8/17-/18

Is there anything better than two days off? Well maybe three days off but that's not going to happen for quite a while. As several people pointed out the biggest problem with working the graveyard shift is the temptation to go to bed at a regular hour rather than according to your new schedule. What would happen is that when work time rolled back around you would be dragging all night, and my first day back is the busiest of the week, Friday.

On Wednesday and Thursday I found myself wide awake at three in the morning. Do you know what there is to do in a small town at 3 am? Nothing. Do you know what's open at 3 am? Just the truck stop where I work and I sure as heck don't want to go there on my nights off. So in the end I watched late night, early morning TV. Do you know whats mostly on at 3 am? Infomercials. Fortunately some stations re run their original programs late at night so at least I caught up on shows I missed, so I got that going for me.

One of the good things about my schedule is that mid day every place is open. With everything being up in the air for two months plus the potential for no income I hadn't gotten my mother anything for her birthday. Since I was off and now had a few bucks in my pocket I took her out to lunch. Nobody eats out on Thursday at 11:00 am, they are all off at work and if they do make plans it's for Friday night. We got right in, got a good table and our food was ready right away. She was happy, I was happy and now I can plan to get her a really nice Christmas present.

And so my first official "weekend" off was pretty much uneventful. Things will probably change as I get into my new venture but for now I'm just enjoying the peace of mind knowing where my next paycheck is coming from.

Found money 0 

8/19

Back to work. I knew it was going to be a good night when I walked in and the manage was there. She wanted to give me my pass code for the register and the safe, then she wanted to give us (the shift) instructions on cleaning up the walk in cooler. Then she made a general comment about someone leaving empty juice bottles in the cooler and anyone getting caught taking stuff without paying for it would be fired on the spot, no questions asked.

The next omen of the night was a customer who only had $100 bills and they were getting just under twenty dollars worth of stuff. There went all the change in my drawer. I wanted to drop some more bills from the safe and asked the experienced co worker how to do it, she looked at me like I was speaking Martian. After a bit of effort, and I was almost up to the "making gestures while speaking like she was a 5 year old" point when she finally understood that I had no change in my drawer and needed to see how to drop cash from the safe.

I had told my co worker I needed tens and fives so she told me to feed some bills into the safe and it would allow me to drop that same amount back so I did. I had clearly said I needed to drop fives and tens and she clearly said "feel all the money into the safe", the problem was now all I could drop was fives, you have to feed the ingoing bills separately. So I was stuck with just fives and I know that I am going to have to learn from trial and error and hopefully I don't make any big money mistakes.

Later that night another guy paid with a $100 but I had change this time. I counted back his change and the co worker was in awe. She asked me how I counted it that way. I told her I took the guys total, started with the coins and just counted my way up. If you have worked a register and you can't count back change....well, you gotta love the American education system. Alanis Morrissette

The night was mostly uneventful. The walk in cooler was cleaned and straightened and the general side work got done. Towards the end of the night I was listening to the radio and Christina Perri came on. The other co worker said "Hey, its Alanis Morrissette. I told him  that it was Perri so instead he suddenly says "I dated Alanis's sister". O....K...... first off Morrissette is from Canada and secondly she doesn't have a sister. I strung the guy on for a while but I sure hope he isn't one of those people who tells big stories to feel big about himself because those people annoy the heck out of me. 

Finally the night was wrapping up so I started getting ready for the shift end. I went to drop my spare cash and was digging out a paper clip. As I was doing this I ran my finger across some hidden staples and cut my thumb, since it was a jagged cut it bled like crazy so I was trying to count bills and ring stuff out while holding a paper towel on the cut area.

The morning crew was late, of course, and finally I got to ring out of the register. I went home, put some peroxide and a band aid on my cut and went to bed. I have been on the job less than a week and I already don't want to go back.

Found money, 10 cents. 

8/20

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night! While other people are hitting the bar or the midnight movie, or the sheets, I am at work. At least it wasn't going to be a busy night, customer wise, because most travellers are waiting until Labor Day to take their last great hurrah of the summer.

