Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Days 92-93

Lately, I've been making my business to go in early enough to take care of things that I could not the minute that it's time to open, such as checking the situation with the change and getting some if needed, steaming some clothing that has turned out to be wrinkled, etc.

On Monday, when it was still early enough in the morning, I was able to run the steamer on some clothes that I was unable to on Friday due to timing. However, there were two shirts that I was unable to get to before time to open up and man the front of the store. I think that day, during the slower periods, I put out some Christmas stuff, did some straightening, and transferred some clothing from the back room to the middle room. If I remember correctly, I think business-wise, things were slow in the first half of the day but picked up in the afternoon.

On Wednesday, I steamed the couple of shirts that I had been unable to on Monday and transferred some clothing from the back room to the middle room. My strategy for that day was to basically tag as much of the clothing on the pricing rack as possible and go from there. It would've been either before or after tagging that I had put priced clothing out. I ended up setting aside one skirt to be steamed today. I'll either do that before time to open or when our afternoon cashier comes in. After I finished tagging the clothes, I pretty much focused on straighening things up as, again, time would allow. The manager was in just in time to close up shop and took care of balancing the register for the day. (It was one of our slower days as far as business was concerned, but I was able to get quite a bit done, I think.)

Unless there turns out to be a bigger priority at hand, I think my plan for today is going to be steam the aforementioned skirt whenever I'm in a position to, and from there, put out whatever clothing has been priced if it hasn't been done already by anyone on duty yesterday and when the afternoon cashier comes in, transfer more clothing from the back to the front and tag that if time allows.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 92

Today was my second Black Friday on the working end. But since there was generally someone else to cover the register, I took care of some other things throughout the store.

I had come in early in order to take care of a few things, one of which was to check the situation with the change. The manager and a few colleagues came in when I was doing that. I went to the bank, which was only a block away to get some change.

When I returned, I hung up and tagged some clothes that had recently come in. Eventually, the manager priced them, and I put them out. Today, the manager opted to have a buy one get one free sale on clothes, but I don't know if it was only for today or not.

The other things I did today were put out some books and some video tapes, help get a Christmas tree set up, put out some Christmas decorations, sweep the entryway outside (since there were leaves on it), and transferred some clothes from the back room to the middle room and tagged those, setting aside a few that appeared to need steamed. I ran out of time before I got to that part today, but that can be one of the things I do on Monday before time to open.

Yesterday, my fiance had said he'd maybe stop the store for a bit today. He showed up within the last half hour of my shift and was there for the remainder of it.

That's been my day today. I think my goals for Monday will be to steam up clothes that need to be steamed,put out some books (if shelf space allows) and straighten things up throughout the store.  

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Days 89-91

I think on Friday I pretty much ran the register until someone else was in to take over on that. One of the things I did was transfer some clothing from the back room to the front. However, I ran out of time before I was able to get it tagged.

On Monday, we had more clothing to put out so I tagged some of that. I think business wise, that day had started out slow but then things picked up in the afternoon.

On Wednesday, I put out clothing and Christmas cards. We've also started a display of trinkets for a quarter. There were some that were already a quarter and some that got marked down to that so that they could be moved out. We also got more Christmas stuff out.

In a little while I will be heading out for my second Black Friday on the working end of it. Last year, I was mostly in and out of the back room throughout the day, but I might be on the register at some point today. If that's the case, then I'll be more of a witness as to how things go business wise.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 88

I went in a bit early today in order to take care of some things that I otherwise would not have been able to, such as vacuuming the carpet in the front part of the store.

When I wasn't busy on the register, I tagged some clothes. When I finished doing that, I mostly tried to straighten things up throughout the store. Because the manager wasn't able to make it today (family emergency) I took care of closing the store at the end of the day.

Things were busy off and on throughout the day. I won't go into how much we made today, but it was a lot. I'm hoping when I go in on Friday that we will be able to get more clothes ready to go on the racks to be sold.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Days 86-87

I know I keep falling behind on these.

I was on register pretty much all morning on Friday. I don't remember everything I did in the morning when I wasn't dealing with a customer. I think I mainly straightened things up and maybe put a few things out. In the afternoon I tested some strands of lights. On one spool there were only one or two strands in which all the light bulbs worked. I had trouble separating the working strands from the non-working strands, but since the the lights in question were old anyway, I ended up throwing most of them away.

On Monday, I was on register pretty much all day. It was one of our slower days overall, but I'm sure that things will pick up later in the month. One of the things I did in the afternoon was transfer some of the more casual slacks in the mens' section over to the jeans section per the manager's request. After all, the jeans section needed fleshed out, and the slacks section needed thinned out. Also per her request, I transferred some mens' shirts over to our current quarter rack which had been accommodated some ladies' tops.

Those have been my last two days working there. I'm thinking I'm going to try to go in earlier today than I normally do so that I can get some things done before actual opening time that I am unable to do when the store is open, especially when there are customers present.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Days 84-85

I was on register pretty much all day both Monday and Wednesday. I think on Monday I discarded some clothes that did not make the cut, dusted a table and did some general straightening as time allowed.
On Wednesday, I had a customer or two right when I opened. There were customers coming and going almost nonstop that day. But in the moments that I was not busy with a customer, I tagged some clothes, whited out some used tags, and attempted to straighten things up throughout the store. A couple of hours into my shift my fiance (yes fiance; more on that in a later post) showed up and was around for the remiander of my shift. He did help with a couple of things such as taking a donation to the back room, getting some freed up hangers back there, and around closing time, getting some stuff that was in the entryway outside back in.

Those have been the last couple of days that I had been there. I wonder what today will bring.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Days 81-83

I had expected Monday to be one of our busiest days as it was Halloween and perhaps people would be doing whatever last minute shopping for that at that time. However, according to the manager, most people probably would've gotten their last minute shopping done on Saturday. Monday had turned out to be a slow day salewise. However, that didn't really bother the manager as it had been a pretty good month as it was.
It was on Wednesday that we started scrapping whatever was left of our Halloween display including any costume pieces that we still had and putting them away for next year. Other than that, whenever I wasn't busy on the register, I tagged some clothes and straightened things up throughout the store (or at least attempted to anyway).

I think it was Friday when the Christmas display for the window was done. One of the volunteers that normally came in on Tuesday and Thursday mornings was pretty much in all day to help with said display. I was pretty much on register until sometime in the afternoon when someone else was in to take over. Otherwise, I mainly straightened things up throughout the store as much as I could and thinned out the hat section, getting rid of any that weren't in very good shape and/or were too summery, and put out some clothes.

That was my week last week. I'm thinking today I will likely be putting out more clothing and taking care of some general straightening during the slower periods unless there turns out to be a bigger priority at hand.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Days 77-80

This is probably the furthest behind I have been on these Doggie Bag accounts.
Last Friday was the day when the world was supposedly supposed to end. I was on register until someone else came in and took over on that area. So for the remainder of my shift, I mostly tried to straighten things up.

Clearly, Friday came and went without the world ending, so I was able to work my shift on Monday. I was on register almost all day. I think when I wasn't busy with customers, I put stuff out and/or tried to straighten up displays. That's pretty much all I remember about that day.

On Wednesday, I was on register until someone else came in and took over on that. While that person was on register, my boyfriend had come in to see me. I stepped out with him for a few minutes (with clearance from the manager to do so).  He stuck around during the remainder of my shift (after which he walked home with me, but that's another story). While he was talking to one of the people I was working with (and who was tagging the clothing), I transferred some clothes from the back room to the middle room (since some of the clothing racks needed fleshed out), sorted through a bag or two, and sorted the written tags from the blank tags.

Today, I was on register again until later in the afternoon when someone else came in to cover that. So, for the remainder of my shift, I put out some clothes, steamed the wrinkles out of a few clothes that needed it, put some Barbie dolls that had come in into a bin, sorted through some socks, transferred some clothes from the back room to the middle room and tagged those.

So yeah, the last four days have been busy. We have our costume section still, so given that my next shift will be on Halloween, there might be people who will be buying their costumes (or anything else Halloween-related for that matter) at the last minute. We'll just have to wait and see.

Is the End of the Road Near?

This is something I'd normally put on my blog, Moderate Mouse's Musings, but since this blog is more or less about where I've been on life's journey, and the end of the world, should it occur tomorrow according to a certain prediction would mean the end of said journey, I think I'll post it here.
According to various Christian websites, the end of the world is tomorrow. Yes, these are the same people who had predicted that the Rapture would occur on May 21 of this year (because that worked out SO well).  This particular site has a timer counting down to the end (which would seem quite antithetical to various parts of the Bible that say that nobody knows the day OR the hour in which Christ shall return). According to said timer, I can expect the world to end just before 5AM my time. That's an hour before my alarm normally goes off. Thus, according to that timer I could not expect to get up in the morning to do my usual day at the Doggie Bag and then go see my boyfriend at night as the world will end before any of that happens.

But let's say they have the day right but not the time. In that case, there's still a chance for me to do my hours at the Doggie Bag in the day and go see my boyfriend at night. And if Friday comes and goes without the world ending, I can continue on with life and whatever may lie ahead.

