Things I overheard while talking to myself

Luckily I don't get too many outright nasty people at my job, but they do stand out when I do get them. Especially the guy yesterday who was pissed off about his wife's bill and seemed convinced that I was really somewhere in California so he asked where I was from. I replied that I was from Massachusetts, and he replied that I didn't sound like it.

I was sorely tempted to go Masshole on this guy, since despite lacking an accent due to being from the Western part of the state I sure as hell am. In fact, considering I have an ancestor (on my mom's side, no less) who was here nearly 400 years ago back when it was a colony and has a frickin' statue at the State House (yes really) my ties to Mass probably go back further than this jerk's. And my dad's family's been here since the mid 1800s.

But I resisted, since we're not supposed to sass the customers, no matter how much it's deserved. And by my rules, you just do not treat people the way that guy did, especially when they're trying to help you.

I've noticed that my roommate can be a bit flaky when it comes to leaving food out, but the other day he horrified me when he left raw chicken in a containing to thaw on the counter and left for the night. I promptly stuck it in the refrigerator when I realized that and explained to him when he got home that doing that is a very good way to get food poisoning, especially since it's getting hotter outside and things spoil that much quicker. And to impress it on him I explained that restaurants can get shut down it they do that. You do not even want to chance contamination if you're cooking for someone else, and you shouldn't chance it with yourself since it can kill you. I personally use the "when in doubt, throw it out" rule on all the food I make.

And while I know it's not just guys who do this, the majority of cases I've experienced where someone does something like this have in fact been guys, including the one idiot friend who food poisoned himself with ice cream (and we're still not entirely sure how he did that). My conclusion is that we just plain do not teach guys this stuff, and that is a problem. If I ever have any male children you bet your ass they will have this drilled into their heads.

So girl who won't stop using her cell phone at work has been replaced by guy who won't stop using his cell phone at work. I leaned over and whispered that he really does need to put that thing away since people get fired for that, and one person just got fired for that (among other things, but I was trying to make a point so forgive the slight hyperbole).

Five minutes later guess what he's doing. Again. At one point I was tempted to say something like "put that thing away or I swear to God I'll break it" but I decided to just drop it. Guess he doesn't value this job after all. *shrug* I tried, but you cannot save people from their own stupidity.

Also anecdotal evidence suggests that I have a calming effect on people, since I seem to get a lot less angry people, judging by me overhearing other people talking to them and how negative those interactions sound. I don't know if it's just luck, but that doesn't tend to happen. I noticed this at my last job too, maybe my tone of voice or something else just has a disarming effect, but whatever it is people seem to react less negatively to me. Maybe it's because I make an effort to sound pleasant and friendly, and I know people react to tone of voice and if the person you're talking to sounds bored and disinterested and you're already in a bad mood it doesn't help.

I love how easily amused cats are.

I actually have those because after I finally got my missing paycheck replaced in addition to this week's regular one I went to get some new shoes since the elastic on my old sandals had worn out and they kept falling off my feet, and it turns out the Sketchers store was having a buy one get one 1/2 off so I went and got two pairs. And now Mari has two boxes.

And just the thought that I actually have at least a little money is kind of making my brain short circuit after so long with next to nothing coming in. Most of it either went to savings or got used to pay some things I've been behind on, and to my shock I still have some left! That's a pleasant change.

No one has cashed my missing check, so it most likely got lost in the mail.  I prefer that more benign (but still irritating) explanation to the idea that the same asshole who vandalized one of the mailboxes downstairs took it. The staffing people said to wait one more day since they have sometimes had checks mailed Thursday show up Tuesday, and to call them tomorrow if there's still no sign of it tomorrow.

I also got a direct deposit form that I'll fax over while at work so this doesn't happen again. I don't need to have this sort of stress if I can avoid it.

In case you didn't guess from the subject line, still no check. Tomorrow morning yours truly is going Godzilla on the staffing agency.

Though it did occur to me that this might not actually be their fault, since sometime this weekend someone sabotaged the mailbox of another person who lives here (meaning it's a broken hunk of metal on the ground now) and I wonder if that same person might've stolen my check if it did arrive on Friday. If so they only took the check and not some junkmail that arrived. Either way, I need a replacement, NOW, and I found out that they do have direct deposit through some other people who work through the same agency so I'll set that up so this doesn't happen again.

Still no check. It better show up Monday or heads are going to be cracked.

I'm especially unamused because I basically have no savings at the moment, so there is next to nothing to fall back on. I can subsist until maybe Monday but if it's any later than that... well, see the second sentence of this post.

ETA: Realized that I could ask K to give me his half of the utilities early (I usually ask around the 15th of each month) so that will hold me over.

Today I'm being reminded of how nice having direct deposit on my last job was. Usually my paycheck shows up on Friday, so when it wasn't in the mail today I was naturally worried and called the staffing people. They confirmed that they did mail it on Thursday, so it'll probably show up Saturday. What was kind of funny is that when I called their line was busy for a good few minutes, suggesting that a bunch of other people were calling to ask what was up too.

I don't think it's anyone's fault per se, but it effectively derailed my plans for today and pushed them back until tomorrow. The good news is that when it does show up this check will be for more than enough to cover everything I need to do (and I'll probably put most of it into savings to begin trying to build that up again) it's just waiting for the damn thing to show up that's aggravating. If I hadn't been so frazzled when I  called I would've asked if they do direct deposit to prevent this in the future, which I actually had been meaning to ask before this happened. Luckily I can subsist until then, it's just annoying.

What happens to a check deferred?

I wound up playing the stool pigeon at work the other day when on Tuesday night after all the supervisors had left one of the girls sitting next to me starting sneakily checking her cell phone under the desk. That is a big no-no, since not only is is unprofessional, but we have to comply with HIPAA and having one of those out is one of the fastest ways to run afoul of that law and get us in big trouble. It's the same reason all of our calls are recording and we're not allowed to take down information like SS numbers and medication names, though people are all too happy to tell them to us sometimes. So the next morning I pulled my supervisor aside and told her out of earshot of this girl about what I'd seen, and she said she'd "have words" with the girl. Quite frankly I didn't like this girl anyway since I met her, and I was kind of glad to see my first impression proved to be correct yet again. 

Other than that, it seems Thursday is now my Friday since I have Friday off for at least two weeks. Or maybe Saturday is actually my Friday. I'll have to think on that.