I'm Glad This Day's Done

Here's a picture of the first computer I ever owned. They gave me a whole box of them for free my first  day at Harris Street School in 1965. Back then it was called grammar school not elementary school but we always just called it Harris Street School.

Computers got really big (and I mean literally) in the early to mid seventies and some covered an entire wall. By the time I was a sophomore they introduced a reading lab at our school.

I never owned a computer until I won a lap top off a radio contest  seventeen years ago. Tim worked in downtown Atlanta at the time and picked  it up from the radio station. I opened the box and thought I had received the wrong package, surely this had to have been addressed to George and Jane Jetson,  not me.

One of Tim's friends came over and got me started. Seventeen years later and I'm still getting started.

This week I've felt (and looked) like the woman in the above photo. Starting this mid week manager job has stressed me out beyond belief. I'm great with the customers, talking is my number one forte'. I've gotten better at learning what they need and steering them in the right direction and have made a few pretty decent commission checks. It was great because I worked with  two seasoned employees who could help me with any problems. Now I'm on my own three days a week and the only thing that terrifies me is the computer system. I've never done some of these programs and am terrified of hitting the wrong key and doing something that can't be undone or fixed. Actually I have seen  the "Illegal Operation" notification a couple of times already and about peed my pants both times.

When I got my first computer I squinted at  the screen  for years before I learned I could make the font size bigger. That's how computer savvy I was.  I've learned a lot by trial and error and even more by hunt and peck  but that was on my OWN computer. Now I am a manager and working solo on a corporate computer. So far I haven't done anything that couldn't be fixed but it still makes me nervous.I did better today but when I was running closing reports at the end of the night got all confused thinking I had done something wrong and panicked. I picked up  the phone and called my BFFL at  corporate and left a message. I called the other manager at  home and asked him for help. Turns out I was doing things right, just freaking out. I need to have more faith in myself, slow down and take a deep breath. I am a worrier by  nature and the past few years haven't helped cure me of my flaw.

Tomorrow I am a server again and know how to do that with my eyes shut. Saturday I go back to selling furniture but will be with my two co workers and am doing every stinking thing that needs to be done on that computer while someone is there to watch me. I wasn't sure about this new job at first, but think now that it is something I could really be good at, I just have to step out of my comfort zone and apply myself.

Moving on... (I gots a busy life)

Massey had cap and gown pictures made today at  school as you  can see, and "No" these aren't them. She looked beautiful when I dropped her off for school. She's a good girl and although sometimes needs to  be taken down a notch usually takes her dressing down pretty well. She's still my BFF and I wouldn't have it any other way.

She chose a weekend trip to Destin with  a friend from school to stay with her aunts over going to the prom and don't blame her one bit. I was nervous about them driving down but spoke with them every few hours and they made it safely. I won't have to worry again until they drive back on Sunday.

Spoke with my sister a couple of hours ago. I wish Massey had a sister.

 My sister tried to make a fake call to the furniture store yesterday. I stopped her in her tracks once I  heard her fake voice. We have a thing called Klick Klacks. It's like a futon without the rails. When Cin came into the store for the first time she noticed  them and said she would love to have one for her home office. They are inexpensive and something I would buy for Massey's dorm room at college when friends visited.

Cin called me yesterday with her fake phone call and had it all planned out. She would say she just bought a home in an upscale community called White Water and only wanted to furnish her home with the finest furniture and wanted to know if we sold Klick Klacks?

She made  the mistake of calling when no one was in the store  and once I realized it was her, cut her off after saying "I just bought a home" and volleyed back "I don't give a sh*t where you bought a house."

I called her house tonight on the way home from work and left HER a fake message. I said I was calling on behalf of the Home Owners Association in White Water and she needed to get that Klick Klack off her front porch, it was a code violation.

It may not make you laugh but it made me laugh and made my sister laugh.

My point is...I'm still able to laugh. The opposite of laugh is cry and I'd much rather laugh than cry. I'm making strides here. I'm moving up albeit nervously but at least I am  moving in the right direction.

Shout out to my younger son, Zach. He has me totally hooked on his "A Game of Thrones" book. I have never hated and loved more characters in a book. It is a must  read and I am an avid reader.

So life is looking up and I need to quit looking down. As Forrest Gump said "I may not be smart but I know what love is."

I am loved by family, I am loved by  friends. I am loved by many and need to start believing  they are right. I'm an okay person.

