Not the greatest week- I hate having blood drawn

So, I went to the lab a week ago to have blood drawn for my doctor's appointment. I got a new-to-me tech who I never want to see again. Actually, I *DO* want to see her, preferably across a courtroom when I sue her incompetent ass. This idiot picked up a needle that was a cross between a darning needle and a railroad spike and jabbed it into my arm so hard that I expected to see it come out the other side. Now, I admit to being a wimp when it comes to needles, but this was ridiculous! Then I got a fresh wave of pain when she jerked it back out after collecting the umpteen vials of blood needed for my tests. I've never had one hurt coming out. EVER.

By the end of the night, I had a huge bruise on the inside of my arm and the needle hole was still visible. There were also red streaks extending up toward my wrists. Sunday, the hole was STILL visible, although the bruise and red streaks had faded. I had, however, developed random shooting pains and muscle spasms. And a lump about 3 inches down from the needle hole. Then I found out that she'd done the same thing to my father on Friday, only he didn't have the same side effects. Luckily for her.

My appointment with Dr. B was on Monday. He looked at my arm after I told him what happened, and shook his head. He thinks the lump is an internal bruise. The pain & spasms are because that cow most likely nicked a nerve. He had his office manager call down to the lab to find out who we needed to complain to and was told that the cow's last day was Friday (the day after she abused me & the day she hurt Daddy) and they were very sorry to hear what had happened. That's great, but what about the damage done to my arm?!? Dr B said it should lessen by the end of the week, and to call him on Monday if it hasn't. I'm here to tell you, it hasn't.

Just to add to the fun, I got my flu shot. In the same f'ing arm. So now I have a stiff achy shoulder (I always have the worst reaction) as well as the shooting pains & spasms in my lower arm. Did I mention that this is my left arm and I'm left handed?!? Not fun.

Oh yeah, and my recurring sinus infection is awake with a vengeance. Love the changing of the seasons.

So, there's my WAAAH post for the week. I'm not even going to start on the general stupidity of my workplace. Instead, here are some pretty boys to look at!

Random thoughts from my brain

So, I've lost just enough weight (again) that my current underwear is too big, but the next size down is too small. I firmly believe that underwear - actually, all clothing - should come in half sizes, just like shoes!

I like the daily planner that I bought last year, so I thought I'd save money this year and just buy a refill for it. After going to three bookstores & two office supply stores, I *FINALLY* found one at Office Depot... and it cost just as much as buying a new planner would have. Actually more, because I would have at least gotten a 10% discount and B&N if I bought a planner there. I bought it anyway, but it really irked me. I mean, shouldn't there be some sort of eco-discount for reusing something & buying a refill for it rather than adding more junk to the landfill?!? On the other hand, the cashier was a cute little tattooed boy who lit up when he saw my Doctor Who inspired shirt. We had a good chat about our favorite Doctors and tattoos.

Here's a pic of the design on my shirt:

Tom Hiddleston & Michael Fassbender are trying to kill me. They both have several movies coming out that I desperately want to see. I may actually have to break down and set foot in a movie theater.

Nightshade is getting possessive. I think she knows I'd adopt all the feral cats if I could and she's making sure that they know I'm *HER* human and she's not sharing. Some of them have gotten brave enough to let me touch them - just for a second - before they run away. Or they'll brush against my leg when I'm filling their food bowl. Anyway, now there's an adorable little black kitten in the bunch. She looks like an even smaller version of my Shady-girl, right down to the white spot on her chest! I don't care what Shady thinks; if I can catch that little one, she's living inside with us. Period. In the meantime, Shady comes and stands by my feet while I talk to the outside kitties and hisses if they start to come over.

Tune in later for another installment of Random Thoughts...

I Don't *ALWAYS* Gripe...

So, the rest of my double shift passed somewhat peacefully. After about 3 a.m it was downright quiet and I actually read a book!

Saturday was a waste after I got home. Shady cat and I spent the day snoozing & snoring- don't let her fool you, that little beast snores too!- and got nothing done.