I might be back in tomorrow or Saturday. We'll just have to wait and see.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 76

Today, I was on register for all but maybe one or two hours. If I wasn't dealing with customers, I was straightening things up, tagging clothes, putting white out on tags, or putting stuff out. It was a pretty busy day.
Sometime this afternoon, when I was on register, my boyfriend showed up and bought a few things. This is the third time I've seen him in the store at a time that I was on duty.

We were a bit late closing up on account of some last minute customers. I don't know exactly how much we made in the afternoon, let alone for the whole day since I was not the one that configured those totals, but for the back half of the day, I had run out of room on the front half of the sheet we use to write down sales totals and had to use the back to account for the last two of the afternoon. (The last time I had run into this situation was roughly a year and a half ago when I was the cashier on duty on a Saturday morning.)

That's been my day today. Who knows what Friday will bring?

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Days 73-75

Once again, I'm falling behind on my accounts for this.
We've cut back on our operation hours a bit. Whereas we used to be open until six Monday through Friday and until four on Saturdays, we're open until four on all of those days. As a result, some of my colleagues' schedules have changed.

On Wednesday, I was on the register for an hour or two at most. The rest of the day, I mostly dealt with clothing, whether it was hanging it, putting it out, or putting it in a recycle bag. (That's the sort of thing I normally do if someone else is covering the register.) That day went by pretty fast.

Friday was one of my full days on the register though I think that's supposed to change as of this week. Something that really surprised me that day was that it turned out that we have had so many donations pile up that we have had to take a hiatus from accepting any more. Hopefully we'll be more caught up soon. In the afternoon, when I wasn't busy with customers, I tried to make the store more presentable, but I ran out of time before I was able to do everything that I had tried to do. I also ended up being the one to close that day.

On Monday, I was on register almost all day. Since I'm now authorized to open the store if need be, I went in a little early in order to attempt to straighten things up in case a bunch of customers came in the minute that the store opened. We had gotten off to a slow start in the morning, but business really picked up in the afternoon.

Those have been my days so far. I'm hoping a lot will get accomplished today.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 72

Today wasn't our best day salewise. We did however, have a lot of donations come in throughout the day, including clothes, shoes, toys, purses and a lot of other stuff.
Throughout the day, when I didn't have a sale to ring up, I did things like straighten up various displays and price items according to the manager's specifications.

Other than that, I don't really have anything to report, I'm afraid. Maybe more will happen on Wednesday.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 71

The day had started out pretty good. I was on a roll straightening up some displays that needed it and I sold a lot of stuff and made a lot of money in the first half of the day.
Then, within the last hour or two of my shift, I made a mistake that overshadowed all of that and made it into a bad day. I won't go into details here, but it got me in trouble with the manager, and during what was left of my shift, my composure was shot out of guilt for letting her down, and I started crying. (Luckily, the manager had left before that happened, and as far as I know, not many customers, if any, noticed. I did explain my wrongdoing to a couple of people on duty though.)

I'll be heading out within the next hour for my usual Monday shift. I'm really hoping that all has been forgiven and I can redeem myself this week.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 70

I was on register in the morning as usual. Today, we finally started setting up our Halloween merchandise (some of which was bought later in the day).
In the afternoon, I brought some stuff up to the front for our early afternoon cashier to price, and then I put it out. It was pretty much a few boxes of random items, such as glassware, electronics, etc. There was even a set of cloth diapers.

Within the last hour of my shift, someone that used to work with us stopped by. There were some items we had held onto for her, but she had second thoughts on them, so they were put out. She did donate some bags of planting bulbs, though.

It was a pretty busy day. No doubt it will be busy on Friday as well.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 69

Because of certain things we are trying to accomplish, we had to close the kids' room temporarily in order to use it as a work space.

We have gotten so many purses this weekend that the respective section was super-crowded. So once, again, we're selling purses for fifty cents indefinitely. I did what I could to make the section more presentable, including pulling purses that weren't in very good shape.
I also put stuff out and had to move some items from the table next to the register to some other tables in order to make room for Halloween decorations.

It has been a busy day off and on. There was scarcely a moment in the afternoon when we did not have customers coming and going. It'll probably be busy this month depending on how much Halloween stuff (including costumes) we have up for sale.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 68

This morning, I contributed a belt, two purses, and some worn out shoes to our recycle pile. This was stuff that wasn't doing me any good anymore, and I had to do something with it. Since we get some money for the stuff we recycle, I made my contribution there.

As usual, I was on register throughout the day. The way it stands at this time, we have a "buy one get one free" clothing sale. I managed to sell a LOT of clothes.
I think I had mentioned a coffee table we had gotten awhile back, but anyway, somebody bought it today.

Other things I did today included straightening things up throughout the store, tagging and putting out clothes, and pricing and putting out other things. Oh, and we also have a costume display in the room that generally holds kids' clothing.

That's been my day today. Who knows what Monday will bring?

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 67

There were some clothes I was going to tag this morning, but someone else beat me to it. So I started the day by sweeping up the entry way and putting a few things out that no one else had yet.
I did some straightening throughout the day, but I also put out some clothes, purses and shoes and other random items. And believe me, we got a lot of clothing put out today. I also tested a few electronic items. As a rule, we test anything electronic to make sure it works before we put it up for sale.

Towards the end of my shift, the cheerleaders for a high school in a nearby town came to decorate our window. Their colors are black and white, so the manager, one other person on duty, and I looked on the racks for some black and white stuff for the cheerleaders to choose from to put in the window.

That's been my day today. I wonder what Friday will bring.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Days 64-66

I was on the register most of the day on Friday. It turns out that since we have a lot of adult pants, we're selling them for a dollar until further notice. There were some moments where the store was dead, and I'd try to find something to straighten up. Towards the end of my shift, I transferred some clothes from the back room to the middle room, per the manager's request, so that they could be tagged. However, I ran out of time before I could tag anything. When some plans for me to go out of town on Saturday fell through for reasons beyond my control, I decided to go in for a bit on Saturday to tag some clothes. I was only there for a couple of hours though.
On Monday, I ran the register as usual. We don't get furniture in very often, but someone donated an antique coffee table. I don't know whether or not anyone has bought it since then. I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

That's what I've been up to so far. I'm hoping to get more clothes tagged tomorrow.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 63

Today, one of my first tasks was to straighten up the bookshelf since it did not look very good. After that, I unpacked a box of donations, most of which were toys and which I put into various bins in the kids' room per the manager's request.
A couple of boxes of Humane Society t-shirts came in today. One customer bought one, but the rest, I had to take inventory of and combine into one box, though I think I had to pause that a few times in order to check someone out. After that, I moved some items from one table to another.

In the afternoon, the manager sent me on an errand to get rubber bands. There were so many sizes available and it was such a tough call between two of them that I ended up getting packs of two different sizes.

From then until our afternoon cashier had to leave, I whited out some tags so that they could be used again. Then I manned the register in the final hour of my shift.

That's been my day today. I'm thinking one of my goals for Friday will be to tag more clothes unless someone else beats me to it.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Days 60-62

I know I have been getting lazier than ever on my accounts of my days at the Doggie Bag. I'm lucky if I can remember everything that has happened. On Wednesday, Friday, and Monday, I've run the register, tagged clothes, put out clothes, and straightened things up throughout the store.

On Friday, the manager set aside some purple clothes for our high school cheerleading team to use for the window. Whatever they didn't use, she had me put out straight away on Monday.

The only sale we have going on at this time is a plastic bags' worth of toys for a dollar. Some people have gone for that but not very many that I know of.

Yesterday, I ran the register, straightened things up throughout the store, tagged clothes and prepared a few things to be sold.

Those have been my days to date. I know tomorrow that, depending on the circumstances, one of my goals will be to tag as much clothing as possible so that it can be ready to go out. I don't know what else will come up.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 59

I was on the register for most of the day, and I was slammed with customers off and on throughout. One of the things that I did during the slower periods was unwrap a box small dishes per the manager's request. There were so many little plates that were identical that they'll probably just get sold individually. I also priced a few items in accordance to the manager's specifications and tested three curling irons to make sure they worked. They did.

In the last hour of my shift, I put some clothes out. (The clothes had taken a back seat to other items until later in the day.)

That's been my day today. Depending on the circumstances on Wednesday, I think my goals will be to get more clothing tagged if not put out and bundle up hangers to be sold.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Days 57-58

I know I've been putting off these posts until later and later. I don't know why I've done that.

Anyway, on both Wednesday and Friday, I ran the register off and on. On Wednesday, we received a big clothing donation from a boutique that is more or less across the street from us. Throughout the day, I tagged some clothes and put some out.

On Friday, after tagging clothes, I put some other clothes out, called a couple of people to let them know that their tax receipts were available (per the manager's request), put some items out, and bundled up some hangers to be sold (also per the manager's request).

That's what's Wednesday and Friday have been like for me. I think my goals this week will be (depending on the circumstances) to get more clothes tagged and bundle up more hangers.

Dug up Some Poems I Wrote in College

I'm currently in the process of editing three novels, something that is rather slow going. But someone in my family has stated in no uncertain terms that they would like to see me get published this year. I can't really promise that, and I haven't really written anything new lately, but I did have an idea today.
There's a poetry contest going on somewhere. I looked it up, and it said that any kind of poems could be submitted, even if they were previously published somewhere else.

