The Syndicate

What is your good news?

My good news is that I have wine. And also I don't have to cook dinner tonight. And also I'm down to my last two smokes.

Now that I'm starting to feel slightly less stuffed up and I can smell and taste again - I'm jumping back into the e-cig with full force! Tonight's flavors are blueberry and vanilla mint and chocolate orange.

Also - this forum is VERY good news. It's absolutely beautiful Socky - it feels like just yesterday you were talking about thinking about doing this and now it's a reality.

yea...all that sounded like *wahahwahwahswa* to me. I am forum dumb.

Sorry.

I'm sure you'll make it awesome though!!

Spacedaisy wrote:He had a lot of trouble with DOG but CAT was pretty easy for him. Now the only question left is what will he be having for dinner?

I'm guessing something meaty and potatoey - that's what I'd want after an accomplishment like that. And some booze. maybe?

I recommend a drfunken night for our Socky. YOU HAVE EARNED IT - go out enjoy! Drink! Eat! Be Merry!!!!

good luck to you mongoose!

more kudos for not loosing it at work. I personally find that a second by second struggle.

daisy - might I point you to notalwaysright.com

Now PITA customers are not a PITA - they are potential fodder.

I HAVE GOOD NEWS!!!

(I'm sorry for the cross posting that many of you will see with this)

I got my finger printing done today!!!!!

Now all I have to do is wait two weeks for the money to send with the sub application and wait on the finger printing verification (It's going through - the only slip that could happen is if something is wrong with the actual prints - if that happens, UPS will do them again for free.)

And then I WILL HAVE MY SUBSTITUTE TEACHING LICENSE!!! (and it's good for like 6 years so I have plenty of time to find out what I need to find out to be re certified to teach and plenty of time to figure out where I would want to teach.)

I can't tell you how happy I am right now. It feels VERY good to be moving forward toward my goals.

hahahahahaha - that's awesome.

thanks alex

I have my fingerprint clearance card!!!!!! *dances*

Ok - so what this means is now I can send in the sub teaching app. Now my ducks are in a row and I'm good to go!!!!!!

Congratulations Alex!!!! I'm so happy and proud for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Logan!!! That's fantastic!!!!

My good news is that I've got the day off. My sweetie has to work an open/close today and I feel bad for him. (He even offered to let me have a 3rd kitten if I went to work for him. Poor thing.) So, I'm said I don't get to spend the day with him, but but I have a whole day off to myself and that's pretty sweet too. I plan on doing.........a whole lot of nothing. I was up for an hour before I worked up the energy to make coffee. I'm now in coffee and netflix documentary heaven. I mayormaynot get dressed and do some light grocery shopping. (I have a fantasy of dropping off my sweetie something nice and nummy while he is working....) then it's right back to my jammies till it's bedtime.

Great shopping epi!!!!

T-minus roughly an hour till I have vacation guests!!!!! I'm sooooo very excited!!!!!

MovingPictures07 wrote:So the vacation was pretty relaxing overall, spending time with bea and her husband-to-be (Dirk) was a lot of fun!

We went to the Desert Botanical Garden, which was really neat, especially for a city boy from the Midwest who had never seen a catcus before, and we also went and played some putt putt golf at Castles and Coasters (which also has an arcade and some rides). The day before we came back (Wednesday), we ventured to Tombstone, AZ, which was about a bit over a three hour drive. That was so much fun!! The sightseeing there was great; the town is historic, for sure -- the museums were cool, there was a gunfight reenactment (of the famous OK Corral shooting), and we ate at a saloon for lunch/dinner and it was a blast! There was even a stereotypicalish cowboy/local eating in there when we were there and he was hilarious and very nice. We stopped by the Boothill Graveyard while heading out of town that evening.

On the way back though, bea's car broke down, and we had to wait over an hour for the tow truck driver, who ended up being a douchebag, so then we walked a bit over a mile to a Walmart in Benson and stayed there until we could try to get someone to pick us up and bring us back to Tombstone so Annie and I could make our 7:00AM flight. We made it! But hardly had any sleep that night. Once we actually heard from Annie's aunt and uncle and knew they were coming to get us after Dirk contacted, the night turned from annoying to actually quite some fun, as we got some last minute bonding time and played some Euchre (in the store, lol, it was great!) and chatted some more before the farewell.

