KzsWindow

Work.

There's gotta be a better way to make a living.

Okay, so the deal is... I'm pretty much bent outta shape at the wonderfully fabulous company (Blobbins) that I just started working for. I like the job. It's just fine. The hours are good. I actually like the 3AM to 11:30 AM shift. The problem is that they aren't paying me what they promised that they'd pay me. It's a mistake they say. They'll fix it they say.

They haven't fixed it. They have just managed to screw up my paycheck worse and worse each time I get another one.

I went to Gangley again and told him that this had to be corrected. I am out of patience. I stressed to him that this is starting to cause me PROBLEMS. I'm on my own basically, with two teenaged kids. He smiled at me and nodded, yes he understands. He has spoken to so-and-so and it will be fixed on my next check. *sigh* Well? So far I've heard that every... single... week... since I started there almost two months ago. He just doesn't seem to be concerned about getting this fixed for me.

Hmmm... How shocked is he going to be when I turn in my notice as soon as I find another job with a company that WILL pay me?

Well, I don't know... I am starting to look for something else. Although I like frying donuts for right now, I know that it's going to get boring for me. I also know that eventually I will be moved to benchwork and more into decorating... but you know? Even at that, I am beyond this place. It will bore me. I need to be looking at something along the lines of specialty decorated cakes, restaurant management, or catering.

I was really was sort of hoping that I could just start in with this no-stress job for now... but like I said, I'm having a problem here. I'm not making enough money at it.
And this place is WEIRD. It's weird I tell ya. This town... I swear... it's like Stepford World or something. It's weird. Okay, sooooo.... I came here from living in Florida for most of my life, the Orlando area, and I'm used to life moving at 110 miles per hour. I'm used to hard people, unusual people, an acceptance of all people. I'm used to fast and stressed... I came here and it's... different.

My day begins by pulling into the Blobbins parking lot at 15 till 3 in the AM. I stop in the middle of the back lot to listen to my current favorite tunes, down my coffee, smoke my last cig and twist my hair up in a bun... and I watch them pull in like clockwork... the "Blobbians"...

There are about a half dozen of us that come in at 3am. I'm in the bakery and the rest are deli or common area stockers. (they stock soap, shampoos and cosmetics) I watch them all pull in the same way every day. It's amazing. I swear I could set my watch by them and it's the same every morning. They pull up and back into the spaces, right smack next to each other, right in line, on the far edge of the lot. (yeah that's where we're supposed to park.. but still.. is that NOT weird? Birds in a row...) They speedwalk into the store early. Sometimes a couple of them meet up and cackle like hens while they speedwalk all the way in. Sometimes they run in. They RUN in. I mean full tilt RUNNING. Why do they run? We're early.

I watch them all (this has happened day after day) and then I pull into a space skipping a spot and walk (slowly hobble, because my bum foot is always worse in the morning until I'm on it for a while) into the store to clock in two minutes early. Go figure.

I'm guessing that I've probably totally messed up the next person's day by skipping that parking space.. HAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!!!!

Um kay.. so we were working along and I was frying donuts. We had several large orders so I was really kickin it. I amazed myself and was done with all of the frying by 5AM. Then there was an announcement over the intercom. Being in the back with all of the noise from the equipment, I couldn't really hear it. By then Busy Buns was there and came back to tell me that we needed to evaculate the store. There was a gas leak. OH. So, I turned off the fryers and evacuated with everyone else.

There were firemen all over the place and their trucks out front, complete with lights flashing. We were told that we had to wait for the gas company to come check the store.

I went WAY out to the back parking lot to my car. Eh? It was time for my 10 minute break anyway. It was cold. It was dark. It was 5am. I sat in my car with the heater running and drank my coffee with a cig while I watched the front of the store. I wondered briefly, could I get in trouble for that? Naaaaa....

I looked up to the front of the store... it was all weird. All of the employees were just standing there in a mound right in front of the door. Everybody was just standing there. Of course Busy Buns was with them. It was the typical "Blobbian" group.
Is it just me?

