Got no time for livin'... 2012 Edition

During the last week of November, I worked 11-hour days from Sunday through Wednesday. I worked less than ten hours on Thursday, but that week was so excruciating that that still felt about four or five hours too long.

This week, we only had to work ten hours, BUT I was sick. Yes, just a couple of weeks after getting over a sinus infection, I end up getting a cold, or something. I was thinking it could have been the flu, but the only time I really felt flu-ish was Monday night. Before I went to work that night, I went and got some Nyquil/Dayquil Sinex stuff. I left work that night about four hours early. I managed to work all night on Tuesday and Wednesday. I was hoping that my overtime night this week would be Friday since the month changed, so I could get a little rest before my OT night, but they're now flipping the OT nights every two weeks, so I had to work on Thursday, and will be working the next two Fridays. I only worked half of Thursday night since I'm still kinda sick, and was hoping to add to recovery time.

I've realized that me getting sick over the past month seems to coincide with the times when it actually gets warm here. So not only is Climate Change/Global Warming bad for the planet, it also tends to make me sick during the few times in the Fall and Winter when I can hypothetically enjoy myself. I guess I could deal with some cooler temperatures if it meant not having to physically feel like shit on top of the mentally feeling like shit. Or fuck it, I'll just move to California.

So, I have two days off. I was kinda hoping to spend both days recovering from whatever it is I have, but my girlfriend is moving on Saturday, and if I want to stay in her good graces, I should help her. She seems to be a little under the weather too, and has to move whether she's sick or not. To add to the fun, we go back to 11-hour days at work this Sunday! To recap: Worked over 50 hours last week, worked under 50 hours this week while sick, get to help move on Saturday, and get to start a possibly 50+ hour work week on Sunday. And people wonder why I hate this time of year! I'd hate to say it, but I'm kinda glad that I wasn't dating this time last year. This time of year, I tend to live to work, and it's a lot easier to do when I have only myself to worry about. I feel like I've been a bad boyfriend since I really wasn't much help with the apartment search, but it seemed like any time away from work was spent just trying to recover from work. Hell, I spend so much time doing Christmas shopping for other people that I've almost forgotten that I need to shop for other people. Unlike me, she has an 8-hour-a-day job. Not even 8 hours + a 30 minute lunch, I mean 8 hours! She works fewer hours in a six day work week than I work in a five day work week. If I had a job with hours like that, I might not feel so overwhelmed. And for the record, I've applied with her employer twice, and never heard back from them.

Ugh, fuck Christmas! About two and a half weeks of this shit left.

I appreciate the job security, but geez...

The "honeymoon" portion of my employment has officially ended, and just in time to get my benefits! I'm sick of ten-hour days, and I'm sick of working Sundays. And so far this month, I've only had one Saturday off. I haven't even gotten to go to a Midnight Movie at my favorite theater since November, specifically the day after my birthday. As I mentioned in my previous entry, I don't have much time on my regular work days to do anything but work and sleep. The only good thing about them is that I get three-day weekends. Having to work an extra day for overtime fucks up my entire week, and I have to cram three days worth of weekend into two days. While I guess that can still be considered rest from work, it can still be pretty stressful. I appreciate the job security, but a little more time for myself would be nice. Here's some good reading: Why we have to go back to a 40-hour work week to keep our sanity. Note that they mean 40 hours split into five 8-hour days, because working more than 8 hours in a day is counterproductive.

The only good things I can say about this week are that I got to see and meet Henry Rollins again, and I'm getting to go see Jane's Addiction for the first time tonight. In other concert news, I found out that The Psychedelic Furs will be playing in Louisville on April 4th, and the Danzig Legacy tour will play in Indianapolis on June 1st. My overtime day in June is Friday, so I'll have to remind myself to try to get a vacation day for May 30th so I can get out of working that day if OT is called, and to get a four-day weekend. I actually have a blog entry idea brewing in my head that involves both Jane's Addiction and The Psychedelic Furs, I hope I'll actually have the time sometime soon to actually write it.

Good riddance, 2011!

I've been hella busy between working and spending time with people. I was extremely unhappy about having to work these past two Fridays, but glad that I didn't have to work 11-hour days this week. On the upside, I found out that I'll be getting hired on Full Time in January!

I had the best Christmas ever this year. It's a shame that I don't feel at liberty to talk about most of it here. :D

I'll probably be gone most of the day on Saturday, so this will likely be my last post of the year. 2011 was a terrible fucking year, and I'm glad to see it end. 2012 is already looking pretty okay, as long as I can survive the freaking campaign season.

Whoa, not so fast!

Today was supposed to be the last of the 11-hour days, but at the start-up meeting they announced that we will have 11-hour days through the end of the year! FML What wasn't really announced, but I heard through the grapevine, was that we'll be working our overtime days too, meaning I'll probably have to work this Friday. It should be noted that not a lot happens on the two days before Christmas Day. I guess I should be happy that I get to work at least through the end of the year, but I'm fucking pissed. Any good feeling I might have had left over from this past weekend has gone out the window. I really hope I don't have to work on the 30th. My brother will only be in town from the 26th through the 31st, and it would be nice to get two whole days with him instead of just one.

