OT #387 -- Rejoice! We Finally Made It!

[WisteriaJ7]

Congratulations, guys! After two and a half years, we finally made it past 150 replies so we could start a new thread! Here is the link to our old thread, OT #386.

Here are a couple of my latest posts from the old thread, in case you didn't read them there:

Originally Posted by WisteriaJ7

I was just thinking about Fanbolt and the Everwood OT thread, so I thought I'd come see what was going on here. It's nice that so many of us oldies have stopped by to say hi the past couple months! I've thought about lots of you lately, wondering how you're doing. Thanks for the congratulations on my graduation and wedding, everyone.

Shirphie -- That's great that you finished your first year of university. Congratulations!

Jessica (fellow Night Owl!) -- It's wonderful that you'll be graduating soon, Jessica.

Marco -- What's new in your life? I hope you're doing well.

Jon -- That's great that you moved and that you like your new place. So you're living in Orange County?

Rob -- How did your interview go? I hope things are going well for you. I rediscovered Poppit last week and thought of you!

Jaki -- Hello, little sis! How are you? Last I heard from you, you were still in Switzerland on an exchange program.

I'll have to stop by here more often. One thing that deters me is the pop-up ads, which I hate. But I miss talking with you guys. It's been a long time since my last post! I still remember my first time posting here. It was Valentines Day of 2004 (my senior year of high school) and I talked with Rob and Tania. A lot has happened in our lives since then! It's partially thanks to Rob and Jon that I decided to move to Canada to attend university, and I'm so glad that I did.

As I mentioned in my previous post, May was a busy month for me. I graduated on May 3rd and got married on May 17th! My wedding day was wonderful. Our wedding ceremony was beautiful, and the reception was lots of fun. My husband Justin and I have been married six months now. I love married life! We plan on living here in Canada for another year, as Justin's finishing his fourth year of university. I'm working doing marketing for my dad's online business and occasionally babysitting. I'm still very involved with the children's programs at my church. I lead Sunday School each week and teach Junior Church once a month. I love the kids there! Other than that, I spend most of my time with my husband and friends.

Originally Posted by WisteriaJ7

Nick -- It wasn't my day, it was my past six months. Congratulations on your two year anniversary!

That's cool that you're living there now, Jon. Ah, Santa Ana winds! It's sad, but I actually miss them. I really miss California. I haven't been home to San Diego since last summer. This will be my first Christmas away from California (or, you know, Mexico!), which I know will be hard for me. Plane tickets are just so expensive. We hope to be able to go back there sometime next summer, though.

What do you guys have planned for Christmas? I'm really excited for Christmas! My husband and I plan on visiting his parents for a few days and spending Christmas with them. Then at some point during his Christmas vacation, we plan on visiting my sister and her family. I'm very excited for that! She's pregnant and due any day now with my new nephew. I'm looking forward to meeting him! Other than that, we'll spend the rest of the holidays here at home.

Jon -- That's cool that you'll be making the entire Thanksgiving dinner yourself. I miss American Thanksgiving. We had Thanksgiving last month and it was nice spending it with Justin's family, but it's just not the same. Our only plans for Thanksgiving are optometrist appointments. Thrilling, I know! Hey, I was just wondering if you're affected by the (yearly) California wildfires? I saw that it hit parts of Orange County yesterday and wanted to make sure you're okay.

My nephew was born yesterday at 11:26 AM! His name is Brandon...Brandon James Donald! He was 7 pounds, 3 ounces, and and 21¾ inches long. I'm so excited to see him over Christmas break!

I had a good morning. I went to church this morning, where I led Sunday School (with five 4-5 year olds) and then led Junior Church (with fourteen 4-10 year olds). It was so tiring but lots of fun! "My kids" are great! I need to go now 'cause I'm making homemade bread for dinner tonight. Justin and I plan on having six of our friends over for dinner. It should be fun!

[Shirphie]

Yay for a new thread!

Hi, Joy! Thanks for the congrats! Same to you on your wedding and marriage and birth of your nephew!

Mmm, homemade bread! That sounds amazing! Hope the dinner goes well!

[Rjm7272]

Well, now that we have a new thread, the next question is how long will this one last?

The interview appearantly didn't go very well, since I didn't get that job. They gave it to the person with "more experience." Though, I now am wondering how one can get experience if one can't get a job to begin with.....

So, for now, its back to work in the warehouse, as much as my body might hate me for it.....