Doesn't that seem strange? I mean... uh.. it's a GAS leak. They felt it necessary to evacuate the store for our safety... soooo... uhhh.. it's a GAS leak... shouldn't we get AWAY from the building just in case something should blow up?

I wasn't going near the place, screw 'um. If I get blowed up, what are my kids gonna do?
I went back towards the store but off to the side and out of the way, where I found a couple of more bakery people. They were both like me wondering why the others didn't get away from the store. (ha! So I wasn't alone in my thinking) One was a cake decorator, which I'm quite fond of, and the other was a baker and she's my buddy for right now. I call her Dreamer.

The baker, Dreamer is an older woman, she's pretty. No. She's beautiful really. She has these great eyebrows and a terrific smile. She is probably another woman that can toss a fifty pound bag of flour on her shoulder like it's nothing. She's blond. I don't think she's really blond but she's one that can pull it off very well. She's probably about the same age as I am, but she's been beaten to pieces worse than I have been. You know what I mean? You can tell by looking at her that life just beat her half to death, but she's still here, and she's still beautiful. She has an inner glow, her eyes glisten. She's a baker. She "runs" our ovens. That is all that she does. Others fill in for her when she's off but basically it's her. She's the one that does the sterotypical "baker" job. She bakes the stuff. She's going to college now too.

Dreamer and I are kindred spirits. I think we saw it in each other from the first time we met. She is the first that I would dare to consider a friend. She recognized right off the bat that I know what I'm doing here. She's another one that's been doing this crap for years. She's always been complimentary and she's helped me out as I've helped her out. If I'm in first I turn on the ovens and get the muffins ready to go in. If she's first she turns on the donut fryers and rinses out the dishwasher. Yeah, we scratch each others backs. And this was happening before we even really started to talk to each other.

Now it was nice because I actually had some time to talk to these two ladies, for us to start to get to know each other. I haven't been able to get to know anyone there because right now while I'm frying donuts, I work by myself in the back away from everyone else most of my day.
We spent about 45 minutes outside... in the cold... in the wind... drinking COLD coffee... waiting. It turned out to be nothing they said. Everyone can return they said. I guess it turned out to be one of the deli's stoves. Thank goodness it wasn't a pipe somewhere or we might've had to close for a while. I certainly can't afford THAT.

I went back in to continue getting the donut orders ready. Even with the delay we'd just had, I was still going to be able to have them done on time. Then Busy Buns came back to start driving me crazy. She was in a panic over the orders. Goodness, I have never seen anyone freak out like she does. She began the process of getting in my way, slowing me down and basically scattering everything that I already had organized for the orders, we butted heads again.

It started out as snapping at each other, but then... somehow we really started talking. It was like everything stopped, we both took a deep breath, looked at each other and began explaining ourselves in a calm conversation.

Busy Buns pretty much dreads dealing with this one customer that is coming to pick up one of those orders. That one HAS to ready on time, because the lady is a real PILL. Well, I certainly understand that. Busy Buns doesn't want to ever get another earfull from this lady. Understood. She's also worried about the fact that I am "new" and she feels like she has to help me along here. Okay, I can understand that too... but you see... I am not "new". I've been doing some type of bakery work and filling orders for over twenty-five years.

Believe me when I first started into bakery work in 1983 and was frying donuts, and then moved on to baking, then cake decorating, then management, then restaurant management, catering, then specialty decorating... well? I never imagined in 1983, when I was frying donuts, that over 20 years in my future I would be... frying donuts... Again.

I explained to her how I had everything organized. The donuts for the orders were arleady DONE and on trays right HERE. If she could just take those trays and go box them up? There was no need to make a mess grabbing random donuts from the trays I had ready for the front case. There was no need to jump in front of me to ice chocolate rings because the ones for the orders were done. By the time she had the orders boxed, I'd have the rest of the donuts for the case ready. I'd even have time to bring them out front for her, since I know she's really busy. Okay? Okay...

We came to an understanding as we stood there looking at each other in amazement.
She took the trays I had ready, put them on another rack and wheeled them out as she said, "I have a headache,"

Hmm. Oh yeah? Well, I have a big fat pain in my buns... But luckily she just left the room.