I was really looking forward to getting up after 5:00 a.m., rather than before.

I don't see how anyone who has worked in retail around Christmastime, whether it's a big box store or an online retailer, can not be jaded when it comes to Christmas. I'm sure I've said it before, but I'll be glad when it's over.

(Edited to add that a video for the Fear song "Fuck Christmas" used to be here. The video has been pulled from YouTube.)

Got no time for livin'...

Let's get this out of the way first, especially if you're one of those company stooges who goes looking for dirt:

I like my new-old job!

But geez Louise, I feel like I spend way too much time there! My typical work day is ten hours, 10.5 if you include lunch. There are so damn many people there that I have to get there way early for a decent parking spot, and it takes so long to get out on a normal day due to the amount of people that I've given up trying to get out ASAP, and just hang out for 30 to 45 minutes. In all, there are about twelve and a half hours between the time I leave for work and the time I get home. I get out of bed about 45 minutes before I leave for work, so that adds up to 13 hours 15 minutes. Subtract that from 24 hours, and that leaves you with 10 hours 45 minutes. I try to get about 7 to 8 hours of sleep, so that leaves me with just under two to three hours open. That's not a whole lot of time. I especially haven't had time for blogging.

On those days where I have to work 11 hours, I feel like there's hardly any point in leaving. I'm really not happy that the 11th through the 18th of this month are all supposed to be 11-hour days, but I felt a little less bad after realizing that the week of the 18th is the last week before Christmas. I find it funny that they're making us work 11-hour days since the guy who has been the overall Fulfillment manager since late 2005 got rid of the 12-hour weekend shifts years ago, claiming that people lose productivity after ten hours.

I haven't gotten out much since my birthday weekend because I've been too busy working. While it sucks that I'll have no life due to the holidays, I'm actually way less miserable than I was at Mega Lo Mart!

Scheduling issues.

I forgot to mention in my last post that I chose the 7:00am-5:30pm Sunday-through-Wednesday shift. Once you've picked a shift, you're stuck with it. I was in kind of a hurry when it came time to pick shifts, and I wish I had had more time to think about it. I was trying to avoid the night shift, but I kind of wish now that I had taken a later shift because I had to reschedule my psychiatrist appointment, and I'll have to go to the county clerk's office during my lunch break to pay property taxes/renew my car's registration since I work the entire time that the office is open. We only get thirty minutes for lunch, so I'll be lucky if I can get back before lunch is over. I'll totally be glad when I've got that taken care of. As for the psychiatrist appointment, it fell on a "Blackout Day", a day where we absolutely need to be there, or else we'll be terminated. I told someone from the temp agency about my appointment, and asked if it was going to be okay to take a half-day or if I should just reschedule, and she said I should probably reschedule just to be safe. Actually getting a hold of the Intake Coordinator at U of L's psychiatric office was a major hassle because they're also only open during the time that I'm working, and I can only use my phone during my breaks or lunch, so my opportunities to talk were very limited. I finally got a hold of her during my last break on Wednesday. The appointment is now on January 26th. So, I had already waited one month, now I'm going to have to wait another two months? Fuck me running.

Between worrying about getting my registration renewed, having to work 11 hours on Black Friday, and not knowing if I'll have to work on Saturday, I'm having a really hard time enjoying my Thanksgiving. As I said in Seasons, the Thanksgiving/Christmas season is my least favorite part of the year. I hope this next month goes by really fast.

I did it again.

Written Thursday:
With the Christmas season coming up, work has gone from obnoxiously bad to intolerable. On top of the usual crap, we now have to separate the "Blitz" items (stuff that they expect to sell a lot of that won't be on sale until at least Black Friday) from the stuff that does go out to the floor immediately. With as tiny as the room is, it gets really lovely in there. I'm glad that I have today off, because working those two days in a row totally drained me, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Working an hour and a half over on Wednesday certainly didn't help. One of my assistant managers mentioned to us on Wednesday to get in contact with our manager who does our scheduling if we want some extra hours since we're understaffed. Two thoughts:

1. My employer is so cheap that they're one of the only major employers that's not hiring for the season, either for permanent or seasonal help.
2. While I need the money, I don't think working an extra day a week there would be good for my sanity. The last time I worked five consecutive days there, I felt like slapping everybody. Besides, I've got a feeling that I'll be working over every night that I do work anyway.

Besides feeling drained, my head feels a little stopped up. I felt like doing virtually nothing today.

Written Saturday:

My head has been feeling a little congested for the past few days. Not so stuffed that I have trouble smelling anything, but still congested. It probably comes from the fact that the weather has been changing every few days. It will be mild one day, then cold the next, then mild for a couple of days, then cold for a couple of days, and so on. There is something about head congestion that seems to amplify depression, like it adds physical misery on top of mental misery. I have the weekend off, but I'll probably not go anywhere so I can try to rest this crap off. And besides, last weekend was pretty busy.

