At Least I Tried?

Sooo my paycheck was not as pleasing as I had hoped. Yes, it had all my hours from my last week in Indiana and my first week in Connecticut...but they were all charged at the Indiana pay rate, which is over a dollar less than my current, Connecticut pay rate. I probably wouldn't let it slip anyway, but then they charged me both state's taxes without paying both rates? That ain't coo'.

I called the payroll number, she was very helpful, all that has to happen is my boss has to file some kind of action tomorrow and I should have retroactive pay in my next paycheck this Friday.

(On a side note--getting paid every week as opposed to every other week? I think I can do that!)

Work is still going well in the areas of the actual work and the people I work with. The only problem, currently, is the physical demand. I can't remember if I mentioned it in da blog, but my back was killing me during the week, and I decided it was from barring for hours on end; bending at the waist to lift gallons of milk from knee-or shin-height. There's also the sauce pumps and the spray-washer-thingie in the sink, but those are mostly working on my neck and shoulders. My back is definitely from the gallons of milk.

So on Friday I tried a different method: Instead of bending, I would squat down, grab a gallon, then stand up. It worked beautifully for my back! No problem at all! My thighs, on the other hand, still hurt two days later. I spent yesterday whining walking like I was on stilts, I was wobbly despite all efforts to exert control over my limbs. Fortunately, I didn't bar my entire shift...just part of it!

Of course, then I went to Catsy's house. She has stairs. I whined a lot.

I went to Catsy's to follow through on my promise: there was a bar in Plainville having a Batman-themed Halloween party, and she convinced me to go with her.

I should mention that Catsy and Batman...I don't even know the correct word. Addiction...obsession...fixation...to say she has a thing for Batman (and everything related to him) is just an understatement. There is no apt way of putting it without doing it injustice. She also loves to dress up (although not as much as she loves Batman...she doesn't love anything that much...), so a Halloween party with a Batman theme? MUST GO! MUST DANCE!

We got all gussied in bellydancer and gypsy gear and set out for the bar. It ended up being...pretty lame. Most of the crowd were the regular bar-going type, in jeans and leather and regular clothing. The band wasn't really bad, just LOUD. There were a few other costumes, some of them even Batman-related (Joker, Two-Face, Riddler, etc)...but we still stuck out a bit. So we left.

Then I felt crappy...then I threw up on the side of the road...then we went home.

I AM SO MUCH FUN.

Honestly, even with the failbar and the nausea, we had fun and laughed a lot. And fortunately, I have today and Monday off, so I can recuperate...between the other plans I/we've made. But they're good plans, fun plans, recuperation-of-the-soul kind of plans, so it's all good! :)

Money! Ja Gut!

I've spent the past month bugging the hell out of my superiors at my new store, asking if they'd seen or heard any sign of where my paycheck from Indiana could be. No one had any answers. Finally called Partner Contact Number, just got off the phone--it'll be in tomorrow's check! Woohoo! So tomorrow I'll have 32.5 hours of Indiana pay and 37.5 hours of Connecticut pay, AND I'll finally find out exactly how much I'm being paid here in Connecticut. Oh, and we can finally pay our first month's rent. Huzzah for money!

Blasts From The Past

One of the more interesting things about my new store is the location. As I've mentioned, my store is directly across from my old high school--and when I say directly, I mean I can look up from the bar, out the front windows, and see the front door of the school. This means we can watch the buses gather and prepare ourselves for the coming wave, and, if I'm not barring like the wind or floating like a badass butterfly, I scan the crowd for the familiar faces of former teachers.

I've seen a couple so far, as well as some of the non-teaching faculty. I've only seen four teachers that I actually had, all of them English: Mr. Barnes, Mr. Mingrone, Mr. Andersen, and Ms. Abercrombie. I had them for 11A English, 10A English, and Creative Writing, respectively.

Mr. Barnes was a great teacher in more ways that one. The best memorable thing I know about him isn't even my memory; it's my friend Michael's. Michael was in English class on September 11th 2001, when the school stopped the regular schedule to figure out what to do. Mr. Barnes had the TV on so everyone could watch the news. When the administration cut off the entire TV network, Mr. Barnes got up, went to his closet, and got out a radio without saying a word. He just turned it on to a news radio station, and the class stared at that instead.

