And now I’m over here…

http://everythingisunfinished.blogspot.com/

I think I’m finished jumping around now.

 

I’m over here!

I’ve been using this blog lately for my nonsensical depository:

http://lazycatcreations.tumblr.com/ 

I like it cuz I can email pics to it from my Blackberry.

 

So far, so good

I’ve been on my new job for a month now.  So far it seems to be working out.  It’s nothing that challenges my brain…or so I thought.  Actually, the challenge is to get everything done in the short time allotted for it.  I’m busting my ass in every store trying to get through my workload and on to the next stop.  All while staying under 40 hours, cuz overtime is a big fat no-no!  My friend, who works in the main office, was written up for 3 minutes of overtime.  You read that right…3 minutes.  Yikes.

I have 41 stores in my route, and 14 of them are visited twice a month.  I go in and walk around with my little pocket pc, answering the questions it asks me about certain items.  If an item is missing I try to get the store to cut it in.  And then I rotate Smuckers merchandise, bringing the oldest stuff to the front.  Smuckers is our biggest client, and they take priority over everyone else.  In the month that I’ve been doing this I’ve been amazed to discover that grocery store workers do not rotate product.  Just so you know.

I’ve also been amazed to find out how many companies are owned by Smuckers.  It’s not just about the jam, you know.  Smuckers also owns Adams peanut butter, Pillsbury baking goods, and Crisco oil, to name a few companies.  Smuckers is like the Borg of the grocery industry…they will assimilate you. 

Smuckers sends reps into the stores that we service and they do audits on how well we are maintaining and rotating their product.  Recently a California market had 31 out of 33 stores fail a rotation audit.  People were fired.  That market is the big scary example that is held in front of us now.  “If you do nothing else during a store call, make sure that you rotate Smuckers!!”  What I don’t understand is why people aren’t doing it.  Yeah, it takes time.  Yeah, it’s mind-numbingly boring.  But, it’s what they want, so just do it.  Seems easy enough.

 

Goodbye Kohl’s

I gave my notice at Kohl’s yesterday.  I have been offered, and accepted, a full-time position with another company, and will be starting on Monday.  The new job is in the merchandising field; I’ll still be going into retail stores, but I won’t work directly for any of them.  This is a good thing.  I am so burned out on customers and their rude attitudes towards retail workers. 

I have 5 shifts left to work at Kohl’s.  I really don’t know if I’m going to be able to get through them.  I worked today and found myself just shy of telling people what I really wanted to say.  What’s stopping me, though?  What are they going to do, fire me? 

 

Box attacks kitten

Last night I was at work and S was at a friend’s house.  A was playing XBox and Ed was watching TV.  Suddenly Ed heard a loud noise coming from A’s room.  He yelled at A to keep it down and A said he wasn’t doing anything.  Ed went investigating, and found Luke crashing around in the bathroom with a tissue box stuck to his head. 

I have had a lot…A LOT…of cats in my life, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen any as goofy as the two kittens (Luke and Jack) that we got back in November. 

 

Kitten attacks fart

This is probably more about my home life than anyone wants to hear, but it’s just too funny to not post about.  Ed and I had just woken up this morning and were still laying in bed.  One of the kittens (Luke) had just jumped up on the bed and was stomping around on us, trying to find a place to settle.  Suddenly, Ed let loose a long, extended fart.  Before we could even react, Luke jumped across the bed and attacked Ed’s butt.  We must’ve laughed for 5 minutes over it.  Just thinking about it now has me giggling to myself. 

What can I say?  Farts are funny.

 

Pissed.

Lies. 

Seriously, does the management at Kohl’s think that I’m THAT stupid? 

I’m staying there for now because I have to, but as soon as I find another job they can all fuck themselves.

Update: after interviewing for the admin job and being told that I was being considered as fairly as anyone else, I found out yesterday that the girl that I thought was going to get the job did, in fact, get it.  Surprise.

 

Am I ever going to catch a break?

Lately there has been a lot of supervisor/full-timer turnover at Kohl’s.  Seems like every day that I work another job is posted, and yesterday was no exception.  This time it was the administrative assistant position.  I almost fell over when I saw that; that is the job I’ve wanted since Day One. 

