What I Do At Work...

Well, it's been a while...again. Seriously though, I have good intentions, but I've been so busy...

Really, most of my time is being taken up by work. It seems like all I do is go back and forth to Chick FIl A, but I guess that's okay. It's fun to be there. Everyone's really nice. And we play around a bit while we work, which is awesome.

Like last Tuesday. I worked 11:30 to 2:30, then went home for an hour, and came back to work 4:00 to 9:00. One of the other girls, Jillian, did something similar - got off at 2:00, came back at 5:00, and so we were kind of in the same boat in terms of being a bit tired. Daniel Moore and Daniel Garner were working front-line with myself and Jillian, along with our managers, Meg and Taylor, and we were all acting a bit crazy.

We talked about spirit animals and unicorns, and then somehow, the conversation turned to which one of us could take the other in a fight. And in the words of my manager, Meg, to both Daniels, "Alexis could take both of you." We were giggling the entire night.

On Thursday night, I stayed late to work part of the dinner shift, and ended up working at the window in drive-thru. I went back to get let Mave, one of the kitchen people, know that I needed a cup of shredded cheese for an order of chicken tortilla soup, and as I was moving from front-line back to the kitchen, I happened to jokingly say, "Move, get out of my way," to Jonathan, and then went back into the kitchen to speak to Mave.

He happened to come back just after me, and passed me down the little corridor. And as I was waiting for the cheese, I happened to wipe my hands on the sides of my pants, which were, of all things, wet. And then I realized that he'd had a spray bottle in his hands when he passed me. So, he had literally sprayed the back of my pants as he was passing by. And of course, I started laughing immediately.

He ended up bagging for me in drive-thru for part of the night, and got me laughing again when a particularly noisy car or motorcycle went down the street, by saying "Alexis!" as if I'd farted. And yes, I know I'm too old for fart jokes, but still...it was funny in the moment. (You know you've been working too long when you laugh at fart jokes.)

I worked the dining room on Friday night, and ended up only really working half the dining room because there was a surprise baby shower taking place in the other half. Dillon was in the cow suit, and hamming it up as usual, and I talked a bit with an older lady and her ninety-something year old father, about when she used to be the kangaroo for Brenner Children's Hospital and all the silly things she did, which was fun to listen to.

I also talked with a little girl and her father, and helped them out a bit, got them napkins and straws and things, made her ice cream when she was ready for it, that sort of thing. And the dad was super nice. Even asked if we were allowed to accept tips, which, unfortunately, we aren't, so I got the feeling he was going to tip me for my help. They were about to leave, and the little girl, Finley, I think her name is, saw the baby shower ballons, and started screaming "Balloons! Balloons!" and her dad was all like, "No, honey, they're not your balloons, you can't have them."

So, I went over and asked her if she'd like a balloon, and her eyes lit up. So, I went in the back and blew up a balloon and put it on a string, and came out and gave it to her. And her dad was just like, "Thank you. You just made her night," and I felt really good about it. So, that was a fun night.

I went to our owner's "Visions and Values" meeting on Sunday, which was pretty boring, considering it's really for new employees, and I've been working there for over three months. But, they had done one just before I got hired, so this was the first one they'd done since. It was nothing more than what I'd already heard before at the mandatory fall meeting - survey scores, and loving on the customer, and all that. But, the owner did make an exmaple of me by saying, "If you want to learn what to do, you watch Alexis. She puts on that big smile, and she loves on the customer. She's a rockstar." So, that was pretty neat.

On Monday, I worked 11:45 to 4:00. I worked window in drive-thru for just over an hour, which was pretty funny, because it was raining. Normally, from 12:00 to 1:00, someone goes outside to take orders, and they have a person making drinks inside. But, because of the rain, I was at window, Jasmine was bagging for me, Jonathan was taking orders on the headset, and Jillian was making drinks for him.

Now, it's a pretty small area in drive-thru, and we kept laughing because Jillian would reach past Jonathan to put a drink on the ledge (we line up all the drinks on the ledge by the window), and Jonathan would laugh because she'd accidentally brush against his side, and he's ticklish. So, we were cracking up all afternoon because Jonathan would giggle at the most random moments.