Mr. Mingrone was my first high school teacher to assign creative writing work. I still have poetry from those assignments stashed away somewhere, partly because I like them and partly because of the comments he wrote on them. They were all encouraging, and not just generic "good job following the assignment." His comments encouraged me to keep going. I said hello to him this past week when he came in for coffee, but he didn't appear to recognize me. While I'm honestly not surprised--I was in his class nine years ago and he's had thousands of students before and after me--it did make me a little sad. He was a favorite teacher for his stories from his years as a carnie, and his alternatively whimsical and cynical sense of humor. When the TVs were turned off on 9/11, my friend Danielle was in Mingrone's class. He turned to the students and said "Well, obviously you guys aren't mature enough to deal with these terrible events. Let's instead turn back to our current book, The Crucible, where a person's biggest worry was being persecuted and burned to death on the accusation of being a witch!"

I also almost got in a car accident with him once. Anyone who has had to navigate the intersection of Spring Hill and Davis Roads can tell you that it's a tricky one. We had a good laugh about it.

Moving on.

Mr. Andersen and Ms. Abercrombie came in just last night, an hour or so before I clocked out. They're actually a married couple who hand Creative Writing back and forth every year. I forget if I took it in my Junior and first Senior year, or if I took it both Senior years, but the point is that I took Creative Writing twice, and got to enjoy both of their teaching styles.

They remembered me! They both gave me looks when they got up to the counter, like "Heyyy..." Ms. Abercrombie was on her cell phone and went to a table to finish her conversation, while Mr. Andersen ordered their drinks (and their son's pastry). I had to tell him my name, but he did remember me! And asked if I was still writing. We chatted a bit about how hard it is to find time, and how he's almost done with his novel that he's been working on for three years! Ms. Abercrombie came up after she got off the phone, and said "Ruth...it is so good to see you! I knew I knew you, bu your hair threw me off!" She seemed really pleased to see me, and said that I'd definitely be seeing her.

That really...really made my day. My whole week. My Creative Writing teachers, two of the biggest pushes I've ever had, remember me! Positively, even! Heeeeeeeeeeeee....

...and now I've sent friend requests to both of them on Facebook. Whee!

On the English note, NaNoWriMo is coming right up...and I'm torn. Do I participate? If I do, do I do a parallel participation, try to either finish or add 50,000 words to Found, the novel I started last November? Do I start a brand new project and be "official"? Do I only participate insofar as I spread the good word about it and encourage (that is, annoy) my friends who are participating?

Decisions, decisions.

I do know that it's time to get back down to business. We're settled, I'm comfortable at work, and the pressing matters in my life are either appointment-based or temporary (doctor's appointments, laundry, etc). While my store may be constantly busy, there are tables available once in a while, and there's also a cafe in Stafford that looks to be a pretty nice place to write an afternoon away. Somehow, I gotta get a groove going.

Speaking of getting going, it's noon now and I haven't really started the day yet. It may be chore day, photography day, writing day, or lazing day...not sure quite yet. Whee!

More New Things From My New Store

Something I've had a very hard time getting used to: coffee cadence. While every store in Indiana stopped brewing decaf and bold after noon, here they don't stop until much later at night. Brew station is also not just the responsibility of the "front person" (we're all front...no drive-thru) but of anyone who is free at that moment to start the next batch. We don't pre-grind, so it's always fresher, and the rule of thumb is to keep an eye on the timer and start working on the next urn when there's two minutes left. That's all fine and dandy, but it's still tricky for me. I'm used to either being all about brew station, or doing my best to ignore it (saying I ignored it is a straight lie. I got a wee bit obsessed about it. I'm a little crazy). Now I have to pay attention to it, but it can't be my biggest priority, no matter what my position.

It's steady enough that being on bar or register basically means you're planted there for a good while. Float means you're doing whatever the other two need of you, which, again, is pretty steady: getting plain coffee for customers (or starting mistos or red eyes), fetching pastries, warming pastries or sandwiches, grinding customer's coffee, rinsing pitchers, fetching ice, fetching milk, stocking cups/lids/sleeves/syrups, trading out dish tubs, and, of course, keeping up with the cadence. I was float for almost two hours at the start of yesterday's shift, and I felt like a chicken with my head cut off. I finally hit the rhythm of it right before my ten, but most of it I felt like I was prioritizing things wrong, rinsing pitchers when I should have been fetching a pastry, warming a bagel when I should have been fetching ice, etc. I think I'll get there eventually, but yesterday, it basically sucked. (It's possible that my sense of Constantly Doing It Wrong was due to the attitude of the guy on register, who is hard to read leaning toward impatience, but I was probably also Doing It Wrong).

I spent the rest of my shift, even after returning from breaks, was barring. I. Love. Barring. I'm pretty sure just about every barista loves to bar. There is something so deeply fulfilling about it, finding a rhythm to complete a set list of small tasks that eventually turn an empty cup covered in Sharpie markings into a delicious beverage. And when it's double barring, making a hot drink and a cold drink while prepping another drink, ahhh...you find a rhythm, you time things between steaming and pouring shots and blending and finishing, and it's delicious.

