Random Fusion

I thought I would take an entry or two to talk about all the people, good, bad and strange that I have met while stocking shelves in a grocery store.

Senile Turban Lady: This elderly lady drives me crazy and most of us run away when we see her. She is quite short and in the winter time, wears a kind of small turban on her head which got her the nick name. This lady is very senile. She wanders up and down the isles talking to herself. The last encounter I had with her went like this:

Me:(Putting away coffee)
STL: Excuse me, can you tell me what type of cheese this is? (She hands me a round container of fondu cheese)
Me: Its fondu Cheese.
STL: ooooh! Whats that?
Me: (stunned she doesnt know what fondu cheese is) Its a cheese for melting and dipping stuff in.
STL:Oooh. Is it mild?
Me: (looking at container) I cant tell mam, I dont believe it is.
STL: ohh. I was looking for mild cheese. Do you have mild cheese in that kind of container?
Me: In a round container? I dont beleive so, but you can go look, there should be some cheese over where you found this.
STL: Ohhh. I was looking for mild cheese, I really like mild cheese. I really want some mild cheese. I can wait here while you go look.
Me: Yes mam. (I walk over to the cheese and look. There is no mild cheese in the round containers as those are all specialty cheeses).
Me: (walking back to STL) Im sorry mam, there were no mild cheeses in a container like this.
STL: oooh whats that?
Me: (rage building) Thats fondu cheese.
STL: ooh? Whats that?
Me: A cheese for dipping.
STL: Is it mild?
Me: (rage almost boiling over at this point) Not that I am aware mam.
STL: Oh, well, I guess I could take that one then. I never had it before and maybe I could try it.
Me: (shaking with homicidal rage) That would be a good idea mam.
(and she wanders off. I went to the meat room and played with the meat cleavers and imagined headless little old ladies)

This is par for the course for senile turban lady. If I am unlucky enough to get away from her in time, this is how most if not all our conversations go.

Posted by Random Fusion at 10:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My entries over the last 6 months haven't ranged too far or hit too many targets. Which for the most part I regret, but don't worry about too much. This space, much like the many others out there is for me. Blogs are places for the author to talk about what they want to talk about, and for the last 6 months or so, all I COULD talk about was the state of my life. So I thought I would flesh out some of the details of my life for the last little while.

Story #1 (Names have been changed to protect the stupid).
The loading dock where I work has a very specific time frame for items to be delivered to us or sent out. As far as I am aware this time frame has been in place for at least ten years or more. So you would figure everyone who works with me would know that. Well some people dont. One week, in early November, a delivery of ice cream and juice hasnt arrived when its supposed to and the lady in charge of the perishables is upset (lets call her Betty). Betty is upset because the juice that was supposed to come in is on sale and she is running out. So she goes to the loading dock guys and asks them what happened to it. They say, they showed up late (almost two hours late) and they got turned away. So, what does Betty do? Call and yell at the people who were late? Nope. She gets mad at the receiving guys for not letting them in.

I told her at this point that she should get mad at the people who were late and not the guys who were doing their jobs correctly.

So. Its going on about 1pm and Betty comes to tell me that the delivery guys who were late this morning will be coming some time in the afternoon to the street entrance of the store and I will have to help her bring it in by hand. "Ok" I said, not knowing my foolishness. I get told at about 2:30ish that there is a truck at the side doors waiting for me and that I should go help them. I go look for Betty to help me get HER stuff off the truck (the same stuff that SHE insisted they bring). I found Betty having lunch with our boss and her friend. I say, "your stuff is her, lets go get it off the truck" she says "ok, thanks, ill be there shortly" And I go off to unload the truck.

The snow is falling and its getting cold out as I cary the 40 cases of OJ off the truck by hand. 10 cases, no Betty. 20 cases, no Betty. 30 and 40 cases taken off the truck, STILL no Betty. I leave the driver by the door so that I can go find the cow. She is STILL having her coffee. I get mad, and I say, come help me get your stuff off the truck now and I storm off. 5 minutes later, as I am waiting for the elevator to go back up, James, one of the guys from the meat room comes along in his winter coat.

I say, "have a good weekend and ill talk to you later" thinking he is on his way home. He says "Betty told me to come help you". Thankfully I didnt scream out her name like Krik did in Wrath of Khan. I wanted to, but I didnt.

So James and I get the truck unloaded and brought downstairs. At this point I am fuming mad and it shows. Betty comes to me as I am getting off the frieght elevator with her stuff and laughs - - thats right she laughs, and says "oh good you got it all done, looks like you didnt need me after all". Right then and there I could have had justified homicide and James would have backed me up.

The guys who were late that morning never had a complaint issued against them. The dock guys got into a fight with Betty over this. She made complaints to HER boss about the recieving guys and I didnt get a single thank you for breaking my back for her.

