Busy

So, life as usual is very busy. Between school, work, and musical practice it is very hectic. One would think there would be a lot to write about and there probably are a lot of things I could say...but I can never think of anything worth saying. I could mention short little stories about work ...for example:

I was asked the stupidest question ever today. A teenage boy and girl came up to the counter and the boy asked if he could have an order of gourmet fries, I responded, "would you like the cheddar and bacon fries or the ranch and bacon fries". The girl looked at the boy and said "Whats the difference?" ...I don't think anyone has ever asked me a question that is so ridiculous before.

But apart from that there hasn't been anything too consequential to mention. I guess perhaps that is a good thing. Everything with Jaime and I is great! I love him, he is so sweet!

So, that's my life right now, busy and inconsequential! Hopefully I'll have something to tell about later this week.


Love Because You Are Loved

Bombs

Yesterday was Halloween at the mall. Or rather, it would have been Halloween at the mall if a certain set of events had not occured. Allow me to explain. Every year the stores at the mall choose a day when the employees may dress in costume and hand out candy if they wish from 6pm-8pm to children dressed in costumes. So, I was scheduled to work, and I decided I wanted to dress up in a pretty costume. My problem was, however, that I have no time to purchase a costume. I tried many possibilities but I ended up wearing a short flary skirt and a flowy, flary, shirt, my tiara, and wings. I had my mom bring everything except the wings to school where she picked me up and then transported me to the mall.

Once at the mall I purchased light up TinkerBell wings from the Disney store. This completed my costume as a Fairy Princess. I was very excited about work. I wanted to hand out candy and see all the kids in their adorable costumes. Andrea was also dressed up in a TinkerBell outfit (sans the wings). She was very excited as well.

So around 5:25 I took my break, that way I would be back in time to go on my candy passing out duty. Andrea was on break with me. When we finished eating we went in the back of Taco Bell and looked at all the candy. We heard a whistle blow out in the food court, Andrea and I got excited, we thought that the whistle would be a starting whistle for the Trick or Treating. We heard someone making an announcement but we couldnt hear what the person was saying, when the announcement was done everyone in the food court stood up. Andrea and I went to Mark (our boss) and asked if we could pass out the candy now.

He replied that we all had to leave the mall they were having an evacuation. We started walking towards the door and many thoughts were running through our heads. We thought that perhaps they wanted to get everyone out of the mall before the trick or treating so there would be a fair chance for everyone going through...then we realized this was ridiculous and they wouldn't send us out for that. Then we thought it must just be a drill. Mark told us to clock out of work and head outside, i went to grab my purse because it seemed logical to bring that with me, though I didn't grab my bag with my jeans and my jacket, assuming we would be back inside in a moments time anyways.

We assumed that it would take at most 10-30 min and then we would be back inside. We thought it absurd and stingy of Mark to make us clock out on our time cards. As I headed out I saw Bibi and Mark rushing to turn everything off and bring the money out of the register. As we rushed outside we heard that the evacuation was for a bomb threat. We weren't sure what to do as we got outside. Somehow our stores divided into two groups, i was with a group that left the front way, and the others left the back way. Once we got out the front door we realized several things:

1. We were not dressed for the cold weather
2. We were in the way of all the frantic people trying to leave
3. We weren't sure where to go.

We stood by the front entrance for a few moments until the police pushed us into the parking lot. We weren't sure to go, people kept telling us to move and all we could say was that we were mall employees we couldn't just leave. We decided the best course of action would be to go where all the other people from our work were, so we headed towards the back entrance. We went over to the group of people from our work, everyone had stayed to find out what was going on except August. She works with me, she is fairly new, has only been with us for a week or so. Perhaps she just hasn't become a part of our tightly knit group yet, or perhaps she just wanted to beat traffic.

Andrea and I still thought we would be going back to work in a bit once the scare was over. This was not the case, as we froze we watched helicopters circling, firetrucks lining up, ambulances coming in, and police cars surrounding. I had left my clothes inside, and Andrea had left her Calculus book, for the second night in a row it would have to sit there at work, her homework left undone.

