Da Week

Gang shoplifting incident: some men (we know who you are) came into the store, grabbed a bunch of frozen pizza's, and ran out. We chased them, but they got away (for now).

A Customer Died (related secondhand, as I was not working)

This past Friday (8/22/2008) , a customer bought his groceries, loaded his car, and sat down in the car and tried to relax and cool off (at least, I think so.) And then he died. A courtesy clerk noticed the car door ajar, and then someone called the paramedics. But it was too late.

I don't have much to say, except c'est la vie.


Other news: Doyle is back from vacation, and John from sick leave (for his spouse.)

--pjm

Cranky Week

This past week was cranky. Most of us (and I mean almost everyone: worker bees and customers) were acting a little out of sorts. No crazies, thank God, but just a little bit on edge.

RIP--07/2008

Rose Ann, who I will miss very much, since she just did her job, which included making sure the courtesy clerks were doing their stuff.

Jackie L., just a regular checker, but steady and steadfast.

It's all very well to discount experience, but sometimes experience doesn't show its worth in obvious ways. Rose Ann and Jackie are both old-timers, and they both made sure that things happened in a nice, predictable way. Otherwise, pick chaos, and be prepared to live with it. I will miss both of these troopers.

Brian Loving, Colleen

Brian L. has been promoted to bigger and better things at SB at another store, but I thought I would mention how much he is missed. Courteous and generous to both customers and crew, Brian always let you know that if he could make you happy, he would. He used his very extensive grocery experience and his just plain old good people skills to always do his best. Brian numbers among the few people that I would compliment similarly.


Colleen, our first microwave benefactor, was in today. When we employees had zero microwaves, she stepped up to the plate and bought one for us to use as her parting gift. We will always think well of her.

News

RIP: Brian Loving, Elizabeth, Sina A.
Newbies: Doyle, John

Summer Time

News

Jesse is our new assistant manager. Oscar and Mark have moved up (key carrier and checker, respectively.)

I have some new stories, and I will post them real soon now.

Birthdays & News

Tomorrow is Eva B's birthday! Our best wishes to one very extraordinary checker and all-around nice person.


In the news:

• Steven D is being promoted to GM (general merchandise clerk, I guess-one of the next steps up from Courtesy Clerk.)
• Yours truly got a complimentary letter and a gift from Jim Lee, SB bigwig whose wife left a purse in one of our shopping carts--I had found it and turned it in.
• Shonda is RIP (moving to new store in Riverside/Fullerton.)

Happy New Year, 2007!

Uneventful--praise God! It was what I hoped for, busy in the early evening hours (4 to 8 pm), and pretty dead (moderate) afterwards.

I wish you all a very blessed New Year, and I hope everyone is happy.

Corrections/updates: Adrian A. (brown Adrian) is still with us.
Simon is back from taking care of personal matters.

--pjm

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Today was fast-paced, but not real busy. After all, what serious cook/provider does his shopping on Christmas eve day?

Brian cleared all of the hanging signs in the store in an amazingly short time (to keep the motion detector burglar alarm from falsely going off), and the other baggers and I provided support as needed, but tonight was a piece of cake compared to previous Christmas eve closings.

Marvelous Mario is closing Tuesday. He's nervous, naturally, but I wish him luck. We've all been virgins at some point in our lives--this is his deflowering by fire.

More Newbies

New assistant manager (to replace Jeff): Maurice
New Ana person (3rd, I think, someday I'll publish an org chart as I see it): Brian
New Felipe person (5th, I think): Mario (from Produce)

I'm praying to God that I'll have more courtesy clerk personnel to report.

RIP: Ryon (who is no longer with store 35.)

Me & the Lonely One

Shonda said something dumb as I went through her line tonight (yeah, she's said it before): "are any of these Upromise items?" [I haven't the slightest idea, but, then, I don't think she does either--she just thinks it's a great chore to scan the plastic Upromise card.]

My response the next time this happens: "Please don't say what's on your mind. It's mean."

Should be interesting, as I do intend to be as discreet and quiet as she is.