When I was in college, I was a creative writing major, which meant some classes involving ficiton writing and some involving poetry writing. I still have some of the poems that I had written for a couple of my poetry classes, one of which was published in the school's literary magazine. I dug up four of said poems and typed them up on the computer, and tweaked a couple of them. As of tomorrow, I'm planning on sending them for the contest in question. I won't find out if I won or not until February, but I can at least say I've started taking steps towards attempting to be published.  And who knows, maybe I'll be inspired to write something new for the next contest.

There's also a short story contest that I think is supposed to open later this year or something like that. I might whip up something for that.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Days 55-56

It turns out that the morning cashier that we normally had on Wednesdays has switched to Thursdays, so it was basically me and the manager in the morning.

If I recall Wednesday correctly, I think I ran the register at least part of the morning, and I think I had tagged and/or put out clothing at some point. I did the same thing on Friday as well.  Closer to the end of my shift on Friday, I went through a box of clothes that had come in that day. It wasn't a big box though.

I really should be more timely with these posts, shouldn't I, while the information is still fresh. Yet, I keep putting these off for some reason. Anyway, that's what's been going on with me at this point. I had today off since it's Labor Day. I think my goal for Wednesday, depending on the circumstances, will be to tag more clothing.

Going to Meet My New Niece Today

My sister had her baby on Sunday. She went into labor that morning, and my mom was at least headed to her hometown by the time I had gotten home from church. (Mom had planned on going in for a week after the baby was born to help out with things.)
Today, I will be riding up with my stepdad to go meet the new baby. I'm really looking forward to that.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Days 53-54

Friday, I was on the register for most of my shift. If I remember the day correctly, I did some straightening, put out a few clothes and tagged others. I think I put some other things out too.
Today, I ran the register again. However, during one of the slower periods, I helped the manager with the window display. We're going with a red theme this time as it's one of the signature colors of the local university.

It wasn't until closer to the end of my shift that I was able to get a lot of clothing tagged. In today's round of clothing were two rather interesting t-shirts: one that said "FECK YOU YOU FECKIN FECKER!"  and another that said "I [heart] Intercourse, PA." I questioned the appropriateness of either shirt for the kind of business that we are, but the manager assured me that they were both fine. (If anything, she was the one that donated the former, plus she's pretty sure both will sell pretty quick.) I took pictures of both shirts on my phone before I left. I don't have email capabilities on my phone, but I will be able to show them to my sister tomorrow when I go to see her new baby. (The baby was born yesterday; it's a girl.) And I might show my boyfriend (whom I've been dating for two weeks as of this past Saturday) the "fecker" one the next time I see him.

Those have been my two days. I think my main goal for Wednesday will be to tag more clothing and then see where things go from there.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 52

Yesterday, I tagged some clothes and later put them out. I had originally planned on straightening up the children's book section, but someone else beat me to it. So, I washed a few dishes and took some stuff to the front to be priced. I also ran the register in the afternoon as our afternoon cashier was unable to come.
That's been my day yesterday. I'm not sure what will happen tomorrow.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 51

Once again, I ran the register off and on throughout my shift. During the slower periods, I tagged some clothes, put out some clothes, shoes, books, belts, purses, video tapes, or some combination thereof, and did some general straigthening.
We have so many toys right now that the manager has opted to have a sale where one can buy full plastic bags' worth of toys for a dollar. (Under a previous manager we had done something similar with clothes and with childrens' books.)

Of course, we've had some donations come in at different times, most of which was clothing I believe. Someone from a boutique that is more or less across the street from us donated a box that had bolts of fabric and some hangers.

That's been my day. I think that, barring any short notice memos to do otherwise, my goals on Wednesday will be to 1) transfer as much clothing to the middle room as space will allow and tag it and 2) get the childrens' book section straightened up and arranged so that it looks nicer.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Days 49-50

I know I've been late posting these accounts. Sorry about that.
Anyway, I think on Wednesday, I put out some clothes that had been priced and tagged some that needed it. I had planned on working on straightening up the children's book section when I was finished with the clothes, but according to a memo that our morning cashier got from the manager, getting the shoes from the back room put out was a bigger priority, so I did that. Unfortunately, some of the shoes weren't in very good shape and had to be recycled. Sometime in the afternoon, I washed up a few dishes but straightened up some of the displays the rest of the time I was there.

Today, I tagged and put out some clothes, ran the register off and on, and attempted to get the books straightened up, but I was only able to get so far on that. Oh well, there's always next week, and besides, we do have a bit more help now. (On Wednesday, I think one volunteer and one community service person joined us.) Plus, someone may very well decide to buy a bunch of books over the weekend, and that will be fewer for me to deal with next week (unless of course more come in).

Those were the last two days I've been on duty. I'm hoping we'll get more clothing out and that I will finally get the childrens' book section straightened up.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 48

I know this account is late, but better late than never, right?
Monday, I was on the register for the most part for a couple of hours. But when it was just me and the manager, I tagged some clothes. I think most of the day I was back and forth between tagging clothes to be priced and putting out ones that were. (After all, some of the racks needed some fleshing out.) While I was doing that, the manager's son (who's not going to be available after the school year starts which will be later in the week) at some point came in and took over on the register until our late afternoon/evening cashier made it in.

I'm thinking that today, depending on the situation, my goals will be to tag as much clothing as space on the pricing rack will allow (but it'll generally be everything short of kids' clothes and adult pants and shorts; last time I checked, we're still having a fifty-cent sale on these things, and the manager is bound to be selective as to which of these she wants to put up for sale that this time depending on what she judges them to be worth, but all other clothing is fair game) and straighten up the kids' book section so that it will look nicer. (It's something that needs to be done, but I haven't had much of a chance to do that in the past week.)

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Days 46-47

I'm sorry I haven't updated this as soon as I had hoped.
For a while we had all clothes, shoes, and purses at fifty cents. Now, the fifty-cent thing is limited to kids' clothes and adult pants and shorts.

One of the first things I did on Wednesday was bring in some items from outside. The our cashier for the morning was unable to bring everything in himself because of timing, so I brought it in. I'm not sure how much of it got ruined by the rain going on at the time.

I did get some clothes tagged and ready to go. After that, I started sorting through some bags of clothes until the manager had me put that on hold as some of it was wet. So instead, I put out clothing that was priced and started stocking and organizing the kids' book section. However our cashier for early afternoon had to leave, so I was needed on register. One of the things I did in between customers was sort through a box of toys (a few of which couldn't be salvaged.)

On Friday, I ran the register pretty much all day. During one of the slower periods, I emptied out a box of books and stock the shelves. In said box were a few items that were not books so I took them by the register to be priced.

Closer to the end of my shift, we were low on change, so I was sent to the bank to take care of that. After that, ran some white-out on a sheet so that it could be photocopied. If I didn't know better, I'd say that shortly before time for me to leave, our last manager (who had resigned almost a year ago for personal reasons) had stopped by for a short while, and she bought an action for her son.

That is how it has been the last two days I've been in. I think depending on the situation in the coming week, one of my goals will be to rearrange the kids' book section so that it'll be more presentable.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 45

Today was one of our busiest days. I was basically on register up until the late afternoon/evening cashier was in. I sold a lot of stuff, especially clothes. Part of one person's donation today was a bookcase, and it sold later in the day.
During some of the slower periods, I priced a few things according to the manager's specifications and cleaned a couple of items.

In my last hour on duty, I put some clothes that the manager approved over to the counter in the back room for our clothes hanging specialist to hang when she gets in tomorrow, priced and put out a candle holder in the window per the manager's request, and transferred some pants from the back room to the middle room. I also wiped down a child's desk and chair as best I could, but it was more difficult that I thought it would be. We didn't charge very much for it, though.

That's been my day. The plan for Wednesday is to get whatever capris are left tagged and ready to go as those are one of the items that will be out of season before too long.

A Busy Weekend

On most weekends, short of church on Sunday, I'm lucky if I'm out of the house at any time between Friday night and Monday morning. However, this weekend has been an exception.
Yesterday, I met up with an old boyfriend for the second time since our breakup in high school. In the evening, I had a surprise visit from my grandma, aunt, and a cousin on my dad's side of the family with whom I went to dinner and then went shopping.

This morning, I had church as usual. This afternoon, I should be headed out to get a haircut as the regional branch of our Humane Society is holding a haircut-a-thon today. It'll just be a matter of when my mom will be ready to go. Tonight, my grandparents and a couple of cousins from my mom's side of the family plan on visiting us for a bit. They're passing through on the way to a family reunion in Tennessee. (As far as I can remember, the closest I ever get to family reunions are weddings and funerals in the family.)

So yeah, this has been a busy weekend so far and will continue to be busy.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 44

I was in charge of the register almost all day. I sold a lot of clothing like nobody's business. But then, what do you expect when there's a 50 cent sale going on clothes? It also applies to shoes and purses. I don't know how long it'll be going on. I guess it'll go on until it has achieved its purpose by the manager's judgement.
When I didn't have a customer to wait on, I was either sorting through bags, putting items out, or tagging and pricing clothes. (Normally, the manager is the one who takes care of pricing, but under rare circumstances, like today, she put me in charge of that as she had to be in and out part of the day.)

