I met Reo Hatfield today
January 25, 2004, 12:05 AM
Yes, that’s right. Waynesboro City Councilman Reo Hatfield came through my line at work today. Well, actually yes and no. He went through a line I was working, but I did not directly check him out. In case you’re wondering, I was the attendant at the self-checkouts, which is something that I enjoy doing at work, since after using them enough, I can make them scan merchandise, weigh produce, add up the price for donuts, wash your laundry, and sing “The Star Spangled Banner” backwards.
Anyway, though, I recognized Mr. Hatfield as being who he was, and it was kind of like meeting a celebrity. I don’t live in Waynesboro (I live in Stuarts Draft, which is part of Augusta County), so I can’t vote for him one way or another, but still, with him being in the newspapers recently regarding matters pertaining to the Waynesboro City Council, it was kind of neat to see him come through my self-checkouts.
Recall that I am/was a Public Administration major at JMU, and so meeting public officials is kind of cool. I should have gotten his autograph.
Categories: State and local politics, Walmart
Two days, and I’m beat…
January 23, 2004, 12:38 AM
Well, as I probably already mentioned, we’re open. Yaaaaay. No more stocking shelves for me.
And guess what! People love our store! It gives me a nice warm feeling to hear that, and also when I see people buying the stuff that I put up on the shelves.
Meanwhile, I think I already said that I took “before” photos of my room in preparation for the big remodel. So how much progress have I made so far? Amazingly, very little. All my work so far has consisted of is going through a single bookshelf of kiddie books that I haven’t touched in ages and taking out maybe three books that I want to keep. The rest can be donated somewhere. And I’m getting rid of the shelf. So I can just give the books on the shelf all to Mom and she’ll handle it.
My next day off from Wal-Mart is Tuesday. My goal for that day is to put a major dent in the cleaning on this room. Because right now, despite having gone through a shelf, it doesn’t look like I’ve done anything.
Categories: Bedroom remodel, Walmart
As of 7 AM tomorrow morning, Wal-Mart comes to Waynesboro!
January 20, 2004, 8:48 PM
We made it! Store #5117, the new Waynesboro store, will open for business tomorrow morning, January 21, at 7 AM.
And tonight we had an open house for all of our Store 5117 families to show off all our hard work. Dad had to work and Sis was at Tech, but Mom was free to come along. I showed her all of our hard work, as I helped set up the furniture department, hardware, the garden center, toys, and fabrics and crafts. I also showed Mom the front end, the self-checkouts, the service desk (my new home at Wal-Mart), and a lot of stuff in between.
I am excited! All of our approximately seven or eight weeks of work in setting the store up will most likely be destroyed in no less than ten minutes by our customers. And we love it.
And now that Wal-Mart finally arrived in Waynesboro, what’s next? The red planet. See?
Continue reading…Categories: Walmart
How did I do it? Charm…
January 16, 2004, 3:00 PM
Sometimes life will deal you the lemons already made into lemonade, to twist a well-known phrase into my good fortune. You see, somehow I managed to get a three-day weekend, having gotten Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday off from Wal-Mart.
Everyone at work was saying, “A three day weekend? How did you manage that?” I always say, “Charm.” Of course, “charm” really translates to, “I have no idea but I’m not complaining.”
Friday was an at-home and around-town day, and so I think I’m going to go out on Saturday. Maybe DC. Maybe otherwise. Who knows…
Categories: Walmart
He’s the… ROLLBACK MAN!
January 9, 2004, 10:08 PM
I have to say… I’ve been a fan of Wal-Mart’s little happy face character that they use for their “Rollback” promotions ever since they started dressing him up.
I first remember seeing him dressed up in Staunton wearing a hard hat with the phrase “Wal-Mart at work, watch for falling prices” on the signs. It was so clever.
Recall that before they started dressing up our friend, they did the whole “Rollback America” theme. Not nearly as clever. I like my happy face.
Categories: Television, Walmart
Add “Boyd’s Hairdressers” to my crap-list
January 6, 2004, 3:19 AM
Fresh from my first day at the new Wal-Mart in Waynesboro (which in itself was a great experience, and I’m pumped up for the January 21 grand opening once I get a vest that fits), I went down to Staunton Mall to Boyd’s Hairdressers to get a much-needed trim.
