Adrenaline

Ran on adrenaline today. Spent 10 hours on the clock at work…it was a long day. I was going to work less but a couple cashiers called in because they couldn’t work, so I stayed longer.

And it was one of those days. I can’t remember all the various problems we encountered today, and I guess it’s better that way. The most memorable experience was this woman walking out with her lone item: a bottle of wine, which she dropped, and which oozed it’s pink contents all over the floor where the exit to the store is. I helped clean it up and she looked in dismay and walked out saying, “I guess I don’t need that.”

But I usually think in terms of “customer relations,” or something. I was thinking how down this woman must be…I started to think, “well maybe she doesn’t need it after all, it’s booze…” but yet I thought the right thing to do would be to do what I did…

…I ran out and tried to console her and apologize for such a disappointment…I said, “Look ma’am, uh, do you want to come back inside, it’s such a letdown, maybe I could talk to a manager to see what we can do?” She came back in, I talked to the store manager…he was already aggravated…I dug the bottle top out of the trash and ran to put it on the service desk with the receipt. I was putting a fresh bottle of wine in the bag for the woman when the top of the bottle rolled off and now IT shattered. A nearby cashier said, “That bottle really is accursed.” After cleaning that up…back to the register…

…And it just seems there were gremlins in the registers today…we had all kinds of problems with items not ringing up right and just general stress-raising situations.

When 5 pm came (I started at 10 am), they said they’d need me till 8…and I ended up having to assume a bit more responsibility tonight…training a new cashier…and briefly watching the front end. It was crazy because we were shorthanded and we have a lady who’s new at running the front end (but she’s awesome and picked it up superbly quickly) so we were all having fun “running things” as various problems happened…

Like me having to explain to a lady that her 20% coupon did not include dairy products, tobacco, or alcohol, which are regulated by alcohol. “Well, my receipt doesn’t say that!” “Well, ma’am, I’m sorry, it’s in the fine print of the sale ad.” “Well still, it wasn’t on my receipt…” Back and forth…

Anyway…I guess I’m going out with a bang with this summer job, in terms of hours and cash.

It’s s 11:45 at night right now and I’ve got to be at work for 6 am tomorrow morning, working the Ghost Town shift. Then Sunday I’m working 6 pm till close (12 pm)…so thanks to the grace of God, a little coffee here and there, and adrenaline…I’ll be raking in some hours.

I’ll need the money for college spending for sure.

My parents rocked my world with all the presents. I got a phone for my dorm room, a new Italian weather wallet (ooh la la very nice), a dress shirt, a Hawaiian shirt, and a WAD of cash (for college spending, they said). And they’re going to get me a cell and add me to there plan for that…free nights and weekends…and always free calls to their mobile phones.

I’ve almost got all my stuff for college ready. I guess it’s good I’ll be working 6 days next week and lots of hours because the last thing I want to do is sit around bored contemplating and being anxious about college.

And tomorrow guess what? This is awesome…after I knock off at 1 pm (sorry Sav a Center, I’m not working more than 7 hours tomorrow **puts hands on hips**)…take a nap…

Our family is going to CHUCK E. CHEESE’S!!!

Do you have Chuck E. Cheese’s where you live? Probably not if you live outside the U.S. Get this…

It’s the ultimate kids party place. The main food is pizza. The main stage has these three mechanical animals, a dog a cat and something else, that play the banjo and cello and something else and sing songs about eating pizza and playing video games and summer and stuff…and you eat pizza and play games and win prizes and roll around in ball pits…and just basically act goofy.

Aaaah…I haven’t played in a ball pit in YEARS, literally. It’s going to be fun being a kid again. What an 18th birthday party…acting like a 5 year old. Sweet.

It seems like there was something else I was going to post about…something of interest. But in my head sometimes at the end of the day my arm is still in a scooping motion, I hear a grocery counter “beep,” or else I feel myself lifting a bag to double bag a load of items.

We cashiers don’t count sheep to go to sleep…we count the number of scanner beeps.

Well maybe this was it…I see people I know all the time in the grocery…at lunch I saw a girl I recognized from the high school I graduated from at Subway (a sandwich store). I didn’t even remember her name though, I wasn’t in a mood for socializing, but I’m glad I asked to sit down and chat…it’s nice to not be selfish sometimes and consider the lives of other people. A bit nervous at first…I’m not good at starting conversations, but I tried and it worked…we talked about college and jobs and stuff…

…and she reacted to something a lot of people have been reacting to. I wear a ring on my left ring finger. People have said, “you’re not married are you?” I get to laugh and say, “no. It’s a purity ring.” It says “COVENANT”on it. I explained to this girl my dedication to Jesus Christ and to being pure waiting for my wife. She, like most people, just looked mildly shocked and interested. As I got a refill and left to go punch back in, I explained what is true for all of us as Christians. We swim against the tide. And I’ll tell you what. It can get lonely sometimes. But I’d rather walk in the dark with Jesus than walk in the light of my own.