Today at work ....

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Ok, my first day back at work today, after a week at Gen Con, then an extra unexpected week, because of my sprained wrist. I wasn't sure what I was going to see when I got back, and today was the "Grand -Re-Opening" of our store, from the renovations, (though the flower department where I work is still in the process of being correctly set up.)

So what do I see when I first walk into the produce area? A new white tone floor. Actually a very soft gray/white color, more white than gray. Really, I couldn't believe it. They had taken up (though I think they just actually pasted over) the nice slate brick flooring, that was non slippery and perfect for the area, and put down some kinda, to my best I can only say, a white plasticish tile, then they waxed it, to make extra shiney. It is definitely is going to be hard to keep clean, and I'm positive that more customers are going to be slipping on it. We wear non skid shoes at work, so it's ok for us, but I see a disaster waiting to happen because of it.

Meanwhile they did a bit of a change to our display, almost to the better. I talked to the big boss today and gave him a better idea of what was needed now. They were going to order small tables with cabinet space under it for our supplies, but I told them if they moved the entrance (one more time), it would be better for us to have a larger table, because the small tables would not be big enough to do prep work on. So hopefully, they will take that into consideration.
Today we had to work without our table we have, because they didn't want it messing up the "new look", on the Grand Re-Opening, since it was old and beat up. We could only bring up one box at a time to prep because of that. They really need to understand that if they want stuff prepped faster, especially for the holidays that are coming up, we need that larger table space ASAP.

[Sister Sonya]

Laura, I've been avoiding Whole Foods since I discovered, on my first trip to the Orland Park store here after it opened, that they do not stock rye bread. Lots and lots of whole wheat and other grains, but no rye. I informed the manager that I was not coming back to the store.

I'm thinking that I will have to make an exception, just to have a look at their flower department!

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Well, today at work started off bleh, but ended up quite nice, as they had the Harpist come back today, so most of the time I was at work we had beautiful harp music playing. Funny thing I noticed with it was, that in a store that always noisy matter what time it is, except for that rare occasion when there is a big game playing (football or baseball) and we are "dead"; having the harp music in the store made the store seem quiet, as people were relaxed by it, so they were not figity. Such a nice change.

[Sister Sonya]

I went into our Whole Foods store this afternoon: 1) to check out the flower section and 2) to look again for rye bread.

I was in the store two times before, didn't recall a place where flowers were sold, found no rye bread and passed some ridicule of organic foods on to the absent manager.

Today, I made a circuit of the store counterclockwise, found two kinds of rye(!), both with caraway, but no flowers. I offered some plaudits concerning the rye, and was shown the flower section (about 10' X 15' including flowers, w/1 sink, but no employee in sight. It turns out that there is no fulltime flower person at the store.

The pumpernickel w/caraway is actually quite good!

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Yes, unfortunately the flower section in most of the stores are getting shrunk down to nothing. We are actually one of the largest still around in our area, and we're down to a horseshoe shape (more or less), compared to also having a 6 foot wall display and a couple of other side display areas, which have been taken away from us. But we can't do much more than fight for the area we have now, and try to make it usable.

Glad you found your rye bred! Next time you come to Boston, I'll have to remember to see if I can bring you something from my work, where they make the bred right in the store. (Not sure if they do that at your store or not, depends on the size of the store.)

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Got some info the other day that our Produce team leader has applied for position in another store. It's closer to where he lives, so if he gets it, it will be wonderful for him, as he will be only about 5 minutes away from his house.
Unfortunately for us, if he does get it, it means we will have to get another Produce Team leader and we never know who we will get. With the luck we have had lately in the store, we'll probably end up with one that will fit in right nice with the other assholes.

Meanwhile, my friend Anderia is going to be leaving our department and going back to customer service, since she said she can't make her way up the ladder as a floral supervisor. She has tried applying at a few of the stores, and while she is a very awesome person, I think she is very competent too, but I think that is half the problem, as the upper management in the stores are looking for people they can "control", and Anderia has a very dominate personality, with a take charge attitude, so they "overlooked" her applications, for more "older" mature type of people, instead of trying her. So she figures she can become a supervisor in customer service and work her way up from there.
I wasn't sure til Saturday, of who her replacement would be for full time, because we are taking on 2 extra people from housekeeping, since they are removing that job position, but turns out that we will be getting our part time girl Pham, full time now, which is great, since she already knows what she is doing. Only thing is that my schedule is going to be changing somewhat. Not my days off though, (I hope anyway), so it shouldn't effect my Fridays or Sundays. I'll probably just end up with more closing shifts again, which is a bummer.

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Not much happened today at work, other than we had to get everything look its best, because for some reason I have no idea about, CNN is coming to do some video work at our store tomorrow, so it was crazy clean up day today.

