Monday 9th November 2020
Myer 10 am - 5.30 pm - no new shifts added as at 28th October 2020. New shift added 30th October 2020. Kronos rechecked 31st October 2020. Checked Kronos again 8th November 20 no change.
Caught the 8.15 am 144 bus to Neutral Bay Junction transferring ont the B Line bus where a team member working in the Kidswear department was on. I sat next to her. She starts at 9.30 am and was a little concerned that she would be late to work as it was already 9 am and she still needed to walk all the way to the staff entrance exit and put her stuff in a staff locker punch on and attend the daily team member huddle 10 - 15 minutes before store opening. She looked really tired and I asked why she could not start later as she has so far to travel. She said she can't as she is on her own on Mondays and her department manager is only part time so she hardly ever sees her.
First thing I did was have a snack of my regular 2 croquettes before heading to H & M to exchange my size 8 sheer black top for a size 12 as it was a little too small. There was actually not much difference between the size 8 and size 12 so I exchanged it for a size 12 rather then a size 10. Done.
A bit of a relax before heading back to Myer to put my lunch in the fridge, stuff in a staff locker and punch in.
Oh dear what a disorganised day today was. I wasn't sure what I was suppose to be doing as soon as I arrive.
I wasn't serving for most of the morning before lunch which was not until after 2 pm. There were so many team members on today in the Homewares department and there was no need for them to be there unless they were allocated jobs for the day. Instead I was allocated a job by the customer service manager as soon as I arrived to go out to the dock and scan and change prices of a major glassware, cultery, crockery & napery supplier's stock for any price increases and remove old price labels keeping their barcodes intact from cages and cages of stock in the dock. I wasn't sure how long I was suppose to be out there doing this so I checked every now and then if they needed me out on the counter. I had to ask the customer service manager if she was happy for me to continue what I was doing or go back to serving. I had to finish the cages and go back out to serve as team members were organising lunch break covers soon . I was asked if anyone had spoken to me about lunch covers yet. No. There is one team member determined to be a team leader and thinks she can be one but the customer service manager is correct in telling me that "she does not quite have the skills yet" at the end of the day. So true she has very poor time management skills and she came looking for me as she had no idea where I was and there was only one team member alone at the counter - umm ya - did she think to ask the customer service manager where I was or ask the other team members to stay at the counter to serve? It does not have to be me. Anyway there was another team member that was also allocated the task to scan and remove any homeware & kitchenware items in the cages on the dock which was great but he had to stop as he and another team member were allocated by the VM manager to put up yet more cardboard Christmas trees. I don't think they seemed very happy about it as they were apparently different to last years, had no instructions and were wrapped in plastic and very bulky so had to first unpack them then move them to an area large enough to assemble them. So I was on my own now in the dock scanning and unlabelling cages of items with price increases. The customer service manager says to me " You don't have to scan every item you know" I responded with an (of course) "I know". If I scanned every single item I would be there forever! and there was no need - just one of every item. The removal of labels took the most time not the scanning. The customer service manager had told me that it was mainly a certain dinner set earlier but it was everything except that dinner set!, there were none of them. So I left just 1 half cage that I did not finish which was ok by the customer service manager. She wanted me to put the stock out as well - there was no time so I just left the stock for someone else to put out as it was far too heavy for me anyway. I manage to get through 3 - 4 cages which is ok for a few hours in the morning
I was having trouble putting through a gift card - it kept failing to register so the customer service manager comes over to assist. It was not swiping. As soon as she tries of course it swipes without a problem - she think she has magic fingers but when she went to type in the amount she typed in $20 instead of $10 on the gift card. I had a bit of a joke to her and said " Being generous are you?" Her response was "I'm always generous". The customer did have other forms of payment and no more glitches when the customer service manager left me to continue the transaction.
One Myer One sign up in the afternoon , a customer just came up to me asking if she could join without any purchase so I signed her up using the Ipad and remembered to scan the barcode so it would show up on Myer metrics ( My Metrics, Myer Metrics whatever who cares it's still wrong anyway - I didn't even have a one on one with the customer service manager last month). No customer orders today again as customers are still requesting items Myer just does not stock or have in stock but still asking random customers if they would like to round up their purchases to donate to the local charity. Still not asking all customers as I still can't see it on Myer metrics anyway.
The afternoon was signage confusion! It all started with we have to put up a lot of signs again so one team member looks them up and prints them out and says there isn't anymore to print. Then a second team member asks about signage and I advised her that there isn't anymore to print out however there are more to print out - heaps more to print out and extra ones that must have been added on at the last minute. It was all too confusing and there were different signs for different sales for same items ending on different dates - confused? I am!. One sale may be eg 40% off linen ending 12 November 2020 and another sale may say 30 % off bedding, cushions, pillows & towels ending 22 November 20 ( the above is not real current sales by the way so don't come running to Myer to purchase any of the above items they are just examples I made up to illustrate the constant disorganised mess experienced whilst working at Myer on a weekly more like daily basis) . It is always a mad rush to get the old signs down and new signs up. There is no system in place and nobody seems to know who has printed what signs already so you always have excess or shortage and there are never enough correct sized stands to place the signs in.
