Be Careful What You Wish For

First things first: I hope you had a nice Christmas, whatever you did. I did absolutely nothing. So it was, well, a weekend. Meh. At least it was two days off.

As for work, I've been dreading the return. I managed two hours of picking a delivery and then, to my absolute glee, I was able to crack on with my online training.

I am learning all about the storage of oily fish. Thirty minutes in, I ate my lunch. Then I drank my "afternoon" coffee. I'm cold, restless and falling asleep. And there's still four hours left of my work day. 

Not really, I'd prefer to lie outside in the rain. 

I cracked and bought an energy drink. Actually I bought a box of four since I'll be at this all week, and probably another few weeks after that.

I went into my café! It was... anticlimactic. They were very pleased to see me and clearly enthusiastic to have a manager. My boss asked me to get a few things sorted and they jumped to it... but the resources needed were awol. I can't sort their overdue rotas, nor their holiday requests, partly because I'm lacking the knowledge of who in my team can do what, and partly I don't have access. Did I mention I still don't have a contract? This supermarket really is chaotic.

I've also been tasked with rearranging the dog food displays. Except I haven't been trained on where to find the correct documents to do that. I'm sure it's in the very-extensive training pile of dogshit that I haven't yet found my way through. Sigh. My pile of nonsensical technobabble jargonistic email is enormous, I've no idea which things actually involve me or matter to me personally. Dozens pile in daily, all of them are either forwarded from people somewhere up high in the food chain or are sent to every manager in the store. I am yet to understand a single email and I've just learned that a complete reset is due in my café in four days, including ordering necessary stock and cleaning and maintaining all equipment in the kitchen. I've never even been in the kitchen let alone know what's in there or how it works.

I really just want to quit and leave... work has been less physically horrible this week, as I knew it would be once Christmas was out of the way, but the more I learn about the mountain I will need to climb, the more I feel that I am not up to the task, and the less I actually feel there's any structure to teach it to me.

Sad times: My regular Olio pickup has been cancelled as they found a charity to do it instead. Bummer. I'm on the lookout for another one.

Absolutely Ideal

I come home and discover I've accidentally left the hot water system on. Great, I think, because I am exhausted and sore and this means I won't have to wait an hour for the water to heat up! So I start running my bath. And it's... stone cold. Water heater has died.

This led to me not hating today.

To be fair it is probably older than me but this is less than ideal. Nobody ever really wants to spend several hundred quid on a new system. I suppose they can at least install an energy-efficient one and put good insulation on it while they're at it. In late January, I expect. It's going to be weeks of wet cloths for me, and washing my hair in a bucket.

Work: Same. Tired, sore, bored, apprehensive about what they're going to throw at me in New Year. I just... fldfsdyjpht. Today my "project" didn't happen and I spent a lot of time working stock, but it was pleasant enough with people to chat to and an ok vibe as it's Christmas Eve.

I did an Olio pickup from Old Sister Store since I knew there would be a lot of food, and... there was a lot of food. Three bags of bread which will be ignored, 30 salads which will be ignored, a dozen ignorable sandwiches. But it did answer the question, which was, "What am I having for Christmas lunch?" and it turns out I'll be having a ham salad, chicken satay, meat pies, chili bean soup, and a cheese toastie. Or at the very least, that's what I can choose from. I also have a trifle (I can't not buy one of those), scotch eggs, pork pies, several kinds of cheese and crackers, several mini cakes, crisps, fruit, mince pies and chocolate. Also a bottle from work which was my Christmas thank you gift.

Currently watching: Labyrinth.

I Cannot Say...

...that today was good. It was only ok, which is generous. I ended up wearing jeans and my steel-capped boots, mostly because I no longer care to adhere to "office attire". My back had had QUITE enough after two hours of tinned food work. I then had to avoid The Taskmaster (otherwise known as the grocery manager) before I could be assigned to more stock work. Pain level is a 6/10 which is the best I've had since the first day.

Five hours was spent on "my project", which, it turns out, isn't terrible. It is "look a list up on the pc, print that out, then walk up and down every aisle with a trolley to pick items missed by the home delivery pickers". I then need to locate the correct (heavy) crate and put the items in place. IQ required, approximately 50. It allows me to not stand still, and hey, it's something to do. Most importantly it is generally an excuse for why I can't be pulled away to do something else. It's mentally exhausting to always try to find some task to do simply to avoid being seconded elsewhere, always on guard in case they randomly assign you some shitty new pleb job, never knowing how long you are "safe" on your boring current task. And let me tell you, the entire day was boring. As boring as bat shit. This is a new low, in that I am ridiculously pleased just to have a trolley to push up and down every aisle for hours on end, and there is the prospect that this might be "my specialty" for another week.

All free from Olio.
(Poinsettia was free too, from Old Work.)

My feet, only being sore rather than in agony, decided it was ok to bulk shop on non-perishables to take advantage of the last day of the 20% off. I did manage to exhaust myself putting it all in the car, having not had the brains to either get enough boxes or bring my shopping bags... but just shy of £150 went through the till so I've saved £30. And yes, I know that spending £120 is not saving 😁 but I did it anyway, just in case I ragequit in the next few weeks and need to survive off... erm, bananas, expired milk and tiger bread? You see, I also sat down at Lunch Break #2 (don't ask) and saw a bunch of Olio items offered, and there were enough items from one person that it was worth the little detour to pick them all up. Look at my goodies! 😍 

I was even in a good enough mood to decide to treat myself for dinner. So I went with a deep-pan pizza and garlic bread, and am now stuffed, for the grand total of £1.

My interest-free period ends on one of my credit cards next month, so time to redraw from my loan to pay it out. Touch wood I'll get another interest-free offer in a few months' time to save a bit more on interest. I can afford things if not, but it'd be nice to save the extra.

Clock-Watching

I'm not even through my second week. I am bored, tired, irritated, in pain, and not enjoying this job in any way. The most irritating part of today was the fact that I forgot my watch, meaning I was not even able to clock-watch.

New boss promised me a project starting today, but new project did not start and I was given two enormous pallets of... pet food. Then the guy from pet food arrived, thanked me profusely and told me to leave the rest. Leaving me... aimless. Asking for something to do is a bad idea because it'll be heavy lifting. So I literally walked up and down each aisle tidying up and pulling cardboard off the shelf to flatten it into a trolley. I even mopped a dirty patch of floor, even though we have a cleaner.

I ate my lunch like a zombie, and went back later for a snack in the canteen just for something to do. It's open and there is nowhere quiet to sit. I'm entitled to my breaks, but when nobody else takes them, I look like I'm sitting about. Note to self: sit in the corner of my café after New Year, where nobody will see me except café staff.

The worst part is that I am pretty dang sure that this "new project" will involve 1 minute of scanning something with a device then 59 minutes of working stock (repeated ad nauseum). Still, that will be one extra minute of brain activation than I get right now.

Bring on January. I'm contemplating making my team deliberately short-staffed so that I am REQUIRED to be there to help in my own department and not anywhere else. I said I did not want a role where I'd be in a kitchen full-time; but I much prefer that to working stock on the shop floor!

Food for thought: I wonder if they'd be shocked if I quit? They're all very aware that I'm being treated like a shop-floor pleb. They probably realise I don't enjoy this work.

Related: How many years left until I can retire?

I should have stocked up on non-perishables while it's 20% off but I am just too OVER being in that building by the time my shift finally, finally ends...

Several Silly Choices

I've taken on a permanent weekly pickup for Olio, in Old Sister Store. This wasn't about socialising but equal parts thriftiness, selfishness and environmental-consciousness. Old Sister Store hasn't had a regular, reliable food collection in a long time and since I know there is usually a lot of food, I figured why not. Sadly, I'm working until 10pm on Christmas Eve so there is no chance of me collecting a BUMPER food haul from any of the stores ahead of being shut for the bank holiday. Oh well.

My last collection didn't have a single person want anything that was on offer!

Pugsley has passed his MOT without costing me anything extra. But he's not in good shape under the surface, has some structural rust happening which would need welding in a year or two, and it's probably best that I sell him while he has some value left.

Very Christmassy.

While waiting for said MOT I foolishly wandered into a charity shop, "just to see". Famous last words. But I did come away with what might be my ideal Christmas jumper so I am quite pleased. Isn't he cute? I also bought a completely frivolous set of mini battery lights for 50p. Then I got home and realised I don't have a place to use them 😆

Also, my work had a yellow-stickered scented candle for £1.50 so I picked it up and had a sniff and OMIGOD IT'S DIVINE. I then scooped up the whole lot (13 of them) and was about to buy them all when my colleague reminded me that the 20% colleague discount deal was about to start. He has kindly stashed them for me and I'll buy them tomorrow. Speaking of which, I must stock up on... um... well I don't know yet. But something. Loo roll, maybe coffee, and whatever else I need regularly which isn't likely to turn up for free. Probably stuff like hand soap, dish liquid and so on.