Besides those events, we mainly conversed, watched some TV (and the movie Tombstone the night before leaving, of course, especially since I hadn't seen it, somehow), and ate and hung out. Definitely a very worthwhile and enjoyable vacation. It went by way too quickly. I miss the weather too! Phoenix is absolutely perfect this time of year.

I will post pictures soon, I promise!

Yay!!! Sockface didn't tell the cactus story!!!!

Really, Daisy and Socky were the BEST guests ever. I missed them the very next day. It's funny how easily a person can fall into a routine. Diggz and I were talking after they left and we both agreed how wonderful it was to spend time with a couple and you know, actually *do* things together as a couple. (He has friends that are married, but the rare times we do get to hang out with them, it's mostly at their house and the kids are always in tow. Don't get me wrong, I *adore* those kids, but it's nice to do grown up couple things with a real live grown up couple.) I LOVED having the time off from work to entertain them, even when entertaining them meant no more than finding the next thing to watch on TV or making some food. In truth, I LOVED cooking for them.

I have pictures too - including some really awesome sockface cameo pictures from the gardens I will try to get them up and online as soon as possible as well. Through some miracle scheduling changes and favor pulling I managed to go from working 7 days this week with an open/close and several turn arounds to actually having 2 days off, no turn arounds and only the o/c left. I'm pretty happy with that tbh. So, maybe on one of the days off I can get some picts uploaded for everyone.

Diggz and I were also talking about how our favorite memories of the trip were also, ironically, the time in Wal-Mart. Benson, AZ Wal-Mart has HANDS DOWN the best customer service I've ever seen anywhere. (As we drove back down there Friday morning - the customer service was still awesome so apparently it doesn't matter what time of day you are there, that Wal-Mart rocks.) Diggz is still very sad he didn't get any video of my "happy dance" when I was playing with the motorized kittah toy, and he says his favorite time was learning to play Euchre. (YEA!!!!!!!! I GOTS ME A PARTNER!!!!! Can't WAIT to talk the other couple friends into learning to play it. Euchre, dinner and drinks is WAY better than football, dinner and drinks, IMO.)

So, the car update is that I have no car update yet. I'm not really worried, it's apparently hunting season, so the garage is running short handed because they keep trading off weekends to go hunting. I honestly didn't expect to hear anything about the status of my car till at least Monday. There was talk about towing the car (like renting a hitch from U-Haul and bringing the broken car back to Phoenix ) but the cost was just too much to justify moving it from where it was. When we got down there and actually talked to the owner we both felt much more comfortable with leaving it with him.

The funny thing about the very early morning drive back to Benson was that I was kinda sweetly rewarded. Daisy can attest to the fact that I kept telling Diggz that night that first thing in the morning, we needed to call the garage peeps and tell them that our car broke down, we parked it here, we WILL be back for it. He kept thinking I was crazy. I was worried about whether my car would be there by Friday because I lived in small towns. I know how small towns work. A car shows up in the middle of the night and doesn't move. After about a day you call the impound peeps and they take care of it.

When we got there, Diggz was all about getting "everything" out of the car. (honestly - the stuff he got out was worth less than the car stuff - jumper cables etc - that he left in, but it made him feel better to do it so I just went along with the flow. He was right in rescuing Howley - Howley got forgotten during all the hubub and that in hindsight makes me sad as Dairmey was my score card guardian during the last game of Euchre I played - it would have been fitting to have had Howley there with us that night)

So, we get "everything" out of the car and walk up to the garage, the owner meets us at the spot where the doors open up (you know where the douchey tow-truck driver tried to dump the car?) and he's all "I saw you taking stuff out of that car, it's yours then?" We are all, "Yea, we broke down outside of Tombstone [insert long story here]." He says, "My partner noticed the car yesterday and we didn't recognize it and it didn't move for a day. We were wondering what was up with it." (I look at diggz all pointed like and say "see - they would have impounded that soon if we hadn't shown up!!!) He asks how we found the place and we give him the rundown about how AAA said the closest AAA approved place was 17 miles and how the tow truck driver was a dick (the garage owner agreed with us. We told the owner where tow truck driver wanted to dump the car and how we pushed it to a better place and he was all "yea, that guy sounds like a jerk.")

