A Mute?

Today was a pretty slow day at work. I mean, I made over $100 in sales, barely, but there weren't too many customers. And I had to use the bag trick to get cards to swipe twice, so I don't know if the machine was just PMSing or what.

Borders is also getting these Verifone things, and I read the pamphlet today... they sound like a lot more trouble than they're worth. Especially since we had to push the install date back since someone forgot to install the phone lines for us like we asked. Oi. Alix and I both agree that the things you see at the supermarket would be a lot easier, rather than us having to swipe the card and shit.

I just barely know the register for goodness sakes. Now I'm gonna have to learn this too. Blarg.

Anyways...

One guy though, when I was about to do the bag trick, was really pissed. He kept repeating "I don't want a bag!" before I could speak. But I calmly stated as I put his card in the bag "I know, but the bag will get your card to scan" and he just sort of laughed it off. I'm shocked I kept my cool, really. I hate being cut off mid-sentence. >(

There was one lady who asked if she could pay in Canadian money... Um, no, sorry lady... this is America. She used a debit card instead. Some people, I swear...

And then, the highlight of my day was ten minutes before my shift ended. I'm sketching, since I ran out of reading material, and there's this tap on my shoulder. Odd... I turn to see who it is, and there is a guy with a calendar standing behind me. Kind of made my heart jump. And then he started making motions with his hand, first pointing to the upper left corner of the Yankees calendar he was holding. So I looked, and asked if it was a sticker or something. And he shook his head, and motioned to his shirt, upper left shoulder/chest area if you were looking at him. I must have looked a little puzzled, because he made a motion for pen and paper... Shit, he's mute. So I got him some, and he wrote down "Pin?" So I asked if it was supposed to be a pin and he nodded, and then made a motion to his chest again. Okay...? He then wrote down "Where?" And I was like, "Where does it go?" and he shook his head no, so I asked if he wanted to know where you should wear it, and he nodded. ...Riiiight... I'm no fashion consultant, so the best thing I could come up with was "I guess where ever you want to." That did seem to satisfy him though, and he put the calendar back, waved thanks, and was on his way.

AWKWARD.

Seriously... a mute? How random is that. Kind of makes me wish I had taken sign language, because the pen and paper thing just wasn't communicating the idea very well. ^^;;;

Nothing else interesting happened though. During the day I was able to read four manga, and I read sloooooooooooow to make them last. x'D

And of course... THEY HAVE REKINDLED MY LOVE FOR RUROUNI KENSHIN. <33333333333 Seriously, now I must buy the rest of the manga (Luna-kun said she thinks there are 24 total) and get a hold of the anime (all 94 episodes for $80, YESPLZ) and OVAs ($14 for them all) to satisfy my cravings. Like... I was reading it at the kiosk and FANGIRLING on the job. x'D LMAO I'm horrible...

But I digress... my money management is gonna suck when it comes to this. What an addiction I have... x'D;;;

I shall try though, since I do have bills to pay. Augh... bills. xP

Stupid Norton

So, I was in that chat room, and decided to fill out a thing for the phone, too. Turned that 30min wait into 30sec thanks to getting a priority code, which put me ahead of everyone else.

Screw the chat, which they said had a 10min wait (BULLSHIT), and screw the hold time.

Of course, the guy was from the Middle East. No one is in America anymore. >[

He has refunded the charge though, and I should have it back in 2-3 business days. So you better believe that I'll be watching my bank account. And if it's not back by then, I will be phoning them again.

And this time, I won't be so nice.

I was very firm this time (and for god sakes, it's 12:30am), but not mean. Next time they won't be so lucky.

Apparently though it automatically sets you up for auto-renewal when you get the product to save you the hassle. That's really stupid. What's more stupid, is that it didn't detect I wasn't using it anymore.

...IT'S UNINSTALLED FROM MY SYSTEM! How the hell does it detect ANYTHING when I REMOVED it!?

Lemme tell ya what... I'm definitely not happy with Norton. Don't like the product, and apparently they have customer service to match.

Auto-Renewal WHAT!?

Okay, so I'm NOT going to bed yet. No, I went and transferred funds in my bank account, and realized I had been charged for Norton Antivirus's auto-renewal.

What?

I was never notified that I was going to be charged such a fee,and I definitely don't remember signing up for such a thing. I remember getting a one year subscription and that's it, and I dumped it about 40 days ago because I was sick of Norton and I got something else.

Well...

I was charged $50 for a service/product I am no longer using. My gas money, gone to Norton with no forewarning. None. Nothing at all. Not even a fucking email saying "HEY BITCH! WE'RE GONNA CHARGE YA!"

I. AM. LIVID.

Like, if I just don't remember hitting auto-renewal, I'd be fine with that. But the fact that I was never notified, nor given a receipt or bill before hand PISSES ME OFF.

