Better late than never

Oh my, it’s been such a long time since I posted anything.  It’s been a month since I’ve been on this computer.  I finally was able to get on here today and clear out some of the 5500+ emails.  It’s definitely time for an update.  I hope you’re well and doing great.

I’ve had my share of trials lately.  It’s far too much for one post, but let me say I had some eye surgery so was down quite a while from that.  I took a total of twelve days off work when I was intending to take four.  Things ended up being a much bigger ordeal than I was anticipating.  I’ve spent hours and hours icing my face.  For the first two weeks all I did was ice twelve hours a day.  You can only imagine how old that can get.  Now its been a month and I still have swelling and some bruises remaining, so I got permission to wear sunglasses to work until that subsides.  At least the original goal of fixing my runny eyes was accomplished.  I don’t know when things will really be back to normal in that whole eye department.  My eyes are so sore and somewhat numb in places.  I’ll fill you in with more details in a separate post later.

My hubby caught the worst cold at work, or so we thought.  He brought it home to me.  I wasn’t at work two days when I was home again, this time with the flu and pneumonia.  After another week off I’m finally back at work again.  Hopefully, this is the last pitfall for a while.  I’m so tired of being sick.  But so many people are out with this and some have ended up in the hospital, so thankfully that didn’t happen to me.

I’m thankful that our new boss is working with me and all my problems.  Yes, we got a new boss while I was out having my eye surgery.  Everything at work has changed and not necessarily for the better. But as we all know, change is difficult when things have been done certain ways for years.  Apparently, the old way was the wrong way to do it.  Everyone is going through a learning curve.  Plus, we have to get to know the new boss and she has to get to know us.

It’s so good to be back at work, even with all the changes and things we must learn a new way.  At least I’ve been able to stay out of the coolers and deli area at work, which I’m very thankful for.  I always strive to do the best job I can do with whatever my demo happens to be for the day, but I was totally beside myself with the one I had yesterday.  I had never done it before, but that’s okay because it’s fun to do something new once in a while.  However, I was having anything but fun with this one.  Number one, I’m not a very good pancake maker but it’s a real challenge to make them in a dry pan with no oil.  Several of our workers tried to help me out, but the pancakes also stuck for them.  I found out it wasn’t just me.  I almost made myself sick over this ordeal because presentation means a lot to me.

I finally closed down my demo and put everything under my cart and turned it to the display rack because I needed to go back to the office to see if I could please get some oil for my pan.  Of course the answer was no.  “It’s a non-stick pan so you don’t need any oil,” I was told.  So I was left with two choices – bring my cart to the back and check out and go home – or figure out how to make it work with no oil.  To say I was angry wouldn’t even express my feelings.  Why didn’t she just throw me in the dungeon and beat me with chains?

But this is one of the instances when my stubbornness pays off because I rarely let anything get the best of me, no matter how difficult and “hair pulling” the situation is.  I could have had a good blood-curdling scream, though that wasn’t an option.  I took some deep breaths, boiled out my pan, which had pancake goo all over it.  These things didn’t look like pancakes, but by the time I cut them up and put them in sample cups and put on some syrup people seemed to like it.  And they didn’t look nearly as bad as the heaps in the pan.  I was afraid I would pull the handle right off that skillet before the day was out.  I had to scrape it hard to get those pancakes turned over.  Eventually, I calmed down when I realized I just had to stop giving a damn about how they looked and keep on cooking and scraping the pan until the torture of that day was behind me.

I needed today off to cool off and be ready for whatever bombshell awaits me tomorrow.  I really hope my name is way down the list for those pancakes.  I’m going in full of optimism like I try to do every day, but I long for the old days when we could find out what our demo for the next day was.  You know sometimes it’s helpful if I find it’s something new and I want to google some ideas, or history on the product ahead of time.  But that probably won’t be happening much, if any, in the future.  I think the new boss likes to surprise us.

Smokin’ hot here

We’ve been teased by thunder and cloudy skies the last couple of days but so far not much rain at all.  All the plants are really suffering so I wish we’d have a good old-fashioned downpour.  We really need it.

