Granted, it went from "Okay, I'll just be shutting off after you let me be inactive for about half an hour. Oh, and don't bother trying to turn me back on. The only way I'll do it is if you unplug me." to "Ha! Watching some Aqua Teen Hunger Force, are we? What happens if I SHUT DOWN! Like that, bitch? Oooh. Is that an email you're writing? CAN'T HAVE THAT NOW, CAN WE???? Oooops! Power off!"
Needless to say, I sent it out for repairs...
So, since D!'s currently my roommate, we've been using his computer.
Problem is, I'm not about to start using his computer as my main base, bookmarking all my haunts and setting up my email service to POP it down to the hard drive.
And it's a grinding slow computer. Supposedly faster speed than mine, but, man, that Celeron processor draaags it dowwwn...
So, in a nutshell, not frequenting the Internet as much as I usually do.
As such, I gotta lotta updating to do...
(HOLY CRAP! I've only done two posts throughout February? Is this what happens when I get a roommate? Yipes!)
* * *
Let's start with work.
Tyler, the employee who was fired last post, was stealing from us.
That $200 missing from the till? His doing. It took a while to really pinpoint it, but Tyler was responsible for a lot of product going missing from the back room.
I found out that Tyler was on probation. For armed robbery.
Recently, Ian from RS Loss Prevention called to tell us that Tyler was back in jail.
Only a few days ago did I discover why:
His grilfriend, Justina (the co-worker I really couldn't stand) came into the store and was talking to Tom, her face all bruised.
Tyler decided to beat the shit out of her.
Now, I'm no big fan of Justina, but no one deserves that. That shit is SO wrong.
Exit Tyler.
Now, today, I narrowed down that Cody's been skimming from the till. Nothing as huge as $200, but every so often when he closes with me, $10 or $15 is short in Daily Reports.
Today, I counted the till before Cody came in. One cent off.
This evening? Ten dollars and one cent off.
Either the kid is lousy with giving change, or he's skimming.
So we replaced one thief with another. Joy.
What really bums me out about this is that I could tolerate Tyler and like Cody.
And for some reason, I would tend to give them the benefit of doubt. Are my people instincts just not right for retail management? Will I have to distrust every staff member who comes into the store, just because of some bad experiences?
This is what's eating me. I tend to trust people. It's a good thing. But if I lay my trust in people who are stealing again and again, and keep on losing out because of it, will I become jaded towards friends? Not able to trust anybody?
Customers, I rarely trust these days. One woman sent an email to the company call centre about the "worst customer service she's ever recieved" when she sent her computer in for repair.
I, of course, was the main person dealing with it.
When this woman brought her computer in to be fixed, I told her it would take two to three weeks, since it's sent to Calgary. But, since she had the extended warranty, it might be sooner.
Because it's a computer, I send it to Calgary the next day. Because I think, "Man, it should be sent down ASAP, because she'll want to use that computer fairly soon."
Two weeks pass. She starts calling, because apparently, I told her it'd be back in no less than two weeks. So where is the computer?
I check my repair log. All it tells me is when I sent it out. The techs don't fill in when it got there, what's being done. All I know is I sent it out on January 20.
"Well, the repair depot's closed, since it's past 5 pm. I'll tell you what: I'll call them up when I get in first thing tomorrow."
I do so. The tech assigned to that computer didn't show up for work that day. The secretary doesn't know what the deal is.
I get some details a few days later. The CD burned is pooched, and they're waiting for a new one from HP.
So I tell the woman that.
Even so, she keeps on calling asking where it is. Mostly on evenings or weekends, when the repair depot is closed!
Finally, after exactly one month, it comes into the store.
When I call her up telling her the computer's in, she asks me what sort of compensation she'll get.
Inside my brain: Compensation? For a computer gone a week later than expected? What do you want? Tell you what: I'll give you a brand new spankin' computer! just because I'm responsible for repairs! Do you want me to give you a back rub too? Will this help you out? JACKASS!
What I actually tell her: "Well, I'm not in any position to give you any compensation. That would be something either my manager or district manager would have to work out with you. Once it leaves my store, my hands are tied, other than calling the repair centre up and asking them to hurry up."
