Category Archives: Work

Rollin’

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β€œWe have a lot to do at work this week…”

Which means I have a lot to do on my own as I have no help.

I’m not going to complain or mention it to the boss. He had a significant health problem pop up last week. Some might say it could be heart-stopping.

He always has my back, so I always have his.

I slept in till 7 AM this morning. Sleeping in isn’t unusual on a Sunday for me. I know some of you are probably thinking, sleeping in!? 7 AM?! On a Sunday?!

Well, sometimes I allow myself to be lazy.

I rolled out of bed and synced the work phone, and found out my hours are way up from the last couple of weeksβ€”time to get back to the heavy lifting and take care of business. Most of my days this week are scheduled for 10+ hours. Some being 13-hour days. That I cannot do.

So I went in for a half-day today to work a store to around 80% completion. No huge activities, just the usual business. This way, I’ll be able to come back around to resets later in the week. There was no one there to print mods and labels anyway. They should have been printed last week but someone doesn’t want to listen. You can’t help some folk.

Windshield time.

I’m going to be seeing that view a lot this week. But it will be okay. I can get mad or I can get done.

I prefer done.

That’s it. That’s the post.

Seegars

Monday

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That’s a boring title.

Up at 2:30 and out the door by 4:00 to hit a bun reset with Bimbo Bakeries (which always makes me laugh.) I met Dave with Flowers Bakeries and we did the reset together. It’s not usual for me to actually have one of the company reps show up for these. I like to get it done before the bread vendors show up so they can get about their day. I’m nice like that.

Dave is retired military from Air Force and I’m ex-Army. He blew stuff up, and I didn’t realize the Air Force did that. I blew stuff up. So there’s a new found respect for the Air Force from me.

If I go lay down now, I will not be able to sleep tonight. So I’m not wasting my time and I’m installing light fixtures in the garage. I am loving the quiet of the LED lights. Big change from the old 8’ fluorescent tubes buzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

And while I’m out here, I needed to strap up the expansion tank for the water heater. We forgot to grab the strap for it when we picked up the water heater last week. So, time to be handy.

We’ve had a lot of expenses hit the past couple of years but all of them have been good investments. A new roof, stove, refrigerator, heat pump, water heater, etc.

But they’ve already started showing savings on our electric bill. Just the changes in our light fixture in the kitchen and bathroom did that.

Found a treasure.

It may not look like much to you but this is the key to the Dodge Omni my wife drove when we first started dating. We went all over in that little car.

She was tickled. It’s a memory. A good one. So I put that key on her keychain.

Now comes supper and relaxation.

Some kid probably hates me.

I don’t even know why I started this but here’s the end.

That’s it. That’s the post.

Seegars

Ramming The Wall

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7:00 AM Monday

I usually don’t hit the wall till Wednesday. That’s when most folks hit it. This week it’s coming straight at me. I’m not going to swerve left or right. I’ll just hit it head-on. Maybe the airbags will work.

And BAM! (Call 911.)

A perfect example of β€œIf you don’t know how to do it ask”.

This is something my company does every week. We reset the digital game cards. The mod is simple. Really hard to mess up, but the right person came along. So now it’s double work. Is this efficient? No. No, it’s not. So I get to reset the reset. (911: What’s your emergency?)

It’s a thick week with some significant activities from some big customers. Reset weeks are a hassle, especially if you’re running pretty much alone. I work with my stores and associates as much as possible. (What happened? I don’t even think he slowed down, as a matter of fact, I believe he accelerated.)

If people would just be more organized and look at their week ahead of time things would be much smoother. I’m already planning on Saturday. In my head. (Get the crash cart. We’re losing him.)

Three hours in and I’m taking a break. I’m disgusted already at 10:00 AM on a Monday.

This job isn’t hard if you follow direction. I know some have to learn, but most won’t. They’re too hard-headed to teach. They always know what the deal is. The deal changesβ€”every week. (Wait…)

(We got a steady pulse. Something must have clicked.)

Oh, something clicked long ago. You really can’t depend on people in a retail work environment. It used to be that you could depend on people to do their job. If that happened then I could get my job done.

I know many of you are seeing this new influx of people, not depending on age, that think they’re worth way more than they are. That they are supposed to get what they haven’t earned.

It ain’t just me.

(He’ll make it but there will be scars…)

It’s 5:13 PM. I’m going to lay work down for the day and have time with my family. If you read this it’s just me venting.

This is my spot. I’ll do what I want. 😏

That’s it. That’s the post.

Seegars

Retirement

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No. Not mine. I’m a ways off from that day.

A couple of years ago, one of my store managers came to me and told me she was done. She hadn’t really told anyone, but she decided she was going to take her vacation time she had coming and just slide off into retirement.

She was tired of the way business is nowadays. She’d been in retail all her life as her father was a store manager (he was kind of famous in retail circles), and she’d been in the stores from an early age helping out. A hint as to how early would be the old school label guns. We talked about her pricing cans of food with them one day.

The job was affecting her health as well, and she had an elderly mother to take care of. The best option was out.

She was tough as nails and hard on her people, and a lot of them didn’t like her.

I did. Business is business. Everybody has to pull their weight. Period.

I love working for/with someone who truly believes in teamwork and she did. If we can do a small thing together, we can do great things together.

I was working at one of my stores today and someone put their hand on my shoulder and said, β€œYou work too hard, but then it’s you.”

I knew it was her when she said it.

I turned and saw a person transformed for the better in retirement.

She had color in her face. She was standing taller, which says a lot because she’s only about 5’ 3” in heels.

I couldn’t place what else was different at first but then realized that she was smiling.