He got excited and said "AAA recommended us? And I said - we were never given a name of the shop, we just did some clever math with some technology and hoped we put it in the right spot. He gave us each cards so we could use them in the future (apparently they have an off hours answering system for emergencies and they tow as well. If we *knew* we could have had THEM come tow the car.... Then he noticed where we were from and he was all "you'll never be back here." - I called NOT true and I also said that I would pass it on to every friend I have. If you ever find yourself stranded between Tombstone, AZ and Benson, AZ - OAKLEY'S GARAGE ROCKS OUR SOCKS OFF!!!! ture stry.


(that said, I still don't know what's wrong or how much it'll cost. Awesome place to be in a month before the wedding.... I remain confident that the home boy will take good care of us. As he heard my story of what went wrong he said "let's hope it's not the timing belt" - when the mechanic isn't hoping for the most expensive problem, I tend to think they are ok.)

New Car update:

So, the guy called me yesterday. Apparently, the engine froze up and is shot. He says that there was no oil in the oil part at all and that's what caused the lock up. IDK if there was a slow leak that I never noticed or if I just can't go one day w/o getting the oil changed, because it really feels like I just did that like a month ago. I'm honestly not sure what the cause was there. I could have missed my change by date. I've been working so much and I've been lazor focused on all things wedding related that it could have easily slipped my mind. It would cost roughly 3 grand to fix and at that price I could easily buy a used car w/o a rebuilt engine here locally.


So, we're not going to fix the car. This was my decision but I'm really quite sad about that. I was more than a little sentimentally attached to that car. I SO don't want to even post about it on facebook. Too many of my facebook friends made that car possible. The hard part is trying not to be upset about the situation or even more upset with myself. I am trying very hard to put on the cheery face and look for the sliver linings but this is EXACTLY the sort of dumbass thing I'm prone to do then beat myself up forever for being so stupid as to do. I'd be lying if I said I don't hear the voice in my head every time we have to even talk about the car, but I'm trying with all my might to ignore it and focus on what I can currently control.

We're putting all talk of buying a new car on hold till after the wedding. The good news here is that while it's very convenient for me to have a car, we still have diggz's car. And I really only used my car to go to and from work, to run errands for work and to go grocery shopping. That honestly and truly is it. The trip I took to Tombstone was the longest I've driven it in a year when a year ago we went to Tuscon for a beer festival. I really don't drive my car that often and when we do things together, 99.9 percent of the time, he drives his car. (Hey! Guess who doesn't have to drive all over Phoenix getting or selling product anymore! One more thing I'm no longer responsible for! woot!)

Thus far we were pretty lucky in that our schedules matched up enough that he was able to take me to and fro work as needed. Tomorrow and Friday, that changes as he opens and I close and he's not scheduled out till after I'm supposed to be at work. I took it upon myself to enlist the help of someone else to help me figure out how much the bus would cost to take it down to work (there's a stop right outside my apt and one across the street from my work) and which buss I needed to take and when the best time for me to catch it would be so that I could make it to work on time. I (through the odd dollar tip here and there over the past couple days) had enough cash saved to cover the cost both trips.

When Diggz picks me up tonight, he hands me a 30 day buss pass he bought for me. I'm taking this as yet one more sign that we are meant to be together. We both worked toward the same goal, from different ends to meet in the middle and we never even talked to each other about it. I can conceivably take the buss to and from work for every shift except getting home from close shifts. (They do eventually quit running for the night.) He will always be home at the end of close shifts regardless of when he works. So, my transportation issue is solved till after the wedding.

We both sorta informally agreed to table the car talk for now and focus on wedding things. He also very astutely pointed out how much we were able to scrimp and save for the wedding in such a short amount of time. We just keep scrimping and saving and we should have the money to buy me a decent used car within a few months of the wedding. I can live with that.

I did manage to get some picts from the botanical garden uploaded. I'm going to try to start a thread for picts of the trip here soon.

ok - I lied - I think this was easier - It should be public anyway....

Here's the first set of pictures:

http://s28.photobucket.com/user/Beatrice828/story/13609#

Mongoose wrote:

bea wrote:ok - I lied - I think this was easier - It should be public anyway....

Here's the first set of pictures:

http://s28.photobucket.com/user/Beatrice828/story/13609#

Is there a way to click on them and view them bigger? Some of those plants look absolutely nuts!!