Mark and Bibi came outside carrying Athena, who looked beautiful in her Belle costume, despite the tears streaming down her face. She had told me earlier that Halloween was her favorite day apart from Christmas. Mark and Bibi told us that we could go home because the mall wouldn't be opening up again today. We left to go to the movie theatre to warm up and go to the bathroom. Then Andrea's mother picked us up at the Walgreens. We told everyone that we met along the way the story of the horror that had occured.

Imagine ruining such an event for those children. Athena wasn't the only child reduced to tears. What a cruel heartless person. They should be punished.

What a night! We went to Eat-N-Park to eat and cool off, we told our story a couple more times. After so many tellings i'm sure i've forgotten some details.

Anyways, now that we aren't at work Andrea and I realized that this takes a real dent into our paycheck, and our company lost a lot of money, three doughs of pretzels...about 120 pretzels gone, salads gone, smoothie stuff gone, taco stuff gone. I don't think anyone put the fries away at steaks and fries, I hope they did, because if not that is about 3-4 bags of potatoes gone....each bag is 50 pounds...so 150-200 pounds of fries...gone. I really hope someone put them away before leaving.

We are hoping that this event will be rescheduled soon, we still have all the candy as well. at least 16 bags of 120 pieces each of candy. That is quite a lot that means at least 1920 pieces of candy. Good chocolate candy too, not just lollipops.

Anyways, I wish this hadn't happened, I was disappointed. But now I'm tired and I think I should probably sleep. That is what I shall do. Watch the news and look up the story of South Hills Village Mall. I haven't watched but apparently the bomb threat was on the news, makes sense with all the helicopters we saw.

Always Love

Fire, 78, Busy....

Odd title? Yes, I know it is. Those three words played hugely important parts in my day today and I'm about to explain how. Lets see...where to start.

I went to school in the morning. I got a lot of homework but that is nothing out of the ordinary. I didn't really want to go to work after school but I had to because I started at 4. I was not looking forward to a long night of working. I arrived at work about 15 minutes early but I walked over thinking I would talk to my coworkers. I saw Juanis (my manager) standing in front of the store talking to Keit (who left at 4) and Hung (who left at 5).

When I walked up Juanis looked at me and said "Laurel I was so mad at you and Tom the other night". My mind began to race...what could we have done, "You almost burned down the entire food court" I was like WHAT! Juanis continued to explain that on Wednesday after I had cleaned the grill I had taken the rag and put it in the dirty rag bin...well...even though this is what I always do...and it has never happened before...apparently even though I could pick the rag up in my hands without thinking it was remotely hot...and even though it had been in there about 15 minutes before we left, and Juanis left after that...even through all of that in the middle of the night it began to smoke and something sparked and the bin was on fire I guess?

The Security guards called Juanis and she had to come in the middle of the night, probably with my bosses, to clean up the mess, Juanis got yelled at by my boss and they were all pretty mad. Juanis said that it had happened before to Adam, a guy that I used to work with.

I was stunned, I hate being yelled at and that is all this was, Juanis was yelling at me. I was so upset I was almost in tears. I was upset that I was being yelled at. I was upset that I had almost set the place in flames. I was upset that no one had ever told me that this could be a problem. I was upset that this happened even though it had never happened before. I felt terrible. I was so worried Mark (my boss) would yell at me. He wasn't in work today though, so I don't know if I will be yelled at anymore. So that's how I felt before I started working. (on top of that my coworkers teased me the whole night about being an Arsonist, the teasing kind of helped to lighten the situation but it made me feel bad still).

Then I started the actual working. The hours weren't long 4-9:30 with a 30 minute break, but i figured we would mostly just be sitting there because it is a Friday night. Every high school student should be at a football game. This was not the case, we were fairly busy. There were four of us working at 5 o'clock, we had a steady flow of customers. Jim was scheduled to leave at 7 but Juanis said that he could leave at 6 because he had somewhere he wanted to be. Shannon was in the bathroom when Jim left, before Jim left he told me that he had finished the work in the back (that is one of the requirements if you leave early). After Jim left we had just about non-stop customers until around 8:30. The night was insane.

