Intellectual Orgy

Where has all the time gone? I used to have time to update my Thingie, play games and do my work while at the office… lately, I am totally swamped and can’t seem to muster the energy to write anything and finding the time is even harder…

I realize that’s not a good excuse, but it’s the only one I have…

Working for the She-Boss again is killing me… I am actively looking for new opportunities at my company even though I love working for my He-Boss… Doug has coined a new name for the She-Boss… Most folks call her The Dragon Lady — Doug has started calling her The Beast From The East… That makes me giggle

The Mall job is going OK… I have developed tendonitis of the foot due to standing for extended periods of time, but it’s the cost of doing my job, I say… The manager is getting better and working with him is not as horrible as it once was — Not to say that I wouldn’t buy pizza for the store if he left the company, but I am better able to deal with him lately… One of the perks of my job is when I get to sell something… I love selling and I love not HAVING to sell, but doing it when I feel like it… I’ve asked for a revision on my hours at the mall, so hopefully I’ll have more free time to do stuff that I want to do on the weekends…
Unfortunately, my house is taking a turn for the worse… Doug is doing the best that he can, but without the both of us working on it, the housework and laundry are just falling by the wayside… I hope that with my new mall job schedule, I’ll be able to contribute more to the housework, but we’ll see…

ANyhow, that’s all the time and energy I can muster for updating… I’ll try to get back to a regular pattern of updating, but no promises…

Sorry it’s been so dreadfully dead here… If anyone is still reading my Thingie, I’d be shocked… I am Teh Worst Blogger Evaaaaar!!!!!! Seriously, I get distracted way too easily… Here are a few highlights from the last several weeks (In reverse order since it’s easier that way)…

I started playing this kick-ass on-line multi=player game thing… It’s called The Dead Awaken and it’s a zombie vs humans game… pretty simple and no downloads or anything… You can be either a zombie or a human and you can buy weapons and armor… Humans and Zombies use different equipment… Humans use weapons ranging from a Broken Bottle to cool stuff like an Improvised Flame Thrower and armor ranging from Sunglasses to Riot Gear… Zombies use weapons like a Coin-Filled Sock all the way up to Dynamite… The Zombie armor ranges from an Eyepatch to Plate Mail…

You can do fun stuff like dig up graves at the graveyard and explore the abandoned portions of the mall… If you want, you can get into fights with other real players, though the interaction is limited to clicking on their name and clicking “Attack”… You can train up on various skills and attributes and stuff like that… The games currency is dollars, but the REAL power is through collecting heads and earning hearts… You collect heads via the Graveyard and the Mall and you can earn hearts by visiting marketing websites or donating…

Anyhoo, it’s a lot of fun and I can play it at the mall job, so that helps pass the time there… The nice thing is, you are limited to how much you can do in a day by your stamina so it forces you to take 2 or 3 hours breaks, which is nice… I am still a sucky n00b, but I’m trying *grin* If you click on the link in this entry or on the link under “Pimping” you can get me some referral credits, but no pressure *grin*

Speaking of the mall job, apparently I am doing a pretty good job of being a valuable team member… My ability to be a concierge AND a salesperson is putting me in good stead with the manager plus it gets me the bonuses for warranty sales and stuff… Scary thing is, if my store makes its various goals every quarter, the store bonuses add up to over $1000 per person (though as a part-timer, I may not get as much as other people)

There’s some other stuff going on, but I think I’ll save that for another post…

Apparently, I talked in my sleep in front of Doug for the first time this weekend… what did I say?

“Bye! Thanks for coming in!”

I was dreaming about my Sony job… *laugh* I am so lame!!

This weekend was beautiful as far as weather goes… I had to work both days, but it was still nice… I also used my employee discount finally! I got a universal remote, some screen cleaner and batteries… Hella good price on everything! I do like my job… Thankfully there are only 2 people that I don’t like…

I made cookies this weekend and took them in and that was fun… I made chocolate chip cookies and molasses spice cookies and they went like hotcakes… I brought in about 5 dozen cookies and they were gone in 2 days… funny thing was, someone was hoarding the cookies! They put about a dozen in a ziploc and shoved them to the back of the fridge and the guys found them last night and ate about half of them *grin* That made me laugh…

In Video Game news, I finally started Harvest Moon: Magical Melody and it is SO fun! I have 2 pieces of property and a chicken coop and a barn with a cow and a horse… I also have a dog and a pig! I am getting better at stuff, so it is becoming more fun, which means I want to play it more… a deadly combination!!

All right, I am done posting now…

Bye! Thanks for coming in!

So I took a look at my new schedule at Sony and it makes me laugh… I am laughing because if I don’t laugh, I might cry…

When I applied and interviewed, I made it perfectly clear that I did not want to work more than 20 hours per week… I even followed up on the interview with a phone call to confirm that they understood that I only wanted to work 20 hours per week… When the manager called to give me the job, I reminded him that I only wanted to work 20 hours per week…

This week, my first week on the job, I told the manager that I would work 25 hours to allow for training and to compensate for the fact that they have not hired to fill either of the TWO Concierge positions… I told him that since it was my first week, the new job energy would carry me through and make it so I don’t get burned out too quickly…

So, they put the new schedule up yesterday…

Sunday — 2 PM – 10 PM
Monday — OFF
Tuesday — 5 PM – 10 PM
Wednesday — OFF
Thursday — 5 PM – 10 PM
Friday — 5 PM – 10 PM
Saturday — 4 PM – 10 PM