Sunday, I woke up earlier than normal (side effect of sleeping nearly 24 hours) so I fooled around playing Candy Crush & Cookie Jam on my tablet for a while. I finally summoned the energy to get up and get dressed, and went to get food and do some shopping. I'd been wanting to try some of the new sandwiches from Jason's Deli, so that was one of the first stops. I was in line behind a couple that should be in a sitcom. He ordered in about 10 seconds. SHE took nearly 10 minutes customizing her sandwich order into something altogether different. The very bored & annoyed order taker finally looked at her and said "Why didn't you just order the turkey & swiss to begin with?" *facepalm*

My turn to order. "Um," I began. "I need to make one little substitution on my order too." The order taker gave me the side-eye. "I just want swiss cheese instead of cheddar on the new Carolina Club." I didn't really want the lettuce or tomato either, but I figured I could just pick those off and spare someone else a headache. He began to snicker and admitted that he preferred swiss cheese on his sandwiches too. So far, so good.

Oh, that sandwich was good! Pecan roasted pork loin slices, bacon, honey mustard (a little on the sweet side, but wasn't going to quibble), swiss, the veggies, on telera bread. I picked off the tomato, but decided to give the lettuce a shot. My moan of pleasure upon biting into it was audible...which got me the side-eye from the girl 2 tables over. Her date/boyfriend winked at me, which cheesed her off even more. I didn't care. That was one of the best sandwiches I've had in a long time!

I'm getting ready to start stitching some of the Ink Circles Mandalas that I've collected, and they require a boatload of black floss for the outlines. Sullivan's black floss is better than DMC, and the only place I know to get it from is Hancock's. Yes THAT store. Good news: they were having a sale! Bad news: The associates still move at the speed of a dead turtle. WTF news: The 2 items I bought (20 skeins of black floss and a pretty piece of fabric that will be used as backing for something) were among the 5 items in the store NOT on sale. I still managed to maintain my decent mood and got out of there with my booty.

Next stop was supposed to be Wal-Mart, but there wasn't a parking spot to be found. I've been getting better about parking and hiking up to places, but since we'd had more snow/rain/ice fall, I didn't trust my balance or the spotty scraping job the store did, I decided to skip that and try them later. So off to the bookstore! Had a wonderful time there and spent far too much money before jetting off to Trader Joe's & Whole Foods.

Trader Joe's was it's usual overcrowded mess, but I had my list, knew exactly what aisles I needed and where I needed to be on them, so I got done pretty quickly. Until I encountered the old geezer who wanted to flirt. His horrified grandson heard him say that he needed a sweet young thing to cook him dinner and came rushing over to babble apologies and drag him away. I sent the coot into hysterics by cooing sweetly "It looks like you've already got one!"

Whole Foods was almost as bad as Trader Joe's. I was in line at the meat case behind a woman who wanted to know if the meat guy had a personal relationship with the pig her sausage came from, if it had a happy life, etc. He finally shed her and got to me. Since he's known me for years, he felt comfortable enough to tell me that the only pig he'd ever had a personal relationship with was his ex-wife and he wouldn't sell THAT to anybody. I had to laugh.

Oh, I also made it to Joann's for the rest of my floss needs. And a pillow form to fill the British themed pillowcase I'd gotten on Amazon. And some frames for prints I'd collected.

As you may have guessed, I spent an ungodly amount of money that day. But I had a good time, and was all useful stuff, so I'm not beating myself up about it!

The Insurance People Are Nosy Idiots

So, I've had a problem with eczema/psoraisis for most of my life. Had an appointment with Dr B today and mentioned to him that it has now started appearing around my eyes, which really bothers me. (one of my biggest fears is going blind. If I can't see to read, just kill me) He emailed in a Rx for a lotion that is ok to use on my face.

10 minutes after he sent the Rx in, the pharmacy called. Apparently there is some new thing with insurance companies, and if a cream or lotion is prescribed they want the patient to tell them what it is for. WTF? So I said, perfectly seriously, that I was going to spread it on crackers and serve it for appetizers at dinner tonight. There was a dead silence for about a minute, and then the pharmacist exploded into laughter. "Best answer I've heard yet!"

I mean, seriously. It's a LOTION. What do they think I'm going to do with it?

Sorry about the griping post, but I have to be me, and this was too dumb to keep to myself.

Did that just happen?!?