This busy Friday night would have been completely terrible if it had not been for one wonderful man. Max Starks, number 78, Pittsburgh Steelers. Max Starks was at the mall with his girlfriend and they got in line for our store, we got pretty excited. Jesse was on register and he could barely speak! So we got to make an order for Max Starks. Jesse, Shannon, and I all got his autograph. I asked what they were doing out at the mall tonight and Max told me that they were doing community service hanging out with a group of mentally disabled kids for the whole day. They were at the mall for the rest of the night. Max came over later in the night to tell us that the food was wonderful. I was really happy to know what he was doing there because it is such a good cause.

Anyways, after Max we had even more customers, we were non-stop until 8:30. At this point Shannon went into the back to discover that Jim had not finished all of the dishes or the floor. So Shannon began that and I went to get change next door. When I got the change I told Juanis that we had been having a problem with the ice container, the melted ice wasn't draining. (Shannon and I had been sticking our hands into the freezing water in an attempt to unclog the drain using methods that had worked previous times we had had this problem, none of our antics worked). Juanis said she would bring over a tool to fix it. So I went back over and began to clean the grill, we got a few more orders as we tried to clean. Juanis came over and used the tool to fix the drainage problem.

After Juanis was done fixing the ice container she looked around and began to comment on all the things that weren't clean, at this time I was cleaning the grill (which requires lots of leaning over the hot surface and scrubbing), Shannon was in the back doing dishes and the floor, and Jesse was filling dressings in the back. So, Juanis was pointing out all this stuff that hadn't been cleaned and I was like Juanis you've seen it, we've been non-stop all night how do you expect us to have it all done. She kept pointing stuff out and I kept telling her we would get to it and we were doing our best and we were working non-stop what more could she ask from us. Each time I said something my voice got louder and stronger. I was so mad. We were working so hard and she comes over and complains. Finally I told her that she could go next door and when it is time to close she can come back and everything will be done. I was, of course, correct.

We worked our butts off...but we did finish all the work. I am now thoroughly exhausted from my crazy day...physically exhausted. My brain is still running, it isn't as though I could sleep or anything.

I think I mentioned every important detail in there...Fire...78...Busy.... Yes, I think that covers just about everything. This is where I'll end my rant for now, though I might write some more tonight. One can never be quite sure.


Loving Everyone Always Forever

First Day

I'm sure you are all curious about my birthday...and I assure you that i will tell you about my birthday soon, but I knew that that would be a longer post than this one about my new job so I decided to post this first.

Sunday I started my first day of my first job! I worked from 1-6 at Steak and Fries at South Hills Village Mall. It was very cool. At first they had me filling the drink orders while I watched the girl work the register and then whenever we had a slow time she would answer my questions. Then it was time for her to go on break so I was left in charge of the register...that was very trusting after only working there for an hour or so. The register isn't too hard to work once you get the hang of it, the computer is slow at first and it takes a while to register when you press certain buttons so you have to remember what the people say, ask them to repeat, or ask them to wait a moment while the computer catches up. It also helped once I learned what was on the sandwiches to begin with and then the extra options.

By the end of the night I got pretty good at the register. I go back on Wednesday from 4-closing. I'll probably get home around 10, it will be a long day! But lots of fun. I really like working. And, I get free food, definitely a plus! haha

Oh, and I get paid, I don't know when or how much...but I get paid. So yes, that is my wonderful job!


Loving Everyone Always Forever

Job

I am extremely happy. It may seem obvious why if you have read the title of this post. But if you are not the brightest then I will enlighten you. I was hired! I now have a job!

I work at South Hills Village Mall at any of the following four places (they are all run by the same person): Gretel's Pretzels, Everything Yogurt and Salad, Taco Bell, Steak and Fries.

People have been asking me how much I will be paid an hour...no clue.

I do know that I will be starting this Sunday from 1pm-6pm. But don't visit me because I don't know what to do haha.

Anyways, that is my exciting Job knews!

Loving Everyone Always Forever