Filed under: Doses of Cynicism, Triumphs & Heartbreaks, Work Life | Tags: boss, co-workers, confrontation, manager, retail, selfishness, work
What a day.
This morning I received a card from the FFL group, and attached with it the postcard I designed for them, thanking me for the work I’ve done for them.
I thought that was really nice of them, and it made my day.
Work was a different story though.
We were extremely understaffed, and the people I worked with were complete slackers. (Ie. hour long breaks, mysterious absences, etc.)
So about 45 mins after my scheduled break, and I was still the only person manning the floor, I page my co-worker. Twice.
No reply.
I page my manager. And normally I don’t page them unless it was absolutely necessary because I assume they have more important things to do. But I figure, I don’t get paid nearly enough to be worrying about my managers feelings.
So my manager calls back and tells me to page for co-worker B in this duh-you-should’ve-thought-of-doing-this-yourself tone. And I sort of just brushed it off because this particular manager is known for being a pseudo-bitch.
I page co-worker B. Twice.
No reply.
So I page my manager again because it is now 40mins before closing.
She calls back and tells me that I’m just going to have to wait. She doesn’t know where anybody is. She’s helping a customer, and I’m just going to have to be more patient.
And that really ticked me off in a bad way.
I’m about the only employee here doing my job, letting people know when I go on breaks, being responsible, and you’re telling me to be patient?
Patient was 8:30pm when I noticed that I’m the only person on the floor and thought that half an hour later I would go on my break.
It is now an hour later, and no one’s come back. And I know for a fact that this person has gone on another extended break earlier.
And don’t tell me you’re helping a customer because I help customers and I’ve had to manage multiple tasks while helping them, and I don’t lose it.
I hate confrontations, but I will not avoid them.
So I went up to my manager after I finally had my break, and just as I was about to give her a piece of my mind, she starts to apologize.
And it really threw me off, because I was expecting her to be an ultra-bitch about it.
She said that she was really overwhelmed earlier, and she was looking for my co-workers as soon as she was done with the customer. And within that exchange, she said “sorry” at least 5 times.
I was quite grateful that she understood where I was coming from. And if she wasn’t genuine, she was really good at pretending she was. And that’s good enough for me.
I thanked her, and told her I really appreciated her talking to me about it.
And I realized maybe underneath the ultra-bitch facade, is just a slightly insensitive but kind person. And it made me a little bit happier.
Filed under: Doses of Cynicism, Work Life | Tags: consumer, customer, retail, retail hell, shopping, store
“Segments” is often mistaken for the library. People would sit down with a bunch of books/magazines and read to their hearts’ content. And afterwards, they would leave their piles of books/magazine behind, along with their finished Starbucks beverage containers/pop cans/bottles. I guess they mistake the whole store for a garbage can too.
I mean, would you go into a grocery store, pick out a whole bunch of groceries, decide not to buy them, and then just randomly leave them where you wish?
Losing battle, but we still fight it
The are 2 policies that “Segments” do have and try to enforce. The first is with its newspapers. Due to their short life spans, the store requires newspapers to be purchased before reading. And even though we have signs all over the newspaper stands, customers still take them, read them, and disregard them when they’re done.
So when I see people reading newspapers, I would politely tell them that the newspapers are for sale, and they have to be purchased before reading. And about 90% of the time, the customers are cooperative. (I’ve had customers go hiding on me and continue reading the newspaper elsewhere in the store.)
The second policy is with people photographing or taking notes from books. We are NOT the library. And the real library is only a couple blocks away. This is a book store, so when you take photographs or notes from books, you are stealing content.
Again, when I inform customers about not photographing books and such, about 90% of the time, they willingly stop.
The only times when I’ve had resistance are with people who have a bloated sense of entitlement. Some customers have said to me:
“I’m an adult, I can do whatever I want.”
“I’m not taking notes, I’m just having thoughts and writing them down.”
“I spend thousands of dollars each year at ‘Segments.’”
