Letters to November ||| 13

Dear November,

Nothing much happened today. It rained last night - which I fell asleep to, which was lovely - but then no rain today... and that made me a little sad.

One of the guys that was sitting next to me helped me out with me out with my batch of checks. I thought that was really nice, and it helped me work on some production.

There is one menu that I'm working on. The note was from a co-worker who spoke with the restaurant. The prices hadn't changed. They just wanted us to check the spelling, ingredients, that sort of thing.

So I printed out the menu from the restaurant's site and oh for frak sakes. I wonder if they know it's up and how badly everything is spelled. Sheesh. All I got to say is no one wants to plunk their fries into some "ranch deep". There were also choices of getting something fried or "backed". In any case, I'm almost done. I just have to call them for a couple things.

Trying to decide if I want to do some OT tomorrow. I have three hours (of the originally approved 5 or this week) left. Since I have nothing planned tomorrow, I'm thinking of doing at least one extra hour... maybe two... just to get stuff done. As it was before I left today, I was whittling things down to maybe 13 or 12, and then my manager started assigning me more stuff. I would REALLY like to make a serious dent in my assignments without SOMEONE giving me more and then reminding us all about how we're behind. (Really? No kiddin'?)

*makes a very large rum and coke... light on the coke*

But that's been it for today. I ordered lunch that was much more food than I thought it was going to be. Hung out with Kathy W and Steve C after work at their place. Went home to write this and now?

Now I'm going to pass out.

Hope you had a lovely day today, November. See you tomorrow. :)

Have Goodness!
Rae  

Letters to November ||| 12

Dear November,

I just got home from and am feeling rather exhausted so I'm going to keep this brief (unlike yesterday's post).

Today was all right. We got another new guy in my department today, and per our department meeting, it sounds like there will two more new hires in days to come... I think.

So all in all, that's about 6 new people (including the two dudes that have been with us for a few weeks).

While I'm enjoying the idea of being fully staffed up and having one of the newbies be half CS and half production (concentrating only on the menus... huzzah!), I'm still a little worried about seating since they haven't really done anything yet to make new seating... which is NO BUENO at all! We broke down the one giant manager cube to make four little cubes (which are all occupied) and then there were the two cubes made later that are behind me... which are taken as well. I'm still waiting for them to tear down the one giant cube by the window. The IT guy comes in twice a week and sits there, but spends most of his time in the conference room with big boss guy talking about IT stuff. He just plugs in his laptop, works, unplugs and goes home. So there's REALLY no need, in my opinion, for him to have all that space to himself when in reality he only uses about a quarter (or even less) of it.

There was also talk about the schedule changing to accommodate the new people which worries me a little since my holiday schedule actually worked out really well. I'm just afraid now it's not going to. (I didn't get a chance to visit my family last month, and I am in desperate need of Bella hugs and kisses.)

My mom and her husband recently got iPhones so I know I'll be bothered with teaching my mother how to do things. Her husband is a little on the stubborn "I don't need anyone's help" side, and when I have helped him with stuff in the past, I don't remember ever getting a "thank you".

Getting caught up on my production tickets. I've been forgetting due dates and just pumping out the quickest assignments I can so I can spend the rest of my time on the "takes a frakkin lot of time" ones. (I miss the days when I could whittle my list down to nothing in two days and keep the average number of tickets under ten. *sigh*)

After work was nabbing Kathy W and heading to Geoff T's place where it was more of a full house than usual. There was his sister Alison T, friend Sierra and other friend Michael and his puppy Atlas. There was hummus and nachos and cocktails and shows. I helped re-light the pilot light in the oven. Then by the end of the night after I dropped Kathy at home, I just frakkin wanted to collapse.

But I wanted to talk to you first, November. I was quite close in not keeping up with my daily babble to you, but - if any other writing I do, I at least am keeping up with that.

But now I'm quickly fading. The momentary rainfall has faded away as am I, and I shall see you tomorrow.

Have Goodness!
Rae

Letters to November ||| 11

Dear November,

Today was an okay day. There was an awkward moment at work, but in the end it was okay.

We got another new guy who was in before my manager was, and no one knew what to do with him. He was seated next to the other new guy who has been with us for a few weeks. Both being trained by our manager.

Later in the day, she emailed all us saying that since we're all behind on production, we have been granted a total of 5 hours of OT (to schedule and use at our discretion this week) to work on production. We are officially logged out of the system, not taking any calls, and just working on our production items.

