Bad Economics

There's all this stuff going on that I see on the news, but I'm not really paying attention. Like the price of gasoline is going up and is now about $4 a gallon and might get to be $5 a gallon. I can't do anything about that, and off the top of my head I can't really say how much that will cost me. Other people have a better grasp of this, like they now spend $60 a week on gas just going to work and school and normal errands and such, while they were spending $45 a week when gas was $3 a gallon, but a bit before that they were only spending $30 a week when gas was $2 a gallon. Or maybe they don't live near work and they spend a lot more than that. And maybe now they take the bus to work, or if they have a Monday thru Friday 9-5 job maybe they're petitioning the company they work for to switch to a four day work week. Or maybe to make up for the extra money they have to spend on gas they've stopped ordering pizza and stopped going to movies or didn't buy the new TV that won't need the converter box next February, etc....

I don't really have any solid plans, so I can't say anything as concrete as all that. All I can say for sure is that the more expensive gas is annoying, and I'll just have to see how it goes from there. I guess the main thing that worries me is that I'll eventually have to settle for taking some job I'd earlier decided wasn't really worth my time, and then after I take the job and work for a few weeks I'll decide to quit because I really end up working for just about nothing. Like if a while back it would have cost me $30 a week to drive to a certain place and it would now cost me $6o dollars a week to drive to that same area, I couldn't take anything with only part-time hours like that Halloween job. That was $8 per hour then, which added up to about $160 most weeks, but then there was taxes and such taken out, and if I'd spent $60 dollars on gas instead of $30 that's just not worth it even if it was a bit of fun sometimes and came with free haunted house tickets.

The other stuff on the news is even more vague. Banks are closing. I don't think that mine is closing, but I suppose that eventually it could. Still, unless I win the lottery I won't have anywhere near $100,000 in the bank, so I shouldn't be out anything even if that does happen. And then there's the whole bit about mortgages and people not being able to pay them and companies that deal with that sort of thing closing. I don't own a house or pay a mortgage, and most of my relatives who do own houses don't owe anything on them. So that wouldn't directly hurt me or most of my family. But I'm afraid in the big picture it will end up being bad for me somehow, and I cannot possibly try to calculate any of that.

I vaguely wonder if things will be really bad. Would things be bad enough that those of us without much money should start growing our own food? I mean, I like gardening, but I more like just the idea of gardening. I don't think that I'd be very happy if I really had to live off of this stuff. Growing a lot of stuff would be a lot of work. And the bees really are disappearing. I don't think that I have seen one all summer.

So I can't really deal with any of that, and nothing is to be gained by actually worrying a lot about it. I'm just watching the news now and then with vague interest, and half-seriously thinking that if I had a bigger garden there would be less grass to cut.

Just regular day to day stuff is much easier to figure out. We're doing it wrong.

I've been thinking that I shouldn't take a regular ceramics class at college this fall, though I would like to take the non-credit throwing class if we get enough people to make a class. I've been thinking that I have several hobbies, and taking a break from this particular one would save money and gas and such. And if I'm not in a regular college class being totally obsessed with clay, I might feel up to getting some yard work done or I might think about getting a job, even if it is some dumb job that doesn't pay enough etc.... And if I find that I get too bored, I'd still have the knitting to keep me busy.

So I've found that I tend to buy a lot of yarn when it is on sale, so that I'll have it later when it isn't on sale, or even much later when that particular kind is no longer available at my local craft store. Which doesn't mean that I always know what I'm going to do with the yarn, just that at the time it seemed to be a really good deal, so I bought some.

So now I have boxes of yarn that I don't really know what to do with.

Last week I spent forty dollars on yarn that I found on clearance. So I felt I needed to buy it because a.) it was a good deal, and b.) since it was on clearance I wouldn't be able to buy those colors after it was sold out. But unlike my usual yarn spending sprees, I actually had a plan for this particular yarn. I'm not sure that I will end up doing this particular project, since it would require buying a lot of additional non-clearance sale color of yarn, but I have wanted this for about two years now and when I found two of the colors on sale I just had to have them. So I bought all of the one color that was at the store, went to another store and bought all that they had, plus bought an equal amount of the other sale color. At the checkout I noticed a coupon that was only good on Sunday from 4pm-8pm, and I was told that it would also be good for clearance items. But I didn't want to chance that the yarn I wanted wouldn't still be there on Sunday, so I went ahead and made my purchase. After taking the yarn home and adding things up, I figured out that I would still need just a little bit more of one of the yarn colors if I ever did start that project. So I thought I might as well go back to the store on Sunday and use this coupon.

Now on Sunday we went to see the Batman movie, which was at a theater that was nowhere near the craft store. After seeing a movie at this particular theater, we usually have a slice of pizza and a soda at the place outside the theater, and that costs another seven dollars, which is not a bad price for lunch or dinner. But after the movie was over, my husband decided he didn't especially want pizza, so he thought we should look for something else that was near the craft store. So we went to the craft store, and I bought four more skeins of the color yarn that I "needed" and then four more of a different color just in case I might want it later, and then I noticed that some other yarn in the color Sunflower was on clearance so I bought the two skeins they had left in that. Then I looked at all kinds of other stuff but ended up not getting anything else that I didn't "need". So while I'm proud of myself for not getting this other stuff that I didn't "need", I only ended up getting about twenty dollars worth of stuff and the coupon only saved me about five dollars. If I had put the other yarn back earlier that week and it had still been here on Sunday, I would have saved like another eight dollars, but I'm glad that I didn't do that because I "needed" that yarn and with my luck the orange would not have been there in Sunday. So I don't regret that, and I don't regret making the trip to use the coupon that only saved me five dollars. That's still a good deal, and that's about what I usually save with the coupons, unless I'm buying something expensive like a knitting machine.

What was not a good deal was afterwards spending $17 to eat at Chaps when I would have been just as happy eating pizza that costs $7. Let's see, $17 to eat at Chaps verses $7 to eat pizza is an extra $10, minus the $5 I saved buying the yarn with the coupon equals we spent an extra $5. So that didn't work out at all. But I guess the point was more that he really didn't want the pizza and he did want to go to Chaps.

Still, if I'm thinking that things are maybe going to be bad, I should start thinking different things entirely, like I don't "need" any yarn at all no matter what a good deal it is or what I might intend to make with it, and I don't "need" either a pizza or Chaps. But without more solid proof that things will get bad, I still "needed" to see the Batman movie.

Monday Morons--Don't tell my kid what to do

Well, we're a bit ticked off over something that happened at my husband's job last week.

My husband is a portrait photographer. He works for one of those companies that does traveling sales. Someone calls you in to be in a club directory or a church directory, and while you're there getting your picture taken for the directory, they take more pictures and try to sell them to you. And then there's a similar thing set up in grocery stores and such. Someone sells you a coupon good for a low cost 8x10, but then they try to sell you a bunch of other pictures and frames and such. The photographer is only at the one place for about a week, maybe less, and then he packs up the equipment and goes someplace else.