Moan & Groan

Yesterday was Moan and Groan Day. I think we all do a little of M&G all the time but yesterday was the time when we might go up to a perfect stranger, and moan and groan about something. No big deal, except that perfect strangers are rarely able to make substantive suggestions.

MG #1: you know, that's really very unsanitary.
MG #2: I didn't get helped alot, and nobody asked me if I needed help.
MG #3: How come there aren't more handicapped spaces, checkers, insert-your-favorite-item?
MG #4: Why aren't there more baggers? More checkers? More managers? I need more whatever-I-need-right-now-to-get-out-of-here right now.


Today: spillies, meaning there were a lot of spills: milk (a gallon,) water, unknow liquids, all of which needed to be cleaned up.

Newbies & A Full Moon

A new assistant manager arrived today: Maurice.

Ericka is our new checker. (She was promoted.)

I wish both of them much luck in this time of the full moon.

The Checker Team from Hell:

• Marilyn Monroe
• Ms. Tries-Hard-But-In-All-the-Wrong-Places
• Ms. Newbie
• Ms. Gonna-Do-What-She-Wants-No-Matter-What

(This is what we had in the late afternoon/early evening today.)


RIP: the French Legionnaire (moved), white Adrian (unknown reason), brown Adrian (unknown...), Simon (death in family), Brianne (unknown...), Ana V. (previously noted), Ed S (unknown...).

Hell Week

This is it—the countdown to Thanksgiving Day, in which we all gorge ourselves on large quantities of turkey and the sides. People who are cooking a frozen turkey should be defrosting today or tomorrow. For those who can't stand the thought of consuming turkey leftovers, I recommend a turkey roast—it's boneless and a lot more manageable quantity. Don't shop on Wed., unless you have to.

A Tale of Two Managers

A couple of days ago, I went to the first manager. "We're going to run out of bags," I said. "Bwahhh, that's the job of the receiver person!," and then nothing.

Next day, I said the same thing to manager two. "Oh," he said. "what kind are we out of?" A couple of minutes later, I was told bags were in the night's order, and there was no problem. (He checked with the receiver guy.)

So, who's the team player here? Who would you want on your side? A special non-prize to whoever correctly names the people I'm talking about. (Please, no public disclosures; send email to info1 at kwisoft.com.) Yeah, I'm a little disgusted at the first manager's behavior.

News

Jeff is going to the La Paz store; today is his last day.

Ryon was in yesterday as a one-day loaner (he was transferred a while ago.)

Sina's mom is back home after a brief second stay in the hospital.

RIP: Ana Vasquez, Christian

11/8 Update: Ana will be with us through Thanksgiving. The wheels of really big companies move slowly and grind exceeding fine. New RIP: Jeff. More details as I get them.


11/2 Update: Ana's move is on hold. The current estimate is two weeks, for unknown reasons.


Ana will be going to another Stater store on Mon. We will miss her (a lot!). Friendly, efficiently competent, and always willing to do whatever was needed or necessary to make customers or co-workers or underlings happy (raises hand,) she will always be remembered with respect and affection.

It's been an honor to serve with you! is all I can say. This comment is not made lightly, and is not a complement I would give lightly. To me, it is earned.


Christian has quit. This won't matter to most people; but I thought he was OK, the quality of his work was fine, and I thought he quit more for personal, valid reasons than for any good "management-issue" reason.


NB: No, no, no one is dead.

Our Prayers Are With Sina

11/08 update: Sina's mother is in the hospital again. She seems to have an infection, which they are working to get under control. We are all praying for her.


10/30 update: Sina's mom is home. She was taken to the hospital with convulsions, and released today, but they are trying to determine what the cause was, and she is a little better.

Sina is worried, but hopeful.


Sina A. was busy tonight taking care of her mother. The last I heard was she was accompanying her in an ambulance (presumably to the hospital.) Sorry, no other facts or details available at this time. We can only hope for the best.

Today was a usual Sat.: (busy!,) with the added bonus of plenty of people early on, and a bunch of personal thingies later on for the crew leading to a (small) not-enough-people problem later on.