I got an interesting call on Thursday. It was from the temp agency that is hiring seasonal help for Main ex-Employer. It said that although I was previously ineligible to work for Main ex-Employer, that they were inviting me to the Job Fair they've been having anyway. My dad was the one who told me about the message, I got the impression that he was hinting that I should check it out, though he has discouraged me from leaving a job until I got a permanent job elsewhere. I went ahead and went to the job fair, and I have orientation on Monday. I decided to make Friday night my last night at Mega Lo Mart. I figured there was no point in staying there since the schedules for both places overlap, but I also couldn't stand it there any longer. (Let the boycott begin!) I'd rather work 50+ hours at Main ex-Employer than work 32 hours at Mega Lo Mart. I doubt that Main ex-Employer will keep me after Christmas, but I'm hoping that the temp agency will have work for me elsewhere. I can't help but think that I'm making a mistake, but it's not the biggest mistake I've ever made, nor will it be the last. My parents aren't too thrilled about it, but they weren't too thrilled about me not putting in many applications while I was working at Mega Lo Mart either. Damned if I do, damned if I don't. Unless I can get a position like the one I had when I got laid off, I think I've gone about as far as I can with the general labor thing. Must work on getting into school next year.

Generic Dayquil/Nyquil has really helped with the symptoms.

Remember, remember...

Saturday night was a shitty two-truck night at work. I didn't clock out until 1:50. I was hoping to take advantage of the extra hour from the "falling back", but instead I pretty much broke even. Sunday was a much better night, and I got to leave an hour early since I stayed over the night before.

I've found somebody to swap days with so I could have the 12th off, but getting a hold of a manager when they're in their offices has been a challenge.

I just found out that I have next Saturday (the 19th) off, and I didn't even ask for it. :/

On November 5th 2008, I had the night off so I could go see Henry Rollins do a spoken word show. Earlier in the day, I watched "V For Vendetta". Then I went out for coffee, and then went to Headliners Music Hall to see Henry. I wish I had a recording of that show, because he had some great stories about going to see Bad Brains the night before, and about some guy he met in Asia who called him "Mr. Curve". I got to meet him after the show, and I was speechless. The experience wasn't totally unlike the story of when Henry met Iggy Pop, except that I didn't even have the band experience to draw back from. :)

The next day, I got laid off. It's been a really shitty three years. It's kind of hard to forget the date when it comes after the day that we're urged to "Remember, remember, the fifth of November, the gunpowder treason and plot. I see no reason why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot."

I was really hoping that this post would be more epic, but I don't really have it in me, and the shittyness of my recent life is too well documented as it is. Plus, I'm itching to get off here to watch "The Walking Dead."

How could you be so heartless?

I had to work on Saturday, when most of the fun Halloween related stuff was actually happening. I'm off today, and was invited to a couple of Halloween parties, but costumes were mandatory, and I don't have a costume. I kind of dig Halloween, but can never really think of costume ideas. You can call it being lazy, but I prefer to think of it as having bigger things to deal with. I decided instead to try to make it a day of horror movie watching. I had to take a break from the movies because there were a couple of things I learned today that really saddened or pissed me off.

My favorite Louisville record store, Ear X-tacy, is closing. They moved to a new location last year in hopes of staying afloat, but it didn't work. I understand that the music business is changing and that the economy sucks, but what really bothers me is how some people can be so god damned callous as to virtually cheer that the store is closing! The way I see it, it's almost like if somebody had been dissing my sister after she died. They sound like fucking Tea Partiers, and some of them are! You can see an example of this here. Hell, I've seen so many of my friends on Facebook talk crap about them that I've put a warning on my Ear X-related posts that negative comments will be deleted. I don't feel like doing a eulogy at this time, maybe soon though.

I asked for November 9th through the 12th off from work. The 9th is when The Pixies play in Louisville, my birthday is on the 11th, and one of my best friends is getting married on the 12th. I found out last weekend that the only day they scheduled me off from the 9th to the 11th was the 11th, probably because it's my birthday. I managed to find someone to swap days with, trading the 9th for the 6th, a day that I was scheduled off. The schedule for the week of November 12-18 just came out yesterday, but I didn't get around to checking it out until this evening. They fucking have me scheduled to work the 12th! When I requested the 12th off, I clicked on "Family obligation" under Reason so that they would know that I absolutely needed that night off. I guess I'll try swapping days again, but I can't imagine anyone wanting to work on a Saturday. If I can't swap it, I'll just say "Fuck you" and call in. You know, if I still worked at Main ex-Employer, I'd just take the whole fucking week off, and go see Judas Priest in Cincinnati on the 8th on top of everything else I want to do that week.

This wasn't the worst Halloween ever, 2003 and 2009 easily top it, but it sucked way more than it had any right to.