[salamanca]

Video work on the expose revealing the horrid things your company has done to the world prompting protests nationwide and the collapse of the company (and right after that nice remodel) I recommend you deny everything on camera.

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Me in front of a live tv camera? I doubt it, lol. Though my friend Lisa will be later today, as she will be telling about some upcoming Arthritis Foundation event that is happening in the neighborhood, as CNN will also be filming her about that. She had actually hoped to get it on video at the store while they are there, but wasn't able to get it ok'ed (I have no idea why), so they will be filming at her house afterwards.

[Rebecca Iavelli]

I was able to avoid being on film today.

CNN showed up to do a story on the thing Lisa is involved with, Arthritis Foundation, and filmed her doing some of the work that we do at the store. Showing how it is to work with arthritis, and being positive. Then they left and went to Lisa's house to do some more filming and the audio part of the project.

Meanwhile earlier that morning the Harpist showed up again, for a few hours and played some wonder music. It is so neet to watch the attitude in the store, go from rushed and want it now, to quiet and laid back with the harp music. Both times she has been there and played, I have noticed the difference.

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Today at work, I got the most stupidest request over the phone. Happened of course during my evening break, while I was relaxing and watching Pawn Stars, I hear a page for flowers, so had to take it, as the produce guys who cover for me when I am on break, do not answer the phone calls.
So I get on the phone and ask what I can help the customer with, and the first thing the person on the line ask, is do we have any bouquets. Yes, I replied, several kinds. Then I got the stupid request:
Could I please go to the different bouquets and count all the flowers in them, so she could figure out which one she wanted to buy. I told her that unfortunately, that would be something she would have to come in for to look because there were different kinds, and I couldn't spend that much time on the phone ( I would still be there if I had to do that), and it would be better if she came in and could judge for herself which she wanted to get.

Sorry, we do a lot for the customers as it is, but I wasn't going to go back upstairs during my break, to count flowers to her over the phone. That is just too stupid and a waste of time.

[salamanca]

By now, you should know those numbers. Or smarter still ask her how many she wanted in the bouquet and suggested one based on that.

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Ok, Mr. Smarty Pants, whats the number of blades of grass you mow in a week? You should know that as you've done that longer than I've worked with flowers.

[salamanca]

All of them, twice. And it's not the same. Your bouquets work under a standard basic design for each style that includes certain types of flowers in roughly the same number so that the customer knows what they are getting and to make sure each sale is profitable. What you want to know is something more like "what degree of loft does the face of the average Driver have?" and the answer to that ranges from 8 to 13 degrees depending on the brand and style but most people are in need of a 10 or 11 degree loft. You may also liken it to the application rate for daconil as a pesticide to treat brown patch or dollar spot (which averages 3 ounces/1,000 sq. Feet as a preventative and 5 ounces as a curative rate). Or even that I am maintaining 39,320 square feet of greens and 19,864 square feet of tees. Or even that a 10 pound case of #5 hot dogs contains 50 (easy math it means they are 5 to the pound in size) so you best have 7 packages of buns on hand for those.

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Well, not at work today, as it is my day off, and I finally made it to the Natick Outdoor Store, down the street from me.
I have decided I want to learn Archery. So I went down there, looked over their inventory of re-curve bows (the one I really liked the guy said was a hunting bow 50 lb pull, so too much for me as a starter), found one that he said would be better for me, with a 20 lb pull. I got 3 arrows to go with it, and a target, a wrist guard and string holder (for when it is not in use). Got a quick reminder of how to string and un-string the bow. Now just got to get out there and use them.

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Have to take the train into work today, because last night on the way home from Mark's, she decided to overheat, and would not cool down. I ended up having to throw on the heater to take the heat away from the engine, and that only brought her down halfway.

So took her to my mechanic's place today, and turns out he's on a 3 day vacation (since it is a long weekend), so it will not be able to be looked at til Tuesday. So I have tomorrow and Monday off (as I had hoped to go to King Richard's Fair on Monday), but I guess that is not happening now, and I had to call Mark and cancel going to games tomorrow too.

Of course, to make it worse, it's raining today. Bleh. Cold and damp out is not fun when you are walking in it, and I think I might have strained my right hand again bringing up the laundry last night, as it is achy today, though it could also be because it is cold and damp too, or because of both.
Just not having a good day.

Update: Waited a whole hour for the train that should have arrived 10 minutes after I got to the station. They posted after the 10 minutes, that it will be aprox half an hour late. Train doesn't show up. One of the people waiting with me got on her Iphone and found out that they canceled the train, and the next one doesn't show up for another hour. Was going to wait it out, but called work to let them know. Work called back and told me to stay home, that they got someone to cover. Great! Now I'm damp, cold and frozen for waiting over an hour, need a hot cup of tea, and some hot food.