I rang customers most of my first day, and that was also pretty nice: mark cups, scan things, explain drinks, make small talk, grab pastries or coffee is the float is busy elsewhere, collect money, and never have to move or really worry about anything else.

Other things!


[o] It wasn't until clocking out on Tuesday that I realized that it wasn't just this week that was posted....or next week...but the entire month! I don't know if this month was special, but it could be that my SM does multiple weeks of scheduling at a time. Hallelujah!

[o] Same time I realized there were multiple weeks of schedules, I realized that my next two weeks only have 29 hours. This worried me a bit, as I was under the impression that, due to their desperation for mids and my strong desire to work only mids, I'd get all the hours I could handle. Yesterday I finally got the chance to ask my SM about it, and he asked if 29 was a good number or if I'd like more. I told him I'll take all the hours he'll give me, and he said "Oh, okay, I can totally do that." Saweet!

[o] In Connecticut, we get paychecks every week. Doesn't really change how much we're earning, but I get to feel a little richer, at least. Today will be my first payday, and I'll finally get to see what I earn! And hopefully find my last Indiana paycheck! Wouldn't that be nice.

[o] My co-workers are pretty much all-around awesome. (Not as awesome as Indiana, of course, but that'd be all but impossible to do). It's pretty much the same ratio of college students to working stiffs, with many of the working stiffs done with college, either due to graduating or being sick of the bureaucracy. Point is, they all seem to be really smart, but not stuck up assholes about it. There's also a healthy smattering of artsy hippies, which makes my heart happy.

[o] This particular store has art on the wall that is obviously not sent by corporate. I asked someone who's been at the store for a while, and she said that the store has a contract with the UConn Photography Club. Nice! She also told me that it is possible for partners to have their work put up, it's been done before. Someone's going to have a talk with the boss soon!

In other news, Ryan is at a job interview right this second for a part-time bank teller position. Not counting chickens...but hoping!

My First Day At Work Part III: The Caffeinating.

SO. I had planned allllll day to make a long-ish post, mostly paragraphs, talking about my first day at my new story in Storrs. HOWEVER. Two weeks of not working added to a seven-and-a-half-hour shift added to a very late meal added to a long day added to not having anything to eat since a slice of pizza almost six hours ago added to poor sleep last night equals out to a fairly brief entry.

(Note from author made halfway through this entry: apparently it's not going to be brief after all. Consider this your warning, all you readers somewhat new to my blog. For those not new: it's about average length.)

Here goes!

Things that are different at my new story:
[o] Fresh bananas! They're a pain in the ass to peel without touching the actual banana before blending. They actually make it take a little bit longer. They also apparently make for a lot of waste what with store-until dates and times when they've arrived in a...less than appetizing form. I didn't even know bananas could sweat. Verdict: boo.
[o] Recycling! Milk jugs, cartons (soy, juice, dairy), syrup containers, and newspapers all go in a recycling bin! My inner hippie is ecstatic! Verdict: woo!
[o] Ice bin! There's only one! It's like the long one at Ironwood, more of a trough than a bin, but I'm learning how to deal with it pretty quickly. Verdict: meh.
[o] Ice maker! Back to the plastic scoop and no velcro to keep the lid from smashing my hand! Boo!
[o] Blenders! They're attached to a bar at about hip height. And there's only two pitchers, one regular and one soy. Boo.
[o] Boss Man! He's a lot like my dad, an aging hippie just dripping with snark who likes to bust his workers' balls, mutters about customers under his breath on the floor, and outright calls them assholes and idiots in the back room. WOO!
[o] Co-workers! They're very nice and very friendly and very sarcastic. I like 'em. They also take care of each other on the floor. There was never a moment when it felt like someone was being abandoned while ringing or barring or anything else. Support is a given, scheduled in. And with how busy it was, that was really, really nice to have. Woo!
[o] Bars! THERE'S TWO OF THEM RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER. When it gets really busy, you can pour four shots and steam two pitchers AT THE SAME TIME. I'd make a :D face but it wouldn't be a smile, it'd be a jaw dropped from the sheer wonder of it all! WOO!
[o] The order! It gets dropped off in the middle of the store, leaving us to cart it into the back to be sorted and put away. UGH. Boo.
[o] You know all those containers and tools we baristas use and take for granted every day, things like whips and pitchers and blenders? Yeah...as I mentioned, there were only two frappucinno pitchers, plus only four milk pitchers in use at any given time, and I'm pretty sure the store only has a half a dozen whips. And people, I was going through a whip every 20 minutes during the afternoon rush.
[o] And the one we've all been waiting for, especially me, TIPS. Drum roll please......around TWO BUCKS AN HOUR. Once again: :D WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Ahem. *composes self*