I took headset from Jonathan after a while, and because it was busy, I really didn't notice when people started leaving. And then, all of a sudden, at like 3:00, it was just myself, Jonathan, and Morgan working. So, we tried our hardest to get things stocked and cleaned and everything between orders, and I think we ended up doing a pretty good job for only being three people managing drive-thru and front-line and doing the stocking and cleaning.

Yesterday, I got into work at 7:30 in the morning, and was scheduled to work until 3:30pm. I ended up clocking out at 4:00pm, only after having to ask my manager if I could, because I really needed a bit of a break. Because I clocked back in at 4:30, and worked the Family Night craft out in the dining room. Tyler, who was on front-line for the night, kept mouthing "I envy you" from across the room, because I was basically getting paid to sit at the table and help little kids make snow measuring sticks, which was pretty fun.

I've kind of been the go-to "yes" person as of late. Can you come in early? Yes. Can you stay late? Yes. Can you work a birthday party? Yes. Can you do the Family Night craft? Yes. So, my hours have been through the roof. I think I worked about twenty-five hours last week, and I'll work just over thirty this week, so it's been a bit tiring, but I love feeling like I'm actually doing something productive.

I had today off, which was awesome. I work three hours tomorrow and eight hours on Friday. I'll spend Friday night at my dad's, and chill out there for most of Saturday. Saturday night, my mom, brother, and I are going to dinner with my aunt and uncle to celebrate my uncle's birthday. I'll probably relax on Sunday, and then, I'm going to have lunch with Emma (and hopefully Sylvia and Anita) at Olive Garden on Monday, which I'm really looking forward to. I don't think I've seen Emma since just before Christmas of 2011, so I think it's been over a year? Which is crazy. And then more work...Tuesday night, which should be insanely crazy, due to Pajama Night, off on Wednesday, working Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

New Year's Adventures...

Well, crap, it's been a long time since I last posted. Well, I definitely have been busy, so I do have an excuse.

So, I worked at Chick Fil A on Christmas Eve, and oh my gosh, it was so busy. We had a register open specifically to handle all the catering/tray orders, and I can't tell you how many gallons of tea we sold. It was crazy, but extremely fun.

We went to my aunt & uncle's for Christmas Eve dinner, and we had steak, and salad, and sweet potatoes, and then opened gifts, and then had cherry chocolate bread pudding for dessert. Then, we visited for a while before heading home, reading The Night Before Christmas, and stuffing each other's stockings before going to bed.

In the morning, we sat around and opened gifts, and really just chilled out. I got a lot of the things I wanted - new boots, some dvds -  and some things that I didn't really even know I wanted - Lite Brite, Chuzzle, a personalized Tervis cup. We ended up watching The Nutcracker on tv, and then had lunch, and I took a nap...stupid lingering cold.

Then, my dad picked Quinn and I up, and we went over to my grandmother's. We ate with my dad's family - my grandmother, and a few of our aunts & uncles - and then opened gifts. My dad got me what I asked for - books - but also got me some other cool things - socks, a BP gift card, an iTunes card, and these awesome Dove chocolates with cinnamon graham cracker pieces inside.

We went back to the house later on in the evening, to find our usual "under our room trees" gift, and mine was a pair of silver skull stud earrings, which were pretty awesome. And then, really, we just went to bed. My mom got me a doctor's appointment on Wednesday, and the doctor diagnosed it as a sinus infection, and gave me some medicine, and really, it's still lingering even now. Not as bad, but still lingering.

I went to work on Thursday, which was uneventful, and then on Friday, we left for New York. We got all the way in one day, and settled in at my aunt & uncle's. On Saturday, more of the family arrived, and some more on Sunday, and by the time New Year's Eve came, we were 26 in the house.

I went to the mall with my cousins on New Year's Eve, and we ended up driving an hour to get to the Palisades Mall, which is huge. Four floors of stuff. We walked around a bit, had dinner at Yard House on the fourth floor of the mall, and then walked around a bit more. I got offered a job while perusing through Abercrombie & Fitch, which was weird, but slightly flattering, and we basically just chilled out for the afternoon.

