I Almost Saw the Sun Rise Today!

4:10am. My alarm clock begins to beep incessantly. Surprisingly (very surprisingly), I was almost happy about it! I woke up feeling pretty great – not tired, not half-dead, I'm not dreading work! I’m not sure why either, because I remember waking up a couple times during the night, even at 3:18am, and still I managed to get a more restful night than the past week! I think I did get an extra hour of sleep in. It was so nice not having to fight my eyes open and drowsily carry on through work, counting down the moments until I could go home and pass out! In fact, I have yet to feel tired or sleepy one bit today! I think I'll even run on the treadmill!

However, the cash office wasn’t as pleasant as waking up this morning. Actually, to begin with, I was 4 minutes late to work. The cause: a train that would have lost a race to a snail. I was on my last 5 min of the commute when I arrived to the railroad crossing (Southside Expressway just before Altamont!) There were 2 vehicles in front of me, and the guards lowered and the train was barely moving! We all sat there for 10 min or so, and I secretly hoped my manager was caught up waiting as well. And then moving on to better stories: "Cash Office." Well, it was all right. Just a few complications! First of all, one of the tills from yesterday came up $7.02 short, and there was no explanation or clues as to why. Then as I was preparing the cash deposit, the deposit total was $38 OVER what it should have been! I was so confused, because in theory that really should never happen. So I counted out the safe, it was exactly what it should be. Then I went through all the money bags, and they were right on as well. I am still bewildered by how $38 extra dollars came up in the cash deposit! I called in the manager, explained my predicament, and he did the same and counted out the safe and money bags. Same result; he didn’t know what to do. So I ended up just adding the $38 to the deposit. But, I just don’t get it! There were no loan-ins yesterday, the safe was even, the money bags were correct. How? Why?! It had to come from somewhere! Maybe tomorrow I’ll find out...

I also had to order a bunch of extra dollars since Monday is a holiday. Even though we have like hundreds and hundreds in 1s and 5s, I ordered $200 of each, just to be safe.

Then I went out and got the mail. On my way back, I noticed something that has been pretty relentless in its permanency. An abandoned backpack, sitting out in the parking lot (where the employees usually park). It’s been there for a few days now, and I finally went over to examine it. This is what I found:

That's the backpack.

I didn’t dare touch it, so I kind of kicked it. It didn’t blow up, so at least it wasn’t full of impact-sensitive explosives. But at the same time, I discovered it very well could be empty (or almost empty). It wasn’t very resilient, in fact, it seems quite lightweight. So, I don’t know. There is also a single flip-flop out in the parking lot. It’s been there for 3 days.

After cash office, I went out and helped open the store and waited for customers. There was one customer that left around 8:45am. I told her to have a good day as she was leaving. She responded with a gracious “Good night!!!” Hahaha. =)

We also got some more infamous Cheese Balls in stock. Those things sell faster than any other item in the store! At $5.99 per jar (and they are HUGE jars!) you can enjoy the orange, cheese-flavored puffed foam, and the best part – You have an awesome container to keep after they’re gone!!! I had to convince a guy that they weren’t worth it. He almost bought them. He was excited about them, but even more excited about (you guessed it): the container they came in! He kept on stating “WOW! The container alone is worth more than that price!” Eww, no! My coworkers and I often muse at how quickly they sell out (I can almost guarantee they’ll be gone by the weekend!). One states that they are the most disgusting product in the store, another says they’re made out of crack (that would explain the crazed ‘addiction’...right?)

This is our display of Cheese Balls

Also! The District Manager of our Staples was there today!!! (Scary big-deal for managers!) And he came and talked to me, and he kept on calling me “Amity” or something! He must of thought that was my name. He shook my hand and said “So, Amity! I hear you’re going back to school?” And one of the managers timidly added “Her name is Alexis.” And I’m like “Ya, I’m moving in a couple of weeks!” And he’s like “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Amity! That’s great!” And another manager in the background asked “Aren’t you just working in Idaho until you leave for your mission?” I concurred with the latter statement. “Oh, you’re moving to IDAHO?! Well Amity, take care!” He left after that. He was strange indeed.

Later on a funny Lebanese lady came to the counter and asked me a genuine question concerning a product. She held up a small packet and asked: “These are pens, right?” With one quick glace, and the obvious erasers on them, I informed her that they were actually pencils. She was bummed out. She came back moments later with some snazzy pens! We talked about Lebanon and how much she loves it there! She says it’s so beautiful and like paradise. I think her name was Nhih or something. She also wanted to by binder clips individually.

Then the Nightfire people came in to get school stuff! And they remembered me! Yay! One of the kids was really cracking me up – she was leaping around like a frog and made many animal noises.

Oh! I think I just realized why I had such a good restful night last night! As I was just panning my eyes over my room, I noticed I have a used mug on my desk. I had this delicioso blueberry herbal tea last night! It totally made my night! However, I need to get rid of this gross mug.

Mom has been getting her photo entries all prepared to take in tomorrow!!! A lot of her pictures are outstanding! She takes such neat photos! They all look great! I still need to print mine out.

Earlier this week I printed off some new piano music from a sheet music database! I printed off all 3 gymnopedies by Erik Satie, and I have been obsessing over that piece all week! I play it every day, and every day I love it more and more! Hurrah for Satie! I like impressionistic music. It is undoubtedly my favorite musical era (for piano).

Erik Satie