Now on a Monday night, the mall was SLOW. I think you could probably count the number of people in any one area of the mall on one hand. Seriously. Boyd’s was no exception. I was, in fact, their only customer.
Soooooooo… there are two employees, both idle, one reading a magazine. Seeing this, I jumped on the opportunity to get a quick haircut.
And that’s the end of my time in Staunton…
January 3, 2004, 12:22 AM
Yeah, today was my last day as an associate in the Staunton Wal-Mart. It was a happy and sad day.
On one hand, it was a happy day. All of us who were hired for Waynesboro and were placed in the Staunton Wal-Mart (Store #1344) will finally be “coming home” to the Waynesboro store as of Monday the 5th. For that, I am excited, as I get to help open and work in a brand new store. Not an existing store that’s moving to a new facility. A totally brand new store. I am SO excited. Plus it’s closer to me than Staunton. Interestingly enough, the Waynesboro Wal-Mart is actually right around the corner from where I used to work. From the new Wal-Mart in Waynesboro, you just have to take about a mile and some change of a drive, and a right and a left, and you’re at CFW (later Telegate) building where I used to work.
Now the sad part was saying goodbye to all the wonderful people in Staunton who aren’t transferring to Waynesboro. I still intend to shop in the Staunton Wal-Mart, so it’s not like I’m going away forever and will never see them again. Still, a lot of well wishes and big hugs were exchanged today. I will so miss everyone… so many great times together, so many wonderful conversations, and also such helpful people as all of us who were hired for Waynesboro got our sea legs on the register and with Wal-Mart in general in Staunton for Christmas.
Categories: Walmart
Today is Katherine Watts’s birthday
January 2, 2004, 10:32 AM
Just one of those random things you remember about people… today is the 23rd birthday of Katherine Watts, a friend and classmate from elementary school in Rogers, Arkansas. I haven’t seen her since we moved to Virginia back in 1992, and so in June it will be 12 years since I saw her. We still have an apple-shaped ornament that she did for me in preschool that we still put on the tree every year. Still, happy birthday to Katherine Watts.
Otherwise, today is my last day in the Staunton Wal-Mart as an associate. Monday all of us Waynesboro associates will be starting down there for the big January 21 grand opening. I’m excited. And I get this weekend off. So I’m going to Washington DC on Saturday (as in tomorrow) to ride Metro and take photos of stuff.
Categories: Elementary school, Walmart
Well, that was fun!
December 25, 2003, 11:04 AM
Christmas morning has come and gone, and it went well. First of all, I got a brand new tripod for Big Mavica, which is bigger and more heavy duty than my old one. I shall enjoy this, indeed. I’m going to go out and take it for a spin later today once it gets dark.
And Wal-Mart is CLOSED today! So as a result, I didn’t have to go to work today. Good. I needed the rest. Wal-Mart closed at 6:00 PM on Christmas Eve (with management hitting some of the lights to encourage customers to get finished – a strange sight, seeing Wal-Mart with half the lights out), and will reopen at 6:00 AM on December 26 for the after-Christmas shoppers. And it’s amusing how giddy we all got once we finished, logged off our registers, and turned in the money in our tills. If you can imagine, there was singing (including “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas”), and we were dancing in the aisles to an extent. We made it. Christmas Eve was over. We get a day off. And boy, do we deserve it. And so we wasted no time getting back to the breakroom to clock out and leave, needless to say.
So there you go. Now for the rest of the day, we’re going to eat, and then I’m going to play around with this new tripod, and figure out all of what it can do for me.
“Your little interviews make me want to shove my purse so far down your throat that it can only be retrieved with a really long hook.”
December 23, 2003, 12:50 AM
That’s what my sister says about those little “interviews” I do with Big Mavica. And all this time I thought that they were fun. It turns out that they think that it’s more like pulling teeth sans anesthesia.
And all this time I thought that they enjoyed them. After all, Mom enjoyed seeing herself say, “People will think you just got out of the home” on one from November 2002.
Meanwhile, remember how I said that Wal-Mart was a full-contact sport? Yeah, it still is, and it drove the point home when I accidentally hit myself in the head with the stick end of one of those horsie sticks. Thankfully, it was a plastic stick.
No one said in orientation that Wal-Mart was a full contact sport!