And of course, tonight, there is a long wait. About 20 minutes ago I was number 96 in line for the live chat, which, by the way, can only be done in IE (lucky I found a way to open the damn browser that I DON'T USE anymore), or there is a 30min+ wait on the phone.

AUUUUUGH.

So... I'm going to try and get in touch with them tonight. And as soon as I know what's going on, I'll update you guys. If I don't pass out first.

But you better believe that if they don't give my $50 back, shit is going to hit the fan. It's a lot of money to a poor bastard like me. >[

Plane Craaaaaaaaaash

So today was pretty uneventful at work. I did find out that whoever tried to alphabetize the dog calendars in the drawers below for overstock doesn't know the alphabet too well though. All I could think was that said person would not be able to work at my Mom's office. LOL Oh well, I redid it and put everything away that needed to be done, so it's good. Wouldn't have done it at all, except we got some new calendars in today.

I mostly just sat and played puzzles on my graphing calculator though. So all's well that ends well.

Afterwards, I stayed and chatted with Caitlin for a while, since she is like my kindred spirit. We went from Gothic Lolita to kimono to anime to politics to home life to animals to asthma, and all over the place. Like, we share A LOT of the same views and ideas. So it's really awesome. We can chat for a good long time and not get bored of each other. It's nice. It's just too bad she works evenings and I work days, so we won't ever have a shift together unless we get lucky x'D

That's okay though, I stayed with her until about 8:30, leaving her only an hour and a half alone. LMAO The mall was DEAD today anyways, so with the severe lack of customers it was probably nice. I know I wouldn't mind that.

Mom was freaking out though, because I forgot to call and tell her I was gonna stay late. She called three times before I finally felt my bag vibrating and picked up. I'm just still not used to needing to report in after living on my own for so long. That, and I didn't leave the mall, so it never occurred to me that Mom would worry I was in a ditch somewhere. Oh well. What was funny was that my sister and her bf Cory called too. Idiots. And then my sister went and blew the 9pm state law curfew for 17yr old drivers. She's in trouble.

When Dad got home though, I found out that a plane crashed in Schenectady, not too far from where I live. Turns out it was some test flight, and it had barely gotten off the runway when it lost power and went into the trees. The media can't report much more than that the pilot was transported to Ellis hospital, and then moved to Albany med, meaning he's probably hurt pretty badly. But, they apparently got thrown off the scene, so someone must have been getting in the way of the rescue and safety operations. Stupid media, they need to back off a bit.

But yeah, there was a plane crash. That's pretty scary. It only held the pilot though, so no fatalities. Unless he has too much head trauma and dies. I hope not though, that would just suck.

So... yes. That is my news of the day. I am now off to go to sleep, because it's been a long day and I'm tired. x'D

Catching a Cold? D:

So I haven't felt too great for the past few days. I've had watery eyes, sneezing, sore throat some mornings, fatigue... you name it, I have it probably. At first I passed it off with having to do with my monthly cycle. But that's been gone and I still feel shitty. And of course my stomach has to get in on it too. So I really think I am catching or fighting off a cold, which blows. I (literally) cannot afford to be sick. So it looks like if I do get sick, I'm going to be drinking Benadryl again. Not exactly healthy, but what can ya do, right? I'm just going to try not to trip out on the meds this time like I did in Hallmark. That was really, really bad. But hey! I definitely wasn't feeling sick! In fact, I was quite happy. Giddy is probably a better word for it. Or loopy. Whatever you pick, I know I was out of my senses.

So, I'm just gonna hope that I can get rid of it, and be feeling somewhat better by Tuesday when I work next. Yeah, I thought I had Mon-Fri this week, but there was a scheduling change. Oh well. It means less hours, which sucks, but it gives me an extra day to figure this whole illness thing out and feel better, yeah? Yeah. That's what I'm gonna go with.

That being said, I'm off to try and get some sleep. Can't feel better if I'm sleep deprived. >_<;

Activities with Dad

OH YEAH! Almost forgot!

Dad went with me to the Civil War Encampment. :3

So we got to hang out there together, and had Subway for lunch. I drove though, and it's a good thing because he didn't know about the upper part of the parking garage or anything! Hell, he hadn't walked the main strip in 30 years! O_O

We visited a couple of shops too, including a tobacco one since he is looking into getting a pipe again. Not exactly what I want to hear since seeing him ruin his health bothers me, but I won't deny him his pleasures and stuff I guess. :\

He and I also walked up to this stopped 1931 Ford at a traffic light to ask where it was headed. My idea. xD Turns out there is an old car show going on in Lake George.

