Another $30 down the drain

So class today proved to be the same waste of time it has been the last couple of weeks. It started off on the right track when our teacher read some stats on the people of Fiji and how American TV coming to their island has opened their eyes to many different things such as being thin and trendy. However this soon turned into a full on discussion/debate...one lady was ranting and raving about how things like TV and MacDonalds were all a conspiarcy. 2 hours later I couldn't take it anymore and left.

Today I got to do a survay about SUV's. I was chosen because of my recent purchase of the 2006 Ford Escape. So at 2pm I headed down to Santa Fe Springs to give feedback on the things I did and did not like about these cars. It was actually pretty fun because you get this laptop type touchscreen thing that you carry around and answer questions with. I was out of there by 330pm along with a check for $75! When I got home from class there was a message from another company who wants to pay me $125!!! I could get used to this. I would have had some great pictures but I was practically strip searched before going in and could take nothing with me...especially not cell phones or cameras.

#3

Well here is my latest prize from Camel.

On other news...I have decided that Mondays are my favorite day. I never thought I would say that growing up but its like my friday in a sense. I am off Tuesdays and Thursdays and Wednesdays are slow. But on top of this there is a server at work who brings in treats every Monday. A few weeks ago it was brownies...then rice krispie treats...and yesterday it was oatmeal cinnamon cookies. The cookies were my favorite! they were actually still warm!!!! I told her if it comes warm every week I will excuse tardiness. I ate 5 of them! :)

Random Thoughts:

Today at work I realized I am begining to suffer from Workitis....its just like Senioritis only with work. Like senior year of high school when you are already accecpted into a college and know exactly what your doing next. So there is no need to do homework and its often necessary to skip class. That's me...only with work. I have just 39 days left at Fridays...in about 46 days I will be in Brazil....in 74 days I will be in Mexico and about 104 days I will be meeting my new niece and hanging out with Jon and Chris....I have workitis. It doesn't go so far that I need to call in or anything like that...more like I get to work and just don't want to do anything but wander around and talk to employees. Not like I didn't do this before but its just more extreme now. This is actually what the ideal manager should do...delegate and stand around. Never been the case at our Fridays (especially since we started from scratch).

Fridays at Fridays have proven week after week to produce at least one crazy person, or crazy incident....last friday night was no exception. I arrived at work about 3pm for our managers meeting (which was cancelled because the GM went home sick...thanks for calling us Tim and telling us to come in at the normal 4pm time). I always go to the bar first and check in with the bartenders and see how things are going. I noticed a lady sittnig on one side by herself nursing a long island but didnt think much of it. Since our meeting was cancelled I began to stock liquor and get ready for my weekly inventory, which would be Sunday. I was in the back when one of the bartenders comes in saying there was a crazy lady at the bar. He asked her if she needed anything and she responded frantically saying "what...why...do i look like i do..whats wrong....oh no i am ok......" He also noticed that the cell phone she was talking on....had a dead battery. I was immediatly filled with joy and went to check out the scene. As I get to the bar she is now asking a bartender if he has seen her child...by the way its 5pm now. Unfortunatly the bartender hadn't seen her daughter as she came in alone a few hours eariler. I approched her and asked what her daughter looked like and she had last seen her. As she looked in my direction it all became clear from the vacant, foggy, lifeless eyes....we had a crackhead. Funny but true. I told her I would call security from the office...she followed me almost in...I turned and told her she needed to wait in the resturant. She said "well can't I use the bathroom" I said sure and pointed her to it. I went in the office and told Meghan the story....she told me "send her to information tell her they have a lost and found there." A rather clever idea...wish I would have thought of that. So when the lady came out of the bathroom asking about her daughter I told her where to find lost and found (I figured my mom would love this). Well unfortunatly she wouldnt have it. So I kinda walked away to ask Meghan for a new plan. Then a server runs in the office and explains she is on the move! I grab a pan and broom pretending to sweep while I follow her through the resturant to make sure she isnt disturbing anyone. She makes the loop and then sees Pedram. She asks him about her daughter...I am behind her...the lady tells him the last time she saw her they were eating here together...the whole time I am shaking my head NO! and mouthing "crackhead" but he didn't catch it and called security. It worked out though because she kept roaming and looking for her daughter...and our bartenders....thinking we could be in the movie Flightplan with Jodie Foster...helped her look. Security escorted her away and were not sure what ever happened. Oh by the way she only had one drink from our bar....she said her daughter was 6...and that her daughter had been in Knott's but not her.