Huge shout out to Vicki for getting me this new job and giving me this chance. I truly think it may be something I can be successful at...until I am discovered as the next  female David Sedaris !!

Til next  time...COTTON

Simply "WHEW!"

Boy was my second day on the new job was a lot different than my first! I had three times the number people come in to look and tried to familiarize myself with the computer system.  On the upside I didn't have to call anyone at  corporate until after 3PM. On the downside I had to call my buddy in  tech support at least five times after four.

A guy we'll just call "Job" (since he had the patience of a saint) came in with his wife and daughter and wanted to buy a queen size bed, dresser, mirror and mattress and box springs.

I've sold plenty of things since I've been there but none since I started opening the store by myself. I used to have a manager to rely on when I couldn't figure something out. Now I'm on my own and I'm a nervous wreck. The only time I am calm is when no one is in the store. When someone walks in I go into panic mode  thinking I am somehow going to screw up. So much for confidence! Hopefully it will come back gradually as I learn more and FEEL more confident.

Made a couple of fumbles processing the transaction and had to call tech  support. By this time I decided to be honest with Job and tell him it's my second day and he's my first sale. His four year old daughter seemed to like me so I chatted her up while sweat ran my back as I tried to finalize the sale. He wanted it all delivered tomorrow and I wanted to make sure we had everything he was buying in  stock in the back.

I rang up the wrong mattress which over billed him $100.00. No problem, let's just get my tech buddy (now BFFL) back on the phone. Let me say this guy at corporate is pretty  stinking savvy on a computer. He wasn't even near a computer when I called him the last time (well, the next to the next  to the last time) and he walked me through it instantly and clearly.

Since I did the bill of sale I have the man's address and am going to drop him a Thank You note in the mail. If it had been any other person I bet they would have walked out the door and said "Forget You! Ain't nobody got time for this!"

Massey stopped by after school  to bring me a spoon while I was finishing up "Job's" order. I had brought my lunch today (3 cartons of blueberry yogurt) and didn't have a utensil to eat them with. Maybe my brain was starving and that was my problem. Yeah, That's the ticket!

In the end the sale finally went through, they left and their furniture will be delivered tomorrow. I am  sure the minute they got back in their car  they looked at each other and said "What kind of idiot is SHE?"

As always, Massey boosted my spirits. After they left she helped me locate their bed, mattress and box springs and move them up to the delivery area so the guy could pick them up tomorrow and take them to Job. She made a good point "If you don't make mistakes, how will you learn to fix them?"

Tomorrow will be my last day alone this week. (Thank you Jesus) I feel more confident knowing that even though I needed help, I got it and everything turned out okay.

It's hard being almost fifty three and starting a new gig but I like it and think once I get it all down might be pretty good at it.

Funny story...Today before the whole "Job" debacle started the phone at work rang and I looked at  the number. It was slow and I had read six different training manuals and looked through the entire inventory list so I had settled at the counter by the front door to read "A Game of Thrones" for a while that my son loaned me, while no one was in the store. I thought it was my sister's cell number but to be sure I answered the phone like I normally do. Once I heard her faking a high voice saying "We just recently bought a house in White Water and wanted to know..." I interrupted her and said "Lady, I don't give a sh*t where you just bought a house I'm trying to read a book, can you call back?"

We both got a good laugh out of it. She was just calling to check up on me and give me moral support, which she constantly does, God bless her!

So I'm learning by  trial and error, seems the best way to truly learn anything. I'm hanging in there and feeling slightly more confident every day. You know, I thought working ten hours by myself would drag by but between learning the computer system and learning how to do everything else it's not that bad.

I think sending "Job" a Thank You note is a good idea too. How many people have ever received a Thank You note from someone they bought a mattress from? Probably not too many and he was so kind and patient he deserves it. Chalk one up for learning how to make a (hopefully) repeat customer!

Wish me luck...I need it!

Til next  time...COTTON

Who can turn the world on with her smile?
Who can take a nothing day, and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile?
Well it's you girl, and you should know it
With each glance and every little movement you show it

Love is all around, no need to waste it
You can have a town, why don't you take it
You're gonna make it after all
You're gonna make it after all


How will you make it on your own?
This world is awfully big, girl this time you're all alone
But it's time you started living
It's time you let someone else do some giving

Love is all around, no need to waste it
You can have a town, why don't you take it
You're gonna make it after all
You're gonna make it after all.