I got to work about 15 minutes early, just in time to go downstairs with Boss Man and another, much newer worker to get our cars registered with the plaza people (and learn that the trees behind our building are getting torn down for the new expansion, grumble grumble snarl hiss). I clocked in, the shift asked if I was up for barring, I said yes and jumped right in. Apart from figuring out where things are, it was pretty smooth, and it was awesome to get in a groove and do my favorite part of my job. It was really nice.

It was also really busy. Or, I thought it was busy, although still not as bad as I was expecting. I spent most of the day thinking: Yeah. I can do this. This is busy, and it's challenging, but my boss and co-workers are assuring me that I'm not mucking things up, and everyone seems really nice, and it's definitely do-able. Yeah! Then I talked to Mom on the phone hours later and found out that E.O. Smith (for those in Indiana, that's the high school di-rectly across from my store) was closed today for some kind of staff work day. That rush? That had no students.

Fuhhhh.

There was one bump today: I clocked in at 11, I got my first ten around 1ish...didn't get my meal until 4:30. I'm not entirely clear what happened, but I'm fairly certain it was a staff problem...either it wasn't done well ahead of time, or a partner mucked it up somehow. Not clear. Anyway. I clocked out for my meal, and I was all cranky about it, and decided hell with it, I'm getting myself a slice of pizza for lunch. The woman at Domino's informed me that the slice lunch special ended at 2...but she'd give it to me for free for the trouble. Then I went to the convenience store, got myself a juice...the clerk rummaged up a .50 cent off coupon to use on it, then gave me a few more for later use. I used the last 10 minutes or so to poke around the Portal and see if I could locate my last paycheck; Boss Man said he'd give payroll a call to help me find it.

Thanks, Universe! :D

Overall, it was a really great day. After work I went to a twenty-somethings women's group my therapist put together, and it was really great. I got to stop by Willington Pizza Too on the way home and correct a tipping error from a few nights ago, which made me feel a lot better. I got home to find ice cream in the freezer because Ryan wanted to get me something nice. :)

The best part was coming home, being able to take off my shoes and relax, having a space that's ours, that I helped put together and make tidy and welcoming and comfortable. And now I've done my required computer stuff and I've eaten dinner; now I can take a shower and climb into bed with clean jammies and a good book.

Happy sigh.

New Beginnings...But Aren't All Beginnings New?

I know, I know, it's been over a week and I haven't said anything else.

I'm just...I don't know what to say. While I was in Indiana, this blog was mostly to let my friends and family in Connecticut (and other parts) see how I was doing, what I was up to. But now I'm here, back in Connecticut, and 95% of my readers are now participants in the life I'd be writing about. This now makes blogging about my life both less interesting for them, and more complicated for me.

I have to remind myself: I do have other things to write about!

[o] In the next three months, Ryan and I will be taking on a wild lifestyle change--radically changing what we eat, and dedicating ourselves to exercise and being more physical in general. Seeing as both of us are addicted to love starch and sugar and caffeine and fat and all that delicious stuff, this is going to be...challenging, to say the least.

[o] In the next year, we're planning a wedding! So many decisions to think about, sweat over, go back and forth on, and write about in stupid, no-one-else-but-me-cares detail.

[o] Coming up in just three days, I start at a new store, right across from my old high school, right on the college campus that many friends work on or attend. A store that is much busier than any I've worked in for any period of time, with a dozen brand new people and so many differences from my past two stores!

[o] Part of what I've been looking forward to in moving back to Connecticut is PHOTOGRAPHY. Connecticut is one of the prettiest places anywhere, and I happen to live in what some people term "the middle of nowhere," and others term as "paradise." Trees trees trees TREES, fields, antique houses, streams and rivers and cliffs...Indiana was pretty, I grant you, but when you grow up surrounded by forest, there is just nothing else for it. It's a smorgasbord!

[o] Oh, and writing! I plan on becoming very serious about writing, especially now that moving isn't the main focus of every spare second. There's even a little cafe not even five minutes from my house, right in the center of town, that seems like the perfect retreat...

[o] And, of course, I'm going back to therapy to figure out a LOT of shit about myself. That's a touchier subject, that may be written about less...but if you've read over this blog, you may already know that I'm not always shy when it comes to my personal identity stuff.


See? TONS to talk about still!

See you soon :)