The team member who wants to be team leader tells a new team member how I would never lead a new team member astray to which I replied "I hope not". So one of the new team members went to the Electricals department to find a stand for the large signs we had to put up as they usually have spares. The team member in the Electricals would not share his stands as he said he needed all his stands so the new team member came back and told us that. I told the new team member to go down to the fixtures and fittings room and asked if she knew where that was ie next to the hard reserves which she knew the location was. When the team member who wants to be a team leader asked me where that team member was I said that I sent her down to the fixtures and fittings room to find a spare stand. You should have seen the look on the customer service manager's face and the team member who wants to be a team leader's face. Oops sorry I said - so much for the previous discussion of leading a team member astray! I said it's all the team member from the Electrical derpartment's fault he would not share his stands with us. All good in the end the team member who wants to be a team leader rings the new ream member down in the fixtures and fittings room to get her to come back up on the floor. I did apologise to her for leading her astray and we did joke about blaming the team member from the Electrical department for not sharing and causing this incident to happen.
I can't even remember if I went straight home or stopped off at Chatswood for a shop. I probably did stop off for a shop as it is Monday.
Tuesday 10th November 2020
Myer 10 am - 5.30 pm new shift added as at 30th October 2020. Kronos rechecked on 31st October 2020. Checked Kronos again 8th November no change.
No customer orders today but another Myer One sign up today which I also remembered to scan. Still asking random customers if they wanted to round up their purchases to donate to charity and customers still willing to do so although I am sticking to the 5 cents or less rounding up of purchases.
More tickets to put up and more confusion. At least I put up the Wednesday only daily deal sign which was the Heritage silk pillow cases. I had to steal a small stand from somewhere to put it in as all the small stands were missing or used already.
A team member and I managed to do a till reconcilliation for both tills today and a cash clearance for both tills however after clearing one till we get a phone call from the office to clear one of the tills again thanks to a large cash sales I made thankfully after I reconciled that till not during it as I would have had to start over again! Not so much luck for the team member I was working with she made a slight boo boo putting through a cash sale for an office manager (I think) and was told she would have to reconcile the till again. Done
I passed on a young customer to the younger team member I was working with ( the customer looked as if he was in his early 20's & was looking for a hip flask. I had already sold a few to some guys the previous day when I mentioned it to him. He said they were probably his mates buying them up. He could not find them so I had to show him where they were when he returned to the counter empty handed.) to put the sale through and I served another older customer as I thought he was a cute guy and a match for her (only joking). But seriously I don't like serving younger customers in their late teens and early 20's purchasing alcohol related accessories. I don't refuse to serve younger customers looking for alcoholic acessories but don't really like serving them as you can never tell how old they really are. At least I am not selling them actual alcohol. ( If you have ever watched Superstore I think it's called there is a scene where a team member is allocated by the manager to work in the fire arms department which did not want to work in and he is so anti - guns he refuses to serve any customers wanting to purchase a fire arm). Post script - on Friday the team member says to me " You know that young guy that wanted the hip flask that you passed onto me to serve? Well he was totally checking me out eyeing me head to toe." My response was that I knew that and was just trying to match her up with any cute guys. He response was " You sound like my mum!" The moral of the story is she actually already has an offical boyfriend. ( and by the way she knows that I'm writing about this on my blog and she is OK with it as I told her I don't identify anyone involved). This is the type of thing team members get upto. At least I wasn't the customer who tried to match her up with her son right in front of her that she told me about!
Speaking of which there is a team member in electricals ( the one who rang for assistance because he was doing a till reconcilliation and needed someone to cover service while he did it) and who I think is a bit strange - he was complaining to a team member how his shift times kept changing on Kronos. I said to him at least your shifts don't get cancelled like mine! Another team member said to him that's the way being a casual is and maybe his shift start and finishing times change because someone calls in sick. He acted as if he was on drugs or under the influence of somthing when he came over to the counter before his shift ended. He only gets 1 shift a week or fortnight sometimes but apparently it's his own fault as his availability is not very flexibly due to his university studies and apparently he doesn't really care about his work. No wonder he received such poor reviews from customer feedbacks at the beginning when he started working at Myer ( and I ended up coping the customer's foul mood when she rang back to complain via phone call - the guy with the nose piercing served me - which team member has a nose piercing? it took me months to notice which team member it actually was - now I know).
