Monday 10th August 2020
I am working again today Myer 11 am - 4.30 pm so wake up at 7 am have a shower get dressed back my bag watch the news and head off at 9 am as it takes me up to 2 hours to get to work on time. It was cold dark and wet in the early morning but on my way to work it has stopped raining. My mask is on and I will be keeping it on all day. I tried wearing a normal mask but am getting an allergic reaction to the smell of them therefore won't be able to wear the el cheapo ones provided at work.
I had enough time to do a bit of shopping before I started work and went to Anaconda to buy a black puffer vest with a hood as I only own a reversible one without a hood and its quite a tight fit. I purchased a black medium puffer vest instead of a small as I like to wear chunky jumpers and tops underneath it. I was eyeing the kids size 16 longer hooded waterproof jacket with a removable liner however although it fitted quite well was maybe a little too snug to wear a chunky top or jumper under it. I just loved the colour and look of it and it could double as a spare ski jacket but was just a little too fitted.
After my purchase I headed to the Myer staff locker area on the M entering through the front ground floor entrance of the store via the cosmetic section which is policy if you start or finish your shift during store hours ( never use the side entrance) otherwise you have to use the staff entrance at the back of the mall before and after store opening/closing hours.
I had enough time to put my stuff away in a locker and put a padlock on it, go to the bathroom, put my mask on, put my name badge on and put some tissues and all purpose solid moisturiser balm wet wipes into my jacket pockets before heading up to the homewares department, in the very slow lift which only has 3 floors to travel up and down, to start my shift.
Today was a better day for me but still full of drama. It wasn't that busy being a Monday and I could not assist as many customers with sales as I could have liked to due to very low stock levels.
I had 2 very problematic issues today though.
An elderly lady apparently had a car accident and wrote her car off to the smash repairs. It was obvious she was still not in a good mindset when I served her although she was not injured just still in shock possibly. Anyway she purchased a white Sheridan towel I think it was and paid $20 with a Myer One Rewards card and the balance was on a debit/credit card ie eftpos. After I completed the transaction I realised that the price on the tag did not match the price that came up on the register which I had scanned so I asked a work collegue and explained there is something wrong with the price of the towel - the item number was the same however the price label on the towel was $44.95 but the POS scanned it as $49.95 so she was issued a refund and a new receipt. I kept the original receipt after asking if I should give it to the customer but was advised to cross out the price on it and writing a note on it to let admin know of the discrepancy and placing it in the POS receipt box. The elderly lady leaves but phones up complaining that the $20 Myer One Rewards was not deducted off her purchase so my work collegue and I had to go through all the paper bins and perform a Myer One Rewards card enquiry on every single reward card for the balance. All showed up as zero therefore none were missed. I thought I had done something wrong and was in trouble and was asked Are you sure you scanned the Myer One Rewards card? Yes I did and it was showed up on the original receipt I processed. Do you remember which Myer One Rewards Card it was? Of course not - they get scanned and binned unless there is a ba lance on them which I write on it the balance and return the card to the customer. Did you scan the barcode on the recipe when you process the refund? Yes of course I did. After all that my work collegue went away to find a solution to the problem then came back remembering I had kept the original receipt with the incorrect amount scanned and hand written note on it. She checked it and it was indeed correctly processed . It just did not show on her refund receipt but she did get a $5 refund that did appear on her refund receipt. The else lady was rung back by my work collegue and explained that her purchase was processed correctly and that if she wanted the original receipt it would be there for her behind the counter. We did try to do a copy of the receipt but the system would not allow this. I did ask if I should give the original receipt to the customer so I was in the right I believe. I think the elderly lady would have been more angry if I had not picked up the overcharge on the towel price - whatever price is shown on the item label has to be honoured. Sheridan (now a brand partner) must have increased the price without informing Myer staff.
Which brings me to my second issue of the day. Promotional signage. It's just all too confusing and to the point of conflicting. Every week we seem to have a different promotion or sale and new promotional signage has to be replaced and expired promotional signage removed. Today was another one of those days where another work collegue is actually pressuring me to assist her in performing this task. However today was a real mess. How can you have an old set of promotions that don't expire until 23rd August and have another set of promotions that expire on 30th August on the same items ? I confused one sign says 40 - 50 % off and the other 30% off so which one is it? I already had an irtitated customer today who came up to me with 2 individual MW tablespoons thinking it was a bargain at 50% off each only to be disappointed to find out that these weren't actually discounted when scanned and ended up not purchasing them. She pointed out how the sign above the pick and mix MW individual cutlery display said 50% off selected MW cutlery - this sign was deceiving, although it did say 50 % off selected MW cutlery, it did not say excluding the individual cutlery pieces only the MW box sets were 50% off which were located on the stands behind it. I let a manager know by pointing it out to her and it was decided to remove the sign from it's location. The customer was sort of in the right in this instance.