So I'm at work and my boys BB & DH wandered in with their evidence. (Initials being used to protect the guilty/save my hide)  While I was entering their first case, D asked if we had any of the small baggies we use for narcotics. I passed some out to him and started on the second case.

While that was going on, BB was asking about what our schedules were like in this office. I explained how that worked, and he joked that he might have to put in an application for one of the vacant spots to help pay his child support. This boy is cute as a button, but still hasn't learned where babies come from, cuz he has a lot of them. So D & I started teasing him about that, and then he spotted the baggies I'd given D.

"Hey!" he squawked. "I need some of those too!" I told him I'd get him some when I was done with their case.

"But I want some now...c'mon, you know you want to give me some babies. I'll give you anything you want if you give me some babies!"

*crickets*

Then he realized what he'd just said.

And when we saw the the look on his face, D & I exploded into hysterical laughter.

I suspect it may be a few days before he wanders in again...

Food Issues- or- The Picky Eater

Despite appearances, I am a somewhat picky eater and have been for my entire life. My mother was honestly was afraid that I'd grow up to be one of those people who only eats a handful of foods. She recalls, all too vividly, the first trip we took to Iowa. 3 year old me refused most of the goodies offered to me for breakfast, insisting I wanted grits (bless my little Southern soul) and forcing the family to call 20 grocery stores within a 75 mile radius until they found the *1* store that had some and necessitating a 90 minute roundtrip drive to get them.

I was the kid who wouldn't touch bologna. (still won't- UGH) Salami, I would eat until it came out of my ears, but something about bologna was/is just gross to me. I also wouldn't eat jello, drink kool-aid, or eat eggs. All those things still hold true. I also will only eat chicken drumsticks & breasts.

More oddities- I don't like yellow cheeses. I won't eat the processed cheez-fud (spelled intentionally) that passes for cheese on most fast food burgers. It has a weird mouthfeel, tastes awful, and is too salty to boot. I'll occasionally eat the ones with 'swiss' cheese, but not often.

I don't like a lot of crap on my burgers. The standard version for me is mustard, ketchup, pickle, and onion. Steak sauce (A1 or HP) is acceptable in the place of ketchup. Bacon & mushrooms are also acceptable toppings, but that's pretty much it.

Hot dogs & macaroni cheese? Yuck. We had some lean years when I was younger and ate a lot of both. Now they gag me. Reading The Jungle didn't help with the hot dog thing. Before you ask, yes, I know salami is made in a similar fashion to hot dogs, but as long as I don't look at the ingredient list or think too hard about it, I'm ok.

I like flavorful foods, but I don't like to mix flavored items. My mother can dip ranch doritos in salsa and it tastes fine to her. Yuck. Plain chips & salsa, yes! Ranch chips on their own, yum! Just don't ask me to mix them.

What are your food likes/dislikes?

Not a Good Day- follow up to Odds & Ends

Managed to drag my butt out of bed early and met mom at Peking Bistro for lunch. I have been thinking about that Mongolian Bacon & the meat/vegetable buns for months now and was finally going to get them. Wrong. They’ve discontinued the buns (but they’re still on the menu) and they were out of the meat for the other dish. Seriously?!? Settled for Mongolian Beef instead, but it wasn’t what I wanted.




The drive back across town took forever because there are snow flurries and everyone was acting like they’d never seen them before. I got to Starbucks at 2:10 and it was 2:22 before I got my drink. Luckily it was the one close to the office.



Got to work and the lot was full and it took me 5 minutes to get around the building to my usual spot because people parked like idiots again. As I’m pulling in, a police car coming from the other direction at full speed almost hit me. We got out of our cars at the same time and he started yelling at me about how I couldn’t park there because that spot is a loading dock. I said it used to be, but that door is now the back of the elevator shaft & doesn’t get used. The sign is still there, but it’s rusty and hanging by one nail. I park there every day. He said he didn’t care if I usually parked there, he was telling me I couldn’t park there now. I said fine, but kept going to the building as I was almost late. He followed me and said “Are you going to leave your car there?” I told him I needed to go in and let my boss know I was there. (didn’t mention that I was going to have my boss go tell him to leave me alone) He said “fine, but if it’s still there when I come back out, I’m giving you a ticket.” Then he pushes past me to get into the building first, walks into the officer room and tries to pull the door shut on me when I reached for it. I let him shut it and then badged in and walked in behind him. Claudia was in the lobby and said to him “Um, she actually works here, so you didn’t need to do that.”



