What a great night...

I got all my errands done before I had to go to work tonight (yeah for me!) and then my evening just went really well.  It was a short shift, which is allright, but I usually don't really like working for less than 5 hours.  Shifts that short give you just enough time to get in there, work really hard during the rush and then work even harder to get everything done before your shift ends.

But, it was a really great shift.  I got multiple compliments from customers, and several customers asked how they could let the company know I was doing a great job.  I had a couple of father/son groups come in who were the most complimentary.  The first was a scout leader and his two sons, and then the dad with two baseball player sons.  They were really nice, and they really liked me.  In fact, the father of the two baseball players wanted to fill out a comment card.  When I told him that we didn't have any comment cards but he could call the number on his receipt to let them know how he felt he didn't seem too interested in pursuing it.  (I didn't mind because, hey, it was really nice just to get these great compliments...whether corporate would hear about it or not.)  Then he did something that totally blew me away.  He asked me if I could break a hundred, and then he gave me a $20 tip!  (I was reluctant to accept it, but he wouldn't take it back so I went ahead and took it.  I'm going to use it to buy some prizes/surprises for all the crew members who work so hard on every shift.  Sort of like an 'employee of the day/week' prize, only from me personally, not the company.)

Then the shift leader for tonight complimented me inadvertantly.  She asked me about my kids and when I showed her my pictures she was astonished.  She thought they were my nieces and nephew, or younger siblings.  When I told her no, they were my kids, ages 20, 18, and 12, she asked me how old I was.  I told her I'm 39 and her jaw dropped in shock.  She said there was no way I'm 39...she thought I was only about 28.  How cool is that?  Apparently I look much younger than I thought I did, because I've been feeling like I look at least my own age if not older.  Partly because of excess weight, partly because I am starting to get fine lines/wrinkles and gray hair, and partly because I am tired and in pain most of the time and I feel like that is reflected in my face.  I don't know why her thinking I was younger made me feel so good, but I think it had to do with the fact that she is in her early 20's, pretty, and stylish.  The fact that she thought I was close to her age just made me feel less old and tired I guess...

So, anyway, Tuesday Morning is having another sale this weekend and I am going to take that tip money and go shopping on Saturday.  I need to find things that will appeal to people in their late teens/early twenties, who are primarily hispanic.  That, and they need to be small/inexpensive things.  As many as I can manage to get with just the tip money.  This sale is huge though; everything that is already marked down is an additional 50% off and my daughter gets 20% off of that total.  So I am actually pretty optimistic that I will find some good stuff.  Especially considering that everything they carry is high end to begin with...it all comes from expensive department stores.  Plus I have an ace in the hole...my daughter works there (and is the right age), so she is going to look around for me ahead of time.

I think that the company has the right idea about acknowledging the hard work of it's employees with daily praise and personal touches on awards.  I just think that if I also show the team members I appreciate their efforts, on my own time and my own dime (sort of), that it will help make them like their jobs better too.  Punishments or correction are the most effective way to handle screw ups, but I just don't see enough managers/bosses rewarding good work anywhere near as often as they should.

So little time, so much to do

I just got through running a whole bunch of errands, I still have more to run today, and then I have to go to work.  Anyway, I met a really nice lady while I was getting my oil changed.  She works for Cisco here in Scottsdale, and she teaches the CCNA course.  We talked for a few minutes while we waited for our cars and she was just a really nice person.  It certainly made the time go by faster.

The manager of the jiffy lube kind of irritated me though.  I know that they are trained (and required) to try to upsell their customers, but it usually isn't this blatant and insulting.  He acted like I was a total moron who didn't know how to read an odometer, or take care of any of my cars basic needs...and that was after I had told him that I had just replaced the radiator and the fan motor all by my 'little ole' self.  Sheesh!  He said that my oil change was way overdue because the oil was thick and sludgy, when in fact it was pretty close to dead on the money at 3000 miles.  Well, DUH oil change boy!  I just got through telling you that I had to replace my radiator because it had a crack in it and the car was having an overheating problem.  Let's see, what would driving a car that was running really hot and almost overheating every time it was driven for about two months do to the condition of that cars oil?  ( I couldn't help driving it, I only have one car and I couldn't afford the radiator when it first started, but I was very careful to make sure it didn't actually overheat or get driven more than absolutely necessary.) Could that burn the oil and make it thick and sludgy perhaps?  Hmm...no it must be that the driver is a stupid girl and can't count.