My final sale of the day was an iron in the electrical department which I volunteered to man whilst my work collegue was sorting out a complex return without a receipt for a faulty towel and exchange for same item which was unavailable in store as well as return of a second item. Yep the problems you get at Myer.
4.35 pm I make sure I clock off using my phone. I actually had a 15 minute break today although it is only enough time to have a sip of water or use the bathroom. I head back to my locker and then head down to the ground floor through cosmetics out the front of the store as it was still within store hours.
Next stop back to Anaconda to have a second look at that jacket I like. Should I exchange it? I asked if there was an adult equivalent and tgere wasn't so I stuck to my black hooded puffer vest.I am sure I will wear it soon. Maybe even tomorrow if it does not rain.
Next onto buy some more groceries - broccoli and brussel sprouts - I can't live without the 2 vegetables. I already have spinach so don't need to purchase any more.
I just missed the 280 bus back to Chatswood but another one arrived pretty soon afterwards. I head to Woolworths Metro as soon as I reach Chatswood Station for more groceries more laundry money and dinner before heading home
I wash my mask in antiseptic and hot water the hang it out to dry.I then wash my hands before unpacking my groceries.
I could not be bothered cooking so I purchased some hot buffalo wings and a large punnet of jumbo blueberries and ate them for dinner with a cup of hot pineapple and peach tea. For an after snack whilst watching The Masked Singer currently on Channel 10 in Australia, I had some cheddar pop corn my favourite which I had purchased from Woolworths also on my way home on special for $2 a bag. I am still unsure if I am allergic to these I don't eat them very often as they are usually rather expensive per packet - maybe not ultra expensive but at around $3.50 + a packet I think it is rather expensive for a packet of flavoured pop corn although they are Australian made and with no artifical colours or flavours I believe. You can now get even more expensive limited edition or weird combination of flavours packets of pop corn such as caramel and cheese for $3.50+ a packet as well but there is one brand of pop corn I grew up with ( which I hope to grab a packet of next time I see them) and I had no idea that it was still available until recently also from Woolworths (and I am sure the original recipe has changed a little since the 1970s) that I would like to try that is called Lolly Gobble Bliss Bombs. People have come up with variations on the original retro Lolly Gobble Bliss Bomb pop corn recipe to be nut free, gluten free and even Paleo. According to Wikipedia the pop corn is coated with toffee and rolled in crushed peanuts originally created in the 1960's but delayed production due to uncertainty of market appeal. I remember these from the 1970's as a child especially the colourful packaging which Wikipedia describes as "featured surreal psychedelic artwork" - this pretty much describes the 1970's !
I fell asleep during Have You Been Paying Attention right after watching some YouTube and The Masked Singer.
End of another day.
Tomorrow it will be another life admin day or if the weather is good a day out again. I hope where I want to go and see has opened to the public as scheduled. TBC.
Tuesday 11th August 2020
It was dark cold and wet earlier this morning again but by 10 am it has dried up but still really overcast. I am watching the news on Channel 10 and had a breakfast of a bowl of fig yoghart cinnamon manuka honey and cut up whole pear. This was followed by a baked quesadilla with tomato sauce spinach leaves sliced mushrooms chopped up shallots and cheese. It was so big I could only finish half of it. I finished with a few hot cup of tea.
Most of today was taken up by doing life admin stuff. First paying my monthly off site storage bill due, then there was catching up on filing of receipts for the week into my diary, vacuuming again ( I try to do this daily as it gets pretty dirty being a fully tiled floor with dust, dirty from outside ( for some reason the entire apartment block floors being white tiled gets really dirty from people entering and leaving the building - usually leaves being blown in through the front door, soil and dirt from shoes and other stuff and need to be swept and mopped at least 3 times a week which is only done once a week if lucky). Next is laundry 2 full loads wash and dry which takes me a good 2 full hours just to wash and dry then there is the folding ironing and putting away of clothes as well as separating and hanging up anything thst can't be put in the dryer. In between there is meal preparation - I made the filling for spanakopita which will have my choice of 3 cheeses, onion, spinach, a single chopped up slice of Serrano ham and chilli although I am tempted to go the full hog and add turkey mince and mushrooms as well but will see tomorrow what I decide to do.
