What a Shitty Night.

Work was terrible. My male co-workers took forever to unload the truck, I was forced into my break early, my other female co-worker kept fucking disappearing the whole first half of the shift, and messing around and not really working at all, and then as the night went on, she made sure to be in the back as much as she possibly could, leaving me as the only person in charge of counter and drive thru, as she did all the shit she 1, should have done earlier, and 2, should be training me on more. She also thought it was priority to start filling a special order for the next day, when that's night shift's job, since their customer intake is slower. We had a bunch of shit left on our list by the shift change because she fucked off, and it pissed off the night guy, who told us to finish whatever task we were doing and "get the hell out". 

I came home hot, sweaty, exhausted, and having only eaten a small cup of chicken noodle soup, and a bag of sliced apples all day, basically living off of the iced coffee with espresso I had on the way to work.

And then, I came to a dead betta fish. I'm such a shitty fucking pet owner, I don't understand how the fuck I think I'm going to be a decent mother at all one day. My fish always die, my guinea pig is always getting sick... I just feel useless and stupid and that I have no potential or purpose in the goals I have in mind, and its a really shitty way to feel.

To top it all off, it seems my plans (the ones I've been looking forward to all week, and what got me through tonight) of going to Secretary of State tomorrow morning, and hanging out all day with Jake and going to Outback for a nice dinner, are cancelled.

I'm really pissed off and annoyed and want to eat all the left over pizza we have, cry, and sleep.

Fuck it.

I've learned more about cars in the last 2-3 months than I have my whole life.

So here’s what’s wrong with my car: 

Apparently, they couldn’t get the car to not start, and therefore couldn’t 100% diagnose the problem. They tried throughout the day and ran tests and read codes, but still cannot be certain. They think its something with the security sensor, which is apparently very common in GMs, and especially, Impalas (go figure). Basically, its malfunctioning, and instead of identifying my key as the right key (which, it is), its freaking out and locking the security systems, because it thinks I’m trying to steal the car.

I mean, I can’t complain. That is a handy dandy useful ass system for someone that doesn’t really have any type of car alarm or better security system in the car (aka, me). But it shouldn’t malfunction.

Since neither my father or I were paying too much attention when it wouldn’t start the other day (I think we were both just pretty pissed off about it) we weren’t sure if the security light on the dash went on and stayed on or not. If it had, this definitely would have been the problem. The guy told us if the car won’t start, the light comes on, stays on, and flashes, then yes. That’s the problem. 

Apparently there’s a way around this issue, to reset and re-code things, ish. Basically, you turn the key in and if it doesn’t start, the security light will flash. If you keep the battery on and let the light flash for 10-15 minutes, it will then stop flashing and become solidly on. This means it has reset and the security feature has stopped. Simply turn the key the rest to start up the engine as you would normally. And viola. Your car should start (if that’s the actual problem). Obviously though, that is some annoyance on the battery, and isn’t a permanent fix, and is especially annoying if you have somewhere to be…

The guy was REALLY nice about my car, having been going back to it and looking at it all day. Regardless of the “mandatory $40 inspection fee” sign behind the desk, he didn’t charge us for bringing the car in. He explained he’s pretty positive that this diagnosis is accurate, but understands that we don’t want to spend money getting it fixed until we see that security light and know for sure, this is the problem. He probably also didn’t charge us because he is so certain that’s the problem, and therefore, is pretty certain we’ll be back in a few days/weeks to get it fixed anyway. He gave us all the info about the parts, and how much it would ultimately cost to repair it. Somewhere just above $400. Guh.

What is money and why does mine keep disappearing?

General Life Updates

The family is back home. I can’t say I’m really annoyed or happy they’re back. I haven’t really been social with them since they’ve returned. A few hours after they got back, I went out with Jake to pick up his new car, and stayed at his house till around 11. And then today, I woke up, went to lunch, came back to get ready, and left for work. My dad stayed yesterday and last night, and today, got on a plane to go to Colorado for more work training for a week, so I won’t see him for a while, either. Although, at this point, I definitely didn’t miss my mother’s blaring tv.