We thought about harassing the protesters as well, but decided against that. I don't get why they were protesting sending the soldiers to war, since it's a volunteer army. No draft, they could have said no. So like... I don't know. Protesting the war is different than sending soldiers in my eyes I guess. His too.

It was fun though. I enjoy hanging out with my Dad. :)

Civil War Encampment 2008

So today in Congress Park there was a small Civil War Encampment. This wasn't anything like the reenactments I've been to either, since they were there to speak to us and educate the public. Which was actually really, really nice. I enjoyed listening to them speak and learning.

I think what I liked the best though, was learning that Hollywood dramatized the amputations something horrible. You actually had to get five doctors to agree to it, and then they would put the guy under so he slept through it. More men died because they didn't have limbs amputated than not. I think the number was 50,000 men. But they would end up with lead poisoning or gangrene and keel over.

Of course, children's diseases killed a lot of them too, since the farmers weren't exposed to them like the city kids and then with everyone so crammed together in camp... disease spread like WILDFIRE.

I also learned that the Civil War was the origin of Rootbeer. See, when you had dysentery, the doctor would prescribe blackberry and sassafras tea to calm the stomach down. And it actually does work. So when guys went into bars, they weren't being a pansy by ordering sassafras, they actually had an upset stomach and were going to calm it down before getting plastered. So someone decided that since it was so popular, to market it. But he decided that it was too bitter for kids to enjoy, so he added some sugar to make it sweet. And then tinted it a deeper brown, so it looked hearty like beer. The name came from the fact that sassafras is a root, and the drink was the colour of beer. And thus rootbeer was invented, and it helped calm the stomach. Later on there would be Coca Cola with real cocaine to keep you awake... x'D

Doctors also started to get smart in this war, and keep logs and learn things. They went to college for medicine as well. And they figured out that Loudenum, which was basically watered down opium, was bad, even if it did kill the pain. xD GOOD JOB.

I learned that the bullets SHATTERED bones too. And that's why we have small bullets now. Safer warfare, as ironic as that is. The real purpose though, he said, is not to kill your enemy, but scare them into surrender. Which makes sense.

There was music as well. That was fun. And the drill team was enlisting the kids and letting them handle muskets. The muskets were totally safe though, no ammo in them and not able to be dry fired. These guys were smart.

The horses were beautiful as well. The mounted guy actually let me steady the horse and hold it for him while he did something too, and remounted. I felt so honoured. :3

We were also informed that the men earned between $11 and $28...

A MONTH.

GOOD MONEY BACK THEN!!! LMAO

I don't know why, but that makes me giggle.

I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff too, but I just had a ton of fun soo...

Oh, they did mention that this was NY state's war too, since we supplied the most men and had the most factories that could benefit from it. Not sure how true it is, but that's what's said. Kind of cool. ^^

On a side note, the ducks in Congress Park have serious attitude. They literally don't move out of the path until you just about step on them. Bold little bastards. But they're cute. :3

SO!

IMAGERY!

My favourites from the Civil War Encampment, and then ducks! You can view all the photos from the Civil War here. And the ducks are also on my DeviantART.



His Mount by *Saknika on deviantART


At the Ready by *Saknika on deviantART


Issuing Weapons by *Saknika on deviantART


Shattered Bones from Bullets by *Saknika on deviantART


A Doctor's Setup by *Saknika on deviantART


Old Fashioned Remedies by *Saknika on deviantART


Laundry Day by *Saknika on deviantART


Preening ::DUCKS:: by *Saknika on deviantART

The Eventful Day at Work

So, yesterday was a fairly eventful day at work. I'm not going to go into too many details, because you'd be here reading for too long if I did. x'D

So, it started off fairly slow. Kinda had a sale at 10:15am. That's... actually kind of early. x'D Mall opens at 10am so... wow.

Actually, we had fairly steady traffic all day. It was nice. I didn't get as bored, and I learned a lot more on the register. I sold close to $350 worth of calendars.

Some woman paid with a $100 bill too. o_o;

And another asked if we had a Twilight calendar... to which I had to say no without laughing. Because seriously, if there are only books and no movie yet... what imagery will they use for a calendar? x'D

The district manager for Belden Jewelers tried to hire me. He's looking for two full time employees. I turned him down. xD; So if you're looking for a job and live near the Wilton Mall!!! Belden Jewelers is hiring!!!

I helped a lot of people too. And I really think that made them want to buy stuff, because I know when I get good customer service I'm more likely to purchase the product. I felt bad though because I was having such issues scanning this one calendar that the lady opted not to buy it. I was on the phone with Bonnie and everything. Turns out I just needed to wiggle the scanner a bit. I mean, the lady still bought $67 worth of merchandise so it wasn't a horrid sale.

And holy smokes, talk about the number of immigrants that came through and only spoke English when they were ready to check out!