Dinner: barbecue chicken pasta (free). Also several pastries, which I should have left alone.

Dead Feet

From being on them, the entire day. This is not what I signed up for. Even though I rebelled and wore my old comfy trainers today, I'm now in agony. I was pulled away from my Awesome Buddy and ended up doing nine hours of heavy wine work today, and I am Not. Impressed. 

Another manager remarked that café managers tend to get dragged all over the shop "because there isn't much to do in the café". She herself spent all day working fruit and vegetable cages. And I see my lovely buddy manager spending all day stocking the display tables and promotion racks with crates and crates of warehouse products. This is work that the general store staff could be doing at a much lower pay grade. I don't get it. If it's for Christmas rush, fine, but if this is the answer to "what the managers do when they aren't at a desk" then I am not sure it's what I want.

It's a waiting game to find out.

Free food from my Olio collection: Not much. Pastries, veg sausages, pasta salad, bread. And not much interest from anyone else, either, which is unsurprising. Still, it's a few meals at least.

Spenderella Cut It Up One Time

Having a new job is costing me money. Mainly I'm soothe-spending all the awkwardness and not-quite-comfortable-ness that's par for the course when you embark on something new. Sigh.

Good: I have resisted buying any Christmas garb. Work has given me a lovely warm Christmas top.

Bad: I'm cold at work in my office trousers and I bought some thick tights to go underneath. £5

Good: Today I used a travel cup from home to take an iced coffee into work and it was refreshing in mid-afternoon when I was flagging (hours of online training take a toll on the brain).

Good/Bad: My Ikea flavoured water bottle is too big and awkward for work, so I bought two smaller bottles. £8.

Good/Bad: Being rota'd as that day's duty manager is going to mean "on feet all day", so I've decided I will buy all-black trainers. Quite frankly I have done my time waking up still in pain during my last job, so office-type shoes can do one. I will probably also need dedicated trainer-style steel-capped shoes for when I'm actually in the kitchen of my cafe, but I think work will pay for those.

Good/Bad: So far I haven't spent on new running trainers yet OR a new gym membership... erm... I am hoping that after New Year I'll get to carve out time for the gym and a yoga class every week.

Good: I resisted buying new lunch boxes. (What is this - why am I patting myself on the back for not spending? Not spending should be normal!)

Bad: I'm buying food. This shouldn't be a sin, but I also feel like I'm eating a lot, too. I somehow feel like I need umpteen snack items or I'm missing out? Also chocolate. Whatever. At least having All The Snacks means I'm not buying meal deals. ££

Bad: I haven't got my staff discount in place yet and I've started spending anyway...

Bad: A whole barbecue chicken was bought today, when my freezer is most-assuredly not empty of protein. I'm justifying it by saying that I ate it with freebie veg. And the chicken was at least reduced. £3.72

My last post was pretty negative so on balance I really should note that everyone seems nice. My shadowee for this week is awesome, so there's that.

Time Flies.

It only seems like a month ago that they did the fire test but here we are again with the bi-annual check. Plenty of jumping out of my seat each time! And the roof work continues.

My first day of work was both awesome and a complete anti-climax. I'm shadowing people for the time being. I'm not correctly set up in the system just yet and my contract is not even done. I've then had two days off as my "weekend". It's been decided that I'll learn the "duty manager" stuff first, so I'll have about three weeks of just general managing the shop floor. The "awesome" part is not having any real responsibility or pressure until new year. 😊 

I'm both relieved and a bit ergh. I'm surprised by how much shop floor work I'll need to do which isn't in the cafe. I don't have my own office, all the PCs are shared and it seems they spend very little time on them. Someone also told me that they never take their breaks. This got to me in my last job, the "working extra time without pay" thing.

The staff canteen area is cold, clinical and impersonal, nowhere to put my own coffee mug, my own teabags. My handbag is an annoyance to stash in the manager's office (which doesn't get locked). There's not a proper way to store things cold (tiny fridge shared by 200+ staff) although I did see there's a micro and a toaster available. I think I've even got to pay for coffee and tea, although my shadowee did give me a latte for nothing today and didn't seem to pay for his own. Maybe I'm overreacting in finding it all a bit odd. Or maybe, you know, I'd hoped to actually see inside my cafe and meet a couple of my 21 staff? 

I think my real fear is related to being on my feet. The only thing you can do if you're not in an office is be on your feet. I don't want to work on my feet nine hours a day. I was hoping I had graduated out of that.

Time will tell.

I will give it a few months and see how I feel.

Not Much

So I did the Olio collection at my old work on Saturday night. I was hoping to get a good whack of salad and maybe some fruit (since that's the best you can hope for most of the time). There wasn't much in the way of salad, just a million bags of carrot batons, which really don't keep and look sad and depressed before they're even out of date.

But I've decided to grant the salad my forgiveness because omidog the sheer amount of everything else. I can only keep 10% and I still ended up with pears, kiwifruit, lemons, the aforementioned carrots, a tray of roasting veg, baby potatoes, mixed peppers, tzatziki, one solitary salad (yay!), a whole lettuce, bread rolls, a tiger baton, salmon fishcakes, chicken kievs, bangers & mash, more mash, sandwiches, pastries, milk and sausages.

I'm still amazed that there was any protein there at all let alone so much of it. It's a good thing I've been eating out of my freezer lately and had space.

Note to self, say yes to Olio on a Saturday night at Old Work. And I think I'll change my mind and consider committing to a regular slot nearby at sister store. If I can get one decent collection like that per fortnight, I can probably avoid shopping. Crazy.

Actual Proper Dinner

Omelette, corn on the cob, green beans, radishes and sage & onion stuffing.

The only thing which was remotely in-date was the double cream that I threw into the omelette to use it up. Still, it's all tasty and perfectly edible. I only discovered that you can cook radishes this week. Not sure I would call them amazing but they count as a cooked vegetable and it's less food going into the bin (sadly about half were beyond salvation... but then again, they were free).

I'm off to do the Olio collection tonight as a one-off to cover for someone who usually does my old store. Will be nice to say hello to my old colleagues and fingers crossed I get some fruit and veg to fill up my fridge again, since it's now looking pretty bare.

Have spent some time rearranging my mountains of crap, ahem, my worldly belongings. I own too much stuff. I really need to figure out what isn't worth keeping!

I Splashed Out

Today I spent £47.10 in charity shops, on "office" suitable clothing. I already own a serviceable pair of black trousers and nice black shoes, so that's something, but since I haven't had an office job in a long time I was struggling to put any outfits together for next week.

I have come home with nine tops and four cardigans, some of which can be mixed and matched. We won't mention the two cardigans I bought which are a little bit too small... ahem, they can go in the "aspirational" pile. Anyway, by my reckoning I now have 12 outfits which I can rotate.

I found a nice mechanic to replace my car horn and he only charged me £24, which was a great deal considering it was rusted and corroded and needed rewiring. Glad I got that sorted out before my MOT (which is coming up in three weeks).

Big spender: 10p on two table knives! (How do knives go missing?)

It's Tacky And I Love It

Look at this. LOOK AT THIS.

It was free, from a lady named Denise on Facebook.

It's perfect. I love her. It is now in my flat.

In other news I have a bunch of random stuff that I should list for sale, since it would be suitable as Christmas presents. It's the appropriate time, you see, evidenced by all the random tat that is appearing in my Facebook feed. The winner for today is someone selling what they describe as a perfect Christmas gift - and they are rocks she has painted and wants £2 each for. No, they are not Michelangelo-level works of art. They're rocks with coloured dots on them.

Clearly I am in the wrong career.

Ugh Power Prices

So when I moved in here nine months ago, I signed up with Neon Reef for my electricity. They were pretty new on the scene and entirely online - which I am fine about - and not only were their tariffs low, all their power was green as well. (Whatever green energy actually means.)

You will probably not be surprised, but they're one of the companies that have gone bust in recent weeks. About 25 energy companies supplying England have bitten the dust in November. The UK has price caps on what can be charged by law, and as the price of fuel has skyrocketed they've been going backwards by supplying it under the cap price.

I signed up on a 14 pence per kilowatt hour variable tariff which was the lowest on the market at that time. I've now been flung into British Gas 😠 and my new tariff is 21 pence. 😠

Why isn't there a puke emoji? 😠

I am not looking forward to bills that are 50% higher than before. And there is no point switching, they're all basically the same cost now. Sigh. They can't even move my direct debit over and I will have to pay the bills manually from here.

Not impressed.

Plus, I'm home for a week between jobs = more power use heating the flat. At least I'm not spending money on food, since the kitchen is still full.

Lovely: Neighbour #8 who just gave me a box of chocolates for Christmas.

Have a Seat

Posed by model.