December 22, 2003, 12:38 AM
Yeah, Wal-Mart is a full-contact sport, it seems. Of course, the day after Thanksgiving, known as “Black Friday” (a day where I wore all black to be silly) is very much full-contact, with the customers practically killing each other for great deals.
Then there’s me – I’ve managed to hit myself in the face a few times with oddly-shaped-but-light items. Mostly wrapping paper. I’m trying to manage the wrapping paper, getting it from the belt to the bag, and in the process manage to hit myself in the head. Really smooth. There was another time when I accidentally hit the checkout light (you know, the red thing with the number on it) with a roll of wrapping paper. A small flurry of dust fell off of the number and onto me.
All in all, though, I like my job, and so that’s always a good thing.
Categories: Food and drink, Schumin Web meta, Walmart
Let’s talk hat hair here…
December 20, 2003, 12:37 AM
Ladies and gentlemen, I have severe hat hair! This is what happens when you wear a Santa hat for nine hours straight. We’ve been wearing these little Santa hats on the registers, and I have a big head, and so my hair gets crushed. So say hello to hat hair. I figure it must be Wal-Mart’s method of getting us to wear the hats all day. Once you wear the hat for a little bit, there goes your good hair day. So you keep the hat on all day and only remove it once you’re safely out of the store and somewhere where people won’t comment on your hat hair.
Meanwhile, I’ve finished sorting images for The Schumin Web Transit Center, my new transit-oriented site, and now I’m combing through those images, and prepping images for the site. Basically, I’m clearing out obviously bad images (blurry, not properly framed, etc.), and bringing out the good qualities in the ones that are left. Most of them are of DC Metro (as in Metrorail), and so be prepared to see a lot of trains…
Categories: Christmas, Schumin Web meta, Walmart
In a few minutes, I shall be off…
December 12, 2003, 11:11 AM
Today, before work, take two in trying to get new shoes. I went to The Shoe Department at the mall in Harrisonburg yesterday, and they were out of Airwalks. So I’m going to go to Staunton Mall before work today and check out their branch of The Shoe Department and see if they have some Airwalks. And if not there, I’ll go to Super Shoes across the street from the mall.
And let me tell you… the shoes I have now could easily be described like this: “Did you just come from church? (No, why?) Then why are your shoes so holey?” Yeah. I have a big hole in the bottom of my left shoe, a tear in the top, and a hole developing in the toe of the right shoe. All from regular wear, not abuse, or even any few strenuous uses.
That’s what happens when you wear shoes every day day in and day out for a year. They really get some use. And I’d say that I got my money’s worth out of them. That and then some more.
I will be taking pictures of these shoes once I get a new pair to show you exactly how hard I wore these shoes. It’s amazing, trust me.
The Wal-Mart Power Ranger
December 11, 2003, 10:59 AM
I can come up with the strangest ways of describing things sometimes. Here’s the latest gem that I’ve come up with…
When I went to clock in after lunch on Wednesday, I casually made the comment “It’s morphin time” just before I swiped my badge. I described it to say that clocking in is like putting on the Power Ranger suit (though note that the Waynesboro associates don’t have vests yet). And with the mighty register zord, my arsenal is complete to take on the customers.
My only disclaimer: I don’t look good in tights.
Still, there you go. Wal-Mart Power Ranger. What will I think of next?
Categories: Walmart
Today I was Mr. People Greeter…
December 7, 2003, 10:17 PM
That’s right, today I was the People Greeter on the General Merchandise side of the store. My job today was to pass out carts, say hello to people, and various other tasks as needed.
In a word, doing the People Greeter’s job this time of year is COLD. I started out without a jacket, and boy, did I regret it. See, you have the big automatic doors that open and let drafts in from outside, plus the door for the carts (Staunton is an older Supercenter), despite all the blowers, still lets a good amount of cold air in.
I took my winter coat with me to work and left my lighter coat in the car. Realizing that my winter coat would first of all be too heavy of a coat, and also be too bulky, I asked and was allowed to go out to the car after my first break to get my other coat. The lighter coat worked out just fine.
So all in all, being a people greeter was interesting. It was a nice change of pace from the registers, and an interesting job nonetheless.
Heartwarming moment: After I said “Good evening” to one customer, he commented to me that I was the first one to greet him like that. That made me feel good. Lets me know that I’m making the customers happy.
Categories: Walmart