First Stop

Well, I bought another neck wallet.  No, it doesn't bother me, although I wasn't washing the lanyard and may have gotten an abscess due to that.  I got the infection right about the time I got my bladder infection, so it was easily solved with the antibiotic. 

Headaches have been, dare I say, better, but that could be because I was too sick for both the illness and a headache.  God is merciful that way. 

I think the worst headache I had lately was when I walked into the cinderblock wall at Walmart.  Oh, that hurt, but it hurt outside my skull, which was an interesting change of pace.  I was pretty tender for days. 

Today I got up at 2 AM for a soda delivery.  I didn't sleep very well, I think I was too warm on my heated mattress pad, but sometimes I get a chill when I'm sleeping so it's hard to guess. 

Anyway, I got up after a fitful sleep and took my shower.  I did my God Time later.  We went to work. 

I felt bad the driver made some noise out front when he picked us up at 3:30 AM,  but as it turns out, the kids next door had today off anyway.  The driver made backing up beeps, talked loudly in the driveway, etc. 

Why would you do that?  Not everyone is awake, when you are.  I try very hard to be sensitive to that but I can't control other people. 

We got to work, eventually, and to my delight we had my new favorite driver, who actually delivered at 6:30 AM.  "I'm going to make you my first stop" she told us.  "Because I know you (both) like an early delivery."  Praise God.  That is so huge. 

She thanked us for giving her a compliment on the last delivery.  I was happy to do it. 

If this works out, soda delivery day just got a whole lot easier.  We were done, on time, at 10. 

I had a problem with a snack machine, it wouldn't accept coins.  After some troubleshooting, I found a very sticky nickel (that would have been a good title) stuck in the coin acceptor.  I had to partly disassemble it to find it and remove it, then I had to clean it with some rubbing alcohol.  All done, it was accepting coins again and back to behaving beautifully.  It's one of our better "sellers" so it was important to get it fixed ASAP. 

Other than that, it was a pretty average day stocking, except a couple of people wanted change.  Apparently I am The Lady To See when you want change.  [sigh]  I guess I don't mind, as long as they are putting some of those dollars into the vending machine. 

I do find it funny when someone gives me a $20 and then orders me to give them a ten, a five, etc.  I tell them "If you want change, it's going to be $1 bills because that's all I have.  If you want anything else you need to go to the credit union."  They always take the $1 bills.  Truth is, a $1 bill is the easiest thing to spend, anyway, so I don't see a problem.  Plus it is not in my job description to do this anyway.  It's a favor.  I'm not walking around with a cash drawer. 

We left, our ride was late, and had a Burger King takeout bag.  I mentioned it to Ron when he asked if she was hungry, and she was embarrassed.  I guess she figured she could get takeout since she was "only" taking us home.  Then she spent forever at a gas station.  "I guess" I told Ron "Burger King didn't agree."  She walked out with more food, after 15 minutes, and I had a hard time keeping from rolling my eyes. 

It is my understanding they are paid based on on-time performance.  I don't see how she could get away with that. 

We got home and I got a short nap before the kids started making racket next door.  I did my God Time and then we ran some errands, we got some food, Ron got some liquor (I didn't help), and we got some extra tickets for paratransit. 

They are instituting a new policy, which I've mentioned, if you go "out of area" they will now charge you two tickets, even if you have a pass.  So, if we even think we might want to go somewhere, we'd better get some tickets. 

Here's a good example:  http://www.ridemetroapp.org/systemmap/index.aspx?q=mtalift  We live, shop, and work within the green area.  We do go to a few places in the "yellow" (premium) area, but overall we are "green" which means we "ride for free" on Ron's yearly pass.  We still got some tickets just to be safe, though. 

Besides, for now tickets are $19 for 20.  In a couple of days they will be $25 for the same amount.  Smart to get it now. 

We did all that and came home.  Ron carefully brought in his bottles of alcohol, resting on his walker.  It was a little eeky watching him bring it over the threshold, it looked like they would fall, but if they do it's his problem, not mine. 

It is NOT my job to help Ron drink.  Ever.  And I won't. 

Tomorrow we do the CPR class to satisfy our "training" requirement to the blind vendors program.  The boss was fine with that.  And, I think it will actually prove to be a useful skill.  We have a lot of overweight to obese, middle aged, diabetic men sitting around in the lunchroom every day.  One day we may need those skills. 

Or I could have a problem, God knows I have a family history of heart trouble.  Ron has a family history of strokes, one of his cousins just died of complications from one. 

I try to think about the worst case. 

Ron's asking a question about hot dogs.  I'll post tomorrow!