“I know Heather Reisman.”
Guess what? The customer isn’t always right.
I don’t put the blame entirely on the customer just because you wouldn’t blame an unruly child if their parents have been encouraging their unruly behaviour.
The customer has been conditioned to think that they’re always right, but bring some common courteousness when you walk into a store next time and act like a civilized person.
Filed under: Doses of Cynicism, Photography, Work Life | Tags: babies, gay, gay couple, puppies
Pillz and I met up with his friends at David Lam Park for the Jazz Fest Concert. They brought their puppies along, and they were just cuteness overload.
I wanted to take them home.
I think this is definitely the way to go if I ever wanted to play house with my gay husband.
Ugly Babies
Earlier that day, a gay man came into “Segments” pushing a stroller and carrying a toddler in his arm.
This toddler (at least 3 years old) was probably the most obnoxious I’ve seen in a while. He screamed and threw books around whenever he was put on the ground. And he cried that manipulative baby cry that only works on the most deluded of mothers.
The man wanted to put together a purchase of around $100, so he gave me all his books and a toy to scan.
The child starts to scream when his toy was taken away from him, so the man asks me to scan his toy first so he could have it back immediately.
During my transaction with this man which involved about 10 minutes of pulling out different items to make it $100, his boyfriend came.
The man pays for the purchase with a gift card, and his boyfriend says, “you bought $100 dollars worth of kids books?”
The man proudly explains that he spends all his money on his sister’s baby.
Gag.
Filed under: Doses of Cynicism, Graphic Design, My Friends, My Weekend Pillows, Photography, School Life | Tags: DTE, Photography, selfishness, summer, Vancouver
It is made even more apparent that people are selfish and they mostly just look out for themselves when a large group of people congregate.
On Saturday, Pillz, his friends, and I went to the Jazz Festival. It got more crowded as it got later in the afternoon.
I sat on the edge of a narrow pathway that kept getting narrower with more and more people standing in front of it. And I was forced to witness the ugliness of human inconsideration.
People whizzing by clearing the way with their strollers. People stopping abruptly in the middle of the pathway to chat with their friends and effectively blocking anyone else from passing through.
I gritted my teeth the whole way through.
On Sunday, Pillz and I went on a nice stroll down the DTE. And I thought I’d haul out my camera from the very back of my closet and make some use of it.
The sunny weather yesterday prompted Joann and I to head out to the beach. However, the slight breeze felt more like the arctic freeze when we got to the beach. We wrapped ourselves in our beach blankets, ate our sandwiches from the Safeway Deli and left.
We then went to Calhouns and further discussed our summer project – the G DM A agenda. It is going to be an agenda tailor designed to the G DM A program. It is becoming more apparent to us that it is going to be a lot of work, but I think we’re up for the challenge.
Filed under: Books, Doses of Cynicism, Graphic Design, Work Life | Tags: Broken, CEO, Choke, Chuck Palahniuk, Daniel Clay, gym, gym etiquette, Snuff, work
Starting this week, I only work 4 days/week. I’m really excited about it. Although I really need the money, I felt my soul could only take so much abuse per week. And this way, I get to do more of the things I want to do: not going to work.
Lately my managers have been freaking out because the big H aka CEO of “segment of a book, synonym of purple” is coming to visit this Saturday morning. All the displays and merchandising have to be up to standards.
And guess what, I’ll be working that morning. FML.
I met the H once, about a year ago. She seemed plastically nice enough. What more could I ask for?
So along with my shortened workweek, I’ve decided that there are things that I’d like to start doing again, like reading and going to the gym.
I like pretty covers
The last book I read was Broken by Daniel Clay. It was a somewhat depressing, but very gripping book that made me cry at the very end while I was having my back tanned at the pool in Bali. No one knew because I had big dark sunglasses on, and the tears running down my face could’ve easily been mistaken for sweat.
I enjoyed it.
