Tuesday 1st March 2022
Myer 11.30 am - 5.30 pm service
I wake at 6 am and it is pouring with rain and slightly windy outside. I check my emails to see if the Nature Illuminated event has been cancelled again tonight due to bad weather. No email received yet. A Customer yesterday warned me the the rain is going to continue with a bad storm forecast for Wednesday. Last night it was still relatively dry with only a very brief and light isolated sprinkling of rain - hardly noticeable. I did not take out my remaining mini red rubbish bin last night deciding it can wait until next Tuesday's rubbish collection day to be put out as it is only 1/3 full. I don't want to risk having it stolen again as soon it is emptied on the kerb before receiving the new large red bin from the council which will be marked with the property's address on it. I am unsure how long this will take.
By the time I left home to go to work. It started to pour with rain and became windy as I was waiting to cross the road and get the next bus which was a 144 bus. I carry everything in my backpack and this is the first time I have pulled out my umbrella in years. I also have a rain jacket that I carry around but tend to use that more often. My umbrella is so old it is beginning to rust but is still working.
I get to work around 11 am and it is still raining.
If it rains this much today there is a big chance that the Nature Illuminated event tonight will be cancelled again. Yep I receive another email to advise that this event is cancelled tonight due to poor weather. I ask for a refund as I just can't keep rebooking this event when it is cancelled. Fever the booking company will not refund my ticket instead requesting me to rebook the event.
It was dry when I left work but poured on the Manly to Chatswood 144 bus going towards the Spit Bridge. It is 7 pm. I won't arrive home for another 30 minutes at least. I had to catch the scenic route 167 bus from Warringah to Manly as I missed the 5.40 pm 280 bus to Chatswood. There were no buses showing up after this although the hard copy timetable did and these buses never show up. So I had to walk to and across the pedestrian overpass and wait for the next Manly bus in another 10 minutes. At Manly it was still dry so I stopped off at GYG for a barramundi burrito with chimi sauce. I had a long wait for the next 144 bus so started eating it at the bus stop at Manly. The bus arrives about 10 minutes later .
It's funny how local news of major flooding on the Eastern coast of Australia and international news on the war between Russia and the Urkraine can overshadow the current COViD pandemic turned endemic around the world that is and has been the news for the past 2 years in a matter of 2 weeks into almost nothing. Yes there are still vaccine mandates in Australia and in several countries around the world and yes the booster shots are still being pushed in Australia but who cares anymore. New on tv does not even mention any daily COVID figures or the number of deaths anymore and why ? Everyone knows that the current vaccines are useless in protecting people against the current strain of COVID so why still push for boosters? Why isn't there any research and development happening into new vaccines to combat the current strain of Omicron and future variants of COVID?. To find any information on COVID you need to search the internet. Let's just all concentrate on all the current wild weather and war currently being experienced.
News headlines today are again dominated by the severe floods in SE QLD that has now hit Lismore with the worse flood waters ever. 8 lives have now been lost.
The war continues as Russia bombs the Ukraine. Peace talks with Putin have been unsuccessful in a cease fire.
A truck has plunged off a bridge in the US into icey water. The driver has managed to survive by climbing out of the truck and sitting on top of his truck waiting to be rescued.
There has been a fire in a factory in California.
The first drone delivery service is being trialled.
Wednesday 2nd March 2022
Day Off (not anymore!)
Myer 9.30 am - 3.30 pm kidswear ( last minute request yesterday by the new kidswear youth menswear mensshoes and toys department manager to work today but I said I could only work for 6 hours not all day).
It rained last night throughout the night and it is still wet this morning.
First thing this morning I paid my rent in advance for the next 2 weeks.
I leave for work a little after 7.30 am. It is wet but not pouring with rain but it's cool and windy. A 7.45 am 286 bus I flag down ignores my hand signals and drives straight pass. How rude!
The forecast for a rain bomb today was around noon and it was pretty accurate as it poured with rain all afternoon.
Did I have fun working in kidswear today. Yep but there were some quite times where I folded clothes and put unwanted pieces of clothing back and keeping the back counter clean. I did a till reconciliation at 2.30 pm which balanced and signed up 2 Myer ones today but forgot to scan the first one. There were no team members to remind me today to scan the barcode!
Rounding up of purchases for donations to the Northern Beaches women's shelter continue although I thought it ended at the end of February 22
There was a promotion on where if any 2 pieces of full priced kids clothing was purchased, the customer received a 25% discount however there was no information of what was included or excluded and when the promotion started. A customer spotted it and it was narrowed down to only 2 of the several pieces of kids clothing she purchased qualified for the discount however after calling the new youth menswear toys and kidswear manager to clarify, upon closer inspection she only had one piece of full priced kids clothing she purchased that qualified therefore she did not qualify for the discount in the end. She later found 2 other full priced pieces of kids clothing and I refunded the first piece and re entered all 3 pieces again with the 25% discount as promo not loaded.
The unvacvinated team member from Homewares caught out a customer that I served on 28th February trying to return a piece of kids clothing she claimed that I had entered incorrectly on a receipt she had for a refund. When the unvaccinated team member asked if she could take a photo of the receipt the customer "retracted" looking as if she had been caught out. The piece of clothing was a ginham pinafore with a dausy on the front if it - wait on I don't remember ever selling one to her and I don't think Myer even stocks it at the Warringah store, I certainly haven't seen it before when the unvaccinated team member pointed out to me what had happened.
There were a few customers I thought could have been potential shop lifters - a father with his son trying on a van huesen suit and the lady with a baby and toddler in a pram placing a large set of batteries into her pram and vaguely pushing it up and down the toy and baby sections. Both were innocent eventually paying for their purchases.
I got to know the shoes and sox concession team member today. She is just lovely. We chatted about what it's like working at Myer and how old the technology is and how disorganised Myer Warringah is. She still does not have access to the POS at Myer therefore has to pass all her shoe sales over to me to process for the customer. We also chatted about all the high profile celebrities I worked for and general stuff. She needed to notify a manager at MYER about how there will not be anyone from shoes and sox here tomorrow which is a bit of a problem as it is late night shopping. She thought I would be working in kidswear tomorrow but nope I'm back in Homewares tomorrow and Friday.
I hope by working in kidswear today I have not caused any conflict between managers. I hope I am now on the good side of this new youth menswear toys and kidswear manager. We all thought she was being a bit rude to us and something was said about it. There was silence after this - maybe she had been spoken to about her attitude towards staff and gradually she was no longer rude to me, she even joined in a joke I was having with a customer today. A customer purchased this cute koala cushion today for her daughter's new obsession with them. When I asked her if she was a Myer One member she said yes and I scan her card, When I did , her surname flashed up on the screen and I misread it and thought it read "Gumnut" telling the customer who said "that's a good one maybe that should be my new name" so this new manager adds "and your address is on Eucalyptus Street!" We all have a chuckle.
The assistant manager and manager from the ground floor were training some new employees today.
By 3.30 pm when I finished work it was still pouring with rain. It sounded like a waterfall inside Myer today. I managed to make the waiting 280 bus to Chatswood thank goodness as it was far too wet to walk across the road for a Bline connecting onto a 144 bus or a bus to Manly connecting with a 144 bus. At least a direct bus to Chatswood which takes about an hour kept me dry whilst it continued to pour with rain the entire bus trip. Arriving at chatswood I did not stop off for a snack. it was straight home . It not only continued to pour with rain but it became cold and windy. I had to pull on my wind and rain jacket whilst waiting for the next 144 bus home along with several other people. The next bus did not arrive for another 10 - 15 minutes.
On the 280 bus towards Chatswood, I get a phone call from a private number. I do not answer private numbers or any numbers that I don't recognise as well as never reading or opening any text messages especially with links attached or parcels waiting for collection. If an organisation really wants to contact me they will leave a message where I will call them back asap. This private number was from Lane Cove Council in regards to my stolen large red bin to be replaced. Bins are not labelled with the address they belong to as I was previously advised - you have to mark them yourself. This person that called me was a contrast to the rude lady I spoke to previously in regards to this bin issue. Should arrive Friday I was advised today. Still can't work out why I received a confirmation email attention to me and someone i don't even know.
A dash across the road home and I take my shoes off before heading upstairs to my apartment. I put the kettle on and watch tv after washing my hands and my mask. I had some chicken and mushroom soup which I had made previously that I heated up. I didn't feel like eating just tired needing a nap. I watch the news and 8 Out of 10 Does Countdown as well as watch some YouTube channels and deal with some other issues I have.
I send an email of complaint to APM in regards to a rude lady that kept ringing me whilst I was at work harassing me about why I am still receiving job seeker payments when I am working 20 hours a week explaining that I am still a casual and that I am at work at the moment and it is inappropriate to call me hanging up on her and advising her that I will call her back next Monday.
I have not rebooked Nature Illuminated yet.
10.30 pm and the rain has eased even stopped however there is still the sloshing sound of MV passing by. Nope the wind is howling and the rain continues to fall outside
News headlines today include:
The floods and severe weather is moving South after Lismore flooded, the floods have already reached Ballina flooding the hospital and Oxford Falls in the Northern Beaches and Alexandria in Sydney's East. Southern Sydney is also being monitored. Warragamba Dam is at 99% capacity and is about to spill. The rising Georges River South of Sydney is of concern. 11 deaths have been flood related 8 in QLD 3 in NSW including an 80 year old woman found deceased in her flooded home.
The war continues in Ukraine and a 70 km convoy is heading towards the city of Kyiv. The communication tower has been bombed.
The PM of Australia has tested COVID positive after meetings with other ministers and is in isolation after getting a fever and seen coughing
The Queen is recovering from COVID and addressing leaders virtually.
Thursday 3rd March 2022
Myer 9.30 am - 3.30 pm service
5 am and after a period during the morning when it stopped raining, the down pour has returned at around 5.30 am again. It is really dark outside. MV are swishing loudly past as I watch the news.
It always starts to pour with rain as soon as I leave for work to catch the bus across the road or as soon as the bus arrives at Chatswood.
A soon as I arrive a work today I haven't even started yet and already I am yelled at by the customer service manager.
At the huddle she asks if I remembered to grab the iPads . Of course I did. I didn't grab them previously before the huddle because they were not returned the previous night. I made sure I grabbed all 4 of them and took them straight up to the Homewares department and leaving them on the back counter before the huddle.
I was with another team member starting at 9.30 am and look in the diary which said to see the customer service manager about how to fix the labels on the cutlery boxes without damaging the packaging ( there has been price increases and legally you can't just stick a new price label over an old one) so I knew I had to get a scanner gun and labeller if I am to do price increases. I advise the other team member and asked if it would be ok for me to go and get a scanner gun and label machine whilst she looked after the customers and stayed at the counter at the same time finding the customer service manager. I advised the team member that I would be gone for about 15 minutes ( probably more if I have a problem pairing any scanner guns to the label machines). I just arrive in the office and try to grab a working wireless scanner gun and label machine and there are none , all were being used by other team members for " markdowns" so search for a wired one of each. I had just asked the safety officer in the office for assistance ( she is not just the safety officer she is more like an all rounder) when I was POUNCED ON AND YELLED AT BY THE CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGER FOR LEAVING THE FLOOR. Yes I was yelled at severely for no reason at all, I left the floor to find her and get a scanner gun and label machine. I was doing the right thing, I had only been in the office for less then 5 minutes to grab a scanner gun and label machine and look for her and she told me I had just wasted 20 minutes and to get the safety officer to set up the scanner gun and label machine and when it was working to bring it up to me. I won't go into all the other details she yelled at me for which were not warranted. I had not done anything wrong and this is the real reason I want a transfer. I'm sick of her rudeness and disrespectfulness, I'm sick of her mood swings , her interruptions whilst I'm with customers yelling out to me and putting up with her taking things out on me when she is under stress or something has happened in her life that has gone wrong. Time cost and distance is not the only reason for requesting a transfer - this is the real reason I am applying for a transfer to another store. I've put up with this verbal abuse for far too long - since the beginning.
