Amazing Surprise

So I told Good Boss that if he deleted my extra shift I'd be under my minimum contracted hours. Big Boss piped up saying he'd already deleted it but gave me an extra day to get my hours up. I come home and check, and surprise! No extra day in sight and again, I'm under hours. It's getting seriously annoying now. This penny-pinching to the Nth degree with nobody working a single hour extra... I have messaged them to let them know, but if they don't do anything, I'm tempted to just turn up for that missing shift and advise that since they'll have to pay me whether I work or not, they might as well let me work...

They keep blaming "the system" but clearly it's misbehaving because they keep messing with things.

In an actually amazing surprise, I tried one of the lemon flapjack protein bars today and they are absolutely delicious.

Also I went to the gym but then bought a chicken burger from McDonalds... so, not a great day. Since I had starved myself most of the day, I haven't exactly eaten too many calories, but you sure as heck do not lose weight when you eat burgers.

For Something Different

...the new rota is again under my contracted hours. I have picked up an extra shift and this time I'm going to tell Good Boss that if it disappears, he'll need to put it back for me so that I stay over contract. I have no idea whether this will work. I also added a few hours this week (also don't know if this will work either).

My Amazon delivery arrived of protein and nut bars. I'm going to try one for breakfast tomorrow. I also bought a meal replacement shake product thing, it tastes ok, but to be honest I felt like I'd just swapped my meal with a glass of milk. And clearly, a glass of milk doesn't keep you full until the next meal. I suppose it's more about getting into the habit than anything else. But with my track record at sticking to things, let's see whether I can even manage to empty the tin 😁

I got a bunch of empty plant pots from Freecycle this week and have transferred some begonias today (this is very impressive as I just worked eight days straight). I also potted up two more hanging baskets, and I'm hoping to sell the lot once they settle and look nice. I have three more hanging baskets to put together later this week.

Rota Meltdown

Last weekend I accidentally showed up to work "early". Turns out that it wasn't me making an error. This week two shifts of mine have been changed and two have been deleted completely for next week. 😑 This Just.Aint.Funny while trying to get on top of hideous bills... sometimes I think systems worked better as a pen and paper.

Very Dramatic™: I had a £10 promo voucher to use on Amazon that required me to spend £30 to get it, which should have made my purchase £20, only it was THE MOST DIFFICULT THING TO QUALIFY FOR IN THE WORLD because they exclude all the best-priced sellers. By the time I actually made the promo appear I was fed up and not going to search to the ends of the earth to find the best deals again so long story short: just under £35 worth of protein bars arrive at my place next week 😂 I mean, I had gift vouchers just sitting there too, so might as well spend them on something.

I really don't like Amazon and wish I didn't get paid in Amazon vouchers from so many websites!

Day 1 of trying to go low-calorie, high-protein (again): handful of cashews for breakfast, handful of grapes. Lunch: protein bar. Dinner: omelette, small noodles and mixed veg.

Then I got hungry and ate another protein bar... oh well, will try again tomorrow. 

Title Semantics

I couldn't decide whether I actually went swimming, when mostly I just stood waist-height in the water and then dunked under a couple of times. So... being 26°C, I "went to the beach". I had fully intended on being a bit more active than merely walking down and getting wet, but despite having eaten lunch before I went, I felt too wobbly to be much use. Even still, it was lovely to be down there and I'm glad I went.

I collected some shells which no doubt will sit around, useless for eternity 😁

There were vague ideas of planting out my hanging baskets, but did I? No. I opted for a rather long nap instead.

Back to work tomorrow (and I am told that my upcoming ridiculously-long warehouse shift is likely to be corrected shortly... I wait with baited breath).

This Week's Top Comments

1. Customer: Do I want a bag? No, I've got dozens of them in the back of my car. The place where plastic bags go to die.

2. Customer1 (while the sun is in full scorch mode and the day is looking glorious): It's so lovely outside. What time do you finish, love? Me: 6pm. Customer: Oh, the weather is awful outside. Customer2: It's raining. Customer3: It's terribly cold and windy. Customer2: I wish I'd brought my coat.