In closing, it's been a predominately busy day for me. I'm sure next week will be busy as well.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 43

The first thing I did today was take some empty hangers from near the register to the back room. After that I tagged some clothes. It turns out that all clothes, shoes and purses are fifty cents until further notice. Needless to say, the manager has gotten selective as to what she wants put out at this time.
After that, I noticed that all of the trash cans were pretty full, so I emptied those out. After that, I washed some cups, dishes, etc. that was in the sink, brought a couple of things up to the front for the morning cashier to price (as he's one of the few staff members authorized to do so), and basically tried to sort things in the back.

In the afternoon, the manager was able to price the tagged clothing, and someone else on the staff took care of putting it out. I pretty much tried to either sort things out in the back or straighten things up in the front. The register had been covered almost the whole time I was there, so I only ended up ringing up a couple of sales myself.

That's been my day today. Who knows what Friday will bring?

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 42

At the beginning of the day, I got some rather interesting news. It turns out that we had been broken in from the back...again, but unlike the last time, which was almost a year ago, none of the money was taken because of the particular way that we generally store the money somewhere that, well, let's just say the culprit wouldn't think to look there. And as far as the manager knew, there was nothing missing from the back room either. However, the doors did get fixed later in the day.
As usual, one of the first things I did was sweep the entry way before putting the outdoor displays out. And of course, I ran the register off an on throughout the day. When I wasn't doing that, I was either straightening things up throughout the store, tagging clothes, putting out stuff that had been priced, or cleaning up items to make them more presentable for sale. Things were pretty busy throughout the day, but we did have some help.

That's been my day today. Who knows what Wednesday will bring?

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 41

As has been the case with my last few shifts, one of the first things I did was sweep the entry way before putting outside things that needed to go outside. After that, I think I took some empty hangers to the back and straightened things up throughout the store.
As it stands right now, skirts, shorts, and kids' clothes are fifty cents, adult pants (capris and full-length) are a dollar, kids' books are five cents, kid's videos, as well as exercise videos are ten cents, selected adult books (which were put in a basket for outside) are ten cents, and glassware is half off.  We still have more merchandise than space to accommodate it on the sales floor, but since we never turn away donations out of principle, the least we can do is put certain things on sale for a while.

Sometime in the afternoon, the manager sorted through a couple of bags of clothes, and I hung up and tagged whatever of it she approved. Shortly after that, she brought a barbie dollhouse and a radio-controlled car to be cleaned up as much as possible and put up for sale.  There was a part of the dollhouse that neither of us could figure out where it as supposed to go, but her boyfriend, who had come in to pick up the empty boxes (which he normally does on Fridays) figured it out.

Within the last hour or so of my shift, I marked down some baby blankets per the manager's request, and I basically ran the register until our evening cashier was in. After that cashier started her shift, I still had a bit of time left before mine was up, so I moved some winter clothing that had been hanging on a rack in the middle room to the back. (We're keeping more of the winter clothes that come in, but we're reserving them for when it's closer to time to sell them.) I moved some empty hangers there, too, and then I sorted through a couple of bags of clothes. (I think either the amount of clothing coming in has slowed down lately or one of the people who had started volunteering with us recently has been able to help move it further along. But we could potentially get slammed with more clothing over the weekend.)

That's been my day today. Who knows what the next week will bring?

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 40

Today, I started off by sweeping the entry way before putting out the displays for outside. Our outside rack now contains skirts, and our buy one get one free sale on clothes has been replaced with having skirts and shorts at fifty cents each.
After I got the stuff outside that needed to go outside, I put some clothes that had already been priced out in their respective racks and then tagged some other clothes that were on the pricing rack (a few of which were rather wrinkly, so I ended up steaming them).

This afternoon, a few volunteers came in--one of whom ran the register--which was a good thing. One of them hung up jeans (which we had held off on for a while) while another tagged them. The manager was able to price more clothing today, and I put it out. The person who had been running the register for a couple of hours in the afternoon had to leave, so when the manager had to run a quick errand, I ended up taking over on the register up until close to time for me to leave.

That's been my day. I'm hoping we'll be able to accomplish more on Friday.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 39

Up until an hour before my shift was up, the manager and I were the only ones on duty yesterday. I swept the entryway before putting the "outside stuff" there. A customer who was on their way in referred to it as a "lost cause" as the leaves would probably be blown back in.
After that, the next order of business was to move some bags of flowers from the middle room to just outside the door so that the manager could take them upstairs. After that, I sorted through some bags that were up front that had shoes in them. Some of the pairs were fine either as they were or after they were cleaned up.The others had to be disposed of.

The rest of the day consisted mainly of either pricing and putting out merchandise, moving things around, or sorting through some bags and boxes, mostly of clothes. (I think most of the clothes have been sorted through, but for all I know, more may have come in today.) I tagged and hung up some men's shorts per the manager's request so that the respective section could be fleshed out.

Closer to the end of the day, a blue hutch came in and needed to be cleaned off, so I took care of that. By the time I cleaned it off and the cashier for the late afternoon and I put it in place, it was time for me to go.

So, it was a pretty busy day. My goal tomorrow will be to get more clothes tagged and ready to go and maybe get some dirty dishes washed up.

So yesterday was a fairly busy day. My goal tomorrow will be to get more clothes tagged and ready to go before the manager is in unless there turns out to be a more urgent matter at hand.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 38

Once again, I was pretty much in charge of the register almost all day as the manager and I were the only ones on duty (at least until four), and the manager had things she had wanted to get done.
We got some clothes and odds and ends put out yesterday. At one point, someone donated, among other things, some Christmas stuff including a tree. I think that stuff was taken to our storage attic for when it gets closer to time for it.

When I wasn't busy with a customer, I'd either be straightening displays or pricing stuff according to the manager's specifications.

That's how my day went yesterday. I'm not sure what will happen in the coming week.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 37

When I got there this morning, the cashier on duty forwarded a memo from the manager that I was to put some kids' clothes on the rack that we currently display outside. Since she didn't leave any specific guidelines on that, I basically went with my gut and put out there some of the more attractive and/or more expensive items from both the infant sections and the older kid sections. I put out there some shirts and shorts, and in the case of the girls' clothing, some skirts. I didn't see anyone select anything from said rack, but a few did browse it at least.
After that, I washed some glass jars and bottles that the manager had brought in on Monday but that neither one of us had been in a position to clean off, and that was something that needed done. The bottles were easy to clean on the outside, but I had trouble getting to the dirt at the bottom on the inside. There wasn't anything that was long enough or narrow enough to help with that, and swishing soapy water in them only did so much. I noticed that the boxes were dirty on the bottom, so I would either try to get some boxes that weren't dirty on the bottom or find some newspaper to line the boxes with.  I had maybe gotten one or two boxes of that done before I was needed to take over on the register as our morning cashier had to leave and the manager hadn't quite made it in yet.

Another thing that needed to be done was our general section for curtains, tablecloths, bedding, etc. needed straightened, so I did that. I had gotten on a roll at that time, so whenever I wasn't busy with a customer, I'd find another area to straighten.

When the manager and her son came in, and thus one of them was able to run the register for a bit, I picked up where I had left off on washing the jars and bottles. I maybe had a couple of them left to do when the manager had to go run a quick errand and thus needed me to run the register for a bit. She also had some clothes priced and ready to put out, so I took care of that. There were some pieces of clothing that I had trouble telling if they were for kids or adults, so I made my best guess.

When the manager returned, I was able to finish washing the jars. Around the time my shift was up, in light of it being so hot out, the manager offered me a ride home after whatever customers were around were gone even if it meant closing the store for a few minutes.  (She said that it had a tendency to slow down closer to the end of the day.) I accepted the offer.

After I had finished up the jars, while I was waiting for the manager to finish up a conversation with a customer, I steamed a couple of pieces of clothing that had been set aside as they were wrinkled and then tried to straighten things up a bit. When said customer left, the manager and I took the things that were being displayed outside in, and then she drove me home.

That's been my day today. I'm hoping that on Friday, we'll get more caught up on the clothing as we have a lot of it in the back. For a while, we didn't have a lot of room on the kids' racks, but I think it's getting better, which is good because we have a lot of it waiting to be tagged, priced, and put out. We'll just have to wait and see what happens with that on Friday.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 36

Yesterday, I was put in charge of the register almost all day. The manager and I were the only two people on duty the whole day, especially since one of the people who normally comes in on Mondays was unable to come today due to a family-related engagement. During the time the manager was able to run the register before she had to go run certain errands (for which she had been in and out), I started to sort some bags of clothes in the back that had come last week but that apparently nobody had been in a position to deal with.
It had been a pretty busy day. I had made several sales within the first half of the day, tried to wipe down some books per the manager's request, and periodically straightened things up throughout the store. Plus, some donations came in. The manager's son came in and took over on the register around the time I normally get off (or shortly thereafter).

That was my day yesterday. I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 35

There wasn't a lot of focus on clothing yesterday. One of the first things I did today was take outside a couple of tables and a rack that go outside at this time. Sometime in the morning, the manager had to go buy paint, and since her son, who has been accompanying her on her shifts (or parts thereof) elected not to go with her, he ran the register while I mostly straightened things up throughout the store.
One of the main priorities today was to make the room devoted to children's clothing and toys more presentable. So, by request of the manager, I put some very small toys in one box for ten cents and some slightly bigger toys in another box where everything in there would be a quarter. Otherwise, I mostly tried to simply straighten things up in there. At one point, I came up with the idea to re-organize the books in that room in such a way that hardbacks were on one side and papaerbacks were on the the other.

