MY LIFE - DECEMBER

Monday, December 11 and Tuesday, December 12, 2000

It's two for one day in Dave's World. Actually, there was a wind storm last night and keeping the power on was getting to be a bigger challenge than it should have been. For about 10 minutes last night, the power was wavering a bit and my computer kept shutting down and restarting. This had me pissed because I had a fairly good entry going in Come Again? that was wiped out.

Monday was like all Mondays, very busy with people running all over the place. Joann seemed to be in a pretty bad mood and was over by the drive-thru much of the afternoon after getting kicked off her terminal when Betsy came into work. Joann has a real problem with this, especially with Roberta back at her normal position at the filling station. Now Joann is reduced to just customer service and is pissing and moaning about not being able to type.

She apparently talked to Steve about this and asked him why the schedule was going to be set up the way it's going to go and why Betsy gets to type instead of Joann. These answers are pretty obvious to most, but evidently Joann puts herself above interns as well as the other techs and pharmacists. She just refuses to accept that someone else is above her and this is an ongoing problem.

I expected her to complain about the schedule because it essentially means her 9am-3:30pm shift is gone and she will have to work an 8 hour day rather than that shift. She tried to object to it during the meeting, but there was nothing doing with that one and she's mad at Jim, who told her to let Betsy type. So Joann is still a problem and will probably continue to be a problem for the time being. I'm just going to let her do her thing and keep on going with my own thing.

Yesterday was a pretty good day all around though. It was busy but for the most part we had enough people to cover it up until 5 and 6 when everyone went home and there was essentially just four of us in the pharmacy. Jim was typing and filling, Paul was at register and drive-thru, Steve was checking and filling when possible, and I was filling and covering drive-thru and backing up register. We got hammered, which is only natural when you have the bare minimum number of people working.

We managed to stay fairly caught up, then one other tech came in and I was able to get my break in and we were able to get completely caught up with everything we had and relax for the last couple hours. I helped work on the cleaning schedule a little bit and before I knew what had happened, it was time to go home. I said my goodbyes and was able to go home fairly relaxed and without any added stress.

I was goofy again today, but it's because I'm becoming more and more comfortable with the people I work with as opposed to being tired or anything like that. I'm getting along with most everyone and they like to encourage me now rather than just make little comments here and there. I would like to think that I'm helping make things easier by goofing around and making people smile, but I'm sure there's someone who can't stand how I act. It's probably Joann and she just won't acknowledge it.

But so far everyone else seems to be enjoying me and the things I do. No one's looked at me and asked me what was wrong with me or wondered what I was doing. I'm fitting in, which means it's time for me to start working for the lead tech position, a position that's left a few people wondering what you're supposed to do. Joann seems to think that being lead tech means you get to boss people around.

That's not the case at all. Lead tech is a position where you lead and work with the other techs to help the pharmacy run as smoothly as possible. It's not a position where you take a bullwhip and tell everyone else what they should be doing, you're supposed to lead by example. I do my job, I know what I'm doing, and I'm fairly good with the customers, so I feel that I am capable of handling this.

I'm willing to go the extra mile if it means making more money and reaching a new level. I'm also going to see if I can get CVS to reimburse me for my college education when I go back, whether it be this spring, summer, or next fall. It's still up in the air right now since I need to focus on one thing at a time rather than try to do six things at once.

So let's see how this unfolds and see if we can avoid any more crap between the other techs. Otherwise it's going to be a bumpy ride.

---

The winds were really kicking up last night and they caused the power to waver for several minutes at a time and caused my computer and my mom's to shut off and come back on repeatedly. I was online at the time and was writing an update when it happened and that makes me a little upset because it was actually a pretty good update. So I'll have to go back and try and do it again, but it won't be easy because I'm not really in a writing mood right now like I was last night.

The wind was something else though. It was gusting over 70mph and it was pretty loud up in my room when the wind kicked up. You could hear things blowing all over the place in the street and at one point, the wind was so strong that it knocked our neighbor's gate right off its hinges. It was pretty loud and we initially thought it was something else, but when I looked, I saw their gate lying on its side.

There was also a lot of lightning, indicating that the atmosphere was very unstable and led me to think that the winds would only get stronger and they did. We didn't lose power completely, but other neighborhoods did and still didn't have power when I started writing this at 10:30pm Tuesday night. It was something else to watch and at one point, you could hear a bunch of car alarms going off all at once and it almost compelled me to go and turn mine off, although mine's not as sensitive as most. I've sat on my car when it's been armed, so I ultimately decided to leave it alone.