Jake got his new car yesterday. Well, its not new. It’s an older Lincoln Mark VIII (look at me, trying to prove I know shit about any type of car ever), black, with chrome and a pinstripe and all that jazz. He’s pretty thrilled about it. I think it cost him somewhere around $6,000 for it. He mentioned something about taking the money he had left from selling his Mustang to possibly get me something pretty and shiny, that will signify our current and future commitment. Ahem. But we shall see. His new car needs a bunch of stuff, including new tires, and possibly something with the battery, since it was giving him trouble this morning. 

Work was okay, today. It wasn’t too great, it wasn’t too awful. I definitely enjoy it there more in the evening, when the Assistant Manager is gone, and its just me and Fadi. Or me and Amelia is okay, too, but Sunday nights with Fadi are never boring. Early in the shift, there was a big mix up with a very unhappy customer. We heard “Tuscan Chicken Sandwich”, which we figured meant “Tuscan Chicken Panini”, but he had apparently said “TOASTED Chicken Sandwich”. So, that was a problem, because he waited the 2 minutes it takes for the panini to cook, and got the wrong thing. And apparently when the correct sandwich was remade, it was on white instead of wheat, so he came in the store all pissed off, and demanded to speak to a manager. The assistant manager pretty much gave us a repetitive lecture about how when we mess up and lose product, we will end up suffering for it, because we’re losing money, and losing money means losing jobs, and if we value our job, or her job, and everything, we’ll get stuff right, and even if we do make mistakes, we have to do our best to make it right for the customer and make them happy. Apparently I also have negative customer service qualities, that I didn’t even notice. I’ll have to be more conscious about that, I guess.

The owner/manager also talked to me about the missed day from Thursday. She’s being super amazingly nice and generous to me, and I cannot thank her enough. Because I’m still within my 90 days of hire, after that “no call/no show” (even though I don’t think it should be considered a no show, because I had every intention of rushing out the door, but was flat out TOLD to stay home…) I should have been immediately terminated. But she said she doesn’t want to do that to me, and that I’ll just be on a 40 day probation. Basically, if I’m late at all again in the next 40 days, I can be terminated or suspended. Neither of which are all that great, honestly.

I also finally got a copy of the handbook, which I asked for like the second week. If I had that handbook on Wednesday night when I hadn’t felt good, and had read the section over that said “If you feel ill within 12 hours of your next shift, please call in to get a cover for your shift”, I definitely would have done that instead of sleeping in past because I thought I had to go in, or call in later. That also frustrates me, that I’ve been penalized, even though I requested again and again for the materials that could have prevented the problem. But, as is life, I suppose.

The night was fun though. Waves of people, and not much to do outside of taking orders and doing routine temps, dishes, and cleaning, so it was nice. There was a little scare though, when there was a rush of people with just Fadi and I, (for some reason, we told Tyler he could go early, and ten minutes later, it flooded!) and the ice capp machine broke down, and we couldn’t figure out how to fix it. It was very frustrating. We had to call Maureen and get her help. But we figured it out. I got sprayed from across the kitchen with sanitizer (to which Fadi looked at me and said “… I… have no explanation for that. Sorry.”), and apparently highly impressed Fadi by knowing that the song playing on his phone was a remix of Legend of Zelda music. Apparently while working and in uniform, I don’t seem like a total nerd? Strange!

Oh yeah, and my car wouldn’t start when I had to go to work today, so I took the Malibu. I felt bad though, because that meant my mother had to drive my father to the airport with the van, which is not reliable at all.

But tomorrow, the plan is to call the shop and get my car in as soon as possible (they open at 8, so that’s when we’re calling and hoping to get it there, if it starts, or call a tow), and then, hopefully, going with Jake to the Secretary of State to get our enhanced IDs, register to vote, and if he gets what he needs by then, transfer the license plate from his Mustang to his new car. Sometime in between or before or after, I need to run to the post office and send out the “gentlepus” painting for Melissa. :) Mom has an appointment in the afternoon, and Jake has to work, so I’m not quite sure what will happen tomorrow afternoon and evening, since I don’t have to work, but I’m sure it will involve me being lazy and on the internet.

I suppose I should go to sleep now, since I want to be up early, and am just flat out exhausted, and am starving, but don’t feel like making food… but I’m currently addicted to the stupid House M.D. game on facebook. I promised myself I’d not get caught up in another stupid facebook game! Argh!