Male chauvinists have their place

My tire went flat today. Despite the view that my sisters have of me, I do know how to change a tire. I may not like to and try to get out of it if possible, but I do know how. Of course it wasn’t necessary at all today.

We discovered my tire was flat as we pulled out of the parking spot to go home. You’re probably wondering why we didn’t notice sooner. There’s a very good reason for that. My sister was driving home and it was on the driver side. I swear it wasn’t my fault. Anyway, we got my jack out only to find out that it has somehow broken since the last time it was used. Go figure. So we broke out the newer, but less functional jack. It’s nicer, but it’s missing the handle to raise it with. We tried assorted items from my car, but nothing was working well. My sister heads inside to try to borrow a screwdriver or something.

She comes back out with our manager in tow. He is well known to everyone at the store but himself to be a male chauvinist. For example, he refuses to hire maintenance people that are women. Anyway, with his help we got the car lifted up.

I wanted to put this story up to prove that chivalry isn’t dead and that there is a time and place where male chauvinists are welcome.

a little kindness goes a long way

I almost didn’t write tonight. It’s been a long day and I’m exhausted. Bad weather will do that to a person. That being said, here I am. For once I’ve got a good story to share.

Today in my drive thru I got to experience one of humanities finer moments. Hopefully one of millions, but I couldn’t swear to it. This one time showed the kind(ish) heart of two… no, three people. The first being our store owners. It is our policy that the sheriff’s department doesn’t pay for their food. Oddly enough, this courtesy does not extend to city police. The second person would be the guy driving in front of the sheriff. He wanted to pay for the officer’s meal. He actually seemed disappointed that he wouldn’t be able to do this kindness to the officer, but he was content that the officer didn’t have to pay anyway.

Now this next part will really get you guys that believe all cops are stuck up pricks. The officer was evidently new to the area and was surprised that he didn’t have to pay. He insisted upon paying for the car behind him. Now I wish I could say that the chain continued from there, but if any sort of extra kindness came from his act, it didn’t happen in my drive thru.

And speaking of good cops… Our chief of police always insists on paying for his own food. He has gone out of his way to make sure that we couldn’t take care of it for him. I think these two people are really being the type of person that a police office is supposed to be.

Kudos to all the good cops out there like these two!

Respect for Property

I’ve been sitting here for approximately five minutes debating on what to talk about today. For some reason nothing had come to me. Despite all the hassles and sometimes good will that I could talk about nothing was really coming to mind. That led me to questioning why I was having trouble. The reason actually came to me pretty quickly.

A couple days ago I had lost the little notebook that I carry with me everywhere I go. I didn’t realize it at the time but apparently I had left it at work. It was one of the few times that I worked in the back booth, the back drive thru window, and it seems that I had left it on the counter there. Before I found out that my sister had picked it up and brought it back to her home many thoughts went through my mind.

I’ve never mentioned it before but I intend to become a full time writer some-year and I originally kept that notebook on me at all times to jot down any old idea that I got no matter how stupid. But in addition to that I started jotting down other important information in it. Ever since I got the idea of the Breaktime Blog I’ve been also jotting down ideas for blog entries. So this little notebook is extremely valuable to me. Oddly enough, it’s not the value that made me so worried. It wasn’t the threat of someone stealing my ideas. What had me so worried was that one of my coworkers might read that I had jotted down notes about them.

We have some terribly vicious people at my job. I’ve seen one person in particular cough directly in someone’s coffee cup. I’ve heard stories of other things that people have done. I’ve seen one person reading and writing in a journal of sorts that someone else had accidently left behind. If some leaves food around it’s been taken and usually eaten. In addition to the mean acts there are also many pranks that happen also. Like salt or sugar in drinks. We also have one person in particular that is extremely vindictive when it comes to getting back at people for the things that they’ve done or have rumored to have done.

Anyway, to make a long story short, my beloved notebook is currently safe in the hands of my sister who has the sense to not read other people’s stuff. So I was immensely relieved to find that out and I have taken measures to put a different notebook in my pocketbook for tomorrow.

work related injury. Why not?

Why isn’t carpal  tunnel syndrome considered a work related injury by management at McDonalds? It’s not fair really. It’s consider work related in many other professions, right? What makes McDonalds (or at least my McDonalds) so positive that it’s not in my case?

I suppose you deserve a bit of a background on the situation. I used to work in what the management calls the back booth. I liked to call it my office with a window with an open door policy. Sounds a lot flashier that way. My coworkers and the assistant managers call it the hole or the dungeon. I liked calling it a dungeon too at times. Especially when I was working night shift. I hardly ever had to ring up orders or take orders on our headset.

Anyway, this went on for about two years. Recently, as in around five or so months ago, they’ve been putting me on the headset taking orders. (My gripes about that are a whole different story that I’ll get into later.) The only times that I get to go back to my old spot is when my sister has a day off. So I’ve been working taking orders for ages now. What has developed lately is an intermittent but extreme shooting pain in my wrist. I joked at first that it was carpal tunnel and used the usual jokes that I needed to go home, just like I do when I break a nail. No one takes me seriously. However from what I remembered at the time it fit the descriptions that I knew of carpal tunnel.

My manager asked me to work an hour later today, I was already on the schedule an extra hour. That’s just McDonalds for you on Memorial Day. I think he was joking, but I told him that I would be happy to if he paid for the carpal tunnel treatment. Go figure that he nearly immediately had us (me and my sister) out of there. I wonder if he even realized how bad my wrist had been hurting by the end of my nine hour shift.

I have learned a good bit about carpal tunnel while I was writing this. Evidently, according to the sources that I’ve looked at, there is still disagreement whether carpal tunnel is caused by actions at work. I suppose I have to forgive my manager. Although chances are he’s just being a tightwad.

For the record WebMD lists Carpal Tunnel at the top of the list when I go through the symptom checker. However there are also 20 other items. I suppose I’ll have to go in to the doctor eventually. I hate using my insurance plan.

Sources:

WebMD: Article on Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Wikipedia: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Entry

Who Am I?

I work a minimum wage job. I earn barely above minimum wage. I’ve been at this same job since November of 2006. I love my customers, even the pain in the necks, smart alecks, and not quite so intelligent ones. I’m moderately fond of a few of my co-workers, though not nearly close to all of them. My managers leave much to be desired. At this time there is only one that is worthwhile of being a manager.

I am annoyed. I am frustrated. I am venting.

I am… the Break-Time blogger.