Continuing to Be Thankful

It is absolutely amazing to me how much stress has disappeared out of my life by going part time at work.   I go in and do what they tell me.   They LIKE what I do.  They THANK ME.  And I come home for another couple days off.   Usually.  I'm only working two or three short days a week now.    Of course, that's all they are paying me for, but still.... it's GREAT!!   They even have managed to realize that the fabric department needs someone to help out more than I could by the few hours I was there and started scheduling another employee-- who just moved into an apartment by herself and needed more money-- more hours in fabrics.  That got me out of the fabric department and back onto the floor.  

I'm working EVERY Saturday now, but it's in the morning.   For a Saturday, these days, that's much better, because they have decided that we not only need to get the store perfectly recovered, all old ad signs taken down, but also that the new ones need to go up.   Generally, on Saturdays the store is badly trashed by closing time because that is when more families are there with multiple KIDS, and GROUPS of teens.   Teens by themselves generally do very well.  But when they get together with their friends, they become a different animal altogether.  They think it's funny to act like two years olds.   They PLAY with stuff and leave it everywhere and they do all this with the appreciative laughs of their friends like these acts are REALLY funny.   So, at the end of Saturdays, it takes longer to get the mess cleaned up. 

Now, management has come up with the new plan that all department heads will CLOSE on the Saturdays they work and they alternate Saturdays.   That means that there is MORE help  usually from noon on to take care of the increasing customer needs and messes.   But it also means that there is hardly any one there in the mornings.    For a couple Saturdays, one when I had to cover fabrics and another when I was gone, the only one to answer calls, help customers, and do price checks on the floor was a manager.    For the last two weeks-- now that I'm not in fabrics on Saturday-- I've been that ONLY ONE.   ONE PERSON for three hours to cover eight, and sometimes nine, departments and be the back-up cashier.  (The fabrics person can sometimes take care of floral calls if she's not cutting fabric.) "Cover" means I have to take all incoming phone call inquiries for those departments, do all price checks and non-receipt return checks, help all customers with questions. (Can you imagine being a customer in that big a store and you walk the store and find ONLY ONE employee to help you?) and go to the register when the lines get long (leaving no one on the floor but a manager. )

Generally speaking, from nine to ten on Saturday morning is not busy with customers.  It's the one hour I generally have to fly in and do as much as I can  to organize myself for the work I've been asked to do that day.  Yesterday it was to replace a side wall that had Candy Melts with wrapping paper and bows.  I had my plan of action, had gathered most of the hardware I needed, and got the replacement merchandise picked out and taken to the floor before I started getting called away for other things.   But, even with doing that, I just did finish up getting that project done before it was time for me to leave because of covering all the other stuff. 

I like my work.  

And my managers like the fact that they can tell me what they want done and then not worry about how the job will get done. 

They like my work.   

I don't leave messes behind.  At least, never on the floor and I try to be sure I never leave a mess in the stock room for someone else to have to deal with either (if at all possible).  Sometimes the job is too big and the floor part MUST get done before I leave.   If it's not a Wednesday, I'll ask if I can stay a little longer (so that I can sort out and put away the stuff  that needs put away after the job is done) and that's not a problem because I work so few hours anyway.   But if they've given me a big project on Wednesday, I sometimes have to leave some stuff behind that I wouldn't otherwise leave, because I don't want to miss church.   One of my issues for going part time was that they refused to give me Wednesday nights off to go to church.   I am NOT going to volunteer to stay longer on a Wednesday night to get anything done and give them the idea that finishing their (never-ending) projects is more important to me than putting God first in my life.

They have changed my scheduling so that I'm now working until six o'clock so that puts me right up against it.  By the time I clock out and get to my car, it's ten to fifteen after six and it takes me thirty minutes to drive home.   Church starts at seven.   I would like to have enough time to shower the sweat off (because I'm generally working so fast and hard that I am sweaty at the end of the day) but I have to settle for having the car's A/C cool me off.  I generally just change out my work shirt for a plain one and go on to church eating something that is quick to eat.  And most of the time, I'm VERY tired when I get there, but I am so glad that I am back to not having to miss Wednesday night church.

I do not dread going to work anymore.  I thank the Lord that I now have a part time job that I like.  I feel like I do need to keep a part time job as long as I am able to work.   My Social Security check just does cover my expenses.... and that's not really including FOOD, which is a necessity.  And it doesn't cover extras.  Like gifts for other people.  A new pair of work shoes, or any shoes for that matter.  Or trips to campmeeting.  Or other things I might like to add a little fluff to my life.   But it does take care of my expenses (but that is only because I have a very gracious and kind brother who takes care of housing and automobile expenses.  I don't have those to deal with at all.  I really wonder how some people make it on their S.S. if they have to pay rent or repair bills for their cars.)

My main concern in my life right now is to re-program myself to some kind of home routine that enables me to get done a lot of the things that I set aside  because of working full time.   Now, I find that even though I have more days off, there are things that come up to fill those days other than all the stuff I had put off to do when I had "more time".  And then too, I got adjusted to the "routine" of home time being time to rest up and relax before the next work day.   Now, I don't need all that rest and relaxation and I need to establish a new perspective.