So after she finished yelling at me she asked me to take photos of 2 pages of markdowns I had to complete. Yes instead of printing them out she asked me to use my phone to take photos of her report citing that the manager did not want her to print them out. BULLSHIT EVERY PRICE INCREASE REPORTS HAVE BEEN PRINTED OUT AND PUT IN THE DIARY ON THE BACK COUNTER TO ACTION. When asked if she could select pages of the mark down report to be printed she said no. BULLSHIT, either she does not know how to do it or the computer system is so old it does not have that option. Even the oldest computer systems I've used has that option!
lack of working scanner guns forced to use manual ones that don't print
markdowns towels quilts mattress protectors moving of stock
2 shifts for new manger next week in her department . Homewares customer service manager not happy as a text message via the what's app group chat notified everyone of roster changes due to a team member taking leave for next 2 weeks starting Sat. Tiff luck she only rostered me on for 1.5 shifts so you snooze you loose although I did not expect new manager to give me that many shifts - nice of her.
I mentioned it to customer service manager who I think is a little unhappy about it a nd wished the new manager had asked her first but she had already done her roster before the above incident happened so tuff luck to the customer service manager. she should be giving me 2 weeks notice for rosters in adv not no notice.
News headlines this morning are dominated with the wild weather down the East coast of Australia continuing. Flooding has reached Windsor and several low laying suburbs in Western Sydney. The Georges River continues to rise. Warragamba Dam is spilling over with billions of litres of water daily. 4 elderly residents have now died in NSW. Schools shut and 20 suburbs in sydney's Northwest Western and Southwest have been ordered to evacuate. Even The Cooks River is being watched near the suburb of Tempe.
QLD has been hit by a second round of wild weather as the clean up continues. Food supplies are starting to return to supermarkets but prices will rise. Large hail stones are forcasted to fall.
Other news headlines include the war in Ukraine continues as Russia attacks the Ukraine for the 7th day wit heavy shelling. Civilians are being attacked and not just the military.
The Russian athletes have been allowed to compete in the Paralympic Winter Olympics games under the paralympic flag but will not be included in the medal tally. The Russians have been banned from competing at most future sporting events and future events to be hosted by Russia have been relocated to other countries. The decision to allow Russia to compete in the Winter paralympics was only due to the timing proximity of the games after the Winter Olympics.
WA opens its borders to international travellers after 2 years of shut down. triple vaccinated travellers with permits were allowed back to WA reuniting families as of midnight last night.
Drone deliveries of upto 1 kg of groceries from Coles are being trialled but only in Canberra. Delivery is free and unlimited to test out how possible problems such as bad weather conditions and drone congestion can be resolved. If the service becomes popular it will be expanded to other areas.
Novavax has now been approved to be used as a booster where it has only been used for first and second vaccinations previously.
Friday 4th March 2022
Myer 9.30 am - 5.30 pm service Homewares ( original shift 9.30 am - 5 pm on UKG 9th February 22, shift cancelled 17th February 22 on UKG, shift put back on UKG 23rd February 22 with amended finishing time if 5.30 pm. No changes to shift as of 27th March 22)
I've been awake since 2 am doing life admin stuff.
Lodging my Centrelink fortnightly income reporting. Completing my Jobactive 5 job searches a month reporting online. Completing a pre AGM survey received. I make and pack my lunch for work today.The re placement red bin was delivered outside and placed next to the 4 other bins in the dead of the morning when it was pitch black. I must remember to put my rubbish in it so it does not get stolen again. After a short period of little to almost rain during the night it continues to rain with the swish of MV passing by . It is still outside but daek and wet. It will only remain darker longer in the morning as Winter approaches.
It's 6.30 am and I have to get up to get ready for a full day at work but don't want to.
If the red bin was replaced early this morning, by 7.30 am when I looked out the window, it's time to been stolen again. I have sent an inquiry in regards to this to Lane Cove Council.
8 am and it's not raining and the sun is even try in to peep out. I take my rubbish out on my way to the bus stop. My mini red rubbish bin is now full.
Checked my UKG and I am no longer working on Wednesday 9th March 22.
In and games at work today. I was left alone at the Homewares counter most of today to serve whilst everyone else had other duties to do like markdowns which should have been finished by yesterday. I questioned yesterday why we were doing markdowns which were not even effective until I think 6th or 9th March apparently the store manager wanted it done.
I managed to do a reconciliation of the 2 tills at around 2.30 pm. There were a lot of complicated customer requests unhelped by marked down clearance stock that was not appearing on the register therefore if an old sale was on appearing on the POS and a customer has seen it online on the Myer website further discounted or a new sale ticket appeared, I had to price override each item purchased and manually apply the new sale price or new discount offered to each item. I had quite a few lkarge purchases I had to adjust on these.
Still pressure to sign up Myer Ones, asking and charging customers for plastic bags and asking for donations for the flood affected ( I still am unconvinced that all these purchase round ups are going directly to the charities Myer advises they are donating to). I received more then welcome donations from customers but no Myer One sign ups today. People are just not interested and no care plans ( described as bullying by a team leader) . I have had quite a few customers who are actually Myer One members that I just could not find initially but when I went to sign them up they are actually members already some with 2 or more cards with different membership numbers and contact details! You can't ask people to sign up if tgey don't live in Australia - quite a few customers are visitors from overseas.
So at 3 pm the Super Weekend Sale tickets had to put up and it was all hands on deck. I just grab whatever backing boards and signs I can and put them up. There was a query with one sign everyone was waiting on which was the Up to 50% on Manchester - so vague. It's usually quite clear if something is 50% off it usually says so. A customer actually asked me what manchester is. I said that it's an English term used for bedding linen etc. She said no it isn't as she is from the UK and it is definitely not called manchester and she had neve heard of the term used before. Yep Manchester is a city in the UK and a soccer team.
I managed to sell 2 incomplete blue esperance dinner sets to a guy at a discounted price today and an incomplete made up to a compplete eucalyptus esperence dinner set to a lady today. I think the customer service manager was happy that I managed to get rid of all 3 sets off the floor. I had to interrupt her during her break to ask how much I should sell incomplete dinner sets for. 2 x Happy customers for today who managed to get what they needed.
The one customer I was not happy with was the customer who was in a hurry and really rude wwhen a clearance kidswear item did not scan up at the current clearance price. I said it would be quicker if she took it to the kidswear counter but she kept refusing so in the end she wasted my to.e and her time as I had to call the team member who was in kidswear to come over and assist me anyway.
It suddenly became quite late in the afternoon so I decided to take the initiative to pull out and ask a team member who was doing nothing to help me put up the signs in the triple stands which I could not quite reach. I was told off as I was not putying the signs in correctly in the single stands. I was trying to bend and slip the pink backing boards into the frames when I should have slid tgem in from the top. I had to tip them all on the sides to slide tgem in because I can't quite reach the tops of them. The customer service manager yelled at me again - nothing new there! She asked me to replace the black backing board on the salt and pepper single stand with a pink backing board which I did but yelled at me when I had trouble trying to place the signs in the triple stands yelling at me to get one of the guys to help me.
How dare the customer service ask me what time I am in tomorrow - I'm not in tomorrow. She gives me 1.5 shifts only next week , deliberately schedules the care plan training session for Wednesday afternoon when I'm not rostered on, yells at me constantly and is a little annoyed that the new manager did not ask her if it was ok for me to work for her department on the days I am not rostered on first ( funny that my Wednesday shift in kidswear suddenly disappeared straight after this incident). She all makes a sly and quite rude comment after I made a comment about working the following Saturday but not for her department emphasising it does matter whose department it is and that I'm still working on the floor.
I don't know what's going on but it has to stop. I am being psychologically abused at work. It is just unacceptable. I have mentioned being yelled at on several ocassions to the electricals team leader.
I was trying to leave on time today so I don't miss the 5.40 pm bus. It did not matter as the bus did not show up at 5.40 pm and I had to walk across the road and catch the Manly bus and wait for a connecting 144 bus home.
Why does it always start to pour with rain when I get off the bus to cross the road home? It happened again. Totally dry and humid most of the afternoon with the sun out leaving work at 5.30 pm however by 7.30 pm it poured with rain again for about 5 - 10 minutes before becoming dry again overnight. ( yes I worked until just after 5.30 pm and did not arrive home until around 7.30 pm missing the evening news as the 5.40 pm 280 bus did not show up again and I had to walk across the road wait for the next Manly bus missing a connecting 144 bus at manly and having to wait at least 15 minutes for the next bus. There was no way I was catching the next B line as there was a very long queue and if it rains heavily I would be waiting in the rain for upto 15 minutes or more for a connecting 144 bus at Neutral Bay Junction towards Chatswood)
News headlines today include:
The floods continues around NSW and QLD residents have been asked to stay at home due to a srcond round of thunder storms as the Brisbane River is still at flood levels but seems to be receding.
The Winter Paralympics opening ceremony is tonight with a last minute turn around decision to ban Russians and Belarusians from competing in the games due to the escalating tensions from Russian in the Ukraine
The Russian Embassy has been evacuated due to a suspicious package of white powder found outside it.
Neighbours has officially been axed due to Fremantle not being able to secure a deal with a UK network. Last episodes of this long running Australian soap opera which help launch the careers of for example Kylie Minogue, Delta Goodrem will air in September 2022.
Mask masndates no longer QLD from 6 pm tonight. 6 COVID related deaths were recorded.
Meanwhile entire classes in state schools in SA have undergone PCR testing as cases of COVID continue to rise and 80% of Catholic schools having COVID infections.
Schools are all closed for all kids in QLD today except for essential workers not due to COVID but the floods.
The floor of the Enmore theatre in Sydney collapsed during a comeback concert and had to be cancelled for the safety of patrons attending.
The Australian dollar is now above 73 cents per us dollar but it it is not as night as the Canadian dollar which is around 77 cents per us dollar.
Saturday 5th March 2022
Day Off ( It's Myer's Super Weekend & I'm not working !)
Happy Mardi Gras!
I slept in this morning until at least 8 am. I am so tired. Still no sight of the replacement big red wheelie bin. No response from Lane Cove Council either from my email.
I spend my morning paying bills. It is dark and grey outside but so far the weather has held up with almost no rain and the road has almost dried up. It is now 1.30 pm and I haven't gone out yet. I went back to sleep for a while after watching the news. Breakfast and lunch was whatever leftovers I had in the fridge - fruit salad ( I finished the last one I made and made another one) and that yummy vegetarian tart I made a few days ago. I must make that one again!
This weekend I need to do laundry , return my bottle, grocery shop and take my rubbish out.
I need to keep an eye on my shifts at Myer which keep changing every single day.
Most of today was spent trying to rebook the Nature Illuminated event for a 3rd time after it was cancelled twice due to wet weather. I requested a refund but was only offered a VIP voucher. I tried to apply this voucher several times but it won't even rebook the event for a later date for the same price asking me for another booking fee instead of a zero balance. It's exactly the same event and price as the original yet it keeps asking me for the $.80 booking fee. The other thing I saw was my card details were stored on the app and it has no option to delete it or ask me if I wanted to store the payment details. Anyone can back I to the Fever app. I could easily with some calculations to create a valid card number and enter it. Yes I did try! So with these problems and isdues I deleted the Fever app and sent Fever a few emails of complaint. Instead of solving my problem they sent me a customer satisfaction survey which I filled out and returned with a bad feedback score. I still have not rebooked the event and it ends on 27th March 22. I can't book for the last session as it leaves me no time to rebook if it is cancelled and I can't keep rebooking as I don't know what days I have off from work more then a few days in advance. I wrote a note on Facebook advising how there are no refunds given just a refund voucher and how Fever events should be struck off the list of places and events dine and discover voucher can be redeemed. Wasted one of my discover vouchers!
I ventured out in the afternoon to first return my 6 bottles for recycling. Then onto get some money out for laundry. Unfortunately the St George ATM at Chatswood Westfield swallowed my primary debit card so I tried to call HSBC about what to do about it. I was on hold for over 15 minutes so hung up. I would hate to be in a real emergency situation where I had lost my card or had it stolen. I then tried to log onto the HSBC website to send a message to them via their old messaging system but my internet service was down. I could have used the free WiFi but it is just unsecured to use it for banking purposes. I finally was able to send a message to them. So concerned about my card, I went into Aldi but did not purchase anything instead transferred most of my funds over to my spare debt card until I can get a replacement card.