I have decided Fridays has really messed me up:
I feel like everyday is Friday and in this business that isnt a good thing. I no longer look forward to the weekends like I did when I was a full time student.
Because I work nights I can't get to sleep before 2am. When I set my alarm to wake up early it is for 11am. On Sundays, the day of rest, I let myself sleep in until 12:15pm and don't go running.
Getting off early still involves an 8 hour shift.

Why did it rain tonight? for goodness sakes...I am sorry to those of you in places where its supposed to rain in April....but this is California!!!! I just washed my car!

Time to vent:

On Tuesday nights I have my "Treatment for Drug Abuse" class. We have been doing presentations in the class for the past few weeks. The assignment was to write a paper about ANYTHING that has to do with drugs and then educate the class. We had the same assignment for my "Treatment for Eating Disorders" class. Now when the professor told us to "educate the class" and pick ANYTHING having to do with drugs/eating disorders that meant to me that I should pick something new. Can someone tell my why in my eating disorders class 6 people presented the same facts about anorexia. The very facts that our professor taught us about 4 weeks before this. And why did 4 people present on Bulimia, a subject discussed 3 weeks ago. And why did one person talk about Binge eating....talked about 2 weeks ago. Then in my drug class...why did all but 3 students write papers about a particular drug, all of which we covered individually in class. Thank you Dr. McDaniels. Why was I 1 of 2-3 people to write a paper about something new? Last Tuesday we had just two people to present and what do you know...they were both on Marajuana...who knew. I was hoping to learn something new but turns out we were given the same basic facts that we learned weeks eariler from our Professor as well as read about in our textbook. Well to top it off the Prof then asks our opinion on the legalization of Marajuana. Something that you wouldnt think would be a debate among future addiction specialists. Turns out it was. Well I should say there was one lady who was outspoken about the matter. She spoke to us like she was in a debate class or maybe it was more like she was Martin Luther King back in the day. I dozed off a few times until I heard her say that the government was a part of the drug trade and were allowing it for many reasons. This coming from the same lady who was freaking out a week eariler when we told her she would never recover all the brain cells she lost while smoking crack. This debate went on for just about 2 hours and aside from finishing presentations we accomplished nothing. I got over it excited to get to my dieting (as my mom calls it) class. We didn't have any presentations left (thank goodness) yet the class began with a lady asking some questing about hospitals and treating people with mental illness's. This discussion went on for an hour and a half covering everything from what an inpatient facility should have to why war is wrong and that everyone should stand up for themselves and not enlist (by the way its the same lady...who knew). During this hour and a half I read and vented in my head about what a waste of my time this had been. It was bad enough to take my learning time Tuesday but now Thursday too! I pay just about $30 for every 3 hour class in this program. Ive already taken Abnormal psychology and Ive taken Personality Theory and I believe I had all the political science stuff I wanted in high school. So if I am going to pay $60 a week for this program it darn well better be $60 worth of information on how I can help someone who is addicted to crack or someone who has an eating disorder not why war is bad and why one crackhead thinks marajuana should be legal. If I wanted their opinions on those matters I would ask them after class...on my time. I value every minute of my time and every dollar that I spend! AHHHHHHHHHHHH. Alright...that's better....now I can sleep in peace ;)

On a lighter note...I tried to get a picture of the severed thumb but it just wasnt coming out...so I got a pic of my pico! :)

Obsessed with the blog?

Is it just me or do you find yourself several times a day wondering if the moments you find yourself in are "blogable?" You may not think so from how often I actually get around to blogging but I think about it quite often. Perhaps too much. Example: Today I was making some pico de gallo. I had finished the tomatoes and was on the infamous onions. After half an onion, the onion was winning as my eyes were burning and tearing up. I decided to push through it and finish strong! I was just about finished when the knife slipped. It went into my thumb-pretty deep. If it wasn't my thumb it might need stitches. As I am trotting off to the bathroom I look down at it and the blood is not only covering both my hands but its pooling over the wound. My next thought: I should get a picture for my blog! Then I realized what I was just considering and tended to my wound. Maybe its because I don't do many exciting things and never have any amazing stories to tell in my blog....or maybe I am a victim of the blog....maybe I am blog obsessed.

