Various Mis-Adventures

[Cooper]

Seeing as I'm going to be away from customers for a while, I thought I'd delve into my past jobs for some fun tidbits. I got moved from Cashier to Online Store, so I'm not going to be really dealing with people as much. I'm going a bit stir-crazy to be honest, but at least as long as I churn out a decent amount of work every-day, I can listen to geeks play Skyrim, watch movies, and so on. Chases the boredom away most of the time.

My Stories

Babysitting

So, when I was thirteen, I made fliers advertising that I was willing to babysit, pet-sit, house-sit, clean, whatever, and delivered them around town. This got me two baby-sitting jobs. One was watching a four-year-old girl. She was a darling. Playing dolls with her was quite odd, however.

She pushed a doll into my hand, then walked her doll up to mine.

Doll: How are you?
Me: ...good.
Doll: Good. Hi! How are you?
Me: How are you?
Doll: Good.

This went on for a good two minutes before she got bored (she had the attention span of, well, a toddler. XD) I had to lie with her to get her to sleep. She fell asleep quickly, and I spent the next several hours hanging out and jumping at noises.

This ended up being the niece of another of my baby-sitting jobs. I've posted about it before. This was the one that got mad my cell phone wouldn't get service in a rural area, didn't tell me her child had never been baby-sat by a stranger before, and went off on my sister with Aspergers.

Over-Protective Jellyfish

The other one was also pretty decent, but was just weird. As I said, I was thirteen. My second job was babysitting two twelve-year-old girls. I spent most of the time walking back from my house to theirs, as they ended up going out on the boat with my family.

My father told them that our lake has fresh-water jellyfish. They refused to believe it, so he got a cup of water and caught one. They argued the whole way home about who got to hold it.

The girl's father never ended up explaining fully why he hired a girl only a year older than his daughter to watch her. She never showed any signs of needing guidance, or anything to worry about, to be honest. I would have understood a bit more if her friend was expected to be there, but she wasn't.

Cleaning

I admit I sucked at this job. It was my first 'official' job. It was good money, but it was hard work, and I missed stuff. The worst part was (bit TMI here, my specialty) my anxiety really got to me at night in this empty building. I had to spend hours in a dark warehouse, cleaning. And I never was able to, in the months I worked there, shake off the feeling something was hiding around the corner. So oftentimes, I would run right through the warehouse section of the building... and totally miss the warehouse bathroom, which was often the worst part of the job anyway. For obvious reasons.

I feel like I would have handled the job a lot better now that I've been on medication for a while, as I can't work myself up in situations like that anymore. But those nights would get me so worked up, I would wish I had chosen to do Corn Detassling instead.

I missed one guy's trashcan one week (I believe it was empty two weeks in a row, and I decided nobody was in that cubicle), and he demanded I was fired. I didn't get fired, but got 1/3rd of my pay deducted.

Another guy had a hobby of chewing tobacco. And spitting it out into the garbage. Or a water bottle, which would then go in the garbage. To be spit on. The previous cleaning lady refused to touch it. I'm sure if I worked there long enough I might have gotten to that point.

There Should Be A Sign

The upstairs is where I got moved to. It is now full of obsolete parts and everyone else's junk, that we sell. It used to be a house, and it sure looks like it was. The previous owners kept the door locked at all times, because otherwise people would just barge into their house and wander around.

A woman came downstairs, and went:

Woman: The upstairs isn't the store, is it?
P: Nope.
Woman: There should be a sign.
S: There is a sign.

She continued going on about the lack of sign. There is a sign. I see it every day when I go into work. Through the door that has the giant sign that says: "MARINA DOWNSTAIRS: EMPLOYEE OFFICE HERE"

Sighting

I went to the golden arches for food. The line was long, as it was around lunchtime. There was a woman at the counter who seemed to be having trouble handling it all on her own, and nobody came out to help her. The guy in front of me suddenly barges out, screaming: "I'm leaving because this B*** at the counter can't do her job!"

I take a deep breath, deciding I shouldn't smart-mouth to him for a few reasons. I'm at least a foot smaller than he is. I'm supposed to be Buddhist, and going out and calling him a jerkface in stronger terms does technically violate the rules. And I'd have to chase after him to do it.

I decide to settle for being nice to the cashier. She apologized for the wait, and I lifted my book and said: "I expected it. It's fine." I think it got a bit of a smile.

Mailmen Need to Keep Time

Just a tidbit I over-heard:

EW: You're late.
MM: Is it Monday?
EW: Yes.
MM: Then I'm not late. I left the office on Monday, and I'll get back on Monday.

