Get out of my ghetto!

What a day I had. 

It started harmlessly enough.  I woke up, did my shower and God time, and got ready to leave the house.  I should have known - Torbie had slept with me, and Baby Girl wanted tummy rubs in the morning. 

Baby Girl never wants tummy rubs in the morning! 

We had a tsunami of sales.  They swept over the vending machines, leaving them next to empty.  We had to make two trips to the warehouse. 

The first trip was harmless enough, I got chips, mainly, and a few other necessary snack items.  We went into work. 

I stocked, but didn't have much time.  Ron wanted help with what I'd consider non-essentials - it didn't involve putting merchandise into a vending machines, so I told him I'd have to help him later.  He pouted. 

When we've had complaints, they always say "Your (snack) machines are empty".  They never complain about any other machine, and I reminded Ron of the fact. 

I also stocked some cold food items, as we were OUT. 

Our brand new soda machine was down.  The repairman came.  Ron kept bugging me for help, at one point handing me a piece of floppy cardboard when my hands were full.  I put my items down, carefully picked up the cardboard, and whacked him over the head a few times as the repairman laughed hysterically.  [Ron wasn't hurt] 

We went back to the warehouse.  On a holiday eve.  During regular hours. 

At one point I called Ron, praying "Lord, please help me to keep You in my heart."  Then I hung up.  Ron died laughing. 

I got the merchandise and left.  We went back to work.  The bottled vendor was down.  The coffee machine wasn't brewing "proper" cups of coffee.  Ron wanted more help.  I thought about getting another piece of cardboard. 

Instead, I gave him a pointy thing and put him to work on the coin jam. 

I finished stocking candy, etc, into snacks.  They really like what I'm selling! 

Happily I got the last box of (sour gummy) worms, on my trip to the warehouse.  I made a few jokes about "getting my worms".  I told one regular "I got your worms!"  She laughed. 

Small laughs.  We had to put our ride on hold (black mark #2 for the month, 5 and we get suspended). 

We had to get our issues fixed. 

The repairman came, again.  We have been very open with our customers about our service calls, how often he comes, how much it costs, etc.  The customers have responded by really backing down on the complaints and aggressive attitude.  They understand, we want you to be happy, we are working on it, and respond favorably. 

That's the nice thing about working other shifts.  The other vendors are never seen by the swing shift, but we make a point of working those hours so we can interact (even if it means getting shouted at for refunds). 

Oh, yeah, that reminds me.  At three different points I had people lining up for refunds.  I get it!  I'm sorry!  Here's your money! 

We paid refunds for all 3 shifts, because we worked 11 hours straight. 

We finally finished, everything fixed, repairman gone.  I got the puzzle book out of the wheelchair - "Easy Crosswords" and we attempted to work it as we waited. 

The skies were ominous and pregnant with a pending thunderstorm.  An airplane launched from the airport, banking over the building, just a few hundred feet in the air.  The roar was deafening. 

"Get out of my ghetto!" I shouted, shaking my fist.  Ron and I laughed. 

We worked on the crossword, realizing - our brains are pretty messed up.  A 4 word letter for melt.  Took us forever to figure that one out.  We had to work two other clues to figure out it was "thaw".   It kept us busy and occupied, though. 

I would definitely bring it again. 

We went to our favorite Mexican restaurant, at 7 PM.  Service was terrible: brought me a regular coke, forgot I said "no pico", my food was cold and overcooked, kept ignoring us while serving other tables, etc. 

"We're only going at lunchtime" we decided. 

I should have just gone home and gotten a TV dinner.  I did buy a few sparklers from a fireworks stand.  I feel OK "setting those off" around the cats. 

I wouldn't want to burn the cats, or scare them.