By the end of the day, the manager was able to get a few clothes priced so that they could be put out. However, a few shirts had to have the wrinkles steamed out of them. So, I took care of that before I headed out.

That was my day yesterday. I'm not sure what Monday will bring.

Meanwhile, Back on Job Seeker's Row

As you may or may not be aware, I am in the process of looking for a job. As I'm generally at the Doggie Bag on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday,  I've been doing whatever pertains to my job search on Tuesdays and Thursdays, mainly requesting, filling out, dropping off, and/or checking on applications. I still haven't had any luck.
Since my return from my out of town family-related business, I have applied to seventeen places. In most cases, either the place is not hiring, has hired someone else, or has a policy that if they have a position and want to interview me, they'll call me (thereby discouraging follow ups). I've got three applicaitions to submit tomorrow, two that I'm going to try to obtain, and one to check up on. I also have one other that I plan to fill out this week and turn in on Tuesday.  From there, I will have six places for which I will need to whip up a resume unless it turns out that they are not hiring and would thereby have no interest in looking at a resume. (It might be a difficult customize a resume for each and every potential position since a couple are, as far as I know, so similar in nature.)  After I've applied to (or crossed off those that I am unable to apply to) every place that is on my list of places to try to apply to, I will turn to newspaper classifieds and see if there's anything there I'd qualify for.

For the job hunt (at least the parts that take place outside the home), I generally dress up, and that involves a black business jacket and wedge heels. Because of our weather being what it has been lately, I generally carry the former with me and put it on when I get closer to my destination. The latter were the best that I could do for shoes that were plain enough to wear on the job hunt in good conscience despite the fact that I generally go on foot. (Driver's ed. didn't go over so well for me ten years ago as I'd get so nervous behind the wheel. I haven't really had a chance to try again since then.) On Tuesday, I took a bottle of water for me in order to have some hydration en route and bought another somewhere on the way home. I might have to do that again.

Job hunting hasn't been easy, especially not this time of year. But given what I have at stake (student loans to pay off, living parents to avoid letting down, any hope of ever living out on my own, etc.), giving up is simply not an option for me at this point.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 34

The first thing I did today was take some empty hangers from near the register to the back room. There were some untagged clothes waiting for me on the pricing rack, so I tagged those that were in acceptable condition and pulled the ones that weren't. (Unfortunately, the stain and hold gremlins are not taking the summer off any more than the clothing fairy is.) After that, I attempted to fill the pricing rack with as much season-appropriate clothing as I could. I had to be a bit selective though since some of the racks had more room than others. I tagged whatever I was able to transfer from the back room to the pricing rack that was in good condition. I think I had it almost entirely filled up when the manager needed me to run over to the bank to get some change. (Sometimes we run low on change. It happens now and again in  businesses where a register is somehow involved.)

After I returned to get change, I was going to return to filling up what little space was left on the pricing rack, but the manager and someone else were in the middle of something in that area so I inspected some clothes in the back. Whatever was in good condition (as far as I could tell) I set aside for the manager to make the final judgement call on, and whatever was in bad condition I put in a bag to be recycled. One of the most interesting pieces of clothing I dealt with today was a shirt that said, "I'm a workaholic. Every time I think about work, I need a beer." But when I ran out of clothing to inspect, I more or less tried to straighten things up in the back, doing things like picking up trash and taking emptied bags to the front. In the last hour of my shift, I tried to clean up the mess of hangers behind the counter in the back, putting some in bundles of ten. I also had to fill up the section devoted to hangers that we were selling (still at three bundles for a dollar) as it had gotten empty. (It's mostly colorful shirt hangers that we're selling at this point. We no longer use them for the sales racks, at least not for the adult clothing, but if they are donated to us, with a piece of clothing on them or otherwise, we set them aside to be used in the next bundle.)

That's been my day today. I'm not sure if more clothing will come in between now and Friday. If not, I may be able to catch up on whatever clothing we do have provided I don't run out of room on the sales racks.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 33

The first priority of the day was to bring in some donations that were waiting outside the front door, so I, as well as someone else who had come in shortly after I had, did that. After that, the manager and I got a couple of tables with ten cent and twenty-five cent stuff outside. Then, I put outside the tank top rack and our sign which notes whatever sales we have going on at the time. (This time, it's buy one, get one free on the clothes.)
I was in the back room most of the day, sort through boxes and bags that contained clothes. One other person and I put whatever clothing would not be acceptable (because of a stain, hole, etc.) into a recycle bag and set aside whatever was in good shape for the manager to look at whenever she had the chance. We ended up getting some bags of clothing throughout the day. One thing I tried to do is separate summer clothes from fall/winter ones in order to make it easier for the manager to get to the summer clothes since that's our current priority.

 A couple of times in the day, I ended up having to cover for the manager on the register as she needed to step out for whatever reason. (The former may have been that she needed to move her car, but the latter was because of an errand.)

The only clothing I ended up tagging today was whatever mens' shorts I was able to find per the manager's request in an attempt to flesh out the corresponding section. (I was only able to find three or four that weren't stained or otherwise not sellable. We just don't get those as often as we get ladies' or childrens' clothing.)

The manager left for the day shortly before I did (and after our afternoon cashier showed up). On her way out, she said that maybe I should leave early for the day given how hot it was in the back room. I took her suggestion after I finished up going through a box of clothes. I ended up leaving fifteen minutes before I normally would.

In closing, it's been a pretty busy day.On Wednesday, I'll probably have clothes to put out as well as a few to tag.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 32

The first priority of the day was to clear out boxes of stuff that was in front of the register, whether said stuff needed to be put out, taken to the back to be washed (such as the case with some of the dishes), or disposed of. There were a couple of items that were impossible for anybody on the staff to identify, but they were in good shape and put up for sale. (According to someone who wasn't on duty today but is on different days of the week, "Whoever needs it will know what it it is.")

At various times of the day, I was either tagging clothes, putting out ones that were priced (and because some of the racks have filled up, I've had to be more selective about which clothes to transfer to the middle room to be tagged, priced, and put out), washing up dishes, taking freed up hangers from the register to the back room, or going through bags or boxes in the back. If there were items understood to have a default price, such as socks or CDs, I'd put those out straight away. If it was clothing or linens, I'd put it in a bag for recycling if it was torned, stained, etc., or set it aside for the manager to look at if (as far as I knew) it was in decent shape.

I'm hoping to get more clothing tagged and ready to be priced and put out next week, provided that the corresponding display racks have the space for it. (It's mostly the adult racks that have space.) Then again, we might run out of space or appropriate clothes and/or the priority might be elsewhere next week.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 31

I was late getting in today as my sister and her boyfriend had a funeral to go to, and someone needed to look after my sister's 9-year-old. I ended up going in sometime after 1:30.
I had thought that the manager would be in by the time I was, but she wasn't. (She had come in maybe a little over a couple of hours before closing time.)  I mostly transferred what I could from the back room to the middle room according to what space on the pricing racks would allow and tagged whatever was worth keeping. (There were a few items I had to put in the recycle bag as they were stained.) When I finished doing that, I mostly either straightened things up throughout the store or restocked some of the hangers in the back room.

I'm normally out two hours before closing time, but I stayed an hour past when I normally leave in order to make up for time this morning that I wasn't able to make it in on account of, again, the babysitting. I had thought of staying until closing time but changed my mind. I might do, say, an extra hour on Friday and/or on Monday, but I'll just have to wait and see.

My Fourth of July This Year

Normally on Mondays, I'm at the Doggie Bag. However, it was closed today for the Fourth of July. I didn't have any other engagements today, so I pretty much spent the day at a park within walking distance of my house.
I left sometime after nine or ten in the morning. In anticipation of swimming at the park's aquatic center in the afternoon (since it was free today), I wore my swimsuit (a skirted tankini that had red-and-white stripes on top and was a solid navy blue on bottom) under my t-shirt and shorts. I packed a towel and sunscreen (which I ended up applying mulitple times throughout the day) in a bag, and my mom slipped in a couple of bottles of water so that I could stay hydrated.

The plan was that I'd look around at various booths, watch a medieval demonstration at 11:00 AM, eat lunch, go swimming in the afternoon, and watch the band that my stepdad's in play in the evening.  The only part of that plan that fell through was the medieval demo. I had gone to information booth to ask where that would take place, but according to the persone there, the people who were going to do the demo had cancelled on that. So instead, I looked at some booths and classic cars (as there was a car show going on today), had an early lunch (cheeseburger and French fries), and looked around some more until time for the aquatic center to open.

I was at the aquatic center for nearly four hours, as that was how long it would be open today. It was open from one to five. I was in the main pool most of the time, but I also went down their water slides and through something called the "Lazy River" where you ride in one of those floating tubes in a, for lack of a better term, whirlpool. At three, everyone had to get out of the water for a few minutes for a routine procedure known as a "safety break". (The pool in my sister's hometown has the same thing each day as well. I'm not sure what all's involved.) After the safety break, we could re-enter the water.
I think I had exited the pool for good and started getting ready to leave when the announcement was made that the pool would close in fifteen minutes. I had officially left the aquatic center shortly after the "five minutes until closing time" warning.