I'm not seeing one but I'm probably missing something. Every time I use photo bucket, it's changed somehow. *sigh*

Mongoose wrote:

Hedgeowl wrote:There are so many things I like about your vacation!

Pros:
Delicious food
Visiting friends (mildly jealous)
Doctor Who shirts
Dramamine working (gives me hope I will actually be able to ride something one day instead of being the "lame" mom)
Love that you say Mongoose and James

Cons:
A non-HP fan? How is this possible? Did you try to read the first book first?
Pipe cleaner and diabetes. So sorry Allison!
(In retrospect the cat should be listed first)

I remembering hating Epcot at 7 because it was boring, but loved the regular Disney and Hollywood studios. Loved Universal when I was 16 as well. Maybe some are better for adults than kids?
Also, I want to know more about this hedge maze!

This post was so hilarious.

The hedge maze was a ridic. It was in the back yard of the Dali Museum. There's a Wish Tree (you put your wristband on it and make a wish) and then there's melting bench with a melting clock on it (big enough for one person only) and then this hedge "maze" that is not actually a maze as there is only ever one way to go (there's never forks or anything, just a big spiral all the way to the middle and back out). It takes about 5 mins to get to the middle, where a solitary tree welcomes you to your destination's end.

anyway, the whole backyard is called The Avant Garden, which I thought was totally apropos.

Linki - Daisy - Logan's in DC and might birth a litter of kittens if he misses out on that!

Now I want a logan kitten.

yay!!! goosey!!! I'm so happy to hear about pipecleaner being ok!!!!

and also - does this mean your film thing is on hold?

Great news for Llama and Boats and Socky!!!

Congrats gentlemen!!

Good for you Cam!!! Have a great spring break!!!!

Elohcin wrote:Kudos to my baby boy! I just did school with Ephraim. Each day we just take a few minutes and look at letters, numbers, colors, and shapes. Instead of going over everything with him like usual, I decided to ask him where is so-an-so for his colors and shapes. He pointed to all the correct colors except red and he got more than half of the 13 shapes!!! I couldn't believe it...he is only 22 months! This shows you what just a few minutes a day can do. The minds of children are amazing. The sooner you start, the better IMO.

That's fantastic! Good for him!

I admire your decision to home school. I tend to be against it in general (gotta keep the hubby and I working. ) But in some cases, I really do think it's a wonderful thing. Yours is indeed one of those cases. (Also, if I had children, I would love to home school them. At least till Jr Hi or High School.)

MovingPictures07 wrote:Tax season is over in 2 weeks... upon which I will definitely be posting here about it!! Because at this point, that will be something to be congratulated upon getting through! The last couple of months have been something else.

But in seriousness, I am officially accepted into the University of Texas at San Antonio's Accounting PhD program!!! I will start this Fall semester. I am so absolutely stoked!!

And awesome, Elo!

Goood for you Alex!!! I'm so exicted about the new opportunities coming your way!!!

I am also stoked that you may have some time to come play with us

Bullzeye wrote:This morning I finished my last exam as an undergrad. Not only was it my last exam ever (I'm hoping to do postgrad but let's pretend I'm not for the time being), it went way better than I thought it would! I'm free! Kinda. It's great to be finally done after four years. Only trouble is being the first of my friends to finish, everyone else has exams or coursework until the 10th of May so I kinda don't know what to do with myself.

congrats bullzy!!!!!! I'm very proud for you!! Keep us posted on the job hunt/plans for grad school.

What did you study btw? I'm sure I knew at some point, but I forogt.

Yayayayayay!!!! Goosey!!!! I'm so happy for you!!!!

and Lol @ llama. He's rather Twainesqe these days isn't he?

you guys!!! you guys!!! really!!!!

I KNOW so many people hate the job I do and want me to quit it and I want to too -but that road - is tangled.


In the mean time in the job I DO do - We had one of our big evaluations. It's a 5 star scale. I got 4 stars. I ran that shift. I got 5 perfect pizza's. I crankily kicked EVERYONE'S ass about dotting t's and crossing i's.

In the mean time, I got the highest evaluation that this store got since '09. Long before either me or the gm in charge now had been around. I dreamed the impossible dream.

Through no gm, through one gm, through my current gm. I've always kept working kept striving.