[Rebecca Iavelli]

So, I took the car in today to have it looked at. Was thinking it needed a new thermostat, as it had overheated on the way back from Mark's house on Friday. Turns out that the thermostat is fine, the problem is that it has an internal leak somewhere in the coolant system, so it was almost bone dry. The guys filled it back up for me and put on new belts, but informed me that I should probably be car shopping real soon.

Kinda a bummer. I was hoping the car would last another couple of years, but I guess I'm going to have to go start looking for something else. Sigh.

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Going to have to go car shopping tomorrow. For the last couple of days, I've been driving my car to work, and its been overheating each time. So I've had to turn the heat on all the way up, roll down the windows to keep the needle at the half way mark. Today was not fun driving home, pouring rain, with the windows open and the heat blasting. Fogging up the windows, and getting soaking wet. Not a good situation at all.

I did mention the problem to a person at work and they told me to try leasing, instead of buying. I'm not sure if it's not the same thing: paying for a car you can't keep? Anyway, wish me luck, as I really need to find something.

[Black Jack Rackham]

When you come for Gaming on Sunday, Laura, we can use Consumer Reports to find you a good (read: reliable) used car.

[Sister Sonya]

Consumer Reports?

Better off finding a little old lady selling her car that has been faithfully maintained every 3 months!

[Black Jack Rackham]

Yup, Consumer Reports does a little bit of everything including finding the best, most reliable used cars on the market (they won't find you a specific car, but their report will tell you what types of car to avoid). For the specific car I was going to recommend Carfax.

[Rebecca Iavelli]

So, lately at work, it seems that no one wants to answer the phones. The seem to ring constantly as it is, and so during one lengthily ring, I answered it, and got the best ever complaint about something, that I shared with my boss today. Cracked her up. (We are always talking about what the customers find to complain about, and how silly some of them are.) Well, I answered the phone, and asked if I could help. A woman replied that she had just come from the store, had bought the ginger chicken soup, and when she got home, it was cold.

Yep, that was what she was complaining about, cold soup. Well, I passed the call on to Customer Service, but really wanted to ask the customer if she had ever heard of a stove or a microwave, where you can re-heat the soup, but we are not allowed to make the customer think for themselves by telling them what they should do, since she was calling in a complaint. So I passed it on, and was left to wonder how it got resolved.

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Yesterday we were told that they were going to install our three "new" tables today. So when I got to work, I saw what they did and that was the final straw for me. I've been trying to believe that they understand what we need to have to be able to do the work and get it done, efficiently. I now believe that they do not know what efficient means. The tables we got are smaller than the ones we had, and now can no longer be used to work efficiently with them. One of the tables is right beside where the express cashier is, so if the cashier is there, we can't work at the table, because two people can not stand in the same spot and work. I guess I could stand right behind them, but then I would be jabbing them in the back with my elbow, while I tried to work processing the flowers out of the box, which would have to be on the floor, because the table is too small for the box to be on it, so I would be continuously bumping into the cashier, as I try to work.

The second table is our new wrap station, but you can't wrap unless you have half the sheet off the wrap station, because the cellophane stand and ribbon stands are in the way, but they have to be there to use in wrapping, because there is no other space to put them, and we need them to be up where we can reach them for wrapping.

The third table is the smallest of them, and it was put to the far back corner, beside our sink, so it blocks us from using the bottom shelf area under the sink, where we had been keeping our coats,purses (for those who carry them) and some of our supplies we need to work with, so that they are not sitting out where anyone can grab them.

On top of all of that, the elevator beside us has not been working for three days, so we have had to go from one end of the store to the other to get to the larger elevator (ment for delivering large pallets of product down to the basement, not for passengers), then travel from one end of the basement to the other to get to our walk-in cooler to be able to put product in or out of it, then do the same on the return run. So yeah, I really blew my top today.
Still trying to find a car I like too. Heading out tomorrow to check out a couple of places to see what they got. Hard to find a two door manual drive these days, as everything is four door automatics.

[Rebecca Iavelli]

Well, off work today and went car shopping. Had to go see a few cars that I had seen on line. Checked them out and ended up putting a down payment on the one I had liked since I saw it on line. It is an automatic instead of a manual, but its a 2012 Toyota Scion, with only 21000 miles, 2 door hatchback, so I got 3 out of the 4 things I was looking for (low mileage, 2 to 4 years old, 2 door hatchback, manual). Its dark burgundy red. First time trying a Toyota, and I'm hoping its good in the snow. I get to pick it up on Tuesday after work.

[salamanca]

My old camry used to handle snow pretty well. (it handled ice as poorly as most cars). Once drove it through a drifted field and back onto the road. You should be fine.