Work stays busy and the weather stays hot so no other news in that department.

I finally got to see some adult quail with a big pre-teen family.  We haven’t had many quail families this year.  I think the roadrunners have already scattered from the nest I’ve been watching too.  The other day, hubby spotted a young roadrunner in the front of the house.  It got scared and ran for the tree on the lot next door.  I imagine it feels safe there.  We think there are at least two eggs that hatched successfully.  These little guys are smaller than the adults and have some downy feathers. We weren't able to grab the camera in time to get any pics.

 VitaCoco Coconut Water

 

Today I had a demo for coconut water at work.  I don’t know how many of you know how good coconut water is for you.  It’s a natural hydrator and replaces lost electrolytes.  I actually had a gentleman ask me if he’d end up in the hospital if he drank it.  WHAT!  Wasn’t he listening to my pitch for the product?  Sometimes I really wonder about people.  I guess I’m just flapping my gums to hear myself talk.

A little of this and that

It’s been a crazy, hot week so this has a variety of things in it today.  I didn’t have the time or energy to write up something to post earlier today.  Generally, I like to schedule ahead, if I can, but lately this hasn’t been possible.

Costco

For starters, I’m working way too many hours and between that and the heat it’s taken its toll on me.  Our big boss came in this past Tuesday to make his monthly visit.  Naturally, he had to find something wrong with each of our demos because he has to stay secure in his job.  (That’s my thoughts on it anyway.) 

Most of us, aside from some new people, have been there long enough to know what we’re doing.  Of course, this whole visit rubbed about half of us the wrong way and I know of at least a couple of other people besides me who let him have it.  Our displays looked fine to us and we had samples out and our carts were clean.  This time the problem seemed to be too many barriers across our carts to keep the wandering hands at bay.  Most of the people here have no regard for the time it takes to prep things and set up the trays.  This varies by demo, but people are impatient and don’t want to hear about the products as we work in our “kitchen.”  They want free food and they want it now. 

I hate to rock the boat about things at work and usually I don’t say half of what’s going through my mind, but this time I had to stand up for myself because I really thought I was right and that I was doing the best I could at my demo.  I hope I didn’t make things worse for our boss, but I imagine all of us had a part in that when they had their little meeting we weren’t privy to.  Oh well…life goes on and next time the concentration and focus will be on something else entirely.  I feel like it’s impossible to have every single thing running at 100%.  All of us try very hard.

The best part of going to work this past week was getting to work the clothing roadshow we have going on in the store right now.  That was fabulous.  I didn’t have to deal with food, or rude customers, and I got to actually dress like I wanted to for the most part.  At least there was no hairnet, gloves, apron, hat and those hot, collared shirts with sleeves that are required.  I had to wear white or black though, as there isn’t another choice of colors for us at this job, but I could wear my hair down, wear my earrings and other jewelry and I didn’t have to wear a collar.  Yeah!  Naturally, I chose a black, sleeveless blouse with no collar and black linen pants.  White isn’t my color and never will be.  I actually looked forward to going to work that day.  I have two more of these days to do, so I’m really looking forward to those too.  The clothes buyers are so nice and actually quite jolly about shopping.

The heat hasn’t let up around here.  One day of triple digits flows into the next.  I’m sure it’ll be that way now until mid-September.  I about die in all those clothes for work, but it’s part of the job.  I’ve started keeping flip-flops in the car, so I can ditch the socks and sneakers and I bring a tank top in my purse.  Being hot and sweaty isn’t a pleasant thing.

 Raven in our bed

 

Raven’s getting too darn smart and understands us too well when we’re talking, so we’ve started spelling things out in front of him like “food” and “eat”, etc.  Some days he gets into so much mischief around here.  He has to be doing something all the time, if he isn’t sleeping.  His favorite thing is chewing on things and he doesn’t care what it is.  I’ve tried to break him of this habit all his life, but nothing works.  Today he got me good while I was making the bed.  This time my forearm was the target.  I did slap him, which I never do, and then I held him and told him not to hurt me like that.  He didn’t try to get away, so I think he knew what I was doing and that he shouldn’t have attacked me.  I thought the wound would never stop bleeding.  Good grief.  I guess between that and the very, large red bruise on my shin bone I’ll look like a spectacle at work tomorrow.  I sure can hurt myself easy as I age.  The bruise was from moving a ton of clothing on big carts and unpacking and sorting products in a new shipment.  I didn’t realize I had hurt my leg so bad until last night when I could hardly move after getting my shorts on and sitting in the recliner a while.  I’m glad some of that pain is gone today.

