I just really need McDonald’s right now.
More to come on that later.
This has been,
Fanny T. Crispin
Category: Raw
Stories From the Front Lines
Titled: “Lazy, Lying Piece-of-Work Teenagers”
Subtitled: “And the Stunts They Pull”
Ladies and gentlemen,
It’s no lie that retail can be ranked as one of the worst jobs around. Working with the public is never easy, but working with everything else involved in managing a store front can be taxing on the best of days.
Since accepting the position of supervisor, I’ve learned enough about upper management’s short-falls to make me sick. It’s akin to being a teacher in a classroom – unending responsibility and hardship, absolutely no control over the students or politics.
Here, I’ll begin to regale you with tales I like to call “Stories From the Front Lines,” because it’s here that I’ve discovered what it truly means to lead a team.
I’ve always been fortunate to enjoy and appreciate every manager I’ve ever worked for and with at Walgreens. The same cannot be said for teammates (back when I was a cashier, or front store crew now that I’m a supervisor.)
Managing people is no joyful task. In fact, I would go so far as to say it’s worse than babysitting for a family you dislike but don’t know how to say “no” to because you’re a 13 year old girl and always taught to respect your elders, even to the point of prostrating yourself as a doormat. (If you’re a parent of a 13 year old girl, please teach them how to say “no.” They desperately need this weapon in their arsenal.) If you’re a man reading this and can’t imagine yourself in the body of a 13 year old girl, just think about the first time your mate accidentally kicked you in the nuts. Now imagine getting kicked in the nuts for a week straight every month for the rest of your natural born life, because you’re 13 years old and you subconsciously think the world is going to end after highschool which seems an eternity away.
But I digress.
Guess what I found hiding by the trash compactor at work.
Last night’s cashier returns. You know, all the items customers bring to the register but don’t actually want and are too lazy to put back on the shelves themselves.
Yes. Those are the responsibility of the cashier to put away at the end of his/her shift.
Guess who closed last night.
“E” – the lovely new hire who is turning out to be the laziest lying piece-of-work teenager to date.
Oh, guess who she’s friends with.
“K” – the last lazy, lying piece-of-work teenager to grace our store.
Now, “K” has already pulled and perfected all these stunts that “E” is attempting. At least I can credit “K” with being unique. “E” is just a lazy copycat. And because we have already seen all these marvelous stunts, repercussions are going to come a lot swifter.
And trust me. I’ve been perfecting my techniques too.
Welcome to Walgreens. Here, you’ll always receive service with a smile. But underneath that facade of corporate perfection, nothing is ever as it seems.
This has been,
Fanny T. Crispin
Drifting
I’m just a traveler on this earth, Sure as my heart’s behind the pocket of my shirt. I’ll just keep rolling till I’m in the dirt, ‘Cause I’m a traveller, oh, I’m a traveller. -Chris Stapleton
If you’ve been keeping up with this blog for any length of time, you may have noticed something absent. Maybe you realized it before I did. If so, you’ve seen through my facade.
I’ve been drifting content-wise with material for the blog as well as my personal writing. It’s going to be one of those years where I struggle to come up with a post for you. Somehow I keep plugging away at that bimonthy goal, but if I were truly honest, I don’t feel the content is worth your time or mine. What are we all doing here, people? What brings us back to this space? What are we searching for?
It bums me out when I fail to get motivated with writing projects. Stories are my escape from reality and my source of entertainment, but once again I’m trapped in this bog of ceaseless daily routines. Ideas wander fleetingly through my brain. Nothing interests me. I have more than enough projects on my bookshelf, sure. But I grow weary just thinking about picking one up.
My thoughts are definitely grounded this year. I’m focusing on my feet, keeping them moving, pushing one in front of the other. Winter usually does this to me, as well as big life changes.
I’ve got some big life changes on the horizon.
You see, the reality is, I can’t escape right now. I can’t run off. I have too many pressing details which require attention. If I lose focus on those, life will slip out of my grasp and I’ll scramble frantically, wondering where the time went. Duty calls. Responsibility knocks loudly.
There are writers out there who pound away at the keys even on days when they don’t feel like it. They’ve developed perseverance. They’re persistent and disciplined. I admire them greatly. Now let’s be perfectly honest in that a lot of writers are not this dutiful. We fall into writing slumps. We let the ink dry and dust cover the pages. It’s a sad truth. And not to make excuses, but we struggle just to maintain our lives. Things fall out of balance. Frequently.
It begs the question, What is this all for?
Or more accurately, For whom?
Sometimes we forget why we’ve started this journey.
What makes you write? What do you enjoy writing? Are you in a slump now? Let’s talk about it.
This has been,
Fanny T. Crispin
Personalities
I recommend you go take the Meyers-Briggs personality test over at 16 Personalities . It’s a delightful 20 minute event.
When I first took this test some 9-odd years ago, I actually came up an ENFP which is classified as a Campaigner. I didn’t really understand what that meant, except that the description fit me to a T. Later, after my parents’ divorce, I became an ENFP-T. Turbulent. Unfortunately, I never saved my results, so I can’t remember what that meant for my personality, but it has an ominous ring to it, don’t you think?
Last year, I got the bug to take the test again. I guess I always believed your personality was set in stone, even though 16 Personalities clearly states “Your personality is not set in stone.”
My results shocked me, to be honest. I stared at this new description, I imagine, with my jaw somewhere near my belly button or even my knees. What was an Advocate? I still came up Turbulent, and I feel that is due to my impending career and life-event changes, but how does a Campaigner change into an Advocate, and what does that mean for me?
I have noticed an opportunity to practice my new skillset at work, where I am above the average employee but still under the rule of management. This position advocates for the common employee, while helping to relate the rules set forth by management to the ground floor people.
It’s been fun, exciting, and a little LOT nervewracking, but I’m still growing on God’s green-and-blue Earth, and I imagine I’ll continue growing until He brings me home.
If you’ve taken the test, feel free to share your results and discuss them in the comments!
This has been,
Fanny T. Crispin
Love is a Choice; Love Matters
There’s a reason we say “I love you” even when we’re angry. Just because we are experiencing intense, unpleasant emotions toward someone or a circumstance incurred by them, does not mean we don’t continue loving the people in our lives.
Love is important.
Love matters.
Anger is a natural reaction that occurs when we believe a person, object (yes, object. I get angry and punch objects all the time,) or event upsets our personal order or does us some injustice. Anger is natural. It is also dangerous. In our anger, we might do or say something brash. We lash out, pick fights, get defensive, or even go so far as allow ourselves to hate the offender.
That is why we choose to continue loving the people in our lives. That’s why when your spouse or significant other is being dumb, it’s important to say – out loud – “I love you.”
Even when you don’t feel it…
You’re letting them, and yourself, know it’s going to be okay. You remind them, and yourself, what’s really important. You speak a conviction and uphold a promise you made to them, and yourself.
I love you.
And I always will.
Even when I don’t feel like it.
Because you’re worth the choice.”
Because you matter.
And I love you.
*Usual disclaimers apply. Seek help in the event of unlawful abuse, mental or physical, or detriment of health is incurred on your person as an act of violence or malicious intent by someone else.
This has been,
Fanny T. Crispin
Written Things 