Tacky

I can usually deal with customers complaining, but this one was especially good today. This conversation takes place after the customer and her husband order and are going to pay.


Me: I'm sorry ma'am, we don't accept Starbucks gift cards. Only Barnes & Noble gift cards.

I have this conversation SEVERAL times a day, every day I work. I'm patient because I understand it is confusing, but I don't like it when people treat me like it's my fault.

Woman: This is a Starbucks.

I'm pretty sure I know where I work and get my paychecks from, ma'am.

Me: Actually we are a Barnes & Noble Cafe, and Starbucks is the brand of coffee we serve... but we're not owned by them.

Woman: That's ridiculous. I can't believe you'd do that. Let's go to Starbucks.

As if the threat of her leaving might magically make us accept the gift cards. I can't. I would take your card if I could, but I can't. 

So she turns to go, and her husband thinks she's being slightly ridiculous, so he hands me his debit card to pay. And the woman continues to complain.

Woman: This is ridiculous, it makes this place so... tacky. It's tacky that you don't accept Starbucks gift cards.

No it doesn't, but the leopard print leggings you are wearing as pants, those definitely are tacky. I'm not really sure you realize this but, I'm not getting paid enough to put up with your crap and make your coffee. So I'm just going to make your coffee and let you go on with your obviously happy life.

Money

On the job hunt again. Kind of frustrating how hard it is to get a job here. I started a new job a few weeks back, and it lasted about 3 days (they tricked me). They said they were a marketing company that focused on face-to-face interactions with customers, a new alternative to traditional advertising, blah blah blah. It all sounded so nice and professional, until I actually went to train, and then it turns out that I would be a door-to-door salesman at businesses. NO THANK YOU. Not gonna do it, nope. I'm not walking around Phoenix, during the summer with 120 degree weather, having people yell at me and treat me like a dog because I'm "trying to sell something." And honestly the product I was selling was really good and would have saved them money, but they wouldn't even speak with me. That kind of a job is too depressing and degrading for me. And it didn't help that the only way the last guy I trained with sold anything, was if there were women working and he was shamelessly flirting with them. So I ran away from that job REALLY fast.

I'm breaking down and going to apply at some restaurants today. I know I said I'd never be a waitress again, BUT I need some money to pay off debt and save for a wedding, and this is pretty much my only option at this point. I'm applying at the Melting Pot, which has an average per person order of $45!!!! I know, you probably think I'm selling out for money, but if I can make as much as working my part time job for a week, in one night of waiting on tables, you bet your butt I'm selling out! At least for the time being. Fine dining restaurants are so much nicer because you don't get the rednecks and hillbillies (I'm slightly bitter) coming in. The worst were cowboys, when I used to work at a restaurant in Idaho, because they would scrape the cow crap off their boots under the table. Thanks. I really wanted to pick up cow shit today.

SO, wish me luck in finding a non-redneck friendly restaurant to work at ;)

Ha ha ha I loved this! These people have to be in JR High right? Please? Ha ha.

So yesterday was a pet peeve day at work. I'm really just starting to wonder why people think it's ok to interrupt other people when they're talking to someone else. I will be standing at the counter, actively talking to a customer, and as I'm speaking to them some crazed person will bolt up to the counter will an urgent "I need to know or the world is going to end" look in their eye and say "DO YOU HAVE ANY OF THE STIR STICK STRAWS!?!?" To which I would like to reply "No sir, do you have any manners?" But I don't because I'm getting paid to be nice to them, unfortunately. And sadly, they have to make do with the wooden stir sticks so I don't want to make their day any more difficult...

Ohhh yes, and I almost forgot. The cherry on top of the cake ha ha. One of my friends works in the kids section (you already know this is going to be nasty now, don't you) at Barnes & Noble, and when she was back there she found a Tinkerbell gift bag that she could tell had stuff in it. So she opened it to see what was in it and possibly return it to the lost and found. Bad idea. Someone had decided to change their kids dirty diaper in the kids section... instead of the bathroom which has a changing table and is 50 ft away. They fortunately decided to take the diaper, but left the dirty wet wipes there... in the Tinkerbell bag. Things like this really make people LOVE working with the public ha ha ha.

Look a likes

Have you ever had someone tell you that you look just like someone else? And when they show you that person they think you look like, they're very ugly? And socially retarded? It's kind of happened a lot to me and I am started to wonder if I'm uglier that I think I am, ha ha.