By the time I finished blogging catching up on emails daily watching the food channel then some YouTube or uploading any YouTube video onto my channel, checking and updating my diary washing the dishes having a shower etc the day is over.
I watched The Masked Singer again tonight before going to bed around 8.30 pm. End of another catch up day.
The previous night I had not slept very well tossing and turning all night besides being a cold night, my allergies and eczema is driving me mad each night - it really hates wet weather that along with my lactose intolerance today ( I am really bad at limiting my dairy intake and that was a really big breakfast lactose binge this morning) makes for a real disaster.
I also had a few bad dreams last night - again about my previous employer. I went to pay them a surprise visit and the manager and one of my ex work collegues who was also the visual merchandiser was there but the store looked complete it different - gone were the pretty displays that the visual merchandiser used to put effort into doing and the store was replaced with rows of white shelves bulk stacked with stock. There were 2 Chinese guys restocking these shelves towards the back of the store to the side of the counter. The store stock had changed as well to cheap and nasty stock rather then the quality stock usually carried. I wondered what was going on - it looked as though the store had been sold to a new Chinese owner or had a change in management as the ex manager and my ex work collegue dod mot look very happy. What hapoened to the other remaing smaller store did it shut down or was it still operating with the ex manager and ex work collegue transferred to that store? Did tgey lose their jobs? or did they continue working at the same store with business as usual? There was no sign of any of my other ex work collegues. What happened in the bad dream is all too real. There is a chance that in order for the small business to survive and not close down that it had to attract a new investor. ( refermy previous blogs remember the customers I wrote aboute who used to come to the store and asked if the store had changed owners whenever my ex Chinese work collegue and I worked together and my other Caucasian ex work collegue was in the back stock room or on lunch break?)
Wednesday 12th August 2020
Well it is not raining and It's 5 am and I am up blogging because of my eczema. I might go back to sleep or try to for another 2 hours. The stinky guy living in the room downstairs is up - he was banging and yelling out loud this morning around 5 am. I can hear other workers are up already to go to work.
Oops so I slept in until 9.30 am. It's not a very nice day at all outside. Very grey and a little cold. It's not raining though.
Brunch around 11 am is my spanakopita I made a batch of just 3 and which i decided not to add in the mince or chopped up mushrooms. Since I was baking these in the oven I also baked a piece of salmon as well. I eat the piece of salmon first and then the 3 spanakopitas with some strawberries and yellow kiwi fruit. A yakault, some mashmellows and cup of hot tea tops off my brunch. Yep another one of my weird meal combinations.
Photo of brunch below
It's 1 pm and I haven't left the apartment. I was more interested in watching how To Cook That on YouTube . It's a great channel by the way. I think being an ex chemical technologist I can relate to how some recipes on YouTube just don't work. I have tried a few recipes from YouTube myself and fortunately most of them have worked but then again I select the cooking and food tech channels that are more technical rather then fun. ( refer previous blogs about the 3 or 4 ingredient cake, the wacky cake and the railway cake).
I actually ventured out this afternoon to Small Street Willoughby. I am surprised in all the time I lived around Chatswood I had not heard of or visited this street yet I have passed by this area countless times on the bus to and from Chatswood. Now that I have discovered it I will have visit it more often. I could probably walk to it from where I reside.
So let me tell you a little about this place of interest to visit. Nestled amongst residential and commercial buildings garden sculptures walking trails bike tracks sports grounds an aquatic centre kids playground picnic and bbq areas a toliet block car park an artificially created stream and a squash/ racquet sports centre is an old building owned by Willoughby Council on 2 Small Street in Willoughby which is easily accessible by public transport called The Incinerator - an old 1930's vaulted ceiling building. As the name implies it is an old incinerator converted into a cafe (The Incinerator Cafe) on street level and below street level down a set of stairs and I believe a lift a gallery ( The Incinerator Art Space). There are several temporary exhibitions on throughout the year held there. Currently showing is Unfolding from 29th July - 26th August 2020. This is an art exhibition in the Incinerator Art space of paper art made by local artists. Although this was quite an interesting exhibition, however I was more interested in the interior of the Incinerator building itself - I took quite a few photos. How could I not know about this building? It is fascinating- the old chimney, the large heavy black sliding door, the high ceiling supported with metal beams and the old brickwork around the building outside and inside the building exposed. After sanitizing my hands and signing in with my contact details I was free to look around the gallery and take photos ( having my trusty mask on at all times). Cheeky school kids passing by were joking about photo bombing my photos I was taking of The Incinerator building from the street level outside. After viewing the artwork in the gallery I decided to explore the surroundingss and there are several remains of semi circular brick formations everywhere. I wonder what these were originally - remains of brick kilns perhaps? Fire pits? The bases of where chimneys once were? There did not look like lookout points or where memorial benches once were.