When I clocked out tonight after my first shift as mid week manager, I felt like walking out in the parking lot and tossing my hat in the air like Mary Tyler Moore did every Saturday night when I was  kid.

Problem is, I wasn't wearing a hat and nowhere as cute as Mary Tyler Moore was but still felt like her, even though I really look like the woman behind her on the left in this photo.

I've been a nervous wreck over starting this job. I'm by myself three days a week so I have no one to help fix my goofs...and I'm sure there will be many.

Last weekend I had to take a training course online. It took me three hours to complete the seven levels but I did it. At the end of the video they say you have graduated and even play Pomp and Circumstance in the background. They praise you on your level of achievement and ask for you to post comments about graduating the program. I wrote "First off I'd like to thank the academy...oops, wrong speech." I did go back and leave a positive comment because it actually did teach me a lot, I just like trying to be funny. (which Massey assures me I'm not)

Last week I did all the closing reports for the store with the manager there to watch me. The notes I took were so meticulous it made it seem like I had never logged onto a computer in my life but since I will be by myself I wanted baby step by step instructions. It's almost ridiculous...it reads like this:

Toggle
Toggle
Left click open/close
F-11 right click
Hit OK
Find eye glass at  top of screen to left and double left click...cancel, cancel, close.
Click on Red X at right top of screen.
Go to third icon from  the left on the bottom of the screen and click.

I filled three pages of my notebook front and back just for doing the closing reports. I have about twenty more for everything from doing a layaway to financing and giving a quote.

I'm definitely a fish out of water.

The last night I did the closing reports for the manager who was training me I goofed up royally. It was a problem we couldn't fix and after calling a guy from corporate on his cell phone while he was trying to have dinner with his family on a Saturday night, told me what to do and told me to also email another person detailing what I did wrong.

My email went something like this:
"So sorry but I only ran one X report instead of two and when I ran my Z report my numbers didn't match, I'm off seventy  dollars. My bad."

Everyone has been so nice to me. A girlfriend from high school suggested me for this job, she's over the HR dept. for the company. The manager who trained me knows I am a fish out of water but has been extremely helpful. The sales associate I worked with for two months  taught me more in two days about selling furniture that I ever thought possible. Big shout out to my buddy, Snookie! She's from  New Jersey so I gave her the nickname the first day I met her.

This is a big step for me and could be a HUGE step. It's still sales, just selling a different product and know all too well that it is ultimately up to me to make it happen and I'll give it my best shot.

"Love is all around, no need to waste it
You can have a town, why don't you take it
You're gonna make it after all
You're gonna make it after all."

You know what? I just might!

Til next  time...COTTON

Yep, I'm a Doofus

I was supposed to be off today but picked up a shift at the restaurant tonight to have some extra money since I'll be selling furniture the next  three days and won't be bringing home cash every  night.

I agreed to cut the front of the subdivision again this year so I loaded up my gear around noon, cranked up Johnny and headed to the front. I was all prepared. Had my long picker upper stick Barb gave me last year, a plastic trash bag to put all the trash in and my buddy Mr. Weedeater across my lap with a full tank and long line of extra weed eater line in my front pocket.

Took me about one hour to finish  the cut but  have to weed eat both the ditches on either side of the road which takes twice as long. By  this time the chilly air was gone and I was sweating so I putted back home on Johnny and put on a tank top. I returned to the front and did the weed eating on one side and moved to the other side. It took another hour to weed eat the bigger side and picked up so much trash people had thrown out of their cars that it reaffirmed my decision to junk up my car before throwing trash out the window.

My spare weed eater line was starting to poke out of my pocket and should have known better than to leave it hanging out. I didn't notice how much it was hanging out but when the weed eater cut out suddenly, noticed that the weed eater I hold right next to my hip had sucked the spare line right into  the motor. Yeah  I'm an idiot. My weed eater was fried. He was on his last leg anyway, the guard was totally gone and he would only work on half choke. (Big Sissy)

I went back home and got my hedge clippers. I started clipping down the last ten feet of weeds but finally just pulled them up with my hands.

I got home with just enough time to get a shower and head into work.

Hopefully the HOA will drop me off a check tomorrow for the cut. They usually take a couple of days to pay me, which ticks me off especially when I'm broke...which I always am.