But this little boy is so sweet too.  I woke up two nights ago and he was between us with his head on the pillow and under the covers to his neck.  That was adorable.  I wanted to sneak out of bed and get the camera, but thought I might wake hubby up so I didn't.

 Nothing new happening here yet

 

I finally got over to check on the roadrunner nest again.  Hubby said that someone told him you never see any baby roadrunners because they stay in the nest until they’re almost full grown so they must grow very fast because my search on google said they were out of the nest and on their own in two weeks.  I wonder how their parents convey all their knowledge to them in that short time span.

I’m still working on understanding my new smart phone too that I’ve had about two weeks now.  I’m to page 60 in the manual, but have way more to go than that.  Again, there’s the time factor in my life.

I guess that’s about it from here for now.  I hope the rest of you are having a great summer.

Why are vacations too short?

The time always flies by so fast and then before you know it, it’s time to get on the plane and fly home.  I really wish they lasted longer, but of course we always have other commitments, like work, to return to.

One of my sisters picked me up from the airport.  She’s adventurous and can tackle all the Houston traffic, which none of my other siblings can do except for one of my brothers.  Tedo, our nickname for her, can always find the time to do everything that needs doing too.  I really admire that about her.

She had taken lots of time off her work at the nursery so we could have some good sister time, along with family time.  She said just what I wanted to hear, “there are no schedules while you’re here.”  Yeah.  I love those words.  I hate being a clock watcher and swear one day, if I ever do retire, the alarm clock is going out the window.

I’m glad she took all that time off, although I wasn’t expecting it because I know the bills keep coming whether you’re working or not.  But she does work two jobs and probably needed a vacation too.  She did go to her second job while I was there, which is working as a food demonstrator at Costco, like I do.  In fact, I helped her get his second job last November because they cut hours at the plant nursery in the fall and winter months.  Now she only works one day a week at Costco, but that will change when fall comes.  One thing I can say is that this job is very flexible.

 Here's my sister, Tedo, at her booth at Costco

 

Her boss was a demonstrator at our store before he took the management position in Texas.  He was really over qualified to hand out food samples and did a lot of the road shows and such until this position became available.  I knew he would hire her because she’s a great worker and dedicated to doing a good job.

Here's me at my booth in Costco in my store a year ago

So, believe it or not, I actually packed my penguin sit, apron and hat, etc because I was hoping to go to work with her on the days she worked.  With our job, you can easily transfer from store to store, but her boss is still too new to the job to make any waves.  So I wasn’t able to work after all.  As a result, I walked around her store during her shift and visited all the other employees, took lots of pictures and looked at all the products for sale, some of which we don’t have because it’s a different region.  We were still able to have lunch and a break together.

She wants to come and visit me next year and is hoping to work in our store while she’s here.  I know my boss would be all for it in a minute, so I hope by then her boss has his feet wet and is able to click the two keys on his computer to make it happen.

I know Tedo will be in for an awakening though because our store is a lot busier and our customers aren’t as nice as the ones in her store.  But I warned her about this already.

More adventures are coming in the next post with more pictures.

Make the world go away

clip art

Sometimes it’s hard to keep your lips zipped shut when working in the world of product demos.  I wonder how some of the people where I work have been there ten years.  The customers really pull so much crap that you’d love to reach out and bop them on the head, but all we can do is smile and offer them samples.

All of us are abused by the “shoppers” on a daily basis and no one seems to think anything of it except all of us doing the demos.  It’s the normal life of the demo person to let customers abuse us and say outlandish things all day.  I’ve only been there a year and a half and I already have plenty of stories for a book. 