[WisteriaJ7]

Jon, I really hope you're okay and that you weren't affected by the fires in Orange County.

Aww, thanks for your congratulations, Shirphie. I kind of cheat with my homemade bread and make it in our breadmaker. It's so delicious, though! Dinner tonight was lots of fun. My husband and I made homemade bread, pot roast, baked potatoes, and steamed vegetables for dinner, and then granada (this frozen appley goodness) for dessert. Only four of our friends were able to make it tonight, but it was so much fun! We had dinner and dessert, and then decided to play Cranium. I love that game and had a great time playing it!

That sucks about you not getting that job, Rob. Believe me, I understand exactly what you mean about companies saying you don't have the experience. I have said the exact same thing as you about how to get that experience if they don't hire me. I applied at over twenty different places trying to get a job as assistant manager and had six interviews with five different companies. Out of all that, nobody wanted to hire me. They said I don't have enough experience. Apparently the four years I worked my butt off at university so I could get a decent job don't matter to them! apparently they don't care that I'm a hard worker and a quick learner! One thing that really bugged me was one place saying that the position was filled, and then finding out two months later on a job website that they are still searching! Liar! Okay, I'm done ranting now.

I worked for two months as a cashier at Wal-Mart trying to gain some retail experience. However, I hated it so much 'cause (1) the work I did had nothing to do with what I studied; I could've done it if I was still in high school!, (2) it was a boring low-paid job, yet I pretty much broke my back working for them, and (3) some of my co-workers there treated me as if I were in kindergarten. Anyway! My dad offered me a job working for his online business, and I've been doing that since September. It's boring but it works for now.

[Jon]

I'm okay for now, I really don't know what will happen if the winds blow the flames towards me. Yesterday while in the parking lot, I could look into the sky and you could see all the smoke. So really it's not that far from me, but I guess for now it's okay. My neighbor told me that last year the fires got so close, all the homes, parking lots and decks to the houses got covered in ashe. So it's not that bad for me as of yet.

Speaking of Wal-Mart, you should have told them all off. Nobody should treat someone else as if they're in kindergarten (unless they are in kindergarten that is.)

[WisteriaJ7]

I'm glad that you're okay for now, Jon. I hope that the windows don't blow the fire toward where you live. My family really experienced the San Diego fires last October. Both my parents and brother and his family had to evacuate. The fire actually hit around our property on three sides. Praise be to God, the fires didn't touch our property, but they came very close (literally, a foot away).

Yeah, I wish I could've told Wal-Mart off, but I wanted to at least get a decent reference from them after I quit. Most of my coworkers (especially the fellow cashiers and floor staff) were great, but here are some of the things that really bothered me about some of the CSMs (Customer Service Managers): (1) One time I was bagging groceries and one of the CSMs came by to let me know it was time for my break. She then told me that I was bagging the groceries wrong; that I should be putting more items in each bag. Oooh that bugged me! Just a couple days before hand, two of my customers complimented me on how great my bagging skils were. Excuse me for not wanting to put food items and household items in the same bag! We were even trained not to do that. She had such a holier-than-thou attitude and it really bothered me. This was the same day that the lines were crazy long. I got really stressed, cried through the next several customers (most of whom didn't notice or care), and then went into the bathroom where I had a mild panic attack. Yeah, fun. Okay, that was my best story.

Here are the other ones: (2) It was another busy day and I was running low on change. I had asked a CSM twice to get me change, and even mentioned it to one of the assistant managers (the position I felt I should be holding!). Anyway, nothing happened and I continued to serve customers. There was one customer who needed lots of change, and I didn't have it. So while the cashier next to me at her door open, I asked if I could trade a $5 bill for loonies and toonies (ah, the joy of Canadian change!). She said no, that it was against procedure. I'm like what-in-the-world? That makes no sense whatsoever. We'd still both have the same amount in our drawer and neither of us is stealing.

Anyway...that reminded me of another story. (3) One customer wanted to pay with about $40 worth of rolled change (lots of pennies and nickels, especially). I wasn't sure if that was allowed, so I asked a CSM and she said yes. So I let her pay with that, but there wasn't enough room to put all that change in the cash drawer, so I put it in another slot and watched it carefully. When I asked a CSM if she had an envelope I could put the change in to get it to a safe spot, she yelled at me for putting it there. Where else do you think it can go?! Ugh.