I walked in past him and went to get my Sgt & Lt. I told them about his threats and they went out to deal with him. Well, he ran out the door after Claudia told him I worked here, leaving his rookie that he’d come down with standing there with his mouth hanging open. They caught up with him in the parking lot, told him that I park there and have parked there 4-6 days a week for the last 6 years and they’re fine with it. He then told them that I got nasty and swore at him and that’s why he threatened to give me a ticket. So then they had to come in and yell at me- they did admit that they think he just said it because he knew he was busted for being an ass, but they had to act on it since he DID say it. I wish I’d thought to point out that HE was parked in front of a sign that clearly said NO PARKING.

Stupid Moments In My Employment History- part 2

Shortly after the heart attack incident, our bookstore moved. The property owners were re-developing the property and we were being moved into a 3 level area across the lot from our existing location. We were literally loading carts with books and pushing them across the broken asphalt of the parking lot to the new building and/or hauling bookcases. Well, some of us were. The in-crowd got to sit on stools and supervise.

Much to my amazement, I managed to get through the entire experience without any injuries more severe than broken nails and numerous bruises. So, of course, I tripped over a box in the warehouse of the new building and severely sprained my ankle AFTER we had re-opened for business.

Did you catch the bit about the new building being 3 levels? We now had a customer service desk on each level as well as the main cash register bank on the middle floor. The lower level was the smallest area, the music/video department and not heavily trafficked during the week. The other two desks were where the bulk of the books were and involved a lot of walking to get to anything. Also, the elevator wasn't working yet, so we had to take the stairs to each level. Since I was under doctor's orders (which my bosses had copies of, since it was a worker's comp issue) to walk as little as possible and keep weight off that ankle, I asked if I could either be assigned to the registers or lower service desk as much as possible until it healed. I could sit on a bar stool at either of those locations without it being obstrusive and still work. I also offered to do the jobs most people hated- stickering/destickering best sellers, pricing gift & accessory items and the like, since they needed to be done and it would be easy for me to work on them at either spot since I couldn't run around the store to help customers. Ideally, I would have stayed home until the ankle was better, but we didn't have paid sick leave and I couldn't afford the time off, so I thought I was offering some reasonable compromises.

The first day, good old Cleve (remember him?) took great delight in scheduling me at Main Service and Upper Service for the whole day. We all knew this was deliberate, but I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of begging for a different assignment. I *DID* ask if I could have a stool to sit on between customers and this was grudgingly allowed.

Day 2- Scheduled for the two heaviest service desks all day again. Gritted my teeth, got my stool, and tried to tough it out. Customers saw me limping around as I slowly & painfully made my way around the store to fill requests or show them where things were and asked why my bosses didn't give me an easier job. I mumbled something noncommittal and soldiered on. Until I came back from lunch and the stool was gone. Cleve & Bonnie (our GM) were waiting for me and he had a truimphant sneer on his face. Bonnie reminded me that employees were not supposed to have stools on the sales floor because sitting around was against (unwritten) policy. Um, I have a sprained ankle and I'm NOT supposed to be standing on it. "Did you ask if you could have a stool today?" Nooooo, I kind of thought it was obvious that I was going to need one wherever I was assigned until my ankle healed. "Well, you can't just take it upon yourself to bring stools onto the sales floor. You HAVE to ask EVERY day until you're better. Since you didn't ask today, this is going to have to be written up for your personnel file and we're taking the stool away for the rest of your shift." Seriously?

Day 3- same as before, but I asked for permission to have my stool. "How long is this going to be going on?" Um, until my ankle heals, and every day that I spend limping around this damned store, up & down stairs is going to make it that much longer for it to heal. It might help if I could be assigned to the register or lower service as I requested. "You don't decide schedules or how jobs are assigned, that's our job." And then I was written up for insubordination.

