Hi Ho, Hi Ho: Part II

Part I

I've left you on the edge of your seats for 5 months now while you waited for Part II. I'm sure by now your legs are asleep and you have a weird cramp in your bum from only using a small sliver of booty to sit in your chair. Please, sit back. Here is part 2, and it's pretty good.

So I've got 3 jobs under my belt now and I am just now a senior in high school. Which means I am starting to get a cramp in my hand from filling out all that information on those pesky job applications. But I like working (except not on major holidays which is why I quit the previous job) and having money so I'm out to try and find something new. Just as I had done with my first 3 jobs, I relied on a new friend to get me my next job. I got hired, and started there just in time for the holiday retail season. I was an official Kids 'R Us employee and I really wasn't too fond of kids at all. It was a perfect match for me!

I liked my coworkers and liked that there was a McDonald's next door. (I ordered that #7 Crispy Chicken Sandwich [plain] so many darn times from that McDonald's. And then McDonald's had to go and change their menu and who knows what a #7 is these days, and they definitely don't have the same plain chicken sandwich. Curses!) I don't remember much about the actual job, honestly. I know we got paid on Friday's and sometimes my friend and I would ditch out of school a class or two early to go get our paychecks and go to the mall. I know there was a coworker there that went to the beach for vacation and while hanging out on the beach late one night, was passed by a masked man that had just committed a murder and had to go back to the beach town later to be a witness. (It's crazy what stuff I remember.) I also remember another coworker telling me my hair looked best when in a pony tail, and I still think of that to this day some mornings when I'm getting flustered trying to fix my hair and I pony tail it up.

And then, there's this little story I remember about actually working there, and it coincides with my confession about this job.

Confession: So I mentioned that I started working here during the holiday season, right? So, I was a new girl and was learning the registers just so I could be a back-up cashier should they need me. Well, of course they needed me - it was the holidays after all! So I get called up to the register and a family comes up with a HUGE pile of clothes they were purchasing. No biggie. I can scan, de-hanger, toss in a bag with the best of them. But then, dun dun dun. A COUPON. And I'm sure I'd accepted coupons before, but this one was extra tricky. It was making my register beep and clang and make all sorts of WRONG noises. In an effort not to alert my manager (who was busy with someone else) from the racket my register was making, I just started hitting buttons acting like I knew what I was doing. Eventually, it went through. And maybe it went through a couple times because when I got to the "Your total today is" portion of this transaction, I KNEW the total was way less than it should have been. And I'm sure the patient family knew too. But they didn't say anything and neither did I. I stuffed their receipt as far down in their bag as I could get it and prayed they got out of the store before someone checked their receipt (no idea why that would have happened anyways). They made it out safely, and I never told a soul about the disaster of a transaction I rung up. I just hope that this family still tells the story of the year they were broke and were going to go into overdraft just to clothe their children and then a Christmas miracle happened and the new girl at Kids R Us saved the day. And ever since that day their financial struggles turned around and they lived happily ever after. It totally could have happened, I'm sure of it.

I'm not sure why I quit this job. I think I got mad at the manager or something and never went back? Regardless, I was on to the next job. This time on the job hunt with a different friend. And lucky for us, we were interviewed and hired together. We were the newest employees of The Great American Cookie Company.

I've talked about this job before because I loved it so so much. There are SO many stories I could tell you about this job. Like how each morning when baking the cookies for the day I'd make myself a special cookie(s) - a peanut butter cookie topped with the cinnamon/sugar topping we used on the snickerdoodles. I'm drooling just thinking about it. Or sometimes I'd make a chocolate chip cookie for myself but I'd get rid of all of the chips first. Or lots of other concoctions that I came up with over my couple of years here.

Yes, those glasses are gigantic and I cannot remember why I was wearing them. They weren't mine if that helps my case at all.)