I’ve been meaning to re-start reading Choke by Chuck Palahniuk. The thing about reading his books is that I have to space them out because while his stories are always interesting, he has a really distinctive voice that really stays with you. So if you read his books one after another too soon, characters across different novels start to meld together.
And ever since Snuff came out in paperback, I’ve been wanting to read it too.
And he obviously knows the importance of graphic design because his book covers never disappoint.
I like hot bods
The last time I went to the gym was, well I don’t remember the last time I went to the gym. Except that when I went there was this group of teenaged boys (16-19ish) that thought they owned the gym.
They were loud, and one of them had the most annoying laugh. And really, no one cares which girl in school you would “definitely do because she has a fine ass.”
So I’ve decided to go back tonight. And I will update if I run into those adolescent boys again.
Filed under: Doses of Cynicism, My Friends, Triumphs & Heartbreaks | Tags: Bali, engagement, vacation
My flight to Bali leaves in less than 14 hours, and up until a couple hours ago, I didn’t even know if I’d be able to go.
It all started 2 nights ago…
My friend Jo came home from Europe with some devastating news about some sort of engagement. The ringing in my ears started as soon as she said something about her boyfriend proposing, and everything was blurry after that.
Mondz and I decided that an intervention was in order. Since this was a very delicate matter, we had to approach it strategically. So instead of telling her that she’s making the biggest mistake of her life and that by saying “yes,” she’s basically thrown her life away, we decided to be more subtle, and have her see straight for herself.
Our Brilliant Plan
We ambushed her at her home with some sunflowers, a party tray of sushi from Samurai, a Martha Stewart wedding magazine, and a First Response pregnancy test. Yes, we were determined to get to the bottom of her foolish decision.
We took her by surprise when we screamed “happy engagement” (we really didn’t know what else to say in these situations) while she was raking her front patio.
So she tells us all about how he got on one knee and proposed to her opposite the Eiffel Tower in Paris (I wonder where he got that idea).
In the end we just decided to be happy and supportive of her. And when she comes to her senses one day, we will be happy and supportive of her then too.
Abuse to the Stomach
I went home that night with a stomach full of sushi. And I decided to watch The Reader. I’ve known early on in life that watching a movie without some sort of snacks in hand is just not the way god would’ve wanted it. So I grabbed some salt and pepper peanuts and snacked away till the end of the movie.
Big mistake.
I woke up the next morning with unpleasant rumblings in my stomach. Against better judgment, I went to the GD MA 09 grad show, and then had dinner at this bubble tea place.
That’s when the unpleasantness really escalated. It led to a night of vomiting and well, vomiting of the ass.
That lasted for a day and a half.
And I really thought I was gonna have to cancel the trip and cry for the next 3 weeks. Fortunately my stomach has decided that it wants to go on the trip as well. And here I am, not throwing up (knock on wood).
Yesterday morning, I received 2 e-mails, one after the other, from two of my instructors at school. The GDMA 2009 grad show was 1 day away (today), and previous volunteers have cancelled, leaving them desperate for help.
Mondz and I previously planned on going to view the show, but not to volunteer, knowing that we’d likely be working that day. After receiving that e-mail, it seemed that that option was no longer available to us.
The e-mail said that all we had to do was to be there from 5:30pm to 10:30pm, and wear black.
So I thought, even though I would have work from 11am to 5:30pm (today), I could be there around 6-6:30pm. I wanted to do what I can to help out, since we are in the same program. And I know if I was in the same situation, I would appreciate it if the students from other years would help out.
The only problem was that the show was in DTE, and I feel apprehensive about taking the bus there and back at night. But I thought I should consider the bigger picture and just tough it out. So I gathered some courage and sent this to the contact person:
Hi <insert contact person’s name here>,
This is Peter from 3rd year. I received the e-mails from <instructor A> and <instructor B> about volunteering for the Industry Night.
I could get to East Van Studio by around 630pm-ish because I have work till 530 tomorrow. Is that too late? I’ll try to get in touch with some of my other classmates, and see if they could help out too.