Photos below
After catching the bus back to Chatswood (which took much longer then the 9 mins specified on Trip Planner). On the bus I get a missed call which is not a private number. I was unable to a answer it as I was about to alight the bus at Chatswood Station so let it ring out. A message is left so as soon as I alight the bus ring the number back. It is really noisy unfortunately and I am really having trouble hearing the person on the other end therefore move to a quieter area although I was still having trouble hearing the person on the other end. To block some of the loud background noise of the trains and buses passing by I cover my ear that is not against the phone with my gallery brochure. So who was on the other end? It was the volunteer manager who finally got back to me on what was going on with the senior citizen I was matched up to to correspond with via letter writing. Unfortunately quite a few of the senior citizens residing at that particular aged care facility had deteriorated during the Corona virus and unfortunately the senior citizen I was matched upto had no interest in writing back to me or receiving my letters. So where to from here. Well there maybe other opportunities with other senior citizens at other aged care facilities..It was quite difficult to hear all the details due to all the background noise and the conversation was quite long. I left it with the volunteer manager and advised her to contact me when she organises something else. I advised her that I was now working on a casual basis but only a few days a week. I had to end the conversation as the background noise was quite bad theregore I hope I wasn't being rude by doing that. To make things worse her dog was barking loudly in the background.
This phone call did hold me up a little but onto my next stop in Chatswood. I walked back to the other end of Chatswood to The Chase and had a good look around Kmart however came out empty handed as they did not have what I needed. It was then off to get some take out dinner at GYG order # 326 a mini spicy chicken burrito and a chill mayo. I love Mexican and I love GYG's food however they always forget the sauce I order and it's not free with your meal. This time they not only forgot it they gave me chilli sauce when I asked for it and I repeated mysrlf not chilli sauce chili mayo. What I got is not chill mayo but a green sauce probably the ghost pepper sauce. It definitely was the Film I mayo I ordered but I gave up after the 3rd attempt when they offered me a bag instead of the sauce. I will have to dilute it with mayo when I get home and add my own corriander. I forgot to give them my loyalty card as well as it took a while for the service person to acknowledge my order. Their hand sanitiser station was not working but so glad they removed the self service condiments station as it gets so messy and a little unhygienic.
I walk back up to the station and catch a bus home. I get quite as shock around 7.30 pm when as soon as I reach my apartment and take my mask off , wash my hands and boil the kettle I hear and see 2 strikes of thunder and lightning which I thought at first were just some flashing lights then it gets worse and within minutes it pours with rain outside. Such good timing - if I had spent any more time in Chatswood I would have been drenched!I was totally unaware that there were thunderstorms forecast for tonight as I had not checked the weather online for today and the rest of the week. It had been dry all day today.
I am now curled up in my bed watching the food channel and blogging. My stuffed possum is next to me and I have had my takeaway burrito and a juice. Time for a cup of hot tea. It's times like this that I appreciate and am so greatful for what I have and how safe I am. I always think of the people on the streets - how do they survive and where do they go when it rains or is really cold or too hot? I haven't seen the homeless woman that wonders around Chatswood lately ( the one I gave a banana to and offered some biscuits too refer my previous blog) - in fact I haven't seen her for months. I hope she is safe and well.
I lost track of time watching tv and trying to complete this blog by uploading all my photos. Uploading photos take the most amount of time and my blog crashed yet again. I think I finally fell asleep around 9.30 - 10 pm.
Thursday 13th August 2020
I woke up at 3 am this morning and tried to finish my blog. It has stopped raining. I went back to bed and slept in until 5 am then went back to sleep again then woke up again at 6 am when my daily alarm goes off going back to bed yet again and then finally at 8 am waking up to have a cup of hot tea and make myself some breakfast. After a cold night, the sun is out and it is a beautiful morning - what a contrast to last night! I must venture out again today!!!!!