So I am really stupidly excited about an incredibly ugly freebie I got today. It sort of resembles this lovely example at the left (I am too lazy to clear a neat corner in order to take a photo of the actual chair). It is gloriously shiny red, sturdy, has a few scratches showing a pale crimson underneath and a few chips showing white beneath that. I have ideas about sanding it enough to paint it white (or pale green) and for it to be my dressing table chair, but who knows, I might leave it in its shiny red ugliness.

From the same house I also got a pair of matching navy metal folding chairs. And what's more they are neither rusted nor scratched to buggery. Score! The irony is that I didn't even care what colour (I was just vaguely thinking I'd like to get two chairs to go with my folding table) and now I quite like the idea of blue. 

Also today: a bunch of flowers and a box of chocolates from Boss Lady to say thank you. ♥ 

Also posed by model.
A different model.

Currently cooking a roast, because that's what you do at midnight.

I have quit my gym as it won't really be practical to keep travelling there (it's close to old-work, which isn't all that close to me). There are two main contenders for Replacement Gym, one is well-equipped but costs a bit, and then there's Cheapy Gym which is bare bones, not very big and in the grounds of the college (it also has very limited hours). I'm still deciding. I asked them a few questions about their "free included classes" since they didn't see fit to actually say what they are. We will see.

Riverdance On My Roof

Do you see this picture? This is a representation of the sound going on above me as the roofers get started.

But at least it is happening, finally.

Work is going ok. It's sad that I'm only just getting to know a few of the old-newbies just as I'm going, because one of them is a quiet bright spark I could definitely have seen as being a good friend given time, and the other one has brilliant potential to progress. I've made a point of at least making this clear to the others so that they keep them in mind for more responsibility. Even Annoying Face listened to my advice on a few things (knock me over with a feather). I have promised to come to their Christmas party to make a brief appearance and I will bring Carebear along with me, who now has a new job as a carpenter.

My car's MOT is due and I'm hoping to get that booked in during my week of freedom. I also need to assess my wardrobe as I'm not sure that I have more than 2 or 3 suitable office-type work outfits which fit me. I might need to visit the charity shops to expand the options a little bit.

I have opened a new current bank account and activated the automated bank switching service... another easy £100 for about 30 minutes of work (I needed to move some direct debits for bills in order to qualify, so it took about ten days altogether to make it happen). It was a no-brainer since I was closing an old account with The Worst Bank In The World that I only opened to get an introductory bonus that is long-gone. There is another £100 switch offer still available for a different bank, for another couple of weeks, so I will look into that during my freedom week too.

Free things: allll the avocadoes. I usually forget to eat them, but at least they get a chance to be eaten. Also all the bread, most of which gets binned, and the salads that just never end. 

The Idiocy, It Does Not Stop Following Me

I have been training our three new hires. I shall call them Huey, Dewey and Louis.

Huey declined to come in tomorrow at 6am to cover a sick call because, and I quote, "I need to be home to tidy the living room for my mother." I apologised and said I didn't realise that he was a carer. He shook his head, said no, it was just his turn to tidy up before his mother left for work. I say, ok, can you start a couple of hours later? No, he couldn't, because tidying the living room takes a very long time and he will need to straighten up the chairs. I gave up at that point because this kid clearly has no concept that his excuse sounds stupid to begin with.

Dewey has told me that he will not be available on any days before 12pm, as he needs to stay home and look after the house. I assumed that meant he had a neurotic dog, but it turns out he has a rabbit. Which apparently cares if it's alone and will... I don't know, destroy the house? Disturb neighbours? Then he got chatty later on and remarked how much better this job is than his last one because they used to make him start at 5am and this one is flexible and he can work at times to suit him. (Well I've got news for him. I quietly put him on the rota for next 7am next Tuesday. Essentially because staying home to care for your rabbit is bullshit. And also that it's stupid to be telling the person who manages the rota that you can work whenever it pleases you, when you're one week into a brand new job.)

Louis is normal. Well, featuring relatively high on a scale of normal. Louis successfully memorises every procedure but is blunt, rude, and doesn't seem aware that manners exist (much less possess any himself). I have so far found him very receptive to pointers unless he has already been told, at which point he cuts me off mid-sentence to say he knows. He also barks at customers without using hello, please or have a nice day. I just sigh... I've at least taught him to say, "Thank you for waiting" when there's a long queue. It's a start. I will now attempt to stop him from touching his hair non-stop. He's wearing about half a tub of Brylcreem by the look of it, followed by teasing it into an affectation of I Stuck My Finger In A Power Point. As in, greasy and sticking up everywhere. I inwardly will him to wash his hands the second he touches it, which is often.

Just ugh. Grace almost burst into tears when she heard I was leaving. Grabbed her phone to call her mum whom she thought might also cry despite having never met me, merely because she has apparently always gone home and told her mum that work was good today because I was there. I love Grace, I'm going to miss her. x

Pre-emptive Kapow

But first the minutiae. Two staff isolating due to Covid and lack of immunity and Grace off sick with suspected Glandular Fever. Along with Boss Lady still running about fixing other stores, we're down to a skeleton crew. Making my next bit of news kind of shitty timing.

I'm jumping the gun here ever-so-slightly... but I got very interesting news this morning from an HR Lady, the one who interviewed me for Job #1. It turns out that they almost offered me Online Manager of their supermarket but ultimately decided it would be too much for me (fair, once they told me it's being revamped in the next few months) and they've offered me Café Manager instead. This has fewer peaks & troughs of hard work, becomes quieter in the winter, and is generally considered one of the starter management roles. I initially baulked as I didn't want to be cooking again full-time. But she assures me that my hands-on time will be minimal as I'll have mostly admin tasks to look after and their existing team leaders do run the show. The café there also includes their huge staff canteen. I will have a schedule of when I'm also in charge of the whole store (yikes!) and will sometimes also cover parts of the Customer Service Manager's role.

We are now just nutting out the salary before I give her an official yes. I asked for a bit more than I originally asked for as Online Manager 😂 figuring I had nothing to lose. She was just so positive and clearly set on me that even if they come back with a no to the amount I asked, I'll merrily accept the starting salary and stroll on over.

I gave notice to my own Boss Lady today. I have mixed feelings here. She admitted that she was gutted, but she didn't seem terribly surprised that I'm going. She was really interested and enthusiastic about my new role (which surprised me in a good way) and said that it sounded like it was more my thing than where I am (which surprised me in a... weird way). I told her I feel like a shit head, leaving right now, and she said yeah I'm a shit head, but don't be an arsehole for your last week. We had a good laugh. She has offered to be my personal referee going forward. It was only after I left that chat that I realised I should have offered the same to her. She's quite a brilliant person, a genuinely good person merely given way too much to do, currently burnt out and stressed out, and if she jumps ship, she deserves to really do well.

Suffice to say I was in a great mood today. Have told a few people. Trying not to tell the newbies during their first week! But obviously it'll be common knowledge pretty fast.

New record set: the amount of food on offer tonight was off the scale. It was £42.00 and when I scanned my staff card it became zero. I haven't brought this much free food home in a long time. But I won't have the opportunity again after next week so I grabbed anything that wasn't perishable.

The Treadmill of 9 to 5

Or maybe it's more of a merry-go-round. One of our newbies screwed up big time (above my level of scope) but Boss Lady's current level of Insane Busy means I'll probably have to somehow deal with it. Three more new staff members start this week and their training will mostly fall on me. One of them has big limitations on their hours (why, why, why do we keep hiring these people?). Idiot Space Cadet staff member (you may remember her as Beryl who wants to fuck off and skip across a meadow) still won't shut up about her Idiot Lifestyle Choice, to the point where the whole staff wish she'd fuck off and head for that meadow, and it's affecting morale, just like everything else lately which is affecting morale. All makes me want to bang my head on a wall. And it makes me think about the fact that I earned 2 weeks' worth of extra pay last month which could potentially buy me two weeks of blissful unemployment...

I went back to the gym last night after staying away far too long. But as is now usually the case, I was already hurting somewhere before I arrived, and unsurprisingly I wasn't able to run. I did walk for half an hour instead. I also did ten minutes on the bike, and although it's easier than walking or running I could immediately tell that new muscles were waking up - so I stopped there, thinking that I didn't want to spend this morning in agony. Well I slept terribly and the muscles concerned are obviously unimpressed 😂

Annoying: the almost complete lack of protein in the work freebies.

Meh: I can always get salads and bread.

Silver Lining: I'm doing late shifts for the next three weeks so at least I can snap up the reduced meat.

Prediction: that I'll be eating a very boring rotation of very similar meals for the next three weeks. I'm terrible at proper dinners when I work lates (last night I ate a freebie sandwich on the way home from the gym).

For Pity's Sake

Our managing agent has resigned due to harassment from one of the leaseholders. Can I just note here that the agent was working for the directors and this leaseholder is not even a director? Honestly. He was incredibly nasty to her and I'm not surprised she is opting out. I have mentally named him The Pit Bull and hope he stays the hell out of the whole business once we find a new agent.

