The Kiosk from HELL

All right, so I've worked a total of three days in Clifton Park now... AND I HATE EVERY LAST MINUTE OF IT. EVERY LAST ONE.

I shit you not, this is the KIOSK FROM HELL.

Let me just list the reasons with small explanations. Otherwise this will get too lengthy. WAAAAAAAY too lengthy. And it's going to be long as it is. :P

Before we go there though, please bear this in mind. I am the assistant manager at this kiosk. Alix is still the head manager, but since she can't be there 90% of the time, I'm in charge. So I'll be working 40 hour weeks at this thing, and managing most of the bookwork and stuff. I'm also responsible for training the others and helping them, and for keeping everything in order. My responsibilities have gone up, and I don't mind this. And I wouldn't mind the 40hr weeks either... except that I REALLY HATE THIS KIOSK.

Let me begin...

1. As of Thursday when I got there, we did not have storage space. We were told it wasn't part of our lease agreement, and our legal department was immediately after the mall because it most definitely was a part of the agreement. Thankfully by noon that same day we had a storage space... however it is all the way across the parking lot and behind another building, not that accessible, and not safe to walk to after dark alone, I don't care how many cops are around. Alix agrees. And to top it all off, we share it with the mall who is currently building the Santa set in there. Yeah... so it's not even our own space. And it's definitely not inside the same building like it was supposed to be.

2. The modem was busted. So we couldn't boot the register fully, and had no access to the verifone, meaning no credit card sales. This went from the first day when we were just stocking, before we were open, through to the second day. About 3pm that day though, we finally got it all working. Had to overnight a new modem, and then that didn't work so I don't know what Alix did... but everything was kind of working right then.

3. We had to create a new register boot disk. Thankfully we have a backup one on hand, because the master one is totally corrupted. We couldn't get it to work right on Thursday, and today when I got there it didn't work either and I was on the phone with Alix forever trying to get the register online. Thankfully the backup one worked, and then it was just a matter of fiddling to get the base fund accepted so that we could do transactions.

4. Because of where the storage area is, we have no place for the PC that controls the kiosk and stuff. I don't know exactly how all that works, I just know we need the PC. Well, at first we were told to just keep it under the kiosk, but that meant no place for the security curtains. Thusly we gave up two bins for understock to store the security curtains. But we still couldn't have the PC there because it wasn't accessible enough. So we got a small table on Friday and that's where it now sits.

5. The security curtains still can't go under the kiosk because we need that space for the money box and our jackets and bags. We originally would have used the storage area... but that's just not possible.

6. Borders didn't ship us all the calendars so we have empty spaces on the shelves. This also means we'll be getting more, and that means more overstock. Which means more mass trips to the damn store room.

7. They told us we were supposed to sell Visa giftcards good to the Clifton Country Mall only... but then told us otherwise and we have no idea what we're going to do with that. Not to mention we have no way of selling them, and wouldn't want to because it costs $4-$5 just to activate the damn things. Screw that.

8. We have this really creepy Middle Eastern guy loitering around the kiosk. He works the one next to us but just wanders away from it to read our calendars. And he really is creepy. Asked for a job but we already hired enough people, and I wouldn't want him anyways because he can barely speak English and that bothers me a lot. Especially since we have a lot of older customers with bad hearing to start. We won't even get into the fact that he looks and acts shady. :x

9. Borders is RIGHT DOWN THE STREET from this damn thing, but they decided they didn't want the hassle and it got tossed on Alix. And they don't want to pay her mileage because it's just under 30mi to CP from Saratoga. SCREW THAT. I told her to fight them, and if they won't give her the mileage to refuse the kiosk next year. We shouldn't have the damn thing anyways, since we have our own in Wilton.

10. Our paychecks are getting sent to Saratoga because management is apparently pretty dumb. So I have to go pick them up (we're adding on an extra half an hour for this so I will get paid, but still...) and bring them back. Alix had Mark put in for a change of address for them though so that they'll get delivered to us instead.

11. We don't have the little floating islands, so eventually when we have the same amount of product as Wilton, we'll have less space to put it all out in.

12. The mall is freaking dead. It even made deadmalls.com, which is sad. Even though the article is old, it still holds true. None of the stores are really connected, and nobody gives a shit about this place. They'd rather go to Saratoga or Albany. And Clifton Park is right in the middle. We only did some good business today because Madagascar 2 opened and people were visiting the theatre.

13. It turns out that I have to drive an extra 10-20min to get there, since it's actually a bit longer, and the traffic is a lot worse. When I was going to Saratoga it was more highway and city, so people drove better. That, and it's Saratoga, so people are just generally more inclined to move their ass. Going to Clifton Park I take a lot of back roads, and people just CANNOT FUCKING DRIVE. A lot of people do 35 in a 55 and it DRIVES ME BATSHIT INSANE. And by the time I reach 146East, I'm already close to being late because of the bastards. It's just a mess, and I need a different route.