My dad used to tell me he always thought I'd grow up to be like this girl at our church who wore glasses (not the cute trendy kind, I'm talking about the straight up geeky kind with the tiny rims), had the body of a little boy, and the personality of a sock. Umm thank you? Ha ha I think he must have seen some qualities in her that I didn't (at least I hope so and that it wasn't a subtle hint on his part that nobody liked me). 

Different people have done this at different points in my life with other people too. And I realize I'm not the most attractive person in the world... but I'm at least decent looking. All the people I'm compared to are just straight up weird looking. And weird in general. I've mentioned before that I was homeschooled. BUT, I pride myself on having turned out normal. And by normal I mean you can't tell that I was homeschooled. The people I'm compared to...  have the social skills of a 3rd grader.

It's really starting to hurt my tiny ego ha ha.

D-bags

Have you ever noticed those people who take up 2 parking spots? Usually they have pretty nice cars and I understand them not wanting to get dinged or scratched. Hell if I had a $100,000+ car I wouldn't want it getting messed up either by a careless child flying out of a minivan, or someone who is so morbidly obese they can't help hitting other people's cars because they have to open their door completely to get out of their car. It just happens. So I can understand when people do it, if it's a really nice car, and they do it in a space far from the store so they don't inconvenience other people. But nothing says "douche bag" more than someone with a completely normal car doing it. I was walking into my job the other day and some asshole parked in 2 spots... with a completely stock '08 Mustang.... SERIOUSLY?! No special paint job, no body work or other modifications. Nothing. And they thought their car was worth parking in 2 spots for... it wasn't. I saw the owner walking up to it as I was walking in and oddly enough it was a SINGLE guy. Hmmm, maybe if you didn't think you were such hot shit because of a car you completely over-rate, you'd get a girl to actually hang out with you. Maybe.

So lately people have been mistaking my boyfriend for some kind of celebrity. He's had a couple people ask for his autograph and random people saying hi or waving at him. Which I thought was kind of funny... until someone started taking our picture in Ikea. Umm awkward?! We have no idea who people think he is either which is really weird. Someone asked him if he "that guy on the billboard" and that's pretty much our only clue ha ha. So he's going to ask the next person who they think he is so we can figure this out.

Beauty

Check out the above video, if you haven't already watched it. It's crazy how I'll look at the finished product and then wish I looked like that when in reality, no one looks like that. I think honest things like this are really important. I keep seeing things about girls with eating disorders, or body dysmorphic disorders, and I start to wonder how much the media really does play into this. I always here how "unrealistic" all of the Hollywood stuff was, but I think it's finally sinking in how much our view of beauty has been distorted. We're striving to be something that isn't physically possible.

I've never been a big fan of Britney Spears. Not even when I was younger. BUT, she recently release some untouched photos of herself.

I really have to commend her for doing this. Here's the sad thing too, she really has a rocking body, especially for having a couple kids. I HOPE I look that good after I have kids. But society doesn't consider that beautiful anymore because it's not perfect. I think a lot more people in the media spotlight should take it upon themselves as a responsibility to release stuff like this too. Show us that they are human too and imperfections are okay. Unfortunately we all can't look photoshop perfect.

Here's the thing about beauty too. I think the most beautiful people I have met, aren't the most attractive people I've even seen. What makes them truly beautiful are the things on the inside. Their beauty isn't something you see right away, but something that unfolds as you get to know their character. I want to be more like those girls, not the plastic barbies.

DC

I'm in Washington DC now with my brother at the hospital. It's harder than I thought it would be but it's so, so good to see him. Even if he is a grumpy bastard ha ha. I guess the day we got here was the hardest day for him so far. He's getting tired of being in pain, and incapacitated, and attached to tubes, and in the bed all day, ect. He showed me all the work they did. They took a graph from his back (skin, muscles, nerves) and wrapped it around his hand because he's basically missing most of his palm. Anyways, by the time he was done showing me all the staples in his back, and the massive piece of tissue attached to his hand, I almost passed out. I had already seen pictures so you think I would have been ok, but just seeing it all and seeing how he was in pain really effected me.

I think it's also a good way for him to come back from war. It's always a hard adjustment, but I think that since he's pretty much still cut off from society, and he's with his family, it will help him adjust more slowly which is good. Give him his time.

So today will be better. I've got some music for him, I'll probably read him some books I read. It's nice to be a whole family again. When a soldier is deployed you just never know it that will happen again, and it feels wonderful to be reunited again.