so sick and tired

Yesterday when I got in to work Dan was there and had broken down the milk load and was working on stuff in the cooler. So I did the milk order. Zhaun was there and was under the delusion that corp would be coming in at midnight. Yeah. Right. But whatever, he said to stay as long as it took. I ended up staying till 8. So I worked 11-8. I felt miserable from being sick. I ended up taking ibuprofen an hour or two after I got there. And my mouth was dry, I had to keep drinking water. Bret was freaking out about the yogurts being empty because for some reason Dustin hadn't filled them the night before when the load came in. I started on the yogurts around 12 or 12:30 or sometime. And I was working on them until 4:00. Wow. Well they were pretty empty.

I was almost out of large dozen eggs due to Terrie, my corp egg lady, not getting me the special I put in. So I hid eight cases in the back. I told Zhaun I would put them out last thing before I left. Anyone who asked about the eggs I told we were out, a few people I told to get rain checks. One lady lamented that she had only come into town for these eggs, but I couldn't back up and tell her I lied, so I offered her 18 packs as a substitute. I added it up at the cost per egg and then gave her the 18pk at that price added up. Someone I used to know years ago when he worked in meat dept that I was always friendly with asked about them and knowing he would understand I told him what I had done and got him some from the back. Indeed he was sympathetic.

Around 2:00 I was putting out more 18 packs to cover the hole where the dozens go this woman who was lurking around with a clipboard whom I hadn't given much notice to was next to me.
Me, "Am I in your way?"
Her, "I'm doing price checks but I don't see any dozens here?"
Me, "We're out. ...who are you doing price checks for?"
Her, "Albertson's."
Me, "We don't allow that here anymore, sorry."
Her, "..."
Me, "We just don't."
She promptly left. And the strangest thing about it was that I was completely calm. It didn't actually hit me till later that I had just kicked someone out of the store. I was going to tell Julie but every time I ran into her she was really busy. And I completely forgot about it today. It's really not such a big deal that they have to know anyway.

And speaking of people from other stores, Dennis, our old store director who is now the store director for Super 1 across the street, was in walking around, checking out the remodel. It was nice to see him again. I really wish he was still our store director. I was one of his favorites. So it was really weird when Bret showed up that I was suddenly at the bottom. The first time I ever gave serious thought to quitting was the day Bret came in. That first day Bret yelled at me for stuff that Dennis didn't give second glances to. If a department was lagging behind Dennis would grab a box knife and hop in. Bret stomps around and shouts at you, demeaning you and threatening you. Bret is a tyrant and a bully. Dennis quit because corp forced him to. They started visiting us and being harder and harder on us. Dennis ran a very good store and they hated him for it. In those last few months his wife would tell us about how he was up all night throwing up before they came to visit. After hearing this I willingly went in at 2AM to get ready for a visit. Afterward Dennis gave me a hug and said thanks. *sigh* I do miss him. I cried when he said he was leaving. It was his heart that ultimately made that decision for him. The doctor said there wasn't anything wrong with his heart, it was stress what was giving him trouble. And then we got stuck with Bret. And I have hated my job in varying degrees since. That was about some three or four years ago. In January.

Anyway, I had an Asian woman ask me for some product or other and I didn't understand her because of her accent. And I felt bad, I always feel  bad when this happens, and I didn't want to admit that I hadn't understood her so I sent her off to ask the remodel team where they moved it to. I hate when I can't understand an accent, and it's myself I hate, the person speaking can't help it.

My new floor, with it's lighter color, is going to be hard to keep clean. I mopped it yesterday and had to scrub to get the dirt off. There's nothing I can do about the scuff marks. Nothing in my knowledge anyway. I might ask the janitors sometime. They might know. Except they're Mexican so we run into the accent problem again. Edder's pretty nice about that though, so I'm sure he'd be able to help me.

Once I got home I wasn't able to go to bed till about 9. And then I was so very cold and sick. I finally was able to sleep because I made a tunnel with the blanket so I was breathing fairly warm air through it and that helped sooth me enough to give me sleep. I was still very tired this morning when I got up at 5:20.

My head is so stuffy and today my voice was weird. I had to speak slowly to be heard right. Around 8 I got very mucasy in my throat and had to go hide in my cooler while I expelled it. It was something between choking, coughing, and puking, but I got most of it out. I felt quite a bit better. Ever since I had what we all think was probably pneumonia some five or six years ago I cough up phlegm when I'm sick. For the first few years afterward I would cough it up anyway, any time of day, for no apparent reason. It's lessened in the last year or two. I still occasionally cough it up for no reason, but it's mainly only when I'm sick now.

Anyway. Corporate came in this morning, it was good to see Renee if only from a distance. I'm glad she's here. Renee's nice to me. She actually likes me. And she was very happy to know I'm ICM trained last year when she found out.

While I was ordering this woman came down to the juices to ask me where cream cheese was, and then got all huffy when she found out it was half-way back across the store and she left her cart with purse while she went to get some. Me and one of the remodel team looked at each other like, "...you left your purse here while you went halfway across the store??"

Oh, they did renumber out aisles... backwards. Aisle 1 is now Aisle 18. Aisle 18 is now Aisle 1. eek!!! I am never going to memorize that! I will be forever telling people soda's on aisle 2, when it is in fact on aisle 17! That is so weird. Why would they do that? As you're standing in the entrance to the store the numbers no longer read left to right. Sure it's ok if you're in the back of the store facing the entrance, cause then they read left to right. But it makes more sense to be able to read left to right from the entrance facing the back, because they want to get the people who first enter the store.

I do have to admit that the store's looking fairly nice. I like some of the new stuff, like the new book/magazine area, the angle of the produce tables. Also I noticed that Wal-Mart's grocery section is painted yellow as well. For being such a great store we're sure taking other people's ideas and running with them. I guess we weren't so great as they said we were. We also have the same floor as Super 1 and we have the same aisle curvies (no other way to describe them) as Super 1.

I stayed till 2:30 today. I figure by the end of this week I'll have roughly 51 hours. I am scheduled 50 next week.

The plan is to close the store at midnight, pretend that the customers haven't seen any remodel stuff we've done in the last two months, and then reopen at 8AM the next day as if it's all suddenly brand new. Our re-grand opening is set for Wednesday. The company president will be here and it's rumored that the kroger president might make an appearance. We have a ROP ad breaking on Sunday. And we're having some giveaways on Wednesday that I had to order in 500 eggs and 500 orange juices for. ugh. So I take it on Friday we'll be marking down these eggs and orange juices because there's no possible way for us to get rid of all that in one day. Also they seem to think we'll be super, insane busy the whole next week, thus my overtime. They even have me 6-2 on Thursday! Maybe we would have been that busy if they had closed the store for the remodel. But customers are used to this now. "Oh, new floors, big deal, we've walked on them this last month and a half." No one will be impressed  because they already know. Unless we have insane deals in the ad...

Speaking of which, Bret is going to check everyone's orders to see if we ordered enough. One of his biggest complaints is that I over order. Just today he told me I look really light in there I better order more. Wait, what? Did he not see the three wheelers of kroger yogurt in there? I have plenty. So I over ordered on purpose today to appease him. I'll deal with marking down all the extra some time week after next I guess.