Just checked my Metrics and a customer gave me an 8/10 but gave Myer an overall score of 10/10 which made my 100% score drop right down to 92% immediately. Not happy. ( but it could have been the customer spent more time in another department then in Homewares who knows) . Oh so that's what a team member meant when she explained the customer feedback metrics to me. Postscript : As I was leaving on Tuesday 17th November 2020 we ( other team mebers and I) were discussing the way customer feedback scores work with a manager ( don't ask me from which department this manager was from as I don't exactly know) and she said that it's not all about the scores but the comments as well. It is SO all about the individual team member scores therefore one team member asked giving a similar example to my above scores " So you get 1 low score and you lose 10% that's not fair!" The manager's response was what I thought was a little surprising and I quote " Life's not fair, you'll just have to work harder!"
Towards the end of the afternoon the counter was almost cleared until another team member came over and dumped a whole heap of stuff on the Homewares counter that they could not be bother to find and put away. There were clearance items, items missing bits mixed amongst other items to be put back. There was still stuff from the previous weekend with no explainations on them as to why they were still on the back counter so I left them there.
Wednesday 11th November 2020
Myer 12 am - 3 pm new shift added as at 30th October 2020. Checked Kronos again on 31st October 2020 Checked Kronos again 8th November 20 Shift cancelled. Yes yet another shift cancelled therefore another day off.
Nope last minute request to work by the team leader and OKed by the operations manager. Hours flexible so I decided to work from 10 - 4 pm only and will be just doing re - pricing in reserves not stock or service. Added to Kronos by operations manager and confirmed by him to me verbally yesterday.
Let's see how organised Myer is with a label maker and scanner gun charged functioning and ready to go. Not! I had to get my own and sign them in and out. Was unsure if they were scanning and removing the labels fully and replacing them with new ones or continuing to do what i did previously in the dock ie leave barcodes on and remove the rest of the label. It is sdo time consuming. It would have probably bern quicker to remove the incorrect labels entirely off each item and reprint and replace them. When I arrived down in the hard reserve room I saw someone had been removing the labels entirely and reprinting and replacing them.
Today is Remembrance Day. I checked Mcomms on Myer Metrics to see what Myer does on Remembrance Day. Usually on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month each year it is tradition to stand in silence for 1 minute "to remember those who died or suffered for Australia's cause in all war and armed conflicts". In Australia the poppy is the symbol of Remembrance Day. Myer will have an announcement over the PA system where the music will be turned off and a minutes silence will be observed by anyone in the store. Where I used to work there was an announcement made over the shopping centre's PA system as there are no big department stores there. Out of respect I think everyone should reflect on those that served in the armed forces so we enjoy the freedom we have today. Down in the dungeon I could just make out the PA announcements and yes I did try to observe a minutes silence whilst i was down there working.
I've been down in the Myer dungeon ( hard reserves). Whilst down there I had to go back to the office and put the scanner back on its charger as it died so had to sign back in the old scanner and sign out a new scanner. Why am I doing the right thing when others are not. I see someone didn't sign back in the scanner I had signed out the previous days. There was more then 1 scanner out and I put mine back into the cupboard for others to use in the afternoon. So whoever was closing that day should have returned it and signed it back in but did not do so. Post Script the 2 scanner guns that were not signed back in were still in the cupboard in the Homewares department found and being put back by the team leader on Saturday.
I cannot wait for a day off tomorrow! One of my worse days at work. It's not the customers either as I wasn't on the floor.
What a disgraceful day. I really want a transfer to another store. Today was really disgraceful. The customer service manager had a job for me for Monday (which is my day off according to Kronos). I really didn't want to work on Monday as I planned to return the key to my previous employer. But she had already added the shift onto it and was discussing what she wanted me to do until I was really rudely interrupted. When I looked on Kronos it was from 8 am - 5 pm. Was she crazy? No maybe not as she did mention to me that I was the only one she trusted to do the job but the hours were a bit overkill I thought. I would had to get up at 6 am in order to get to work in time. But this was not actually the disgraceful bit.
So I mentioned that I was rudely interrupted by the assistant store manager - I didn't mind her when I first started but managers start to show their true colours and let power get to their heads and I really HATE this assistant store manager and I have overheard a conversation about how certain team members would try to "exclude her" from things. So I was asking one of the guys about how a glass cabinet fits on a shelf because the customer service manager wanted to move something around on Monday. The assistant store manager asked what I was doing up here. Then the customer servicer manager told her its ok she is just taking notes. Then I "overheard" the assistant manager tell the customer service manager how I was meant to be doing price changes & for her to stop eating into her budget before I walked off back down to where I was. I would not have left what I was doing if I didn't receive a call from the customer service manager asking me if I had a moment to see her about a job. I am allowed a break you know. I actually didn't have proper break just a 15 minute one really late in the afternoon being careful not to break company policy of taking a break less then 30 minutes before my shifts ended. Post Script A team member and I were leaving after returning the keys and Ipads to the office later on this week and the team member and I saw the assistant manager was in the office alone after the store had closed so say good bye to her out of courtesy. She didn't even acknowledge us. The team member says somthing to me like "She never smiles" and I said "Yes she is always grumpy."
