In no random order, some thoughts on the day. After sleeping a lot yesterday, the alarm going off this morning at five was incredibly unwelcome. I got to work before the sun came up. Somehow, I got coffee in my eye. Tepid coffee, but it still stung like a muthafucker. The gift card system wentContinue reading “On the Day After Christmas”
Category Archives: Work
On a Span of Time
Today I will have worked for EB Games as long as I worked for Payless ShoeSource–just slightly shy of seven years each. And remember, Festivus is two days hence. Have you put up your Festivus Pole? Are you ready for the Feats of Strength? Have you prepared your Airing of Grievances? Festivus, the holiday forContinue reading “On a Span of Time”
On a Case of the Mondays
“Sounds like somebody has a case of the Mondays,” said that annoying phone operator in Office Space. I must be having one of those, because I kept thinking that today must have been something other than Monday. Surely it was Tuesday, or Wednesday, or possibly even Friday. Monday? Not possible. And yet, today is Monday.Continue reading “On a Case of the Mondays”
On XBox 360 Madness
People need a sanity check–you can buy an XBox 360 system on eBay for 11 million dollars. I don’t expect that anyone would match Jack Dell’s “Buy It Now” price–there are better things one can do with 11 million dollars–but I have to wonder at the thought process that leads someone to put up anContinue reading “On XBox 360 Madness”
On Making December's Schedule
Nothing puts the month into perspective like making the store’s schedule through Christmas Eve. The schedule, at least two weeks out, isn’t set in stone. It’s a kind of guestimate, an ideal for how I want to schedule the store. There’s every possibility that the schedule for the week beginning the 18th will need someContinue reading “On Making December's Schedule”
On Christmas Songs
They’ve begun to play Christmas songs on the muzak at work. It’s not all Christmas music — we still get the insipid Hillary Duff and Kelly Clarkson songs every twenty minutes — but there’s a nice mix with maybe one out of every three songs being a Christmas song. And they’re not old Christmas songs,Continue reading “On Christmas Songs”
On the Day After
I’m so glad I no longer work in a mall. The day after Thanksgiving is, traditionally, the busiest shopping day of the year, the start of the Christmas shopping season. The company wanted its stores in strip malls to open at seven. I got to work at six, brought the registers up, and at 6:15Continue reading “On the Day After”
On Pre-Thanksgiving
Yesterday. The XBox 360 launched. System allocations were extremely tight. Microsoft cut allocations twice in the weeks running up to the November 22nd launch resulting in a few customer service issues. But by Monday customers who knew they wouldn’t be getting a system on Launch Day seemed pretty accepting of the fact, and yesterday’s launchContinue reading “On Pre-Thanksgiving”
On Heading Back to Work
Yesterday morning I got back from our annual manager’s conference in Las Vegas. After four days in Vegas I needed sleep. I’m now feeling mostly refreshed. I had a good time in Vegas. I didn’t plan on playing the slots, until I found a slot machine with a Munsters theme. I kid you not. LostContinue reading “On Heading Back to Work”
On Work and Scheduling
Nothing makes the year seem shorter than it is than doing a work schedule. Specifically, four weeks’ worth of schedules, taking us from Labor Day until the first of October. It’s not even the end of August, and I can tell you who will be working when on October 1st. Working the schedule that farContinue reading “On Work and Scheduling”