By the time I had left the pool area, my stepdad's band had already shown up at the park's band dome and started setting up as they would be playing within the next hour. I didn't see my mom there right away, but she came while they were still setting up. (She goes to most if not all of the band's gigs, in town or otherwise.) My stepdad had some lawn chairs available in the back of his vehicle, so my mom and I sat in those throughout the gig. The band had shirts (which normally run for $13 but were on sale for $10 for today) and frisbees with their logo for sale. One little boy was up in front off and on dancing to the music. My mom offered his family a free frisbee. (I think they accepted.)

After the band was done, I rode home with my mom who had chosen to drive instead of walk given the hot weather. (My stepdad had stayed behind as the other bands were borrowing some of his equipment.) My mom had invited people to come watch the fireworks from the front lawn (as our property is situated to make for a pretty good view). She even had a canopy with refreshments on the front porch. Nobody that had RSVP'd to it actually showed up. However, someone had called her, and she invited them. That person accepted the invite. There was also another family that was on its way to find a spot for the fireworks display. They were walking with their lawn chairs. My mom invited them to use our yard as well. (The father in the family graciously thanked my mom afterwards.)

Yeah, it has been a pretty eventful Fourth of July for me today.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 30

One of my first orders of business today was to put some things outside such as a rack of tank tops, two boxes of items that were being given away, a container of bundles of hangers (which we're still selling a three for a dollar), and a couple of tables of items sold at either ten cents or twenty-five. I tried arrange the items on the table so that it could be at least somewhat cohesive. (For instance, there was some color coordinating involved, and I put bathroom items within close proximity of each other.)

I was able to resume tagging clothes today. The clothes that did get tagged were eventually priced and put out. After that, I started bundling up some hangers in the back until the manager called me up to the front to straighten things there. (According to her, it had been an exceptionally busy day.) I checked the racks for empty hangers, hung up stuff that was off the hanger, made sure that garments of like colors in their respective sections were within close proximity of each other, and straightened up the shoe sections.

Another thing I did, per the manager's request was put some vases from the top shelf into a box, and the vases from said box would be sold at 25 cents apiece. The next step was to consolidate the vases on two separate shelves onto one, so I did that. Another thing that needed done was to move place mats, napkins, etc. over to the same area as the linens. The manager said that we could even thin those out, so I pulled some napkins and placemats that looked like they had seen better days to be recycled. I also emptied out a box that basically contained baby socks, hats, and other pieces of clothing. The hats and socks I was able to put out straight away.

Within the last ten minutes of my shift, I got a few more clothes tagged. Shortly before I left, someone donated multiple boxes of clothes. I didn't go through them myself because of timing so I'm not sure how much of it will be added to the summer end of our clothing stock (which recently has appeared to calmed down in the back some), and what out of it if anything will be held onto for fall. I'm sure the boxes will be sorted through sometime next week.

I'm not sure if I will be going in on Monday since it'll be Independence Day here in the US. (Nobody confirmed or denied to be that the store would be open then; I wouldn't be surprised if it's not as we were not open on Memorial Day.) If I don't go in then, the next time I will be in will be Wednesday.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 29

When I had come to start my shift, a box of linens was waiting just outside the front of the store. So, I took those to the back when I got in.
As I normally do, I put whatever clothes had been priced since I had ended my last shift onto their respective display racks. After that, as usual, I transferred some clothes from the back room over to the pricing rack in the middle room. However, just before I was about to tag, I saw a note from the manager that said not to tag anything this time (mainly because there was a problem with the tagging gun) and to instead separate the summer clothes in the back room from the ones meant for the fall and winter. So, that's what I did with help from someone else on the staff. For the time being, we generally have summer clothes closer to the front of the room and fall and winter clothes closer to the back of the room.

After doing that, I looked through the box of linens that had come in this morning, pulling and stained ones to be recycled. Shortly after I did that, I put whatever linens we still currently have in the back room into two plastic boxes in order to help tame a donation pile in front of the back room counter a bit. I found some clothes in said pile (including a slip whose tag said it was from 1933) that had evidently fallen from the counter at some point and put those on the counter to be hung up. One bag that I went through this afternoon had some clothes in it (which I put aside for the manager to look at and decide what she wanted or didn't want to keep to put up for sale), but it mostly consisted of lotions, shampoos, etc. I consolidated those into two small bags that were still in the back room. I also washed a few mugs and plates.

So, yeah, it's been a pretty busy day for me. I'm not sure if I will be resuming tagging on Friday (although I think that clothing coming in has calmed down a little bit anyway), but if not, I'm sure there will be something else awaiting my attention.

My Day So Far

As I had mentioned in previous posts, I try to stay busy all day every day. This morning, I vacuumed the rug in my room, loaded/unloaded the dishwasher as needed, read a chapter of a book I am reading, and did my fifteen minute editing sessions for two out of three of my novel drafts, did 26 sit-ups and 26 push-ups, laundry, and survey emails.
I have some time left until I need to get ready to go to a photo shoot. So, until time for me to get ready, I plan to do my last fifteen minute editing session for the day and fill out as many online applications as possible. (Whatever I don't get done of the latter for today, I'll plan on for Thursday.)

In closing, it has and will probably continue to be a full day for me.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 28

This morning, one of my first orders of business was to bring in some bags of donations that had been waiting for us just outside the front door. (Evidently, the donation gnomes showed up over the weekend.)
I had gotten some clothes from the back room transferred to the middle room to be tagged and priced. However, I wasn't able to get to the actual tagging until later in the afternoon as there were more urgent matters to attend to such as trasnferring whatever full-length pants were on one of the front racks in the backroom to one of the racks closer to the back (as we're holding off on putting out any more full-length pants until further notice), and getting belts, shoes, purses, linens, and hats into recycle bags. While I was at it, I got clothing from one rack that was closer to a wall to one of the racks closer to the middle of the room so that it could be easier to access when it was time to transfer it to the middle room. I also washed a few dishes that had presumably come in on a previous day and steamed a few shirts that were wrinkled.

When I finally was able to get to tagging clothing in the middle room (after the manager had pulled a few items that she didn't like enough to put up for sale), I had probably less than an hour left on my shift. So, I ran some white-out on some tags that needed it. (There were up to maybe three or four that did.) After that, I looked for some colorful hangers to bundle up (since we're selling them in bundles of 10 at 3 bundles for $1.00) and then hung up a few things that were on the counter in the back room. (Surprisingly, we didn't get slammed with clothing donations this time, at least not when I was on duty. That could change by Wednesday when I go in.)

That's been my day today. I'm hoping that whatever clothing has been tagged today will be priced and ready for me to put out when I come in on Wednesday that way I can get more clothes tagged and ready to go and we can be all caught up on clothes (or at least put in more of a dent in them before we have another clothing ambush).

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 27

I was kind of all over the place today either running the register, whiting out tags, putting tags on clothes, putting priced clothes out, or straightening things throughout the store.
As of today, we have a new cashier. I don't know what her hours will be.

At some point today, someone donated a cabinet. Unfortunately, some glass had broken inside of it. The manager and someone else was able to get the big bulk of said glass out, but I was needed to get out the smaller pieces.

Later on, someone donated mutiple boxes of stuff, much of which pertained to an apple theme. Some of it was ceramic stuff, which I washed.

That's been my day today. I don't know what next week will be like.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 26

Today, I started out by putting out clothes that had been priced. I also drew red lines through the price tags on the shorts on the outside rack (which are at fifty cents at this time) in order to make it easier to keep track of which ones came from that rack. Then I inspected and tagged whatever clothing was on the pricing rack in the middle room. After I tagged everything that was on that, I transferred what I could from the back room to said rack.
I ran out of room on the pricing rack shortly after the manager had shown up in the afternoon. Around that time, someone donated a bunch of vases. Most of them needed to be washed, so I did that until there were more clothes ready to be tagged. After I finished tagging, I finished up washing what was left of the vases. After that, I ran some white-out on some tags that had been taken off on clothes that evidently had overstayed their welcome on the sales floor and were therefore being recycled.

When I finished all of that, I used what few minutes I had left to clean up a pile of hangers some in the back room.

In closing, it's been a pretty busy day. I'm hoping I can get more of a dent made in the clothing on Friday.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 25

Today has been a very busy day for those of us who were on duty. Most of the time I was either tagging clothes, putting out clothes that had been priced, covering for the manager on the register (as she was in and out of the back room throughout the day), or straightening up parts of the store.
As of today, we have an outdoor rack consisting of shorts that are 25 cents each. We're also doing a sale on clothes of buy one get one free.

An hour before time for me to leave, another volunteer came in and took over on the register. I guess she's covering one of the shifts that the cashier that had recently left us used to have.