2 pm and I still have not left the apartment. On the 200 bus from across the road from where I reside It is a quick 35 minute ride and a few minutes walk to The Royal Botanic Gardens. Once inside the Morshead Fountain Entrance. The Calyx is just a few minutes away. First stop is to pop my head through the 2 floral viewing windows on the side glasshouse window looking down into the Calyx via a set of stone stairs. A little disappointed as the floral display looks very similar to a previous display there All About Flowers ( refer my previous blogs I have been to all past floral exhibitions in the Calyx from the first exhibition Sweet Addiction - my favourite)
To enter it is free but you are required to fill in contact details and use the hand sanitiser. Capacity 100 maximum however there was barely 20 people present here at the moment. The high tea and function area sure has been opened up and it is really hot inside. The sun is really intense and there is a brilliant 360 degree view of the Calyx Circular Courtyard & Royal Botanic Gardens outside. The Calyx has a small cafe shop and toliets inside it's complex.
I walked from The Calyx down MacquariStreet to Pitt Street Mall and went shopping first at priceline then H & M then Uniquo and finally Woolworths Townhall to top up my groceries. I needed a toilet stop but due to the toilets on the top floor of Woolworths being closed to the public I had to use the Station toilets. To get to them however is an obstacle course as station staff set up a daily maze to enter and exit the Station turnstiles in order to get to the 2 levels of train platforms. Unless you ask a station officer to let you in there is no way you can get to the toilets at the far end of the station. I take the train back to Chatswood and have a quick look at the Thursday night markets along Chatswood concourse Mall before heading home by bus and dodging a night construction bus zone.
As soon as I arrive home I wash my mask and my hands before unloading my groceries before a quick dinner of fruit yoghart and a cup of hot tea whilst watching 8 out of 10 cats does countdown and finishing my blog or at least trying to.
End of another day of adventures.
Photos below
Friday 14th August 2020
I am having trouble on my blog now with the formatting. I can't seem to get the option to left or right justify my paragraphs it won't change from centre justify at all so I will just have to continue in centre justify. Today I am not venturing out as it is a slightly overcast day and I have a lot of life admin to do still. It's rather cold and I'd rather sleep. I watched the news and had some breakfast and before I know it's now lunch time. I spent the morning applying to the National Archives of Australia forwarding my expression of interest again to their temporary work register for 2020/2021 as I received an mail earlier this week notifying me that they have cleared out their 2020 database of applicants and that if I wanted to be considered for future temporary job opportunities to reapply to their new database. Done.
The rest of today was a do nothing day. Work tomorrow and Tuesday then there is no more work again as I have not been rostered on to work any more shifts after Tuesday. It's really wet dark and cold. Watching tv and will go to bed soon. Just had dinner of turkey breast fillet Turkish bread cheery tomstos and some of the egg salad that I prepared earlier today.
Saturday 15th August 2020
It was nice and dry today and the sun was out but in order to get to work on time I left at 9.45 am. There was a very infrequent 280 bus direct from Chatswood to Warringah Mall therefore I caught 2 buses the 144 across the road heading towards Manly getting off at Neutral Bay Junction and connecting onto a B Line bus towards Mona Vale from Stand E. My shift at Myer was 12 noon - 5.00 pm today. I am not scheduled on to work anymore shifts after Tuesday according to the Kronos app ( which I do check daily along with all the other information on all the other apps I 've had to download and create passwords to log into and expected to read daily). Maybe time to find another position and closer to home however there is not much chance of getting another job as unemployment is set to hit past 10%. This Corona virus situation is so depressing.
I have barely been working at Myer for a full week in total now and I don't hate it as much now although I don't think the customer service manager like me much and hasn't from the start. I was subject to a bag check yet again today as I left this afternoon through the staff entrance after 5 pm when the store shut. As if I would steal anything from Myer, Besides being a shareholder I don't even like their stuff or need it and if I wanted something I could get it cheaper somewhere else! I'll sell stuff from Myer but I wouldn't buy stuff from Myer because they are notorious for keeping old ranges of stock and unless they have one of their confusing sales are even not price competitive enough.