Quite a few supplier reps visited Myer and today the MW rep was here. I had met her at my previous place of employment, then again I had met quite a few reps from my previous job. I am surprised that the VM for MW did not really know the other reps from MW well. Maybe it's a departmental thing. Anyway I was with the customer service manager and mentioned to her that i think i know that MW rep and she mentioned to me how she has been around for years and it took her so long to remember who she was so I said I'll go over to her to ask if she remembers who I am. Nope she could not, not even with a few verbal clues - she says can't tell with a mask on so I remove it briefly, no still can't remember. I joked and said there were only 2 Asians working for my previous employer and mention how i was made redundant and she says "So that's why you are now working for Myer!"
After I finished my shift finished, I punched out returned the scanning gun putting it back in its charging dock and signing it in again, I went down to return the stationery and the team leader told me to tell the customer service manager what I did today. I was then told not to worry about coming in on Monday. Shift was taken off Kronos so when was she going to tell me? Common courtesy ? There is none at Myer. I am so fed up with the constant changes in Kronos. I should just not turn up to work one day. They probably would not notice.
If you have been trying to read my blogs you will notice that I am falling more and more behind - it's because I am spending all my checking that my shifts have not been cancelled amended or added on Kronos on a daily basis , checking Myer Metrics and reading Mcomms daily as well as reading What's app team group chat messages daily as well as checking my payslips on WSS weekly (in the event of Myer wage thefting me) . I should not have to do this but If you don't check management will actually come upto you and personally tell you to read or more like tell you off for not reading it and if I don't keep an eye on my payslips I could be short paid ( I am finding my payslips a little difficult to read due to the format - it is very difficult to read on a smart phone as I think it is designed to be read on a computer but who carries a laptop in their pocket these days?).
So I finished a bit after 4 pm today as I punched out just after 4 pm but still had to return the scanner to the office sign it back in and place it back in it's charging dock and return the stationery I borrowed from Homewares and see the customer service manaager before I left ( I wasn't going to wait for her to come to me that would hold me up so I went to find her). If I didn't find her then I would not have known about my Monday shift being cancelled until later when I checked Kronos on my day off. No explaination given just a forget about Monday. I also told her how i only managed to get 2.5 shelves worth of repricing done. I think the team leader and customer service manager expected me to have done all shelves but how would tgey know how long it takes to scan, peel and cut labels off when the sensor light keeps
I walk straight to the bus stop and wait for the next 280 bus back to Chatswood which took forever to arrive. As soon as I arrived at Chatswood I did not stop to go shopping nut went straight home on the 144 bus.
As soon as I artived home I washed my hands and distinfected my mask which I still wore in the reserves due to dust and contact with employees walking in and out of it all day ( a reminder that COVID is still around and not to let my guard down just yet).. I was not in the mood to fo much and had a fruit , yoghart and muffin bowl for dinner before going to sleep quite early after watching some Food channel programs on tv and catching up on some YouTube videos.
My allergies are really bad - my eczema has flared up on my palm of my hands and is appearing all over my body caused by the stress of working at Myer (and probably being down all day in the reserves where it is full of dust and cardboard fragments which I was covered in as I am wearing black and touching all sorts of kitchenware). Postscript : I have since found out that I am not the only Myer team member who suffers from eczema, a team member spotted the back of my exposed neck and commented how her son has the same thing and that she suffers from dermatitis as well however the team member who works for , interesting enough,Chanel ( yes that cosmetic brand) is probably the one who understands the most about how I suffer as she has it as well and had it covered up under a long sleeved top exposing it to show me. I have already told a team member how I only started getting grey hairs since I started working at Myer ( I had loads of them which I have been pulling out).
Thursday 12th November 2020
Day off
I finally was able to booked a ticket to see the Van Gough Alive exhibition out at EQ at 1 pm today. I would have liked to have gone when it opened in September however I had so much trouble purchasing a ticket online I gave up .There are only so many times you can try and purchase a ticket online. Finally got a ticket after countless unsucessful attempts. Just hope I don't get asked to work at the last minute.
Thunderstorms forecasted from 2 pm onwards today. Let's hope the forecasts are completely wrong!
I slept in until 9 am this morning and it is not the best of days - a little overcast but I need to venture out to the Eastern Suburbs and see Van Gough Alive as I am working tomorrow and Saturday.
10.30 am I am unsure which is the quickest way to Moore Park so hop on a 144 bus to Chatswood, a train to Wynyard and the Light Rail L2 or L3 to Moore Park then walk across the road. I should be there just after noon.
