A Different Drum

Yep. Me again. Bruised battered, and really tired, but Sears inventory is over for this year. 

It went down on Wednesday, and went pretty smoothly. 

If you discount the part where I grabbed the inventory control seal on our delivery truck and slit my finger open, requiring two stitches. 

I hurt still. But aside from that. We had a wonderful weekend, just kicking around, hiding in the air conditioning of our bedroom...(it's BLOODY HOT UP HERE), and watching some TV.
We have discovered Firefly, and man, why didn't they make more shows??? This is a great series. We don't want to wait inbetween Netflix discs, so we ordered the whole shebang, including the movie Serenity, from Amazon, and we're anxiously awaiting it's arrival. 

Other than that, I'm having trouble with fanfiction motivation, hopefully an issue that will be resolved this week now that inventory is over. 

But life is good, I guess. We're moved in and settled. 

I'm still looking for a real job for the fall. Something...anything, other than staying in retail through the holidays. 

Pray.

Paint's gone. 

I've worked 40 hours since Sunday. 

I don't have to back at Sears till Monday.

Thank God!

So, my store is discontinuing our paint department. We're losing money on it, and it's taking up space. We haven't sold paint in quantity since Home Despot went in down the street. So for the past week we've been packing and palleting paint.

We're transfering it to differant stores in our region. Today, I took 10 pallets of paint to Burlington, MA. 

For those of you who don't know, paint is freakin heavy. Getting the rented 24 foot Ryder truck up out of the Connecticut River valley was the first challange, accomplished by liberal use of my hazards and crawling along interstate 89 at 35 miles an hour. It took me 3 hours to drive from  Lebanon to Burlington.

The Home Improvement manager at Burlington forgot to tell the Recieving Manager that I was coming. He hit the roof, because he hadn't made any space for 10 pallets of paint. That was freind not made number 1. 

Friend not made number 2 was the HI manager, who was hoping for primarily exterior paint. She got mostly interior.

Friend not made number 3 was the Store Manager, who refused our inventory transfer paperwork because it was filled out incorrectly. So the paint is physically in Burlington, but theoretically in Lebanon, because the paperwork hasn't been processed.

The truck drove a lot faster on the way home...once I got off 128, which was a parking lot from Burlington to where it meets 93. 

I've had a very long day. Tommorrow, I may be taking paint to Manchester and Concord. Closer, which is good. 

Other than that, life is otherwise busy, and I still don't have a job for the fall. Please pray for me. I can't do retail indefinetly. It's killing me.

Good evening ladies and gentlemen,

I am pleased to announce that Sara and I have a place to live next year. It's campus housing, it's much more expensive but we won't be out on the street.

In other news, I'm seriously considering leaving Sears. The whole place feels like a rapidly sinking ship. It's a bad sign when two Asistant Store Managers leave in the same week. There are changes in the works, and I'm no longer having fun at work. Before, I was having fun. But now, I dread going to work. There's a lot of pressure on the Leads to somehow turn the employee situation around. My old manager, Frank, was made to sign a paper saying that he'd hire two new people by the 15th or he'd get written up. That's absurd. Like it's his fault no one's applying. If they come to me with something like that, I really don't know what I'll do. It's totally unethical, really. I feel bad, because I've only been in the Lead position for less than a month, but the fact is, the place is really going downhill in a rush.

I'm considering Borders...anyone ever work there? Hear anything about how they treat their employees?

I'm still waiting to hear back from Plymouth High School, but I expect that will be sometime in the next three business days. If I get the Plymouth gig, I might just go find summer work at a golf course. Obviously, if I don't get a teaching job, I'm going to need to be employed through the fall...hence Borders.

It's been a stressful couple of weeks, obviously. I haven't been sleeping well, which has contributed to my stress level. Uncertainty in our housing wasn't helping either. Maybe things will clear up, I don't know. I just feel really tired. Worn down. Burned out. All of the above. Hopefully, things will get better.

Babies galore, lately. Our friends Jon and Angela had a daughter, Sabrina over the weekend and  aggiebell90and  wamfofhad Birddogette today. Congrats to all!

(I want one...in a hypothetical sort of way. Our lives are way too stressed right now to even consider the real thing.) 