Then this 'oh so wonderfully qualified' mechanic, who is so well trained he can only get a job at Jiffy Lube, tells me that I need a radiator flush and my coolant has too much water in it.  Well, DUH-UH-UH oil change boy!  I just told you that I replaced my old cracked radiator less than a week ago.  Do you think that maybe, just maybe, (being a reasonably intelligent person) that I might have flushed the radiator at the same time to eliminate any existing rust or contaminants messing up my brand new radiator?  What a moron.  And, yeah, I know the radiator has a bit too much water, but I ran out of coolant before it got full, and I wasn't driving the car with the brand new radiator only half freakin full.  I know that not using the proper mixture of coolant can cause a radiator to rust, but it's been less than a week and I am not paying these morons twice what it would cost me to drain the radiator and refill it myself.

I am so glad he didn't try to tell me my brand new air filter needed to be replaced.  I probably would have screamed at him!  I really detest it when any 'so called' professional assumes you're a moron because you don't have a job in their field.  It's rude, and it stupid.  Especially when you've already made it clear that you know a lot about the work in question.  I may not be a mechanic, but I've been working on cars since I was 13, which is probably about ten years longer than he has been changing oil and trying to rip people off.  I swear, if it weren't such an inconvenience I'd just start changing my own oil again!  As it stands I am irritated enough that I will probably find somewhere else to get my oil changed.

I have to go run the rest of my errands so that I will get  to work on time.  Later.

I like Scottsdale.

It may seem silly that I'm saying it, but I really do like it here.  I never thought I would live in Arizona, and I really never thought that I would like it if I had to live here.  I hated this state every time I had to drive through it to go back and forth between CA and TX.  It was a horrible place, and I just didn't like it.  Of course, all I ever really saw of it then was Tucson and interstate highways.

Scottsdale is really a very nice place.  There are lots of trees and grass and, even though it's kind of a suburb of Phoenix, it almost has a small town feeling to it.  Just about all of the people I've met so far are nice, the scenery is nice, the shops are cool, the transit system is incredible, and it just feels so much more like home than any other place (outside of Houston) that I've had to live.  The only things missing to really make it feel like home are my family and the horrible humidity.  I miss my family, but I really don't miss the humidity.  I hate humidity.  I can't even stand humidifiers...they make me sick.  (So, how much worse is that when the whole freakin city you live in is a giant humidifier?)  We moved here right in the middle of the worst of the summer heat, and emptying the truck wasn't even that bad.  We would have been dying in Houston...just wiped out and unable to breath properly.

I like most of the people I work with too.  They aren't necessarily the smartest bunch of people I've ever met, but they are really hard working and most of them are really nice.  In fact, I have yet to meet anyone at work that I can't at least get along with, which is saying a whole lot in the restaurant industry.  I don't think I've ever worked in a restaurant where I could tolerate the entire staff, even on a bad day.  There are always a few people, in full service restaurants, that you would happily strangle if given the chance to do it with no consequences.

Of course, the fact that all of the people who are going to have a hand in where my career with this company goes are very impressed with me so far doesn't hurt either.  I've already been told that I will most likely have my own store within a year, and I've already been asked to be the assistant manager (for one of my current assistant managers) when she gets her own store.  In fact, I think that we could actually be friends.  She's really nice, and she's so not a complicated or bitchy woman.  I don't usually get along well with women, but I think we could really get along well.  Maybe it's because she isn't like the typical woman, or maybe it's just because I am older and kind of fat right now, so she doesn't feel threatened by me.

I am happier with this job too.  It doesn't kill me physically, and I am so much better at customer service than most everyone I work with that I really stand out as being good at this.  So far, every single shift that I have worked I have gotten at least one compliment from a customer...more often three or more.  That's a really nice feeling.  I was a very good waitress, but even being good at that, I didn't get direct compliments from my customers every day!  It's nice to have people acknowledge that you do a good job, and it's so much easier to achieve where I am now.  People don't even expect good service at a fast food restaurant anymore, and I give them the kind of service I've always given my customers.  I think it's really funny whenever I see a look of incredulous shock on the faces of customers who are recieving full service restaurant level service in a fast food restaurant.  They are always happy when they just get good service, but they're really nice to me because I make sure the service is better than just good.  In fact, I have yet to have a single person complain.