So that's my husbands job. He spends all day taking pictures of people who have been lured in by some gimmick. A bunch of them then get mad when they realize they have to listen to some sales pitch. They are just here for the directory or the free picture or the low cost thing that they bought, and they don't want anything else and they don't want to talk to the salesperson. Some of them won't even cooperate with the photographer.

At first I just thought it was awful how these companies got people to come in and have their picture taken like this. Before my husband got one of these jobs, I went to a couple of places like this, just to buy the special. I hated the whole sales thing that followed. But, if no one bought anything other than the special, they couldn't stay in business. So no matter how many times or how many different ways you say that you don't want to buy anything else, you still have to listen to a sales pitch. Personally, I would rather that they be more honest and tell you up front how much pictures cost and how much they expect you to buy instead of getting you to come in for some other reason. I'd just decide not to waste my time or theirs and not have my picture taken. But for some reason, no one in this business wants to do that.

After my husband had the job for a while, and I took a job as a salesperson, I started to lose patience with the customers. I quit feeling sorry for them that they'd been tricked into getting their picture taken "just for the directory" or whatever. Sure, the first couple of times you fall for it, but after that you should know what is going on, and if you don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on portraits, don't waste everyone's time.

So it amazes me when someone who should have been around enough to know what is going on is surprised when someone wants to spend an hour trying to get him to buy all this stuff when all he came in for was to get a free 8x10. Did you think that people actually get paid to give you free 8x10s? But what really ticks me off is the guy who knows what is going on, who knows that people don't get paid just to put his picture in the directory, and he comes in anyway and complains about everything. And then sometimes he has the nerve to say that we're lucky that he didn't just stay home.

No, we're not lucky that you didn't just stay home. We would have been lucky if you'd been in a serious car wreck on the way over so you didn't just mess up our sales average and cost us money. You're not required to buy anything. If you really don't like those pictures for some reason, maybe we can retake them. But if you know ahead of time that you don't want to buy anything, stay home. Better yet, don't make an appointment in the first place.

So there are these idiots who come in, who are already in a bad mood cause they don't want to buy any pictures, and they won't cooperate. They waste a lot of time cause they won't do what you tell them to. They won't fill out the paperwork correctly and they won't do what the photographer tells them to do. Really, filling out the paperwork should just take a few minutes and getting the actual pictures taken should only take ten minutes, unless you have a big group or are handicapped or something. And then the sales pitch takes an average of thirty minutes or so, but it really depends on the salesperson and how much you want to buy and how many people are in front of you. And yes, if you're sure you're not going to buy anything, it would be polite to mention that both to the photographer and to the salesperson, but don't keep saying it over and over again, and don't assume that you're done and jump up and leave. Someone will have to go and find you cause you didn't finish your set or you didn't fill out some form, and the people in line behind you will just have to wait longer while you act like a two year old.

So this last week my husband had a customer who came in with an attitude, cause he didn't like something that happened last time. Whatever. If you know what's going on and you don't want it to be "just like last time" then why do you come in and do it again? So the guy is already in a bad mood, and my husband just wants to get on with it so everyone can be rid of the guy.

So the guy comes in with his wife and kids, and my husband has to think for a minute on how they should be arranged for the photo. Then he moves a stool in front of the background and says "Okay, sir, have a seat right here on the stool and we'll get started."

So one of the kids runs over and sits on the stool. Kids do that. Once in a while, it's just that the kid has made a mistake and really thought he was the "sir" being asked to sit down. But mostly, it's just that the kid thinks he's being funny. After the first few hundred times, it's not funny, but you act like it is anyway.

"No, not you, get up. Okay, sir, have a seat right here."

And the kid laughs and gets up.

The dad isn't laughing.

"What did you just say?"

Okay, the dad is either really slow, or maybe he just has a hearing problem.

"Sir, just have a seat right here."

"No, before that, what did you say? Did you just tell my kid not to sit there?"

"We'll get to him in a minute. We need to get you and your wife seated first."

"You don't tell my kid what to do. I'm his father and I tell him what to do. If you have something to say, you don't talk to my kid, you talk to me. Don't tell my kid what to do."

Portrait photographers cannot take pictures without telling people what to do. Sit here, stand on this piece of tape, move a little to your left, tilt your head a bit more to your right, etc.... Some people get their left and right confused, and some people just don't get it and you physically have to move them however they are supposed to be or you will get a really bad picture or maybe even cut someone out of the picture.

But it's rare to have a grown up come in and say, "You can't tell me what to do." And it's rarer still to have to deal with anyone stupid enough to say this sort of crap in front of his kids. I have gotten into it a few times with people who are complete idiots, but most people do not try to tell me that I have to stop doing whatever I'm supposed to be doing at my job because I'm not allowed to talk to their kids.

There are some people who get upset when just someone walking by tells their kids to stop yelling, stop running, don't use language like that, wait your turn, etc.... "Don't talk to my kids that way" and "That's none of your business" and "You can't talk to my kid" and "If you have a problem with someone my kid is doing then you need to tell me about it first" etc.... Fine, it's your job to correct your kids, but why aren't you doing your job? If the kid is clearly doing something wrong and you don't do something about it, someone else is going to say something. It's really strange to me that the parent is bothered more by this supposed breach of etiquette than by the fact that their kid did something wrong.

But you don't get to go through this "Don't speak to my child" nonsense when the people talking to the child are just doing their jobs. Lots of people have to tell people what to do as part of their jobs, and a lot of these people have to deal with children while they're doing their jobs. Teachers, librarians, doctors, nurses, dentists, cops, mall security guards, crossing guards, etc.... They're all going to tell your kids what to do. And unless the kid is deaf or doesn't speak English and literally needs you to translate something, they're not going to go through you first.

Even that dumb job at the Halloween store required me to tell people what to do. "The line starts over there", "Don't touch the display", "Don't open the packages", "You can't try on costumes out here, but there's a dressing room over there", "No, you are not allowed to try on nylons or slips or anything else that is considered undergarments", "No, there are no refunds past this date", "Children are not allowed in this area", "This area is only for employees", etc.... I told people stuff like that all the time. If I saw a kid doing something he wasn't supposed to do, I told him not to do it anymore. I usually didn't go looking for his parents to tell them instead. If I went looking for someone's parent, it's because I'd had to tell the same kid something more than once. In that case, both the kid and the parent were usually idiots. If the parent had any sense to begin with, the kid probably wouldn't be acting that way in the first place, and parents with sense usually don't allow their kids to wander about unsupervised, especially in a store that has "adult" stuff that the kid shouldn't be looking at anyway.

Anyway, back to the idiots my husband had to deal with last week.

So my husband is just not having much luck with the guy. He won't do anything he is supposed to do, and he keeps going on about "this is just like last time." I don't know what happened last time, but if someone got you to come in and have your picture taken for a directory, fill out some forms, told where to stand or where to sit so that someone could take your picture, and then someone tried to get you to buy those pictures, then, yes, it was probably very much like last time. And you knew that before you came in, so get over it already.

