Man, working this new job has really taken the fight out of me. I'm lucky if I stay up past 11 anymore.

Ah well, the weekend should proof to be most satisfying. No Executive Cleaners and a party for Karl.

This morning has been pretty good so far. Within two hours, I got it so I can now run Mega Man X2, X3, and X4 on my Mac, and I downloaded Obsession by Animotion, Don't You Want Me by Human League, and a bunch of DDR songs.

Geeky? Yes.

Do I care? Hell's No.

Too much programming.

Too many little problems popping up.

I think it's a good time to take a break. On the plus side, working on this website has been the bulk of my days for the past week, so I'm pretty much in heaven.

It has become apparent to me that one startling thing has come to light.

I know too many lyrics to songs by mc chris.

That is all.

The Good News: I can start working a job that offers $15 dollars an hour until I go off to college.

The Bad News: It's in sales. I go around pitching knives to people out of their houses, hoping to make a sale. Not my idea of what I want to do for a lving, but it is $15 an hour.

The Worse News: Without a car to get to the houses, I might not be able to take the job. My parents still don't seem like they want me to get a car. I'll have to argue my case and hope they won't be really stupid able it like they always are. Fingers crossed.

Man, it's taking less and less to piss me off. I don't show it, of course, but the anger's there. I don't know why. I should really just relax a bit more, I guess.

Part of the problem is my job, but that might be rectified soon. Another part of the problem is my parents. Sometimes I just want to be left alone, but they always find some (stupid) reason to nag me. Ah well. I'm sure I can avoid them for the remainder of the summer.

I'm still really pissed that they told my grandparents not to get me a car yet. Then, when I asked about how much I need for insurance (the requirement for me owning a car), Mom just gets all pissy like she always does. Well, I'm sorry to inconvenience you. I'll try to never talk to you again.

God damnit. Ah well. At least I'm getting some programming done, and that's always good. I am at a bit of a standstill, though (Apple decided that NSProgressIndicator didn't need a cell equivalent), but I'm getting through. I have to go to Manhattan tomorrow for Kansas State orientation. Ugh. A two hour car drive with my family. I'll be glad when it's over. Ah well. time for more nocturnal goings-on.

Ever since the end of school. I've still had a lot of stuff that I needed to get done, most of it college related. Luckily, it feels like I'm through most of it. It's gonna be nice being able to sleep the whole day away.

Anyway, my birthday was yesterday. Nothing really changed, though. I'm probably gonna have a get-together Friday, and I should probably prepare for that. I bet it will be like any other LAN party, except with more food, but that's cool. I always have the most fun when we're just hanging out. Well, I'm gonna see if I can actually get out and do something today.

Well, I'm graduating tomorrow and I guess I'm excited. It will be nice to have this stuff totally out of the way, finally. I still got so much to do, though, that I might as well still be in school. I've gotta totally get squared away on all my college stuff, as well as do a few other errands. As if that wasn't enough, I'm gonna have to step up my work schedule so I can buy a car and a computer before school starts. -Sigh-

I was really hoping that this summer could be a whole lot of programming and DDR, but it looks like I'm gonna be totally swamped. Maybe I'll get lucky and finish a big part of my to-do list this week, but looking at my track record, procrastination will probably set in.

Another major thing, now that I think about it, is the fact that I won't be able to see some of my friends everyday like I can now. It really hasn't set in yet, I guess, and I'm wondering what will happen when they aren't there anymore. I don't know what to expect, considering I'm not the kind to think about these things often. It's only a few friends who I'm really worried about, but they're the close ones. Oh well, I guess I gotta make the best of this summer.

P.S. Joe says I gotta confess my feelings for my one true love, like all my senior friends did last year. Heh, like that will happen.

Hit someone's taillight backing out yesterday. Waiting for a call from them. Man, I'm not liking how things are going right now, but I don't really have anyone to blame but myself.

School sucks

Work sucks

Parents suck

In the next week, I hope to rectify all that.

This week has been alright jobwise, except for when I had to stay a couple hours later than expected because of a coworker. They screwed me over again today. Her car broke down, and since everyone else is out of town, I ended up staying at work from 9 AM to 8 PM. ::sigh:: I can help but blame her. I need to blame something. At least I don't have to work tomorrow (today).

Maybe I can finally do the important stuff, like homework/college stuff. Man, I'm dreading grades. 'Til tomorrow.

School is out. Friends are in town. Everything's good.

That is, until grades come out.

I didn't think I'd be ranting about work again, but it seems things have taken a turn for the worse.

Today we had a meeting so that the district manager, the regional manager, and the store manager could bitch. Let me just say that there are worse people in the world, but there are a lot more exceptional people.

It's not that the job is difficult. It's a very easy job, once you get the hang of it. The problem lies in the fact that they want both speed and accuracy. I'm sure that will more time, I'll be able to keep up with the incoming orders and keep myself from getting backed-up. Notice I said with time. I've been here 5 weeks, and I'm sure that there are still some things that I was not told during training that I have yet to learn the hard way (another stupid thing about XXXXXX Cleaners.) I still have to learn and get a feel for the job before I reach the district manager's glorious stature. Supposedly, she can tag (process, basically) 100 bags a shift, which is all well and good, but she's worked in this establishment longer than I have, and I'm sure with her experience, I could do the same. Too bad I don't want her experience. I'm not the kind of person who takes pride in excelling at work in this type of field. No offense to the district manager (i.e. a lot of offense to the district manager), but I'd rather spent my work day doing something I like. If you enjoy this management position, well, have fun, but I'm not going to be here after the summer, and I'm not going to be able to bring myself up to that level before I have to leave.