A "Crash" moment

I usually do not write about the crazy things that happen at work. Mostly because the stories are either the ones where "you had to be there" or they need some sort of extra explanation or hand gestures to be funny. Yet tonight...I had a "Crash" moment.

At around 10:00pm 9 African American women and children came into the resturant. 6 of them sat at a large table, which could have fit them all since the resturant was dead, and 3 of them sat at a small table across from them. We have had parties in the past who have done this in order to beat the 18% gratuity, which is added to parties of 8 or more. This group sounded like a handful from the start. Demanding everything from everyone, talking loudly on nextel walkie talkie phones and even dropping some bad language into conversation. Well as bill time approaches the server comes to me to add the gratutity. There are two seperate checks one is just one pasta dish and the rest is on the other check. As he gives the bill to the two groups the one who has the pasta tells me he didn't like the pasta (our pasta dishes are really large and even if you eat half, it still looks full). Reluctantly I took care of his pasta like we would for any other guest who didnt like what they got to eat, and asked if he would like a replacement dish, he declined (probably full). Sensing no further problems I return to the office to do some paperwork. 5 minutes later the server comes in saying they want the "kids eat free" discount we offer to ticket stub holders from knotts. They didnt have stubs, handstamps, or recipts but they did have large stuffed animals that could have come from the park. So I comped off about $15 in kids meals. By this time they were at the front door. He presented them with the new bill and they were still shocked by the $97 they still owed. (Right before this the server realized he had forgotten to ring in the drinks, I advised him to forget about it since they had seen the bill already). A younger girl has a wad of cash in her hand but its not enough. A women then starts pulling bills out of her braw. Still not enough. Then they start examining the bill and looking at every item trying to figure out why the bill is so high. At first they decide its because we didn't give them the discount...I pointed it out to her. Then at last she sees the gratuity!!! Boy did that outrage the family. Who would pay $16 for a bill well over $100....ahhhh. So then one of the daughters says "we want split checks." I tell her it doesnt work that way, we put gratuity on parties of 8 or more and they are clearly all together. They continue to argue so the server says, "ok I will take off gratuity but then I am going to have to charge you for all the sodas and slushies I didn't ring in, which should add up to around $25. ($2.79 each). Then one of the girls goes "look at them all standing there cause they think were gonna walk out and not pay" By this time there was a host, 2 servers, myself, and the expo (waiting for her ride) at the door. After more arguing the woman says alright give them the money lets just get out of here. The younger girl throws the wad of cash on the host podium and they all start walking out. I snatch up the money and quickley count it....$20 short. At this point I am just pissed. I walk out side yelling Maaaaaammm, you still owe us $20 (other guests are laughing at this point). I then yell "security is on the way, you can either give me the $20 or you can talk to them about it" all of a sudden a younger boy turns around and hands me a $20. So why do I call it a crash moment? well....for those of you who have seen the movie, the part of my story in bold reminds me of one of the opening scenes in Crash where they two african american guys are walking out of the resturant saying they had crappy service (their server was african american) because their server was serving the white people and they didnt tip...ect....ect....I thought of it because the girl made the comment about us all waiting there cause we thought they were walking out...and then they tried!!!!!!!! (45 more days).

#2

Apparently this time around Camel isn't taking the suttle once a week approach to the delivery of my coupons and various items. Yesterday I recieved in a color approprate box, my second money clip from Camel. Perhaps if they take the aggressive approach they might just get me to
buy their product.

I realized today that the blue box was covered in "flames," which was appropriate for the matches and as you can see this green box containing the money clip is decorated with dollar signs.