There are rare idiots who actually try to pose the pictures themselves. Unless that person is a portrait photographer himself, the pictures usually look bad. And if the person was a portrait photographer,he should take pictures with his own camera and not come here. If you come here you have to stand where you're told. That's not the same as asking for particular groupings or particular poses. If you have an idea of something in particular that you'd like to buy it's usually okay to make suggestions or even ask for extra poses, but you shouldn't try to arrange the people in the picture yourself.

Sometimes my husband will stand back and let the idiots try to arrange themselves and just take a bad picture rather than deal with them anymore.

So he finally says "Dad sit here, and mom sit here, and kids stand whatever dad tells you to."

The guy said that he didn't have to take that and they walked out.

Well, that happens sometimes. But then the guy wouldn't actually leave. He stayed in the waiting room for about an hour complaining to everyone. So all the people who are waiting to have their pictures taken get upset thinking that the photographer is deliberately taking bad pictures or mistreating kids or whatever. And one of the salespeople gets upset cause she can't sell any pictures while she's trying to talk over this idiot yelling about "this is the same as last time" or whatever.

My husband takes pictures of four more groups, and the guy is still out there. He won't go home because they got all dressed up for nothing. They came here to get pictures taken, so they should get pictures taken. But my husband is the only photographer, and if he won't cooperate with the photographer, he can't have his picture taken.

So the guy finally calms down and he apologizes and my husband apologizes and everything seems okay. And my husband takes some pictures and gives the disk to one of the salespeople.

Apparently mom is also an idiot. After all of that work to get the pictures taken, she won't sit where she is told, and she turns in such a way that she cannot see the computer screen to view the pictures. Whatever.

My husband goes home for the day and calls one of his bosses and tells him the whole story with five part harmony and all that. And the boss tries to calm him down a bit and doesn't want him to quit and assures him that everything is going to be okay. So my husband just wants to know if he's still on the schedule for the rest of the week and is he still supposed to work at that same place the next week like originally planned. And the boss says yes and that everything is going to be fine.

So we think that everything is going back to normal. The next day we are going to meet one of the salespeople for lunch and a place not to far from where they are working. So we left the house about 11:30 to go meet the guy. The guy tells me about how the idiot customer was bothering everyone in the waiting room and how his wife sat in her chair sideways so that she couldn't see the pictures. And then he told me about the other salesperson not helping the situation. The other salesperson is a.) not very bright, b.) not very popular with other employees, c.) not making a lot of money is general, and d.) making very little money at all at this particular place. She seems to think that it was somehow my husband's fault. The other salesperson assured me that wasn't the case, and that he's doing just fine while working with my husband. But the other salesperson kept complaining about how my husband is ruining her sales for the week. The whole building heard her complaining about it. The whole building also heard her say how she needed to hurry and get out of there so she could go to the liquor store.

So we all had a good laugh over lunch. Then I left to run some errands, and my husband and the salesman went to Starbucks on the way to work.

A few hours later, my husband comes home. Apparently, at 11:35 my husband's boss called to say that my husband shouldn't go to work at that place for the rest of the week. But we had just left for lunch and did not get the message. Apparently, the idiot got home and decided that he really had been mistreated and went back to the place after my husband had left so he could complain some more. So he was told who to talk to about this complaint, and he made phone calls, and someone else made some phone calls, and it was decided that my husband shouldn't finish the week at this place, and that my husband should be rescheduled to work someplace else the next week. Otherwise this idiot will not go away and no one will get any work done.

What especially sucks about this is that my husband was taken off the schedule for two days, so that's two days that he isn't getting paid anything. But he really didn't have those two days off. Friday he wasted about three hours going to the place and talking to his replacement for about an hour and then driving back home. On Saturday he had to waste another three hours driving back to the place and packing up the equipment and then driving back home.

I did not win the lottery last night

Nor did I win the night before. This is becoming a pattern. So, at some point, I should think about getting a job.

Okay, thinking about getting a job is about as far as I get.

But I hope to finish with the floor before art class starts, and I should start looking for a job then. I have already blogged a lot about jobs that I have had and mostly didn't like.

http://insidioustruth.blogspot.com/2007/02/jobs-i-didnt-like-part-i.html
http://insidioustruth.blogspot.com/2007/02/jobs-that-i-didnt-like-part-2.html
http://insidioustruth.blogspot.com/2007/02/jobs-i-didnt-like-part-3.html
http://insidioustruth.blogspot.com/2007/02/jobs-that-i-didnt-like-part-4.html
http://insidioustruth.blogspot.com/2007/02/international-wildlife-park.html

But basically what it amounts to is that between going to school and trying to work around my husband's weird schedules, I have spent a lot of time either unemployed or doing jobs that are mostly done by students and pay very little. Usually, they just aren't worth doing, unless there is a reason other than money.

Like the Halloween store. The first year I made about a thousand dollars, minus taxes and such, and after I spent money on gas and such there didn't seem to be much left. The second year, I started the job sooner, but I took a week off, and I only made about seven hundred. Anyway, I'm trying to find out what schedule I could work, just in case they call. But since my old manager probably won't be working this year, I don't think I'd want to work there either. I have no intention of filling out an application. I'm just trying to think of what to say if they call, which they probably won't.

The only job I had that actually paid enough money to pay the bills was the traveling sales job that I did with my husband. I won't be doing that job again. Being in sales just made me feel evil. And the traveling bit is out of the question now. I only did that cause my husband already had the job, and I really didn't want to do it even then. I wouldn't take a traveling job by myself. And you just can't have a life and a traveling job at the same time. Even when you are home you miss stuff, because people forgot to tell you that while you're in town you should come with us and do this and that. Everyone else already knew about it, because they heard about it at the last thing, but you weren't at the last thing because you were out of town.

The main job that I have wanted is to work at a library. I did work at a library one summer, but that was just as a page and you don't make any money as a page. But I took it cause I was under the impression that it would lead to being a clerk within a few months. Wrong. Anyway, I would like to work at the library at school, and I imply for the job every time there's an opening, just in case. I apply at other libraries too, but I wouldn't like them as much because there is more weekend work. But the other libraries never call anyway because they usually want someone who is bilingual.

I have really had it with the bilingual crap, but that's another story.

So basically I am trying to think of anything else I could get a job doing that would pay the bills. And while I am waiting for one of those jobs to come along, should I get some other kind of job? It is just that getting another job like the ones I've had in the past would probably not be worth it for the money, and then it would prevent me from doing all the little things that make me happy. I'd probably have to give up most of the stuff I do with the club, and it's unlikely that I'd be able to go out of town with my husband. Not that he gets to go anywhere interesting that often, but it's nice to go out of town once in a while. And if he did get to go anywhere interesting it would probably be on short notice, which would make it even harder for me to get time off from whatever I'm doing.