That's been my day today. I can't wait to see what Wednesday will bring.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 24

Today, getting a lot of clothes priced and put out was a high priority today. I spent a lot of the day either tagging clothes or putting them out. There some formal dresses that had been on the sales floor for a really long time, but since they had overstayed their welcome there, they had to be recycled. There were also a few garments that were wrinkled needed the steamer run on them, so I took care of that as well.
For a short while, the manager's boyfriend, who comes on Fridays  to pick up whatever empty cardboard boxes we have to be recylced, was around for a little bit. While he was there, the cashier had brought to the back room some books that had to be recycled, so he joked about "all the knowledge" that she was throwing away.

It turns out that said cashier has gotten a job somewhere else (though I don't know whether or not it's through a program she's involved in), and today was her last day with us. Within an hour before time for me to leave, those of us who were on duty (including the manager) had a little goodbye party for her. I'm hoping we'll see her again sometime.

That's been my day today. I'm hoping we'll get more of a dent in the clothes next week.

My Day Today

Today, my plans in the morning were to buy a Father's Day card for my stepdad (the content of which I'm not going to mention just to be safe), turn in an application I had obtained and filled out on Tuesday, follow up on three convenience store applications I had turned in during a previous week, and request applications from a couple of liquor stores in town. In the afternoon, I would read a chapter of Candle in the Window (a book I'm currently on), do surveys that I had been invited to by email, give the three novel drafts on my computer 15 minutes each of editing time, do 26 sit-ups and 26 push-ups. If there was anytime left before five after I had done all of these, I would work on cleaning my gmail box until five.
I was successful in most of theses endeavors. I got the card and turned in the application I had filled out. When I did the follow-up at one conveniece store, it turned out that the hiring manager was on the phone at the time, so she had the cashier on duty get my name and my phone number. At the second place I followed up at, I supposedly had come at what would normally be the right time, but something came up with the owner of the store. The clerk on duty there said that as far has he knew, they weren't hiring at the moment, but he could be wrong. At the third store I followed up at, the assistant manager said that the manager hadn't started the interviews yet but would be in a couple of weeks.

I didn't really have any better luck with the application requests either. At the first store I requested one from, the staff member on duty said that he did not personally have access to the applications and that the owner was not in. (Unfortunately, the times that he said the owner would be in were times when I'd normally be at the Doggie Bag.) At the second store that I requested an application from, I was told that they weren't hiring, especially since the summer tends to be rather slow for them business wise. Oh well, at least I tried, right?

I was able to keep busy this afternoon. After I at lunch, I read the chapter Candle in the Window that I had planned on reading (as I've set myself a goal to read one chapter of whatever book from my reading list that I'm currently on), went through my survey emails (only to find out that I was either too late or I ended up not qualifying), gave each of my novels 15 minutes of editing time (which I try to do every day), did 26 sit-ups and 26 push-ups. (These days I try to do match my age in these. I've got to do something to get some exercise into my life.) I had roughly an hour left over after I did all of these, so I worked on cleaning my gmail box until five, as that has piled up quite a bit lately. (I had more than 10,000 emails in there. I was able to get it less than 10,000 before five, but I still have a LONG way to go on that.)

Yes, it's tempting to stray from "The Schedule," but so far my piddling around on my non-Doggie Bag days, either at home or in public, has been minimized. Having a schedule/task list for each day (around Doggie Bag hours for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and all day on Tuesday and Thursday) has helped me in predicting the day, and that it can be a full and productive one at that. It also goes to show that if I formalize plans to do something (especially if it's something that I've slacked off on), then I'm forced to do it, which will rule out thoughts of "I'm bored" and/or "I don't feel like doing that". I found that with longer tasks, such as the editing and the email box cleaning, it helps to allot short-ish amounts of time to it each day and thus it can be treated as a finite task that is over with once it's done rather than something that could drag on indefinitely (which is not a plus for me given my short attention span). 

Having said that, I try to keep the schedule semi-flexible. For instance, ideally, I will have lunch between 12 and 1, but this is not always feasible as sometimes, I'm not home from my errands (both job-related and non-job-related) until after one. I would also need to work around any appointments I have (such as a photography one that I have a week from this coming Tuesday) and anything else that comes up. I hope that the structure in my life that I'm trying to develop this summer will carry over into other seasons.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 23

One of the first things I did today was put out some clothes that had been priced (though I may have put a few in the wrong place by mistake). The rest of the day I mostly tagged whatever clothes I could. I had run out of tags at some point and went somewhere not too far away to buy more, sometime after my shift, I found out from the manager that there were some extra tags in the closet, thus my buying the ones that I did was not really necessary. (Either I had not gotten the memo about the extra tags or I had completely forgotten.) Needless to say, I felt like an idiot last night (and still do) for my dumb move. (I had over an hour left on my shift. If it was like, within the last half hour or so, I wouldn't have messed with it but instead directed my attention on some other task.)
At one point I had used the steamer to de-wrinkle a pair of otherwise nice khaki shorts. After I did that, I had decided to give the steamer to a chance to cool down before putting it up. But did I ever remember to put it up? No. And of course, I'm hoping I'm not in too much trouble in the event it should come up tomorrow. (And I really need to stop doing dumb stuff like that if I wish to be a good example for the rest of the staff.)

At some other point yesterday, one of my colleagues brought it to my attention that some of the racks, especially the one for men's shorts, didn't have much on them. There had been some other day when the manager had me price some men's shorts as the respective rack for that literally left a lot to be desired. So, I took the liberty of pricing whatever ones I (or rather someone else on the staff) was able to find that were in decent shape, priced them, and put them out. I'm hoping that it's 1) okay with the manager that I did that and 2) I wasn't too off the mark in the pricing. If I've messed up in that area, that's another strike against me.

Obviously, yesterday wasn't my smoothest day. I don't know if I'm going to be in trouble tomorrow, but I'm hoping that on Monday at least, I can start over on a clean slate.

Developing An 8/9-5 Mentality

When I'm not at the Doggie Bag (which I've given frequent accounts of), at church on Sunday, or have some other engagement on any given day, it's very tempting for me to be quite lazy in the day, despite all the things that I could and/or should be doing. I was especially susceptible to this on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
This month, though, I've been striving for more structure in my life. This week, I've come up with the idea of a schedule/task list to keep me busy from either eight or (at the latest) nine in the morning until after five at nights. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I generally schedule in job search stuff and other errands to run that day (such as taking recycleables to the college campus bins) and maybe some chores around the house (such as laundry, dishes, maybe some outdoor work).  On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, most of the hours are occupied by my shift at the Doggie Bag. However, for all of the days of the week, I want to make sure to do any online surveys for which I get invites for (at least before five) as well as accomplish the following, before and/or after my shift at the Doggie Bag and before or (most likely) after having done my job search stuff:

• Read at least one chapter of whatever book I'm on
• 15 minutes of editing for each of the three novel drafts I have on my computer (this is one of those tasks that takes an indefinite amount of time to fully complete and one for which my short attention span doesn't handle very well; so, if I can commit to at least some time to it, I can feel as "accomplished" as I would with a more finite task)
• My age in sit-ups and in push-ups

If I complete, the above tasks and anything else I have planned for that day, before five, I will find something else to do, such as cleaning my gmail or weeding the patio to keep me busy at least until after five. But I intend to get the reading, editing and exercising tasks done every single day, even if they don't get done until after five. I also plan to do those three things on Saturdays when I have time on my hands at home as well as before or (more likely) after church on Sunday. If nothing else, it'll keep me from having that "I'm bored" feeling in my head. The difference between the weekends and the rest of the week though is that I won't be on as rigid of a schedule on the weekends. But getting the reading, the exercising, and the editing time out of the way will make me more free to do other things guilt-free. What I might do is place myself under the rule that I won't do extracurricular web stuff until those three things are done. (Believe me, that's a weakness of mine.)

Well, that's what I've come up with so far. I may have to make changes further down the road.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 22

Most of the day, I was either tagging clothes or putting them out after they had been priced. One of the higher priorities in that area was capri pants in order to fill the gaps in the respective rack.
This afternoon the guy who comes to pick up our clothing to be recycled came. He said that he wasn't able to make it in last Thursday like he normally would've as something had come up. It was a relief that he was able to come today as we had a LOT of bags. From my understanding, depending on the condition of the clothing collected, it's either sent to third world countries or scrapped and made into a new garment. The manager and I handed the guy the bags to be loaded into the truck.

After that guy had left, I resumed tagging clothes but also brought up a set of bowling pins (which had shown up last week) up to the register so that the cashier on duty could price them.

In closing, it's been a pretty busy day, and I'm sure Wednesday will be as well.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 21

As of either today or yesterday, the bargain room we have had for a while is no more. It wasn't working out as well as the manager had hoped. So, the room that we had been using as the bargain room will be used to accommodate kids' stuff instead, and the "bargains" will be throughout the store.
One of the things that needed done today was for a bowling pin set to be cleaned up. I and one other person did that. After that, I cleared some stuff from the "bargain shelves" per the manager's request and brought it up to the counter up front. Some of the items had to be re-priced before they could be placed elsewhere in the store.

In the afternoon, I mostly tagged some clothes and attempted to get some mens' shorts priced and put out because, according to the manager, the new rack for that didn't have a lot of them on it. I'm hoping I've gotten the prices at least pretty close to what they should be. I'd probably need to dig through the clothes in the back to find more. I stayed a little over what I normally do in order to get at least some mens' shorts out.

That's been my day today. Who knows what Monday will bring?