Onto Coles where there was not much left on the shelves. I managed to just purchase a small pocket of spinach, a packet of non lactose cheese and a tub of mascapone cheese. Everything was just unavailable and extremely expensive so I was hoping I could find what I needed at my final stop at Woolworths Metro. Here I purchased a bottle of green juice, some chicken mince on special and cheaper then the turkey mince which is always cheaper, some seaweed snacks ( it was a toss up between that and chive and sour cream rice crackers) , a packet of dark cooking chocolate buds ( for my baking), and a treat for dinner of a hot bowl of Japanese style chicken vegetables with rice . I could have purchased a box of potato wedges, a sausage roll, a box of chicken nuggets or buffalo wings but decided to take the healthiest option available. Photo below.
I arrive home and it is late ,wash my hands, unpack my groceries and I eat my dinner then try to cut and paste my blog but give up after several unsucessful attempts when the select all function fails to cut and paste large sections highlighted. I watch repeats on the food channel as there is nothing on tv. I wash my mask separate my laundry ready to be washed. Still no sign of my red rubbish bin and people are still dumping their bags of rubbish in the car park outside.
After the rain stopping , the ground is wet and it rained again overnight. I have a restless sleep worrying about everything that has and is happening today everyday in my life and around the world. When will everything stop going wrong?
Breaking news this morning .
Cricket legend Shane Warne dies from a suspected heart attack. He was only 52. Everyone around the world is in disbelief
Russia targets a nuclear power plant in the Ukraine fortunately missing the power plant which could have caused major nuclear disaster in Europe.
The deaths from flooding has risen from 4 to 5.
Queensland is cleaning up from The floods.
There has been a terrorist attack in Pakistan 2 hours from where the Australian cricket team is playing. NZ cricket teams in the past have abandoned playing cricket in Pakistan due to these terrorist threats.
The Winter Paralympic offically start today with the men's downhill skiing.
The Mardi Gras parade went ahead with 6000 people marching at the Sydney Cricket Ground but it seem a low key event overshadowed by everything else that is happening at the moment but was undeterred by the rain. ( I almost forgot about it this year as there was not much news about it)
Sunday 6th March 2022
Day Off
After waking mid night for a snack I go back to sleep. I wake around 6.30 am and it is dark and absolutely pouring with rain. By 7.30 am it is still raining and dark. It is in the mid 20 degrees C but it does not feel that cold. Visibility outside is poor. When will the rain stop? I guess Nature Illuminated will be cancelled yet again tonight. More storms are forcasted for NSW and QLD.
I have no plans today but to take my rubbish out to my full mini red bin ( I am still scared to take it out tomorrow night for rubbish collection day in case it is stolen again) and do my laundry.
So glad I didn't go out today. 3 pm and A huge rain bomb dropped. It's pouring with rain and the wind is wild outside, the rain is bucketing down at an angle!
The rain finally stops it starts again around 6 pm. I think the worst of it has passed.
7 pm I'm watching the food channel and waiting for my pasta bake to cook. I just used up leftover egg plant dry pasta pizza sauce dehydrated peas and cheese slices making a white sauce to pour over the pasta bake created. The white sauce is just not water wholemeal flour fried shallots Italian herbs fresh rosemary vegetable stock & milk mixed together ie whatever I could find.
I'm trying again and have rebooked Nature Illuminated for a third time for Thursday 17th March 2022 at 8 pm .
As I watch the news on the Shane Warne's life and death, the relentless heavy downpour of rain continues to fall outside. I am lucky that the apoartment building is far away from the footpath and street kerb. The footpath is flooded outside but the drainage on the main road outside is working efficiently as long as it is not clogged up with debris like leaves or rubbish such as water bottles cans coffee cups plastic bags masks etc often dumped in the area next to the apartment block if not in the apartment block's carpark. Photo below
News headlines today include:
Today the news is dominated by the rain storms and flooding in QLD and NSW and the question of when it will end.
The war in Ukraine continues
Shane Warne is confirmed to have died from a heart attack whilst holidaying in Thailand and that he had been seeing a doctor prior for asthma and chest pains. Efforts are now on the way to bring his body back to Australia as tributes continue to flow in with people leaving meat pies and cigarettes . Everyone is still in shock over his death. The Great Southern stand at MCG will be renamed after him announced yesterday aand for 2 days cricket players have been wearing black arm bands. Thai police insist on an autopsy whereas Australian DEFAT officials are working with Thai officals to transport his body home as soon as possible. A state funeral has been offered by Australian government and Cricket Australia to the Warne family.
It is clean Up Australia Day with loads of rubbish washing in onto beaches as the rain continues. Volunteers are all out and about. It's not just general rubbish washing up but the massive pandemic littler such as gloves, single use masks and antibacterial wipes.
Mosquito borne viruses are on the rise due to the recent rising water and floods combined with the humid and hot weather. A worrying virus Japanese encephalitis has been detected in regional areas of QLD and NSW from mosquito bites where people are in contact with pigs .
A tree has fallen and I injured 4 people at Flemington Racecourse.
Canberra has taken out top spot in Wordle.
SA experienced a magnitude 3 earthquake near Mt Barker . No reports of damage or tsunami warnings.
Monday 7th March 2022
Day Off
The large red wheelie bin was replaced this morning after I rang and followed up with the local council
I received a whats app group chat text message asking who will be attending tomorrow's department/Care plan (whatever it is because it was so vague in previous text messages) meeting at 5.30 pm. I responded with a thumbs up emoji. I don't really want to go as It's going to be an unpaid waste of time meeting and if it been held as originally planned I definitely would not have gone to it as I was rostered on to work then taken off therefore it would be unfair for me to travel 2 hours each way out of hours and spend $15 travelling just to attend an unpaid 1 hour meeting and I would have to get there earlier due to the store closing at 5.30 pm meaning I would be locked out if I was running late. Most of the casuals could not attend anyway on Wednesday due to university and nobody wanted to attend before work when asked.
The Centrelink approved employment service provider APM rang to harrass me again to update my job plan, the call did not even come from Chatswood but Hornsby. I advised them again that I could not atrend today's 11 am appointment due to work as I had previously advised them of after they rang and harassed me twice whilst I was at work.
I put my bag of rubbish out putting it into the large red wheelie bin I just received to deter theft & stuck a note on my window warning trespassers that CCTV is watching you ( they probably can't see or read it but it's quite clear on the sign I stuck to the lid of the small red wheelie bin)
I managed to make the cheap lunchtime skate session at Macquarie ice skating rink between 11.30 am - 1 pm today. There was a photo shoot session on and skaters asked if they wanted to join in a group photo with Australian figure skater Brendan Kerry who has just returned from the Beijing Winter Olympics - nah no thanks his mother Monica used to be one of my sister's figure skating teachers in the past when we both went ice skating. I don't think anyone at the session wanted to participate or didn't know who Brendan Kerry was , recreational and regular figure skaters had to be rounded up to join in. A photographer was taking professional photos of Brendan doing spins and jumps.
After my skate it was grocery shopping at Macquarie centre starting tbis time at Woolworths followed by Aldi and finally Coles. Due to supplier chain issues shelves of toilet paper and tissues were still empty. I purchased a few additional grocery items not on my shopping list. Groceries have definitely gone up in price. I thought I was not going to be able to afford them but was saved by my rental supplement received into my account today.
I purchased another new confectionery oroduct today .I mentioned hoiw every man and his dog was making jelly lollies previously with a collaboration between Darrell Lea and Lifesavers - Cadbury also has a range collabrating with Pascal and the below product was another new one in their range. I liked their chewy rasberry jellies coated in chocolate but this one below is a real winner.
I prepare dinner and lunch for tomorrow it will be a long day! Dinner is baked fish roe and calamari rings. I haven't had this for a very long time as there is no goid fish longer near where I live. There is a small one in Chatswood but it is new and I Don't know how good it is. The one that used to be in Chatswood that may not even exist anymore was awful t therefore my only option was prepackaged seafood from Aldi Coles and Woolworths and mainly salmon as it was readily available. Recently I have been buying barramundi when it is available at Coles and Woolworths. I wish I wasn't allergic to shellfish as prawns are also available in supermarkets.
I am so glad I went straight home after my grocery shopping today instead of hanging around Chatswood to go to Myer and get my hair cut.
School was out and Chatswood was buzzing with students and parents. Most of whom are going to extra curricular after school activities, shopping with their parents or just hanging with friends to get an afternoon snack of junk food or bubble tea of some sort. I used to love getting a bubble tea but stopped drinking them once I found out what was in some of them.
I arrived home around 4.30 pm ( I had to go back down the esculator to Zap Variety to purchase a thick Black permanent marker) .
It was dry all day today and as soon as I arrived home I marked the 2 red 1 yellow and 1 blue wheelie bins but not the green one as there are 2 and who cares if this green bin is stolen . I leave the new large red wheelie bin in the carpatk but put the small red wheelie bin out for rubbish collection day tomorrow.
I go upstairs wash my hands, put my groceries away and put my laundry in the washing machine. I watch The Chaser and whilst I was watching it , it started to pour with rain again and there was even a flash of thunder and lightening. 6 pm and it's still raining hard outside. The wind is blowing - so glad I made the decision to put the bin out earlier. The forecast for another downpour for today was very accurate.
I go downstairs and put the laundry into the dryer after watching the news and leave it in the dryer overnight. It will stop automatically after I set the drying time ( no it does not run all night whenever I leave it overnight) I watch 8 Out of 20 Does Countdown catch up on my blog and pack my bag for tomorrow before going to sleep. My right ear is playing up again and is blocked and my eyes are itchy. My skin is really itchy. My allergies in general have been and are bad in general due to all the rain.
Before going to sleep I check UKG to ensure my roster has not changed. Yep it has another shift has been added to Friday which wasn't there before and my finishing time has changed for Saturday.
Another text message from the Homewares team leader this afternoon on the What's app team group chat with a request from the operations manager if anyone starting at 9.30 am could start earlier at 8.30 am to do markdowns. Absolutely no way from me. If you can't organise yourself why should any team member offer to help out. Only one team member responded with how they can't work tomorrow as they have uni and they did not even respond to whether they would be attending the department or care care plan meeting at 5.30 pm tonight.
News headlines this morning the same as previous day.
The Australian government Victorian State government and embassy ofgicals ate all working with Thai offical officals and police to bring Shane Wayne's body back to Australia after his sudden death. Thai police insist on and autopsy which ruled out any form of foul play no drugs or alcohol have been found in his villa where he was staying . Two airlines have offered to courier his body back to Australia and hos family have accepted a state funeral. The venue was being decided and will be a ticketed event to allow as many cricket fans as possible to pay their last respects. Tributes of meat pies , smokes etc continue to pour in. There was even a have meat pie for Warnie campaign.
There was more rain storms and flooding forecasted today. Round 2 of flooding and residents have been told to evacuate in the Hawksbury River region from North Richmond to Wisemans Ferry. Landslides nearly wiped out homes in the Blue Mountains. There is now looting in Lismore. Livestock has had to be moved to higher ground. There has been a COVID outbreak in the Northern Rivers region of NSW.
The war in Ukraine continues.
There were 5 deaths in NSW from COVID which has become minor news.
There was a major car accident on the Harbour Bridge at 7am this morning where a speeding stolen car exploded into flames shortly after hitting another car. The bridge was closed in all directions causing delays and chaos in the North South and Inner West. No way in or out. Cars banked up in all directions in all lanes for kms. The lanes did not reopen until after 10 am. ( so glad I didn't have to work today as I would have been very late for work for sure)
The queen is staying at Windsor castle and will be working remotely from there .
The Winter Paralympics continue and Australia wins It's first medal. A bronze in the men's snowboard cross was won by Ben Tudhope in his 3rd Winter paralympics.
There were 8782 COVID cases in NSW and 5 deaths.
Tuesday 8th March 2022
I think it's dry outside. I do not want to wake up as it is so dark after 6 am this morning.
By 7.30 am It's absolutely pouring with rain. I got on the first bus that arrived but was completely drenched from the cars driving past who have no consideration for anyone walking past or waiting for a bus at bus stops. To make things worse I've lost my Opal card so have to use my debit card until I get to Warringah Mall and recharge my other opal card. My black raincoat which is meant to be waterproof has failed me. It is soaked.