Scaffolding is going up and there goes my privacy... the workers are right outside my windows, so I've had to pull all the curtains, how nice to sit without daylight.

Didn't get Job #3. Still not heard back from Job #1!!

Bumper pay packet this month and higher than I expected. I did a lot of extra hours here and there. No wonder I'm tired! Head office has thrown another new procedure at us with new forms to fill out and new magical expectations of our time. Plus ça change.

I have actually been a little better than usual this past week with spending. It's been so long since I showed any discipline and I've bought far too many meal deals for lunch, but I've mostly stuck to my cupboards and freezer for a week. It feels good to eat what I've got and know I'm saving my pennies. 

I Tried Smiling...

I think it's working. We've got the go-ahead on the roof replacement, and I am paying 7.4% instead of a 10%, because I've got the smallest flat. (Under the past management everything was charged under equal shares. Proportional charging would be fairer.) I have redrawn from my loan, ouch, there goes £1,100.

The scaffolding goes up in a few days. Now since the ridiculous politics and fighting has been so childish among the directors and leaseholders I am holding my breath. Fortunately, the two that are steering it are the Good Guys and I just need the idiots to pipe down and let people get on with things.

Still waiting to hear back from Job #1, the one that I think I'd actually like. They are at least keeping me in the loop and are still deciding. Still think I probably won't get it, but the chances are better than for Job #3.

Went to the gym today after five days away and felt the shin splint raring up in the first couple of minutes. And to be honest I just felt yuck all round, body was aching and it was just really unpleasant. I cursed inwardly and walked half an hour instead, and even that felt out of kilter. I really think I need to lose some body mass first so that I'm not causing myself so much strain 😒

Final Stretch?

We finally have movement on getting our building's roof replaced. There's a quote in place, a managing company in place, and a legal person making it all nice and tidy. The contingency fund doesn't quite cover the whole amount, so I'm in the process of redrawing some of the advance on my loan and will cover the rest of it by getting close to the bottom of my piggy bank. I will have to tighten my belt a bit for a while, but hey, it's a relief to see the end of the tunnel in sight. After this we should only have small amounts for completing the fire safety work, including electrical work for our automatic rooftop smoke vent and some new fire doors in the building.

The only remaining question really is the timing to complete it all. I'm kinda pondering whether to finish and sell this place and start again with the next one. I suppose that was my original intention, hoping to make a small profit each time, until I have a larger flat where I can let out a spare bedroom. I can't realistically sell until all the work is done (so that it isn't limited to cash buyers). So, I wait.

Tired. It's such a boring thing to keep noting, but I am. Work is a ridiculous circus. I have another job interview this week - haven't heard a peep from the last two which is a little bit depressing, so the mind skips ahead. Did they offer it to someone else and that person hasn't given them an answer yet? Or are they just slow? I've done no real research for this next interview which will probably show, but to be candid I am just not invested in job searching. It's funny to think that because I already have a job, even though I desperately want to get out, there is less motivation to move.

Did a stint as an Olio volunteer, collecting and listing surplus food for others to collect. I only had two people interested and it was a massive, time-consuming pile of bread and pastry that people don't tend to want. Not sure I will bother again. I also skipped the gym this week due to having no energy left in my tank. Disappointed in myself but I will use the opportunity to repeat the same week of the Couch to 5k and hopefully not feel like I'm struggling so much to complete it.

Stop press: Didn't get Position #2, the ambiguous one, which turned out to be manager role and which I didn't want anyway. Today's interview went ok. I answered most questions really well but sometimes rambled a lot. I don't think I'll be successful but it went better than expected. And boy, were the questions haaaard.

Because I am Me

I do things different. Or, if you like, weird shit happens to me.

I applied for two roles at a large homeware store. Let's call the roles: Section Sales Supervisor (the section not specified) and Electronics Manager. So I get a call from "Amy" inviting me for an interview, and then I realise I don't know which job it was. I call back and I cannot get through. No email. Ok, well I'll go along and just try to wing it.

The front desk tells me Amy works in Electronics. Aha! Good. I'm introduced to the Operations Manager. OM goes into lots of detail about budgets and targets and so on. Everything we discuss here matches the management role. I'm also asked my current salary and requested salary (which means it's the manager role, as the SSS role has an advertised hourly rate).

OM leaves, and I mention to Amy I applied for two roles, and list them. She says, oh, the management role I have nothing to do with, OM handles that. Holy crapsticks. I've just interviewed for sales supervisor? With this level of discussion about targets, forecasts and all the management oversight I'd be doing, and which stakeholders I'll be liaising with?

Possibility #1: the sales supervisor role is disgustingly underpaid with a ridiculously high set of responsibilities?

Possibility #2: OM thought I was interviewing for the manager role?

Possibility #3: He knew I'd applied for both and decided to do it all at once and then think about where I might fit?

How I feel just now: not the right company for me. The previous company now looks very much more like my thing and within reach of my capabilities. I also feel ever so slightly mentally wrung out!

Run like me: am on week 3 of the Couch to 5k, and am beyond amazed that I managed to run the longer stretches today of 3 minutes each. Three minutes sounds pathetic, but I'm being kind to myself while my left leg is not doing a very good job of being a leg, and I am just deciding that I am "on target".

Shin Splints

My face, when ouch.

Two incredibly joyful words, aren't they? Well no. Frustratingly, it's now the pain in my legs which stops my fitness from improving rather than being out of breath or exhausted. This isn't how it's supposed to be and I demand a refund on my aspirations.

Increasingly I'm starting my work shifts wishing it was already time to go home. This is not productive and does not lead to an enjoyable time. I've bought new mala beads and I really should spend some quality time in reflection and meditation.

Good thing: I went for an interview today. Interview was very relaxed and they gave off very good positive vibes. They have been honest and admitted this job role would be difficult to start out. They have also been up-front that it is a big step up from my current role and that it will be a concern they will discuss. Overall, I don't think I will be successful for this role but it was a good learning experience to attend it. Another one tomorrow and a further one next week.

Be Me

...go to Big Shop to buy new trainers

...try on all the trainers

...no trainers fit right

...curse

...buy trousers that hadn't been part of the plan. Also Christmas socks.

I've almost worn through my trusty trainers and I am now very tempted to buy the exact same cheap ones again for the fourth time. They fit properly, and that's kind of important when you're wearing shoes. The thing is, I was thinking I should get proper jogging trainers that actually cushion my foot a bit, but apparently everyone who shops in the Big Shop has really narrow feet.

I hinted that I was looking for another job, well, I put a few applications in. I had a phone screen this morning (and passed) and another place attempted one tonight while I was at work - but no sooner had I asked for a time I could call back as I was working, when she just said ah it's fine, I'll just put you through to interview. So two interviews next week (online manager and section manager), hence the need for dress trousers.

Sort of a bit bewildered because I am not in a "job searching" frame of mind in any way, mainly I just don't want to have to go back to my own work! But hey, these roles are all stretches for me, I'm already a little stunned at being shortlisted twice, truth be told, and I don't really expect to be successful. I suspect that I'll need to have a few knockbacks to make me accept that I don't have an easy route out of where I am.

That Moment

When one of your employees makes a life choice so breathtakingly dumb that you can actually feel your jaw drop open.

And you have to somehow paste on a smile and congratulate them and wish them all the best with their breathtakingly dumb choice really fabulous new adventure. Yeah. One of those moments you know will end in tears but they're so naïve that they think life is all roses and rainbows. Work Bestie and I have gathered the popcorn as we're convinced there is a train wreck coming.

On the plus side, Boss Lady thinks it's similarly stupid and did a bit of ranting and swearing that if Beryl wants to fuck off and skip across a meadow instead of working then she can fuck off and skip across a meadow because we're not going to deal with Beryl's too-busy-for-working bullshit anymore. (Beryl is not the cashier's real name, and Boss Lady used less-polite language.)

BL is shattered from the enormous workload of running our store while repairing incredible problems in cousin store. All while her own manager is ranting about improving all sorts of things and introducing great new procedures we all have to do and all kinds of new systems nobody asked for and which are less functional than the old ones and riddled with problems. So BL is tired. And I'm tired. It makes us cranky. It reduces the number of fucks we have left to give and our politeness capacity has gone way downhill. I had an argument today with another Beryl who parked in the loading bay, which made the lorry driver block the road for 25 minutes and then she used foul language at me when it was 9 hours into my shift, raining, and I hadn't eaten my lunch. Don't mess with me, Beryl. You're now banned from our store, don't come back.