I am so very proud of my store right now. I knew we could always do it.

And also - this is my dream. this was my dream when there was no gm. I knew we could be a 4 star store. we just had to work hard enough.

I'm just so srrsy happy - I got a 4 star. Our store hasn't seen that since 04. I am really dancing in the streets.

We can also be a 5 star store...it just means pushing the dream.

And also I KNOW so many people are going to be cranky at this post. But it's a fucking victory. And I need all the victories I can get.

Epignosis wrote:Today in class (I am teaching Julius Caesar, if you were wondering), a student told his classmates, "My mind is blown every day I come in here."

I damn near shed a tear.

I couldn't get mine to do that when I taught it.and I had animal.farm to help. Oh and it.was the year of 9/11.

And peeps.wonder why I think I failed.....

Good on you epi!!! I'm very happy for you!

LOL. Congrats.elo!!! Epi keep yer paws.off.them till the.poor.gal heals. Unless.she.wants.your paws.on temporary. Then go.for.it!

Good news for.Epi!!!!! Have.at it.Brutha!!!!

YAY!!! Great job goosey!!!!

Metalmarsh89 wrote:I just learned I was accepted into the University of Oregon!

I'll start in the winter, after being a part-time student at the local community college the last couple years, I'm off to learn at the big university. Still working on my undergrad, but it's a step in the right direction.

I am also a Mathematics major. Yup.

I know this is late, but I just wanted to let you know that I'm so proud of you!! Good job newt!!! Make sure you enjoy the heck out of big Uni life. Learn everything you can! Sometimes it even happens during class.

Srrsly though, college is an amazing experience. Make sure to experience as much of it as you absolutely can.

I'll pass on the best bit of advice I got about college and unintentionally failed to follow:

"College is the best experience of your life. People think the goal of college is to graduate. This is false. The goal of college is to not graduate. And eventually the University expects you to be done with them and move on. You should avoid this at all costs. If you think really hard about it, Professors are just people who got really good at not graduating."

It was the wisest thing I'd ever heard. The only comfort I can take in it is that the person who spoke it accidentally graduated before I accidentally did.

I'm posting here, because I'm not allowed to talk pubicly about this yet. (aka facebook) So I'm going to talk here about it.

My GM is getting transfered to another store. I'm first in line to take over the store I'm currently at as the GM.

I could stop it and say I don't want it, but that means training a GM to do the job I frankly probably should be doing and letting them collect the bonus money my store is primed to make. It's time to step up I guess.

Wow. Like I'll have real responsibility and crap!

what sort of prezzie would you like sweet llama?

I'm not sure that I'll get ALOT of extra money - I get a bump in base pay - but it's still a salaried position which means I loose the sweet over time. And I'm expected to work 50 plus hours a week and get paid for 40 - but there is bonus potential. And that's not really been an option at that store for like the whole time I've been there till now.

It's well timed too since diggz and I have been talking a bit seriously about trying to buy his granparent's house.

thanks epi!! I'm now officially the game master that doesn't run games

It is what it is - I'm excited, terrified, happy and sad all at the same time!

My gm is on PTO this week and his transfer is unofficially happening when he comes off PTO

When he left today - I almost cried - Like for real I loved this boss more than any boss I ever had -he gave me his keys and I didn't fucking want them.

I know it's a good move for him and it's a great opportunity for me. But even while he was hanging out - I was all - what can I do to help you next? he was all - just come with me to the new store!

I said - is that a realistic option?? like if theylll let us do it - I'm down with that,

It isn't btw but it was nice to dream for a minute,

Here is my kudos to my old GM.

It was awesome to have a partner - from the day he walked in - it wasn't his store - it was OUR store,
It was awesome to meld so well with someone. He was really good at the things I'm not so good at - I was really good at the things he's not so good at.
Between the two of us we were the perfect GM.

He was the best boss I've ever had.

I'm stepping into some REALLY big shoes,

awe!! congrats on all the new additions!

I am officially a nationally registered food manager. woot!

Kraftwerk was awesome. Sockyalex was awesome. I somehow didn't break him with my wild and crazy ways. Daisy kept us in check. Poor girl. SOCKY - DO SOMETHING NICE FOR HER. :nod:

I don't have words for how nice it was to run away from everything for a couple days and just chill with some good friends. My only regret was not having more time.