He has asked to go to Kansas City next month if anything comes up. We love Kansas City in the fall.
http://insidioustruth.blogspot.com/2006/10/cool-stuff-in-kansas-city-this-time-of.html I can't be expected to miss that just so I can ask if you want fries with that.

Monday Morons--Liars

I hardly know where to begin.

I just don't get it. I don't understand why people lie so much. It usually hurts someone, and it makes things so complicated.

Lies are not something that I deal with very well. I have trouble even with the little white lies that keep people from feeling bad about their new haircut or the clothes that make them look fat. I think that I am a bit better at the lies we tell around someone's birthday or Christmas and such to hide surprises, but I suppose I could do without them as well. If I could give up all the nice surprises in return for never having to deal with lies, that would be a good deal.

I can understand why a person might lie to get out of a difficult situation, if the person lying thought that the lie wouldn't hurt anyone else. It's still wrong, but at least I can understand what might make a person do that. But I think that a lot of those difficult situations could have be avoided to begin with, and a little common sense before would have been better than a lie after.

And then there's people who are so convinced that they are going to get something out of lying that they don't care that someone else is going to get hurt, so they go ahead and lie. So that's just evil, and I don't see how those people live with themselves. But I didn't think that I had to deal with people like that very often.

Turns out that I'm having to deal with that sort of thing a lot. People aren't just lying in a few situations when they can't figure out anything else; lying is their whole way of life. They just lie on autopilot, and for no reason.

Some times it's just dumb stuff. Sometimes they're new in town and they have to convince everyone that they had a lot of friends where they used to live, or they had a lot of dates in high school, or whatever. I don't know why someone would feel the need to lie about that sort of thing, but usually no one gets hurt, except maybe the people telling the lies. But in the past few years I've had to deal with people who lie about all kinds of important things, knowing full well that someone else is going to have to deal with the lie. People lie about stuff at work, and people lie about relationships, and people lie about health issues, and people lie about money, and for some reason people just tell lies about other people.

I've had mechanics and other repair people lie about when they could fix something and such. And it totally makes no sense, because if the repairs are not going to be done at a certain time or for a certain price, I can't hire you. I've had bosses lie to me about when I'd be expected to work or what kind of work I'd be expected to do. And if you hire me to do a job and then expect me to work at a time I'm not available or for a job that I'm trained for, I can't do the work and you'll just end up having to get someone else anyway, so why not get someone else to start with. And I've had co-workers say that they would switch shifts with me, and then I've made plans accordingly and then they change their minds and don't want to switch shifts and I have to find someone else or change my plans again.

And I'm not even going to go into the other stuff people have lied to me about. Some of it is painful to think about. And it would take too long anyway.

What's really odd now is that I'm having to deal with people that I know have lied to me in the past. And the lies caused all kinds of damage and didn't do them any good either. But okay, we all know you lied, and now I'm going to ask you something and don't lie and make it worse. It's bad enough that you lied the first time, but we're trying to do damage control here, so don't lie again. And lying won't do you any good anyway. Telling the truth might help someone. And in any case, if you lie, in a week or two we'll all know that you lied, so there's really no point in it anyway.

So of course the person lied again. And the really weird thing is that the person not only lied about the question, the person also repeated a bunch of lies that were already known to be lies. I already caught you lying about that, and I didn't even ask you about that, so why would you say that?

According to my religious beliefs, that person will be punished in time. But it just seems like something should be done to this person in the here and now. More people will get hurt. I'm pretty sure that more people are being hurt at this very moment, but I do not know these people personally, and I can't imagine how I would get in contact with them. And I wonder that people who know this person don't just warn everyone that no matter how concerned this person sounds, the person is lying about something very important. It's a small comfort to people that have been hurt by lies that the liar will eventually be punished.


On a not so serious note, I am trying to decide what to tell the people at the Halloween store, just in case they call next month. I do not think they will call, but they might, and I want to have an answer for them before they do.

So let me back up and say a bit about working at the Halloween store. Many years ago I got a job at a theater in a mall, and one day while I was in this mall with a co-worker we noticed this temporary store that sold Halloween stuff. And the manager of the store asked if we wanted a job. Sure. And we both worked there and it was boring sometimes but mostly it was a lot of fun.

Since I remembered this job being a lot of fun, I applied for similar jobs almost every fall after that. Or, at least, I applied if I didn't already know that I was going to be out of town or something like that. It's a bit of extra money, and it's fun.

Except that I rarely even got called back after I filled out the applications. Halloween is usually a busy time for me, especially since about 1999 or so. And I always write on the application that I'm not available to work the Saturday before Halloween, or that I have to finish work by four or five that day, and then if I have another job or school I write down other times that I can't work. So even if I have the whole month open except for that Saturday, I usually don't get the job, because they don't like to hire people who can't work that weekend.

So a couple of years ago, which is like fifteen years after I had the job at the other Halloween store, I filled out an application to work at a Halloween store. This is not the same company as the first store. So far as a know, that other company is no longer in business. So I got all dressed up when I went to turn in the application, cause these people are very busy getting the store opened and often they try to interview you right then and there if they are interested. But that didn't happen, and I went home.

But I did get called back for an interview, and I did get hired, but for a bit less money than I am used to. But I so remembered working at the other store being a fun job, so I took the job anyway. And I made sure that the manager had read all the stuff I wrote on the application about when I could work and time off and all of that. And she said it was no problem.


So I was very surprised to see my name on the schedule for that Saturday night that I'd already said I wasn't available. And they like to individually talk to all the employees about a week or so before Halloween and make sure that they're going to work when they are scheduled and all of that, and if they do then they get a fifty cent raise or something like that. So I'm in the manager's office, and instead of signing this paper that says that the bonus plan has been explained to me and I promise to be on time for all of my assigned shifts, I'm telling her that I won't be at work on Saturday night and maybe it's best if I just left at the end of the shift.

So she takes out my application and reads the stuff on the back, and somehow it still doesn't sink it that it means I have no intention of working that night. And she reads it again. And I can't imagine how she didn't understand, cause that's the first thing that I wrote down, in capital letters, and underlined, etc.... So it's really starting to make me uncomfortable, and I start to get up and say that maybe it's best that I leave right away. But she says no, and she changes the schedule. I sign the paper and everything seems fine after that.


The job was not as much fun as I remembered, and I did not make much money. It's a big store, and I get tired. For the money, the job just isn't worth it. But there is some fun stuff, I do like helping customers with that sort of thing, there's sometimes free haunted house tickets, and there's an employee discount. Not that I should keep spending my money on this sort of thing, but I usually do anyway, so getting a discount is nice.

So I made like a thousand dollars, but between the gas money and the money I spent in the store and the money I spent on fast food while I had the job, I didn't really take home that much of it. Whatever was left I spent on Christmas stuff.


