Are they burning you?

It's always a little awkward for me.  I was at work for 20 minutes (that's how the trip worked out), dropping off merchandise I had just bought.  I had to access my area.  I found a sweaty jersey hanging on my rack, next to the food (belonging to the other vendor's guy).  I removed it and hung it over the back of their chair. 

This is where I remind you they have well over 200 square feet.  I have 34 square feet of storage area. 

I took the cart out and got the merchandise, dropping Ron off at the bathroom.  I came back in.  The sweaty jersey was BACK, hanging on my rack again.  The other vendor's employee, not the jersey wearer, had also placed some of their merchandise on the rack.  I politely asked him to deal with items, because "I'm only here 20 minutes and I need to put my merchandise up on my rack, I'm sure you understand."  He said yes but I could tell he was annoyed. 

We went back to the warehouse for more items.  When I came back, about 2 hours later (that's how the trip worked out), they had left a bunch of carts, etc., in front of my area. 

Someone didn't want to put up a couple cases of bottled soda, so they left a cart unfolded, claiming a lot of space.   That encroached into my area dramatically. 

Ron and I believe no employee will work harder than they perceive the boss to be working.  Our employees always busted their butts for us, with a few remarkable exceptions. 

The other vendor has issues with, ah - work ethic in his employees. 

I shoved all their stuff down as far as I could, because I was putting a lot of bottled soda cases, on my racks.  I found it amusing that two "big strong men" couldn't put away 5 cases of bottled Coke, as I put away over 10 cases myself. 

These are just those "little" issues involved with sharing a room. I'm trying to be firm, yet gracious.  I'm sure, though, that whenever I draw a boundary (and they are constantly trying to use my racks, while they whine to management they need a "bigger stockroom"), they see me as an evil, attacking, bitch. 

But I can't let them take over our space.  I can't afford to do it.  If they take a little they'll take all of it.  I had to fight, very calmly and politely, to get the two racks at all. 

I'm grateful for anything.  5x10 would have cost us $80 a month, with tremendous transportation difficulties.  I praise God I have any storage. 

I can't let them take it.  Unfortunately they do like to bully.  When I object they accuse me of "going crazy", so I try to set my boundaries politely, calmly, and quietly.  For whatever reason, though, they perceieve me to be weak and easily manipulated.  I guess they just figure I'll let them take over my racks because *they want them*. 

That's yet another reason I tell Ron we need to stuff those racks.  We can't have them claiming I "don't use them". 

Ron had set it up to be at work for an hour, the second time.  I told him I couldn't do that, I needed more time to stock.  I did everything and boy it took a while, but the machines look great. 

Except food, but I'm getting to that. 

We had inbound severe weather last night, so I didn't stock any additional cold food.  If we have a power outage I don't think the generators are slaved to the cafeteria.  Any cold food in the machine would spoil. 

I also had a fair amount of stuff going out of code today and tomorrow. I didn't want to put in a lot of new stuff - which assures I'd have to throw out the old stuff. 

Sometimes you have to starve them. 

Ron also made some calls, arranging a trip with a pickup, today. 

After work Ron told me he'd made a ride to Walmart.  As we rode home from work we encountered horrific traffic, making me so glad I have my job.  Yes, I get up at ungodly hours, never get a break or lunch, sweat a lot, doing heavy manual labor, techie work, crawling under machines, caregiving Ron, etc... but it's my job and we have a lot of leeway on hours - and most days we can avoid rush hour traffic. 

We got home, I changed my shoes, and we went to Walmart.  Ron's still in the wheelchair so he hung onto the cart.  I pulled him behind me like a tail. 

I got some snack foods, some real food, some stuff for work.  As I was putting stuff away I realized I had a lot of bathroom items, conditioner, air freshener, etc. 

We went to McDonald's.  One of the employees was complaining she'd burned her hand. 

I used my softest and most gentle voice: "Are they burning you?" 

She grinnned at me "Yes, they are." 

"You know," I told her "They have places if you don't feel safe any more!"  She laughed pretty hard. 

My feet were screaming.  I am mildly knock-kneed.  My work shoes have a very basic insole and no padding, but they do conform to the dress/safety code. 

I decided to get some inserts.  I selected two, after some deliberation.  One had a squishy pink honeycomb gel, and the other was a more standard foam insole featuring a $1 off coupon.  I got both, costing about $10, but dude, it's my feet. 

After paying, I put the squishy pink ones in my cheap sneakers.  I won't put ads in my blog, but I'll tell you - a couple minutes later I actually felt like walking around.  My feet were far happier than they'd been. 

Here they are:
air plus insoles

I hate to ride paratransit in the later afternoon and evening, the trips are terrible.  Sure enough, our driver was an hour late. I waved at him and he flashed the lights.  Then I made a victory sign with both arms in the air.   I like to let them know "I'm happy to see you and I don't have an attitude."  The drivers seem to like it. 

When he got out, he said "You're treating me like a superhero today!" 
"You are!" I replied.  "You're taking me home after a very long day."

And, of course, the lift broke.  The driver had to manually crank Ron up and down off the vehicle.  We got home pretty late and I basically went right to bed. 

This morning we got up.  We went to the warehouse. 

I loaded about 20 cases of bottled drinks on the cart.  We had the pickup after all. 

I had to use the bathroom.  I parked the cart outside.  When I came out, the cart was gone. 

I pitched a minor fit because I did not want to load it all again.  I wandered around, figuring (correctly) it had just been moved.  I finally found it over by the bakery. 

Most of the employees seemed to find the incident "funny".  I did not - not then. 

As I checked out, the register messed up, requiring 2 over-rides.  Agh. 

Then our friend called.  He was outside.

We got everything loaded and went to work.  I got my 2 carts out of the stockroom and brought them out.  We got everything loaded and I put it in the stockroom (to be unloaded tomorrow).  I found our fridge and freezer completely unlocked, the merchandise apparently intact. 

We're special.  Sometimes, I say, we prove it. 

I tried to load the gum into the snack machines.  We have gotten a lot of requests for gum.  It was surprisingly difficult.  I'll have to thrash that out tomorrow and figure out which machines I'll stock.  I am pretty sure snack #2 jams on the gum.  Snack #1 appeared to be throwing out 2 packs of gum at a time, but the food cost can permit that occasionally. 

I could get really anxious worrying about this tonight, but the gum vends, is in the machine, and the customers have options. 

I stocked some cold food merchandise because the electricians have been working near our area, cutting power.  I didn't stock much, I'll do that tomorrow.

Cold food is tricky - I want to stock enough to get everyone fed, but not so much it goes bad. 

I hate throwing out merchandise. 

After work, we went to the fried fish place.  It was very good but that grease kind of works on the digestion.  I took my meds the minute we got home. 

We went home, I discovered someone had mowed my yard, edged it, and weed whacked most of Frosty's memorial jasmine.  Well, that's a mixed blessing.  It does look good.  I'm not sure who did it. 

I'm sorry.  Yes, I'm "that yard" for you homeowners.  In my defense, I am disabled, caregiving another person with a disability, and working 12 hour days on top of that, while making poverty level wages. 

"Maybe we could hire someone" Ron said. 

"OK, but I want a black guy.  I don't want to hire illegals."  I ride with a lot of legal immigrants who work very hard to get here.  If we go that route, I'll find someone with a real small business and not some under the table Freddy.

I took a nap.  I had a horrible nightmare about the Alien creatures invading a small town and spreading.  I was sure happy to wake up. 

I did my God Time and finally caught up with my online life. 

One thing about my life lately.  I can tell I'm depressed, but I'm too busy to really marinate. 

That's good.