14. The mall isn't even called a mall, so I got lost the first two days trying to find it. The first day I actually stopped a FedEX truck and asked the driver how to get there. Like... seriously, there are NO SIGNS for this mall. If you can call it that.

15. We're right in the middle of the food court, which is a nice location but it still sucks because it turns out people like to have birthday parties at the mall. Yes, birthday parties. RIDICULOUS. There were THREE OF THEM today, and I couldn't have a peaceful lunch if I'd wanted to.

16. There isn't shit to eat for lunch. And everything is hecka expensive. I had the worst salad EVER my first day there and it cost me $6, with a drink. And the pizza I had the last two days... so greasy it TOTALLY SOAKED two napkins. :\ There isn't anything else healthy that I can eat. Lack of Miracle Whip and all since I'm allergic to mayo. Looks like I need to either bring lunch, or learn to drive faster so I can get across the street to Subway. Because this is just stupid.

17. They want us to park FOREVER away from the mall near a queer entrance. None of us do it, because it's not worth it. Fuck it, I'll just park a bit further back near an entrance I've sort of come to know.

18. We had, and still have, no planograms to tell us where everything is supposed to be, so I was the walk-talking planogram since I have pretty much everything memorized.

19. Because of where we are and what we're hooked to power-supply wise, we can't get the security curtain around the register part of the kiosk correctly, and I doubt the PC gets covered well.

20. The flat screen for the PC is pretty much dead, so we're waiting on the new one to be shipped out to us. So you can only see half of the screen well enough to really navigate.

21. We didn't have any employees for this kiosk until the day before thanks to Borders not giving Alix much time to do interviews, and because trying to find people who can work in Clifton Park was a pain. As it is only two people that I know of live there. Sad.

That's about it. The first day Mark wanted Alix and I to work double shifts to get the rest of the product out too, and that just wasn't happening because they don't pay overtime. Fuck that. And I needed to get to the school anyways in Galway for stuff.

I'm doing the Pictures with Santa, and needed to meet with the PTSA. It'll be free, but I get a whole table to myself to promote myself, and I get to hand business cards out with all the photos, so it's worth it. Grabbed Subway on the way out of Wilton, since I had to run there first on Thursday for my paycheck, and barely made it in time to the school.

Last night I barely made it to the bank with my paycheck thanks to a nasty accident, and then the dumb lady wouldn't shut up about her questions with Borders that were totally dumb, and got me locked in since it was past closing. But at least my check was cashed so I could pay my car loan.

And TigerDirect fucked up and didn't refund me everything they were supposed to, so I chewed their ass out last night.

And today, for the first time ever, I had to work a Saturday because of training people. I work next Saturday as well, and then that should be the end of it. I'd rather have two days off in a row and work Mon-Fri than this one day bullshit before it's back to another four days at work. Ugh.

Thursday Mark is coming out to see the kiosk. No idea what he'll think of it, but we're doing the best we can.

I really don't want to man this kiosk any more. Like... I'm glad it got me up to $9.75/hr, but this is just... ugh. Alix even told me she was ready to quit her job with all this bullshit. This is just nuts. And this kiosk is open until near the 20th of January. Blarg.

I was also looking through the Clifton Park mall hours... and on Black Friday the thing opens at 6AM. SIX IN THE MORNING FOLKS. I would have to be up about 4am to be able to get there by 5:30am to open. And on Thanksgiving we celebrate at my grandmother's in Rotterdam, an hour away. But we don't just celebrate Thanksgiving, we celebrate my Mom's, sister's, and brother's birthdays as well. Which means I probably won't be home until 9pm or 10pm at the earliest, if I'm lucky. So I'm going to need to have a loooooong discussion with Alix about having one of the people who live in Clifton Park open on that day, and I'll go in a bit later. You know, one of the employees that live five minutes from the kiosk. And I know Heidi does. So... yeah. A 4am wake-up is just not possible unless I can get to bed by 7pm, 8pm at the latest. And I will be VERY LUCKY if I can leave by 8pm from the family gathering. So not cool.

Shit, the kiosk is going to have to open at 8:30am the few days before Xmas because the mall will open at 9am instead of 10am. I'm just going to DIE those few days. DIE. But at least that's not as bad as 5:30am. -_-;

Someone just shoot me now. This is insanity.

January cannot come and go fast enough. And then I get to stay on at the store, at least, I'm 95% sure I do. THANK GOD.

I really hope these next few months go fast. And I'm glad I have my Zoloft, because I am going to need it.

And once this is done, I am NEVER GOING TO CLIFTON PARK AGAIN. I will turn this job down next year if it's offered. NO THANKS.