Day 4- same schedule, but amazingly none of the stools could be found when I went to get one. Right. I've had enough of this. So, unbeknownst to me, had one of the other assistant managers. HE called the owners and raised hell. A very panicked Rahm (one of the other owners) raced into the store and saw me limping back across the sales floor to the desk from a trip up to level 3. Cleve & Bonnie were summoned to the offices upstairs. 20 minutes later I was sent to lower service with a stool and told that I would be assigned down there until the doctor cleared me to be running around. Rahm not only read the managers the riot act about violating my doctor's orders, he removed both notes from my file and made them come apologize to me on the main floor in front of everyone. I graciously accepted that (okay, there was some smirking) and reiterated my offers to work at the registers if needed (as long as I could have a stool there) and the stickering projects. Rahm was pleased that I was willing to try to do things to make myself useful while on restricted duty and commented to Bonnie & Cleve that THEY should have thought of things like that themselves. (yeah, still not endearing me to the bosses)

Of course I knew that the ONLY reason Rahm was taking my side is that he was afraid I would file a lawsuit against the store. I found out later that D (the manager who called him on my behalf and who was in law school at the time) pointed out that there could be legal ramifications  for them violating doctor orders, especially on a workman's comp case. Heh.

You want your crap? Come Get It!

We send out fairly detailed letters when we have someone's personal property or an item is slated to be released. Despite this, we keep getting the same stupid phone calls asking what the item is. So I've created a simplified version that I think will work, but I can't get authorization to implement it. Don't know why...what do y'all think?

Prospective Property Letter

Dear Suspected Criminal/Possibly Innocent Victim:


Come get your shit.

(description of shit the person may have)



You have 3 months to come get it or we throw it in the trash and you are shit out of luck.



LMPD Property Room



P.S. We don’t care how it got here, why it got here, or about your life story. Don’t call us and flap your yap, just COME GET YOUR SHIT.

Stupid Moments in My Employment History- part 1

The last bookstore I worked in was run by a collection of cliques. If you weren't part of the various in-crowds, you were pretty well screwed. Everything from the shifts people worked to the music that was played in-store, was determined by a few people. Now, we all have those moments, the ones where you want to look around for the hidden cameras because SURELY the events transpiring before you can't seriously be happening. Here are a few of mine from working there:

1. My mother called me at work one afternoon, about an two hours before my shift ended. This was almost unheard of- Mom believes that if you are at work, you should be working and personal phone calls should be in case of emergency only. So when my coworker told me it was my mom, I knew something was wrong. It was. Dad had suffered a heart attack. He seemed to be ok, but they wanted me to know what was going on. I numbly hung up the phone and burst into tears. Luckily I was in the special orders office, out of customer sight. One of the SPO guys tried to calm me down while the other one ran to get the manager on duty, who I will refer to as Cleve. Cleve stomped into the office, ignored the fact that I was an uncharacteristically sobbing wreck,  and informed me that I needed to go work at the service desk so his girlfriend could take a coffee break with him. "I need to go home- to North Carolina. My father has had a heart attack." He rolled his eyes and said "You don't need to go now. Get your crap together and get out to the desk." And then he stomped back out.

The SPO guys were furious. I was hysterical. Just then, Audrey, one of the store owners (and the only one I would give you a nickel for to this day), came in. She took one look at me and asked what was wrong. Pat & Mike told her about my bad news and Cleve's response to it. "Oh, we'll see about that."
Bless her, Audrey went out to the service counter and ripped old Cleve a new one in front of God and everybody. We could actually hear her yelling at him in the back. (this didn't endear me to him, BTW, even though it was his own fault) Then she came back and told me I could go home and not to worry about my schedule for the week. I could go to NC and to let her know when I was coming back and she'd make sure I was put on the schedule properly. (She knew they'd try to jerk me around otherwise) Then she asked if I needed money since she knew payday wasn't for a few more days. I hadn't even thought that far and realized I only had about $20 to my name and that was NOT going to get me to NC. Audrey told me to wait there, went out to the registers and cashed a check, came back and handed me $100. "Is this enough?" She also made me promise not to try to make that drive until the next morning, after I'd had time to calm down. 

To this day, I adore Audrey. My only regret about quitting my job there is that I don't get to work with/for her anymore. She was the only one of the four owners who genuinely gave a damn about the employees.