 Lots of things happened here. One manager got fired for sexual harassment (he didn't harass me!). Another coworker was fired for stealing a Powerade (because the register was coming up exactly $40 short every time he worked and no one could prove it was him so they had to find another reason and fast!), another manager was fired for taking two cookie cakes for himself (another had-to-find-a-reason issue - he had all sorts of problems and winded up in prison not too long afterwards) and several other coworkers became great friends. I only left this job begrudgingly because it was a corporate store that was then sold to a franchisee, and I didn't want to work for the new franchise owner because I was mad. Basically. Don't come into my perfect cookie world trying to change things up. I'M LEAVING. & that was that. Sad.

LOVED decorating the cookie cakes. What I wouldn't give for a giant bucket of icing right now.

CONFESSION: I ate way too many cookies at this job. And then, when it was time to throw out the cookies at the end of the day, I took entirely too many "old" cookies home and ate them too. & I think I wore size 5 jeans and was skinny and never had to worry about it at all. On second thought, maybe I'm glad I quit when I did, as I think I left my high metabolism there on the counter. I wonder if it's still there; I'd love to go back and retrieve it. It may help with the 6 cookies (not Great American cookies, sadly) that I had as my "side" for dinner last night. A piece of grilled chicken and cookies. Sounds delish right?

After that job, I started working in a toy store in the same mall. Again, I got this job because of a friend I made while working at the cookie store. He worked at a different mall store that ended up closing and he got the job at the toy store, and then hired me. Apparently I'm afraid to get a job without someone I know there.

Worked here for the next couple of years while I was in college. Learned a lot about toys (Thomas the Train, Beanie Babies, Lee Middleton Dolls, Calico Critters, etc.) and ended up maybe getting fired from this job. It wasn't really clear. Same friend that got me the job basically wrote me off the schedule and on one day I was scheduled to work by myself, I showed up for my shift and another coworker was there and said that he'd been called in to work. We called "friend", confused, and he basically said coworker was supposed to work and for me to go home. That was my last day there and I've been confused on what happened ever since. "Friend" and I hadn't really been getting along so much anymore anyways, so I cut my losses and moved on. It had gotten awkward with him, and I obviously had no problem jumping from job to job. This was my 5th job in 5 years, after all.

CONFESSION: I still didn't like kids. No idea why I chose to work at a toy store.

Also, this is getting boring for me now, so instead of dragging this out to a third edition, let me finish this real quick.

After the mysterious toy store "firing", I worked at Dillard's in the same mall for a bit.

Then right before I graduated college, I got a job in a call center at Wachovia to sort of get my foot in the door there.

Once I graduated, I got transferred within Wachovia to my first real job as a Database Analyst or some ridic title. I hated that job more than I've ever hated a job, EVER. So awful. Stayed there almost two years, and that "experience" got me my current job as a Financial Analyst, and then Senior Financial Analyst. I've been here five years. Or, I've been THERE five years. Saying HERE implies that I'm currently at work and blogging, and that's a ludicrous idea that I'd be doing anything besides work at work. Ludicrous, I tell you.

Into the Archives: Alaska

(When not much is going on in my present-day Life of Lacey, I'll go back to the archived Life of Lacey. You know, that time way back when before 'blog' was even a word....well maybe not in this case, but definitely before 'Life of Lacey' was born!)


Two years ago, my parents and I were flying back from a vacation of a lifetime. We had just spent 9 adventurous days in Alaska that we won't soon forget. Well, I hopefully won't forget but I can't make any promises since my memory is dicey. But still, I'll always have these pictures. & they can't even do it justice.

We visited Anchorage, Seward, Denali and Talkeetna all without renting a car. I had arranged for buses or trains to get us to every city, and everything was either within walking distance from there or a shuttle would come pick us up at our hotel to get us wherever we would need to be. This was, by far, my favorite trip I have ever planned!

But, instead of telling you the big stories, here are some of the little stories that I remember from this trip.

ANCHORAGE

When we arrived in Anchorage we had to find a way to get to our hotel from the airport. I knew we could take a cab, but in an effort to save some money and see the "real" Alaska, I had printed the public bus schedule out and knew that if our flight arrived on time we would get there just in time for the last bus route of the day. We made it on time and lugged our gigantic suitcases onto the bus.