I'm hoping that I don't get apathetic about this though, because it really does make working a lot easier when you can feel good about what you are doing.  Those compliments and happy faces make doing such a menial job a lot more tolerable and more rewarding.  I'm going to do my best never to take the compliments for granted or get bored and apathetic like a lot of the people who work fast food.  It's not just a job.  Yeah, there are a lot of jobs out there that are better...more prestigious or with higher pay...but regardless of that, this job takes up a lot of my time so it's a big chunk of my life.  Being bored or apathetic about it would just make me unhappy/disatisfied.

Anyway, I'll write more later. Bye.

Things are looking up!

Things are definitely getting better on the job/financial front.  My husband started his new job on Monday(WooHoo!!!), and I got a second job as a management trainee and then I quit my first job.  I much prefer my new position as an assistant manager trainee to the job I had with its very vague possibility of management training at some unknown point in the future. 

I am so sick of taking jobs in full service restaurants, after being promised management training, and then finding myself still stuck as a shift leader/trainer a year down the line (with no hint of management training being offered to me at any point.)  Then, usually another 6 months down the line, when I get demanding or fed up, the general manager tells me he/she can't afford to lose me as a shift leader because I'm sooo wonderful at it...talk about a bad way to keep your best people!  Of course, I always get really ticked at that point and quit, and I get to start the whole process again. 

Not this time...this time I took a job at a fast food restaurant as an assistant manager.  The pay is just as good, the hours are no worse, the insurance is probably better, and the advancement potential is absolutely better.  I've already been told that I will most likely have my own store within the next year.  They are opening ten new locations in this area, are in desperate need of good employees, and I have already been fast tracked through the training.  I will be fully trained as an assistant manager within the few weeks. 

The twenty years of experience I have in customer service is standing me in good stead at this job.  I've already really impressed every manager I've had contact with, and I think that I will do very well with this company.  They are worldwide, and have locations literally anywhere that I could possibly be interested in living/visiting...so, if we did need to move again, I could most likely transfer to a store whereever we ended up needing to go.  (Heck,I might even be the one that ends up getting promoted and needing my husband to move for my job.)  Plus, most of the managers that I have met have been with the company for 18 years or more.  I believe that speaks really well for how they treat their employees, since most full service restaurants can't keep management staff for more than about 5 years.  I don't particularly want to have to work, but since I need to do so again I am really glad I found someplace that really seems to appreciate what I am capable of and how hard I work.

Anyway, I'm tired so that's all for now.  I'll write more later.

Almost done training...

So, I got a job at Claim Jumper in Scottsdale.  It's a nice restaurant, and they have really good food.  The dinner shifts are going to pay a lot more than the lunch shifts, but I like it there so far.  The biggest problem is that I haven't been doing it for a while, so I am tired and sore all the time.  My final training shift is tomorrow at 5 PM.  Training sucks in restaurants because they expect you to do all the work, to prove you can, but then you don't get any of the tips.  Anyway, I'm sure I'll feel better about being tired and sore all the time once I start getting to keep the tips. 

I'll feel a whole lot better about it once my husband finally gets a job.  He's been applying for jobs constantly, but he hasn't gotten a position yet.  I honestly don't really care what job he gets at this point...I just want him employed.  Maybe it's just because my father was old fashioned, but I want any job I might have to be excess income.  I was raised to believe that I could do whatever I set my mind to doing, but my father never wanted his 'girls' to have to work...not his wife or his daughters.  The thing is, that's the way it has always been in my marriage.  We've been married for almost 16 years, and I haven't had to work for the last 13 years.  I'm just not used to this, nor do I like it.  Not to mention that my marketable skills have not improved over that time period because we didn't think that I would have to work again.  Basically, it's taking a giant leap backwards.  (If I'd known, I could have gone to school part time and gotten a degree in something)

I really don't want to make my husband feel worse than he already does about getting laid off, but I really don't like this at all.  I don't like being flat broke with loads of debt, I don't like owing my family money.  I don't like losing everything we worked so hard for, and I don't like having to worry about upsetting him if/when I express that.  This whole situation sucks and, after he couldn't find a job last year, he spent a lot of the other half of the year trying to transition from the working world into being a professional gambler.  I mean, he's a good poker player, but it's not exactly a stable source of income is it?  Not to mention the element of luck, and needing to have the money to buy in to big money tournaments to get any decent payout for your money.  I don't care how good you are, if the cards are against you you're not going to win. 

Hopefully the next time I post he'll have a job again.