U Mad Bro?

I got this story from one of my new co-workers, who was talking about having to tell a customer his part disappeared. We have over 2,000 listings on Online Store, and they track back as far as 2010. Sometimes, in the period of two years, parts vanish.

I know I'm shocked.

Well, we had one customer, whose part disappeared, who refused to accept the refund because he was convinced we realized we were selling the part for too low of a price, and were really just hiding it from him.

Yup. We don't list stuff on Online Store because we want to sell things. We just want to troll the world. U Mad?

[Andara Bledin]

Ugh. I can't stand the people who get pissed because their part is no longer available (lost, broken, stolen) and are convinced that we just decided we hate them and just don't want to make the sale.

And most of the time, it's not even because they think we're trying to get more money; they just think we don't want to complete the sale for no reason whatsoever.

^-.-^

[AccountingDrone]

Wow... I never knew there were fresh water jellyfish before. I have never lived near or regularly swum in a body of water with them!

I learn the neatest stuff on message boards

[Cooper]

Yeah, it's really weird, because they apparently only live in the cleanest lakes, but the lake we were on is also known for having one of the highest mercury concentrations in the state. So... drink the water, don't eat the fish? XP

I've only seen them a few times, because they're almost clear, but my father sees them all the time.

[BlaqueKatt]

Yeah, it's really weird, because they apparently only live in the cleanest lakes

Apparently two lakes* by me have them....

*link goes to list of lakes by state that have populations of them

[AccountingDrone]

Apparently two lakes* by me have them....

*link goes to list of lakes by state that have populations of them

Sweet, I used to live in Jewett City, right near Hopewell Pond. I may have to talk the hubby into heading out there in a couple weekends to see if we can see any =)

[PepperElf]

o wow. The big lake by my hometown city isn't on the list.

I guess jellyfish don't like polluted stinky water.

[scruff]

So, when I was thirteen, I made fliers advertising that I was willing to babysit, pet-sit, house-sit, clean, whatever, and delivered them around town. This got me two baby-sitting jobs.

Oh dear, now you're giving me flashbacks. :-)
Worst babysitting evening involved a neighbour with three kids. Oh, and a friend staying over unexpectedly. Oh, and one's ill but shouldn't cause you any trouble, but just in case, here is the phone number of the resturant we'll be at.

Sick kid got worse (just a very bad cold, but when the kid is too small to cope with blowing their nose, kid needs Mum and medicine, in that order.) So I ring the phone number, and discover the number is their _dentist_, not the resturant. And, of course, this is before mobile phones were common. Fortunatly I got my mum to call round and help (including chewing out the neighbour for not leaving medicine nor the right number.). Never offered to sit for that neighbour again.

[Merriweather]

Oh dear, now you're giving me flashbacks. :-)
Worst babysitting evening involved a neighbour with three kids. Oh, and a friend staying over unexpectedly. Oh, and one's ill but shouldn't cause you any trouble, but just in case, here is the phone number of the resturant we'll be at.

Sick kid got worse (just a very bad cold, but when the kid is too small to cope with blowing their nose, kid needs Mum and medicine, in that order.) So I ring the phone number, and discover the number is their _dentist_, not the resturant. And, of course, this is before mobile phones were common. Fortunatly I got my mum to call round and help (including chewing out the neighbour for not leaving medicine nor the right number.). Never offered to sit for that neighbour again.

That reminds me of my worst babysitting night. I was 14 or so. A family got my name from someone else I sat for, so first time sitting for them. 3 or 4 kids, can't recall. Got there, and the parents were out the door before I could blink. House was three open rooms, living, dining room,kitchen, front to back - with only the lightbulb in the kitchen working, so very dim. Discovered there was no working phone. Found out the dog was in her basket, extremely pregnant (luckily, the puppies waited a day or two to be born). Then the older kids informed me that one of their rats had gotten out of it's cage, and was lost in the house somewhere (ok, I didn't freak, but I wasn't at all pleased about a rat running lose). Then as I sat down on the sofa, suddenly one of the kids comes in, yells "meet Alexander" and drops Alexander on my lap - a huge iguana. Ok, I wasn't a reptile fan, but at least I had the sense to grit my teeth, keep calm, pick up Alexander, and tell them he needs to be back in his cage now. I know there were a few other things that weren't so great, but can't recall what they were now. It was an interesting evening. And no, I declined to sit again. I prefered well-lit houses with phones, numbers to reach the parents at, no vet obstetrics, and small critters in cages unless I okayed them to be out.