When we paid our fare, the bus driver warned us to not slip and fall on the liquid that had leaked all over the floor. We were careful and made our way to our seats and discovered that the mystery liquid all over the bus floor was beer. Welcome to Alaska!

But, in all honesty the bus ride was very pleasant and the bus was clean (besides the little beer hiccup) and was not full of scary people. And, if that's not good enough, the bus driver pointed out one of our only moose sightings along some railroad tracks we stopped by. You can't get that tour-guidish service from most public bus drivers!

However, we were not too enthused with this particular moose. He had no antlers! What good is an antlerless moose? We soon realized that it was too early in the season for moose to have antlers since they lose them in late autumn and just start developing new ones in spring. But I didn't know that at the time so I'd like to take this time to publicly apologize to that moose for snubbing him. Apology accepted Mr. B. Winkle?

SEWARD

Dolphins don't excite me. I mean, I see them almost every morning when we vacation in Daytona. Sharks...well, they are exciting for a minute, as long as I'm up on a pier and not in the water with them. But the sea creature that I've always wanted to see is a whale. Whales are mysterious. Hard to imagine just how gigantic they are. (Except for that one time at Sea World where the current "Shamu" jumped out of the water and showed me his size, but that doesn't count.)

When we would go on dolphin cruises on vacation I would secretly be hoping to see a whale instead. Regardless of the fact that if a whale did come by for a visit he could have easily capsized our little dolphin-watching boat. Now THAT would be an adventure!

But finally, I got my chance to see real whales on a whale-watching cruise in Seward and it was amazing. But the one thing I learned is that we always seem unenthused with whatever we are used to. The lady that sat beside me was a local and obviously used to seeing whales and was just along to bring some out of state friends on this cruise. She was clearly unenthused by the local wildlife just as I am with dolphins:

She slept through the whole thing! With a coat over her head! She clearly was not impressed.

So, I then decided that I need to be thankful for the local wildlife that I am able to see regularly as well. I would like to take this time to publicly apologize to the local dolphins I may have previously snubbed. Apology accepted, Mr. F. Lipper?

DENALI

The major thing to do while in Denali is to go on a tour through Denali National Park. Actually, I'm pretty sure it's the ONLY thing to do. Well, that, and stay in a cabin on the side of a mountain that is so crooked you can't even set a drink on your nightstand without it falling. But if given the choice to stay in that cabin or one of the nicer resorts again, I would choose the cabin hands down. It's all a part of the experience!

So, we (along with the other busloads of people) met at a resort early one morning to begin our 6 hour tour through Denali park. The tour buses were all completely sold out and since we were a group of 3, and the rows consisted of only 2 seats each, we chose to sit in the very back row which had 5 seats across so we could all sit with each other.

As we made our way into the park, our tour guide told us we were very likely to see grizzly bears and that we would be allowed to put the bus windows down and take pictures but to be very quiet when doing so. The reason, he said, was because these were wild animals and they didn't want them to get used to the sound of the human voice. Something about if they got used to humans they may incidentally get too close because they wouldn't be scared and bad things could happen. Whatever, that's not important.

What IS important, is that our bus tour guide dude spotted a grizzly just off the side of the road having a morning snack consisting of a berry of some sort. We were lucky that the bear was on our side of the bus so we had ample picture-taking opportunities through our opened window. Our neighbors to our left, however, couldn't get close enough to get a good picture so they asked me to take one for them. While handing me their camera, I forgot the quiet rule and made some joke of some sort in my normal speaking volume (with the windows still open...GASP!), and the ENTIRE bus turned around and shushed me!

Hello red face!

I would like to take this time to publicly apologize to Mr. Yog E. Bear for disturbing breakfast with the sound of my voice. And to please ask him not to maul the next hiker you see because you heard my voice and thought it was okay. I do not want to be an accessory to the crime!