Poor Demiboss is similarly exhausted and the big bosses keep asking us to go off and help other stores as well (!!!) with the excuse that we're "well-staffed". Excuse me. We're four cashiers down (of 12), five if you count the one that they've given a special task to, and now poor Demiboss is pulled out of her job to cover the manager. We are not well-staffed. I tried lamenting how hard it was to cover shifts and I got "be more positive!" and then "at least we're not as bad as other stores". What a pathetic by-line. We have a staffing crisis, they pile too much on every single level, and when inevitably someone struggles, someone else steps into their role, leaving someone below or beside them scrambling to take on the tasks, and it cascades right down to the cashiers. At every level people are leaving in droves and the company is struggling to replace them, a vicious cycle of more manure thrown onto more manure. And they wonder why they cannot retain staff...

I am eating Oreos. I ran my 5k in under 30 minutes today at the gym and then I went and bought McDonalds. Don't care. Have updated my CV and started job hunting. Me leaving would be a disaster to my store. Don't care.

Personal Best

Me, on the treadmill, and 30:22 for my 5k. This is, of course, not particularly amazing (and indeed rather crap for anyone who has EVER run at all) but for me it's the best I've ever achieved. And done with a sore knee, which I had to favour the whole time. But since it's me we're talking about, I was then too sore on my OTHER leg for the rest of the week - the muscles, from compensating! - that I had to skip the gym twice. Boo. Oh well, next time. I'd ultimately like to achieve 25:00 but I do expect that to take me many months.

In the meantime I'm considering buying a treadmill again. I saw one come up for £50 on Marketplace but right now, more "stuff" inside my Renovation Project is the last thing I need.

Exhausted of work. Fed up. Nearing the end of my tether. But at least I'm not the only one.

Wall-y

I haven't said much about my ongoing renovations of late because not much has been ongoing. I did my usual thing of losing interest and procrastinating. But this week I've finally got back into it. Turns out that the previous owners not only liked pink, cream and mustard, they also liked duck-egg blue. And might I just say for the record that I do not recommend all four colours be used on one room, in any circumstance, ever.

Burnt out at work, I have calculated (for the ninetieth time) that I cannot yet afford to either retire or be unemployed. This is quite disappointing. I am considering approaching my local member of parliament with a view to getting this sort of thing banned.

I decided to spend one of my days off attempting a ton of surveys from Prolific, Testable, YouGov and a few others. I have earned about £20. This, sadly, would not be enough to live off (surprise). Seems like I'm going back to work tomorrow morning.

On the other hand, moving boxes and stuff about in order to access the walls, I'm reminded that I do actually have a bunch of stuff I should offload, and one day perhaps I'll take it all to a car boot sale 😊

Not done: the several bank switching offers that would each net me about £100. But they require thinking, which is hard to do when exhausted. 

Back to the "Couch"

So a few years ago I had this hair-brained idea to try the Couch to 5k. It's specifically for people who can't run, to get them from nothing to running 5k (3.1 miles). By its very definition it should be unfailable. And yet, I failed. I tried for weeks. I had the official NHS podcast loaded into my player and I knew that you're supposed to be out of breath, but even my high pain-tolerance was screaming out a no and I just couldn't manage what they told me to do. I would be in crushing pain and winded after just a minute of slow jogging. It was soul-crushing to say the least.

So I binned it off. To be honest, I got a new job, ended up working 5-6 days a week and simply pretended I didn't have time.

Roll forward a bit and as you know I've rejoined the gym. And somehow I've found I can jog a little bit longer with smaller intervals of walking. So with some trepidation I've installed the much-updated Couch to 5k app. And ladies and gentleman I now have the dulcet tones of Sarah Millican to encourage me. I don't know whether she's ever heard her accent described like that, but here we are. And to my surprise with a slight struggle, I managed the first lesson ok. There is hope.

This has to work. I just can't go on with this job leaving me in a crippled state anymore (and lately I always am). Feet in agony, muscles sore and knees hating me. So increasing my fitness and decreasing my weight has to work. If it doesn't, I'm going to need to get a new career... please let me know if you hear of any jobs which pay you to sit at home playing games all day.

Holiday: Done!

And, wow. It was a lovely lovely week but my dog it wasn't easy on the wallet, spending more on tests than on the plane tickets! And of course it was stressful as things always take more time than you expect (I didn't have a lot of free time when I arrived thanks to arriving at the wrong terminal and needing to take two buses). Plus on the way back, my stupid prepaid reference number for the prepaid day 2 test wouldn't go into the stupid government site as it was too short, so I couldn't check in for the stupid flight, and I only managed to get around it all by pure luck, otherwise known as, I told the stupid site I'm exempt from testing and they let me through passport control without questioning it 😐 Obviously I did the test anyway since I'd paid for it, but what an idiotic system... it was squeaky bum time and I made it to the gate with minutes to spare.

As for work, I am still not doing fabulous at my time management and it is going to Be Discussed, which I'm pretty bummed about but not much I can do. I just literally run out of time. I still didn't even manage everything tonight and for the entire shift I got only a 10min break to wolf down a sandwich (I'm supposed to get 90 minutes, but that just Never.Ever.Happens). Boss Lady does pay me the breaks but I'm still... tired, worn out and not completing my tasks. Sigh. It's sad times when you wonder for the 110th time whether maybe you can afford to just retire a few decades early 😁 

Free: pasta salad, milk, radishes, lettuce, and a BLT.

Four Days

Four days I waited after my Ouchrun, thinking that since my muscles felt ok, it was enough recovery time before hitting the gym.

No. No it was not. I merrily started my brisk walk on the treadmill but when I broke into the run, everything hurt. And not just the usual sore muscle thing, which wouldn't have bothered me in the least. Joints ached and it was actual pain. To be honest it was actually very irritating as I was quite in the mood to get the heart going, but I'm also a big fan of listening to my body and I'd clearly done myself more injury than I had realised.

I spent a shift with Grace and took her through the basics. It was a reminder of just how ridiculous my task list is during a shift, when I actually wrote it all down and filled an A4 sheet just with the basics. Grace did handle everything really well (although I don't expect so much information to all penetrate in one go) but she did remark in surprise at the sheer number of tasks. Quite separate from Parkrun and the gym, my feet hurt every single day. Nine hours on my feet without a proper break, sigh. Normal normal.

Must keep the faith, flight is booked to visit the kids in Finland and I cannot wait.

Shopping Experiment

So this week I had a bit of a chuckle as a grammar pedant ranted about people beginning their sentences with "so". 😁

Ahem. This week there has been an offer in the newspaper whereby you can present a little coupon and get £5 off a £25 shop at German Affordable Competitor Supermarket (GACS). Ordinarily I would ignore this offer - in fact I managed to forget to use their "sign up with the app and get a fiver" deal last year and missed out. But this time, well, the vouchers came at me free so I wondered if I might at least stock up on some snack products to go in my lunch box. When I buy these at work, I generally only touch the "on sale" lines which is annoying and disappointing when the ones I actually want require a mortgage, so the experiment was to see whether I could get generic versions with some flavour variation.

Well. I figured this would be easy, then I stupidly began in the fresh foods section. Half way through the store and before I even got to the snacks, I'd reached the £25. Ok then... I paid, put that in the car (ready meals and yoghurts and desserts and basically food our little convenience store doesn't have) then went back for a round two and a second voucher. Only their snack selection was a bit disappointing. I did manage to reach the minimum but only by doing a second lap and buying extras. Annoyingly, I saw that some of their staple branded items were more than our price! How is that even possible? I feel like I've been sold a lie 😐

Anyway, just over £40 spent and mixed results. The "goat's cheese and butternut squash" frittata that I spotted and was so looking forward to tasted like an egg with potato cooked in, basically boring as hell. I did get a massive tub of their yoghurt potato salad which I used to buy years ago and that is lovely. The luxury lemon cheesecake was ok but not worth the luxury price tag. And I forgot to buy coffee! The horror!

Related: the horror of Pugsley not starting on an early shift and being rescued by a co-worker when no taxis were to be had anywhere in the town. Also the horror of £110 for a new battery. But hey, the one in Pugsley, which testing showed had a 9A capacity out of 300A, was the original 13-year-old battery. I definitely got my money's worth out of that and it's a miracle it was even starting most days.

Ouchrun

So there's this thing called Parkrun where 200-odd insane people get together every Saturday and run 5k around a park. I've known about it for ages and always wondered why anyone thinks that's enjoyable in any way. But since I heard rumours that you can walk it, and since I found out my colleague goes every week and achieves similar times to my treadmill 5k, I thought, hell why not?

Well recently I've discovered "why not" and Now I Know Better. I didn't come last, I managed to beat five people (possibly in wheelchairs, on crutches or with walking frames). It felt like I pushed myself harder than ever before. It felt like 10k. It was, quite frankly, horrible, and I missed my time estimate by a long way. This rumour that people walk the 5K? No. No they do not. Not one person walked it all. The slowest of the bunch power walked alternating with jogging (like I did). I felt like I was dying and also on fire, and barely able to brain enough to think: I need to stay ahead of the marshals right at the back. Embarrassing.