I just feel like I'm really getting blamed when I shouldn't. I don't slack off. I work until the bins are empty. I vaccuum and sweep when I get the chance. I just don't think it's fair to expect me to be able to finishing off a full bin of clothes coming in and than a all the orders on a busy day by close within the first couple months of employment (the store manager even said she didn't get the hang of everything within the first couple months.) And the computers. God, don't get me started on those. They're usually the cause of most problems. Play Central Station had a lot better system going, though a lot less relied on them.

So, it basically boils down to me 1) Finding a new job or 2) falling back more on my programming skills. Ideally, I'd like both to happen. The more money, the better. It's just kinda sad. I'm realizing that Play Central Station was such a great job. I had it so much better there than I do at this hole.

::Sigh:: Oh well. Let's just hope for the best and a non-rant entry the next time around.

Rarely do customers get on my nerves. I've come to accept them as a part of the field. Working part-time, you have no choice but to put up while the weird people, and in reality, the customers aren't that bad more often than not. But on occasion, you get some of the more unbearable people. I don't know what it was about yesterday, but it seemed like that weird guys were out in full force.

Maybe it was just the horrendous work load or everything that's been on my mind lately, but I feel that the only thing I can do is rant.

Discounted

Currently, I work part time at XXXXXX Cleaners, a dry cleaning establishment. The work is pretty easy, but the volume of the work can get overwhelming at times, specifically Mondays, Fridays, & Saturdays. Of course, yesterday had the added bonus of several new annonyances.

When someone brings in clothes, we make up the ticket and add up the prices that day. That means that any special offers or promotions like, say, a special discount that may arise between the time you drop of your clothes and the time you pick them up won't count towards your purchase.

It seems that such a situation was unexceptable for one woman. She had brought in four sweaters, and noticed our 30% off sweater deal that arose after she dropped off her clothes. I suppose that it might have been better if the store clarified exactly when the charges are made up, and I did proceed to tell her when, but it was just not exceptable for her. As much as I won't have liked to help, I show little remorse for people who demand their discounts.

I mean, I'm hesitant about changing invoices for stuff that I really shouldn't, the grey area. I'll do it sometimes, though. However, I don't do it when the people act irate. When you think about it, you really have no right when you've already agreed to the price, though, when you look at how XXXXX Cleaners whole system is set up, you'll see that they don't really do the best job of letting you know what actually goes on behind the counter. Bottom line, don't demand. It will get you nowhere.

Butting In

I was listening to Cypress Avenue on NPR, when some eldery gentleman came in. Some country song was on, and I didn't really mind it. In fact, it was kind of a nice tune. The gentleman, though, decided he should throw his two cents in. "You should turn down that radio. People probably would appreciate that type of music." I laughed him off and watched him walk out the door. What an ass. I don't care what some people want. If the music's too loud, I'll turn it down, but I don't care if you just don't like it. To think what would happen if one of my favorites was playing :)

Suger-Coated

This is really more or less a pet peeve that can't really be helped. Customers have the right to special request. Light starch on these shirts. Heavy on these. I mean, they could be doing the laundry for two people, and that's all right. It's just that I can imagine something like this happening:

"How can I help you?"

- "Yes, I need these three shirts medium starch, these two over here need starch too, not quite heavy starch, but not quite light. These four need extra heavy. Double heavy. Saturate the things with starch. And this one needs to be sugar-coated."

::Awkward Pause::

- "Can you do, sugar-coating?"

Hilarious

Other Irritations

There are other things in the job. The occasion fool who think I hand-clean the clothes and therefore finds me responsible for any problems (I can leave a note for the manager. Otherwise, I don't know how to handle those problems. And I can't divide up orders so you only pay for what you approve of. I just can't.) There are others who let their Value Club (read: Preferred Member) memberships run out and go along their way, unaware of the rise in price. I can't speak for those who worked before me, but I at least try to leave notes for people whose memberships have expired. It's just really weird to see someone act so violently when they realize that they've been charge an extra 60 per shirt without being aware. Obviously the discount doesn't mean a great deal to them if they have to be told to notice. Of course, I can't say I enjoy the company of the obsessive receipt watchers. They always have to see the receipt and make sure all the discounts are there. It's not really that bad, except when I have a lot of clothes to tag or a lot of customers to wait on. I guess I'm just too hard to please (though it's not like the customers are there to please me anyway.)

Ah, that feels so much better. Now that I've defused some of the tension from my job, it doesn't seem like such a bad place. I just wish they'd get more people working on at the same times on the busy days. I think that's my biggest gripe of all. And the district manager. God, don't get me started on the district manager (bad first impressions, I suppose.) Alas, that will probably come up in another rant, though I'd rather avoid it.

I think I just realized how much I've been slacking off lately. I really need to get done with all my college stuff, as well as catch up in school. I've been letting a whole lot of stuff pass me by, and I really don't have a good reason for letting such happen. I'm gonna try to tie everything up this weekend.

On the plus side, the Alpach website is coming along nicely ;P.