I had to change out of my wet clothes into my set of spare black clothes I had in my bag as soon as I arrived at work as I was just soaked. I missed the huddle this morning and the customer service manager asked where I was. I said that I was there but hiding. I lied. I was in the bathroom changing out of my wet clothes. 9 hours ( including the 1 hour meeting we were suppose to have after work - later cancelled today again) working in wet clothes would be unbearable. The outfit is not as nice as what I was wearing to work but was warm dry and presentable. I did run into H & M before work this morning to see if I could purchase a cheap outfit but decided that what I had in my bag was adequate.
After changing out of my wet clothes there was stuff on the back counter to do with notes on them but not from the customer service manager from the team leader. A pile of blue promotional tickets were to put up, a suspected theft of an empty silk pillow case box was to be report on the POS, then there was a stack of clearance plates to mark down and other bits and pieces that popped up such as broken and chipped plates to suspend to be written off. I go to the office when I get a chance between customers to grab a markdown gun. This time I actually get a wireless one that works with a printer! I had to ask the MW rep though how to adjust the label machine guide as someone had tightened the width of it so no rolls of labels would fit. The label machine is so old the adjustment wheel for the guides were underneath the machine. Finally I managed to get the scanner gun and label machine to work and I mark down plates and anything else that needs to be marked down ( most of the store is on clearance - there is hardly anything that is not heavily discounted or on clearance) There are so many sales on - the sales ticketing is so confusing. The ongoing blue promotional tickets on selected items were to be put up to replace the black ones. All the Tuesday Home Sweet Home Tuesday one day sale signs had to be pulled down along with any discounted sale signs ending on 8th March 2022 and to think Myer just had a Super Weekend sale where all the tickets had to be pulled down on Sunday afternoon- thank goodness I don't work on Sunday's! Now another new batch of Myer Preview sales tickets have to be put up of offers exclusive to Myer One Members for Wednesday 9th March 2022 which is another 1 Day offer where 50% discount on most items already previously or currently discounted have to be put up. Everyone was printing additional tickets and putying them up. I just went around and pulled all the ones that had expired down . I knew what I was doing but no-one else seemed to. Everyone was putting up and printing additional sales tickets as not enough were printed. So many misding sales tickets as well.
I was on my own serving customers. I was not given any tasks to do and there was nothing to do in the diary.
I had to ask what I could help with. Stupid mindless jobs like bring up some fixtures from the old online room which was flooding and the ones I needed were jammed in between other fixtures and fittings.
It continued to pour with rain during the morning but there was a steady flow of customers coming in making purchases.
I signed up 1 Myer One however again forgot to scan the barcode therefore scanned it straight after the sale. Receipt printed out and placed on back counter. Someone can add it to the sheet.
By 2 pm ( when I had lunch the customers had dropped off as everyone started to be more concerned about the floods and getting home. Most team members and reps were concerned they would be stranded here overnight including myself . Public transport had ceased to run, the Roseville Bridge was shut completely after it flooded and cars were stranded on it. There was no news on whether the Spit Bridge was still open to traffic but there were rumours that too was closed off to traffic. Pittwater Road was flooded in areas and Manly was also flooded. I received photos of The Roseville Bridge and an emergency evacuation alert via text around Manly Dam that also was over spilling. The wWakehurst Parkway and Narrabeen Largoon were also flooded and closed. There would be no way any buses would be able to run between Mona Vale to Wynyard in both directions or between Warringah and Manly or Manly and Chatswood or Warringah and Chatswoid in all directions.
The MW rep decided to leave earlier and the Sheridan rep and I were discussing how we might be stranded in Warringah overnight and have to sleep in the Mall. She said if this happens she would be heading to the Sheridan store and sleeping in their beds. There is no way I could sleep in the beds at Myer . If I did I was told that I would not be able to go to the toilet for 12 hours or move in the beds as movement would cause the alarm to go off and to sleep in the bed closest to the door as I would get some light at least from the mall. I was a bit concerned that I would have to stock up on snacks from Woolworths or Coles and sleep on the disgusting lounges in the mall with no change of clothes a pillow or blankets ( no I'm not buying anything from Myer!) .
Amongst the chaos of printing missing tickets, putting up tickets and no customers but getting a call at 5.29 pm as the store is about to close from the Yukka plant woman ( I'm confused there was nothing on hold for her in the reserves and a team member advised me that she wanted the plants weeks ago but was yold that they could not be held for her for a week so I posted a text on the whats app group chat for someone to ring her tomorrow. She wanted to speak to the manager to served her but could not tell me who it was and there was a confusion of who actually served her when I asked around and the story behind it therefore told the Yukka plant customer tgat someone will call her back tomorrow as the store was about to close and she had put me on hold therefore I had to hang up on her)
I was lucky that one of the guys from the electicals department offered me a lift to Chatswood eveenthough he lived in East Lindfield. That was nice of him but I didn't really want to put him out. In the end as I rushed to put the scanner guns and label printers awsy, I saw my bus buddy team member from ladies shoes downstairs and would catch the 280 bus with her if she was catching the bus but she also was offered a lift to Chatswoid by a concession team member who lives in Dee Why. She asked this concession team member if she had a spare seat in her car. She did so I advised the guy from electricals that I was getting a lift with the concessions team member ( Veronika Maine) to Chatswood as they were going that way. She was so nice and I don't even know her. Difficult to believe that both she and my bus buddy team member have only been with Myer for 1.5 months! As we punched out , it was pouring with rain and this concession team member suggested we wait at the entrance while she got her car. It took her a while and my bus buddy team member was wondering why it was taking her so long. She was probably parked in staff parking. I didn't mind waiting as at least I knew I would get home safely. I had been telling team members all day that my mini bin I had put out for rubbish collection may not be outside on the kerb anymore due to the rain but down the street somewhere but when I got home it was still on the kerb lid off and half full of water as well as someone dumping their rubbish in it. How rude! Whilst waiting for our lift the customer service manager and the electricals department team member who offered to give me a lift along with another concession team member were standing in the entrance puffing away at their cigarettes. I pushed the electrical guy awsy as it was just rude to smoke in the staff entrance exit whilst team members are waiting or exiting . The team leader of electricals was waiting for the ex team leader of kidswear who has now joined Homewares as the customer service manager's 2IC - I found out tgat the two were actually dating from another team member who let the cat out of the bag and told me not to say anything describing them as a "cute couple" - I Don't really agree. So that's how 2 electrical team members caught COVID - these 2 went to a dinner together with 2 others on the Manly bus on that Friday.
Our lift arrives with a beep, we run for it in the rain holding up the cars behind. It was a safe trip to Chatswood via the long way avoiding Roseville Bridge and taking the back streets. It was an interesting conversation . I learnt that a lot of team members and concession team members all think what I think about how Myer operates and how abusive and rude managers are towards team members . I still don't know if It's only Myer Warringah that operates like this or all of Myer. A few truths did come up including the discussion about:
1. Myer being bankrupt - It's been bought up many time in the past by shareholders at AGMs but each time Myer board members have denied it but everyone knows that Myer is in financial strife. Even concession team members know. Why else would Myer be constantly putting up sales tickets and most of the store is either on clearance or upto 60% discount constantly on sale? It looks as if Myer Warringah being the smallest store is a junk or bargain basement store mot a department store. I mentioned to a few team members that if Solomon Kew decided on a hostile takeover of Myer he would shut Myer Warringah Mall down! I definitely would ( after I transfer to Myer Chatswood )
2. Remember my story of being rostered on to work boxing day which was a Sunday last year by the customer service manager and I am unavailable to work Sundays therefore told her off? I told this story about how I made this clear to the customer service manager and told the concession team member who also thought the customer service manager was being rude and unreasonable taking her time getting to the staff entrance exit on time to let team members out. Yep this is so frustrating. I hate the you do what I tell you to do and don't talk back attitude by the customer service manager - the lack of respect is so bad at Myer. So we both agreed on that.
3. Casuals are treated like slaves by the Managers at Myer Warringah but not just casuals even concession team members. I told the story about how the Shoes and Socks concession team member can't process any shoe sales through the POS and has to pass it onto a Myer team member to do so. She had done the training and was waiting for a user ID to be set up so she can log into the POS. It's been months and she still doesn't have one. What's the hold up It's Myer not the concession. So disorganised. Managers at Myer Warringah expect all concession team member to support the existing team members in all departments with sales especially when they are short staffed and during COVID. How can they be expected to do this when concession team members have requested for POS It's but still have not received them and are still waiting? Only to be yelled at for mot supporting Myer team members and being told they are part of Myer. So we both agree on that.
4. As we reached Chatswood I say oh look we just passed Myer Chatswood I think we both agree that we would both prefer to be working there then at Myer Warringah.
5. The team members you work with are all really nice but it's just management at Myer that is the problem and this concession team member thought it was only her that thought that. Nope everyone does that is not a manager . I advised her that I heard complaints from team members former and current from the very first day I started at Myer Warringah. I also mentioned that I thought Myer Warringah was where all the reject managers are sent to. Managers treat team members like slaves ( which we are not), they are disorganised and rude. I think we both agreed on that. No wonder there is a very high staff turnover at Myer Wartingah and I'm not exaggerating. They were the only store that had to seek permission from head office to hire new staff during the first year of COVID with another hiring blitz before Christmas and after Christmas and a 4th one recently. Everyone is leaving and they are all the good staff. ( speaking of which the other day after a huddle the team member from kidswear asked me if I was looking for another job as everyone was leaving I asked her why she asked me this - it's an odd question).
It wasn't long before we reached Chatswood via Artarmon Station. I remember that steep hill which I have only walked down once decades ago. I don't venture to Artarmon much at least not the back of Artarmon where the station is.
I am so grateful for the left. We actualky drove very close to where I live but it is on a main highway and It's difgicult to stop so I insisted I get off at Chatswod with the other bus budfy team member. We were dropped off in the no through road at the back of Myer near the back of Chatswood Station. I hope the concession team member drives home safely. I cannot thank her enough for taking the stress out of trying to get home during the floods.
I needed to get some toilet paper and recharge my Opal card ( which I later found wedged in my diary) at Woolworths Metro but decided in the end not to and use my credit card and the shelves were still empty of toilet paper.
On the way to Chatswood some buses had slowly returned to service but even at Chatswood the 144 was limited in service.
I get home by 6 pm in time to watch the news. I take my water lodged bin back in. It was an early night after watching 8 Out of 10 Does Countdown
Sleep. So glad I Don't have to work tomorrow.
I am trying to find a way of thanking her and looking into fuel vouchers as petrol prices are forecasted to go up beyond $2.00 per litre.
News headlines include:
The Queen has bounced back from COVID hosting her first in person meeting with Canadian PM Justin Trudeau.
Shane Wayne's body has been released from the morgue after an autopsy cleared that he died of a heart attack. His last meal not juice but vegemite and toast. His body now travels an 8 hour jouney to Bankok before being flown back to Australia.
Flooding continues in NSW.
Petrol prices are set to rise to above $2 per litre.
NSW had 13018 COVID cases and 5 deaths.
Wednesday 9th March 2022
Day off
A sleep in until 7 am this morning. My ear is still annoying me and my eyes are so itchy again for some reason.
It looked as if it rained throughout the night and only started to dry up now around 9 am. The sun is trying hard to break through all the grey clouds. The rain is meant to ease off today but heavy winds are forcasted for later today.
I just remembered about my off site storage unit which is located below street level and easily subject to flood in in the Eastern suburbs which I hope is ok. I haven't been there for so long .
I watch the news. It's been raining relentlessly for 16 days straight now.
I haven't ventured out but by 3.30 pm there is blue skie! No rain so far. I really want to go out. I have lost my raincoat. It was probably left behind at work or fell out of my bag. I am unsurprised given the chaos yesterday!
Well I've registered to see Biennale 22 . There is no Cockatoo Island this year. Instead new venues have been added - Bay 43 The Rocks, The Cutaway Barangaroo and Pier 2/3 Walsh Bay. Can't wait until Sunday 13th March 2022. I hope the weather holds out as part of it is outdoors. Other venues include the NSW Art Gallery MCA etc. which I am saving for another date.
It's a still dry night at 8 pm really dark. I guess the wind warnings forcasted were not needed.