Breakdown...go ahead and give it to me!

(Apologies to Tom Petty.)

You've probably been able to tell from recent posts that I haven't been feeling quite right lately. I really don't know why. There have been some work or school things that I've been meaning to look into, but like I said a couple of posts ago, I can't muster up the energy to want to do anything when I actually do have the time. I can say that I'm feeling unemployable. Let's face it, I'm slow, sarcastic, cynical, and not likely to drink any company's Kool Aid. I had read recently about how France, before the Revolution, would put idle people in asylums along with all the other crazies. At least the French put their Idle someplace, I figure modern American Conservatives would just as soon kill people like me off, or if not actively kill, then at least leave us to die.

I came very close to quitting on Wednesday night, mostly because I'm just so sick of Mega Lo Mart's bullshit. I really hope I find another job before the Christmas season really starts revving up.

I woke up in a really funky mood on Thursday. I really didn't want to get out of bed. For a day off, that's really bad. When I finally did get up, I felt like my nerves were frayed, so I took a Lorazepam. I'm not sure that it helped. As if I weren't already on the verge of a nervous breakdown (or something, I'm not sure if "nervous breakdown" is really accurate), I ended up arguing with my dad. I rarely actually talk to my mom or dad, especially about how I'm feeling because I have a hard time trying to describe my feelings through words, and I sometimes think that even if I could, they still just wouldn't get it. The best way I can describe what I'm going through is that I'm overwhelmed by everything, though overwhelmed would be an understatement. The worst thing that a non-depressed person can tell a depressed person to do is to just snap out of it. What my dad did was basically the equivalent of that. I went back to my room to get ready to leave for the Depression/Bipolar support group meeting, and found myself just about crying. By the time I composed myself, my mom came in, and told me not to take what my dad said to heart, since he had been drinking. You see, every Thursday, he goes to hang out with some dudes and drink. He actually drinks beer pretty much all the time, but he's not always that big of an asshole. She said that he really does love me and wants me to succeed, and I told her that he has a funny way of showing it. But anyway, I ended up crying again, and had to re-compose myself. Listening to Heaven 17 on my way to Louisville helped me feel not so cry-errific.

A lot of times, a piece of music, a lyric, or a scene from a TV show or movie can express how I feel better than I can on my own. I watched the M*A*S*H series finale a few years ago, and there was one of two scenes that struck me as especially poignant, the main part I'm talking about is in bold type. From Wikipedia:

Winchester eventually has to say goodbye to the Chinese musicians, who are to be part of a POW exchange. As they are driven away, they finally play the Mozart piece correctly for him. A public-address announcement then broadcasts the news that a truce has been signed; a cease-fire will go into effect at 10:00 that night, officially ending the hostilities. But the celebration is short-lived, as Potter orders the camp moved back to its original site so the remaining wounded can be treated. Among the wounded is one of the musicians, barely alive after the truck carrying the POWs was shelled. None of the other four survived, and this one soon dies as well. A shaken Winchester retires to his tent, where he plays a record of the Mozart piece they were rehearsing, then angrily yanks it from the turntable and smashes it.

That's pretty much how I've felt this year, in a nutshell. Sadly, I couldn't find a video for that scene. If you read the link, I guess the first couple of paragraphs in the plot synopsis also apply. You can see part of that scene.

Crushed by the wheels of Industry

Just a couple of days after I posted my previous entry, I got a rejection e-mail from the temp agency that Main ex-Employer partnered with. I know I've said it before, but I swear I'm giving up on trying to go back there again. Last week, CBS Evening News did a story about Main ex-Employer hiring so many people for the holiday season. An ex-coworker posted the video on Facebook, saying "Like!" I shared it, and said "Meh." I decided after a few minutes to delete it.

I managed to survive working five days straight. I don't see how people who have to do it every week can make it with their sanity intact. There are so many things there that frustrate me that I try to repress most of the memories. One thing that was noteworthy during that time was that I saw one of my favorite co-workers who I've written about before, and her ogre of a fiancee, right after I clocked out for lunch one night. She mentioned that Main ex-Employer was hiring, and I was like, "Yeah, I've already tried." We talked for a minute or two.

There's a song by Heaven 17 whose title describes how I feel: "Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry". That's almost a more fitting title for a Fear Factory song. :) I don't feel quite as bad as I did two weeks ago when I wrote "Sick of it all", but I still feel beaten down and defeated. Work is draining, and looking for work is draining, so looking for work while I've been working has just about sucked the life out of me. I've been waiting for something like Occupy Wall Street to come along since possibly the Clinton Administration. Now that it's here? Eh. I support it wholeheartedly, but can't muster up the energy to participate. If I were still unemployed, you could bet your ass that I'd totally be occupying something.