Her email talks about how "Kyle and Tom seemed vague about what was happening to my computer, and were uncertain to when it was coming back."
Damn straight. When you call at times I can't call the repair depot to figure out what's up, I can't do much. When the repair depot doesn't write things down and is off in their own little world, I can do squat. When they're waiting for a new CD drive from California, I twiddle my thumbs. All I can do is shrug my shoulders and wait for the sitcom trumpet blare. "Oh, that silly Jago! Wuw Waaaaaah!"
I sent it down the day after it arrived. I kept calling the depot harassing them about it. I kept her informed as to what was happening with it, to the best of my abilities. She CANNOT say that I was giving her bad customer service.
(NOTE: I pretty much wrote up a different version of this for my DSM Mitch at work today. Took me a half hour to properly write, while not making it sound like the woman was a jackass. Then some dimwit customer decided to cloes down the window in search of some games when my back was turned. Grrrr...)
In other work-related news, I was in charge of the store when Tom was on vacation. I stayed much overtime when Mitch came in and said "I want this to go there, these to go up, this to move, etc." I worked about 10 hours overtime that's expected of me. Gotta love being salaried instead of the wage slave...
Gotta leave this job.
* * *
OKAY! New subject!
Birthday was pretty anticlimactic. Went to see Kill Bill with Marauder, Barber and D! Loved it.
My parents' gift to me is money to buy Backlash tickets.
Otherwise, pretty low key. Nothing big happened. Getting a present from Dev in the next week or so. Have to decided what I'm getting him for his brithday next week.
* * *
Choir concert's taking up a lot of my time. Went to Camrose last week for our pre-concert concert. Went pretty well. No major screwups. 'J'entends Le Moulin,' this year's most difficult song rhythm-wise went better than expected.
I almost killed Barber, and, by extension, us, on the ride home.
Dev was telling us about the new band he heard of, Franz Ferdinand, and how there are now more than one band out there named after assassinations. (For those of you keeping score, the Dead Kennedys, after JFK, and Franz Ferdinand, after the assassination that started World War One.)
Barber piped up from the driver's seat, "And there's also Rainbow Butt Monkeys! (Note: The band that's now known as Finger Eleven)"
While Dev and Canton groan in the back, I add, "Actually, Barber's right. The name comes from the little-known assassination of a Nigerian dictator, Rainbo Butmunki (or, as I pronounced it, "Rainbow Bootmoonki.")
Barber starts choking on the sip of coffee he was taking. While we're driving 90 kph on a rural highway.
It turned out fine, but never get your driver laughing while sipping a road beverage...
* * *
My friend Doug's moved to the Left Coast. Most of my diaryland buddies have already made thier voices herad on this one, so there's not much I can add.
Did I know him as well as most of the others? No. But I knew him well enough to have fond memories of him, such as the time he, Dev and I attempted the Space Ghost drinking game.
Doug, you will be missed. And we've got to have more geekout gatherings...
* * *
Booked my ticket for Kingston's wedding in a few short weeks. Flying down to Victoria for a few days.
I pissed off my mom, who was planning to help me by using Air Miles to cut costs. Unfortunately, due to crazy-ass working and getting home long after she goes to bed (I get off evening shifts at work at 11 pm her time), I didn't get a hold of her in time.
That wsan't the part that pissed her off, however. I made her mad when she FINALLY got a hold of me because I had some friends over playing Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (Mini rant: LOVE that game so much... I knew I bought the Game Boy and Gamecube link cable for a good reason...), and I wasn't paying attention.
I should have called her back after she yelled at me and hung up, but I didn't want to abandon my friends by going into the bedroom and getting yelled at over the phone for over a half hour.
So the tickets cost twice as much as they would have with Mom's help, but that's entirely my fault.
Brade, tell Mom I'm sorry.
* * *
That's about everything I can think of at the moment. I'm not sure if I'll really have a chance for post for a while, depending on when my computer comes back from repair.
D! moves out back into his own place this weekend. It was fun living with him again, but I sure will love the extra space back.
Hopefully, I will be back on the horse in under a week.
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