I arrive a little before noon and there is no queue to get into the Van Gough Alive exhibition but a steady stream of older people are entering and exiting the exhibition. I don't dare ask to enter for the noon session after all the trouble I had just to get a ticket! I looked online and tickets are no longer on sale for the noon session anyway although there is an onsite ticket office. The exhibition better be worth the $43 I paid for it!
First stop was the convenience store to recharge my Opal card for $35. No surcharge thank goodness unlike most of the outlets at Warringah Mall that do charge a surcharge.
It is filthy hot today but I manage to find a set of tables and chairs out of the sun and heat under the sails of where weekly markets are held. There is a beautiful cool breeze constantly flowing through this covered area. A great place to sit and have a snack or drink although I don't know how COVID safe it is.
From where I am I can see & hear kids attending Brent Street practising their dance moves. Across from Brent Street is the Australian Film Television & Radio School ( AFTRS ). There is an Urba n Winery and a small art gallery also nearby. There is a bowling alley and of course 2 cinemas all within walking distance within the grounds of EQ ( Entertainment Quarter). Photos will be uploaded at a later date.
I spent about an hour and a half inside the exhibition. What did I think? I rate it : 7/10. Although I took quite a few photos. Videos are probably better as it was an immersive experiences. I was slightly disappointed with the sensory experience in the gallery area. I could not smell anything. Below was what I was suppose to smell according to the sign.
I took loads of photos but have uploaded 3 short videos onto my YouTube channel of some of my favouite pieces from the Van Gough Alive exhibition.
After visiting the Van Gough Alive exhibition and leaving at 2.30 pm , I waited for the 355 bus back to Bondi Junction where I stopped off at the Thursday markets to have a quick look then went shopping at Daiso then Aldi and finally The Reject Shop before having sushi ( for the very first time since COVID hit back in March ) from my favourite sushi joint in Eastgate Shopping Centre the before walking back to Bondi Junction Station and catching the 200 bus straight home.
Finally, I paid for in advance months ago to go to the annual Cake Bake and Sweet Show out at Olympic Park Showgrounds which was suppose to go ahead from 4th - 6th December 2020 only to find out online that the event has been advertised to go ahead on 22nd - 24th October 2021 in Sydney and 9th - 11th July 2021 in Melbourne. So why wasn't I notified of this cancellation of the events and a refund offered?. I emailed ticket support to ask for a refund or ticket to be carried forward to next year's show. They have not responded. Just as well I did not buy a ticket for the Melbourne show from 27th - 29th November 2020 in advance as well. Luckily I knew that there was no way this event was going ahead due to Melbourne's lockdown until recently.
Friday 13th November 2020
Myer 12.45 - 5.30 pm - strange new shift added to Kronos as at 30th October 2020 - VMing???? It says Events with an "X" next to it. Checked Kronos again on 31st October 2020. Kronos checked again 11th & 12th November 2020.
It was a wet night but it has dried up by 8 am this morning although it is still really overcast. A thunderstorm is forecast for today and then a heat wave on Sunday or Monday. Well that explains my allergies. My body seems to hate rain as mentioned in my previous blogs.
I sent a second email to the organisers of the Cake Bake and Sweet Show regarding a refund of my ticket or a carry forward of my ticket to next years event as I have not received a response from them.
The next thing I did this morning (besides making myself 2 pieces of baked salmon and a punnet of rasberries for breakfast with some cheese on crackers) is to do my fortnightly Centrelink reporting. Eventhough I have reached the stage where I am ineligible to receive any payments this fortnight due to my income earned, I have to continue to my fortnightly reporting as my employment is unpredictable as it is casual and I only work a maximum of 24 hours a week even through the Christmas season (?) . After Christmas my hours could be reduced back to 8 hours a week or it is very likely I will no longer have a job at Myer therefore if I don't continue to report fortnightly to Centrelink I will have to wait another 3 months in order to receive welfare payments again. ( refer original blog about how long it took to receive first welfare payment).
My blog crashed yet again.
I arrive at work around 12.15 am and am walking up to the staff area to put my backpack into a staff locker and punch in. Before my shift even starts a customer stops me and asks where the cosmetics are before she realises she had made a mistake and says " You're not with Myer" I responded with a "Yes I am" and advising her that cosmetics is downstairs. It happens but i'm slways willing to assist a customer if they approach me even before I start work.
I managed to get all my tasks done today and more but I didn't have a break. No Myer One sign up, no rounding up of purchases and no orders.
Most of my day was running around doing things from till reconcilliation, to cash clearance, to putting a whole cage of Christmas trims away, to putting stock out rubbish to compactor and serving customers - loads of them!
One thing I didn't have to do today was put up all the Super Weekend signage and I don't work on Sundays so won't have to take them all down!