We drove back to my aunt & uncle's, and then got dressed up in our fancy clothes, and had dinner, and took some family photos, and then all the kids hung around in the basement, playing pool or watching people play pool, and then we went upstairs to count down to the new year. We toasted with sparkling cider, and went out on the deck to pop poppers, and then all the kids stayed up until three in the morning, playing ping pong and video games and just chilling out in the basement.

Everyone left on Tuesday, and then we went into the city on Wednesday. We took a 10:00 train, arrived just before 11:30, and walked up from Grand Central to the Nintendo Store, where Quinn bought a bunch of stuff. Then, we walked around Rockefeller Center, took some pictures, and perused the Lego Store, which we never went into last year because it was so busy, they actually had a line to get in.

Then, we walked up to 65th Street, and found Lincoln Center, to see our first show of the day, War Horse. It was really amazing. The puppet-work was so cool, watching three people animate this huge horse. So awesome. Everything was really dramatic and cool and I loved it. We got out just before 5:00, and walked down to 48th Street to have dinner at Hurley's Saloon, which I had scoped out beforehand. The food was really good - I had a hanger steak sandwich with fries, and it was really yummy. The chocolate mousse cake and the Tollhouse pie were really good, too.

We finished up, and since we were early for our show, we took a walk around Times Square, and poked around in the M&M store, and then went back to 48th to the Walter Kerr Theatre to see The Heiress, which was amazing. The set was gorgeous, the costumes were beautiful, the acting was awesome, and I loved it. Surprisingly, my brother loved it too, which was really crazy, considering it was a 2 hour, 45 minute play with no songs, no set changes, no exciting plot twists.

We exited the theatre, and headed off to our right, to the stage door, where they'd set up a set of barricades, and we waited around for a bit with the rest of the crowd. Dan Stevens came out first, and since we were pretty far back, we didn't get to see him up close. He made his way around, and then came back toward the door to go back inside, and my mom managed to sneak through the crowd, and get him to sign our playbill, and told him her son was a big fan and could he get a picture with him, and so Quinn sidled up and we got a picture before he went back inside.

Somehow, we managed to back out of the crowd, and then I snuck back in, and somehow managed to get a spot right on the railing next to the door. We waited a few more minutes, and Jessica Chastain came out, and I got to be the first one to meet her, and I got her to sign my playbill, and get a picture with her. She was so nice and so sweet, didn't make a fuss when it took my mom forever to figure out my camera, just said to take our time, and she was so appreciative when I told her I thought the performance was great, and I was just giddy the entire night afterwards. So, we hopped on the 12:08 train, got in to Beacon at 1:34 in the morning, where my aunt picked us up, and we headed back to the house for some sleep.

We chilled out on Thursday, ran a few errands with my aunt, and then everyone went out to eat at the diner down the road from the house. We ate, then headed back to the house, and then started packing to leave the next morning. We left at 7:30, drove for a while, got McDonald's for lunch (ate on the road), and then got into Winston around 5:30 or so. We dropped off the rental car, and then had dinner at La Carreta, and then went home and chilled for the night.

Our weekend was spent just chilling out, unpacking, putting away the Christmas stuff, and watching The Walking Dead and Downton Abbey. And I cleaned Ella's cage and slept a ton, and that was that.

Went to work today, and after having a week off, it felt weird to get back into it, and yet it was exactly like riding a bicycle...you just never forget. Surprisingly, four hours went by really fast, and at 4:00, I left and came home. We washed dishes, made dinner, and then watched a little tv, and then Mom and Quinn played Lego Lord of the Rings while I let Ella out downstairs.

On the agenda for the week - work on Tuesday, dinner with my dad on Wednesday, work on Thursday, work on Friday, and work on Saturday. I have to go into Chick Fil A on Sunday for the owner's Visions & Values talk, which all new employees have to listen to, but I never did because he had just done one when I got hired, work on Monday, work on Tuesday (which will be long, because I'm working eight hours, off for an hour, and then I'll be doing the kid craft for Family Night for four hours or so), probably dinner with my dad on Wednesday, work on Thursday, and work on Friday. So, busy for the next two weeks.