Today's news headlines are dominated by:
More wild weather. Flooding all over Sydney continued after server flooding yesterday. Strong winds of 90 km/hr also forcasted for today which is expected to cause more damage due to the erosion of soil caused by the excessive moisture in the soil loosening trees. Well 100 + mm of rain in a few hours fell over the Northern Beaches . The Roseville bridge connecting the Northern Beaches to the rest of Sydney was flooded yesterday with cars being stuck in flood waters floating along the flooded bridge and was closed off completely to traffic. Manly Dam spilled and there was an emergency evacuation text sent out to everyone. Public transport was at a standstill stranding residents visitors, workers shoppers in and out of the Northern Beaches etc .
Russian cease fire to allowing a safe passage out of the Ukraine only lead to Ukrainians ending up in Russia or Belarus. Day 13 of Russia's war against the Ukraine to regain it as Russian territory.
Apple's lower end phones get an upgrade using the same chips as upper end iPhones use to allow it to take better photos in low light.
Prince Andrew is to pay a multimillion dollar settlement ( more the $20 million ) to Virginia Guiffre funded partially by loans from the Queen and Prince Charles to be repaid when he sells his Swiss chalet.
Shane Wayne's body will be flown back to Australia by private jet hopfully today where a private funeral will take place followed by a public memorial at the MCG on 30th March 2022 planned due to the football season there is a lot of working around these games in order to accommodate this event.
The mozzies are coming due to the flooding. Australians have been warned to protect themselves from mosquito bites as several cases of the deadly Japanese encephalitis have been confirmed in Victoria and NSW. It is now being investigated as to how these residents acquired this mosquito borne virus. A man died from this deadly virus back on 28th February 2022. There is no cure.
NSW had 13 179 COVID cases and 9 deaths. Interesting that Victoria also had 9 deaths but only 7091 COVID cases as well as NSW having 1038 hospitalisations but Victoria only had 196. Vaccination rates in NSW remain at single dose 95.8% over 16 years old and double dose 94.4% over 16 years old. 56.1% have had boosters. No change in vaccination rates from previous day.
Rail delays continue as train tracks remain underwater in Northwest and Southwest. Landslides are causing repair work havoc for engineers. Commuters have no choice except to wait out the delays.
Thursday 10th March 2022
Today was another dry but rather windy and cold day. Winter us approaching finally you can feel it after so much rain over Summer.
I collect the ipads for Homewares 3/4 of them before starting work so I would not get yelled at by the customer service manager who wasn't there this morning anyway as she does the late shift being Thursday night shopping. I then attended the huddle this morning so I don't get yelled at for not attending ( nobody else gets yelled at for not attending) and was the only one that received a 10/10 customer feedback score. When I arrive at the Homewares counter, I find out that I am over in the electricals department by myself and for the whole shift only to be told by the team leader that I'm actually in Homewares today and the other unvaccinated team member was sent over to the Electricals Department for today because she is more experienced.
I signed up 1 Myer One today but again forgot to scan the bar code but did it after the sale.
I caught up with Amina today bumping into her during my 15 minute break around 1 pm and she gave me a hug ( no proper lunch breaks as I only get 6 hour shifts most days) . She told me about how Myer is getting a visit from Myer's senior management . I had not read the diary but it did have a note" visit tomorrow" written in it. About time managers were made to panic with a "surprise" visit , they never see the real Myer Warringah and how it really operates - everytime they are given adequate notice of visits everything is swept under the floor temporarily before these visitors arrive to inspect the store. I was asked by the team leader "Who it visiting this time?"- "Who knows?" I responded . She asks" Is it Brett the regional NSW manager? Who cares anymore, they only stay for a coffee and leave afterwards!"
Interesting how I was only rostered on to work this Friday after the new manager gave me a more few shifts and from a 11.30 am start not 9.30 am start. Coincidence? So I miss the huddle for Friday morning before work and " the visit" usually in the morning . What has Myer Warringah got to hide? I am never rostered on when there a visit by senior management when Myer Warringah is given adequate advance notice of their visits.
The Homewares department has a new team member who was transferred from the Kidswear department to the Homewares Department due to her prolonged absences off the floor. If you are on your own on the floor you don't just disappear for hours . She had a habit of doing so, therefore that was the reason why she was transferred to the Homewares Department to keep an eye on her disappearing off the floor. She will be less likely to do so as it is too busy. I get yelled at just to go to the bathroom and then there was the last unreasonable incident I expeeienced yet she is still allowed to to do whenever she likes without getting yelled at. I also heard that this team member is to be the customer service manager's 2IC and that this team member will reduce the number of casuals shifts. I have no idea of the real reason for her transfer from the kidswear department after 3 years to Homewares. This team member joined the Homewares Department a few weeks ago.
I don't know what's going on but thete are always sales signs coming fown and going up. People are rushing around probably panicking about the visit tomorrow.
There was a carton of MW stock from I think Tuesday that I did not have time to put out. I finally put it out on the floor.
There were price increases to be done in the diary but unclear what had been done and what had not.
Someone has been just been printing out new price labels which are cut off therefore not scanning at the POS and just sticking them over the top of the old price labels. This is illegal and Myer can be fined for doing so. Customers also complaint about no prices on items , incorrect pricing on items and even being able to see old prices that have been scrubbed out in black marker. It's really time wasting when you spend all your time properly relabelling price increases then someone else comes along and just dumps a batch of the same item that has just been delivered with the old pricing on it onto the floor defeating the purpose and wasting the time spent on relabelling all the existing stock on the floor and in the reserves with the price increases.
I stopped off for some snacks not once but 3 times after work. First at Coles to buy a few items that I had run out of, then a stop off to get a hand roll from the sushi place next to Coles. I catch the 380 bus and stop off again at Woolworths Metro to get a few other items and another snack of hot potato wedges. What's with the shortage of toilet paper? Coles was completely out of toilet paper at Warringah except for 2 packets sitting alone on completely empty shelves and they had no prices on them but looked rather expensive therefore I did not purchase them. I waited until I got to Woolworths Metro at Chatswood where I purchased a packet of eco toilet paper which unfortunately was now wrapped in plastic rather then paper - so disappointing that most toilet paper is wrapped in plastic maybe due to the heavy rain and flooding.
Home I am so tired, it was the remainder of my fruit salad which I finished off , the potato wedges I had purchased, the rest of my green juice and some pop corn for dinner. I could not be bothered to cook.
Watched the usual programs on tv the news, the foid channel and 8 Out of 10 Does Countdown repeats. Sleep another day at work tomorrow.
News headlines include:
After a day's delay in paperwork Shane Warne body should arrive back in Melbourne tonight by private jet.
The cleanup begins around QLD and NSW. In Lismore locals are angry that the PM has not allocating more funding to support those affect by the floods as he tours flooded regions in Lismore at a private press conference after coming out of COVID isolation.
The PM has increased funding for the Australian Defence Force.
In Florida a car has crashed into a convenience store hitying a shopper. The 21 year old said she had mistaken the accelerator for the brake when parking. The customer was rushed to hospital but is not seriously Injured.
The $AUS is now above 73 cents to 1$US.
Apple releases their new low end phone 5G SE work at and studio max and hosts their first major event for 2022.
Friday 11th March 2022
Myer 11.30 am - 5.30 pm service
Another dry clear morning as the nights get longer and it stays darker longer in the mornings. The birds are back chirping very loudly outside and I hope I don't get pooped on as I leave for work.
Just checked my Myer Metrics which is down to 90% because a customer have me a 5/10 and gave Myer a 4/10 . It's not my problem if ticketing is confusing and products are not marked down correctly or coming up on the system. Some customers are just plain rude.
CEO John King has announced 2022 FY results and a dividend will be paid out for the first time in years. I saw a comment by a team member interstate which read " the shareholders will be happy" - I'm a shareholder and no I am far from happy! Let me estimate what my dividend will be 2 cents per share? Whatever it is it will be a poor return on my investment! Just checked Myer's share price and for the first time in years the share price is worth 51 cents! Unbelievable Myer is now worth more then 50 Cent!
I took the first bus that arrived to St Leonards Station transferred onto a 144 that followed sort my behind and waited for the next Bline bus which took a while to arrive. I left home a little earlier as I knew that every second B line bus would be delayed according to TripGo. As a result of the floods there was a big burst water main at The Spit causing traffic delays where lanes in the opposit direction had to be split and used for traffic travelling in both directions.
So the visitors were still present having coffee at the cafe when I arrived at work tbis morning. It was not the senior management from head office Melbourne but the regional VM managers. That's ok then.
It was quite busy in the Homewares department today with some customers holding up other customers in the queue. Some regular customers who are pests should be banned from the store like the customers who try to return items with a receipt that are different to what they originally purchased. And the customer who just likes to push in and ask to search for every item possible only to not purchase anything and says she is going to QLD and will purchase everything when she gets there and asking you if you could tell her if they are available up there. Then there are customers that forget things and return later pushing in front of other customers. Customers that walk off mid transaction etc all these customers should be banned. But there is always one customer who is the most annoying and that is the customer who purchases everything then returns them and also only repurchased them if the same items go on sale. We all know who she is!
So today in between serving customers found a replacement Napier natural 12 piece dinner set for a customer who rang up and ordered 3 sets online to be delivered to her only to find 1 plat was broken in one of the dinner sets and when she rang customer service was told that she had to bring the whole dinner set back to the store for a refund or exchange. I took her details down and left it for her for tomorrow and advised her that it is not recommended that breakable be ordered online for delivery due to the high risk of breakage ( she advised me tgat she hasn't shopped in store for ages) and that I won't be working but someone else will be able to help her tomorrow in Homewares. I relabelled the light green cool cotton quilts on the floor tgat had a price increase. I marked down the S & P Oleg dinner sets on the floor with clearance stickers. I returned all items customers did not end up purchasing off the back counter to the floor keeping the back counter clear at the end of the day. I returned all scanner guns and label machines putting all the guns and batteries back on the chargers. I helped the team leader put any tickets out onto the floor missed for decorator and Manchester ( a few of which there was no stock of). So much had to be done today. No time to do a reconciliation of tills therefore asked the other unvaccinated team member to do so. The guys in the Electricals department weren't busy today and were chatting. I noticed that not many customers were purchasing electrical products today - I only sold one small electrical appliance today. Most customers were on a pillows towels and Manchester shopping spree today.
I rushed to the staff entrance/exit and punched out and let up with a team member from ladies' shoes who is my bus buddy. I advised her that if we don't make the 5.40 pm bus , the next bus won't show up so we can't dawdle. We made the bus. So tired she closed her eyes on the bus whilst I kept myself awake this time watching YouTube videos.
Home after the evening news - so annoying that I hardly ever get to catch the news at night. Same routine eat watch the same food channel and 8 Out of 10 Does Countdown repeats and sleep. Another dry day all day today but cooler in the evenings. Another full day at work tomorrow.
News headlines today include:
Novak Djokovic has been banned from playing in the US due to being unvsccinated but is hopeful in being able to play in the French Open as rules relax.
Omicron BA 2 is back on the news. Booster shots are being pushed again eventhough there is doubt over the efficacy of the vaccine and whether it gives you immunity to the Omicron variants of COVID. Even the word COVID is being used less and less and the variant name and nomenclature used instead. I just call it version 2 which is has been mentioned to be 10 + times more transmissible infectious contagious etc whatever according to health officials. New warnings that the number of COVID cases will double in the next few weeks. Really?
Vaccines are being made a available for the Japanese Encephalitis virus with priority given to regions with piggery workers.
A former tradie turned nurse graduate has helped save a life if a toddler who suffered a seizure. He rushed the unconscious toddler from the distressed mother to the emergency department of the hospital as he was finishing his shift.
Russia has attacked a maternity hospital in the Ukraine injurying mother's and babies who had given birth or about to give birth.
Shane Warned body has finally returned back to Melbourne overnight on a private charter plane greeted by family members.
Saturday 12th March 2022
Myer 10 am - 6 pm ( kidswear)
The store opens at 9 am on Saturdays however when I arrived I had no idea which department I was suppose to be working in. I was in men's youth with another team member but the entire day sheet for Kidswear Toys, Men's Youth and Men's Shoes is incorrect. The same thing happened the day before with the Electricals and Homewares. So I ended up asking the team leader for today for that department where I should be who only told me that it was a mistake and I should be in Homewares - I had to tell her no I was not that her department manager put me in these departments. I assumed that I was in kidswear. So I remained there for the entire day. Co incident that whilst I was at the Kidswear counter today the Customer service manager ( yes from Homewares) comes over to me and makes the comment of how she could have done with my help in the Homewares Department today as someone did not show up - tuff luck again you only need me when you do and yell at me when you don't . You snooze you lose!