I've literally pulled muscles SO badly that when I crouched down to work on bottom shelves that afternoon at work, I was in agony and considered just assigning that task to someone else. Muscles in agony on the same day is a new one for me. I really, truly overdid it and soreness gets worse on day 2 and 3... So if you're looking for a nice, relaxing and enjoyable little bit of fun at your local park, I recommend not Parkrun.

Having said that, I really highly expect that once I pick up my fitness a bit more a whole lot more, I might revisit the idea. The people were nice and they even played Eye of the Tiger as we were nearing the end 😂

Spendy McSpenderson: Plane ticket (WOOHOO!) plus pre-departure and post-return Covid tests all booked. 

Umwhat?

Boss Lady is going away for a week, and as she had stuff to do, she took me aside at lunchtime to prep me for the week ahead. Ok, cool. So I'm nodding along as she lists a bunch of stuff. She's already done ABC reports, Work Bestie is going to take care of X, Cousin Store's manager will drop in on Friday to make sure everything's ok, and you might get a visit from Checklist Lady, but that's no drama because reasons, reasons, reasons and all you need to do is show her paperwork, paperwork, paperwork. Cool, cool, cool. And of course you'll keep managing the rota and filling overtime. Yeah fine.

Then she drops the bombshell, Oh, and I'm going to make you acting manager while I'm away.

Wait wtf what? I actually asked if she was insane.

I still actually think she's insane. I don't know what I'm doing.

I have a favourite minion, Coco, who is just so ready to be a trainee team leader, and I eventually convinced Demiboss to let Coco take over in the mornings so that she could learn. It went really well, and I was just about to arrange the same for the evening shift, when... she successfully scored a position elsewhere as a team leader 😭 I am thrilled for her but crushed for us. So I've now put all my energy into training Grace. I've learned the hard way and am not nagging for permission this time, I'm just doing it then announcing: hey, it's done! Wish me luck.

Derpina Here

I even look like Derpina.

During the week I decided to buy myself a cheap padlock for the gym lockers, from eBay. Being my usual derpy self, I've ordered one far too small. So, seeing the bigger ones were only £5 from the gym vending machine, I merrily selected my item and looked down to realise I had purchased... not a padlock, but a gym entry keyfob. Well. I suppose it's lucky I was thinking about one of those anyway... derp again. Bought locker padlock successfully then got changed for my workout.

I reasoned that having walked up the incredibly steep cliff pathway to get home yesterday, it would not be a wise idea to push myself too hard at the gym. (Can I just add here that I looked up at the horror of the cliff pathway, steeled myself for absolute agony in climbing it, and was pleasantly surprised not to find it as awful as expected? My fitness is clearly picking up.)

But anyway, I could definitely feel it in my calves today and I had decided to only walk on the treadmill. But did I? Nope. After walking ten minutes I felt loosened up ok, and figured I'd do the walk-run repeat I usually do. So I went into my usual slow jog, and by usual slow jog I mean start jogging, be desperate for air after ten seconds and finally stumble back into a walk after 45 seconds. Well, I made it to 75 seconds each time and that is a record for me. It was a slow 5k but I still got my 5k in.

I am sure that tomorrow I'll feel crippled with sore muscles, because well, because derp.

Derpina then came out to the car and realised she hadn't eaten dinner and, well, a McDonalds was had. Why did I even go to the gym again?

Spendy McSpenderson: A dashcam and memory card. 

Forward Marching

I have escaped the plague lurgy... for now.

I made a list of eleven things I should do on my day off. I've done... one. Writing a blog post was not in the list, by the way, but I'm the master of procrastination. (I paused here, like a good procrastinator, and I've now checked off four items.)

Went to the beach: another check.

Since September marks the second month running that I've forgotten to post my monthly extra earnings, I'm just going to stop. They're very low now because I've lost interest in a lot of them and I'm often working six days a week (such as the last two). This week I went to Sister Store and looked after their bakery for the morning, which is much busier than ours, but it was a nice change to just roll my sleeves up and do my thing. Demiboss called me today and tried to get me to work at Other Sister Store. I think it's the first time I've ever answered "No" so quickly and with such conviction 😂

Dinner: Thai green curry ready meal.

Good Times!

I'm a little bit snotty and clearing my throat a lot. I'm... vaguely aware of an achy chest and unsure as to whether I have a diminished sense of taste. I took an allergy tablet but I am still very unsure as to whether I'm getting ill. I don't feel fluey and don't have a temperature. The rapid antigen home kit says negative. But I have ordered a home PCR testing kit (the big gun) which is far more accurate and should arrive tomorrow.

I got stuck into my kitchen, cleaned it and cooked up six meals just in case I begin to feel absolutely rotten.

The app has pinged me and told me to isolate for 9 days, which is ironic since I am double jabbed and don't even have to self-isolate. I will go into the Big Supermarket tonight when it is dead quiet, buy myself milk and bread, use the self-scan while wearing mask and gloves, and lather everything in hand gel. And then I shall stay the heck at home until I know.

Hey, Watch It

My awesome little workhouse watch has become a little bit too comfortable in its job, that is, its performance has gone downhill and it no longer accurately performs ITS ONLY JOB ie it loses time every day even with a new battery. Sad times. Hahaha, get it, times. Ugh, what a dad joke. Anyway I'm a bit bummed because it's metal and has survived many bashings from steel cages at work without shattering, but hey. I have ordered a new watch, £5 with stopwatch and date and possibly even magic included, thinking that I can use it for timing myself at the gym. It's plastic though and I'd really like one for work, so there's a metal "respectable" watch sitting in my basket and I'll decide later.

I also went charity shopping this week and picked up four nice tops. Total cost £21 but since it's something I haven't done for more than a year, I think I'm excused.

One of the humans that I vaguely socialised with this week has tested positive for Covid. I'm negative at the moment, and since we all we did was sit at the same table, here's hoping that I stay negative. We are all jabbed, so it isn't likely to make us seriously ill, but she is definitely having a horrible time stuck in bed and doesn't recommend the illness in any way.

Outside Clothes

So my last decent undergarment is almost dead and I had no choice but to go shopping for a new over-shoulder-boulder-holder or three. And wow, does this royally suck without changing rooms, it required buying then loo then refund, over and over. One hour later I finally got a fit, three bras acquired for a pound each (!) which was a nice surprise at the till when I expected to pay a lot more.

Take #2 was needing jeans that fit. £10 for those, I am annoyed at needing to spend it but it's my own fault for not fitting into my old ones. I literally didn't have anything else to wear apart from shorts.

Been to the gym twice now, I'm not thrilled with it as there's no tv, no music, no screens, no scale etc. For now I'm watching videos on my phone for 30min but I may lose patience with that once I'm doing 2h sessions again.

Planning my trip overseas - the mini one to see family - can't wait!

Gym Junkie

...or something. After a way-too-long hiatus I've (re)joined a gym. Mainly because a brand new one is opening up near my work, the first 24h gym in the area, and the opening deal was for 12 quid a month. It was a no-brainer. I miss being able to jump on a treadmill for a couple of hours and just decompress, and now I can do so at 11pm again. Win.

Also, I need to shift some weight because I really don't want to order larger work trousers and I am almost being strangled by the ones I have 😬

Yet another procedure change at work means the possibility of freebies is down to almost none. Hey ho it was nice while it lasted and I can still buy reduced products like any other shopper. Last night I really wanted to buy myself Chow Mein, but I was a good girl and went home and ate... tinned tuna with half a packet of cooked wholegrain rice and some sriracha thrown in. And a small tub of pineapple. I don't recommend it as a taste sensation. But at least I ate out of the cupboard (that rice has been in there since kid #2 went home, which is a year).

Today is payday and I threw all my last-month's leftover money onto my loan (£500). I think that's pretty good going. I did a fair bit of overtime this past month so it was another good pay and I expect I'll be able to overpay by a similar amount next time.

Spendy McSpenderson: A cheap wireless charger for my phone because the USB port is dodgy and continually disconnects the power, which was as joyful as it sounds. 

Cars, Ouch

So I love the freedom of a vehicle (while I don't mind busses, trying to get to & from work at 5am and 11pm, I'd be spending a fortune on taxis). But I don't much like Renewal Time. My current insurer, for the second year running, sent me an extortionate renewal quote. On the comparison sites they were way over the best quote... so that was a no-brainer. I called them but they couldn't quite beat the quote, and I was also promised a £75 credit from TopCashBack for switching. So, shrug, switch done, why wouldn't I?

Still a chunk out of my wallet but hey, it's done for another year. On the plus side I've driven far fewer miles than expected which is a win.

Work is... well work is work. Two steps forward, one step back. Cousin Store #2's manager visited during the week and invited me to move there with a view to progressing up to store manager myself. I am nowhere near ready just yet, but it's a nice feeling to know my network believes in me.

