1st Wednesday - Thursday 30th June 2022 VIVID Continued The Goods Line & Barangaroo , VIVID Press Play @ Ivy After Work, Kit Kat Chocolatory Sydney, Narrrabeen Lagoon, Desperate Last Minute Attempts To Use Up My 2 Dine and 1 Discover Vouchers Before They Expire On 30Th June 2022 & End Of Financial Year

Wednesday 1st June 2022

1st Day Of Winter

Myer 10 am - 5.30 pm 

So much to do today . The customer service manager was not in today so I did not get yelled at ( she had a day in lieu) So glad that I am not working on Thursday or Friday when she is back. Yesterday I could see she wanted to yell at me for spending too long with a dissatisfied customer who phoned with a complaint. 

I was suppose to be in electricals today but stayed in homewares.

News headlines today include:

Brisbane is rattled by a small earthquake 

13 women have been named by AA in the front bench and will be sworn in today. Tanya Pybasek has moved to become environmental minister after 14 years aa education minister with rumours of her shift being a snub by AA.

Last minute rehearsals are being done for the start of the 4 day Queens platinum jubilee celebrations.

The government has made flu vaccines are free today for residents around Australia if they want it.

New movies include a pinoccio remake .

Wild winds in Sydney easing by today and snow falling in the Blue Mountains with hail forecasted  with Oberon covered in a bkanket of white.. It is a really cold snap for the first day of Winter. Arctic wind from QLD to TAS. 

Matthew McConaughey has visited has hometown where the shooting occurred without any fuss unlike H & M.

A plague of mice has overtaken regional QLD.

Thursday 2nd June 2022

Day off!

I did absolutely nothing today. It was a beautiful but cold day outside but stayed a home made a nice warming Japanese curry and sorted my laundry as well as read my countless emails I had ignored and a few other things. Still having trouble with accessing my SDC open dance classes now I can't book classes on their app which I could do before. Ever since their open day where I purchased a in studio dance class pack I have not been able to access the class schedule therefore can't book any classes. Still can see the library of on demand classes although unsure if they are now limited there sent an email to SDC again to ask if there is something wrong with my account due to me having 2 types of passes stored on the app which are both visible.

News headlines include

Johnny Depp wins his defamation case after over 6 weeks of witnesses cross examinations and jury deliberations.  

The Queens 4 day platinum jubilee celebrations begin with royal enthusiasts camping outside for upto 5 days in order to get the best vantage point to view the royal  parade . There is a royal horse race in honor of the Queen however she is not attending instead spending time to meet her great grand daughter Lilibet for the first time expected. The Sussexes are expected to arrive in the UK tonight. Archie is 3 and Lilbet Diana turns 1 this weekend.

The first cruise ship Pacific Explorer since COVID  that departed Sydney recently has arrived and docked in Brisbane at it's new international cruise ship terminal with 1500 passengers on board. The new terminal was built 2 years ago but was never been used until today due to the pandemic.

The artic blast that has ravaged the East Coast of Australia with strong winds and snow falls in the alps of 30 cm has eased for today but another cold blast is forecasted tomorrow.

AA is under pressure to do more for the rising cost of living where fuel and energy costs are skyrocketing due to global economic conditions , high inflation, the war in Ukraine and aging power stations. 

4 dead in a Tulsa hospital from another mass shooting. 

Robert Hugh's court hearing and parole decision resulted in him being granted parole and it is unsure whether he will spend his remaining  time at Long Bay jail or transferred to Villawood Detention Centre where he will remain until the final paperwork is completed and he is deported to the UK where upon arrival he will be a free man due to his arrangement of surrendering his Australian citizenship and passport. 

2 hospitals in Victoria are in crisis due to their past by useful life back up generator where parts are no longer available and the system needs replacing. 

Goat Island is being returned to the original custodians of the land. It is planned for refurbishment. 

Friday 3rd June 2022

Day off!

Today was not as nice as yesterday but a little wet in the afternoon and grey in the morning. 

So much to catch up on. I finally washed and dried my laundry but had to do a 2nd dry cycle as my llaundry was still a little wet.

I left my laundry in dryer whilst I ventured out to do a few things.

First stop to the ATM where I was unable to withdraw any funds from my bank account . The ATM kept telling me to try again later.  I did not attempt a 3rd time in case it ate my bank card up again. 

Next stop was to return my bottles for recycling.