3. (Customer's daughter chats happily to me during the transaction, then runs off and presses the "sad face" reaction smiley at the store exit.) Mother: Why did you press the sad face? Kid: Because I miss my friends from school. Mother: It's been a day and a half. Me: What did I do wrong? Now my boss is going to ask me what I did wrong to make you sad! Mother: Oh no, you'll get her in trouble! Go, quick, and press a happy face before she gets in trouble! (Kid pelts full-speed to go and fix her feedback while the mother and I laugh.)

4. Customer: I only came in for one thing! Oh, I bet everyone says that. Me: And then they tell me they've left their bags in the car. Customer: I really did leave my bags in the car! (Pauses...) You just have so many things that I think, ooh, I need one of those. Me: Imagine working here! Customer: I'd have no wages. And I didn't even get the thing I came in for. Me: Bingo! (She managed all five of our top-heard comments in one transaction.)

5. The "ping" system for opening new tills was broken, and we no longer heard the "PING, We'll be opening till three in a moment, till number three will be opening shortly" over the PA system. I resort to using the headset, which only staff can hear: Ashton, could you open till 3 please? Ashton: You didn't ping me: Me: The pinger is broken. Ashton: Say "ping" then. Me: What? It's broken. Ashton: Say "ping". Me: PING, Ashton could you jump on 3? Ashton: PING I'll be opening till number three shortly.

6. Elderly lady, who has already bought her neighbour's few things, and is now ready to pay for her own small bag: Now, be gentle with me when you tell me MY total. Me: That's four hundred and seventy-eight pounds twenty, please. Lady: laughs uproariously and says she's going to use that when she knocks on her neighbour's door in a few hours.

7. Customer acts like an absolute dick while his quiet & polite friend was shopping and I can see he's "one of those" who needs the whole shop to hear him talk. His first item comes up as "unknown". Customer: Oh, it must be free, then. Hahahaha! Me: Haha. (I grab a £2 pack of cans with a torn box.) Customer: Can I get this half price? Me: The contents are fine, so we can't do that sorry. Customer: Well how about a better price? Me: Eight pounds. Customer: What? Me: It's a better price for me! Customer: How much for your phone number? Me: Eight hundred pounds. Customer's friend: (hysterical laughter at full volume)

Win Some, Lose Some

My new future schedule got published and I am only working three days that week! Which is fantastic. Unfortunately it happens via an 11-hour day which starts as warehouse work. I don't honestly think I can cope with that kind of long day, so if it doesn't magically change by tomorrow I will have to beg Nice Boss to undo that mammoth shift for me.

Poppet has started and impressed everyone, as I knew she would. She doesn't quite believe me, but that's to be expected!

I am still excited by having a washer/dryer, and have behaved accordingly, filling my washing baskets with clean clothes and running the dryer for items that really would have been fine to dry on the rack. Yes, I'm a wasteful child. I have also ignored the piles of boxes that I really should have sorted first. Sort of. I emptied five of them and sorted another five, that's a start, right?

Idiot property manager, DilEmma, has revised her demand and added a few hundred and made it due by next month. She has not, so far, explained how she arrived at this (incorrect) amount. I have sent her another email politely advising that she's a moron she is mistaken, and inviting her to do what she legally is supposed to do, that is, give me the dang paperwork. Particularly, you cannot start a years' accounts with a balance carried forward of £0 if you have not done the previous year's accounts. You simply do not KNOW the balance carried forward until the previous year is done.

In my travels I also discovered that one of the itemised charges was supposed to be a credit. She even named it "Credit" but then, inexplicably, debited it. To every flat, in the same way. Sigh.

I am contemplating a new blog tag of "idiocy".

Excited Face x2

I finally got the transfer offer I've been waiting for, and it's a money transfer, woot. I shall whack it straight onto my loan. This will save me almost £400 off my main loan. I will also pay an extra £600 off the balance over the period, merely by keeping up with the regular payment on the credit card.

Also, my main bank's credit card has a low rate (as I think I've noted) so instead of paying that bill, I will put the cash onto my loan. That one is a less obvious winner but will still save me interest.

All of these are Good Things™.

Another one: despite setbacks (like having to defeat the door seal spring, and then remove the door, and the cover, and then the door lock via shaving it with a Stanley knife, and then the stupid new mechanism not 100% fitting and requiring me to franken-screw it into place) I have successfully changed the door catch mechanism on my washer. Honestly, I am kind of surprised that I managed it. But it's currently swirling about with some bleachy water inside so... win.