Velcro Head

My psoriasis has been SO BAD lately and I am continually covered in a layer of white powder no matter how much I wash my hair with expensive shampoo... today I came home and shaved my undercut right back to skin. My skull is covered in really angry red swirls which look revolting, but hey, maybe now anyone who recognises psoriasis will see that it wasn't just dandruff!

I went into Competitor Supermarket™ to replenish my cheap cold and flu tablets (still snotty, still coughing, don't get me started). I came home with everything else but. Just enjoyed a four bean, mint and olive oil salad for dinner. Yes, I have already eaten two chicken pies for lunch and an entire packet of custard donuts. Also bought New Shampoo to try.

I went over to Cousin Store during the week and ran it for the afternoon/evening. It was... interesting. The staff are brilliant, the shift was exhausting. Plus, I did a spectacular thing where we locked ourselves inside the store and couldn't get out. Poor store manager had to rescue us so we could be set free. Still, I'm glad I went, there is always something new to learn and different perspectives to see.

New Kid has started and is unavailable for three days each week because... wait for it... because these are the days their friends don't work and they are reserving time for socialising.

Spending: all the things. Yeah. Plus a new watch battery x2.

I Just

Teddy has quit (not surprised). New Guy lasted a week before having a family issue (unspecified) and quitting. Viscount has shown up on a job searching board on Facebook straight after a disciplinary for doing something dumb repeatedly. Lovely new kid Meg has done the same screwup as Viscount and I just hope she doesn't run while this formal thing is taking place. Two more staff have been pinged and have ten days off. Two staff off work due to puking. I was sent home yesterday sick as my cough is so bad it's scaring customers. Overall we are on tenterhooks in case someone else goes off work for whatever reason. The ones who remain are exhausted and we fear them walking out.

Took myself out after work and went and saw "Old" at the cinema (thriller/horror). I was quite surprised to enjoy myself. £5 for the ticket and a pound spent on cheese crackers, strawberry sweets and a can of drink from the pound shop. I think that's a win.

Stop Press: Laddy has gone off on his third ten-day isolation...

June Extras

Oops! Completely forgot to post this one.

£5.61 Prolific Academic

£10.00 Storewards

Tired, of things and stuff in general. Did better than usual in my pay packet as a consequence.

Slowly Slowly

Catchy Monkey... so I threw a polite tantrum a few weeks back about stupid it was, constantly finding there was no cover for tomorrow, and then spending an hour on the phone grovelling. These shifts had sat open for weeks and nobody had volunteered, and we were always playing catch-up at short notice.

So I now sadistically allocate people into the overtime slots. For most people this means they work 15 hours that week instead of 10. 15 hours! Slavery.

Result: they figured out that if they volunteer for one shift a week they get left alone from any more and they get a choice on when they work. Most recent overtime sheet is already full of volunteers, more than three weeks ahead. Score.

Today: whole day spent at sister store. Knackered. And it wasn't even an overtime shift, it was a "sorry they need you so off you go" shift 😭

Un-Bear-Able Teddy

Wow, Teddy, just wow. Everything about Teddy's abysmal performance screams "sack me". Like, imagine poor behaviour and then double it, add in bad excuses plus a bald-faced lie. You get the idea. He has taken a leaf out of Sassy's book and even squirmed his way out something he was specifically told to do. I have pushed this bullshit behaviour onto Boss Lady who is actually going to start the formal process... which will never end with the great big slap that Teddy deserves, but will at least get the minimum formal recorded wagged finger.

So I'm really looking forward to four manic nights in a row again this week. Not. I hope England lose just so the stupidity slows down. I'm tired of eedjits running up to the door at five minutes to closing when the shop is still full of people and I just cannot.get.home.

Money sent - I'm officially a part-owner of the building freehold, yay it's expensive to be a company director! But this means that as soon as we get the roof and fire works done, I can think about refinancing onto a secured loan, ie, a mortgage. To my surprise I was rejected for an Agreement in Principal, even though all my existing debt would be paid off and I was only asking for 1.5x my annual salary. I think it's the payment holidays I have recently taken. So for now, I'm just waiting for my two loans to be merged and I'll concentrate on displaying regular payments for a few months, then ask again.

I'm also considering study again (Leadership and Management Diploma Level 3). I have broached it a bit with Boss Lady who agreed that it would be in line with my professional development as it would need to demonstrably be to the benefit of the business. She agreed to reduce my hours if need be so that I could get the coursework done. But at this point it would be painful financially, so it might be a while before I can move forward on it. She did laugh and say it sounds like I want to be a store manager! I pulled a face and said I hadn't chosen the Level 5 in Management, and that I wouldn't touch her job with a barge pole. (Truth. But let's see if I still say that in five years' time.) 

Free: a Curly the Caterpillar cake, which I have been munching my way through over the past three days. Those things aren't even nice, they're sickening, so why have I still done it to myself again?

New Sofa

Well, new to me. I hadn't planned on adding furniture until my carpet is replaced, but fate stepped in, in the form of a slow leak in my air mattress. After the fourth day of waking up on a flat hard floor, my head was turned by the local second hand shop's £45 sofa bed ad. May I present my new click-clack...

Bought sight-unseen. It's actually firmer than I would like, but it's still miles better than the airbed on the floor. And every time I catch sight of an actual bed in the corner I smile all over again. What a mood booster. And it will work well if my kids come to visit. 

New staffer started today... she seems ok. Her availability is trash. Our frustration with the local talent pool knows no bounds. The only applications we seem to get are sensational people who just can't work when they're needed.

Contemplating a Split Personality

Work has given me so many freebie plants that I really don't need them all. About half have survived (that's par for the course when we can only take them home at the point they are all wilted and half-dead). I am considering selling the survivors on Facebook Marketplace, only that's a bit tacky so I made a new account to protect my identity. Dodgy I suppose, but in my defence I have rescued them, tended them and allowed them to recover and grow bigger. Currently searching for some cheap planters and I might make up a few baskets.

Less free stuff is appearing right now as we have improved our sell-through of reduced items. I prefer the lower waste ethically even though it means fewer freebies for me. I've been shopping at Cheap Competitor Store even though their shop is a train wreck right now with half-empty shelves and an abysmal lack of staff (mainly I feel sorrow for them, it's clear their suits are decimating their payroll and I remember when ours did that to us).

Balance

Well, just as yet another catastrophic day reached a crescendo mid-week, our caretaker boss Lolly declared that it's our shop and if we haven't got time to do all our tasks, it's our call on what to do and what to put off. So we dumped some of the training. Lolly then authorised us to go over staffing budget because it was necessary. So we did.

To her credit Boss Lady has been responsive since she returned, and finangled permission to hire more humans. So we're recruiting and interviewing right now. Yesterday I had the loveliest evening shift I've had in about a month, with an extra human and everything getting done. Ah, peace.

I booked two movie tickets (for free, thanks National Lotteries) but then work has rearranged my weekend into a split, so I don't even know if I'll find the energy. We will see.

Disgustang.

Close to fed up. Demiboss injured her shoulder - agony-level - so I cut my week off short and went in to cover for her. I really don't mind that part, she has helped me so many times and it was nobody's fault. The part that got me fed up is that Boss Lady has been fooled by Teddy's bullshit... and has made him permanent even when he's often ditching us in favour of working his other job. Sigh. Sassy did even worse, refused to change her socialising plans when we needed her to work. Her father called, cussed us out and said she quits. What a completely embarrassing and unprofessional thing to do. If this space cadet is dumb enough to try a pleasant goodbye at the end of her notice week I'll have to bite my tongue. Way to burn bridges.

And we have a new rota that's completely inadequate for running a supermarket. It looks like they've put us on skeleton staff and then shaved a bit more off. It just isn't tenable and now Boss Lady is away on holidays for another two weeks so can't do anything about it. How do you keep a place running at 60% of bare-minimum staffing levels, I just don't get it...

I am the only duty manager who refuses to work like a fiend. I work at my pace. What doesn't get done doesn't get done. But the other three are burning themselves out. Nobody will thank them and nothing will come in reward, just a new expectation that we can keep it up permanently.

Four more boxes of free plants this week. Two trays are marigolds. You'd better believe I am milking the freebies for this pain in the arse work situation.

Side Hustles for May

£0.50 StreetBees

£29.94 Prolific Academic

Ho hum, another lazy month. At least I did a few more PA studies than usual.

Spendy McSpenderson: bamboo incense holder, new mousepad, compost, and more boring wall stuffs like sandpaper pads and filler. A joining fee for becoming a company director of the freehold company, and legal fees to the solicitors handling our enfranchisement (£800).

Coming: a new front door (fire regulations) and that ever-looming roof bill plus the enfranchisement itself, all of which will be rather painful but worthwhile.

Checked. Out.

I have finally wrangled Grace's training documents and the training can now begin, yay. Then I discovered two training exams sat by our cashiers with the answers written on word-for-word. Great. Thanks guys, those will look fabulous to our legal team, won't they? I'll just file them into our training records I'll just make them sit the exam again...

