Today's rambling: Your wake-up call!
Written on Sunday, Jun. 16, 2002 at 7:21 p.m.
while feeling a bit

That last entry of mine was my 400th!!! I'm moving up in the world! *grins*

Anyway. If any of you read my last entry (my 400th, ha ha), you would have read that I couldn't remember whether or not I worked today. In the end, I decided that no, I wasn't actually scheduled, and so I didn't get to bed until after 5 am.

At a few minutes before 10 am, I was treated to a rude awakening. "Get out of bed!" Mom snapped. "You were scheduled today!!"

Panicked, I flew out of bed, dressed and fixed my hair in record time, and then rushed out the door...though thankfully, Mom wasn't mad at me like I'd thought, and so she'd made me a bacon and egg sandwich for breakfast. ^_^ Aren't mothers just great?

Right, so we got to the store (Mom had had to come back just to get me), and John happened to be in the manager's office, which is connected to the clock room. His back was to me, but as soon as I'd clocked in, I twisted my hat awkwardly in my hands and said, "John, I am so sorry! I swear to you I thought I was off today!"

To my surprise, he was totally nice to me! He said it was no problem, and that he was just glad I was able to get in! Of course, I was relieved to not have been yelled at, but at the same time I'm slightly wary. The last time I allowed myself to be lulled into a false sense of security around him, I was rudely shaken back into the present when he turned into the Evil Manager From Hell. Why is he suddenly being nice to me again?

Did you know that 'complacency' means "self-satisfaction; smugness"? Yeesh! I'd always thought it meant something along the lines of just being unhurried, laid-back, that sort of thing...Maybe that's because I never actually read the definition before, and was always going by the context in which it's used in books. *shrugs* At any rate, I doubt I'll be forgetting the definition now that I've realized my mistake! I still remember the two words I missed in the spelling bees...'yearning' and 'deuce', hehe...

I was in another really bad mood today, though of course, who wouldn't be in a bad mood if they were jarred awake only to find out that they were supposed to have been at work two hours ago? Frank was there as well, though, which didn't help matters much. I'm still trying to sort through what I'm going to do with him...and it's not helping that he understands my bad moods enough to know that he should just stay clear (instead of constantly getting in my face and asking what's wrong, like most people are wont to do). He's not allowed to be understanding! :oP

Zenon came in just as I was getting ready to leave, which disappointed me a little. I think he's always been able to cheer me up, even when it's not his intention to do so. Today, he approached me slowly with a big idiotic grin on his face, and when he'd finally reached me, he opened his arms for a hug. As I leaned into the embrace, he said, "I heard you were in a bad mood today, hon!" which just made me feel so much better for some reason. Maybe it was the hug. Thank goodness Frank didn't think to do that! ;)

Then when I walked up front, Mom and Kirsten were talking in the manager's office, so I stood in the doorway and listened. :oP Kirsten had sent for a 401k packet for me, so I guess as soon as I figure out how this stuff works, I might start investing. You're not allowed to start 'til you're 21 anyway, and even though retirement is a LONG way off, it would be nice to start saving for that now, right? That way I'm not caught out on my own, penniless and homeless and all that other heartwrenching stuff. :oP I'm digressing again.

After talking about stuff I can't even remember now, Kirsten asked Mom and me if we'd heard anything about John. At first I was like, "Heard what about John?" but I quickly realized what she was getting at, and so I continued, in more hushed tones, "Oh, you mean with Karen?" She nodded, and so I went on to say, "I haven't needed to hear anything; I've seen it!"

I think I've avoided that topic in here, just because it's not all that important, but it's getting more and more ridiculous. They're constantly flirting with each other, though they do it in a 'sneaking around' sort of way, which of course immediately attracts everyone's attention. I wouldn't normally care about such behavior, except a)John's married (for the second time) and Karen's engaged, and b)Because of this flirting, John lets Karen get away with everything.

Infidelity in a marriage disgusts me. Apparently, because it's so 'easy' to get divorces, people just don't take marriages seriously anymore. It seems like one of those, "Hey, let's just try it out and see what happens!" sorts of things. But it's not like trying on a dress at the mall, which you can return later if it doesn't fit right! It's a lifetime vow! So I certainly have no respect for John for doing this kind of stuff. And even though Karen's not married yet, the fact that she can be like this with another guy should clue her in to the fact that hey! Maybe she shouldn't be marrying this guy!

And then there's the favoritism thing. Marriage and engagement aside, I don't care if they want to have a relationship. I'm not one of those people who thinks that managers shouldn't be allowed to date their employees, if they really get along together. What I do care about is when the personal relationship floods into the workplace, which I guess is the reason why management-employee relations are frowned upon. Still, if you, as the employee, truly like this other person, then you should realize that at work, personal stuff needs to be left at the door. If you do something wrong, you ought to be reprimanded for it. Go home later that night and make up however you want, but inside the walls of your job, it should be business! At least, as far as reprimanding, etc., goes. I don't care if you want to flirt. That's not hurting anyone, so long as it doesn't go too far.

*huff, puff* Anyway, when I told Kirsten (who's an Assistant Manager, by the way) about everything I'd seen, she shook her head and muttered, "He is going to lose his job if he keeps this up."

If Dave would even listen, that is. At first, it was only Joanne complaining, but everyone just shrugged her off because all Joanne does is complain. It's sort of like the boy who cried wolf; none of us care anymore. But eventually, other workers started to see what was going on, too, and so now there's a bit more credit to what Joanne was saying. But I don't know if Dave would listen!

I'm really tired. It's almost 8 o'clock, so technically I could go to bed! I feel like there are things I meant to do, though...I was hoping Jam would've written back to my first IC post at Hogwarts, but alas, she either didn't go online again last night or she didn't think to look at the message board! Oh well, hehe!

Geoff's back to work tomorrow, whee! ;) And hopefully I'll get all my orientation stuff in the mail tomorrow, because June 27 is creeping closer and closer all the time! >_<