Les Schwab to have them fix it without the car. They did so in record time, 15 minutes, and we were out the door to replace it.

In all the whole operation took 45 minutes, I am a pro at changing tires because of my friends and their flats in Idaho Falls, but I wasn't sure if I got the bolts on there tight enough, and I wasn't going to be very happy if the tire flew off while I was on the interstate so I stopped by Les Schwab during my lunch break to make sure it was right.

I waited about 10 minutes and the guy pulled me out into the garage area to show me my front tires were at the end of their life due to a bad front end alignment. He said I need it fixed as soon as possible, my tires are in bad shape.

I guess the screw was there to show me I needed to get that done before any major trips, but why oh why does it have to cost so much?

On another note, my boss is gone this week for family and work has never been better. Yeah we have to unload truck by ourselves, but we are getting it and finding it less stressful.