I left almost on time at 5.30 pm today after getting rid of a Coles trolley to the carpark rushing back so I don't get locked out at the store closes at 5.30 pm. I take the Ipads back to the office leaving one along with the cupboard keys with the remaining team members working until 6 pm and signing them back in and putting them back on the chargers.
I don't head home immediately but have toilet stop ( as I didn't have a break) , do a shop at Coles before walking to the bus stop and waiting for the 6.40 pm 280 bus back to Chatswood. I could not be bothered to cook dinner as it would be around 8 pm before I arrived home so decide to head to the Chatswood Mall markets that are on as it is Friday night and purchase a prosciutto and rocket wood fire pizza for the first time from one of the very few food stalls I have not eaten from at the markets. It was really nice when it came straight out of the oven piping hit but not as nice when it became cold by the time I arrived home. It tasted ok so I rate it a 7/10
Photos below .
Saturday 14th November 2020
Myer 11.45 - 4 pm - original shift added on Kronos on 30th October changed to 1 pm - 6 pm on Kronos on 31st October 2020. Checked Kronos again on 8th November 20 no change. This shift was changed yet again with another "X" next to it. I still haven't figured out what this means. Usually it's events but with the case on Wednesday 11th November it means I am not on the floor but allocated to "stock" duties of some sort. Checked Kronos again 8th November 20 changed to events marked with an "X". Kronos checked again 11th & 12th November 2020.
Today is offically my blog's 5 year anniversiary! Happy Birthday to my blog "dulcineasdiarycontinued" .
5 years is a long time and a big thank you once again to all my readers who have read my blog and viewed my YouTube channel since the beginning. I hope to continue my blog for years to come.
A quick check of the analytics today - nice to see Australia, UK & France are the top 3 countries reading my blog. Sorry USA has dropped to about 5th position probably due to all eyes on their elections.
A big thank you once again to all my readers that have being reading my blogs from the beginning and some who may have been reading my previous 15 or was it 18 page limit "test blog" when I decided to start my transition from my annual paper diaries to a continuous online diary.
5 years is a long time to have an online presence. I started keeping diaries online not just to review and inform readers of the countless places of interest I visit and the countless events I attend many of which are annual but to record moments in history for present and future generations to read. 2019/2020/2021 may have been disastrous years for most of us in the present but how would generations to come or those too young to remember know of how or what we lived through today? It would be similar to me trying to imagine how my ancestors lived during the Gold Rush.
So thank you to all my readers again. Except for one reader who won't even identify themselves and made a rather nasty comment. (Sorry my blog crashed yet again - if you have been reading my blogs you will notice that my blog often crashes after writing paragraphs so sometimes don't make sense or flow as I have to rewrite things ). I would like to point out that if you have an online presence of any type whether it be Facebook, YouTube, a blog, Instagram etc there will always be "haters" out there. People like this who make accusations and nasty comments without merit usually have serious mental issues or problems of their own. Unless these people have virtually lived your life - how can they possibly substantiate their accusations or nasty comments they make? So I am going to ignore this person who is firstly a coward for remaining unknown and 2ndly I have "spamed" them ( is spamed spelt with a single or double "m"? apology to my readers my typing and spelling is really bad and I am often writing very late at night or early in the morning in poor light) & 3rdly stop reading my blogs! I would also like to advise anyone who has any form of online presence to ignore any false accusations or nasty comments like I am going to . "Shake it off " as Taylor Swift sings. Always be respectful or as diplomatic as possible to peoples' online presence. If you can't say something nice don't say it at all ( unless it is the view of a cluster(s) of people or speaks the truth). I read and watch countless other peoples' online presence and do not make inappropriate comments. In quite a few of my blogs I may not make very diplomatic comments but try to substantiate or discuss my point(s).
PS I have just had a thought of who this reader that made this nasty comment may be. I have left an ad on Gumtree about how I was made redundant back in March and still looking for work ( my current job is still casual and limited to a maximum of 24 hours per week and who knows what will happen after Christmas) and I have been receiving a lot of scam responses, some offered advice, some thought I was actually an employer hiring workers ( sorry I wish I were ) & the rest were scam job offers which I weeded out or offensive inappropriate replies ( which I ignored and reported) . Not one of them was a genuine job opportunity. There was one so called employer who I think was also a scam job advertiser who made a comment and I suspect it is the same person or organisation that maybe infiltrating my online presence. I had advised them that I am currently employed and have some casual work but am not removing my ad but will edit it as casual work means casual work and I am still looking for permanent employment. With the current job market as it is I am not leaving my current casual job I tried so hard to gain ( no matter how much I may hate it) until I find genuine employment. If you go back and read my blog I was basically unemployed for about 4 months and during that time I did get a little depressed like countless others in similar situations but all is good now except nothing will ever be the same or replace my previous job.