Blah Blah Blah

I had a pretty decent three day stretch at work, which was much needed after the previous work week. They've hired a few people, the trucks weren't too huge, and we only had one truck each night. The only thing that really sucked was having to go out to push carts a couple of times on those days. I think they need to hire more cart pushers. I also got to miss out on a lot of fun stuff on Saturday, including a showing of Tron at my favorite theater.

I've mentioned recently that Main ex-Employer was partnering with a temp agency for the holiday season. It was all over the local news Monday that they would be hiring 3000 people for the season. Like every year, I'm thinking that most of the people who go there hoping that their jobs will become permanent will be disappointed. Any news about employment going up from October through December shouldn't be seen as an indicator for anything. I don't see myself getting called up, and after remembering what a clusterfuck the parking lot was last year and imagining how bad it could get this year, I don't think I'll be missing it.

I'm approaching the end of three days off. This "weekend" was a disaster. 'Nuff said.

The week of August 18th (so far)

Updated 9-28-2011: Geez, I was so out of it when I wrote this that it took me almost a week to figure out that I put the wrong month in the title! Of course I meant September.

I mentioned on August 15th that I had an interview with a major employer. Today, I got a rejection e-mail from them. This basically means that there is no reason not to go to school at this point. Now, if only I can get this "pre-going to school" thing sorted out. I'd still like to find a higher paying job to work until I do start school so I can get away from Mega Lo Mart.

I ended up with a flat tire on my way to work on Tuesday. I got to work about a half hour late. With the exception of hurting my thumb, it actually wasn't a bad night at work, and that's one of the rare times that the night at work was better than the drive.

Wednesday was actually fun as Hell. Went to Waterfront Park for 91.9 WFPK's last Waterfront Wednesday. It was a much better lineup than the last time I went, with They Might Be Giants, J. Roddy Walston & The Business, and Louisville's own The Deloreans. Saw lots of people who I hadn't seen in a long time, including some ex-coworkers. According to one of my ex-coworkers, she now works with a few people that we used to work with at Main ex-Employer. Funny.

Last but not least, I HATE the new Facebook changes, and I'm not looking forward to what they have in store. I've learned of some hints to make it more bearable, but it's still a freaking mess. I'm kind of bugged by the people who bitch about people bitching about the changes. It's not that the bitching-about-bitchers crowd don't have some good points, but it was a Comfort Zone of sorts. Yes, if the FB changes are the worst thing to happen to you then yes you're having a good day. But if you've been overwhelmed with bullshit like I have, dealing with the changes makes things even more aggravating.

Not one damn, shit, or fuck was given.

I have a hard time working more than two days at a time at Mega Lo Mart anymore. This recent four day stretch just about did me in. Thursday wasn't too horrible. Friday was a two-truck night, and we only had four in our crew, plus our supervisor. They've taken away at least half of our empty bin space where we used to put the pallets that we stacked freight on, to use them either for overstock or supposedly for layaway items. We barely have enough room in our room for one big truck, and we actually have no room anymore for a two-truck night! One of the day-shift managers assigned the breakpacks to me, which I'm usually not too bad at, but I got bombarded, and spent the entire night working on them, even working a couple of hours over to finish them. They brought in a bunch of people who had never unloaded before to help with the second truck, but instead of being any help, they just made a huge mess. Three of the crew left just after 1:00 a.m., leaving just me and the supervisor to try to finish everything up. Honestly, the only reason I didn't leave at 1:00 was because I felt obligated to at least finish the breakpacks. Around 3:30-ish, the supervisor told me what was left to do, and not to worry about cleaning, and then clocked out. Then he came back and told me that he was off the clock, so he couldn't really tell me what to do, I think he just came back there to thank me for staying over. After he walked away, I considered trying to finish everything up, but then I was like, "Fuck it", and did a couple of important things on my way to the time clock. Had it been approaching 2:00, I might have wrapped everything up, but since it was approaching 4:00, I decided I really didn't give a fuck. Hell, I'm normally in bed by then!

Something else about Friday that really aggravated me was this one redneck bastard customer. After lunch, I went out to the Sales Floor for the sole purpose of changing tasks (Don't get me started!), and as I was making my way to the back room, some customer hollered at me to get my attention. I can't quite remember, but I think he was asking me if I had a key for the video game case, which I don't. He said that one of the Electronics guys walked off when he tried to ask him something, said he was rude and then implied that the guy was probably gay, then apologized in case it offended me. I had no idea who he was talking about. I did see one other Electronics guy, but he was busy with some customers. Then one of my crew finished up with his Task crap and helped me with talking to the guy, and I eventually saw the guy he was talking about. I eventually walked away. I seriously had to suppress the urge to smash that guy's face! For one, do NOT fucking yell at me like that! And two, do NOT disrespect my coworkers like that! I've seen a lot of morons shopping there, but I'm actually surprised that I haven't had more like him.