I have been constantly hounded by the customer service manager to install what's app and team group chat so I did so today but I could not join the team group chat unless I saw the electrical manager to add me to the group. So I did so today. But why bother I haven't actually rostered onto work any shifts after Tuesday and I've checked Kronos constantly. As I mentioned previously I don't want Myer invading my life and knowing my whereabouts 24/7. I also don't think I should be forced into liking anything or anyone if I don't know them - I have already been hounded to like 2 members of staff I don't even know or haven't even met! Who is Martine? I liked her because I was told to and said congrats but I have never even met her and only saw a photo of her on the Myer metrics today.
What a day - a 5 hour shift is enough - I am pooped ( exhausted)! I was on my own for a lot of the time at the housewares counter ( gee 1 person serving and 4 registers, including the only cash register on the entire floor) and there were constant queues of customers. Don't people know there are other service counters around on the same floor in electrical toys and menswear? Why bring staff over from these departments when customers could be served quicker over there? Unless It's a cash sale there is no need. Customers were bringing all sort of things to pay for in homewares baby clothes menswear etc.
Some customers bought so much stuff they really needed a trolley and a elevator to get it all back to their car! Loads of pillows were purchased today. One lady purchased 3 cashmere 18 piece boxed dinner sets, 6 mugs, 12 side plates and then ordered another 6 side plates to be picked up at a later date downstairs at The Hub. The only thing she put back was the salt and pepper shakers! I spent quite a lot of time with her and it was probably my biggest sale of the day. She asked if we offered parcel pick up - yes we do but only secure back storeroom paid holds and same day in store pick up and I had to check with my work collegue if we still offered vehicle parcel pick up service anymore which is so old fashioned now - I think Westfield still offers a valet service. Myer no longer has the vehicle parcel pick up service. My first suggestion which I repeated to her and which she decided to take up in the end as it was the best option of getting all her dinnerware safely and with the least amount of effort from the DJ's carpark to the Myer carkpark, was to find a trolley that people usually dump near the carpark entrances in the Myer carpark and take the elevator down to the ground floor of Myer out into the mall and to wheel it back to her car through the mall. She was trying to drive her car from the DJ's carpark to the Myer car park which are not connected and the only way she could do that was to exit the DJ's carpark and out of the mall and drive back into the Myer carpark and repark her car. It was all too complicated hence repeating my initial trolley suggestion to her was the best option which my work collegue agreed with. My customer found a trolley quite easily without leaving the floor we were on and I directed her to the closest lift to get her back into the mall area. I hope after all of that i processed everything correctly - I counted the mugs I counted the side plates we open 1 whole resort dinner set up to look at and I wrapped and bagged the mugs and plates separately and helped her put the box dinner plates into her trolley as well as escorting her to the lift and exposing where is is to pick up her order of extra side plates from downstairs from the Hub.
Walking around the Home Decorator section I spot 2 teenagers mucking around knowing what they might be upto I ask them "Are you making a TikTok?" Of course their response was yes!
No wrong prices today except people misreading signs eg a lady purchased 2 sprout baby onies thinking they were on sale no - it was the Seed on sale not the Sprout brand. I even checked the list of brand partners having their own sales and asked my work collegue. I hope the customer does not complain - maybe the signage is confusing yet again or in the wrong place.
I had one very sad customer today who told me how he had just buried his father and how he and his father and grandfather were in the armed forces. I can't remember what he said to me but it was something about if you think you have are having a hard time you don't actually know what hard is.. It is true there are always people that are having a harder time then yourself. I hoped his day got better and I hope his mental health is ok. He did remind me of one word and that was resiliance. I could relate to how hew was feeling - the loss of a loved one in my case several over a decade past. ( refer my previous blogs).
I had another customer who had 2 items he wanted to purchase and he says straight out that he wanted to pay using Afterpay. Now this is a payment option where you gets the goods now but pay later - I would never use this method of payment for purchases mysrlf but Afterpay is very popular with the younger generations now - - it would be the closest equivalent to the older generation's lay buys system ( laybuys were very popular towards Christmas as you don't need your purchases straight away and therefore can pay in installments so by Christmas the goods have been paid off in full and you don't have to store them until you need them and also great for hiding kid's presents for Christmas or even other special occassions) except with lay buys its a you don't get the goods until you pay in full. Both systems were an alternative to using credit cards. So back to this customer's purchases. I wasn't sure how Afterpay actually worked and didn't think the items this customer wanted to purchase were eligible for using Afterpay . I had some help and was told to scan the products and see - ineligible products will appear with a red message apparently. So after scanning the 2 products they totalled $99. A work collegue helping out advised the customer that the he could not use Afterpay to pay for his purchases as the minimum spend is $100 or more and whether he wanted to purchase something else for $1 or more. I think he ended up saying forget the purchase as he could not think of anything else he needed.