It was almost terrifying. πŸ˜†

I told her I missed her. I genuinely meant that. I don’t miss a lot of people I’ve worked with. The one’s I do are something special. And she was.

I’ve had rougher jobs, I’ve had dirtier jobs, but retail isn’t easy. It isn’t easy on your body or your mind. If you’re at it long enough and put a little of your soul in it, it takes more than it gives.

It looks like she regained some of hers.

I’m glad my friend is happy and healthy.

I’m glad she found her smile.

That’s it. That’s the post.

Seegars

Early To Rise

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I woke up at 2:40 AM.

Not to an alarm, no, that was set for 3:00 AM. I knew in the back of my mind to get moving.

The boss was coming from the beach. At least a two-hour drive. Kristen was coming from the coast as well on another two-hour drive from another town.

When people put themselves out for me I like to show some small form of appreciation ahead of time.

I got to the store at 4:40 AM, hung mods, gathered other supplies, and went to work on the first section. They both showed up close to 5:00 AM.

We set to work and had the job done in about four hours. We had fun. I miss working with people who can put in the effort and have fun as a team.

I’m healthy. My heart rate was kept up today.

Wealthy? Well, I am in overtime now with a day to go for the week. It adds a nice chunk of change to the check.

Wise? No, not from any experience today, but I did work ahead to finish off projects at two other stores. It’s always good to be early with projects because you never know what might happen next.

My original plan was to be at only one store tomorrow and have a short-ish day. Maybe polish up a few rough spots at that store, but no.

The company decided to drop a blitz activity on all stores tomorrow. So it was wise to work as I did today.

A 13.5 hour day gives you a bit of perspective. It was rough but worth it.

Tomorrow is Friday. I’m going into the day with my head down and bulling my way through. I’ll walk out tired but satisfied.

There’s dignity in working for a living.

Tell β€˜em, Gary.

That’s it. That’s the post.

Seegars

Acceptance

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I’ve come to accept that people are either afraid of hard work or don’t want to work anymore since the government has taught them to comply and rely upon them.

The boss and I took in a new hire on Tuesday.

She worked with me on Wednesday. A very well-rounded day for what we do. I pretty much took here through a basic day and a little further.

Thursday, she had a doctor’s appointment. You have to take care of yourself, and I had to be at a store in another town. No problem.

This morning she quit before the shift started.

I didn’t even ask for a reason.

I was on the road when the boss called and let me know.

I had left a good bit of work on the books for training today. That’s the only thing that bothered me. I’m appreciative of the fact that this happened sooner rather than later. It’s better to rip the bandaid off.

Despite all this…

It’s a lot easier pushing through with the decent raise I got this week.

That’s it. That’s the post.

Seegars

Saw It. Bought it. So I Can Saw It.

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I picked up the table saw today. Nothing big. I don’t need anything huge. It’s a Ryobi 8 1/4 inch compact saw. Good enough for anything I want to cut and build right now.

I need to see what I can do anyway before I continue.

This week I’m going to take my time and do my floating shelf project in the bathroom a little at a time. I’m going to go ahead and prep the boards and drill for the dowels. Once I’m satisfied with that, I’ll stain them and put on some lacquer.

I’m in no rush. While I don’t expect this to go perfect, what’s the point of hurrying to make mistakes?

This is a hobby right now. I’m doing something I’ve wanted to add to the bathroom. Maybe it will turn into something else.

Maybe I’ll make a pallet?!

Today started our #MobilEX week. We reset all the mobile phone mods for Walmart and install new displays and cabinets as instructed at least twice a year. It’s great when you have a partner that knows what’s up. It sucks when you’re aloneβ€”especially installing two 150 lb. cabinets with locking glass doors.

I enjoy what I do.

I walked in and went straight for the rough stuff this morning instead of building up with smaller projects. I just wanted to get the heavy lifting out of the way. My week doesn’t get a whole lot easier workload wise, but the physically heavy is out of the way.

I’m going to end this tonight with saying that you gotta love truckers. Sometimes they can be pretty heroic, eh?

That’s it. That’s the post.

Seegars

Friday Night

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I, like you, if you’re reading this, have survived another week of the struggle that is work.

It wasn’t easy.

I want to thank some people, but only one other person helped me out, so first and foremost, I’d like to thank myself for showing up early and getting it done. Also, thank you, Self, for not physically choking the life out of several people with your bare hands; Lord knows you wanted to.

I’d also like to thank the boss. I could not ask for a better man to work with. It has been a long time since I’ve worked with/for someone who puts as much out there as I do. It’s appreciated.

I tell him that. He’ll probably never see this.

I’m off tomorrow. This makes me happy. I can play in the shop a bit. I don’t know what I will do, but time wasted there is still better than being at work.

New bits.

I seem to complain a lot here, I know. But this is my outlet. It’s better than getting angry and breaking stuff.

That’s it. That’s the post.

Seegars

Interaction

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The wrong interaction can change the track of your whole day. People can be largely self centered and don’t care about others. They can wreck your day.

This morning I was installing some parts on a project and an older lady was standing nearby. No associates around, so I ended up helping her with her problem.

The back and forth while we were working on her phone and the sincere gratefulness stayed with me the rest of the day.

This was late morning, so maybe someone sent her my way to give me that push I needed.

Do you think He sends angels out with busted cell phones?

The right interaction can change the track of your day. People can be very kind and care about others. They can help without even knowing it.

That’s it. That the post.

Seegars

The Road Ahead

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You have to do what’s best for you.

Loyalty to one person in business isn’t going to fix the bad things around you.

It’s just a job.

There are other jobs out there.

You’ll be okay.

Sometimes I talk to myself to psych myself up.

And then I answer back and talk myself out of it.

I need a change.

Soon.

That’s it. That’s the post.

Seegars

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