I started working at Kohl’s when they were first going into this area, and the store hadn’t even been built.  The first day we reported we were told that the woman hired for admin had decided not to take the position.  I went to the store manager and asked for that position, and was told that I had to stay in the position I was hired for.  (I found out later that he totally could have moved me.)

Between then and now we have had four admins.  The woman who got hired one right before store opening was pregnant and missed so many days of work she was let go.  So, the woman who was hired as the front-end supervisor slid into that spot.  Then she got a better offer and moved on.  I thought I’d have a good shot at it then, but right at that time we got a new personnel/operations manager, and she brought her admin with her.  When this woman was promoted to a store manager position, again she took her admin when she moved on.

When the position was open again I had just had my foot injury and was getting ready to have surgery, which was going to put me out of work for a couple of months.  They weren’t willing to hold the spot.  Now, it’s up for grabs again.

I asked our current personnel manager about it, and thought he’d be very encouraging and urge me to apply.  Instead I hear, “Well, I should probably tell you that we’ve already interviewed a very strong candidate from the _____ store.  She’s the admin there, so she’ll be able to slide right into position here, but feel free to apply.  I’ll interview you next week.”

Well, that’s just fucking great.  I’m guessing I can pretty much write that job off; it sounds as if my interview will just be a courtesy.  The thing is, I know the woman he’s talking about and she is very abrasive and crass.  I get along really well with the pers/ops manager, and I just don’t know if he’ll respond to her personality or not. 

Come on, universe!  I know I shouldn’t have given up my sup position at Kohl’s…how long do I have to keep paying for my stupidity???

 

Stupid job search

I’ve made some bad choices in the job department lately.  Actually, it seems as if I’ve made a string of bad choices over the last few years, starting with quitting my job at Target back in 2004.  Seems as if everything I’ve done since then has not been the right decision.

 I took a job with Michaels in 2005, as a department manager.  That job was fine; I had no problem with the expectations, and I liked the people I worked with.  What I didn’t like was working at Jantzen Beach, in OR.  Jantzen Beach is an island, with one way on and one way off.  During high traffic periods I spent hours trying to get to the freeway, something that is normally a 5 minute drive.  So, when I heard Kohl’s was coming in up the street I jumped at the chance to work there.

 What I didn’t know was Kohl’s is 80% softlines, and very softlines-driven.  I hate softlines!  I especially hate that Kohl’s has 8 separate fitting rooms, and they are always full of abandoned clothes that people have tried on and discarded.  That, and some other issues, contributed towards me not being happy at Kohl’s.  When I got a call from a woman at Acosta Sales and Marketing offering me a position with her company, I jumped on that one.

The Acosta job was less pay, but I thought that other things would make up for that.  I’d be traveling around, merchandising stores, and would be doing things on my own time.  What I didn’t know was that the position was completely misrepresented.  I ended up hating it, and quit after just a couple of months. 

Now I’m working part time at Kohl’s, at the service desk.  Thank goodness I didn’t quit Kohl’s completely.  I like the service desk gig, but the pay isn’t great, and my benefits suck.  I’ve been looking for something full time, and have had several interviews, but no offers.

 What I don’t understand is why the interviewers aren’t honest with people.  I had an interview with a woman from The Sweet Factory, for a store manager position.  She told me that she “loved me”, that I was “just the type of person that the company was looking for”, and that she was going to “tell the district manager to call me right away” and not bother even talking to anyone else.  Have I heard from him?  No. 

 I interviewed with another store a month or so ago, and heard the same things.  However, I didn’t get the job, and I noticed yesterday it’s been posted again.  WTF?  Why are people reconsidering me after I’ve left the interview?  Ed is having the same thing happen.  He recently had a phone interview, which seemed to go very well.  However, no word since then. 

 I don’t get it and I’m frustrated. 

 

Something else that drives me crazy

My daughter’s friend lives next door to us, and S spends a lot of time over there.  This is fine.  What isn’t fine is whenever we have to call over to have her come home, or check in, or whatever.  The father (the parents are divorced; the dad got the house) doesn’t have caller I.D. and screens ALL of his calls using his answering machine.  Who does that anymore?  So, whenever we call over there we have to listen through the message and then start talking: “Uh, yeah, this is M, can you have S start helping to clean up…oh, hi, yeah, it’s about time for S to come home, can you have her help clean up and send her over?”