Then it was a metro ride to Macquarie shopping centre to do some much needed grocery shopping. Aldi followed by Coles and finally Woolworths. Again I had trouble getting items on my shopping list as they were just unavailable therefore I had to substitute or leave it off my shopping haul today. Everything is so expensive. I had to dig into my savings today to purchase the second half of my groceries.

I just paid my private health insurance for the month of June which I am reviewing after the 30th June 2022 for the new financial year because they are far too expensive and inflexible and their customer service is appalling.They keep missallocating my payments which has now resulted in my contacting and lodging my complaint to the ombusdman. I rang them for a copy of my policy to be sent to me via email they advised it would take a few minutes and to check my junk mail. A day later I still have not received it.

Home I take my laundry out of the dryer, have a snack and bed after watching the Cook Up and 8 out of 10 foes countdown. In between catching up with emails and YouTube. 

A very boring day except for being interrupted with a phone call and message from the new menswear toys snd kidswear manager from Myer adding an extra shift to my roster Thursday 9th June 2022. I could not text her back on the number therefore had to ring her back whilst grocery shopping to advise her that I had already advised the customer service manager that I was unavailable to work that day previously.  You can't just change peoples shifts at the last minute everytime you are short staffed - that's just inconsiderate and disorganised - poor planning and poor management.

News headlines include today

Prince Andrew has tested positive to COVID so won't be able to attend the 4 day Queens platinum jubilee celebrations. He has been with the queen recently but was testing daily.

The 4 day platinum jubilee celebrations started off last night with The Trooping Of The Colours to celebrate her birthday with 70 fighter planes flying above in formation. The senior royals appearing on the balcony with the queen as they watched the show and little Prince Louis stealing the show clapping pulling faces and covering his ears. Millions watching on around the world and with a sea of people out and about with flags just to try and catch a glimpse of the queen or just the parade. The Queen then pressed a special Commonwealth of Nations  globe to light a path of lights leading to the lighting of the tree of trees to end the first night of celebrations - beacons of light were lit around the world including a beacon of light in Australia. The harbour bridge was illuminated in purple to commemorate the queens 70 years on the throne. Due to the Queen experiencing some discomfort during the celebrations , she has cancelled attending a service tomorrow.

A virtual emergency has bern introduced in VIC to relieve the pressures on ambulance services by saving hundreds of unnecessary ambulance journeys to hospitals.

The mother of the baby abducted in a car in Adelaide has been reunited with their mother who it gas bern revealed was also abducted as a child.

A mother has lost custody of her 2 children who smacked her adhd and  autistic child with a plastic spoon after her child took her credit card and purchased $600 worth of video games.

A toddler has died after he ran out of a daycare centre and was struck by a car. Police are still looking for the car who may not be aware that he has struck the toddler due to his size. A 73 year old man has handed himself in for the hit and run incidnt

Rolling Stones are touring to mark their 60th anniversiary however they will not be coming to Australia with their tour.

2 People have died in a house fire in NSW. As the roof collapsed one was being rescued however could not be resuscitated whilst the other was already deceased inside.

Amber Heard is disappointed with the verdict and will appeal the decision - when asked if she was able to pay the damages.

The government is to hold an emergency meeting in response to the rising cost of energy costs to figure out what can be done to slow down this rising cost of living expense.

Saturday 4th June 2022

Myer 10 am - 5 pm

Another cold but dry day today although at time overcast.

I am again asked by the customer service manager if I can work next Friday. I already said I can't work next Thursday n oi w she is hassling me to work next Friday. I said only 10 am - 4 pm. She said if I don't get the markdowns finished then I will have to stay back. No I won't stay back. I'm already doing her a favour and if it was not originally on Kronos then I do not work. This extra shift was not on Kronos. If it is still not on Kronos I won't show up -  if I find Myer is engaging in wage theft I will be taking legal action against them.

It was so busy today. I  have noticed that has been a huge increase in online returns to the store. There is confusing sales ticketing together with almost every customer asking for a price check rather then a sale at the counter which wastes time. The stock is not on the floor most of the time therefore I keep having to go down to the reserves to get stock for customers which is another time waster. Asking every customer if they have a Myer One membership, if they need a bag & payment method cash or card with quite a few customers going to the incorrect counter to pay all time wasters. Looking up Myer one memberships for customers who can't be bothered to update their profile details therefore making it difficult to find their membership numbers etc. I forgot to scan the barcodes again after signing up new Myer One memberships.