This is one of a hundred stories about Betty. There will be more.

Posted by Random Fusion at 8:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I was going to start this entry off with:

"I knew that if I was patient and calm, that something good would come from all the bad stuff that was happening."

Which, to be honest, is complete bullshit. I spent a lot of time figuring that this was as good as it was going to get for me and that I would be struggling with debt and bills and money for the rest of my life. I spent a lot of time very depressed and very angry. At times I prayed that someone or something would help me out and I would do anything for that person (and who knows, maybe someone up above did help). I didnt think the hard times would ever end. But they are about to.

On July 10th, I begin working for the Winnipeg Fringe Festival and then about 23 or so days after that, I begin my new job. I could not be more happy about how things are working out then I am now. I am estatic and confident again.

I have turned comments back on. I would like to hear from the few people who are out there reading about my constant woes.

Must dash off to work now.

Posted by Random Fusion at 8:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My ship has come in, yes it has.

Since October of last year I have been working in a grocery store, stocking shelves and helping little old ladies find the coffee and tea. Now, I have a University degree and I am a Microsoft Certified Technician. Yet, I am stocking shelves in a grocery store. Now before the grocery store, I worked in an office with numerous duties and a large load of responsibilities. I was paid somewhat well for the work I did and I got used to it. Unfortunately, stocking shelves doesnt pay that well.

The grocery store job was a good one, and certainly would have made me happy if I had found it ten years ago. The Bay is a good company to work for if you can get there early and you want to work there for 30 years or more. Unfortunately, I dont have 30 years to get into a good position. So I had to look elsewhere. I wanted something in the computer tech field, as either a network administrator or perhaps in tech support somewhere. Since October, there has been nothing for me. There were no interviews and no phone calls. Until at the beginning of this month. I got a call for an interview and it went fantastically well. Today, I got the call I have been waiting for. They said I have the job.

Thats right, dear readers, no more lamenting my situtation any more. No more wishing and hoping and feeling like crap and hating little old ladies who cant read the isle signs. I am now working in the field I so desperately want to be working in.

I will post something longer in the next day or so as I have a lot on my mind to get out. Thanks for hanging around for so long.

Posted by Random Fusion at 8:00 PM | Permalink

No entry Matthew.

I dont feel like writing right now.

If you dont see anything here, it means there's nothing good to talk about.

Posted by Random Fusion at 8:52 AM | Permalink

Almost at 300. Maybe it should be more, maybe it should be less, who knows. Anyway...

I had started off this entry yesterday and never completed it, so I thought I would take another shot at it and do it today. A week ago today, I interviewed for a tech position at a local computer company. I thought the interview went very well (one of the best I have ever done in my opinion). I thought that the guy who interviewed me said they would call yesterday but now I am all super paranoid that he maybe said "next friday" and not yesterday. So I was all wound up yesterday waiting for the phone call and now I think I may have to go through another whole week waiting for the call. I did call the guy today just to see how things are going. Despite how well things went, I dont think I am going to get it.

Yesterday's attempt at todays entry started off with a bitch about my shower. I like a good shower, a nice long shower, a nice long and hot shower. Yet I am cursed with this shower I have now. It is the bane of my existence. You would think that in a apartment complex that none of the water pipes would be connected so that if person A on one floor flushes his toilet, person B on the top floor doesnt loose his cold water and scald his ass while he is showering. You would think that this is how it should be, but no. Not here. Here is where every pipe is connected to each other and if someone flushes their toilet on the main floor on the other side of the building I get scalded. Both Shauna and I hate this a lot and when we buy a house, it will be the thing we look for the most - well done water heating and piping.

Matthew, I know I should be putting more here, but its hard to rehash the crap of your day when all you want to do is forget it. I dont like how I feel sometimes when I come home from a tough day and then write about it. It feels to me like I am whinning about things. I dont want to whine.

300 is coming up, I was hoping to make it about my new job at the computer company, but it doesnt look like that is going to happen. More then likely I will post the 300th entry tomorrow and go over everything that has happened since I started blogging. Lots of good stuff and a lot of tough stuff.

Until next time faithful readers.

Posted by Random Fusion at 11:21 AM | Permalink

Jason: It went well. Wont know for sure how well until Friday.

For the rest of you. Good news perhaps at the end of the week.

Posted by Random Fusion at 12:05 PM | Permalink

Possible good news for tomorrow afternoon.

I wont say anymore.

Posted by Random Fusion at 8:17 PM | Permalink

I know there hasn't been too many posts as of late (not that my readership is so huge anyway) and I dont know now many there will be in the near future. I have gotten to the point where I dont really want to blog about how crappy my life is at the moment since all you need to do is read through the last few months in the archives. Nothing has changed. The 300th post on the blog is coming up and I dont want it to be another woe is me post.

Time for work.

Posted by Random Fusion at 8:41 AM | Permalink