The Devil In Me Strikes Again

So, I was at Wal-Mart, in line and cranky. There were 3 cashiers, 2 U-scans, and about 75 people divided among the lines. 

1 cashier was running a 20 item or less lane. There were 3 ghetto fabulous witches in her line with a cart overflowing with groceries. The cashier politely explained that she was a limited line and these three bitches started throwing a fit."There's no sign that says that" etc, etc. (There was a sign clearly displayed that they were apparently too illiterate to read) She offered to go ahead & take them if they'd allow her to take the girl behind them (the last person in that line) first as she only had 3 items. Their response was that the bitching got louder and angrier. "We had to wait, why shouldn't she?"

Then they started accusing the poor woman of being racist. At this point, evil Mickey came out to play. I've shopped in that store for years, that cashier has waited on me countless times, and is as sweet as she can be. So I pointed at the bitchiest one and cried out, "That's why you look familiar! You used to have a bright red weave with black streaks, didn't you?" All three of them turned to stare at me, so I kept going. "My sister is a nurse at the free clinic and I was picking her up for lunch. You were there complaining about an oozing rash and a guy that beat you up because he said you gave him crabs. You're Syphilitic Sally, right?"

Everyone around us was cracking up. The bitch and her friends started sputtering that they didn't know me and I was mistaken. I kept laying it on louder and thicker. Then a guy in the next lane joined in. "Hey, you told me that rash was just a reaction to your perfume! And you weren't  worth the $20 I paid you!"

By this time, everyone within earshot was hysterical. The terrible trio stormed out in a rage, leaving their groceries. A manager was coming just then, having been alerted to the trouble brewing at our end. He looked at the 30 or so people laughing hysterically, and began laughing himself. I explained what had happened and the cashier they had been abusing shrieked, "You mean you made that all up?" and started laughing so hard that she had to sit down. 

The guy in the next line admitted that he thought what  I was doing was so funny, he couldn't resist joining in. His wife expressed her gratitude at knowing it was a joke. I apologized for costing the store a big sale, and the manager (who was also laughing at this point) said that they could afford it at this time of year. He helped the still giggling cashier void the sale and took the cart back to the grocery department for restocking. My new buddy on the next aisle and I got high fives from the people around us as we got checked out and left.

So remember-be nice to those tired cashiers, especially at this time of year. Because you never know which of your fellow shoppers might decide they've had enough of your bad behavior and embarrass the hell out of you...

The Oyster Dressing Story Concludes...

So I got over to the parental abode just enough ahead of Thanksgiving dinnertime to get Dad’s oyster stuffing heated up. Silly me thought my mother would do the intelligent thing, transfer the dressing into a pan and stick it in the oven to heat/crisp up some. Nope. She microwaved it, so we had a bowl of smelly (to me), slimy looking glop.




Dad ate a couple of spoonsful, but wasn’t totally delighted. (He WAS happy that I’d thought to get him some, just not the way it turned out) When we were clearing the table he said to Mom, “Mix the rest of that with some of the regular stuffing and I’ll eat it later.” Mom didn’t hear him, so she threw it out, thinking he didn’t want any more of it. We figured this out as I was leaving and telling him I was sorry he didn’t like his surprise. He did allow as how I might could get him some more at Christmas.



I also got an email from the manager at Whole Foods thanking me for sharing my great service story. He said that they have discretionary bonuses that they’re allowed to give employees at holiday time and the two associates that I named in my letter will each get one. How cool is that?

Today's Rant, with a surprise postive twist!

Left the house early today to try to get some errands run before coming to work. Started with Kroger. Mistake #1.