I am serving a customer and a team member next to me asks her customer " Will that be all for today?" however instead of her customer responding my customer responds with " a no  thank you". I look up at him and respond with " Did you just respond to something I didn't ask you?" Rather funny moment . 

More moving of stock today. Why ar we constantly redisplaying stock around that does not need moving. Why would you move candles snd diffusers from a perfectly suitable display and try and shove it onto a display that clearly cannot fit the stock on and where the shelves are not tall enough to hold them and the only way to fit them in is to spend time reorganizing the stock on display - on a very busy Saturday as well - we never do stock on a weekend so why today ? Again just poor organisation from the customer service manager. In the end another team member had to put them all back where they were originally displayed after I mentioned this problem to the customer service manager. She always yells at me for double handling or not having time to deal with a customer complaint  over the phone snatching a customer complaint from me the other day ( I wonder if she returned the customers  call to resolver her complaint or just abandoned it - I will never know) - wasn't this redisplay of candles and diffusers to it's original display just an clear example double handling? 

$100 Bobby or blobby unscented candles - nobody has purchased any of them - just a total waste of money - whoever the buyer at Myer was should be shot as this is just another waste of my investment as a shareholder - these candles will just end up as clearance items ( yep another cage or trestle of clearance items to add to the already 1/3 of this Myer store full of clearance items - think of the holding costs for all these unsellable clearance items which are just going end up being transferred back to head office  snd written off then dumped as landfill or donated to charity ( hopefully donated to charity). 

Today all of the team members were given a 3 page long skills questionaire where were had to complete as yes no or unsure if we knew how to do. It took so long to complete in between a very busy day, I just put what I thought but not necessarily accurate. Quite a few questions were unclear - ever changing procedures or never had to do procedures. One thing newer team members agreed upon was no training on orientation and the orientation session was more about safety then anything else - why because Myer does not have the proper insurances as no insurance company wanted to cover them due to their financial risk   - everyone knows this - a claim for workers compensation claims of any form is frowned on.

Last customer of the day took me about 10 minutes over my finishing time again ( unpaid) . I missed the bus and therefore walked to the out of service lift where someone has graffitied "this lift is not out of service" inside it. and walk across the pedestrian bridge to catch the next manly bus. The queue for the B line was extremely long and it was at least a 15 minute wait for the next 199 bus to Manly in the dark and cold. At Manly it was another long wait for the next 144 bus home. 

I was planning to go to Melbourne by XPT overnight for a day trip to attend the last day of the Good Food and Wine Show  on Sunday but decided not to go eventhough there was still very last minute availability.  Not worth the risk missing the train due to the long queues and wait time for connecting public transport to get to Central in time. I have a ticket to the Good Food & Wine in Sydney at the ICC . I prebooked ages ago. Should have waited as Groupon is selling tickets at a discounted price. 

Still trying to catch up on my blog before heading out. 

News headlines today  and Sunday include

The queens jubilee celebrations continue with a royal concert featuring artists from all genres.  Diana Ross performs for the first time in 25 years, Adam Lambert performs Queen songs, Alicia Keys, Elton John , Andrea Bocelli just to name a few. Projections of the Queens life were projected on the palace building  and Paddington Bear having a marmalade sandwich with her.The Queen was not present with Prince Charles making a speech as a tribute to his "mummy" thanking his mother for her services as and how his father would be proud and to cheer loudly so she might hear the cheers from where she is . No sign of Harry and Meghan but William Kate Charlotte and George were all present.  Princess Anne has represented the Queen at the horse races as she was unable to attend. All 40 jockies had ridden the Queens horses in the past. The royals have travelled around the UK to represent the queen. Charlotte had a hand at conducting  an orchestra where George cracked a joke on the family's tour. The Queen even had a joke vis video conferencing with Australian of the Year Dillion Alcott about him winning tennis matches against his UK. It is little Lilibet's first birthday today therefore the Sussexes are probably celebrating her birthday and meeting her grandmother for the first time. Will the Queen appear one more time on the balcony before the 4 day platinum jubilee celebrations end?

AA flys to Indonesia with talks with the Indonesian president to strengthen ties with countries in the indo pacific after East Timor signed an agreement with China. He will be given the red carpet treatment however he will not be attending the commonwealth summit in Rwanda instead sending his deputy prime minister .

Another cold snap is coming to the South East coast of Australia with more snow for the alps and chance of a shower in Sydney.

Baz Luhrmann's new movie Elvis premieres on the Gold Coast with stars including Tom Hanks present. Movie opens in Sydney on 23rd June 22.