I headed into work and made decent money, enough to get me through a couple of days but my body was aching like crazy.

I'm super nervous about tomorrow. There is so much more I need to know but guess I can wing it til I do.

If Jethro thought he could be a brain surgeon and Gomer thought he could be a deputy sheriff, I think I can be a furniture store manager.

I have my notebook full of detailed instructions I wrote down and a good friend from the corporate office at my back.

What the heck! Let's give it a shot.

Massey seems to think I can do it. My friend seems to think I can do it. I guess the only one worried is me.

I've always been a worry wart.

Waking up tomorrow, going in and giving it my best shot! Let's hope I have excellent aim.

Til next  time...COTTON

Made it Another Week!

Just got home from work and boy my dog's are barking, and I don't mean my three pups. I mean my two callused, bunioned and corn ridden size six worn out dogs I used to call feet many years ago.

Anyone who's been a server for decades like me can relate. Serving is rough on your body but brutal on your tootsies. I wear excellent shoes now,  which my sweet sister gave to me, and couldn't even imagine how my feet would feel if still wearing the Wal Mart work shoes I wore for years. The great thing about Danskos is they look good with jeans, a skirt or even a dress. They are my "Go To" shoes and of course with Ziggy my chewing pup around now, are the only shoes I have left. I used to have two pair of tennis shoes but have been missing one of  each pair for months and have yet to discover where he took them.  I have a couple of pair of heels but with feet in my condition, shoving them into pointed toe shoes which leave my bruised heels three inches off  the ground seems like and IS unnecessary added  torture and  don't mind being almost five foot four one bit!

Lately, especially after reaching the half century mark other parts of me have been falling apart as well. The arm I've used to carry dishes on for almost thirty five years is (as we say in the south) "Wore slap out." My wrist gives out all the time and my  finger prints burned off back in the eighties from  cooking pizzas while a manager with Johnny's Pizza. Thankfully I've never been arrested or booked but would find it hard to believe they could raise prints off my fingers. I still have scars up and down each arm from  slinging pizzas into an oven set on 500 degrees for fourteen years. Needless to  say I don't have any hair on my forearms either. I do have hair on my legs, but that's because I am lazy and the stubble helps keep my work tights up.

 I could shave my legs with my work tights on but don't want to put a run in my tights, they cost me a buck ninety nine at  the Sock Shoppe. Heck... I could cut 'em with scissors but they keep me warmer in  the cold winter months and skinny women need all the warmth they can get. I mentioned this entire line of reasoning to my husband one time. He sat silent for a moment and then simply said with a slow shake of his head, "Babe, you  really know how to turn a man on."

I am pleased to announce (which makes me look even sadder) the thing I thought was a tick, then a mole, then a skin tag on my upper shoulder turned out to be a zit. I was elated!

You just never know when you start to get older, how much the little things will make you happy. Tim got up  for work a few minutes ago  to head into work  and came downstairs to eat. I handed him my glasses and said to look at the spot that has been bothering me on my shoulder. He said, while standing in the kitchen in his underwear scratching his crotch... "Looks like a zit. It's got a head on it, just pop it" and continued to warm up some leftovers.

Getting older isn't pretty sometimes, but beats the alternative. Tim and I have been together over a quarter of a century. We started out dirt poor when TJ was two. We worked our way up to over six figures while having two more kids.  We had a great life for years and years, then hit the skids.

We survived the skids too, with so much help the U.S. government should have contacted us to see how we managed , wanting to incorporate our method of survival into their own.

In the grand scheme of things, I'm doing okay. It hasn't been easy but there are tens of millions and then some who have it a whole lot worse.

My marriage has taken a hit, my kids have suffered through the hit but both are things that can be fixed. Tim and I still love each other and are committed. One day it will be easy street again and hopefully will look back and both say "Remember when..."

Having this new job has eased my stress level tremendously. Two days a week I don't sling plates but instead sling my forte'.  (my PHD in BS)  I can talk like nobody's business and after thirty five years of selling food know how to talk to people and  make them feel good about buying a product from me.

Four days a week it's food, two days it's furniture.

I can't begin to tell you how much my tiny little body and worn out feet have enjoyed this change.

I have tomorrow off and what the heck, have decided to clean my house. It's more disgusting than my legs and feet. My thinking of late has been  I have a seventeen and twenty year old living here and if they don't mind living in  filth while I work two jobs, who am I to help clean the hovel?