And here's the last: (4) One morning it was really slow 'cause it was still very early. I was on a cash, and a customer came and asked me to help him find a certain pair of shorts. I told him to ask somebody in menswear, but he said nobody was around. I paged an associate in fashions to help him, but no one did. There were no customers at my cash, and the other two cashes didn't have any, either. So I signed off my cash and went to help him. When a CSM found out she yelled at me for having left my cash (even though I signed off and there weren't any customers in my line!). I so badly wanted to say, "I'm sorry, but I thought it was our job to serve the customer and that the customer is always #1. Excuse me for trying to help him!" Anyway...there's my other little Wal-Mart rant. I am so glad I'm done with that store.

[Rjm7272]

Yeah, it does suck working with people when you feel that you should be in charge. I'm not even sure a high school degree is required to do what I do, and here I am with a college degree. Unfortunatly, it's the only job I could get right now (afterall, I did go an entire year without working, looking for a job before I went back to this warehouse). But, I just have to keep looking for something (anything)....and hope that it will come by soon....

[WisteriaJ7]

No kidding, Rob. I felt the exact same way about working at Wal-Mart. It's good that you have a job for now, but I hope you can find something better very soon. I'm a little upset with my university right now. Here we are, having spent thousands and thousands of dollars at university, yet we're working at jobs where you don't need a university degree. Many of my friends who graduated are currently working minimum-wage jobs at retail stores and fast food restaurants. Somehow that doesn't seem right. One of my professors always said that business is one major that you can actually get good jobs in, yet many of my fellow business graduates are working crummy jobs. I don't regret the time I spent in university or how much I worked, because I learned a lot and had such a wonderful experience. Yet I wish the university did more job placement type stuff to help us actually get a good job after graduating. I'm glad I have this job doing marketing for my dad's business right now, but it's boring working at home.

Other than work, what have you been up to lately, Rob?

[Rjm7272]

I'm not up to much. I don't really have time for anything else...I wake up, I go to work, I come home, and go straight to bed. I still go spend some time on weekends at Colgate to visit friends there, but other than that, I have no life besides work

[Jon]

Man...that's got to be exciting..... Sheesh, that would drive me up the wall, wake-up, go to work, come home, then straight to bed. I mean I do all of that but I don't come home then straight to bed, you need time to have fun and relax. That's part of why I love Orange County, it's a peaceful part of the state and the weather is amazing. Nothing beats 95* in the dead of winter. I saw a weather report for a part of Canada, -1* Celcius. I don't know what is more amazing, 95* F here, or -1* C there, which is about 30*F. That's a 65 degree difference.

[Rjm7272]

Yeah, it does kinda drive me nuts. That's why I still drive out to Colgate every Friday/Saturday. Seeing my friends there (and going to a couple hockey and football games) keeps me sane My hope, though, is that I find another job soon (particularly one where I don't work 2pm-1am Mon-Wed and 5am-6pm Sun). So, I just keep reading the job postings in both the paper and on the internet....something has to come up soon, right??

[Jon]

I think it's just a bad time for finding jobs. I got lucky and love my job.

[WisteriaJ7]

Rob, that sucks about not having much time for anything else besides work. You work very gross shifts! 5 AM - 6 PM on Sundays? I couldn't even imagine that! I hope that a good job comes up soon for you. It's nice that you get to visit some of your friends at Colgate on the weekends, though. That's cool that you still get to go to some of their hockey and football games.

Jon, I can't believe it's 95*F there in Orange County! That's just crazy (and too hot). Then again, I'd take too hot over too cold right now. Apparently overnight it was -7*C! Yesterday was our first significant snowfall (where snow actually stuck to the ground) of the season. It is brutally cold outside right now! That's great that you have a job you love. What are you doing for work?

[WisteriaJ7]

Hi again, guys! I hope your past week has been good. Mine sure has. Last Saturday night I babysat for two little kids, which was lots of fun. Then on Thursday I babysat for three little sisters, who are so cute! I'll be taking care of them each Thursday after the new year.

Then today was really nice. My in-laws came to visit. We went to an indoor market here this afternoon, where we bought delicious treats from a Dutch baker. Then we did a little Christmas shopping, went out to eat lunch, and bought groceries. Tonight we did lots of Christmas decorating. I'm not sure WHY we decided to put up all our outdoor decorations at nighttime when it was freezing cold outside, but it looks so beautiful now! We also set up our Christmas tree. It's really nice! We still need to decorate it, but that can wait.

Anyway, I hope you're all doing well!

[mhhssenior]

Awww I miss this show I wish they would have put the other seasons onto DVD