I don't think I had any Myer One sign ups today and I did not ask custoners to round up their purchases to donate to charity. There were quite a few discounts that were still not loaded onto the POS system which slowed down the processing of transactions.
There was another stock breakage incident on the floor. A customer approaches me and advises me that there is a breakage in the food section of the Giftorium and asks if we had any tissues she could use to clean up the rather bad spill on her sneakers so I directed her to the counter wherr there were some. Whilst she was wiping up her sneakers she advised me how the gift pack just fell off the shelf. I was finding this difficult to believe that it just fell off the shelf as it had gift pack had been on the same shelf for weeks and there has been quite a bit of re merchandising & restocking going on of stock there since without breakages. There was broken glass and truffle oil everywhere making the floor around the area a very slippery hazard. I call the cleaners immediately and put the broken package straight into a plastic bag snd dispose of it immediately before returning and standing over the hazard area until tge cleaner arrives. i had to still flag him down to get his attention. The cleaner assessed it and returned putting 2 caution signs around the hazard and mopping up most of the oil spill however he missed spots and did not use any soap. I therefore called the cleaners again and again to try and get them to return and clean it up propperly which they were reluctant to do immediately snd kept wanting to wait until the store closed. i argued with them that they can't just leave the floor the way it is - it needs to be cleaned properly with soap immediately as it is a hazard to customers . I said that I am going to get a manager to speak to them. So i rang the team leader about the problem I am having communicating the urgency of the situation. I even showed a team member I was working with and yes it was still slippery and a high risk to customers. So I sent a great chunk of my time waiting for the cleaners to arrive today and ensuring customers watched their step instead of serving. Basically I had to guard the area until the spill was cleaned up properly and safe to customers. I must have rung the cleaners 5 times! I am actually allergic to truffles as well but only if I ingest it luckily.
There is so much stock that is still not on the floor yet and certain Christmas trims are running low already including Christmas trees. Big boo boo was found on the dock with the Christmas trees. I dragged a Christmas tree out onto the floor for a customer to look at from the dock area where they are all kept not realising the tree was already sold and to be delivered to a customer who had ordered it. A team member picked it up as she found an order slip attached to it. Luckily the customer did not want the tree I had dragged out from the dock and i keft it on the floor instead of dragging it back to the dock where I found it with the other Christmas trees. It was then realised that another Christmas tree that was already out on the floor for sale and which looked as if it had been there for a while in its box also had an order slip attached to it which means we could have been selling christmas trees in the dock area that were already sold to customers as orders to be delivered. Whoever put those tree with the other trees should not have done that as they did not write a sign of any sort to indicate not to touch them or for customer orders. The trees were taken off the floor and put back into the area.
I had one customer today I had to apologise to on more then one ocassion. Why? It took me 30 minutes just to put through a 1 item of boxed cutlery ordered on the Ipad and through the POS system because both kept hanging but in the end it decided to process the order sucessfully. I said to a team member I was working with how I bet the order will be jinxed again ( that's why I hate putting through orders). I was right. I had to seek help twice from the team leader as I did not know what was going on with the computer systems. To make things worse you can't put a store purchase onto the POS system in the same transaction with an order from the iPad if it is for the same customer and the Myer One search options was not working on both the POS system and Ipad. Aparently they are being really slow because they are no coping with the volume of transactions being put through. If the technology can't cope now how is it going to cope closer to Christmas? I actually had to apologise to a few customers for the delay in completing transactions . Poor customer, her mother was worried about how much time she had left on her parking ticket so she ran and left her daughter to finish the purchase. Aparently the POS systems crashed previously that day and had to be rebooted and one team member's POS system crashed during a transaction.
I love when customers know when it is the best time to come to Myer to shop and know exactly what they want or need. I had 2 customers that I served in the last half an hour before the store closed and told each of them that they came at the best time of the day to shop, the crowds had disappeared, there were no queues and they were free to take their time or ask for assistance. These tend to be the best customers as they are never demanding rude or in a hurry and more relaxed.
I think the very last customer the team member I was working with and I had was the store manager who came up to the counter and purchased a big Myer 2020 Teddy, a small Myer 2020 Teddy ( named Gilbert which I nicked named the COVID Bear - I didn't nickname him the Corona Bear because Corona is probably trademarked or patented) and some other Christmas ornament. I passed it on to the other team member to put through as I didn't want to stuff up his purchase. After he left with his purchase the team member says to me that he never smiles - he doesn't seem to have a sense of humour however I told her how I managed to crack at smile from him once when he was going to the office in the elevator. So maybe he does have a sense of humour. ( I may have mentioned it in a previous blog a while back). He did mention that we were running low on bears - no we are not I just emptied a box of them earlier today and put them all out onto the floor. There are bears everywhere - on the shelf, in the cane baskets and hanging up and are actually multiplying like the COVID virus! ( No I did not say this to the store manager).