Kroger: Stopped at the pharmacy to see if the Rx I called in LAST WEEK was ready yet. (it wasn’t the last 2 times I went in) The girl at the counter said “Sure!” and then started looking for it. 20 minutes later she was still looking for it and enlisted the help of a pharmacy tech to help her find it. he pulled it straight out of the basket and gave her the “you are a total dumbass” look. She rang it up and cheerfully told me my total was $58. Um, no. MY prescription is a $4 water pill. She looked at the bottle and it turns out that they put someone else’s meds in my bag. I had to wait another 20 minutes for them to find that person’s bag and see if mine was in it- it was- and then verify that we each were getting the right medication. Paid for that and then ran to get the other things I had intended to pick up...and gave up on that idea after the 3rd aisle where I was blocked by an elderly person slowly meandering up the middle of the freaking lane. I understand that older people and/or those with physical problems sometimes move slowly. When my back & knee aren't cooperating, *I* move slowly. But I don't do it UP THE MIDDLE OF THE GADDAMNED AISLE, BLOCKING OTHER PEOPLE, AND GLARING IF THEY TRY TO GET PAST ME. And then I got stuck behind Shamu's sister as I tried to get out of the store and she ambled slowly through the middle of the exit, leaving no room for anyone to get in or out around her. Again, I'm a fat chick, so I understand taking up space, but seriously? WHY THE MIDDLE?!?



Left Kroger in a rage and headed to Rite Aid to get the next Rx. No problem there. I never have problems there and am transferring the one I have at Kroger back to them next month. The problem I run into at Rite Aid is trying to get out of their parking lot. It’s on a busy intersection and really difficult during normal business hours. I was about to make my turn when this bitch in the left lane decides to make a right turn in front of me, cutting me off and nearly killing us both. And then has the nerve to flip me off. You can imagine how well that went over. I caught up with her at the next light and cussed her out thoroughly. She was too stupid to roll her window up so she got to listen to my entire tirade.



Headed to Whole Food$ next. Realizing that I wasn't going to have time to stop and get lunch at Jason's Deli as I had originally planned (THANK YOU ASSHOLES AT KROGER) so I decided to get some rolls from the self-serve baking case & tuna from their deli to eat when I finally got to work. The store was packed- apparently the rich people in town took the whole week off for Thanksgiving and most of them chose today to do their shopping. at the bread & pastry case, there was a little old lady (god, another one) examining every roll in a basket. With her bare hands. She kept picking them up and squeezing them, looking for a soft one. The bakery associate & I stood there in shock. Finally the baker said "Um, ma'am, you really need to use the paper we provide to pick up the rolls." The old bat snapped back that her hands were perfectly clean and she needed to test the rolls to find the softest ones. The baker reiterated that she really shouldn't touch the food with her bare hands and the crone stomped off in a huff. Luckily, the rolls I wanted were in a different basket and she hadn't touched THEM. The beleagured baker wearily removed the basket that had been manhandled and wandered off.

The reason I went there today is this: When I stopped in last Sunday, I had asked the staff at the Thanksgiving table about oyster dressing. One of Daddy’s favorite things in the world is Uncle John’s oyster dressing. Since he’s still in the rehab center and we’re not going to NC, I thought I’d see if they had some. We’d bought some a couple of years ago and he liked it. It wasn’t on their production list, but the girl walked me over to the seafood counter and asked the guy working if it was something he could get for me. He grinned and said they’d had so many requests for it that they would be making some later that night and to just put in a request for however much I wanted.



Well, I went in to pick it up today and the girl was thrilled to see me. She remembered how happy I was when they said they could make me some. We went back to the seafood counter and my new buddy there went back and got it for me. Went to check out, when I got a delightful surprise. E.K.- the guy in seafood- had marked my pound of oyster dressing NO CHARGE. They gave me a pound of expensive freaking oyster dressing for free! I went back and hugged him and Star (the girl) both and I am sending a letter to their corporate office to let them know how cool those two are. Dad is going to die when he gets his stuffing for Thanksgiving.

Bonus good service story:

Realizing I was going to be late for work no matter what, I opted to stop at Starbuck$ and get my jereboam of iced coffee. (you'd think I'm rich the way I blew money today. I'm not, just for the record) Believe me when I say that nobody wants to see me decaffeinated, especially my coworkers. The line there was ridiculous too, both instore and at the drive thru. I finally got to the window and the cashier (new) called over her should that the iced coffee lady was up. The duo who are usually at the drive-thru came running over, saw me and yelled hellos. "We thought this was your order!" (ok, so I go there a little more often than I should) Then they gave me my drink for free. They do that a lot because I am apparently one of the few customers that says please & thank you and they like my tie-dyed shirt collection. They're getting a thank you letter too.