I told my co worker to be prepared for a slow night and he told me I was wrong. He said there was some high school football game going on somewhere and we were going to be busy all night. When the auction car guys showed up he said "see". The auction car guys are the ones who go to the monthly impound and seized car sale, buy up a bunch of abandon vehicles and then drive them to Texas, where they either do a quick tune up for resale or chop them up for parts. I was going to say, "well wait 20 minutes and see what happens", but I decided to let it slide. 

I've learned something about my coworker, he's a contradictor. Whatever I say he immediately tells me I'm wrong. I say the sun will come up in the morning and he has to tell me how it comes up in the afternoon. I say that it's going to be a slow night and he has to tell me of how busy it's going to be, and so on. Again, I just shake it off. Worse he constantly has to interrupt me. I start to say something, get mid sentence and he has to tell me how if he hadn't done it better he knows the guy who did. A "for instance", a couple of people told us they were in the middle of a 16 hour drive so I mentioned how I once did 12 hours non stop. He had to come back with the time he drove 32 hours, non stop. I just said O...K... and went to check the walk in cooler.

I guess I got spoiled at my old job where I didn't have to deal with co workers. It was me, the Big Boss and Boss jr. I showed up, I did my work and I went home. The only person I had to deal with was me. Now I have to deal with 8 other people and their problems. When 6 rolled around I was ready to go home but the Hippie boy from the morning shift wasn't there. He called a little after and said he was going to be late. By 7:30 he finally came drifting in, and clearly was wasted. Seriously, if you can't get out of bed in the morning without getting stoned you need to do a serious life check.

So I finally got to bed at 8 am, two hour after my usual sleep time. I was suppose to go to some family get together at noon but I was passed out so I skipped it. Thanks hippie boy. Oh well it's my hump day and from midnight to 5 it will be slow again.

Oh why is my genius not understood in my lifetime.

Found money 20 cents and a silver dime. 

8/21

Since I live three blocks from work I usually walk but as I stepped out the door the rain was coming down, so I took my truck. Instead of a 10 minute walk it was a two minute drive. I figured I would arrive early at work.

When I got there the other guy, who shall be known as Guy Coworker, was already there. When you first show up you count out your drawer and log in so the afternoon crew can log out and go home. He was counting the single packs of cigarettes (the other thing we do at the first and end of each shift). He did this on purpose so he wouldn't have to log in to a register. Guy Coworker is starting to get on my nerves.

The other woman on the shift showed up and logged into the other drawer and we were off to work. My first customer of the night was a truck driver who was taking a break from driving. He started telling me about bad drivers and soon we were talking about the crazy things people do behind the wheel. He told me about the best and worse places he had driven. He told me about impossible places he had to pull heavy loads and of course he told me about the police who don't know how to do their jobs. He hung out for almost an hour. Personally I love hearing travel stories so I enjoyed every minute of it, that and people kept going to the other register since they thought he was being waited on.

On a side note, Guy Coworker who bragged about driving a million miles as a professional truck driver went to the other side of the building while the truck driver and I chatted. One would think that a guy who was a professional long haul driver and enjoys being the center of attention would want to stick around and share his stories, and chat about the technical side of driving. Now why would he avoid a conversation with a real truck driver about the profession he knows so much about? Hmmm....

For the rest of the night I mostly just did this and that. I wiped down really dirty shelves, stocked and organized the walk in cooler, cleaned around the lot and so on. My two coworkers mostly sat behind the counter and chatted. Guy Coworker is flirting hard with Gal Coworker, and one of the women on another shift at the same time. I don't think his wife likes it too much and am expecting high drama in the not to distant future. If you are living in your in-laws house and they are taking care of your four kids it's a good idea to be faithful to your wife, at least a little. But as I like to say, I don't mind being in the Soap Opera but I prefer to be one of the characters in the background. Meanwhile  Guy Coworker is really starting to get on my nerves. 

The rest of the night consisted of tourists and truck drivers but nothing too noteworthy. At about an hour before the end of the shift I closed out my register and balanced out for the night. Since it's not that busy the morning shift can come in, counted their drawers and open right away. As soon as the two crew members came in I clocked out and left. Both Guy and Gal Co Worker had to finish out the rest of the paperwork and close out the day, bwa ha ha ha. But I figured since I had been stuck there for an extra hour and a half and since Guy Coworker was avoiding running a register I earned the right.