I can think back years ago when I would clean the house. They were all babies.  I would bust my ass for eight hours and then sit back with a glass of wine and breathe in the smell of a clean house. It smelled and felt delicious.

That's my goal for my day off. To sit back tomorrow night, look around my house and not be disgusted.

I'm a realist...if I get halfway there it will be a total success!

Til next  time...COTTON

Maybe I Undersold MYSELF

So I went into my new second job today as an actual salesperson, not a trainee. Started out slow and the pace picked up. My co worker made sale after sale as I stood by like a dummy. But I'm a smart dummy and listened to her as she talked with her customers. She knows her stuff and always seems to know the right thing to say.

 Massey came up to have lunch with me and I gave her the grand tour after we finished our burgers in the break room. In true Massey  fashion she told me I needed to "Get my game on and do some selling."

BAM! Sold a bedroom set. King size none the less. He also bought a king size mattress and box spring set. I was on the board! Then I sold another king size bed and then sold another king size mattress.

Maybe I WILL be good at this. Only time will tell. I'm a fish out of water and have much  to learn but what the heck.

It's nice not working at a frantic pace two days a week and the people I work with are fantastic and very helpful.

Here's  the thing...I'm almost fifty three and killing my spirit by  working insane hours at a physically demanding job. Now two days a week I slowed down the pace and enjoy it. I have a lot to learn but am willing and ready. If I can sell two grand as a newbie, it's just the inspiration I need. Of course some just fell into my lap but actually made contact and kinda sorta bonded with others.

Working there again tomorrow and like a dummy picked up a shift at the restaurant after I get off at six. Gotta strike while the iron's hot.

If I can make a go of this it will be awesome. If I can learn my new product well enough  to sell confidently, it's gonna be a whole new ballgame and may even feel  good enough to go into extra innings!

Stay tuned... COTTON

Yes My Life is Crazy

Good Lord I am WHOOPED! Got  home from work late Friday night and had to be at my new gig on  Saturday morning by  nine. It was twenty two degrees when I left my house and didn't  get  much warmer when I got there. The place I am also working for is a no frills discount store. No heat...just low prices. (and temps)

I wore my sock tights under my pants,  had a thick sweater on over my camisole and training bra. I had on the Misty Harbor long trench coat with wool lining my brother gave me for Christmas a few years back. I love it...it  hits around my ankles and is like a fancy "Snuggie." I had  my silk scarf I got  from a customer YEARS ago wrapped around my neck and remained in this outfit  the entire day... I was still cold. Granted weighing ninety nine pounds doesn't help but my  tootsies are normal size and even THEY never warmed up.

I started  this new job and felt immediately lost. I've been a server for well over thirty years.  Yes I am a salesman but have always sold food. Thank The Lord it was slow and the people who I  worked with were extremely tolerant and patient. I've learned more about furniture, bedding and furnishings in the past two days than I have  in my fifty three years of  having a furnished house.

We got to know each  other and clicked immediately. They love and have dogs...I love and have dogs. That's all I needed to hear. Now they are both BFFL's. They both know their job extremely well and were so helpful to me. Like the good student I am I took a notebook with me and filled up  page after page with info , descriptions and helpful hints.

I may be old but I know how to learn.

I worked there on Saturday and Sunday. I'm just in training, not selling til next  weekend but when a few peeps were in the store and both of them were busy a lone man walked in and the girl I was working with asked if I thought I could take care of him?

BAM!! I did it.

Older Asian man, could barely understand him but got  that he needed a stool. I directed him to the section with stools . There were about six of them but he  worried over those stools for at least ten minutes. He asked if I could come down on the price? For Pete's sake...it's a discount store, it's ALREADY discounted! I didn't say that but  somehow managed to point out they were solid wood and quite sturdy.

Guess what? Who sold a stool? "I" sold a stool!

So I'm on my way (kinda) and you know what? After three decades of  the same type of work it's nice to be doing something different.

Still have my old job but it's been nice to do something out of the box and totally new.

My sister came by yesterday to visit me at work and when  she called me later that night said "At least you are giving them something to laugh about."

Oh I am all about some comments and observations. You don't work as a server for over thirty years without some stories to be told.

I like the new peeps I work with and who have been incredibly helpful and nice.

I may just be on to something! Only time will tell.

Time WILL tell. But for now, I like it!

Til next  time...COTTON