Sometimes I wish things were different and we had people to back us up, but they say the customer is always right.  The only time that goes out the window is if another customer is taking on a fellow customer.

Not only do we have to cook and prepare samples to hand out, we have to clean up all the spills and messes left by the customers during the day.  We don’t want a mishap to come along so everything stops until we sweep or wipe up a spill, change gloves and resume our duties behind our food cart.

I’m always amazed at how oblivious the customers are if they spill something.  They simply walk away and leave it, or step on it.  I know half of them know they dropped something.  Do they expect us to clean up after them?  What do their houses look like?  Do they leave things there that they drop on the floor?

And sometimes this is deliberate as was the case the other week when one of my coworkers was doing a demo for popcorn, which we all call “drop corn.”  Once that cup is picked up half of it immediately falls on the floor.  It’s stepped on, rolled over with shopping carts and kicked down the isle while we’re trying to sweep it up.  One gentleman deliberately spilled his entire sample cup on the floor in front of the demo person.  I guess he wasn’t a gentleman after all.

Not long ago, another gal was cooking shrimp and an older man took the entire sample tray and ran down the isle when she put it out for the crowd waiting.  We’ve had people come up behind us and use our spatula to remove things off the grill because they were tired of waiting and wanted to eat.

People always make smart remarks daily.  A guy asked if a cheese stick was a suppository.  The demo person told him to let him know how it works out for him.  That was great thinking.  Usually I’m not that fast with a comeback, but maybe someday I will be if I stay at this job much longer.

Most of the time when the day is over I’m driving home thinking make the world go away if we have to wait on anymore stupid and inconsiderate people.  There are always exceptions to this, thank goodness, but they’re few and far between.

Early bird Dinnertime

Yes, Costco seems to be the place for those early bird diners.  We see the same people daily in our local store.  They just come to eat, which is obvious when they have no shopping carts. The eaters that do have them use them to lean on and the basket is covered with sample cups.  I’m not joking.  I see this daily.  There are also walkers who come to eat, no carts needed, and people in those motorized scooters who zoom from demo to demo.  Don’t get in the way because they’re likely to run you over.  They hit our food carts daily because they’re reckless drivers.  All they can think about is free food.

Hubby and I were in Costco shopping today because we were both off.  There’s no time to shop when you’re working, unless you already have a list and can grab those things and run for the checkout after work so you can get on the road for home.

As we were leaving the daily diners were coming into the store through the other door.  It was then that it occurred to me they’re using Costco for an early bird dinner place.  Why not?  They can make the rounds for the next two hours and eat as many samples as they want for free and then go home.  I’m sure they think their Costco membership allows them to have a free dinner like this everyday.  And not only that, but they also feed their “service dogs,” which are far from that because a service dog doesn’t eat on the job. 

Some of the eaters even have the nerve to tell us that our samples are too small and they serve bigger ones in other stores.  Really?  Well, what are you doing in this store then?  Of course we can’t say that even though we’d like too.  These same people will complain if we have nothing good to eat that day.  This isn’t a restaurant people.  We serve samples so that members can sample before they buy because the food at Costco is in large quantities.  Period.  We have a nice snack bar upfront if you’d like a meal.

Yesterday I had a customer who told some other shoppers “no, you can’t have another sample.  They aren’t feeding you dinner.  These are samples.”  Bless you, lady.  Where did you come from?  I wish you were in the store everyday monitoring things.  Of course we can never say anything like that to a member, but it’s nice when these real people come along.

Life takes fortitude

This doesn't hurt either

Now if that’s not a true statement I don’t know what is.

I’m sorry I’ve skipped a couple of posts.  I’ve been dealing with this health issue, which turns out to be a nasty cold plus a sinus infection on top of that.  Yikes!  I’ve been working when I can but have taken a couple of days off in between to gather myself and try to get over this.  What a nasty business.  I’ve tried every cold med out there and also hot toddies at night.  I remember my grandma making those for us on the farm years ago.  They warm you up and put you to sleep…for a while.

So to fill you in a little, I got sick a week ago Monday.  Naturally, I was working in the coldest spot in the store that day and I think it did me in, or perhaps I wouldn’t be in this shape, even if I did end up with a cold.  I’m rarely sick, but when I am, I’m really sick.