Spendy McSpenderson: need photos and to pay for a passport application this week. Ouch.

Saddy McSadface

Entire air show was cancelled for Sunday. Even though the sun came out over us, it wasn't sunny at the place the planes were taking off from, so it just wasn't safe. Booo. But it did make me wonder about other air shows and there are lots, so perhaps I'll go see a different one. And take the whole weekend off ready for it.

Happy face: This. Remember that bingo game I was playing? Well, it's about to ka-ching. Woot.

I am currently playing an island game and also a farming game. Hopefully another couple of ka-chings (assuming I complete enough levels in time). My referral link for joining Inbox Pounds: click here.

Right now I am busy cutting more logs and collecting tomatoes so that I can start the dinner in game 😁

I Went To Spend

...and I didn't really manage to spend much. I had a voucher to use worth £100, so I went to Big Supermarket. Being me, I forgot to look at the total AND missed getting the receipt. But I think there's still more than half of it for another time.

I came home with SO much food. Four boxes worth, with lots of fresh produce, because it's way past time that I sorted out my eating habits. I even managed to prep a bunch of salads last night (go me!) but of course, still being me, I'm sitting here mentally grumbling about how I'd much rather just eat a pizza.

I have made myself a large flask of strawberry tea and am eating my prepared chicken curry with cous cous. Added more curry powder and it tastes much better. I'm behaving. For now. The weather looks disgusting, and that sucks, because it's the Airshow today and tomorrow. It's allegedly happening with a modified display today, so please cross your fingers that tomorrow I get to see my beloved planes.

The Backflip

A large amount of crazy going on today - I blame the Platty Jubes. Today when the store got quiet, I got screamed at because I had a red till light and said I was closed, but 30 seconds later I was open and green. I think I might have caused Angry Lady an extra 10 seconds out of her life, but she screamed in my face about she was disabled and YOU SAID YOU WERE CLOSED.

The reason I was closed was too long and technical a story to bother with here, or to explain to Angry. But because she was shouting, I did try. I simply hadn't wanted her to be stuck waiting in my queue.

And then the man behind her (I'll call him Pissy Man) lost patience and tried to push her bag aside in the packing area. And she WENT. OFF. THE DEEP END. She was yelling not to ever, ever dare touch someone else's things. I wondered if Angry actually might start slapping Pissy. Staff began running towards the commotion. Then she followed me and began to apologise for overreacting. Fortunately, Pissy Man then made a getaway himself.

Is this the twilight zone? Anyway, I apologised again, explained again that the refunds can often take a long time, that I hadn't wanted her to be stuck waiting, and then she started repeating that she was disabled and in a lot of pain that day, and so I told her that I hoped tomorrow was a better day for her and that she and I were ok. As she left, staff started asking why she was screaming so loud... I say there aren't enough painkillers for that level of nasty.

Within ten minutes we could hear the manager on the phone to her. I waited as poor Star gave out the feedback website address and tried over and over again to get her off the phone. And then Star says over the headset that Angry had called to compliment the way I handled things. Knock me down with a feather. I was waiting to be told it was a complaint.

Still not thrilled with myself, especially since I'd called her a bitch (to Star) as soon as she left.

And how was your day?

Not Applying.

A combination of still not managing to reliably even complete a one-hour brisk walk and the fact that I've since heard that yeah, Blondie already has the job sewn up. Not sad, it's a relief that I don't have to decide.

Master Chef: today I made chicken curry with cous cous. It was... edible. Disappointingly, I have three more days of "enjoying" the same food for dinner 😁

The washing machine part has arrived but I'm trying to arrange my flat properly before I play Lego with the washer.

This week I watched The Power Of The Dog (Kirsten Dunst, Benedict Cumberbatch) because a bunch of review sites rated it the best film of 2021. My mini review is - it's got a twist like The Sixth Sense crossed with a hint of Brokeback Mountain. Although it's really very clever, I didn't understand the ending properly until I read the wiki article about it. So I had a combination of "wow" and being slightly annoyed that I hadn't grasped things fully. Essentially there are tiny clues which if you miss them, you won't get the ending completely. Suffice to say it's worth watching, as long as you remember that the boy is not as naïve as he looks.