That's awesome news on all counts! Congratulations gman!

I 11tymilionthy vote Yogagoose class! I would so attend it!!

Especially if it started or ended with like a solid 3 minutes of Pipecleaner. Because Pipecleaner

My good news -

So when I came back here after a long absence and subbed into the champs game, my work world fell apart. There were so many bad things and so many changes. Things have been rough for several months for me I lost some great people. I changed bosses and Ioved my old boss so very much. I got this new guy and this new area that I didn't know and was kinda crappy. I was cranky mccrankypants about the whole deal.

People I trusted helped me worry that I'd not get the attention I deserve with my new boss just cuz several reasons that made sense at the time.

My good news is that the light is shining again.

I was super leary of my new boss, but he's genuinely a good guy and I'm helpful and he knows it. He's not so dumb as to know he has 1 store in his area that's a star and I run it. I'm staffing like a mofo and I'm lending help to everyone else in the area while he staffs the rest of them. I'm getting his big area orders and organizing them. I gave up a day off last week to do store visits with him. Selfishly because a) I want to see what his job is. I have ideas and most of them have bad experiences attatched to them. My old mentor boss would only say "It's an awesome job when it goes right." and also b) because I know his name has the ear of our market boss. And I don't want to hold this GM job forever. I'd like to move up.

I've managed to be the only store in my noob boss's area who is over staffed. So now I can help the area with lending staffing help - which makes me friends with my fellow GM's. And my boss who has like 5 less things to worry about.

After ride along day - my boss tells me his goal for me is to make sure I take every second of my PTO off. I've not done it as a GM or an AM in at least 3 years. Of my 5 year employment. I always somehow manage to screw myself out of it taking care of the store. Like I intend to take pto but then giving my kids time off to cover my time off - somehow always means that my time off is just my normal time off.

My new boss tells me every day how lucky he is to have a strong leader in me on his team. I keep telling him I'm not a strong leader, I'm just stubberly determined that if I keep telling people they are awesome, eventually they will be awesome.

SVS - it's my "drop of water" super power that we talked about way back when. I'm slowly creating the grand canyon.

My new boss tells me that every time he has a chance he's telling his boss how great I am. It can't hurt because I have career goals that are not being in a store 60 plus hours a week. My new boss has this job while his training for it isn't quite complete. So he and I have developed the same sort of bond I had with my old GM before I took over the store. It's not "his" store, it's "our" store. Now it's not "his" area it's "our" area.

And I can see our influence finally affecting others. Our crankiest GM finally feels like he has allies and friends. And help. He finally realizes he doesn't have to O/C/O anymore. I am giving him 2 days off back to back due to lending out AM help. He was all "but I can do it. " and I was all "Can and should are two different things. You deserve 48 hours off, I can give you this, please let me." I'm taking the same two days off that week.

My boss has a new AM for his most problem store. New AM comes to me for training before he goes to his store.

I have another AM I'm giving a day of training to for a different area boss who is my bestie - it's just a thing I can do for her.

Tonight - I was able to give my cranky GM some love because my store was covered. My staff had it. My newest kid was running my pizza line like a pro and telling other peeps what to do. She's still a Sr. in HS.

My next manager (that's 4 for my store btw) - trained her. I just hired her. I sent him a pict of her times tonight and he was all "I'm proud of her."

That's 3rd generation of my hands on training. I trained my AM who trained him who trained her.

I'm so fucking proud of my crew. I really really am. I didn't train the kid who's proud of the new kid he's training. It's amazing to talk to this 19 year old kid about how proud he is of this new girl and how *that's* why you are a manager. When you quit taking rewards from *your* work, and your reward is when *everyone else* does it. You should be paid for the work you do.

I was always in my old bosses thread. It was just kinda understood. I didn't talk often, but I could see the very useful things that a seasoned area leader would post because I'd come to need it. And I'm smart enough to know what info he's passing out.

His area leadership changed and I was included in the new group as well. I send him a personal text about some smack talk in his thread and we have fun giggling about it and I also thank him for continuing to include me in his new group even though I'm technically not in his area anymore. He says "You're always on my team."

So here is little ole - I have my seasoned boss feeding me info and I'm helping my green boss. I like where I am right now. Something tells me new boss isn't the only person singing my praises to the market boss who told me in my last eval, I was moved out of my old area to be where I am for a reason.