Since I have set plans every Wednesday and Thursday after work, I took advantage of the OT today. (I meant to only stay an hour but ended up staying two.) I know how much I got done last time we spent an hour doing production. I got perhaps three items done... which was a menu I was already closed to finishing, removing a couple items on another menu, and changing the hours for a restaurant.

Today I think I had about 20 tickets assigned to me - half of which seemed to be new menus, and a few of those where the menu was done and just needed to be entered into the system as a new restaurant. I was off at 5pm and stayed until 7pm, and I think I got (maybe) 3-4 tickets done. (One was from a sushi place that only sent us their sake menu... and we don't deliver booze, so I had to call and let them know we STILL didn't have a menu. So I got to close out that ticket.) I revised one menu, updated another one, and removed an item or two from a couple. Fortunately the system started acting a little wonky when it was time for me to leave, but oh well. I'll take it as a sign.

But still, my tickets are in the double digits and back when we were aptly staffed, I always managed to either keep them under 10 (maybe between 5-7 on average) or have them completely done by the end of my shift. Now? Even though I know why my ticket list is so long (and totally not my fault), I still feel a little bit like a failure and unaccomplished.

Yeah, I know. I need to get over myself, but still. I hate seeing all that stuff that's past due. I know I'm not the only one but sheesh. I hate it.

And on a random side note, even though we all know that we're behind mainly due to being understaffed, I still feel that should be said every time production tasks are mentioned since not saying it makes me feel like there's blame... and also, I think it'd be nice when our department's behind that our manager help out to help get us back on track.

One of the drivers pointed out to me that when you go to a restaurant, you see the manager walking the floor, talking to customers, helping out in the kitchen, delivering orders, etc. Now I'm not sure what my manager does on a daily, but I feel that since she knows that we're behind (and WHY we're behind), it'd be kinda nice if she took some tickets on herself and revised some menus, etc. I mean, I had whittled my tickets down to 7 by Saturday night, and I was proud of that, but then I came back on Tuesday (I get Sundays and Mondays off), and I had 18 tickets total... and then 2 more added on to that.

I remember when I was a supervisor at a bookstore, I would see a long line of people at the register, I'd hop on a register and start to weed out the line. I saw people with questions? I'd man the info desk. I didn't just sit back and tell people what to do and remind them that things needed to get done. You don't think I didn't know that? That's why I helped out. To get stuff done. (I wonder if that's ever crossed her mind... to help us out when we're understaffed and projects are long past due. I mean, that's what I'd do.)

One of the questions I got during my interview for fast food while I was still in high school was if me and another employee were tasked with cleaning the lobby, and I was done with my tables first, what would I do? The answer was help the other person.

I help out when I can. I've been sent to dispatch on a few occasions, I help out with accounting to stuff customer invoices and mail them out. On alternate weeks, I'm given a chunk of restaurant checks to stuff and stamp and have out by the end of that week (usually with two days to do them). I help other people out with their production issues. I've been given postcards to stamp and label for customers. I've revised, refaxed, and pulled paperwork. I make phone calls, check e-faxes and forward the production ones to our group. I grab incoming chats from customers.

I know I'm customer service, and my job is to help people, but it'd be nice if someone helped me... and the rest of the team.

November, this letter to you has become more of a rant or a complaint, and I don't want to be sad or upset, so I think I'll end this now.

Wishing you well, November.

Have Goodness!
Rae

Letters to November ||| 10

Dear November,

I am currently sitting on my friend's couch, laptop before me, trying to think of what else to write on my story for NaNoWriMo2014.

As it currently it, I am behind on my daily doses of 2k words/day, but I'm too scared to actually check.

In other news (aka distractions), a few of my friends and I are going to see INTERSTELLAR at the Tech Museum downtown. No trailers, no commercials. Just glorious IMAX goodness.

I haven't been to the Tech in a while... and in a while, I'm talking YEARS. So this should be fun.

Nothing much else to report today, November. It was my second day of two off. Tomorrow is back to the grindstone. I managed to hit the library today and now have some audiobooks to listen to in my car. Yay me! I also got some writing done. Came up with some new bits for my novel. I was hoping to hit the library this weekend to sit and do some actual writing at an actual desk, but that didn't happen. Hopefully next weekend that can happen. And there's always my lunch break at work.