What did you guys need us to do?
Peter
I receive the following response:
Hi Peter,
Thanks for volunteering, I will wait to see who else responds before I say yes to you because we do need the volunteers there at 5:30pm but if we need you I will let you know.
Thank you,
<contact person’s name>
This is what I sent back:
Alright, in that case I won’t try to rush over from work.
Best of luck with the show.
If that was too subtle, what I meant was: You can go fuck yourself with a sand papery cock.
Filed under: Doses of Cynicism, My Weekend Pillows | Tags: bad sashimi, sun-tanning
The dilemma this week has been whether or not to start getting a base tan at a tanning salon before going to Bali. I have been silly in my younger days and gone to water parks with no sunscreen on. That was a lesson you only need to learn once.
In the end we didn’t go due to Pillows’ irrational fear of elevator rides with his neighbours. And I was lazy, so I didn’t really push it either.
Grove Inn Horror
We ended up having dinner at the Grove Inn on Denman Street. I have been there once for breakfast and it was alright. But really, how difficult is it to do breakfast? Apparently the restaurant has changed owners, yet again, and now they also serve Japanese food. I sort of knew that it was a bad idea to order sashimi at a restaurant that serves their sausage and egg breakfast special all day. Against better judgment, I ordered the Bento Combo A which includes chicken teriyaki, California roll, mixed tempura, and salmon and tuna and unknown fish sashimi.
I have an unsubstantiated fondness for bento boxes.
My instincts were confirmed when my meal arrived. The tuna sashimi had a nice dark pink colour on one edge and then steadily gradated to a rich brown on the other, complete with a shiny rainbow sheen. The tempura was greasy and the batter was heavy and thick.
I had the California roll and the chicken teriyaki, and I didn’t touch the rest.
Filed under: Doses of Cynicism, My Weekend Pillows, Photography | Tags: Bali, gay, gym
I have been vegging out at home for the past 2 days as the soreness in my back and arms is working its way around my upper body. I will have to remember the next time I take an 8-month hiatus from the gym to not do the same weights and repetitions as I used to. And to not go anytime before 1130pm when there are muscle dudes and dudettes whose sole purpose of being there is to intimidate skinny, and apparently gender ambiguous, Asian guys.
Other than not being able to fully extend my arms, I’m thoroughly enjoying my days without real aim or purpose. I expect next week and the week after that to be fairly busy with work and getting ready for Bali.
Yay Bali.
More pictures of Railtown and my unenthused boyfriend.
Filed under: Books, Doses of Cynicism, My Weekend Pillows, Triumphs & Heartbreaks | Tags: Mitch Albom, Sundays, Tuesdays with Morrie, Morrie Schwartz, Self-help, life lessons
Sundays are depressing. They are even more depressing when I know that the next day I have school from 8-12, and then work from 2-830. And to top it off, I read the ending of Tuesdays with Morrie. Yeah, I could cry right now.
After finishing the book, I was curious to see if Morrie Schwartz’ interviews with Ted Koppel would be on Youtube. And they are. But I don’t think I can watch them right now.
The book didn’t really impact me the way I know it was supposed to. Maybe if I had read the book 5 or 7 years ago, I might have reacted to it properly. I have become more jaded than a 24 year-old should be with all the Wayne Dyers, and the Jack Canfields, and the Rhonda Byrnes of this world. I’ve conditioned myself to scoff at books that are supposed to better my emotional well-being.
Tuesdays with Morrie talks of love, relationships, life, death, and everything in between. It teaches forgiveness, compromise, and honesty. Most of which are true and well-meaning. The one thing that resonated with me the most was when he talked about social/cultural norms, and how you have to create your own sub-cultures if what’s out there doesn’t work for you.
All in all, I would say this book was worth the read.
I reject anything that is spoon-fed to me, even if it was a spoonful of truths and mantras to live by. I prefer my life lessons buried in ironic metaphors, sad stories, and regretful nights out at questionable bars.
But that’s just me.
