So, I haven't really done any updates on my personal life in a while. Let's see, since I last blogged I've gotten married, had three kids, won a Nobel Peace prize and purchased a Wii. Only one of these things is important, but I'll leave it to you to figure out.
Seriously, though, I did buy a Wii and it is a very nice piece of machinery indeed. Wii Sports is just plain fun and Zelda has me pretty muched hooked. I've also played Excite Truck which I'm not overly thrilled with (touchy controls), but this is the beginning and things will get better. Suffice to say it's one of the coolest machines I've purchased since the SNES.
I haven't really said much about work lately (save, it pretty much sucks up my entire life). Over the last few months I've expanded my horizons beyond that of normal cashiering. I can work the service desk, layaway (moot point now, more in a sec), automotive, sporting goods, electronics and something new which I will also get to in just a minute.
For anybody who hasn't read front page news, Wal-Mart has canned layaway, so I was there to see it off today. I went back at 8pm and things were pretty steady up until 9:30 (with two people back there). After the rush I spent the next 45ish minutes doing all the filing for the day. And once I escaped there was when the fun really began.
I've never mentioned it, but I've been hounding the powers that be about becoming a backup CSM (Customer Service Manager, or as I like to call them "Red coats"), but I my progress in getting anywhere close to that goal was slow at best (the biggest caveat being that I didn't pass the leadership assesment back in July when I was stupid). But, desperate times call for desperate measures and when Debbie (who I've erroneously called the "schedule lady" in the past, she's actually a support manager) found herself with next to no CSMs to keep the store going for the night made the call to get my status upgraded. Since this was an act of desperation I'm not sure how permanent it'll be, but it's a start.
Well, it seems to be 4:30 in the morning. Not sure why I get these blog urges in the middle of the night, but eh. I will now relay the words expressed by Tiny Tim: God bless me, and not you weasels :-D
Twas some days before Christmas and all through the house,
not a creature was stirring except for the dudeon his laptop.
Doesn't rhyme, but I don't care. I'm sitting here in our new living room lit up tree in front of me and a fireplace full of stockings to my right (picture coming soon). Now this in and of itself is a nice feeling but having my laptop and posting here while doing it makes the feeling cooler ;-). But anyhoo...
Christmas is is coming and we've been doing all the usual: making cookies, listening to Christmas music (even while I'm at work :-D), buying gifts, etc. I'd say that we're pretty much ready. The only bad thing is that Dad found the key to the freezer and I must go cookieless until Christmas Eve :-(.
Things in layaway have slowed down considerably. Thursday and Friday were a nightmare but since I couold count on my hands and toes how many people have come through to get stuff. Sunday night I began learning the how to operate the register and I'm pretty sure I don't want to do that (for reasons I don't want to go into again :-P). On Monday I'll be discussing my future at Wal-Mart with a manager and depending on if there's any other spots open or not I'll either be a cashier or a cart pusher. If I could do cashiering back in electronics I'd probably leap on it, otherwise I'll probably push carts (unless overnight socker is available). But anyways, it looks like I'm not even going to get laid off before coming back (I must have made a good impression).
But now I must goand make another attempt at finding the freezer key (or something :-P). Merry Christmas :-D
Ah.... I sit in the living room in a nice comfy chair as I write this. Yes.. I got my laptop out this morning. I stayed up all night to do it, but I did it and DANGif it isn't a darn nice feeling :-). I've got a bunch of junk I'm going to need to uninstall (currently there are 14 icons down on the system tray :-P). But at least I've got a processor/RAM combo that can handle a bunch of stuff :-D.
This is a bittersweet feeling, though, because today is the day that all Christmas layaway's are due out. It's probably going to be a hellacious afternoon/evening but at least I'll have something nice to come to tonight :-). That said, though, it may not be so bad because we've got an orderly system in place. From what I understand I'll come in, pick up a car with somebody's layaway, get it and bring it in. That is a far cry from going to to get 5+ layaway's at a time :-P.
But, now I must fiddle with junk. BABEE! :-D
Well, I made it through my first day working in Lawaway. Overall I think it went pretty well (except all the women's underwear I had to handle :-P). However, it'll be nice when I can go in there and know what to do instead of hanging around more seasoned coworkers and have them coach me through everything.
I just did the math and my first paycheck should be about $326.20. Figuring I get about that much every week (and those are only 25 hour work weeks, mind you) by the time Christmas is over I'll have around $1300! Enough to by myself that laptop :-D
In non-job related news, my Episode III DVD arrived today. I'm not sure if I've said it already, but I got it completely free all because I took a survey :-D. It doesn't get much sweeter than that. I'll probably watch it tonight and watch all the extras over the next few days. Ought to be a nice break from work :-).