I checked the change rooms every half an hour or so and recorded it on the sheet. I don't understand why men keep using the kids change rooms. They should be using their own down further in the menswear department. There is even a sign in the kids change room advising everyone that this is a kids changeroom inside it One man kept going in and out trying things on and when a second man with a whole heap of clothes to try on at the same time followed this man which set the alarms off really loudly, I had to stop him and tell him to use the men's change rooms.
As soon as I finished my lunch break at 4 pm ( yes I did not have lunch until 3 pm and during lunch the assistant store manager made it known that they were reverting to the old version of Kronos because the new version was not working - you don't say! you can't put leave requests in and It's really difficult to read your schedules and you can't get out of certain windows when off line) , the Customer service manager bumps into me as I was getting out of the lift returning back to the kids wear counter and asks me to rescue the team member in men's shoes if kidswear is under control.
I get there and there is a back counter full of shoes and clothes piled up high! I collect all the jeans with my bus buddy team member from women's shoes downstairs and take them all over to men's youth sorting them and folding them roughly to be put back. What hapoened in men's shoes to cause such chaos? Apparently the team leader was only gone on a break for half an hour. I advised her how I just finished my break and the customer service manager asked me to rescue the team member in mens shoes as they had not even done a till rec yet. I should have stayed with them instead of going to kidswear today.
Back at the kids counter I was under $4.10 when I did a till rec before going on lunch. I am not surprised as there was a section full of 50 cent coins that had a note over it which I assumed was correctly counted before being sealed over with the note. I could also have miss counted the 20c 10c and remainder of 50 c coins as there were so many of them. The 10 c short was due to a foreign coin I excluded. The other team member said she would recount it after I returned from my break and when she did she was even more short by another $15 or so under. A third count balanced it out where she actually removed the note and recounted the 50 cent pieces. This time she was over which mean it now balanced.
I found a pair of sunglasses missing from It's packet at the end of the day cleaning up amongst a tressle table full of clearance kids clothes and reported it on the POS as suspected theft.
Everything was so rushed today from checking the kids change rooms every half an hour to folding up all the clothes in the kids section . The middle POS was playing up again with the touch screen not responding to function keys and lagging with Myer One look ups. What's new with Myer's ancient technology nothing works?!
I write up the final inspection of the kids change room by the other team member which I write up, I grab this sheet and the ipad and return it straight up to the office to be signed back in after going downstairs and returning unwanted pieces of clothing from women's wear. The changeroom sheets are given to the assistant manager.
I grab my bag from the staff locker and open my bag for a bag inspection. Told to check my shifts on UKG as team members availability have changed. What's new I check it every day. It looks like no changes except for a slightly shortened shift in kids wear next week but that's ok. No mucking around tonight as it is 6 pm except for a toilet stop after leaving the Myer staff entrance/exit and I have to take the long way Home across the road on the first Manly bus and connecting onto the 144 bus. Because there was always a wait at Manly for a connecting 144 bus, I decided that I would be home too late and too tired to cook dinner therefore stopped off at GYG to purchase a spicy barramundi burrito with corriander ( not chimi sauce as they are still getting it wrong).
Home by around 8 pm. Eat my burrito with a glass of red wine and cranberry juice diluted with some sparkling mineral water. This will make me fall asleep.
News headlines today include:
COVID close contact rules and PCR rules change as cases still rise and treating COVID like a cold or flu. Winter is a concern and the focus is now on the vulnerable.
The new threat is Japanese encephalitis where vaccination against it are on the way. An outbreak of the virus is being monitored especially around The Murray .
Flood waters in the Napean are receding. The clean up continues.
The Queen has cancelled another live event. She will not be attending the Commonwwealth service next week due to mobility issues. There are no new health issues for the Queen however due to her recent mobility issues where she has been seen walking with a cane, the long walk down the aisle maybe a struggle for her. She will be instead be represented by Prince Charles and other members of the royal family on her behalf. Prince Harry will not be attending Prince Philip's memorial service due to his continued lawsuit against royal security.
"Australia Unites" as celebrities and channel 7, 9 and 10 normally rivals get together in a telethon to raise money for flood victims. $25 million was raised.
Shane Wayne's memorial service will be on 30th March 2022 at the MCG with live broadcast around Australia. Tickets will be on a ballot system for anyone who would like to attend.
The cricket season may be ending but the football season is about to begin with both NRL and AFL starting.
Sunday 13th March 2022
Day Off!
It started off a great morning but by 12 noon it poured with rain again easing slightly. I slept in this morning until around 8.30 am. I did wake up around 4 am to do a few things but went back to sleep. I am so tired. I could stay in bed all day today but I have things I had planned to do and see ( hopefully not disappointed).
I am on my way to the city via bus and train.
It was a long walk to where I had to go. Buses are not very regular to and from my destination. So where did I go today?
I took the train from Wynyard and walked to pier 2/3 to see the 23rd Biennale of Sydney 2022 RIVUS . It is the opening weekend of Biennale and I intended to see at least all of the art installations at Pier 2/3 in the newly redeveloped wharf art precincts and The Cutaway & Stargazer Lawn at Barangaroo. So much walking. I had no idea where Pier 2/3 was and thought it was near Barangaroo Reserve but it was infact next to wharf 4/5 where the newly renovated Sydney Dance Company is located.
So much to see! I absolutely thought it was worth my time visiting it today. I was fortunate to watch and hear a live performance of acapella performed by an all female group. The acoustics inside the Pier 2/3 is absolutely unbelievable! Highlight of my visit to Biennale. This years biennale has an environmental theme to it and is particularly relavant given all the wild weather- thunder and lightening storms rain bombs hail and floods we have had recently.
From Pier 2/3 I walked to Barangaroo to The Cutaway, I knew where Barangaroo was but because I usually come from the opposite direction from Wynyard Station I was unsure exactly how to get there through Barangaroo Reserve. I followed the signs but ended up at Stargazer Lawn instead of The Cutaway. There was a lift down to The Cutaway near by.
Finally I take the lift back up to Stargazer Lawn To see The Great Animal Orchestra. ( videos of this art installation has been uploaded onto my YouTube Channel.)
After a rather long walk uphill to Kent Street which is a much more scenic route from upper Barangaroo then lower Barangaroo to Wynyard Walk and Station , I catch the train from Wynyard Station to Chatswood to get some laundry money, recharge my Opal card and get some essential groceries.
I stop at Aldi for some water, the newly reopened green grocer for fruit, Coles for some blueberries and finally Woolworths. I forgot to get change for the laundry at Coles and Woolworths does not have change as cash denominations are automatically dispensed from a contactless machine with no choice in denominations given out therefore I had to be strategic. I had $10 in cash so purchased some turkey breast fillets which cost $7 which was on my shopping list therefore the machine can only give me $2 and $1 coins and I paid for a bottle of orange juice which cost $3.50 on sale ( no green juice as it was sold out due to it being on sale) and used eftpos to pay for it and getting another $4 out in cash meaning the cash machine can only give me $2 and $1 coins again. This gives me more then enough change for my lsundry as I already had another $4 in change from buying a loaf of wholemeal bread and a quiche Lorraine fr on Vine bakery in cash.
I catch the bus home and wash my hands, put my mask in with the rest of my laundry, unpack my groceries and watch tv. I started feeling unwell - waking up after falling asleep with an upset stomach - I'm not surprised as I am lactose intolerant and I ate the quiche I purchased full of eggs cream and cheese and bacon.
I try to go back to sleep after my stomach settles down. I do not eat anything else.
News headlines today include:
Victoria's booster mandate ended yesterday as there was confusion over which food workers required this. This is leading to supermarket supply shortages again.
The war in Ukraine continues as Belarus may join in.
The clean up continues as flood waters continue to recede.
Monday 14th March 2022
Myer 11.30 am - 5.30 pm service
It's a beautiful day but I have to go to work for a 6 hour shift. What a waste of my time. The birds are chirping loudly. It's forcasted to be partly cloudy. I hate going to work. I think I have lost interest in working for Myer.
It rained for quite a while during the afternoon today although I never saw it rain, I could hear it and when it rains it always sounds heavier then it is being indoors where I work. By the time I finished work it was all dry again outside.
Today I had 3 very problematic customers.
Customer # 1 An elderly couple who purchased a Sunbeam copy of a nutrabullet online claimed it would not screw in properly and hold the liquid in the plastic drinking vessels and that it was too difficult to unscrew and wanted a refund of their money. I open it up and trouble shot it amd their was absolutely nothing wrong with it. It screwed together fine and unscrewed fine. It took very little effort to do so. As for liquid leakage I could not trouble shoot this as I did not have any water to do so. They wanted to return it just because they were not happy with it. It was not actually faulty therefore can't do a solveup. I handed it over to an electricals team member to resolve.
Customer # 2 Another elderly couple ordered in store and paid for 2 x what they thought were king single quilt cover sets by Vue in a white tufted cotton. They had opened one set up but not the other which was still in its packaging. Usually it linen once opened is unreturnable due to heath regulations. I don't know what happened but the team leader served them So I texted her but technically she was not on the floor today eventhough she did do a cash clearance at the end of the day. When she did not respond to my text message I called her but in the end I had to deal with it mysrlf. It took me about an hour to resolve their problem. KS should be King Single however in this case it wasn't and only King Sized. This particular quilt set in white was only available in Double Queen and King not in Single or King Single. So to remedy the problem I refunded their money via POS onto their card and stated from scratch. They ended up purchasing the last 2 doubles ( one on the floor and after a search of stock on hand hasd to go down to the reserves to find the last double which was luckily in the reserve) and 2 double quilts also to match as well as a black toothbrush holder. They ended up spending the same as they originally spent. Hopefully they went home happy. I advised tgem that the size of their quilt covers should be a snug match to their quilt - if the quilt cover is a double but the quilt is a king single it will move around.
Customer # 3 awful customer I had to ring a manager and she dealt with them. She was absolutely horrible and spent 2 - 3 hours wasting that manager's time. Yes the manager was still serving her 2 - 3 hours later! She was extremely aggitated and became more and more so constantly complasining that she didn't nerd this and complaining about her leg injury or mumbling about whatever health condition she had. The electrical team leader thought she was intoxicated but whatever it was she was not sane in the head. She was shaking and sweating and rambling on at the top of her voice to me as I was trying to help her. The VM team member has passed her over to me after she could not deal with her. She had bought back a linen house cuffed cotton quilt cover set that was obviously opened stuffed in an old clear plastic pillow bag. She claimed that she had just opened it for the first time on the display bed and found that the 2 pillows cases were misding. Neither me not the VM team member had seen her open it on the display bed we both saw it already open in the old plastic pillow bag. Tge VM team member even questioned why is it in the pilloiw bag and that that was not how the quilt cover set came and is not the packaging for it. She was wanting prices on all the items she had collected and mixing them nip with what she wanted to return. She and her son accused me of accusing her that she stole 2 pillow cases which were misding from the quilt cover set she was returning when I simply asked her if she posdible may have left them at home. To add to the drama she said tgat the sheets are not white so she wanted to return them when they we're, she did not have a receipt with her claiming her son gave tgem to her as a birthday gift along with a kettle which she did have a receipt for but not the one for the quilt cover set. I was trying to look up if I had any alternative or the same quilt cover sets for her but she just became more and more agitated and put me off my search. in the end there were none that could be found. J had managed to recommend some linen that would go with the quilt cover set and advised her that the Vue white cotton tufted quilt set she wanted as an alternative was sold out in a queen and only available in King which tjere are at least 3 sets of. I did not want to srrve her so tried calling a manager until I could get through to one before it spiralled out of control. It took 3 attempts to finally call a manager. Whilst the manager continued to serve this customer I continued to serve others. Still there 2 - 3 hours later with the manager.
No Myer One sign ups today. One Myer One member I just could not find. Customers just don't bother to update their profiles! I did not bother to ask for round up of purchases for the flood victims - no time and I am still unconvinced that Myer actually towards these donations 100% to these charities they claim it goes towards.
