Guaranteed Piece of Sh....

I think of myself as a pretty tolerable person. It takes a lot for me to get honestly pissed off. I can let a lot of things slide, I can not get worked up when I should probably be angry. I think it's the seven plus years of retail working for me. I've learned how to deal with angry people. Rude people. Mean people. Difficult situations. Awkward situations. You name it, I've probably dealt with it. In doing so I've learned it doesn't pay to be honestly angry most the time. Sure I might get momentarily angry or say I'm angry but when really, it's not all that bad. Not really real anger. But like most people I've got a few triggers that are pretty much guaranteed to piss me off to some extent.

One is the use of compass directions when it isn't necessary. Example of an approved use of compass directions: "After the turn onto I-94, continue north for 27 miles." Unapproved example: "We always get box elder bugs in the fall on the southwest side of the house. " It's the back of the house. Hey-Zeus! Who are you trying to impress with your directions?

Another thing that will piss me off are surprises. I hate (most) surprises. I do. Some are OK. Some are tolerable. I think the thing I hate most about surprises are when people dangle bits of information in front of you and are all smug about it like "oooh well something is going to happen that you're going to like but I can't say what." I'm feeling pissed off just thinking about it. I don't like being caught off guard.

Some work related things that piss me off are: 1. micro-managing, 2. Being left out of the loop 3. Screwing with me and/or my schedule. 

Let's examine micro-managing for a bit. Hey Mr/Ms Manager. I get that you're in charge and that, in theory, you know what's best. But here's a little tip. You don't, OK? You really do not know what is best all the time. I do my job 40 hours a week. I've been doing it for a while. I understand it better in many ways because of that and to come in and tell me to do little things differently are not OK. I generally know what is going on better then you do. I generally know what my workers need better then you do. For you to come up to me and tell me things that really aren't useful or to try to be in my business more then necessary is not OK. I understand line management. I understand what'll get them moving, what will slow them down. While all you seem to look at is the bottom line and customer satisfaction, I like to look at employee satisfaction because I know a pissed off, unhappy or under appreciative employee is not going to help with sales or customers.

Now being left out of the loop...I think it probably ties in with the whole I don't like surprises thing. If you know something that will help me do my job and fail to give me that information then congratulations you've just pissed me off. If a cashier calls in at 9 a.m. for their 3 p.m. shift and you don't tell me until 3:30 after I've already called the them wondering where the f they are, pissed off. Seriously? How can you not tell a person something like that? Don't look me in the eyes because you'll be poked with the daggers coming out of them.

Screwing with me and/or my schedule could probably be rolled into being left out of the loop since it generally it is because I've been left out I get screwed with but for today it will be it's own category since today I have been screwed with along with my schedule and it has, without a doubt, pissed me off. It's my day off today. I was asked on Saturday if I'd come in for a few hours to cover a short shift. I agreed to it yesterday morning. So a call a half hour before I was supposed to be at work by the manager saying "oh I'm sorry I forgot to tell you yesterday (YESTERDAY!) that some stuff has changed and we don't need you to come in today" has probably done me some health damage since the fury I felt in that moment most likely shred some capillaries. It's a good thing I couldn't find my phone in time to answer because if I had talked to said Manager I'd probably would have been a bit mad. And tomorrow if Manager tries to talk to me about it I can't guarantee I'll be 100 percent pleasant. And I certainly intend to tattle to someone of less rank but still. I will tattle to make me feel better.

Alright. I think I feel better.

And wow have I been whiney that last few posts.

Cheese Please

Ah. Another Cheese Days has came and went. Curds consumed, beer drunk. Long ass parade sat through. All in all a successful event.

It was Addisyn's first Cheese Days. Well, second in a way. She was being cooked during the last one. Us two hung out Saturday morning while the rest of the fam-damly went golfing. I took her down to the square early to just walk around and see what all was there. Unfortunately and stupidly I forgot my money so I could not take advantage of the short cheese curd line. The crowd was pretty thin so I let her out of the stroller for a bit by the stage and she went to town dancing to the yodeling. She's such a silly little girl. She loves to dance and she's got some of the cutest moves you'll ever see. Describing them won't do justice but there's this one where she'll stick one arm out to the side, palm up and spin in a circle. It's such a ballet move. I think the look on her face while she does it is priceless as well, like she's really into it.

After that we wandered around some more then headed back 'cause it was nap time. After her nap and lunch we went back down and holy cats was the square packed. She wasn't too happy that I wouldn't let her out to dance again. On the way back to the house she kept going "Weeeeee! Weeeeee!" or saying "Daddy? Daddy? Daddy?"

That chick is getting smart. Which I know babies are a lot smarter then we give them credit for and I know I've said that before but to see it is kind of cool. I was holding her and talking with some other people and she just started to say "I...I..." so I look at her and she's pointing to her eye. For no good reason she just decided to point it out. So then I asked her where my eyes were and she poked one then proceeded to try to pry it open. Then to see if she was quick on her feet I asked where her ears were. She got it no prob. Then to the nose, then back to the eyes. She doesn't know mouth yet but when we were saying it and pointing it out she was giving us her look that says "ok...ok...wait...wait...I'm thinking...I'm thinking. Got it!" She gives you the same look when you do something new and soon enough she'll do it or say whatever you were trying to get her to say.

She was also really into saying "I got it!" We were playing with a ball when it started on Saturday. I took it from her and said "I got it!" then hid it. So she gave me her little thinking look, found the ball and yelled "I GOT IT!" So I snatched it back, hid it again and she found it and yelled "I got it!" again. Then later I think I asked her where her cup or something was that she had so she held it up and said "I got it!"

She's also into cleaning and picking up. I handed her a baby wipe and pointed at a table so she went and wiped it up. She found some of her shoes on the floor so she picked them up, went to the closet and put them where they belonged. Hopefully she keeps that up! This helpful stage could be quite the benefit for me. I can get her to do stuff! I tried to get her to put my shoes on my feet for me and she sure tried her hardest but couldn't quite get it. We'll work on that. She also likes to walk on her knees. She'll go three feet, face plant, get back up, go another three feet, face plant again. It's funny.

Ok ok ok. Enough about Addisyn already.

The rest of Cheese Days was great. Beer tent adventures Saturday night with huge beer bottles being used as weapons. The parade that lasts oh, about 2 hours too long for me. I did make out like a bandit with loot though. Win! And I saw all the musts. The cows. The New Glarus Fire Department old school ladder company. The giant wheel man. The Racing Sausages. I was surprised there were no politicians like usual.

And I think that rounds out Cheese Days quite nicely. Which means this post is done.

Chow mein fools!