Past weeks review
I have decided I just don’t have that much time to post every day nor would that be very interesting instead I am going to post the past weeks highlights for you guys…
New Job:
For those who don’t know I started working at Micheal’s Arts and Crafts in the framing department. Its been a more or less sink or swim experience like most of my jobs… I basically am thrown in the position with little or no training and have to find my way on my own. I was telling striogi this he mentioned that this is a chronic problem with north cal… So the first day I went in was only suppose to be to fill out paper work but as I finished that the assistant manager brought me over to the framing department and asked it I wanted to work till 7pm and basically left me with a lady who did even work at our location… I might add here that she does work in framing and is very nice but her store is a completely different design than ours and has been updated whereas ours is ancient disorganized and seriously in a need of an overhaul… she sets me to work fixing up our section and restocking it… I must note here that she did not tell me how to do this about 5 min later I realize that this is dumb and there has to be a better way so I look at the price sticker markers on the shelving and figure out that the bar code numbers are on the sticks and then begin filling the shelf at lightning speed… this whole time there is a guy walking around our section and periodically staring at me… but I really pay him no mind… I see that there are 5 spots for a certain photo album and there are 5 colors and so take them all off the shelf and lie them on the ground and start matching them in color piles… aforementioned guy comes over and asks me what I’m doing and I explain that I am arranging the colors so it will be easier for people to find what they are looking for… he asks how I know where they go and I tell him about the numbers… he then asks how long I have been working here and I tell him about an hour though the first 30 min was spent on paper work… he then smiles reaches out his hand and says “Hi my names Bob I’m your boss.” Apparently he does this to almost every new person... or so I have been told. He then asks me who taught me about the system and looks surprised when I tell him I figured it out on my own… He then explains that our master framer (aka the boss of my department) is ill and his doctor wont let him come back till Oct. so this leaves Viggo (his name is Viggo Mortensen no joke seriously) Gitta and Anthony that’s it and me running a whole framing department that includes everything from remade mats and frames to framing hardware to custom mats and frames…
I come in on Monday, which is memorial day the start of one of the hugest store wide sales Michael’s has and oh ya my second day of work… the first 5 min I’m there I learn to change the blade on the glass cutter and spend the next 45min practicing cutting glass… then I learn how to do all the counter stuff by watching the others since there is no time to train me. I have only a 4 hour shift but by the end I have learned to clock in (that have this old plastic punch card system), run the custom order program (though I still am not in the system and have to put my orders under others names), run the cash register (though I didn’t get my number till Thursday), file the mat samples and frame samples.
Tuesday I learn to assemble the back of a frame. This means rolling this sticky stuff across the back of the frame, apply the blue acid free paper, cut the exes off, measure and drill in the metal wall hangers and attach the wire and slap and a Michael’s custom framing sticker. After that I set to work on stocking and organizing the shelves only to realize the defy the laws of physics… basically the monkey who put the labels on did it wrong and didn’t allow enough space for what should be there… it gets worse when I look at the pog (plan-o-gram the thing the tell you what’s suppose to go where and such) its for Feb. and the stickers are for july. The July pog is completely missing and the stickers and the pog that are there don’t even come close to matching… I bring this to Tami who is in charge of doing the pog and stickers for the rest of the store. No one can remember who did our section but that we have to have the new pog’s faxed from San Lorenzo since that is the only one that has the same length shelves as us. Aside from this I’m still doing the counter stuff… wed follows in the same manner and I kept finding problems with the shelving that have been going unnoticed… aside from that I realize that we have 3 clocks in framing and non are the same nor are any of them correct either
Thursday I am finally given my number to log into the cash register and a good thing to because due to a scheduling mistake I am left completely alone in my department from 5-6:30pm and in that time two customers order custom orders… the second wants to pay with check so I have to call Bob to sign it for me… after the lady leaves he turns to me and asks if I made this alone… I explain I did because I have been alone for an hour now and he gives me a high 5 because it was about 1k worth of product (we were having a half off sale though)
Sunday I set to work on restocking the pre cut mats only to realize they also are in horrible shape and through the course of about 4 hours I get it all done (this takes this long not because its that hard or that I’m slow but because I have to help customers with other things and do counter) and then there’s the second scheduling mistake apparently no one realized they had me closing framing alone even though I had never closed period before nor had anyone told me what to do… but Tami comes to rescue and walks me throw it and then I in turn help her and the other clean up the store and I get out about 8 even though we closed at 7