I came in on Saturday wore out and not giving a fuck. We had a mid-size truck, but only three people, and the supervisor was off that night. I got lectured by the same manager who assigned me to breakpacks the day before about not doing some of the stuff that I was supposed to do before I left that morning. I didn't say it, but I didn't give a fuck. We got some help unloading the truck. We were told to try to hurry up. I didn't give a fuck. Then they sent some of us out to bring the carts back from the parking lot. Then we went back to finish the truck. We got done with the truck a half hour later than we were scheduled to. After our break, which was about an hour before lunch, they sent two of us back out to push carts, when we could have been helping get stuff straightened out in the back room. But even if they didn't send us out to push carts, they would have had us do some other bullshit instead. We busted our asses trying to get the freight onto the floor. Around 12-something, one of the 3rd Shift managers bitched me out because she had supposedly been paging us for an hour to log out of our tasks (Again, don't get me started!), then she said that she wanted to talk to us at some point, I figure probably to bitch. But I guess we were too busy actually doing our jobs for her to get us all together in one place to bitch. I left at 1:15, the other two guys left at around 1:30, and I think one of the 3rd shift guys from the back room finished up what little there was left to do.

Oh, and there were two birthday parties I could have gone to had I not had to work on Saturday.

I came in Sunday virtually the same way I came in on Saturday, wore out and not giving a fuck. The good news was that we had a similar sized truck as the night before, but we also had two extra people, and at least one person from outside the department helping with the unload. But we spent our first half hour in the parking lot bringing carts back in. Around 11:00, two of our more experienced people were sent to stock, leaving me with the supervisor and one of the newbs. The supervisor works 3-midnight instead of 4-1, so at midnight I was left with the newb. I think we got most of what needed to be done, but not quite everything they wanted us to do. I had Monday off, so not one fuck was given either way.

I'm seriously trying not to quit until I have something else lined up, but these past four days really tested my patience. I wonder sometimes how much mind I have left to lose. I think of "Should I Stay or Should I Go". There would actually be more trouble if I go, but I feel like if I stay too long, then I'm liable to go Full Retard (or something) on somebody, most likely a manager, but possibly even a customer like the one I had on Friday. I don't even want to think about going back in tomorrow, even if I do have two nights off after then.

Something's got to give.

Detecting b.s. in job ads

When I got home from work on Monday night, I saw the local paper sitting on the kitchen table, and decided to check out the Help Wanted ads. By "local paper", I'm referring to Shepherdsville's paper The Pioneer News, and not Louisville's Courier-Journal. The jobs section of the C-J these days is pretty pathetic, so there's usually a good chance that The PN's jobs section will be pretty slim pickin's as well. As I predicted, the only ads for the kinds of jobs of which I have experience were for temp agencies. When I got up the next day, my dad told me that he wanted me to check out The Pioneer News because there were some jobs he wanted me to see. Then I told him that I already checked it out, and that the only jobs in there that were worth a crap were from temp agencies. He then opens up the paper and asks me which ones were temp agencies, and I point to three ads. He asks me where they say "temp", and I'm like, "Trust me, they're temp agencies!" Then he points to some other ad, and asks, "What's that?"  The ad he pointed to said this:

ATTENTION

$20/START

Local company has 15-20

immediate

openings in our

Customer

Service

Dept.

No experience

necessary!

We train!

Must Have Own

Transportation.

Management Available.

No layoffs.

PLEASE CALL FOR

INTERVIEW

(Then it lists the number)

Having actually been unemployed and looking for work at various times in the past 13 years, and having checked out some places or done some further research on the web, I've developed a pretty good Bullshit Detector when it comes to job ads. "Customer Service" isn't a bad thing, but I don't trust seeing those words attached to an ad where no company name is mentioned, and for that matter I don't trust any ad where a company name isn't attached. When my dad asked me what I thought it was, my first thought was that it was probably something shady, but I wasn't sure how to tell my dad that. Instead, I was like, "I don't know, probably answering phones or something." Then he said something to the effect of, "Well for $20, surely you could answer a fucking phone?" I don't know if I've mentioned it here yet, but I have issues with telephones, especially when it comes to using them for work, so I absolutely avoid phone jobs. So, I told him, "I'm not good at working with phones." Then he asked me, "Well what are you good at?" I told him that I was good at what I did at Main ex-Employer, to which he replied, "Well, you must not have been good enough since they never called you back." Then I told him that there were lots of good people who got laid off from there who didn't get called back. We were probably talking about two different eras, since I was referring to the job I did when I got laid off, while he might have been talking about when I worked there on a seasonal basis the past two years. Of course, what I really wanted to tell him was "Well fuck you old man!" I absolutely love starting the day with an argument...not. Needless to say, a Lorazepam tablet was consumed.

Wednesday night, I finally got around to looking up the number that was listed in the ad, and it seems that my suspicion was justified. It seems to be some Sales type of job, and possibly even a pyramid scheme. From the number, I found a company name, so I looked up the company name, and found this. Make sure to hit "next page" when you get to the bottom of the thread, the second page is probably even more revealing about the job aspect of the company.