So after Halloween when we are putting the leftover stock in boxes for next year, we are all taking and a lot of the people were saying stuff like "It's been nice working with you" and "I'll see you next year." And I thought, next year? And it turns out that a lot of the people will work at the store for many years. And I just thought, why? Hopefully I'm going to have a real job next year, or I might go to school next year. I just couldn't imagine that I would have enough time to work there again the next year.

But then the next year came, and the manager called and asked if I could work. And I had a lot of stuff going on, and I told her that. And I was going out of town a lot, and I told her that. And of course I still had stuff that I do with my friends and I still don't work the Saturday night before Halloween, and I told her that. And I had applied for a lot of other jobs, and if I got hired for any of those I would not be able to keep working for her, and I told her that. And she said she was fine with all of that and she was fine with me starting work a week later than she asked for because I was going to be out of town.

I've got plenty of blog entries last year about what happened. Basically, I needed a distraction, and the manager was willing to schedule around all of my stuff, so I took the job. And she would check with me before she wrote the schedule, and when my husband's schedule changed and I went out of town, she did not get mad she just changed the schedule for me. And I was still very upset about everything back then, so it's a wonder that I was any help to her at all, but she never got mad or suggested that I should quit.

So I went out of town for a week, and when I came back the manager had quit because of a family emergency. And this district manager was trying to take over, but he kept making mistakes. But it's a temp job and most of the stuff I just decided I'd do anyway. But that last Saturday night isn't up for discussion. And I left a note reminding him that I would either just be working til three that day, or I wouldn't be working at all. So of course he scheduled me to work until six. And I tell him that's not what I agreed to, and that if he really wants to make me feel bad he can insist that I work til four since that's what I wrote on the application. He had read the note and ignored it, but he hadn't bothered to look at the applications to see when people could work. And he kept trying to show me in some manual where it says that all employees must be available all weekend before Halloween. Who cares what it says in your manual. I didn't write the manual. I didn't sign anything saying I agree to work that weekend. I worked a lot of the shifts as a favor to the manager. Just because someone is willing to do a favor for the manager does not mean that they are going to do the same favor for you, and they are certainly not going to do extra stuff for you that was never part of the agreement.

So never mind, we don't need to have this discussion. Not only will I not be here Saturday til six, I don't want to be here now either. I have stuff I'd rather be doing, and it's not worth getting upset like this. I need time off to get ready for the party, but I was going to go ahead and work this week because that's was I agreed to do before I realized going out of town for a week would put me so far behind schedule.

And the district manager finally gets it through his head that I am not going to work his schedule, and he says that I can have the rest of the week off if I'll work til four on Saturday, which is what I originally agreed to do. So that worked out okay, but I was tired from working before I went to the party.

After that, he wouldn't let people get their schedules over the phone. I went to the place twice to get the schedule, but after that I decided to stop wasting time and gas. He could call us after he figured it out. I never got a call, so I didn't work any more shifts.


So I doubt that I'm on the list of people they want to call back this year. On the other hand, I was surprised to get the call last year. Even if you don't plan to work many hours, they still have to hire a bunch of previous employees who sort of know what to do just so that they can get the store open. They hire a bunch of new people after that. They hire new people almost every week. When the store is first open, there aren't many customers, and except for the unloading the truck and putting out the new stock, you don't have much to do and you're not scheduled for many hours. The last two weeks there are a lot of customers and a lot of work to do, and after everyone is working as many hours as they can, that still isn't enough and they still need more people, even if it is just for a week or two.

So if the manager is hired back, I'd probably work for her. If someone else calls, I don't quite know what to say.


Okay, I probably won't work a lot of weekends. If I work the Saturday before Halloween, it will only be from 10-3. I'll say this week I can work these hours on this day, and these hours on this day, etc...and if that's helpful to you put it on the schedule, and if it's not helpful I just don't need to work that day. Don't put something else on the schedule. And that doesn't mean that I can work the same hours the next week. The next week I'll go through the whole thing again and say I can work these hours on this day, etc...and if that's helpful you can put it on the schedule. And sometimes it will all change Friday night if my husband's schedule sends him out of town, and once in a great while his schedule will change with even less notice than that. And of course, if I get sick or if the library wants to hire me, I'm going to quit without notice.

I could tell all that to my old manager, and she could make all of that work. If someone else calls and says the schedule could be made that way, I don't think I'd believe it.

Monday Morons--People Who Steal

The first week or so that I worked at the Halloween Store last October, I found a ring on the floor of the ladies room. Not like someone's engagement ring or something like that, but one of the skull rings that we sold at the store. Seemed like it must have fallen out of someone's pocket while she was in the stall. Seemed obvious to me that someone had stolen the ring. And, since we had just opened, and we try to hide the restrooms from the customers (because we don't have a maintenance crew to clean them), it was probably one of the employees that stole the ring.

So that was kind of a dumb thing to do. And the really bad thing is not only did an employee probably do it, but since it was the first week it was mostly returning employees from last season. Probably the thief was someone we already knew and thought we could trust.

Not that you really know a person from working with them a month or two once a year, but it still seemed bad to me.

Anyway, it is bad to steal anything, but it seems particularly stupid to steal some things. If someone got caught stealing this silly ring from the Halloween Store, in theory the police would be called and they could go to jail. If you really wanted a ring, why not just buy one for six dollars? If you didn't really want that ring, why risk going to jail? It just doesn't make a lot of sense.

I did a few things like that when I was a kid. A few times I took something I wanted that I thought no one would miss. I regretted it afterward. I took a few candy bars to see if I would get caught. Both things were wrong and stupid, but I quit doing even stuff like that when I was thirteen.

When I was ten I took stuff from vending machines. It didn't seem the same as stealing from a real person. Hadn't really thought the whole thing through, like someone else would lose their money trying to buy the item I had taken.

I used to work at a movie theater. We we going to get a bit of a remodel. Nothing major, but the bathrooms were being improved. We were going to get the larger toilet paper rolls, but before we could have the toilet paper holders installed they had to make new stalls with real walls instead of those laminated cardboard dividers. The flimsy stalls would hold the small rolls of toilet paper like you use at home just fine, but not the larger rolls that we switched to.

While we were waiting for the stalls to be upgraded, we spent a lot of time going up and down the stairs to get rolls of toilet paper. We just could not seem to replace the toilet paper fast enough. Finely, one of the managers said that we could just leave a whole case of toilet paper in the ladies room. That would be easier than making five trips up the stairs to get paper everyday, and if a stall ran out of paper before we had time to check, maybe one of the customers could just replace a roll.

So we took this huge box of tissue paper and left it in the ladies room. Next to it we left a box of softsoap. The soap dispensers were going to be replaced too, and we'd run out of soap that went in the old dispensers, and rather than buy a lot of soap for the old dispensers that we wouldn't be able to use, we just bought bought a few boxes of hand soap in small bottles like you use at home.

Half the stalls needed toilet paper, but we were called away to do something else before we finished with that. About twenty minutes later, we went back to the ladies rooms to finish replacing the toilet paper and found both the box of hand soap and the huge box of toilet paper empty.