(And the Red Sox win! And the Red Sox win! 2 of 3 from the damnyankees.)

Welcome to Sears Recieiving! How may we help you today?

Bernie, Manager: A young, proactive, hands on manager, who aspires to be doing just about anything but what he's doing. But he'll continue to give you his best effort so long as you keep paying him his 10.50 an hour.

Employee #1, The Guy Who Lost Out To Bernie For the Promotion: Little bit older than Bernie. Fairly hands on. Attitude needs a little work, and the next level of education wouldn't hurt either if he wants to move up a little. But all and all, a nice guy who gets the job done.

Employee #3, Tall, Dark and Scary: Older than everyone else. Beard. Tatoos. Speaks in monosyllabes that are usually profane. Level of education unknown. Not the kind of guy you want to meet in a dark alley. Scares Bernie, who half-wishes he'd follow through on his muttered threats to quit.

Employee #4, The Kid: High School Senior. Not a whole lot of grey matter between the ears. Attitude you could cut with a knife. In desperate need of a belt, or a lesson in how to use one. Slacker. Requires constant supervision in order for him to get anything done, which pretty much negates one's ability to do anything else. Would benefit immensely from Boot Camp.

And that's it. We have four guys to cover all the hours the store is open, 9-9 M-S Sunday 10-6.

Priority Numero Uno for incoming manager: Find A Way to Convice New People to Work at Sears Starting at 7.70 when Foodstop is starting at 8.00.

…somebody goofed. It snowed here today. Not, much, I’ll grant you, but snow nonetheless, and there are actually several inches…INCHES…in the forecast for tonight. Where did Spring go?

My life has been a mess of confusion lately.

Job Situation #1: Salem has reposted the vacancy I applied for. Now, I was told this was going to happen, so that in itself didn’t mean anything. I spoke with the Humanities Director, who said, and I’m quoting roughly “We have one candidate from the first batch we’re interesting in moving on with, and the rest are going back into the pool and as we get new people we’ll be setting up second interviews for some people when the time comes.” And THAT delightful piece of bureaucratic double-talk was in response to the questions “So when will I hear something definite?” Tell me, did he answer my question? Didn’t think so. Sara has taken to calling this particular administrator, “Mr. Poopypants” for his inability/unwillingness to communicate clearly. Personally, knowing him as I do, I’m leaning towards inability. It seems to me he’s probably thinking he IS being helpful, rather than deliberately obtuse. So, we’re in a wait and see mode. I’m also trying to figure out what I can find out “unofficially” through my contacts in the district so I can find out WTF is going on down there.
I wish I knew what was going on, really, because if I’m not going to get the job, I want to call up or visit one of the teachers who was on the interview committee and find out what I did wrong, or how I can get better at interviewing. He’s an old friend and I really think he could help. But I don’t want to contact him while I’m still pending, you know?

Job Situation #2: The Woodsville High School interview went well. I like the people in the department I’d be working with (all two of them). They’re both young, and excited. The school itself is much smaller than I anticipated (total enrolment: 300 students). But I think I could like it there. Even if a part of me feels like I’m being exiled to the back of the beyond because I’m not good enough for the big leagues yet. (Sorry, kid, you’re being sent down.) They told me they expect to hire in mid-April, so THEY at least gave me a time frame.

Job Situation #3: My boss at Sears told me they’ve got a Lead position opening up at the end of April, and he wants me to go for it. Half of me wants to laugh in his face, half of me is slightly intrigued. Half of me says, I didn’t waste four years of American History and Education studies to be the Receiving Manager at the West Lebanon Sears. The other half wonders if God’s trying to open a window for me, or something. I just don’t know.

In other news, the Sox opened the season with a win for the first time in like…forever. I’ve been missing my favourite baseball buddy, Doc Merchant. I should give him a buzz, or something.

Timothy Zahn’s new book, “Outbound Flight” is out in stores. I’ve already finished it, it was very good. I hesitate to say spectacular, but definitely very good. kadath, you need to read it, it gives some very good background on our favourite Grand Admiral. jedione you will enjoy it also, if you’re reading this.

I’ve purchase the complete three volume set of “Lee’s Lieutenant’s” by Douglas Southall Freeman. Finding them fascinating. Yeah, I’m that much a history nerd.