Tickets down for offers ending today and tickets up for Home Sweet Home tomorrow .
All blue ticketed clearance items are being transferred out to the Bankstown store which is why the team leader from Homewares is unofficially working today.
At 5.30 pm exactly, I race to the staff locker grab my bag which does not have to be checked as I now padlock it to save time punch out apologise to the manager for giving her that crazy customer today and run to the Bus stop in order to catch the 5.40 pm 280 bus to Chatswood. So tired I try to sleep on the bus. Arrive at Chatswood I stop off at Woolworths Metro for a bag of spinach and some octapus balls which I eat whilst waiting for the next 144 bus home. Another 5 or so minutes wait until the next bus. Home I empty my rubbish, put the small red bin out for rubbish collection tomorrow, wash my hands my mask and watch 8 Out of 10 Does Countdown- the only show I just manage to catch when I get home. I hardly every catch the evening news only on my day off.
Sleep. Work again tomorrow.
My allergies are really bad especially my left eye.
News headlines today include:
The BAFTAs were held in London hosted by Aussie Rebel Wilson and The Critics Choice Awards in LA were on few hours later. Aussies missed out on awards. Nicole Kidman lost out on an award in at the BAFTA but up for a chance at the Critics Choice Award for her role as Lucille Ball.
Last night the Paralympics ended with a spectacular closing ceremony in Beijing.
The Windsor bridge has reopened after the recent floods but there is much criticism over the delay in energency rescue efforts. There is a blame game between the SES, State government and Australian Defence Force. Was emergency aid rejected twice by the Defence Force by the SES before it was too late? The SES Commissioner defend the decisions back on 25th February 2022 based on information at the time. The disaster happened over 2 times worse then forcasted.
They have been on the shelves since after Christmas New Year but now the offical search is on for the best hot cross bun. From traditional to fruitless to flavoured ones. Looks like Woolworths and Aldi trumps Coles - I'm not surprised after my little taste test!
The first Jetstar flight departed Melbourne today for Bali after 2 years of border closures. You still need a visa but quarantine is no longer necessary just a PCR test upon arrival. Cheap flights to Bali have encouraged to restart their tourism industry devastated by the pandemic. A $99 sale last week sold 40000 seats in 24 hours!
For the first time Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese are tied with who will be the better PM just 2 months out from the Australian Federal elections. A date for the next Federal Election will be called in the next few weeks. No longer is Scott Morrison a preferred PM. Will Labor win the next Federal election?
A 5th case of Japanese encephalitis has been confirmed . Caution is to be exercised around the Murray River region.
There are over 8000 COVID cases and cases are forecasted to rise, vaccinations and boosters are still being pushed by Brad Hazzard the Health Minister.
The war in the Ukraine continues to esculate.
Obama former U.S. president tests positive to COVID his wife Michelle is negative.
Screen legend William Hurt dies aged 71 just days before his 72nd birthday of natural causes.
Tuesday
Myer 10.30 am - 4.30 pm
I caught the first bus that went past this morning to st Leonards Station waiting and transferring onto a 114 then transferring onto a B line at neutral Bay Junction which takes forever to arrive off peak. I place my stuff in the locker and punch in.
There was 5 of us on today because it is Tuesday Home Sweet Home. Sales tickets had to come down and new ones had to go up.
Besides serving customers there was restocking of towels both quick dry and combed cotton and the removal of Aura towels off the floor back into the soft reserve.
I finished at 4.30 pm but went overtime with my last customer.
The new manager reminds me that I'm on with her tomorrow. It's the highlight of my week working in kidswear. I love it! Change is good and Homeswares is becoming mind numbing and stale.
News headlines include:
The Netherlands and Australia are taking part in an international legal case against Russia for the victims and their families in the downing of MH17 by a Russian missile where over 200 people including 38 Australians died in this plane crash.
Inflation is set to reach 5 % which may trigger anĺ economic crisis. Wages remain low and have not increased yet the cost of living continues to rise rapidly. Partially due to COVID and partially due to the war where imports energy and fuel prices continue to rise. It was forecasted that petrol will rise above $2 per litre and tinned/canned foods and groceries could increase 20% due to inflation hoever fuel prices could drop and settle after a fortnight.
More concerns over Queens health as she cancels more face to face events. She missed the Commonwealth Day Service instead sending a message from Windsor Castle.
A fire has broken out in a Western Sydney boarding house killing one and injuring serial others. The blaze is being investigated.
Rod Stewart has taken to filling up pot holes outside his house instead of waiting for it to be done by local tradesmen. Australia needs him to fill up some of the pot holes caused by the recent floods!
There is a petition to have Shane Warne posthumously knighted however due to rules a knighthood can only be given to a living person.
Victoria is trialling a 5 day paid sick leave for all casual workers in the retail, hospitality supermarket workers cleaners security guards aged care disability food prep & assistant industries. The trial is for 2 years. The trial as will be funded by tax payers.
Wednesday
11.30 am - 5.30 pm Kidswear
It looked as if it rained overnight again as the ground is quite wet outside.
My morning starts with breakfast and payment of more bills as wages present in my account. I still have one more to pay for the month. It's a constant struggle as the cost of living keeps rising.
Today the apartment block had another fire inspection. I received a text yesterday advising a letter and email was sent out about this fire alarm inspection.. Nope none received. I'll be at work and I asked if the property manager received my email in regards to the smoke detector randomly going off in unit 10. Nope they did not receive that either.
Not even 9 am and it's pouring with rain again. Tomorrow night I am suppose to be going to see Nature Illuminated- what are the chances it will be cancelled again?
I managed to get to Warringah Mall about 45 minutes early despite having to change buses 3 times to get there. I am so tired. I am still wondering who I can get to cover me on Saturday as there is a major event happening on Saturday and The Harbour Bridge will be congested from 8 am - 9 pm probably as it celebrates It's 90th anniversary. This will affect public transport so I will have trouble getting to and from work as it affects Town Hall Station To North Sydney Stations on Saturday.
It's so nice to have a break from Homewares and not getting yelled at by the customer service manager. Today I arrived unsure again where I should be. Men's youth again. No the team member there asked if I could swap to kids wear as she wanted someone more experienced to help her with putting up the tickets for menswear.
I ended up working with someone from the office who also works on the floor when there is a shortage of staff.
Today it was I who initiated the change room check list. I did not have to print out any tickets as they were already printed out the day before , they just needed to be put out at 4 pm. The office team member I was working with wanted to put them up at 3 pm to get it out of the way but we decided it was too early.
All the tickets were put up in time and all jobs were complete for the day including tidying up. We were serving customers to the end and a final change room check was performed just before closing at 5.30 pm. There is always unwanted clothes to be put back.
A customer was at the counter being served by the ofgice team member but left her wallet somewhere whilst she was shopping. Everyone including myself was looking around for it. Luckily she managed to backtrack and found it.
The kids mannequins are usually barefooted but the manage r of Shoes and Sox
To save time I have the iPad to the Electricals team member to sign back in as they take Homewares loads by mistake sometimes anyway to return.
News headlines today include:
The family of Shane Warne have visited a statute of Shane Warne at the MCG which has become a makeshift memorial to him with tributes from fans . The family would also like the renamed SK Warne stand to be named the Shane Warne stand.
The fire in the inner West ( Newtown) boarding house has now been ruled as arson after 3 men were found dead amongst the burnt out building. An elderly man is still in hospital after he jumped out of the burning building to escape the fire. One resident is missing however due to the unstable structure of the building police and fire brigade have not been able to ener tge second floor of the building. A topless man was seen leaving the scene and police would like to speak to the owner of the boarding house who also owns a chain of boarding houses . He has not been able to be contacted. He is not considered a suspect but police would like to get a list of residents in order to ensure all are accounted for. A man has now been charged over the deliberate destruction of property.
Cricket season is ending and football season is about to begin tonight.
Housing prices are at a high and the average price of a property is over $900 000. For first time home buyers it will now take 9 years to save up for a deposit for a home rather then 4 years in the 1990s. The cost of living continues to rise but wages have not increased. Inflation is high. Rent is on the increase. One third of people rent one third if people are paying their mortgages off and one third of people own their homes.
Free trips every Friday for a year for Sydney public transport commuters if the transport industry promises not to strike.
The city of Kyiv is now under curfew for 35 hours - the city is in lockdown everyone has to stay at home - no shopping no visting family and friends etc. The mayor has advised that it is too dangerous for residents to move around. A special permit is required to move around or out of the city which is now almost impossible for residents to escape the war torn city. The US suspects that China is sending support to Russia. It is a delicate situation as Russia has a close relationship with China but the US and Australia also depend on China for trade and economics at the same time Australia has to maintain surveillance on China to ensure China does not "invade" Australia.
BA 2 is 7 times more infectious then previous strain of Omicron. Spread is prominent amongst teenagers in schools.
International cruise ships will be allowed to dock in Sydney again in April however only double vaccinated passengers will be allowed into Australia.
Thursday 17th March 2022
Myer 9.3 am - 3.30 pm service
I wake at 5 am knowing that I have to leave home by 7.30 am in order to get make the staff entrance exit today before 9.30 am. I punch on using those awful ipads at the entrance, put my stuff in the staff locker and grab the 3 iPad and sign them out. There is one iPad missing again. I go upstairs and place the iPad on the back counter before attending the huddle on the ground floor. Boring same shit of how goid the store is doing in budget.
There were no tickets to put up - Well maybe a few. There was one sales ticket in the wrong spot therefore I had to take it down asnd honour the 40% discount on the plates a customer wanted to purchase. I was in kidswear yesterday therefore did not have anything to do with putting up the sales tickets.
I asked around to see who could cover me for Saturday, a part time team member did so I did not have to stress about trying to get to and from work home. I did ask another casual but he was the reason why I my Saturday roster was amended at the last minute to a full day because he had to go to a wedding down in Wollongong. It's not ideal for a permanent part time team member to cover a casual but tough luck, at least I found someone to cover me. I leave a message on the assistant manager s desk about it as she was in a fire warden meeting and also advised the operations manager as I am about to leave after finishing my shift at 3.30 pm and not in tomorrow.
No need to stop and recharge my Opal card this afternoon again as i did so this morning. Straight after work I stopped for a toilet break before waiting for the next 280 to Chatswood. It was quite a long wait. I reached Chatswood by 5 pm and the first thing I did was go to Myer Chatswood to speak to the manager in Homeware about a transfer. They can't help as it has to go through the store manager at Warringah. There are no part time positions available and although they are looking for casuals not in the homewares or kidswear departments. I also find out that the VM manager there is currently on annual leave. A quick look at Uniqlo before purchasing dinner of my usual a spicy barramundi burrito this time with chimi mayo from GYG before waiting and boarding bus from Chatswood 120 bus to Wynyard to see Nature Illuminated @ The Chinese Gardens of Friendship Darling Harbour. This better be good. I don't feel the good vibe lining up to get into the 8 pm session. I had to walk to Darling Harbour stopping along the way to see if anything had been installed for this Saturday's 90th Anniversary of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. No not that I could see however the giant VIVID countdown clock is up and counting down outside the QVB.
There was another 40 minutes or so before we were allowed to enter the Nature Illuminated event therefore instead of lining up outside, I sat nearby on a bench and waited. 10 minutes before the event I made my way closer to one of the 3 barricades and had my QR code ticket scanned and was at the front of one of the queues. There was quite a crowd booked to enter tonight. I asked what the augmented reality was and it was explained to me. I scanned the service Australia check in code and waited to enter. The session is 60 minutes long but I think I had seen enough in 45 minutes. Most people hung around beyond the end of the 8 pm session. ( I have uploaded a video onto my YouTube channel- it is longest one but not the best one I recorded). Photos below. ( apologies for the selection of photos I am having trouble uploading the selection I had therefore just saved whichever photos blogger uploaded sucessfully)
News headlines today include:
Bega cheese could have a double digit markup milk and cheese due to increase in farming costs
2 children have been identified in a burnt out car in the murder suicide pact with their mother. A devastated father is on a flight back to Australia.
Labour party has been hit with a mean girls club where one of their members has bern bullied
The Ben Roberts Smith trial continues. He denied he was a bully and murderer. A witness has cited that he did not deserve to be a recipient of Victorian Cross medal.