Ok onto something funny. A new team member was working in Kidswear today and not in Homewares. She came over to visit so because we all finished at 6 pm when the store closed we decided to wait for each other and walk to the bus stop together. The new team member comes over to the Homewares department and the team member I was working with his called away to do a last minute cash clearance for the cafe. So I advise the team member that came over of that but the new team member forgot her drink bottle and disappears to get it but she did not return. We have to return the Ipads and keys to the office anyway to the office so we thought she may be waiting for us there. I asked the team member I was with to give her a call. No answer so we proceed to the office to return the keys sign the Ipads back in and put them back on the charger. The new team member was there. So we walk to the staff lockers to punch out and retrieve our belongings before exiting the staff entrance exit. Whilst we were standing there, the new team member checks her phone and calls a missed number. The team member I was with that had called her is stand right in front of her answering the call. " I'm returning a missed call." the conversation went on a bit before she responds with " That was me ringing you!" You just had to be there it was two team members on a face to face call with a "Who is this?" expression. Very funny to watch as they were close enough to have a normal conversation with each other yet they were having a face to face conversation on their phones.
After a bag check we exit the staff entrance exit and walk back through the car park through the mall to the front of the mall where the bus stops are. We are joined by a relatively new team member from the Chanel concession. She saw the 3 of us in front of her and asked how to get to the bus stop so I said we are all going there so she can follow us. I introduced myself to her and so did the other team members, I had intended to catch the B Line with them however thought the last 280 bus from Warringah direct to Chatswood was at 7 pm so said bye to them until I asked another team member from the cosmetics department who was waiting for the 280 bus if she was travelling to chatswood and told me on Saturdays the last 280 bus to Chatswood was at 6 pm not 7 pm and you need to transfer onto a 144 at Forestway ( you do not want to get stuck at Forestway it is in the middle of nowhere) to continue onto Chatswood so i decided to run and rejoin the other team members to catch either the B Line bus or a Manly bus ( whichever one artived first) . I told them of my mistake - oh ya it is Saturday today ( you forget which day it is when you work at Myer because of the constant changes to shifts). So we continue to walk to the B line bus stop , one team member catches the B Line in the opposite direction to us so we say bye before heading up the lift to walk across the pedestrian overpass to the B Line stop across the road. A 199 Manly bus arrives and there is a queue of people waiting for the next B Line bus to arrive. I say bye to the 2 other team members and board the 199 bus to Manly to connect with the 144 bus home. I have no idea when the next 144 bus is due so just wait. There are quite a few people waiting for it so I assume that i haven't missed it. I wait about 15 minutes before the bus arrives which takes me directly home. Home before 8 pm. For dinner I could not be bothered cooking and did not want to eat takeaway again as I have been eating takeaway too much already this week so have a quick snack of whatever i could find and go to bed.
Anything that needs doing can wait until tomorrow or Monday.
Sunday 15th November 2020
Day off.
Gee I woke up early this morning even with my phone off, I turned it on to check the time and it was not even 6.30 am!
Lots of watching the Food channel and catch up on some YouTube channel.
Breakfast was a bowl of rolled oats , strawberries and blueberries with LSA ( that's not LSD if you misread my blog) which is a mixture of ground Linseed, Soy and almond for those readers who have never heard of it before. It is meant to be healthy as it is good "roughage" and full of Omega fatty acids. You can add it in baking or sprinkle some into your yoghart and fruit. Use it sparingly as it is very "fibrous". It is not a substitute for flour unless you are aiming for a very heavy dense brick cake with absolutely no rise or a tooth breaking cracker biscuit!
I finally opened a packet of the limited edition Tim Tams to taste. I haven't been very sucessful with purchasing limited or special edition Arnotts biscuits ( refer previous blogs) so far but this range of limited edition Tim Tams has been on the market for quite a while now still available at Coles and Woolworths so I selected the Murray River Salted Caramel Tim Tams and what did I think when I tasted my first one this morning. Not bad - it is milk chocolate and therefore a little sweet for me as I like plain dark chocolate Tim Tams but I could definitely taste the salt in the caramel flavouring. Something in Tim Tams really makes them addictive ( maybe it's the luring sweet caramel smell) but I had to stop after 4 today. Rating 8/10 at least there was no chemical after taste in this biscuit. Not my favourite biscuit but I can see it as a good Tim Tam Slam companion.
Today I baked a yellow kiwi fruit, mandarin & banana cake which is still cooling in the oven as well as a filo loaf full of a mixture of egg tasty cheese halomi cheese chicken mince shallots chilli fried shallots kale and English chard which I ate for lunch. Yum! Didn't get much else done except filing , updating my diary with work shifts.
End of another week.
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