Other than that, just trying to figure out if I want to do anything for my birthday. A couple people have asked, but I don't know. Maybe someone should just plan something for me. I'd like to do something ON my actual birthday just on principle, but we'll see.

Okay. That's all for now. Talk to you tomorrow, November.

Have Goodness!
Rae 

Letters to November ||| 9

Dear November,

Today was a lazy day. It was my first of two days off, and all I did was veg out in my room (with, of course, the occasional pee break when needed).

My nose was also going haywire but eventually simmered down to a dull sniffle. I got some store brand Zyrtec, and the 24 hour stuff used to help my face from running like a river, but now it seems to only want to work half the day. Also takes a little longer to kick in initially, too.

Damn allergies.

The housemates were driving me a little batty after a while and so in desperate need to get out of the house, I freshened up and armed with snacks and a drink in my purse, I used one of my movie passes to see JOHN WICK.

Now let me state for the record that I am used to getting carded still for alcohol. It usually depends on the group I'm with. I think the signs in establishments say if someone looks under 35 years old, they get carded. So with that, I get it when I get carded sometimes since I am in my thirties.

But tonight? The guy at the ticket booth carded me for the movie... which was rated "R". You know??? "Under 17 Requires Accompanying Parent or Adult Guardian". After I showed my ID and took my ticket, I walked toward the door thinking Did he really just card me??? On the way to the theatre, I stopped off at the ladies room and looked at myself in mirror. I was wearing my hair back in a ponytail, my black Jack Skellington sweater, blue jeans, and my warm Skecher boots. The only makeup I was wearing was powder (because I hate shiny face) and YES to Coconut Cooling Lip Oil. Regardless of all that, I SO don't think I looked like I was 17 or younger.

Who am I? Benjamin Button?

Anyway, that's all for me at the moment. About to get friendnapped by Jaquas cuz he's got the munchies and company sounds like a good idea.

Hope your Sunday was lovely.

Have Goodness!
Rae

Letters to November ||| 8

Dear November,

Drinking tea, thinking about writing, but sitting at my desk at work thinking those "I'd Rather Be Sailing" types of thoughts.

Considerably behind on my NaNoWriMo. Ugh. Insomnia is not helping either. For the past few nights, I have gone home and passed the frak out.

Why was I born with this weird body chemistry thing where "uppers and downers" do nothing for me? I kind of feel like Nathan from "Haven" but in his case, he just can't feel anything... well, until Audrey Parker touches him. But I don't have an Audrey Parker.

Wouldn't that be cool if I had a "trouble" which was sleep-related, and I met an Audrey Parker type that helped me sleep?

OH! The movie "Dream for an Insomniac" where the main chic Frankie has sleep issues until she meets David... and by the end of the movie (SPOILER ALERT!!!) they end up together, and she is able to finally get some sleep.

Okay, so that explanation makes it sound a little silly, but the movie makes sense if you watch it all the way through.

In any case, I think you get what I mean.

Now in both circumstances, it was true love that saved them, but I think my situation is a little less fairytale-like. I just need sleep.

In the meantime, I'm going to finish my tea and wait for the last driver to finish their delivery, and then I'm outta here.

Have Goodness!
Rae

Letters to November ||| 7

Dear November,

I SO did not want to get up this morning. Which is weird because I think I actually got some consecutive, good hours of sleep. But I woke up this morning and kept hitting snooze over and over again.

I need to master sleeping about 3-4 hours a night to the point where I'm well rested and ready to conquer the world when I wake up. I had a Women's Studies professor in college who was also a lawyer, and she admitted she only got maybe 3 hours sleep a night, and she was a beast! So yeah, if I could master that art form, I think I'd be okay.

Today was filled with work and lack of energy from lack of sleep and past due production. Due to my department being short-staffed, all of us have lots of production to get done. At one point I had nearly 20 tickets to solve when properly staffed up I think we each had about 10 or less. My manager usually assigns new tickets at the end of the day before she leaves (which is usually an hour or so after I leave) so when I have whittled it down to 9, I come back the next day to 18, Right now I think I have it down to 9-10 but she's added email notification to go out now that say "this is late, WTF?!" (of course I'm paraphrasing, but you get the gist.)

There are days where I don't think I'll ever finish everything assigned to me, but I'll keep at it. I will.

And on that note, back to the grindstone.

Have Goodness!
Rae