Novak Djokovic may be able to play at the French Open despite his vaccination status. He has already been kicked out of an Indian tennis tournament. Meanwhile Russia will be able to play at the French Open but only as "neutrals".
Prince William has shown he is a real Prince charming by obtaining an umbrella to shield his wife Catherine when it started to rain at a service.
Northern Japan has experienced an earth quake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale. A tsuarmi warning was issued. No tsuarmi but trains stopped power cut buildings shook . The quake was reminiscent of their last major tsuarmi in 2011 damaging buildings and causing a nuclear power station meltdown. Fears that may be aftershocks.
The war continues in the Ukraine. President Zelensky address the US asking for Biden for more support.
The rail union and NSW government meets today. No strikes and commuters will get free travel every Friday for a year.
Reopening of NZ borders next month to fully vaccinated travellers have bought forward to April for Australians. The borders will open to other countries in May.
Friday 18th March 2022
Day off
Due to no trains last night with a bus replacement service between Town Hall and Hornsby via Chatswood, I did not get home until around 10.30 pm with quite a wait at Chatswood for a connecting 144 home. I had no idea where to catch the bus replacing trains. I am so tired I slept in until 8 am this morning.
I looks like a nice dry day again after quite a warm night last night but it is forecast for showers again today. So glad I have today off and now Saturday and Sunday off work after requesting Saturday off due to the likely possibility of not being able to get to and from work.
I need to catch up on my blog and other things eg pay my storage unit rental .
The maintenance guy came today and put all the guns out again. So annoying now I have to pull them all back in! It's not rubbish collection day today! Also today there was drilling and banging all day by a truck carrying dirt and cement in the back of it. they were here from early in the morning to around 4.30 pm. So annoying as I could feel the vibrations drilling digging and banging below me. What are they doing?
I took my rubbish out and pulled all the bins back in hiding them all behind the sign outside.I had to wait until the construction workers had gone. I had a look at what they were digging and just beside unit 1A there is a rectangular patch with a white manhole of some type patched up with black tar. I wonder what this is for. There was an awful lot of noise today.
It put me off my schedule today. I did absolutely nothing except cook eat and watch tv whilst updating my blog.
I will prepare for my day out tomorrow. I hope to catch the special Waratah train thst crosses the bridge early for the 90th Anniversiary of The Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Sleep after watching 8 Out of 10 Does Countdown - not quite tgere is a huge thunder and lightening show outside which started about 45 minutes ago. I thought it was the Sydney Harbour Bridge light projection show but no it was thunder and lightening. I look at the forecast and it indicated tgat by 10 pm tonight there was a 90% cha nce of rain. Almost spot on at 9 pm it started to rain and the thunder and lightening show so close outside to where I reside continues. It is forecasted to rain throughout the night but lightly o my to get heavier around 6 or 7 am tomorrow morning. I hope the rain stops for the weekend celebrations as there is so much on asnd mostly outdoors.
So glad I didn't end up going to see the Harbour Bridge Projections tonight - It's pouring with rain outside. It's like a flood out there and the thunder and lightening is so close and so loud..
News headlined include today
Sydney trains truce - 6 weeks of of rail disrruptions will stop as intensive negotiations begin between the transport union and state government over health and safety and wage increases as well as the repairs to flood damage to the rail network which is being replaced by bus services. There will no longer be any rail disruptions every Friday however train strikes and rail disruptions will still continue on Monday. The Fare free Friday scheme is still being discussed.
Cost of Living Bonuses? When the budget is announced - how is the government going to afford and pay for this? The Government is in billions of dollars in debt already - from iron ore apparently.
Shane Warne' s son will toss the coin at theSt Kilda football match as part of the club's tribute to the late cricket star and a documentary will be aired next Wednesday on Shane Warne's life.
Extra support for flood victims will now be given out by the federal government. I usually it was only given out to Lismore flood victims.
There were 20 000 cases of Omicron and 5 deaths in NSW overnight.
Saturday 19th March 2022
Happy 90th Birthday To the Sydney Harbour Bridge!
Day Off ( Only requested due to possible public transport delays today)
It's so wet outside at 7 am this morning. It continued to rain late into the night but stopped raining briefly after midnight into the early hours of the morning only to pour with rain again early morning . There were showers on and off throughout the day which eased by around 2 pm.
On my way on the train to Central Station a couple, who were on their way to get on the vintage red train departing Central Station to cross the Sydney Harbour Bridge, told me that tickets for that special vintage train ride sold out 2 weeks ago in 10 minutes , that they had to get an Uber from Chatswood as the bridge was closed off earlier but since reopened for the convoy crossing over the bridge to start the 90th birthday celebrations of the Sydney Harbour Bridge ( I made the right decision not to work today as I would have been late getting to work due to delays in public transport including this train into town from St Leonard's Station which was travelling at a snail's pace to the point that I thought that I would miss the Waratah train ) and how they only had 2 minutes before the red vintage train arrived at central station to get to platform 16. They made it with plenty of time to spare as the vintage train was running a little late and announced to be currently at Newtown . I had set my phone to do an automatic system update at 1 am in the morning. It failed to do so and decided to do one right when the vintage train was due to arrive and was still updating when the Waratah train arrived therefore I had to use my basic Samsung phone's camera to take photos and videos of the vintage and Waratah trains arriving and departing Central Station as well as stopping mid way on the Sydney Harbour Bridge before and continuing onto their destinations.
After waiting and boarding the Waratah train from central ( I think some people were getting on the wrong train as there were 2 other normal T1 Northern line passenger train services departing from platform 16 at Central Station travelling beyond North Sydney to Linfield & Hornsby via Gordon that were not stopping mid bridge in between the special charter vintage red train and waratah train) it did not take long to reach the middle of the Sydney Harbour Bridge ( stopping at Town Hall & Wynyard) where people were waving from both trains to each other as well as crowds viewing from the pedestrian side of the bridge also waving and clicking away.
After the meeting and stopping, both trains continue onto their final destinations. The Waratah stopping at Milsons Point Station before finally terminating at North Sydney Station.
From North Sydney station I managed to grab a copy of The Telegraph with a special commemorative wrap celebrating the 90th Birthday of the Sydney Harbour Bridge with what's on today and over the weekend. No other commemorative items given out at North Sydney Station. There was suppose to be a Puzzle Hunt of some sort from each of the stations Town Hall Wynyard, Milsons Point and North Sydney according to the event guide and online information (which was difficult to find.)
Next stop was a ride on the very first vintage double decker bus for the day which was not due to arrive from Blues Street until 10 am. This vintage double decker bus runs continuously between 10 am and 4 pm today between North Sydney Station and Wynyard Station ( where the park is). A guy who is a bus driver was wondering if the old pull line bus stopping system still worked as it looked as if once pulled it would snap off so he pulled it and the blue light indicating to the bus driver that someone wanted to get off atthe next stop comes on with a very soft sounding ding. When the vintage double decker bus arrived and stopped at Wynyard all the lights came on upstairs on the upper deck of the bus making it look like a large lit up makeup mirror in an actor's backstage change room.
From Wynyard it was a walk down to Campbells Cove passing the display of vintage cars with a replica of a model T Ford. Performances were on their way with Bananas in Pajamas performing on stage and kids participating in games from the 1930s.
It was a long wait but at the time not a long queue for the next red and off white vintage ferry also running between 10 am and 4 pm continuously between Campbells Cove and Milsons Point Wharf. I was beginning to wonder where the last ferry was taking its passengers to as it looked as if it was travelling in the opposite direction heading towards Manly and not towards Milsons Point which is a short ferry ride under the Harbour Bridge to Luna Park. Had they vintage ferry taken its passengers hostage? Was it lost at sea or had it sunk? Apparently there was only 1 vintage ferry running for the entire day. It must have been 30 minutes to 45 minutes of waiting when finally the vintage ferry arrives at Campbells Cove Wharf. By now there was a very long queue of people waiting to board the vintage ferry. As you board the ferry it feels as if you are at sea already - the ferry is swaying as passengers board from an already swaying pontoon wharf despite sitting in the undercover outside seating ( more like lack of it) at the back of the ferry. Most passengers must have travelled standing up back in the days. Where were the life jackets? I spot them neatly tucked away inside the cabin above the seats. Whilst waiting for the vintage ferry, it began to rain and it became heavier and heavier but the rain bomb was brief. I boarded the vintage ferry as fast as possible as it started to rain again. I shielded my commemorative newspaper inside my raincoat and umbrella to keep it as dry as possible.
On board the ferry no one wanted to sit on the outside seating as it continued to rain but as the ferry filled there was no choice. It was meant to be a 5 minute ferry ride more like 15 minute ride. There was a ferry jam as a Rivercat stopped right in the path of this departing vintage ferry - why did it stop with so many other ferries approaching Circular Quay Wharves. Honk Honk.
Arriving at Milsons Point Wharf , it was a what to do next. I could visit Luna Park open until very late therefore if I wanted to I could come back to visit with an option to purchase a $30 commemorative ticket. The other options was to walk uphill to Milsons Point Station to take a look at the pop up bus museum but I opted for a trip on the single decker vintage buses which loop back and forth between 10 am and 4 pm from the bottom of Milsons Point near the wharf to North Sydney Station only. There was an awaiting vintage bus but I could not get into it - story I am always the person that is at the beginning of tthe queue having to wait for the next bus orsomething. Pushed aside a couple of ladies behind me were even allowed in front of me to board the next vintage bus. The bus arrives and it is raining again. I sit near the front of the bus. The window is wide open which is something you hardly ever see on a bus today. The bus not only struggles to travel up the hill but observing the bus driver it is such an effort for him just to negotiate turns and roundabouts - no automatic turning or power steering back then and no suspension.
Arriving back at North Sydney Station I decide what to do next. I find the illusive puzzles that were being given out which were actually a scavenger hunt where a final piece of the puzzle is missing and you need collect it from Campbells Cove. I just came from Campbells Cove! Well the decision has been made for me. It is a commemorative puzzle therefore it won't be a complete commemorative one if a piece is missing therefore I take the normal train back to Wynyard and walk back to Campbells Cove to find and collect the final puzzle piece rather then queuing up and taking the vintage double decker bus back to Wynyard. There was a vintage red rattler train from North Sydney Station however tickets were sold out well in advance and the train just did a loop somewhere, you could not hop on or off it.
Waking down to Campbells Cove it was around 1 pm - lunch time. I felt like a pie but decided on a very oily spinach quiche from La Renaissance which is my favourite French patisserie . Oh dear I should have purchased a pie!
After my snack I walked back to Campbells Cove to find and collect the final piece of the puzzle. Some people waiting in the ferry queue did a reverse and collected the final single puzzle piece before collecting the puzzle at Town Hall Wynyard Milsons Point or North Sydney Stations. After collecting my puzzle piece it was should I wait until 2 pm for the 2nd and last 1 hour Tall Ship cruise for today? I was so tired by now and did not have any change with me to payfor it, I decided to walk to Circular Quay and catch the lightsail to Town Hall to Woolworths as I still had to do grocery shopping and get change to do my laundry.
By the time I finished my shopping I caught the train back to Chatswood Station connecting onto a bus home. It was a wait for a bus. Home I washed my hands tried to upload my videos onto YouTube and catch up on my blog. I unpacked my groceries and have a nap. I had planned to return to Milsons Point around 7 pm tonight to see the Harbour Bridge light up and maybe visit Luna Park at the same time but could not be bothered to go out again.
A text message comes through the whats app team group chat asking if anyone can work on Sunday from 10am - 4 pm or even 10 am - 2 pm ( added by the team leader) as a team member is unable to work. No response as it is too late notice was given too late.
End of my Saturday.
News headlines new include
SA goes to the polls today , hundreds of thousands of voters have done a prevote or postal vote which means votes won't be counted until Monday.
There are calls for an inquiry into the bullying of the late senator kitching who died of a heart attack .
The Sydney Harbour Bridge turns 90 today. It took 8 years to complete. Today will be full of activities to celebrate It's birthday.
Meghan Markle to have her royal title relocated to Camilla Due to her and Harry's split from the royal family?!
The war in the Ukraine continues as a movietheateris bombed hiding residents in a raid shelter.
Sunday 20th March 2022