Not to mention all the handicapped people... mentally handicapped. I felt bad when this one set came though with four wheelchairs, because I was just staring at this one guy. He looked like he had stick legs, and I couldn't decide if they were prosthetic or not. Turns out he just had no muscle mass. And like... I really don't think the mall is the place for these people, personally. Because you could tell they were making a lot of other patrons uncomfortable. And having been in class with a kid like that before, who was actually very physically harmful to the rest of us because "he didn't know any better", it just makes me wonder...

Anyways!

I also saw a puppy in training to be a seeing eye dog! That was really cool! Actually, it's just plain cool that animals can be in the mall like that! :3

That's pretty much it though.

Aside from dress shopping with my sister and being frustrated with Tiffany, since they wanted to meet up with guys. I was tired, and I wasn't handing the credit card over to Amelia for fear of what she'd get. But in the end we found a cute dress. ^^

So um... yeah. x'D

And in the end I did Mom's Staples shopping in FOUR MINUTES FLAT. That includes getting through checkout. xD

Quickie!

Mkay, so it's been a LOOOOOOONG day. Gotta get some sleep, and will update you on everything TOMORROW. After I go to the Civil War Encampment in Congress Park with my Dad. We leave by 8:30am if all goes to plan. Umm... so yeah. Gonna get some shut eye and will fill ya in tomorrow. Maybe with images! Depends on how fast I retouch. x'D

NIGHT.

Dirty Old Man

Man... totally did not update you about yesterday's visitor.

This guy came over and was browsing the calendars, and I asked if I could help him find anything. That's just what I do when their body language doesn't tell me that they're just browsing. Sometimes you can tell.

Anyways, he told me he was just seeing what we had, since his wife made those decisions. And from there on in he was such a chatty Kathy. Holy crapscicles. He went on about movies I needed to see, and his wife, and his jobs, and being a reenactor at Fort William Henry (which was cool, I'll admit), and doing drugs, and being an athlete... it was a good 30-45min conversation. And then he suddenly had to leave because his people were there. Said he;'d swing by later.

Okay...

I had work to do anyways. I had been hoping for someone to come buy something so that he would have to leave, but luck just wasn't with me so I had to endure until he left.

So I went about my shift, sold at least $50 worth of calendars, and about 2pm (I remember because he asked about the time) he comes back over. Now, he knew my name from my badge, and he had introduced himself as well. So Sergent Arthur Harris is forever engraved in my brain, probably due to being a reenactor. That's how I found out his name after all, aside from him greeting me and shaking my hand.

Well, he came back, and we chatted for another 10min, but he couldn't stay long because he was on duty at Sears. Shit. He works near me. D: He was going on about them cutting his hours a bit, and that the boss was shoveling shit on him [Arthur] that was being thrown at him [Boss] from upper management, blah blah blah.

And then he asked my age. And when I told him 19 he goes, and I quote, "Oh, well don't I feel like the dirty old man now." As he left, he continued to hit on me, and tell me I was a very attractive young lady. And I said it was probably just my personality, hoping that he was just attracted to conversation, but that just couldn't be it. Nope, he told me it was a lot more than that as he got the roaming eyes. DEAR GOD. DD:

Him leaving was a big relief. >.<;

I hate being hit on by creepy people. Especially when they are MARRIED AND IN THEIR 40s. OxO;

I also had a woman ask me if we had any 2008 calendars left from last year... lolwut? xD

So today wasn't very eventful compared to yesterday. Sold at least $60 worth of calendars and then had to go home sick. :<

Subway for lunch just didn't sit well, and half an hour after eating that rock in my stomach flared up my IBS. I dealt with it for as long as I could, walking it off by moving around the kiosk and stuff, but it just wasn't working and an hour after it started I called the store and asked Bonnie if Glen could come relieve me because I was going to be sick.

So it took a good 15-20min, since he had to finish something up at the store, but he relieved me, and I just had to leave. I have red marks from where I was digging my nails into my arm from the pain still, since it's a bad habit of mine when I get sick like that. I felt so bad too, because I hate not doing what I promised, but it just wasn't working. I haven't felt good after eating since last night though, and even after dinner tonight I didn't feel too great. So we'll see what happens tomorrow. I'm hoping nothing bad. D: At least I only missed 3 hours today. >_<;

In other news, I applied for a second seasonal job today to be a photographer for the Picture with Santa thing at the mall. It's part time and could pay up to $11/hr depending on experience (which I have xD) so it could be a good opportunity! :D Cross your fingers and hope for the best, yes? I know I am!

That's about it though. This weekend I have a Civil War Reenactment I want to attend in Congress Park, and I still have retouching to do from my last shoot, so expect more images later on. xD