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 20

Today, I made it my business to get as much clothing from the back room transferred to the pricing rack in the middle room and tagged as I could. This ended up taking longer than I had anticipated as some of the clothing I had transferred to the middle room turned out to have holes, stains, etc. that were not caught in the back and had to be recycled, thereby leaving space for more. One of the most interesting pieces of clothing that I tagged today was a t-shirt that said, "Lead me not into tempation, except in quilt shops."

Before I was able to start this, though, someone came in with some donations, mainly books, clothes, and one of those plaster projects. They had come in the back to drop it off. After they left, I noticed that there was a drawer sitting outside. I didn't know what it went to, but it seemed silly for it to be just sitting outside our back door, so I took it in and cleaned it out. There was very little in there that was salvageable, though.

I had roughly forty-five minutes left on my shift after I had tagged as much passable clothing as space on the pricing rack would allow. So, I straightened up the area I was working in and then went to the back and part put away hangers and part went through and/or hung up clothing.

I'm hoping we'll get more clothing out this week, though we'll probably get more periodically. Lucky for us, though, tomorrow night will be when some people will be coming in to help. I won't be there for that, but I hope it goes well.

This Summer

When I was still going to school (and I use the term "school" loosely) summer meant time off from school, or when I was taking summer classes (which I did for two summers in college), less time at school.
This is my third summer since I finished college. The first summer I was in college, I was living with my dad and was usually working on stuff at home (most of which had me behind a computer) more often than not. The second year, last year, I was out of town looking after my nephew.

This year is different. I am living with my mom and stepdad, who both have full-time jobs outside the home (though my mom's schedule is the most consistent of the two), so while other than needing to be home in time for dinner, I can pretty much come and go at will. And because my sister has opted for someone else to look after her son this time, I will likely be staying in my hometown for most if not all of the summer.

As I am not a student at any academic level anymore nor am I involved in any profession where I get summers off, the term "summer vacation" means nothing for me now. I plan on staying busy throughout the week. I'm involved with volunteer work at the Doggie Bag on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. As of this week, for Tuesdays and Thursdays, I plan to have some sort of task list in order to obtain and maintain structure in my life. After all, if I wish to be a proper adult, a sense of order and routine is a must. The tasks will include, but not be limited to: filling out surveys (if I get emails for them), picking up/filling out/dropping off applications (especially since I lost nearly three months of potential job search time to really bad weather followed by a family emergency), reading at least one chapter of whatever book I'm on, and editing my novels, if not starting some other writing projects. I'm sure if I do the aforementioned, if not more, my Tuesdays and Thursdays will be just as full as if not more than, the other days. The TV, which, when I was growing up, could run for any given amount of time whenever I was at home, will not have a role in my day. In fact, I have recently resolved to leave mine off at least until after 5 PM each day. I also plan to keep sleeping in and downtime (at least before 5 PM), to a minimum on weekdays if not on the weekends.

That's what's going on with me at this point. Barring anything unforseen, I'll be back in later to give you all an account of what's been going on at the Doggie Bag today.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 19

Evidently, the clothing fairy had shown up either over the weekend or this morning as there was a bag of clothes waiting for us. I mostly went through bags and boxes of clothes, separating the good ones from the bad ones. (There was a short time in the morning though, when the manager had to go take care of something and needed me to cover for her on the register. I managed to sell a few things when I did.) One of the more interesting items I came across in the clothing I was sorting was a t-shirt that said, "Mom likes me best." It was a large and presumably cut for an adult. Otherwise, I would've considered getting it for my nephew as a joke since he's going to be a big brother in late August (Lord willing).

There were probably two or three people that donated stuff today, usually multiple bags and/or boxes of stuff. Some of the things donated today included, but were not limited to, glassware, a metal tray and cup set, a wooden tray for serving breakfast in bed, and some stuff for Christmas or Halloween. Someone else took care of washing up some of the glassware so that it'd look nicer for the sales floor.

That's been my day today. My goal for Wednesday is to get what I can hung up as well as thin out the pile of winter stuff that we have if that isn't done by the time I'm in next.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 18

There were some clothes on the pricing rack that must've been put there yesterday, and some were even on top of it because of lack of room. So, I tagged the ones that were good and discarded the ones that weren't.
I mostly spent the day either putting out clothes after they were priced or inspecting and tagging them after transferring them from the back room to the middle room. I had set a few things aside that needed the lint brush run on it whenever I or someone else got to it. Some of the clothes I had gone through on the pricing rack had to be discarded because of stains, holes, etc. which left some room to put more stuff on the racks. By the time I had finished tagging as much clothing as could fit onto the middle room racks, it was almost time for me to go. So, in the last few minutes of my shift, I cleaned up the area I was working in and returned the tags and relevant equipment to the front counter for safe keeping.

We didn't have a lot of clothing come in today until shortly before time for me to leave. Of course, time did not allow me to take care of that, but maybe next time I will be able to.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 17

Today, I started out by transferring some clothes from the back room to the middle room so that I could get a final look at them before tagging them. (There were some that had stains or snags or something and therefore did not make the final cut.) I mainly focused on adult shirts.
The other things I did today were go through a couple of bags of shoes and wash up some glassware (including what one of my colleagues guessed to be a fancy shot glass) that had come in. Sometimes stuff that is otherwise sellable is a bit dirty or dusty when it comes in. There were maybe one or two things that I didn't know what they were, but according to someone else on the staff, even if we don't know what something that comes in is (which happens from time to time), surely whoever needs it will know.

That's been my day today. I wonder what Friday will bring.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 16

I started out the day tagging some clothes (a few of which got put out today). I did end up getting rid of a few, though After that, I hung up what I could in the back room and did a little straightening back there. (Mostly, I tried to get all the hangers off the ground.)

One of my colleagues had a birthday today. In honor of this, those of us on duty (her, myself, the manager, and one other person) had some cupcakes for a little while in the afternoon. I had less than an hour left on my shift after we did that, so I basically hung up a few more clothes and did some more straightening.

That's been my day today. The store will be closed on Monday for Memorial Day, so the next day I go in is Wednesday. We'll see what happens then.

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Days 14 and 15

As some of you may have heard, a tornado hit Joplin, MO very hard this past Sunday. As of Monday, we at the Doggie Bag have set up totes just outside our door so that people could drop off animal supplies for Joplin's Humane Society. On Monday, we set aside some of the clothes that had been donated to us to go to Joplin as well. We may or may not send more at some point.

Today, I started off by tagging clothes in the middle room so that they'd be ready for the manager (who I saw today for a few minutes at best) to price whenever she got the chance. Unfortunately, I had also to get rid of some clothes that had stains, tears, snags, etc. After I finished doing that, I did some work in the back room.

A friend of the manager's (who helped us out at least once before) had stopped by for a few minutes. When she was in the back room, she asked if the "clothing fairy" had thrown up in there. (That's how much clothing we have right now. If we could donate a couple of bags or boxes worth of clothing to the people in Joplin and still have more than enough available to sell.)

That's what this week has been like so far. Who knows what Friday will bring?

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 13

I was kind of back and forth between tasks today. There were some clothes to tag and others to hang. I also went through bags, separating good clothes from bad. I also set aside some jackets and sweaters that would not work for this season but would maybe be worth putting on reserve for another season depending on the manager's inclination. One of the rounds of donations we had today was four to five bags of clothes, most of which were in pretty good shape. Included in there were two velvet outfits which will probably go on reserve for a while.

Later in the afternoon, the manager's boyfriend had come to collect our empty boxes to take to recycling. (He usually does that on Fridays.) There were a lot of them too. There will probably be even more by next week (provided that the earthquake and other stuff that has been predicted by Family Radio doesn't happen tomorrow).

From my understanding there wasn't a lot of business up front, probably because it had been raining. Rainy and snowy days tend to be our worst. (We did have a pair of rain pants come in today. Had they been put up for sale today, they maybe would've been bought right away.)

That's pretty much been my day. I look forward to what Monday will bring, provided that Judgement Day does NOT come tomorrow. (I've been blogging about that on Moderate Mouse's Musings. And no I will not shut up about it until May 21, which is tomorrow, has come and gone. I even have a poll there asking if visitors believe the May 21 business.)

Doggie Bag Days Season 3: Day 12

This is what I can recall from yesterday.

There were times when I had tagged some clothes. Unfortunately, we ran out of the good plastic fasteners and the ones we had left weren't any good. (I have an idea in my head for how to approach the fastener problem, but I'm not sure how well it will go over.) There were also suspicions that some mistakes were made in separating good clothes from the bad. For instance, there were some blouses that were evidently put in recycle on the grounds that they were long-sleeved. The manager did not agree with this as said blouses were otherwise in good shape. Needless to say, I've become afraid to get rid of anything strictly on account of it being long-sleeved. I may have to reinspect every single item in every single bag in the recycle pile just to make sure that neither I nor anyone else made a bad judgement call.

There were also boxes to break down (which I and one other person did) and a couple of other boxes to go through. One of said boxes had a cannister set, a pet water bowl and some other things I don't recall right off. The set had a fruit pattern. The lids were chipped, but maybe we'll be able to look the other way on that since the cannisters are otherwise in good shape.

That was my day yesterday. I hope there aren't a lot of problems tomorrow.