I wore four layers of clothes that day, plus insulated socks because December and January is the worst for cold around here.  I want to be as prepared as I can be because you never know exactly where you might end up working that day.  I was thankful I had all those clothes on but…as it turned out; I was shivering for the last hour and a half of my shift.  Truth be told, I really didn’t think I would make it…but I did through fortitude.

It didn’t help that I had a nasty customer that was so upset because I actually had to cook something before I could put it out.  That never ceases to amaze me that people think they can eat things frozen, or raw.  It was obvious he was eating and not shopping.  He had no shopping cart.  Most of the eaters don’t unless it’s to stack samples in.  I did my best to be polite and told him to come back for a sample.  Of course, this type never does and just stomps off after some choice words. 

I was feeling bad enough anyway because I was getting sick.  The next customer was a gem of a human being and the reason why it’s worth doing this job.  She and her husband came up next and couldn’t believe the way the man acted.  She told me all of us were under-appreciated, but she sincerely appreciates all our dedication to the job.  She was so nice and so was he.  She even gave me a hug.  I really needed one about then.

There are always nice people out there and ones having a bad day.  I thought about that many times since.

I was so glad to get out of there that night and once home, I ripped off all my clothes (like peeling an onion - there are so many layers) and I went straight to bed.  Hubby took my temp and it was 102.  I couldn’t get warm, but finally did.  Needless to say, I called in sick the next day.  The first time I’ve done that at this job.  I really didn’t have a choice.

I’ve been to work a few days since but finally went to the doctor yesterday after they told me at work I sounded horrible.  Laryngitis had set in by the end of my shift on Saturday.  Now, I have lots of meds and am doing very little talking because of all the coughing, so I communicate with hubby using sticky notes.  I’m sure he’s fine with that because I always do talk too much.

Next post will be about my candy road show experience at work.  Stay tuned and stay warm and well.

Cold Season is upon us

I’m not one who gets sick very much either and now I have hubby’s cold.  I’m so disgusted by that and am a terrible patient I’m sure because I hate to be sick, really hate it.

Yesterday I had a rough day at work.  I was supposed to do popcorn and instead ended up right outside the dairy door doing potato soup.  I might add the dairy is the coldest spot in our store, aside from probably the meat room, but we never have to work in there.  Thank goodness.  I’ve done soup many times and did my best to serve up over 700 samples of hot potato soup.  I couldn’t smell it, or taste it, but everyone said it was wonderful.  I was so thankful I had gone to work in four layers of clothing and insulated socks, just in case.  We’ve played some “musical chairs” with demos lately so I really have to think about the worst case scenario when getting ready for work.

By the time I left work yesterday, I could hardly talk I was so stuffed up.  I was very happy to have a day off today and it was really needed so I could stay inside and medicate myself and do my best to get to feeling better because I do the next six days straight at my job.

Hubby went into work today to do lunch breaks.  He called a minute ago to tell me I’m doing beef tips tomorrow.  Wonderful!  I’m in the deli area again, but at least not by the diary door.  I’ll be in a spot about ten feet away instead.  This is a popular dish that I’ve never done before but it’s like a beef stew that you heat in the microwave and cut up and then serve in little cups with forks.  I hope I’m feeling up to the task as its holiday season and everyone we have is working.  I’m not one to disappoint so will do my best as always.

Last night I was up every four hours to take another shot of Nyquil.  I’m doing the same today, plus taking extra Vitamin C and also Colostrum, an herb for the immune system.  I’ll kick this thing out fast, I hope, or I’ll be very miserable at work for the next week.

I hope everyone out there is staying well.

We’re in for a stormy week

As much as I hate winter, it’s on its way.  I wish we were getting ready to start February instead of December.  Big sigh…

There’s not much happening here except work and more work, but I’m not complaining.  However, it seems like the older I get the more difficult it is to do repetitive things for six hours at one time.  I’m talking about the cheese demo I had on Friday.  It’s now Sunday and my arms feel like they’re falling off and I feel like I did about a hundred sit-ups.  I had to cut hard cheese wedges into small cubes.  I bet I cut approximately 900 cubes of cheese with a pastry cutter.  The only way to do this was to rock it back and forth and lean into it.  I probably should have taken a big, sharp knife instead and will try that next time.  Anyway, needless to say, after Wednesday and then Friday I’m glad to have a couple of days off.  The holiday season is in full swing with shoppers.