People stole hand soap and toilet paper.

I think if it was a few people stealing a lot of stuff we would have seen. So I think that it was a lot of people just stealing a little bit. I think like a hundred people all went in a took one or two rolls of toilet paper and hid them in their purses or under their coats.

If any of them had been caught, the police would have been called, and they would have been arrested.

Can you imagine the phone calls that their families would get?

Hey, I'm in jail. Can you come and bail me out?

What did you do? What's the charge?

Stealing.

What'd you steal?

Toilet paper.

I mean, it's still wrong, but I could see that a person might be tempted to steal a diamond ring or money. That's something small that you can hide and maybe get away with, and it is worth something. Toilet paper is just the opposite, it is bulky and it isn't worth anything.

Why would anyone steal toilet paper?

Almost the end of the job

Well, they didn't write what I asked for on the schedule. 10-3, I said. 10-4, if absolutely necessary, because that's what I originally asked for more than a month ago. The district manager just couldn't understand why I wouldn't agree to 9-6, and I just didn't even think we needed to have the discussion. Just put 10-3 on the schedule, or hurry and get to the part where we both agree that I won't be coming in at all. And he's saying he's not mad, he's just upset that the other manager made all these agreements that aren't company policy. And he wants to show me a company manual that says everyone is supposed to work at least eight hours that day, but what difference does that make? I'm busy that day, and I was hired knowing that I would be busy that day, and showing me a manual that I never saw before and did not agree to isn't going to help. None of that changes my mind. None of that changes my situation. I care more about this party that we've been planning for months than I care about a job I didn't even want enough to apply for. And he's all saying how he likes me and I seem to be really good at the job, and can't we come to some compromise? He doesn't understand that I already had this discussion last year with the other manager, and this was the compromise. I'd rather not work Saturday at all. It will just make me nervous, and I'll have to miss another costume contest with prize money.

He was so upset with the other manager. But he shouldn't be. So she hired some people she knew couldn't work Saturday and people she knew would leave before the store closed. The important thing at the time was she had to get the store opened, and she couldn't have done that on time without hiring some people from last year and people who had scheduling problems. There's been plenty of time to replace us, if that's what needed to be done. And I personally was okay with that, and had even put that in writing before I left for Kansas. But you can't demand people work for you when they've already said they have a prior commitment. If you threaten to fire them, they'll just leave even earlier. It's a temp job, and none of us are going to be here in a couple of weeks anyway.

So finally, after he looks at all the paperwork I had signed, and after I'm able to convince him that I really don't even want the job and I really was hired under the condition that I be allowed to leave without a big fuss and that I would not under any circumstances work later than 4 on Saturday, he gave up. And he gave me off tomorrow and Friday and even let me go home early today to get me to work 9-4, which was what I had originally agreed to when I came back to work this season.

So now I should be able to finish the costume. In fact, I should be able to also carve a pumpkin and maybe even make a dessert.

Still, I tend to feel bad after having the discussion, even if I did come out ahead.

The Boneyard did not get its planned review today

Well, as I have said before, I did not take this silly job for the money. I needed a distraction, and this particular job comes with free haunted house tickets. Or at least, it usually does.

I have not received any actual tickets yet, supposedly because the store hasn't been given any. At least, that's what the manager said last week, and so far the shift manager says she hasn't been given any either. And usually, the second or third Sunday before Halloween, the store or even several of the stores go as a group to a haunted house. This year, the group went to the Dungeon of Doom in the Arlington Art museum, and afterwards took a behind the scenes tour of the place. But I did not do that, because they went the Sunday I came back from Kansas, and even if I'd been left a message about it I really would have been too tired to go that day.

And usually, there are several haunted houses in the area where you just show your store name tag and check stub and they let you in for free. You don't get to bring a friend for free, so maybe it's not as much fun as having free tickets, but I like haunted houses enough that I've gone to a couple by myself.

But it looks like this year I won't be doing anymore of that. I'd only been told of two places that would let us in for free this year: Mead Manor in Mansfield (which I went to a few weeks ago), and the Boneyard in Arlington. So last night I got off work a little after seven, and ran errands until a little after eight, so it would have been the perfect time to go to the Boneyard.

But they did not let me in free, so I ended up just going home.

That was just as well, I needed to work on the costume some more and get some sleep, but it did come as a bit of a surprise. I was under the impression that we got in free, and the people working at the place were under the impression that we got in free, but when I actually started to walk into the place, the guy running the place came out and said he hadn't made any arrangement for that. He offered me a half-price ticket, but I was by myself and starting to get tired, so I declined.

Speaking of being tired, my feet are still sore from yesterday. It would be nice if the district manager could break the computer so the store would have to close today. But it's nearly five hours before I have to go in, so hopefully I'll feel better by then. But really, I'd rather just work on my costume a bit and then go back to bed.

They'll have to put up the work schedule today. If it says something unreasonable I'll just leave. Except for the shift managers and a couple of people who have been doing this for five or ten, I can't think of anyone else I worked with last year who is still there. The guy I had so much fun with last year at the haunted houses only worked weekends, and then he didn't work one week because of a miscommunication about the schedule, and then one day he called in sick, and I think he finally just gave up on the whole idea and quit, cause I only saw him that first day and then at the store meeting. One lady quit after two weeks because she got a divorce and moved to California. There's about five other people that I just haven't seen in a while and I have no idea what happened to them. Actually, now that I think about it, there are a couple of girls who are still working, but really they're just kids who mainly work nights and I don't talk to them much anyway.

I know. I'm always saying I'm going to quit, and then I don't. I'm just saying I might as well quit, but if the schedule is reasonable I probably won't.

Of course, if my husband's schedule changes, I might not even be here anyway.

Great to be home, or not

Practically as soon as we're here, he has to leave again. He's off to Arkansas and Louisiana for the week. I had thought about going with him, but decided against it, especially after there was a slight change in his schedule.

I didn't go with him because a) he'll still be out of town on Saturday, when I have a party to go to, b) I was told that I would still have the silly job when I came back, c) I left the place in a mess and really should try to do something about it, or d) all of the above.

And the answer is d) all of the above.

So he left yesterday morning. In theory, he was probably supposed to stay last night and get up really early this morning, but despite what it says on mapquest that would have meant a five or six hour drive before a full day of work, plus the extra hour or so that he has to work setting up at a new place. Anyway, I'm not as clear on when this company expects the employees to be where, and if you leave a day early or stay a day late they don't pay for the extra motel room. But he's made enough money that he can pay for the occasional room himself and get some rest rather than make long drives exactly on their schedule.

Anyway, he's in Arkansas, and he doesn't like his motel room, but since I didn't go with him he decided not to spend the extra money on a nicer one. It's just for a couple of days, but there's no internet and no microwave. No internet I understand, that's still a new concept for some motel owners, but no microwave or frig? We've gotten so used to that we've stopped even asking about it. It should just always be there, and more than ninety percent of the time, it is. But not today.

