Thank you, God, for side effects

I've been running a little mixed.  One minute I'm up, one minute I'm down. 

Actually, I seem to be "down" more in the evenings.  Eugh. 

The customers and Ron seemed to enjoy the mild mania, only IMPROVED by the absence of "Romeo".  It was so delightful to chat freely with the other employees (they are forbidden to talk to me when he's around), offer to help "Juliet" (SHE sure didn't do anything wrong), and take care of business without dreading every trip into the shared hall. 

I will enjoy it, for as long as it lasts.  I sure liked it today. 

It is sad for me to observe; she really loves him.  I am asking God for help with their marriage.  She deserves a man who values and appreciates her. 

I overslept and missed my God Time.  Ack.  I did have enough time to shower and bag up some candy. 

I went to work, taking 2 large tote bags.  One, filled with candy.  The other, filled with chips and cookies.  All stocked into the machines, rendering them beautiful.  I stocked everything you can put in a snack machine - Ron got the pastries.  We stocked everything we could, which was pretty decent, and then headed off. 

As I left, I took some soda for our other location.  I put it in the tote bag along with a metal-hooked bungee cord.  Big mistake.  The cord punctured a soda can, which erupted all over my left side.  Yuck.  That was quite a mess; but I had to wash those jeans anyway. 

My job involves some messy things, and kneeling on the floor and reaching under the freezer unit would have "done" my jeans anyway.  [sigh]  These days, I'm happy I have work. 

So, I went outside, only waited an HOUR on our pickup.  Ron was working, he comes out when I call him.  If he finishes before our ride, he will wait on a chair at the credit union. 

It was a driver we liked; a lot.  He told me his worst client had finally gotten banned from Metrolift.  They are tightening up.  She, in my presence, assaulted a couple of clients so I wasn't surprised. 

We got home.  My medication was really messing with me; my lips felt all tingly and I felt very foggy.  I even sounded strange.  Ron kept asking if I was OK and was I sure I could go to our second location.  This from Mr "It's Only The Flu, of COURSE I'm going to work!"  [sigh]  He doesn't do that now. 

I laid down for a little bit and tried eating a snack.  I took some vitamins; I thought maybe it was a mineral thing and took a few cal/mag tablets.  I don't know if the food or the minerals did the trick, but something helped.  I will try both next time. 

Ron was pretty concerned, but I reminded him - BEFORE (medication).  We both shuddered in terror.  UGH.  Thank you, God for side effects. 

We caught our next ride and went to the other location.  Everyone was on lunch.  One employee had asked for Diet Pepsi, if possible.  Well, the Root Beer was a dud, so we took it out and got Diet Pepsi instead.  She was THRILLED.  We needed to stock Dr Pepper, but not Coke. 

It's fascinating to me.  We have a couple of soda machines at our main location, and each is different.  At "work" (main) we can expect to sell a lot of Coke, Dr Pepper.  In the Summer, we sell a lot of the fruit flavors.  In the Winter, it's more cola and diet.   I can open one machine and be completely out of Orange soda, and open another one 50 feet away and it's stuffed with Orange, but almost out of Diet Dr Pepper.  Huh. 

So, at our new location we are discovering they love Diet, someone loves Orange, and they aren't into Dr Pepper.  We might try some RC Cola (also made by Dr Pepper) and see how that "flies".  Vending is really a dance; between the vendor and the customer.  They vote with their wallets, determining what we sell and how much. 

You can tell I really enjoy my job.  Even when I have to take out the nasty bags of used coffee grounds! 

We had a great pickup, but the guy in the front seat was a real character.  I don't think he will last long on the service: remember, earlier in the day, we had to wait an hour on our ride. 

He was on the phone, and hung up angrily after we got in.  "They left me on hold forever!"  He called back and began shouting at whoever answered the phone.  She put him on hold, again.  He was on maybe 90 seconds when he hung up, AGAIN ranting about how they'd "forgotten" him! 

[I'm laughing, hard, but not so hard I'm making the donkey noises or slapping my leg.]   He is in for some SCHOOLING!  [Now I AM slapping my leg.]  He will either develop FAR more patience, or get himself thrown off the service.  He thinks 90 seconds is bad?  [snort]

I will never forget the driver who picked me up 90 minutes late.  She was training a new driver, and pointed at me. I had fallen to my knees, pretend begging for a ride, and laughing.  [I always do that when the ride is very late, to let them know I'm not angry.]

"See," she said "I love them.  We're 90 minutes late and she's SMILING!"