 

Sunrise in the desert

 

A lonely bird surveys the desert

 

I managed to get this beautiful sunrise the other morning and also one of a lone bird sitting on a tree branch in the backyard.  Then yesterday the storm clouds came in and I got these pics at sunset.  Today it rained and then the sun came out but it’s a chilly 45 degrees right now with upper 20’s expected tonight.  I’m not at all excited about that.

Storm clouds gather out back as the sun is setting

I’m not in the holiday spirit at all this year, but at least I got my ornaments and will get them in the mail in the morning.  My sisters and I exchange them every year.  We have quite a collection now.

Enjoy the Indian food because the ham is coming

From Maya Kaimal website

This is quite a true statement at work.  None of us are thrilled about doing a demo for the vindaloo and coconut curry but this is easy compared to the ham demo.  For those of you who don’t know, this is an Indian simmer sauce that’s good over rice or with chicken.  Serving with naan bread is a great way to enjoy this meal.  It’s quite messy and usually you go home with a stained apron and smelling like an Indian restaurant.

Last year we all had a stab at the ham at least once during Nov and Dec.  What a messy, intense demo.  Talk about people standing three-deep to get a sample of this ham.  You would think that people are absolutely starving at times and haven’t seen food for a week.

Last year between hubby and me we sold over 15,000 pounds of ham during the holidays over a two-day demo.  That’s a lot of ham and we had this demo running daily for at least two weeks at a time, off a day or two and then back on again for another two weeks.  I’m not looking forward to this year.  I can seem to get ham in all the places it doesn’t belong due to pressure from customers when we must work fast and furious all the time to keep samples on the trays. 

But then I’m not looking forward to winter and the holidays at all.  Didn’t we just have them?  It sure seems like it.  I hate the shorter days and the cold weather with a passion.  I wish we were on the other end and spring was beginning instead.  But we can’t do anything to change Mother Nature, can we?

Me and my cats

A very happy Halloween, Samhain, all Hollow’s Eve to all of you.

The One-armed Paperhanger

At times this is the way it feels at work when I’m overwhelmed with people waiting for me to serve up food samples.  There never seems to be a piece of equipment that makes enough at one time.  This is something most people don’t understand, but nevertheless have to tolerate because things have to be cooked, or prepared, before we put them on our trays.

Friday was one of those days at work when all of us had a never-ending line.  There were so many shoppers you would think it was a few days before Thanksgiving or Christmas.  Many of us thought we “had the worst demo” in the world that day.  I can laugh about this now because it always seems that way when you’re working at a frantic pace, hence the name of this post “the one-armed paperhanger.”  Haven’t you ever had one of those days when you wished you had two or three more hands?

Once I set food out, it was gone in a minute causing the crowd to get bigger as they waited for the next tray of samples.  I thought to myself that none of these people will have cook dinner tonight because we had tons of demos that day and the shoppers made the rounds.

Part of the delay was probably my fault for not being better prepared for the demo I was serving, so on my break I went back and got some other implements to make things easier.  Another bad thing was being right outside the dairy door, “my favorite place in the whole store.”  It’s so damn cold there, even in the summer.  I was serving toasted English muffins with imported butter.  I was dressed for serving English muffins with chicken salad, which would have put me in a different area of the store.  We had done that demo several times in a row so I figured it was my turn.  Usually we rotate through the demos.

I never caught up until 3:30 in the afternoon and that was for a short while.  To make matters worse, the district manager decided to pay us a visit.  We’d been expecting him, but it would have to be one of the busiest days when none of us could keep our trays full of samples due to cooking issues.

Oh well, we all made it through like we always do and breathed a sigh of relief at the washout station at the end of the day.  Despite it all, I really love my job.