Also, I seem to have 7/8ths of a blueberry pie all to myself. I didn't plan that. He was supposed to take half of it with him, but neither of us remembered to put it in the cooler. So it is still here, except for the one piece we each had Sunday night.

That wouldn't be so bad, but we also forgot to pack the Rudy's BBQ that we specifically bought for him to take. BBQ really isn't my thing, but I eat it once in a while to go somewhere with him or when I go out with friends. And now there's a whole bag of it in the frig. I don't know why we forgot about it. He didn't really leave that early in the morning. I just kept worrying about his clothes and I mostly forgot about the food.

Well, it's not like he'll starve or anything. He does have money now, and they do sell food of some sort in middle of nowhere Arkansas.

Anyway, before he left for Arkansas, we checked the answering machine. Now, we've never fixed the time thing on the answering machine, so whatever time or day is on the message has nothing to do with when the message was actually left. One of his managers left two messages, and either they were left on Monday, or the manager is clueless. Why would he be here to answer the phone if he was sent to Kansas? Anyway, one of my managers also called, and again there was no point to that since I'd already said I'd be out of town. Whatever.

So, I worked on the costume a little bit, and then headed to the store to pick up my check and see if I did in fact still have the job. And just in case someone was going to ask me to work, or in case there had been a screw up and I was actually on the schedule on a day I said I couldn't work, I waited until I was okay with actually working some before I went to the store. And, as soon as I walk in, someone is asking me to work. Someone was going to be late and someone else called in sick and couldn't you possibly help out just for a few hours? Of course I can help out just for a few hours, and just as soon as I get back from lunch. Great, thanks so much. But before I leave, I decide to pick up my check and have a look at the schedule and write a note reminding the manager that I can't work past four or really three on Saturday. So the shift manager sees me writing and says I'd be better off just telling her, because she's going to write the schedule herself now that the manager quit.

What???

She doesn't work here anymore. She quit Wednesday. Nobody I could talk to had been there when it happened, so I don't really know what happened, but she's gone.

Wow.

Okay, so now three kids are mostly in charge of the store, except that the district manager comes by all the time to micro-manage everything. And he's driving the nice shift manager nuts.

So anyway, I told her what I could work on Saturday and Sunday, and then I decided to be nice and let her write whatever she wanted on the rest of my schedule. She was really getting desperate, and she seems like a totally decent person who doesn't deserve to have all this stuff dumped on her. If the district manager or the other shift manager doesn't screw it up, I'll stay, even though I really wouldn't have wanted this job without the manager who just quit.

That was so weird, but I'd already promised to help them out, so hurried off to lunch so I could come back and help. I went to "our" Arby's and bought enough extra sandwiches that I won't have to worry about lunch for the rest of the week, and then went back to work.

I kind of liked the district manager before yesterday, but now I don't think I really do. He really is making the poor girl nuts over nothing. When she's got something under control, go away and leave it alone. And then he was messing with the computer because he couldn't get the fax to work. Like, who cares if the fax doesn't work, you can arrange to use someone else's fax. But if you break the thing that connects the registers and the credit card machines and all of that, we might as well close the store and go home. Anyway, I don't think he actually broke anything, but he kept disconnecting stuff, but of course I only stayed a few hours and he might have broken the thing after I left.

Anyway, I ran some errands and went home. I neglected to wash some dishes before I left for Kansas, so now the kitchen smells like dead fish or something. Lovely.

One of those idiots waving signs

Well, yesterday I was one of those sign waving idiots. The competing store down the street had people out waving signs and directing people to their store and away from ours. That really ticked off our manager, who decided that we would have better people waving signs to advertise our store. So that lucky person who got to put on a witch costume and go to the curb and wave at the cars turned out to be me.

I did that for three hours yesterday. And since I didn't know that would be my job I didn't bring a radio or anything, so it was just extremely boring.

I was just so glad when it started to rain a bit, and I got to go back inside.

The good news is that the manager didn't seem at all upset about me going out of town this week, and I should still have the silly job when I get back. I wasn't really worried about losing the job, I just didn't want anyone mad at me if it left them short handed. But, she was already planning to hire a couple more people anyway, and now that that's done everything is okay.

Sad note--the assistant manager's sister died today. She's very upset, and she'll have to go home and help plan a funeral and all of that. She probably won't feel up to working for at least a week, and since the store will only be open another seventeen days she'll probably be replaced. Which means that when I come back they'll probably either be a new assistant manager who can't even spell Halloween, or they might promote someone that I don't particularly care for. Hopefully, they will promote the shift manager who made a point of thanking me the other day, and that should work out okay for everyone.

Almost definitely going to Kansas

Okay, so I had pretty much decided that I was not going to Kansas until a couple of things happened.

First, I got this email from my husband saying how much he was looking forward to us going to Kansas together. Isn't he sweet.

Second, we found out he'll be going out of town again the week after next. That will make four weeks in a row. That means if I don't go, I'll hardly see him for most of a month. Really, the weekend before last was just wonderful, but I can count the times that I've seen him since or that I'll get to see him before he leaves.
Sunday, we had lunch and a little time afterwards, but not much because I had that silly meeting at work. Monday, we had breakfast together before he went out of town again. Last night when he came in I was already asleep, but we had breakfast this morning before he went out of town again. He'll be back late on Saturday, and we'll hardly see each other on Sunday because of the silly job and previous engagements. If I don't go to Kansas we'll probably have Monday together, but then we won't see each other again until late Sunday. We might have most of the next Monday together, or we might not, depending on the schedule. And then we won't see each other again until late Saturday, and then we won't have much time together on Sunday because of the silly job. We'll probably have Monday together, and after that I have no idea. That's it. I can count on my fingers the time that my husband will be in town for the rest of the month, and most of that time I'll be busy with something else.

So I'm almost definitely going to Kansas.

Only since I've found that out, I haven't seen the store manager to tell her that. I was off Monday, she was off Tuesday, I was off Wednesday, she was off today, and I'll be off tomorrow. I called yesterday, but she was in the middle of something, and I don't think she really understood what I said. I left her a note today, but I'm not even sure that she'll get it. Some other people have had problems like that recently. I guy came in today and worked an hour and a half and then had to leave because he was scheduled to work at the same time that he had to be at his regular job. People have been scheduled to work when they have to be in school, and that sort of thing. We get more and more new people, and it gets complicated, and you don't even remember who is who or what that guy's name is or anything.

It's not all bad at work. Today, one of the assistant manager came and said thank you to me before she went home. And I said, sure, you're welcome, or something like that, and she left. Only now I'm trying to remember what she was thanking me for. I don't usually work with this woman, so for all I know she makes a point of saying that to everyone. But that's usually the sort of thing a manager does after you've done something especially good, or something that's not usually part of the job, or after you've had your break cut short, or after you've had to deal with a really difficult customer. Only I don't remember any difficult customers, and I don't remember doing anything special, and my break wasn't cut short. It was just a normal boring day. I spent most of the day restocking. I have no idea what she was thanking me for. I wonder if she had me confused with someone else.