Today I set to work the moment I get on the floor to resting and cleaning the framing hardware’s section... unsurprisingly at this point it is in complete disarray half of the things on the pegs aren’t even the things that are suppose to be there they aren’t in order and the planogram we have to it won’t help since its for a 4ft. unit and ours is only 3ft. so I start working on that and at the end of my shift its still not really done due to the fact that I kept getting asked where things are most of which I have no clue about since I work in framing and the only knowledge of the rest of the store I have is based on things I have bought my self or already found for someone else… I also learned today more or less how to use the scanner guns… I leave work late because as I’m leaving bob and lina ask me about what I’ve been doing and seem thrilled that I am such a take charge person…
Don’t get me wrong I really like my job it’s interesting, fast paced and new… I am just left to wonder what the hell they did in framing before I was there… I have been there only a little over a week and have already learned everything counter floor side… when things calm down or Ray comes back they will actually start my official shop training… till then I am just busy making our department look good its nice to be needed and I am slowly making my self irreplaceable…
Life:
Been spending a lot of time hanging out with Striogi and all the people around him mostly a whole lot of running around… its fun even doing the mundane things like being food… this is also why I am almost never home, need to do Landry and have been neglecting writing in my journal… or reading my email… went to the Mountain View Art and Wine on Sunday with Striogi it was fun… not to bash the previous boy in anyways but I was fun to go with someone who was interested we looked at a lot of art tried some free organic foods spent a long ass time waiting for coffee and managed not to get sunburned… we went to a Zen clothing booth and got some shirts mine reads: Dream (with the symbol) a glimpse into all that you might have missed during the day”. We also went into a silk screen both where there was a gentleman busy eating his lunch and generally ignoring the people there striogi asked how much something was and the man didn’t respond and then I noticed a little hand written sign which read: “I am sorry if I appear to be ignoring you I am deaf. If you have a questions please tap on my shoulder.” Striogi then preceded the have a conversation with the man in sign while I just stood there in awe. The gentleman at one point gestured to me and I can only guess that Striogi told him I could not speak sign. I should note that the whole time striogi was wearing his awesome faire hat… all the vendors thought it was fab the patrons on the other hand looked at us like we were circus freaks or something…
After that we went back to his place got the car, drove to my place changed then we went and got Keith and headed over to Great Mall for some Fresh choice. The family next to us was practically leaning in to hear our conversations course it did involve sex, art stupid people and my boobs… after that we headed over the his parents house so Keith could talk with Melanie about his new faire costume and I sat with everyone else and watched online cartoons at www.illwillpress.com… I was sitting mostly to stop from shaking since I was very nervous but all went well… so we went back to Striogi's and watched this weird post apocalyptic Japanese film called “Dragon’s Blood” I think…. Slow passed and strange is an accurate description of it I think. Keith’s friend called and well all headed over to pick her up and then went back to Great Mall to watch The Covenant which was cool but choppy and parts seemed to be missing. Striogi thought they were trying to do the same type of thing as star wars but I can’t honestly remember what the film term was called… other than that I have been watching an ungodly amount of Battle Star Galactica (we are on season 2 now) which I love and am hooked on…
School:
I started school which meant getting up at 6am (yuck) getting on the train… I made the mistake of drinking my coffee then so I could not sleep on the train and so I wrote… got to things done but they are not fit for anyone eyes but one person… got to school just fine and found a lot of my former classmates in my class but none of my friends *tear* our teacher is very nice but firm and I am going to try hard to draw the face the way he wants us to… I have heads and hands 2 on Fridays this sem and unlike most of my previous life drawing classes this one is in color and we will be learning a wide range of mediums the point of this being that when we graduate from the illustration department we will be able to work in all artistic mediums for illustration even digital… but I am reminded once again of how much I need to improve in drawing from life… its just far harder for me and I spent most of my time in class mentally kicking my ass and wondering why I thought I could be an artist… I told like drawing in front of others it makes me very nervous… I don’t like being judged for my incomplete work… I prefer to work at home in my studio… I have my other 3 classes starting this week tomorrow I have Illustrative digital Imaging (basically coloring with wacom tablets) and on wed. I have clothed figure 2 and creative writing oddly with the same teacher I had for English spring sem.
Relationships:
Been seeing Striogi since just before Pittsburg and its been going really well and he makes me smile more than I think I ever have… he’s an awesome person who likes me for me… I feel really comfortable with him and he with me or he wouldn’t let me stay there… its going to be a long road however… we have both had a lot of bag experiences that we do not wish to repeat but like all life it’s a journey of learning… I little while back I surprised him by cleaning his place while he was off gaming which he really seemed to appreciate… we both have our hang ups fears and crap we have to work through but so does everyone… everything was going ok and slow but Sat night we were listening to the radio coming back from the store when it hit me like a brick… he noticed and I dodged questions and just ended up making myself feel ill and so Sunday morning I got up the courage and did something that I had never done before which for me was very brave and asked him out… and he said yes…
So that’s the story for now the rest is still unwritten