So, to answer my dad's question, I guess I'm good at detecting bullshit in job ads. If I were a really good blogger, I'd tell you what to look out for.

Crew update

Another one of our new guys quit, supposedly because some woman pissed him off when she told him that he couldn't go to the bathroom until break. The woman was described as being white haired, and there is virtually know one we know of who has any authority with white hair. So basically, if anyone told most of us that we couldn't go to the bathroom, we'd tell them to kiss our ass. This guy had another job making $10/hour, and had a bit of a short fuse, so I figure he was just finding a reason to quit.

To update, seven people were hired in August, excluding the new supervisor. Two have already transferred to 3rd shift, four have officially been fired or quit, and I'm not even sure that the one remaining guy is still with us. For the amount of work we do and the amount of pay we get, you either have to be stupid, crazy, or really desperate to do our job. I'll cop to the last two. The only good thing I can say about the past two weeks is that the "stupid" element has been weeded out. But seriously, how can you expect to find good help when you only pay minimum wage for a job that most places would pay $9-$10/hour for? The only reason I even make $7.65 is because of my previous experience.

Glad I missed that one!

I had Saturday August 27th off so I could go see my favorite theater's midnight showing of "Road House". I was doubly glad that I didn't have to work that day since a Pop-Country singer was making an appearance at my store. (I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I despise Pop Country, or Cuntry for short.)  I was triply glad I wasn't there after I heard on Sunday what a clusterfuck Saturday night ended up being. A lot of stuff had to be moved into our room to make room for the performer's area, it was a two-truck night, and my crew got a late start on the unloading. This particular singer is now a scapegoat for anything that goes wrong.

If I'm not mistaken, seven people were hired for my crew in August, excluding our new lead, who seems to be an alright guy. Of the seven, only two are still working with us. Two other people moved to 3rd shift stocking, and the last three either quit or got fired. Besides those people, we've also had one person get fired, and two people move to 3rd shift. I'm not great at math, but from what I understand, we basically have as many (non-management) people now as we did at the beginning of August. Smooth! On the upside, if you count our lead guy, we actually gained one person.

One of the books I bought when I went to Borders was the Tenth Anniversary Edition of Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America. I had the original hardcover, but wanted to get this new edition since it had a new Afterword. This book is an absolute Must Read! I had forgotten that it had a whole chapter dedicated to my current employer, and I realized that it was one of the reasons why I resisted getting a job there for so long.

Despite my anxiety mentioned in my previous post, the thought of working at my current job for much longer, or even at Main ex-Employer's warehouse no matter how much I liked it there, makes the idea of going to school more and more attractive.

Decisions, Decisions

(This part was written on Monday. I had more, but decided not to post the rest of it, but I might save it for later.)

I managed to survive another five day stretch at work. Believe it or not, I hate slow nights almost as much as I do two-truck nights. Our truck for Thursday was only 300 pieces, very small. I'm sure they expected us to get it done in an hour, but it took a little longer than that seeing as that the room wasn't set up for us like it's normally supposed to be. And of course, as soon as the truck was unloaded, we had to go do some other task despite the fact that there was more that could've been done in our area. I hate the slow days because that's when we have to do "bitch work", and I'm not really comfortable going outside my regular duties, and the days tend to drag. Friday was a ridiculous two-truck night, totaling up to about 5500 pieces. Those morons still expect us to get each truck done in two hours, whether it's a 1500 piece or a 2500+ piece. Three hours is a much more realistic amount of time for anything over 2000 pieces.

(Now for the new stuff.)

I'm freaking out, again, over the whole work/school thing. Here's what I might possibly have going on.:

• I applied for a major employer a couple of months ago. So many other people applied for those jobs that I doubt I'll get it.
• I mentioned recently that I had an interview with another major employer. It could be a few months before they actually do any hiring, and I'm not sure if I did well enough on the interview to be considered.
• One of the people at Vocational Rehab tried to put in a good word for me at another employer, who isn't doing any immediate hiring yet either. She couldn't guarantee me an interview, but she did say that when they start hiring again, they'll definitely give my application a look.
• I figured that if I didn't hear from any of these jobs by the time "Main ex-Employer" started hiring for the holiday peak season, that I'd try to get on there (because I'll be damned if I was going to work at my current job during the holidays), work there until the end of the year, all while working on getting into school for the Spring semester. I found out that "Main ex-Employer" was using a temp agency this year for the seasonal temps, and ironically it's the same agency I was working for when I decided to try getting back on at "Main ex-Employer" in 2009, so I was worried that the agency wouldn't let me back in. When I did try to apply online, there was a question asking if I had worked either full time or part time for "Main ex-Employer" before, to which I answered "Yes." When I hit the "Next" button, I got a message saying that I'd get an e-mail saying something about my eligibility. The e-mail that I got just said that my information would be carefully reviewed, and that I'd be contacted directly if I were chosen. I can't say I'm too confident about it.
• The financial aid processing deadline date for the Spring semester is October 15th, so I guess I'm going to have to decide if I'm going to school or not before the end of September. But what if I hear from one of the prospective employers after I enroll? What if I suck at the school thing? What if going to school does absolutely nothing for me in the job market, seeing as that lots of other college grads can't find work either? And what if we get someone like Rick Perry or Michelle Bachmann for President next year, thus ensuring the destruction of the U.S., making it all pointless?