Anyway, I'm probably going to quit the job on Sunday. If I go to Kansas I'll miss four shifts that they probably can't cover, but if I quit they can hire someone else. And there is this sign up next to the schedule that says were aren't allowed to ask off next weekend or the weekend after that or the three days after that. I have another idea, but I don't think it will work out.

The good news is that I'm finally making some progress with the Halloween costume.

Of course, if I go to Kansas, I'll hardly have any time to finish it.

Why did I take this job anyway?

I'm sitting here trying to decide if I should quit this silly temp job. I like the silly temp job okay, and I like most of the managers, but the pay just isn't worth disrupting my plans like this. If I'm only going to work five or six hours, let them start at nine or ten in the morning so I can get them over with and do something else. Sometimes the job starts at ten, sometimes eleven, but more often twelve and now sometimes one or two. That just seems to waste my whole day, but without working all day, and I'm only getting paid for five hours or so. And of course, the one day that I can't come in until one, they forget and schedule me to start at eleven.

So I'm probably going out of town next week, but I won't know for sure until Saturday. I can't wait till Saturday to say I want off next week. So I thought to be on the safe side I would tell the manager today not to put me on the schedule after Sunday. And that usually works because she usually doesn't do the schedule until Wednesday afternoon.

Only this week she decided to write the schedule last night. And I've been scheduled to work the Tuesday that I'll be heading out of town.

So there's all these other people who want the extra hours, but they have to wait til after school or after their other job or whatever. So none of them will work. Only one person left to ask, and I just missed her, so she probably won't work out either.

So, if I'm going to Kansas I should go ahead and tell the manager that I'm going to quit, and she can find a new person before Tuesday. Maybe she can find a new person by Sunday, since I'll be in two hours late that day because of church. (She already knew that, so I don't know why that is there.)

Anyway, there is little point to having this job as far as the money goes. So why did I take this job? I wasn't even planning to apply this year. I gave it some serious thought a couple of months ago and decided that there just wasn't enough money in it, and if I wanted a job I should go out and get one that paid more or had a better schedule at least.

But, even after I didn't apply for the job, the manager called and asked if I could work, and I said I was going out of town for a week, but if the job was still open after that, sure. And she said that would be fine, and that was that.

I guess it just does something for one's ego to be asked to come back the next year.

And I needed a distraction. I needed a reason to get out of the house sometime, even if the hours weren't great. And I'd already worked for these people before, so I knew it wasn't going to be a big hassle about getting out early that last Saturday for the party. That's why I haven't taken a seasonal job like this for almost fifteen years, since they want everyone to work that Saturday.

Well, when it is time for Halloween, the people that are cool to have work at the Halloween store are off doing Halloween stuff. That's just the way it works. You have to have enough people who don't care about Halloween work at the store to cover for the people who do, because they aren't going to work then.

It's too bad, because I'd just about decided to quit looking for a regular job and just get a couple of seasonal things every year.

I should quit worrying about it and go work on my costume.

There was a lot of nonsense at work this week

First, I have a light schedule at work, which is just fine because I just took this job as a distraction. There is no way that I am going to get rich at this job. This is just an excuse to get out of the house for a while. An excuse to get out of the house that comes with a tiny paycheck, an employee discount, and free haunted house tickets.

Then, yesterday, about twenty minutes before I'm out the door and heading to work, someone calls and says I've been taken off the schedule until Friday because the store didn't have good sales over the weekend.

My first thought is to get mad and wonder why I'm the one who is taken off of the schedule. I'm glad I didn't say anything like that, because my second thought was more like that works out better anyway. My husband just made all this money on Saturday, and I'd just said something like my time would be better spent doing housework and working on the costume this week. I'd just been wishing that I didn't have to work this week, and for the most part I was now told I didn't have to work this week except for Friday. Great. Wonderful. I can relax now.

So did I make good use of my valuable time?

Of course not.

Since I thought I had almost the whole week off, I sat back and watched some TV, and fell asleep. I went to the store to buy some bread and a couple of other things that I just had to have, and when I got back home there was a message on the machine.

Could I please work a few hours the next day?

So that was weird. For a couple of hours I just said, nope, not even going to call them back. They'll find somebody else. I feel more relaxed now than I felt for about a month, and I don't need to ruin it to go work a few more hours.

A little later I decided to quit being a baby about it and call them. They probably already got someone else to do it. I'll just call to make sure.

No, they didn't get someone else. In all the confusion about changing the schedule, they accidentally scheduled someone when they had to be at some school thing. Could I come in?

Sure.

So today I get there, and someone tells me not to clock in because the schedule has been changed. Anyway, whoever put me back on the schedule yesterday forgot to write down that it was officially changed and I just about left before they decided I was actually supposed to be there.

Tomorrow, I am going to work on the Halloween costume. I don't care who has to go to school, or what kind of sales the store had, or who got sick, or any of that other stuff. Tomorrow, I am staying home. Period. The end.

Questionable Costumes

I currently have a temp job at a place that sells Halloween stuff. Mostly costumes, but also decorations and make-up and hats. Some of it is really cool stuff, often it is over-priced stuff, and a few things are just out right stupid. I believe in an earlier post I mentioned there being a giant penis costume, a toilet costume, a Bullshit and a Poo Poo Platter costume. There is also an electronic humping dog decoration.

Something I was really disturbed by last year was the milk carton head ornament.

Personally, I do not see the point of making fun of present or past presidents, but I am okay with it. Pretend to be a witch, a ghost, a cowboy, a cop, a vampire, a rock star, or whatever. Buy a costume that makes you look like Jesus (not great for Halloween in my opinion, but the store won't be open around Easter, so if you want one get it now.)

All of that is fine with me.

But why pretend to be a missing child? Isn't that like way insensitive?

Giant Penis

Today I had to stuff a giant penis into a plastic bag.

Actually, it was more like six of them.

No, really. That was part of my job today. The Tricky Dick costume has been marked up from about forty-five dollars last year to about fifty dollars this year. So I had to take them all out of the bags and correct the prices and then put them back in the bags.

I don't know why anyone would buy one of these costumes. I don't know why anyone would want to go to a party as a giant penis. (I don't know why anyone would want to have giant penis either, but that is a topic for a totally different discussion.) I also don't know why anyone would want to go as a Toilet, or Bull Shit, or Poo Poo Platter, or any of that other stuff. Besides, buying a costume like that isn't really funny. Even if you are going to a party with people who would find that funny, it just isn't that funny unless you made the costume yourself. And for that sort of thing, to get the best laugh you have to be person who thought of the thing and made the first such costume.

What does it say about the person who buys and wears this kind of costume, other than he or she doesn't have a good enough figure to pull off one of the better looking costumes?