For as ugly as it was in January - April is nothing but hope and promise. My store and my area. OMG. We are the Cinderella story. And I always loved an underdog. I am from Ohio afterall....

Not wrong - you advised me to be cautious and that has served me well. I've been very careful in the career decisions I've made due once again to your solid advice. Funny how the first time you changed my life it was by advising me to be less afraid and be more reckless and follow my heart, the second time was to be cautious and both have served me exceedingly well.

Take heed peoples! When SVS gives you life advice, she knows what she's talking about. :srrsnod:

But yea, svs, so far so good. I'm making more money than I made at the club. I mostly like if not love the work I do with the people I do it with. I mean, sure I have streaches of hating everything and everyone. I still wish my staff would be the grown up responsible adults I know they can be. (For realz, one of my drivers doesn't even call me by name. It's Ma! Ma! Ma! every time she has to ask me something. I'm like you have CHILDREN 2 years younger than my CSR's. Be the grown up responsible woman I know you are! ) I still hate the majority of my customers, but there are good ones to balance that out too. And - it seems I'm moving up the ladder slowly but surely. I'm catching everyone's eyes higher up. And that's pretty cool. You know how I am, the praise is nice and a personal motivator but results are becoming my bread and butter. I've made it clear that I want more than the job I currently have. And I'm starting to see the results of that.

I'm promoting one of my kids who works inside the store to being a crew chief which means that occasionally he will run a shift but mostly do what he already does and be a relief pitcher when I need him to be. He gets a raise for the title but the selling point to him? You're already doing 3/4's of the job. You might as well get paid for it. I love this kid so much. I hired him, but I didn't train him. One of my AM's did. My newest CSR? I hired her. My new crew chief trained him. My joy, my moments I MOST love my job is seeing my crew chief's pride in the fact that the new CSR is doing so well and he knows he trained her. He's already taking pride in her success, not his. He will be a great GM someday.

Thanks again for all the well wishes. It appears my boss is trying to get me a raise. Should know by Tues if it gets approved or not. The guy running the city says I'm my boss's MVP and that he should "keep her happy." Yea!

So proud of you la!!! Congratulations! !

way to go Sockbro. So very proud of you.

SVS - we need a "Drunken Mafia Aunties" banner.

I just got a 3% raise on my yearly salary. It's not a OMG ASSTON of money, but raises at my level of employment are rare as I have a job that get's raises by making a bonus check. This is every bit "You're doing great, we want to keep you happy because we want to get you ready for other things."

Also - with my raise, my boss told me more things I shouldn't know about my fellow GM's. Specifically people who are being fired and WHO he wants to put in their place. Because everything has to go through channels - I told him - "tell those kids to get ahold of me. I just did the interview a year ago - what everyone else is looking for is fresh in my head. I can help them with the paperwork they need to do. I will prep them and it's one less thing you have to worry about."

It was pointed out to me that maybe I'm being cut into the things I shouldn't know about because I'm being groomed for the job. I agree with that. And will add that I'm being cut into the info because also I've proven I'm on team my area. Because I've been told things before I don't talk about. And because I've made it known I don't want to stay where I am. I want to move up - I want to do better.

TBH - my boss would be a fool to put anyone else where I'm sitting in the role I'm doing.

6 years ago, when I was alone and living in Ohio - I didn't think my life would be anything more than the day to day things I did. Things that in hindsite I learned were noticed and appreciated but for whatever reason both in my own head and in the heads of the hometown - just weren't recognized. In a small town, you have your role - you play it - and YOU learn it early and YOU hold you back more than anyone. 6 years ago, I NEVER thought I'd be running basicly my own business. I'd have laughed in your face if you told me I was aspiring to learn how to run more than one business at a time.

It's amazing what the love of a good man, (and yes he is MY big damn hero ),a change of sceenary, long talks with a HR rep who is a freind and helps you learn how to evaluate yourself fairly and several well placed kicks in the ass from SVS can do for a gal!

Yay Dom! So proud of you!!!!


It really is illy. Sometimes I just look around go "wow, how did all that happen??!!"

That's awesome news svs!!

Dom! I'm so proud of you!! Enjoy your time before school starts!!!

good job Rico!

Congrats!!