I got home and went straight to bed. I must be adapting to the schedule because I slept until 1 in the afternoon. So far, other than one annoying Guy I don't mind working the graveyard shift. What does this mean? Oh well, next week when I am sleeping better I am going to get back into my sculpture work and start seeing about getting some equipment for my new project. Even though I am working in the dark, the future actually looks kind of bright. 

Did I mention there was a small earthquake today? Well there was a small earthquake today.  

Found money 25 cents 

8/22

Lesson of the night, don't get so wrapped up in a TV show before you go to work that you aren't paying attention. As I was walking in the building I saw my reflection in the door and realized I hadn't changed my shirt, I was still wearing my Yellowstone instead of the black work shirt. Oh well, I won't make that mistake agian.

Last night was the first time I didn't have to work with Guy Coworker and I didn't mind at all. Instead I was working with the other woman on the shift, I'll call her Shift Supervisor since she has been working there the longest, perhaps as much as three months. She is a compulsive cleaner and spent the majority of the night scrubbing things down. Working with a cleaner isn't bad but I end up on the register for most of the night and it makes the time go by slooooow.

About midnight the whole building had a bit of a rattle as there was another earthquake, I guess New York was shaking at the same time except that is real news. :) If I had been outside at the time I probably wouldn't have even noticed but since I was next to a rack I saw it shake. People from the Colorado side of the mountain said it shook hard enough to knock things off shelves, I guess I should go check to make sure everything is secure.

The most intersting thing of the night was when the garage band rolled in. They were in a beat up old van and obviously doing the bar circuit. Perhaps some day they will be famous and I can say "hey, I saw them when...." but when you work  late at night in a somewhere between here and there gas station you see a lot of wannabes.

The night finally wrapped up and after killing the last hour it was time to go home. The day manager came and started her shift but the hippie boy hadn't arrived yet. She was doing her paperwork so I was running her register for her. She had broken one of the cardinal rules and had authorized a pump without a card or cash deposit. When I looked out nobody was on it and nobody was paying for it. If they try to blame me I'm going to be pissed and never again will I help her out, fair warning. Boy, working sure is fun. 

Found money 25 cents. 

8/23

Tuesday night was just what I expected, well mostly. Generally mid week on the graveyard is soooo slooow. It's the time of week when you do all the side work, stacking, stocking, sweeping and scrubbing and so on. Sure enough we had customers from ten to midnight and then things just dropped off. Other than a bunch of truck drivers doing their mandatory down time there wasn't another awake soul in the area.

We did the usual, the Shift Manager scrubbed down the restrooms which I don't mind at all and I stocked and organized the walk in cooler, next time I have to remember to bring my jacket. Generally we don't get busy again until 5 but today was different.

Around three o'clock the construction guys started rolling in. We weren't ready for them since they were two hours early so the Shift Manager was rushing to make a fresh pot of coffee and I was manning the register. It seems that they were doing a concrete pour and they had to be ready for the cement trucks so they were getting an early start. I felt sorry for them because they generally work until 6 pm so that meant they went home, ate got a couple of hours of sleep and were now off to work before the sun came up. The good thing for us was that we wouldn't have the usual mob scene at 5. 

After they cleared out I did the outside work, picked up trash, checked the squeegee buckets and dumped the trash. At 5 things started up again and we got ready for the end of the shift. I was glad when 6 finally rolled around because I am off for the next two day....or so I thought.

Turns out that one of the women on the morning shift was going to the doctor to have some stitches removed, I never asked what was sewn up, and she wanted me to cover her shift. Looks like tomorrow morning I will be going to work at 6 am, which means my sleep schedule is going to be way off. I figure I will go to bed early tonight so I can get up early tomorrow and go to work. Then I need to take a nap tomorrow afternoon so I can stay up late so I will sleep Friday morning and then I can go to work on Friday night. I hope that made sense. Just for the record I'm not complaining since the company pays an hourly wage and it means I will be on golden time by the end of the week. 

Just for fun tomorrow when I go in I plan to tell Ray (It's not Guy Coworkers real name but he is more like a Ray than his real name) that they are getting ready to fire the Hippie on the morning shift and they want me to take over. It's not the case but I know it will bug him. Yes I'm just that evil.  

Found money 22 cents and a 1946 wheat penny.