TALKEETNA

This city was mainly a stop over from the long ride from Denali to Anchorage so I wasn't here long enough to offend any animals. We were here just long enough, however, to take a little plane ride to see Mt. McKinley. 'Little' being the operative word there...the plane just held 10 people, including the pilot and co-pilot.

The pilot must have thought that of the other 6 guests on the plane that we looked the most trustworthy and responsible. For me, I was seated in the very back (which coincidentally wasn't that far away from the very front) because he wanted me to be in charge of the emergency exit. He showed me all the latches and such and I assured him I would be able to handle the task at hand. I think.

For my dad, however, he must have trusted him to pilot the plane instead of just co-pilot. He had, after all, learned to drive a dogsled earlier in the week...how much harder could a plane be? Because when boarding, the pilot instructed my dad to go sit in the seat on the right, but instead he went straight to the seat on the left (the pilot's seat) and sat down.

I would like to take this time to publicly apologize to Mr. Pilot for rubbing off on my dad for a few minutes. I too have trouble with my left and right and it was a perfectly honest mistake (which made for a great picture!).

_________________

Whew! I feel better now that I've shed 2 year old Alaskan guilt! How are you feeling? I bet you're needing a nap after reading all of that!

Into the Archives: The Blair Witches

(When not much is going on in my present-day Life of Lacey, I'll go back to the archived Life of Lacey. You know, that time way back when before 'blog' was even a word.)

For about a year during high school, I worked at a movie theater as an usher, ticket taker, ticket seller, and popcorn seller extraordinaire. I have only had one job in my life that I did not like, and this one was definitely NOT one of them. I loved this job and the people there. And not to mention the benefits! No no no, not the kind of benefits that first come to mind as an adult...not health insurance, 401K, and all of that boring adult stuff, but FUN benefits. Such as:

• Free popcorn and soda.
• $1 Nachos and/or Hot dogs.
• Free movies anytime for myself.
• Family could come see free movies with or without me.
• Up to 4 friends could see free movies as long as they were with me.
• And last but not least, we got to screen the new movies before they were released.

The screenings typically happened after the movie theater closed on weeknights. During the summer between my junior and senior year of high school, I was able to stay and see these movies that typically would start around midnight.

During that summer The Blair Witch Project was released. Before I became a big weenie as I am now, I used to actually enjoy seeing scary movies. Even better if we got to see them in a movie theater at midnight! So one night in July, myself and all of my coworkers stayed to watch the very talked about Blair Witch Project. Little did I know how much that stupid movie would affect me.

After the movie was over I headed home with visions of wooden dolls and witches in my mind. My parents' house is nestled back in the woods; a scene very similar to the setting of the Blair Witch Project. Most nights, my parents would make sure to leave the giant flood light (that illuminates the very dark driveway) on for when I was coming home late. This night, conveniently, they forgot.

I pulled up into the pitch-black driveway, put the car in park, and couldn't bring myself to get out. I sat there with my headlights on worrying that some crazy witches were going to run out of the woods and attack me as soon as I stepped out of the car. I sat in the car for about 1o minutes, thinking every rustled leave had a witch standing behind it ready to pounce. When I finally convinced myself that I could outrun witches (I mean, shouldn't be too hard...they have stubby little legs after all) I made a mad dash for the door and slammed it behind me. I was sure I had just slammed it in their faces and barely escaped death.

Over the next few months (okay, maybe a year) this pattern continued. Turns out, it didn't matter if the flood light was on or not - I was still a scaredy cat every single night. Soon I was taking the stairs 3 at a time and those creepy little witches didn't have a chance.

Today, I am proud to say I have outgrown my witch paranoia. Didn't even have to go to witchy support groups or anything!

However, some of the things I picked up from scary movies have stuck with me...in this case, the movie Urban Legend. Cause every time I get into my car by myself at night, I do a quick backseat sweep with my hand. I am too scared to look while I do it, but I will sweep my hand across the seat and then the floorboards to make sure that someone isn't crouched down and lurking while waiting to pull one of these maneuvers:

But hey, you can never be too careful! If you have any questions I'll be glad to teach you this little tactic... you just let me know!