Demi Boss also had a mini meltdown this week after walking into one of AF's warehouse cyclones. It's the first time I've seen DB actually lose it and vent frustration about AF. AF also gave her a lecture... so DB spoke up sharply that afternoon. I am not even sure that AF realised she was being told off...

AF has also broken our main alarm panel by brute force. This meant expensive new locks and the shop had no burglar alarm for three days last weekend. I hope there was a lecture involved at the very least. Work Bestie said it should be a job warning but let's get real here - at least we can laugh at that idea.

I responded to the workplace shenanigans by going on a weeks' time off (pre-booked of course) and I know the timing is abysmal - and I did apologise that I was even going - but there's no budget to pay me to work instead, and I'm close to burnt out and I'm not even the one doing the most work. So far I've sat about, played games, washed up and potted another black flower tub with freebie plants. I lack the energy to do much else.

But I did actually go purposefully shopping, which I do less than once a month. So I've enjoyed a 69p frozen chicken curry (full price!), along with free chocolate muffins and free pineapple.

Worked To The Bone?

Just like the rest of us, Boss Lady looks exhausted. She has become the Head Teacher's Pet, complete with a new little subtitle, and is continually being called away to other stores to fix things, leaving our store to sort of pilot itself. She even gave me a card and a scratchie this week as a thank you for keeping things ticking over, which was lovely. In a way it is a real plus that our store is considered to be so well-oiled that we can survive without a manager 😂 since before Boss Lady, our store had a dodgy reputation. The security auditor has done another audit - they now last for hours and are horrendous! - and she started with us, wanting to begin with the store that's the best-run. Glowing pride right there. 😀

We're struggling with cashier cover thanks to several staff on long-term sick leave. But our temps Sassy and Teddy just cba with dealing with this place and it's driving me nuts, I keep phoning them to cover shifts and get complete disinterest. I've called it to Boss Lady's attention - she asked whether we should even keep them, and I've told her no. So she's going to let them go when their contracts expire, and recruit two newbies. They're both nice enough people but they aren't spectacular employees and we need humans who make working a priority in their lives. They are both young and it's a good lesson to them, if you don't want to work then plenty of people are waiting to take your job.

And for months now we've struggled with emergency duty manager cover due to not really having anyone suitable. But Grace, insanely capable and intelligent, has been completely overlooked by Boss Lady, who just assumed that Grace is Going Places™ via university. I asked Grace if she might like to help out, and got a yes - Boss Lady is absolutely over the moon with that idea. So she's going to retrieve the training list for duty cover and I'll somehow pull a rabbit out of my hat and find the time to train Grace on the bare minimums. Wish me luck with that rabbit.

Green Fingers

Here's hoping.

Well let's get real, I tend to kill plants more often than not. But work has been selling "grow boxes" of ground cover plants and flowers, and this week Tinkerbell and I attempted triage on a few wilted hunks of plant life - a day later most had revived from their little drink, but a few looked rather sorry for themselves. I rearranged the boxes to make one "sad case" box and I've brought that home. I spent £4 for some potting mix and I have "liberated" a couple of empty flower buckets from work. 😂 I'm going to saturate the plants again here for another couple of days then pot everything up and throw the buckets under my bay window 😊 so fingers crossed they survive and provide a little bit of colour.

As expected Annoying Face has gotten the job. I have decided to try harder with my grin-and-bear-it routine. She's still a scatterbrained pain in my arse, but hey, she usually doesn't mean to be so annoying. She bought donuts for the team to celebrate her promotion, which was a nice thing to do. I've just come to accept that after she's been in, there will be rearranging, tidying and item-hunting to be done. But hey, I'm still learning myself and I know that I sometimes drive my colleagues mad. We are all still doing too much with too-few human-hours of cashiers to assist us... Head Office are continually throwing little extras our way and we're just expected to add these to our task list and pluck the time required out of thin air. Every staff member has about 5 hours of training to do by next week - which is my responsibility to coordinate - but when I only have one cashier working with me most days, that's near impossible to schedule. Ho hum.

Good news though, I now have a new rota filled with two-day breaks and I am Over.The.Moon. I actually get my two days off together 👏🎈 mostly Sunday/Monday. Finally. Thank Dog. Three months of higgledy-piggledy weeks has been hard going.

The fish and chip shop lady dropped in a little parcel last night - I had a lovely piece of battered fish and a sausage for dinner, yum. There's still enough for lunch today.

No More Room

...in my stomach for more food that is. Tonight: spaghetti carbonara, potato salad (ok this was 10p) and a green smoothie. And there was supposed to be a free ice cream but I'm stuffed, so that's for another day.

(the next day)

The previous owner had bought a new shower head and left it loose in the bathroom. I tried attaching it to the hose that's already in place, but it doesn't quite screw in. Undoing the other end requires disassembly of the power shower unit and taking it off the wall, as the hose attachment is hidden. But I didn't get as far as bothering, because when I turned it on to see whether the shower head was screwed on "good enough", the unit started leaking water out of the switch. Heebie-jeebies right there. It's ancient, I never use it and I keep it disconnected from the power anyway - so this is one item placed on the backburner for, like, forever. I'll replace it when I sell my flat, or if I decide to replace the whole bathroom.

I've now bought a little rubber shower attachment for my bathtub for £5. It will do the job nicely.

Dinner: smoked salmon wrap with salad leaves, plastic cheese and salsa. I don't much like salmon but this was a nice combo and cost me 30p for the cheese.

Hello Today

Work = Exhausting. Not enough humans and too much to do. Worked six days last week and doing seven days straight this week. Ho hum... the state of my kitchen (and flat in general) leaves much to be desired.

I bought three packs of bargain beef patties (66p each) with a plan for a hamburger for dinner. I even got some free bread rolls and bought myself some plastic cheese to go on it. Unfortunately I undid the plan when I walked past the ready meals. So I treated myself to a 63p instant dinner tonight, chicken curry it was. The burgers are now in the freezer. The plastic cheese will last until October 😂

Also spent: £14 on a much-overdue haircut, and a pound for the busker whose singing was really quite lovely - being a professional musician for this past year must have been positively awful for the pocket. £5 for passport pics for my alcohol license. My British passport is just about to expire, so I suppose that's an expense coming in my future too.

April Bonus Moneys

£5.00 ShopPrize (Amazon)

£5.00 SwagBucks

£0.42 Book Royalties

£0.20 StreetBees (for the life of me I don't understand how they cover the payout transaction costs)

£20.00 TopCashBack (Tesco voucher) most of this was from using the site to find my home insurance

£20.10 Prolific Academic - I forgot to cash it out last month

So fifty quid. Not bad.

The mammoth pile of unprocessed receipts finally made me feel guilty enough to start popping them in, and to my absolute disgust some of them were too old to go onto any of my cashback apps 😖 Bad, bad, bad. Throwing away money through laziness...

My power use has been higher than expected. I shouldn't be surprised, because when I do a realistic calculation in comparison to my old place, it's exactly what it should be. I think maybe I'd pretended that being in fulltime work would mean I use a lot less power. But it's still very cold without the heating on when I'm home, and I think I'd rather spend the money and not be cold!

Ten days after payday I had already spent my entire months' grocery money. Some of it went on cutting a spare key, some on a 12-pack of Coke, some on more nutritional stuffs that I needed, and some just on ready meals. I somehow managed to miss my £5 bank bonus too which I'm not happy about because it sure looks like I qualified, but I expect that the cut-off date was earlier than I thought. Anyway, forcing myself to put all additional groceries onto the credit card has been useful in making me think twice. (I have the money in my current account, but doing it this way and paying in full does tend to keep me in check.)

Enfranchisement

I think I've mentioned this before - that the owners of the flats in this building are banding together to buy the building itself (the freehold). Essentially the current management company aren't really doing much managing, apart from sending extortionate bills. Well, the buying up is a go. I've just sent a very hefty deposit to get my shares in the company, and in the next few weeks I'll get an invoice for about £10,000 which will cover my part of buying the building.

Ouch but also yay! Just on its own this fee will increase the value of my flat by quite a bit. And straight after doing this, I will be able to pay £1 for a lease extension which should mean that I have added £20,000-ish to the property value. Not a bad deal all told, plus it will nix the hefty and ridiculous bills that they're sending, and they'll become bills we can control.

Most of the £10,000 will come from redrawing the advance on my personal loan, and the rest from my April pay. My bank said today they can refund all of my advance, touch wood. So all will be within my budget, although I'll be pushed back out to maximum debt. But I had to do this or miss the opportunity. Joining it later would be considerably more expensive. Deciding not to join at all would have ultimately meant my flat lost value.

I will still have to find the money for my share of the roof, which is a whole 'nother interesting quest possibly involving credit cards. We will see. I'll cope somehow even if I have to do that, I do enjoy ramen noodles after all!