Random: last night at 11pm one of the other managers at work burst through the office door cracking up because their was a random man sleeping in one of our booths. Apparently he tried to wake the guy up and he yelled "whats the problem" and went back to sleep. So we called security, who sent out their swat team of like 6 officers (they must have been bored). When they woke the guy up he kicked one of them and then was quickley escorted out the side door. Im not sure what happened next. We aren't even sure where he came from. One server said they had seen him sleeping on the patio eariler in the evening. I guess it got cold so he just came right in. I love Buena Park!

Pleasure to Burn!

Just when I thought I was out....forgotten about forever....excommunicated from the Camel mailing list forever....I walked into my room to find a small blue package sitting on my desk! could it be! my hands were shaking with excitement as I tore open the cheaply made box....I was hoping for something new but it seems as if I am back to square one with the set of three match boxes.

Apparently all you have to do to keep getting the free stuff is not use the coupons. I am keeping my fingers crossed for another money clip and of course the set of plastic light-up shot glasses.

Board Ford

The other day I glanced toward the top of my windshield to notice that it was just about time for my next oil change. I get free oil changes at Board Ford...If you recall I believe my last oil change took a mere 2 hours...I believe I blocked about that one. Anyway I opted to make my appointment online and the time I suggested was accepted in a follow-up email. So at 1 pm today I drove over and as instructed, asked for Marco. The nice man who was working at the time informed me that Marco was on his lunch but he could help me. Don't ask me why Board Ford would schedule an appointment for Marco when he was on lunch, or why Marco would go on lunch when he knew he had an appointment coming up. Regardless this man took my keys and checked me in. He asked me if I wanted my tires rotated and after a quick explanation of what the heck that was, I agreed that it should be done. At this time I also asked if this would make my wait longer. He said no. I asked how long it would be. He said 1 I repeat 1 hour. Well, I had a few errands to run and with class in the evening I really needed to get some things done. So I called Amberlee and she kindly picked me up and took me to AAA to get Visa pictures and then to target for coffee beans. Before leaving I made sure and told the man who checked me in and he confirmed my cell phone number and let me know he would call when it was ready. By the time those errands were done it was 2pm so Amberlee dropped me off as she had an interview to get to. I went and sat in the lobby. 30min later I guessed he had lost my number as an oil change should never take an hour and a half. I went to the front desk to ask and she told me they were still working on it. So I sat back down and was caught up on the life of Brittany Spears and Kevin Federline thanks to ETV....Which was followed by The Simple Life-Interns. Before I knew it the time was 345pm. At this time I again approached the front desk and inquired about my car. The girl must have sensed my frustration as she turned to her neighbor who was on what appeared to be a personal call on the other phone. Together (without hanging up the phone) they coached each other through the process of finding my car. About this time several nicely dressed men and women quickly walked past us and outside. A minute later a man came back in and asked all of us to get out because there was "a fire in the showroom." It was about this time that we all started to smell some sort of electrical burn and the fire trucks soon rounded the corner. By this time I was about to ask if I could finish the oil change myself and be on my way. That's when...After 3 hours...My car pulled up! As I approached the initial man he just handed me the key and said the tire rotation was free....He must have seen the frustration in my eyes as I snatched the keys and drove off....Annoyed that 3 hours of my precious day off were wasted in a waiting room at Board Ford....Strike 2! (and I don't think I will be trying for 3 anytime soon).

I'm Going Going Back Back....

....To Brazil Brazil!

So thanks to my wonderful sister I was reminded that I forgot to blog about my decision for Brazil. I am indeed going back for round two. I will fly to up to Seattle on June 1st where I will be picked up with another friend from Ohio who is going on the tour, by Julie. She will drive us up to Vancouver, BC where we will help her with the last minute details of the trip. Then on the 5th the rest of the girls will arrive and training will begin. We leave for brazil on the 8th and will remain there until the 23rd. I will then fly back into Vancouver where I will catch a shuttle to Seattle and spend a night or two with Ronda and Keagan before returning home. I will be home until the 6th of July when Cruz (Meghan) and I will fly to Guadalajara, Mexico for 28 days. On August 3rd we will fly to Dallas to spend a week with Jon, my sister, and the little girl yet to be named. Then on August 11th we will fly back to LA where I will pack up my stuff and get ready for the big move to Seattle.