That’s about it, I guess. My frustration level with the Salem School District is high, but I’m trying not to lose hope. Really, really, trying.

So...somebody was complaining I hadn't updated in a while. So here's an update.

Got some snow this week, which was nice. It temporarily hides the fact that it was all brown and muddy before. I had school vacation, so I worked some extra hours at Sears.

That job is actually turning into something that approches enjoyable, depending on the day. The people are nice. The store manager, Gene, is a bit of a tyrant, but he's a NICE tyrant. He has that talent where he can tell you to go to hell and make you feel good on the way. My immediate superior, Frank, is really cool, and fun to work with. Thursday this past week was inventory, and I was at Sears from 6:45 am, to 6:30 PM. LONG day, but we got a lot accomplished, and I got some compliements on my work ethic.

This past Saturday, I got to drive the big shuttle truck back and forth from the store to the warehouse with stock up goods. It started out as a "quick job, just two or three lawn tractors". It turned into an all day project where I brought stuff and assembeled it and put it out on the floor. THat's okay though, I like working with my hands. Although, it was snowing, and that made driving the truck a bit dicey.

My neice's postponed birthday party was Sunday, so I got to go back to Southern NH for the day. Saw my folks. They're repainting my old room, that was a bit of a shock. In a good way, I guess. I didn't really want them to erect a monument to my memory anyway. Had a good time at my sister-in-law's for the party. Wiped the floor with my 8 year old newphew at Madden 2004 on the PS2. This is a remarkable accomplishement, because he cheats like there's no tomorrow. He alters players stats and so forth, and doesn't warn you ahead of time. But I got the better of him this time, with the ARIZONA FREAKING CARDINALS whomping the Kansas City Cheifs 42-21. He was really nasty about it in the end. Didn't want to play after the 2 minutes warning. Almost shut the machine off, but Sara snapped at him to play to the end, so he just started hitting random buttons. I could have scored again, because he wasn't paying attention, but I just the knee. Something he wouldn't have done, had the roles been reveresed. My newphew needs good sportsman lessons.


I've dissapeared from PS again, but with DTR 18 in the pipeline and well on it's way to being posted, I'm going to try to get back in again.

That's it for now.

Job a Sears goes well, after transfer to in-store marketing. No pressure to make sales now, just filling shelves and pricing. Managers like me. But then, I work a hell of a lot harder than those idiot teenagers they're currently employing at the same hourly rate. Don't know if this makes me dumb or more mature.

The waste part is this: Yesterday, I got to work, and the store was crawling with mucky-mucks. You could cut the tension with a bloody knife. The Managers were all closed up in the office, no one in, no one out. People are taking statements. People are getting called into the office. The senior salesman is running the store, becuase no one's answering phones in the managers office. Finally, people start emerging.

That's when the cops showed up.

And hauled away more than half of the staff of shipping/receiving. Four kids, ranging in ages from 16-22 (he was the receiving manager) the charge? 82,000 worth of merchandise, smuggled out over the last several months.

These kids are going to jail now. They've ruined their lives. I don't know them that well, I'm new, but I just feel so sad about the whole waste of it all. The wasted potential, the wasted dreams. What's ahead of these kids now? Nothing.

It makes me sick.

Well, things are new and different.

I'm here, in my own home, rather than in my parents. It's different, yet nice. Being with Sara everyday is incredible, and I love every minute of it. It's a bit strange though. I still have this nagging feeling I should be getting home, or that this can't last. But it can, and it will. :-D

Unfortunetly, I haven't been called to sub yet, so I haven't earned any money yet. I'm also getting bored, sort of. I have my writing, and I have the history channel, but I'd like to have something to do durning the day while Sara's at class.

On the plus side of the ledger, I found a part time job, and I start next week somtime. I'm going to be a Lawn and Garden Salesmen at Sears. I'm going to sell on commission, which I once swore I would never do again after a bad experiance selling computers at Circut City, but I feel better about this, because I feel Craftsmen lawnmowers are a much better product than the crappy computers they had me selling at CC. Of course, I'm older too, and I might be a better salesmen this time around.

Anyway, that's about all for now.