I just lost about 30 minutes of my blog as it crashed yet again. My blog seems to crash late at night and early in the mornings for some reason. Now I have to go back and try and retype everything I lost. it makes it more difficult as there is a lag when I am typing as well.
I haven't paid close attention to the analytics of my blog for a while but it looks as if Australians are much more interested in reading my blog then the Americans are now. I also see some new countries reading my blog and there are readers out there reading some of my previous blogs which is great to see as I have attended and written about some "unique" things in the past 4 - 5 years of my blog. For those readers that are unfamiliar with my blog I also had an older pre 2015 blog which I had a link for but it seems to have dropped off my current blog since the recent migration upgrade of the blogger website software. I had a blog under Dulcinea.yee. simplesite.com I believe it was - it is really difficult to find but it should be still up on the internet somewhere I hope ( unless Simplesite has deleted it as it was the first freebie I used to start blogging ). It was a very simple blog with a few nice photos to go with my written sections and a simple counter of total readers from which I remember was around 150 but that was years ago and it was a much smaller blog of just 15 or so.
Sunday 16th August 2020
I woke up in the middle of the night and tried to catch up on my blogging ( I was finally able to fix the left justify problem I wS having and filling in a big space in my blog with another photo and description however i am still having a problem with the typing lag) and YouTube watching. A midnight snack and a few cups of tea later it was back to sleep around midnight. A sleep in until 8 am and breakfast was a cup of tea, some thick caramelised pineapple yoghart and spinach and cheese pizza ( which I over baked and almost burnt!) yep weird eating just like last night's dinner of chicken chippies with some plum sauce , yoghart and a punnet of the blueberries followed by juice, cup of tea and cheddar popcorn. I had not eaten or drank any water the entire day so was hungry and so exhausted decided on some quick takeaway "junk" food rather then cooking.
By 10 am this morning the sun is finally out after a rather overcast morning earlier and it looks like a beautiful day however I don't feel like going out just staying in. I haven't made a cake for a while so maybe I should do that.
Today I checked Kronos app again and I still have not been schedules to work after Tuesday, deleted any Mtretics communications received via email as I don't even know these people working st Myet ( I can sed I am going to get bombarded with yet mire junk emails now that i have downloaded whatsapp and added to the group chat as it was yet another compulsory Myer requirement), filed receipts away, vacuumed, changed the sheets on my bed, wash my dishes, emptied the rubbish bin, had a shower and made a really delicious sticky saucy apple pudding with a recipe I put together using ingredients I had in my fridge and pantry and by modifying a 2 ingredient donut recipe I found on the internet which on it's own was described as more dense and cakey then light and fluffy like a donut with no sweetness to it on it's own. So here's how I pimped it up to create my recipe.
In a medium rectangular ceramic oven proof slice dish place a layer of peeled and sliced Granny Smith apples. Cover them with a thin layer of a mixture of golden syrup ground cinnamon and ground gloves. In a separate mixing bowl mix a single serve tub of thick plain Greek style yoghart with some vanilla paste and some custard powder stir until all lumps are gone and it is runny and smooth. Add some self raising flour and olive oil until a thick paste forms. I didn't measure anything I just made a thick paste. Spoon this paste over the layer of sliced apples and golden syrup mixture. Place the dish into a 160 degree oven bake for about 20 minutes or until the syrup mixture starts to bubble. The cake mixture on top of the apples and golden syrup mixture will cook and brown - at this point grab a spoon and press the cake layer down into the syrup and spoon the syrup over the top of the cake layer to soak it. Turn the temperature down to around 100 degrees and keep baking slow and low for the remainder of an hour. This will soften the sliced apples layered on the bottom of the dish and create a beautiful but dark sticky pudding like dessert. Eat this sticky apple pudding dessert hot with some thickened cream ( or ice cream) to cut through the richness and sweetness. It was absolutely yummy! So rich you can only have a small portion of it.
I watched some more YouTube continued my blog and watch some food channel followed by family feud.
Time to sleep. Have also been researching more places of interest to visit around or outside of Sydney ( day trips) since I can't travel anywhere interstate.
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