kyrasantae | River of Rambling [journal] (Reply)

Name for me:

three people for whom my unusual opinions did not dissuade them from being friends [with me]
two things I've done completely on my own initiative
one thing about me that is very likely to give me an edge over my peers and how

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Who would have thought I would come back this way?

When faced with extremes, we react in extremes - if one faces an extreme while he leans a certain way, then he will react extremely in the direction which he leans.
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And in the end there was only silence, because everything was either dead or asleep, waiting for the world to be safe again.
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All words and no action is a bit frustrating. So frustrating I've already changed my plan of attack two major times.
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You say, "now what?" and I say, "what now?"...

Today my forearms burned, mostly right but some left. It's a bit better at this hour, but it was terrible in the evening.

So I asked myself, for how much longer can I hold on? I know this pain will only get worse as time goes on, and money can only get you so close to happiness.

What things make you feel like it's the end of the world aren't necessarily the same for everyone.
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If such a thing was possible, it seems as though I've already had my rise, my peak, my decline - and left myself no more. I will never rise again to ever be as admired as I once was, only to rot away in obscurity. There will be no obituary in the paper except at the back of the classifieds, if at all. Survived by no one, remembered by no one. Bury me with my people, where I belong...for I will never have been there before.

Why live if dreams no longer move you to action?
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I didn't expect it to be easy, but I didn't expect it to be this difficult either.

It's like trying to explain why I hate cash registers.

Why I Hate Cash Registers, or, The Machine of a Thousand Buttons

I never hated them before. In fact I liked them because given a dollar amount of change I needed to make, counting out the correct denominations was second nature to me.

And then there was bitchgirl and the machine of a thousand buttons.

"Do till! I want you doing till!"

Now, back with Paul, that was a simple affair. There were only a few buttons - large fries, small fries, large w/ drink, small w/ drink, canned drink, bottled drink, hot dog, hot dog w/ drink, Dutch fritter thingy (can't remember what they were called, not to be confused with the Timmy's donuts [Note: Croquettes. —Ed.]). The buttons weren't labelled on the keys directly, there was a little chart in front of it that told you what button was for what. As well, you manually wrote down on the order receipt, with a pencil, what sauces the customer wanted, and grabbed the drink from the fridge (next to you) right away.

Not that anyone ever ordered those strange Dutch thingies during lunch hour anyway: it's just Paul's friends and relatives later in the day (all I remember is that they were served in little paper bags that said eet smakelijk ("bon appetit") on them) who get them.

Anyway, on bitchgirl's machine with a thousand buttons, firstly, there were a "thousand" buttons. Sure, they're labelled, but how long is it going to take to find any given button? And everything's separated into multiple buttons. Obviously that is because there's so much customization possible in each order. Not only that, the modifier labels that show up on the screen for the key numbers are abbreviated.

Especially in those sandwiches. Push the sandwich button. Hit key number for type/size. Hit key number for type of bread. Number for whether it's toasted. Numbers for extra sauce, no tomato, whatever. "Would you like to add a drink and a donut to make it a combo?". Punch those in. Hit "combo" button. Aaaagh!

Key numbers are two digits. How many buttons did I press?

Combine that with people who talk really fast and know their order really well. Double aaaagh!

Or some guy who mumbles. Triple aaaagh!

Or people who order more than one sandwich at a time. Sorry folks, you need to tell me what you want on them, one sandwich at a time. It doesn't let me construct two at the same time.

Or the old couples where one of them wanders off while the other makes the order so I have to wait until they get back together before I get what they want specifically.

Then I have to pick up whatever donuts or cakes (another zillion button-pushing affair) or muffins or cookies or bagels or pastries. Donus I'm fine with because I've eaten so many of them, as well as timbits, but muffins get me lost because there's so many of them and they all look the same. And there are never any low-fat blueberry muffins.

Then if it's an order that take prep time, usually the customer will go and sit down so when the food is ready, I have to go give it to them. And knowing how bad I am with recognizing people I don't know... (unless they have something really distinuishing about them, like pink hair or large tattoo or pierced lip or wearing a sports jersey, etc.) Sigh.

With sandwiches -> even Subway wouldn't be that terrible to do, since the only thing that goes into the register is the type and size while the customer states his/her preferences as the sandwich is made.

"Come on, do till, you need to know how to do it."

"I know how to do it...(what part of 'I can't stand listening to these people' do you not understand?)"

Without the part in parentheses.

And that, my friends, is why I hate cash registers. It has even turned me off of the retail barcode scanning or adding machine type ones, even though those don't involve customers giving you orders. So what if they bring their purchase up to you? I don't want to deal with it anymore, thank you very much.

"Mildred, take over lobby while Iryna takes her break."

Okay, don't mind picking up dishes and trays and washing them. The only human interaction in that is just a "may I take this away, sir/madam?" sort of thing.

So Iryna finishes her break and goes back to work. Of course, bitchgirl's (no, she doesn't deserve a capital letter) back:

"Mildred, I want you on the till as much as possible."

Aaaaaagh! ———————