I was more worried about a tree coming down or the power going off and us losing heat in the middle of the night. It was very cold today too so I'm glad that we didn't lose power at all. I was actually surprised how cold it was. I went outside to run to Tri-C and went into shock for a minute over how much colder it was than the last time I was outside.

Then of course, while at Tri-C, I forgot to go get change so that I could get out of the parking lot, so I had to walk back up to the school, go inside to the cafeteria to get change, then walk back out to my car when the temperature couldn't have been more than 15° with a moderate breeze blowing. It wasn't that bad though. I grabbed a cup of hot chocolate while I was at it and immediately burned my tongue up sipping it.

Otherwise, today's been pretty quiet. I've been playing e-mail tag with one person who I'm trying to get a hold of, but it hasn't been easy. They gave me a phone number, but it had 8 numbers so either there's an extra number in there or 2 numbers are missing. I wrote them back and am hoping to find out what happened there. There's probably an extra number, but I don't feel like trying to figure out which one it is.

I work 4 to 12 tomorrow, so I don't know if there will be an entry for tomorrow. If there is, I'll have to write it Thursday after work, but chances are good that there won't be an entry at all. I just don't feel like staying up late to try and come up with something to write and then have to get up early to go to work the next day.

We'll see what happens though. I don't think there's going to be anything too extraordinary happening tomorrow. I've been wrong before and will be wrong many more times too.

It makes life interesting that way.

---

I've been rereading the forums against my better judgement and I'm again going to talk about a few things that I see in there and the reactions of others. First off, if people are basing their opinions on the limited experiences they've had with the opposite sex, and/or on what they've read in the forum, we're all fucked and there isn't going to be any relationships ever again.

That's not going to be the case though. It's a big world filled with different kind of guys and girls who will have a chance at finding someone who is right for them. It can't not happen. There's just too many of us out there for it not to happen.

I just don't think it's fair to the opposite sex to think that every girl or every guy is going to be the same. It's not right, it's not fair, and it's very demeaning to those who might be interested in you. How's a guy supposed to like a girl who thinks all men are players and doesn't think she can trust them?

And how can a guy expect girls to like him if he complains about them teasing too much and not giving anything up? Relationships are two-way streets whether you like to hear that or not. If one person is going the wrong way, it's going to fail and that's the bottom line. But these preconceived notions don't even allow you to get started on the right foot anymore. You're set up to fail and that's not going to make a relationship work.

I've been burned by a lot of girls in my life. However, I don't think all girls are bad. I'm actually messed up the other way and can't fathom a girl being bad or being mean to a guy for no reason. It's just how I work and maybe it's half my problem. But I don't go bashing women because of some bad experiences. I know there are great girls out there and that I'm going to meet one of them and have a great time.

But a lot of people my age don't seem to think this way anymore. So many guys and girls have been burned by each other that they refuse to trust each other. Some guys don't care for a relationship and don't try to hide it while others attempt to hide that fact. Either way, the girl gets burned and if it happens again, starts to think that all guys are like that.

And if a guy is being led on by girl after girl only to get left behind when things don't go the way she wants them to, he gets a bad attitude as well. This is what seems to be happening in the forum. Players are trying to lure girls to give it up to them, girls are portraying guys as just that, and normal guys are portraying girls as either teases or bitches.

It's gotten so silly too. I was thankful when one girl started posting semi-normal things the other day. Unfortunately, she's being ignored by everyone else in the forum.

The game plays both ways too. I had someone e-mail me with a message that got kind of sexual and was asking if I was going to be the one that takes it to the next level. I was intrigued by the message, but I ultimately deleted it and moved on because it just went too far with things. I have almost no sexual experience and don't try to hide that fact. I'm not going to try to get into a relationship with someone who bases how things are going by how active the sex life is.

It's a nice thought, but it's not for me. I'm not at that point in my life where I desire sex night and day. I would be happy right now just getting into a relationship and making it a successful one. Then I'd worry about going to the next level. There's no reason that everything has to be based on sex and there's no reason why we should be bashing each other.

I guess I'm just baffled by what I read from other people and I seriously wonder what's going on inside their heads when they're posting. I doubt I'll ever figure it out either. I'm not even sure I want to know why. I'd probably be scared half to death anyway.

I just don't like being stereotyped, that's all. It's not asking too much for people to stop it, is it?