Now, keep in mind that we usually don’t get out of the store til 10:30 PM — which means that I am looking at 31.5 hours next week… That is in addition to my normal 40 hour per week job… OUCH!!! I realize that it is kind of my own fault, but I think that they are taking advantage of my good-nature…

Now one of the issues that stands in the way of me getting fewer hours is the fact that I am the ONLY Concierge they have… which means that when I am not in the store, someone has to be off of the salesfloor, which is bad…

The trick to hiring a Concierge is that I don’t think most people are cut out for it… It is somewhat boring and tedious because you HAVE to stay behind the desk, but at the same time you have to be alert and top of everyone in the store… I am the hub of communication, so whenever anyone is taking a break or leaving the salesfloor, they have to let me know… I have to make sure that people are taking their lunches and I have to make sure that everyone in the store is being helped… If I see a customer who hasn’t been approached, I need to get on the radio and tell a salesperson that they need to go over there… If the store is not busy, I need to make sure that the associates are cleaning or restocking or something — not just chatting with each other… I also have to be in control of my area — no one is supposed to come behind the Concierge desk and I have to enforce that rule, which makes me look like a bitch, but oh well! At the end of the night, I have to tell people what their cleaning jobs will be so we can get out on time and I need to to do a pre-walk-through to make sure that the jobs all got done… And on top of all that control-freak duty, I have to be pleasant and personable and warm and friendly to every customer that enters or leaves our store… I have to smile and be genuine and pay attention to everyone who comes in the door…

That is why this job is not going to be easy to fill… You have to be able to multi-task like crazy, keep your wits about you, keep a positive attitude, be a control-freak and make sure that people are sticking to store policies… I don’t think that I have the intestinal fortitude to do this job full-time unless they were paying me more… If anyone reading this has aspirations of being a full-time concierge at the Sony Style store, think long and hard about what the job duties are and ask for a lot of money… I think that they mis-represent the job when they interview for it, so hopefully the people that they hire for the position are flexible…

I think I will write up a job description tonight… Maybe that will help them find some suitable candidates and allow me to NOT work 2 full time jobs.

I hate being the enforcer sometimes… I felt especially bad about it today…

Two kids (probably about 10 or 12) came into the building where we were having a big work event (700 people attending) and tried to get food and drinks from our buffet line, which was set up in the lobby… I had about 400 people in 3 lines shuffling through getting food from a buffet line that was in front of some huge windows and glass doors, so I suppose that might draw attention…

I happened to see them trying to negotiate with a catering guy to let them eat and I was fairly unhappy about it (This was an all-company meeting with attendees from EVERYWHERE… These kids were grungy and wet from the rain and carrying banged up and dirty razor scooters… The catering guy left to get his manager and I watched one of them cut in line (bumping a General manager from China) and grab a roll so I pulled them out of line and asked them if I could help them with something and they said that one of the catering guys said they could eat…

I knew this was untrue, so I said, “Well, he isn’t in charge of the event and this is aprivate function. Sorry, but you cannot eat here.” They started arguing with me and the site manager showed up and kicked them out…

Pathetic whinings of a soft-hearted moron under the MORE link… Read the rest of this entry »

So, I just got home from work and I am going to trundle off to bed so I can get up at 4:30 AM to start the final day of this event…

I got into the office at 6 AM and got some Very Bad News regarding the event and my boss…

I got to hear a horror story from a guy who got run over by his dad (unintentionally!!) this weekend which included a show and tell of gruesome injuries that he sustained…

My event kicked off with a whimper due to late food arrival, non-English speaking banquet staff and surly bartenders…

The meeting room set up started about an hour later than it was supposed to and ended about 2 hours later than we expected it to…

I have to be back into the hotel by 6 AM to meet with the A/V guy to try to pipe sound for us for presentations and videos…

I am dead fucking tired.

OK so my event that starts today already has issues… argh!!!!

One of the key players is NOT available after all and it is going to reflect badly overall but most importantly, it is going to leave a huge gap in the day…

On the positive side of things, the welcome baskets look REALLY nice and the lady who makes them threw in an extra one for me! Ah yes, the perks of my job!

I did manage to get 95% of my Christmas shopping done this weekend… Now I just need 4 more gifts and I am all done… yay!

But for now, I am in panic mode about work and won’t surface from that til Wednesday

It’s a Saturday… so what am I doing at work? What am I doing at work so goddamned early?

Monday evening can’t come soon enough…

Today marks the official opening day of one of our new campus features… After months of having our quad area closed for construction… The new Starbucks has opened! It is located less than 2 minutes from where I sit and it is open from 6:30 AM til 4 PM… There is a conference room there plus it is on the wireless network… One of my co-workers said he is going to take his bluetooth phone headset and laptop over there and just work from there everyday *laugh*

Dangerous stuff…

They also opened our new Fitness Facility… It is a 24 hour facility, so I might venture there when no one else is around, but I don’t think I will be taking many classes… I am way too uncoordinated to be in a group setting…

Happy Monday everyone!

I found out something hilarious about myself… when I am at work, if I am listening to music via my computer, I tend to loathe getting up and doing things away from my desk, whether that be copying, mail runs, visiting folks or even going to lunch… I brought my iPod to work today so I could get ready to move my desk (which happens while I am on vacation) and i find that I am not feeling so attached to my desk… I am also feeling kinda peppy and motivated…

Of course that could be because my playlist started with Tank from the Cowboy Bebop anime *grin*

Off to work, for real this time!