Decisions, decisions. How the hell do you people keep from freaking out?

On another note, this is one of those weekends where I wish I still had a "second home" in Louisville since there is so much going on there this weekend. One thing I intend to do is go to Borders for their "Going Out Of Business" sale. I really hate that they're going out of business, but at least I'll be able to buy more than one or two books. While I'm on the subject of book stores, I have a friend who works at Barnes & Noble. The store is a little out of my way to shop at on a regular basis, but I really hope they stick around for my friend's sake.

I wanna go home...

With the exception of Saturday, this was almost a good week at work. From Tuesday through Thursday, Dragon Lady was supposedly on vacation, even though she just got back from vacation last week. Despite all the dumb changes that I mentioned in my previous post, it didn't feel quite as stressful due to Dragon Lady's absence. On Friday, she was fired, for multiple reasons. I didn't find out until Saturday that her biggest offense was stealing. Before that, I actually did hope that she would have better luck finding another job than I have, but I lost any sympathy I might have had for her when I found out about the stealing. Despite being a two-truck night, everybody was in a good mood, and we managed to get stuff done. It was a pretty good night.

On my way to work on Saturday, I heard "Sloop John B" by The Beach Boys, you probably know it better as the "I wanna go home" song. I went in hoping it was going to be a good day, but it turned out to be one of the most frustrating nights since July 4th. Yes, even worse than last Saturday. And I think I'll leave it at that.

I had an interview today, I think it went okay. The place I interviewed at is close to the area where I used to live a couple of years ago. This job pays enough for me to move out to that area, that is if I get the job. I kinda miss living there.

I'm so dreading coming in to work on Tuesday, mostly because I'm wondering if there will be repercussions from Saturday. I'm already ready for this week to be over. Next week is one of those odd weeks where I'm only scheduled to work three days. From a Sunday-through-Saturday perspective (as opposed to the Saturday-through-Friday pay period) I only work two nights next week. I hope I can actually get stuff accomplished.

Making a bad job even worse.

After the depressing three day weekend, I had an excruciating five days at work. Right after the remodel was finally done, the store got a new store manager, and some changes are being made, most of them for the worse. If we have two trucks, they can no longer start unloading the first truck before 4:00, when the unloaders (of which I'm one) come in. No matter how much is on the truck, the truck is expected to be completely unloaded by 6:00. This includes having the palletized freight off the truck, and having the breakpacks (reusable boxes that have assorted stuff) sorted. If we have a second truck, it is to be completed by 8:00. If we have an average size truck (somewhere from 1200 to 1800 pieces) then we might be able to get all the loose freight unloaded by 6:00, but the breakpacks probably won't be finished. But there's no way we can finish a truck larger than 2000 pieces in two hours. That many pieces is enough to fill up the usable portion of our small-ass room, and gods help us if we have a second truck because there will be no place to put the freight from it. So basically, in most cases there's no way we can finish two trucks in four hours, especially since we have to take a break after the first truck or we'll be likely to keel over from exhaustion before Lunch. But if we don't get these done on time, they'll start writing us up.

On Saturday, we had two trucks, one had about 2400 pieces, and the other had about 2200 pieces, adding up to a whopping 4600! It took us two and a half hours to do the first (and supposedly larger) truck, and it took us about three and a half hours to do the second truck! I stayed over for about an hour and ten minutes.

Dragon Lady had been on vacation, and she wasn't missed while she was gone. She returned on Wednesday, which was the first of the two two-truck nights that I worked this week. We only had one 1100 piece truck on Friday. We got all the loose freight done just after 6:00, but the palletized freight was still on there, and the breakpacks weren't finished. It should be noted that we had three new hires come in and work for the first time, so they weren't going to be too quick, and one of our guys was pulled off during the unloading to do something different. Dragon Lady stopped us on our way to the breakroom, and couldn't believe that we didn't quite have everything done, and spouted off a bunch of bullshit. Towards the end of her rant, she said to our acting lead, "These other guys are looking at me like I'm an idiot." You don't know how hard I had to repress the urge to say, "That's because you are!" Granted, she's just taking orders from higher up, but that doesn't mean I can't despise her way of dealing with it. Thankfully, we didn't have to deal with her on Saturday.

I can't help but feel that this is a shitty time to be living in the U.S., and I'm not even worried about the stock market! The stock market, especially the Dow Jones, never really seemed to reflect how me or the average American was doing financially. Or to quote Morrissey, "It speaks nothing to me about my life." I was just thinking that when Morrissey says "Hang the blessed D.J.", you can use D.J. to mean Dow Jones. :)