Sunday 5th June 2022

Day Off

Still catching up after watching the news this morning which was dominated by the Queens 4 day platinum jubilee celebrations.

Too many interruptions by text message from the unvaccinated team member. Can't get what I would like done.

I had to venture out today after spending so much time trying to purchase a cheap bridging phone with my 50000 + Telstra reward points that I was told expire in a few days without success and rather unhelpful Telstra staff - I did not get a call back response from the Telstra store in Chstswood and the chat function on the Telstra app which I downloaded was like talking to a robot and was not very helpful  wasting my time and trying to continue the chat when I cut them off.

I took the bus to Chatswood and headed straight to The Telstra store at Westfield. They could not help me at first and both the A23 and A13 entry level Samsung phones were out of stock. I so err nt over 30 minutes there where in the end I manage to order online a A13 Samsung - it was not what I wanted but I needed a phone and needed to use my 50000 points on my Telstra Plus awards that were about to expire in the next 2 days. Done I ended up paying $199 for the po repaid phone outright which is suppose to include a $30 prepaid sim card. It will take 3 days to get to my PO Box but at least I managed to get a new bridging phone online which was in stock at Telstra. I checked the price of this phone outright online and prices range from just under $300 to high $300. Done .

Into my 3rd night of VIVID. I tackled Central Station & The Goods Line as well as Barangaroo tonight . It was a very long walk. I waited for a while at Central Station for the next light rail to Paddy's Markets  but did not wait until 6 pm for the light projection on the clock tower at Central station to start. 

I walk to The Goods Line where there were 6 light installations. It was a hairpin turn walk. The walk included a projection onto The Powerhouse Museum building followed by a polychromatic and monochromatic light installation on the UTS Business School building with 3 displays of indigenous art works and an art installation titled Mirrored City ( photos below) followed by 3 other art or light installations ( refer all 5 videos on my YouTube channel). 

I then walked all the way via Darling Square, Darling Quarter and Darling Harbour via King Street Wharf to Barangaroo for another 3 art installations ( I accidently missed one located in Central Barangaroo). It was a long walk back via Walsh Bay The Rocks and Circular Quay. Along the way I managed to find The Bombay Sapphire Bar at Darling Harbour where hosts were trying to get visitors to VIVID to enter their garden bar to have a drink as it was so quiet, stopping to have a look at  the hour long queues outside VIVID House and found a food concession selling $7.50 delicious looking tarcos which looked so good but I did not purchase them as I was not hungry as well as finding  Celestial the missing art installation at Walsh Bay and discovering the iridescent giant floating balls were unavailable to view tonight due to being deflated due to heavy winds recently.

UTS Business school Building The Goods Line

Projection on The Powerhouse Museum building

Barangaroo Central near the Wharf 

Missing in action all the giant inflatable iridescent balls @ Walsh Bay 

Celestial @ Wharf 2/3

These were all along Wharf 2/3 Walsh Bay

Nura all along Barangaroo towards Barangaroo Reserve 

Convergence at the end of VIVID walk @The Goods Line

As soon as I reached Circular Quay it was a train to Wynyard and connecting train to St Leonards Station with a quick pit stop for a fish fillet without cheese and light tartare sauce at Maccas before quite a wait for the next 144 home. 

Home it was a cup of hot tea the fillet burger and straight to bed after catching the final 15 minutes or so of the Platinum Jubilee Concert.on channel 7. So tired.

I apologie again for my blogs being so behind I am having trouble with uploading my photos onto my blog therefore watch my YouTube channel instead.  

News headlines today include ( see Saturday's news headlines)

Monday 6th June 2022

Day off

It was really windy overnight but I wake to a beautiful morning sleeping in until 9.30 am!  I hardly ever sleep in so late. I must have been really tired from last night.

My allergies are really bad. I wasn't sure if it was actually raining last night or just really windy. I fell asleep uploading a video onto my Youtube channel and waiting for my phone to upgrade its operating system. I am unsure if it was successful and whether it will fix my  problems with my phone I am having. I probably just need a new phone and also transfer all the Myer shit of this phone onto a separate one . That's probably what is clogging up the memory on my phone.

Today I stayed at home and did absolutely nothing. Too tired and feeling really sick from my allergies. 

News headlines today include:

A little known original member who formed the band Bon Jovi has died. Jon Bon jovi has taken to social media to pay tribute.

Google to pay Australian politician who was traumatised  more then $715000  for defamation charges over Youtube viedos.

The Queen has made a surprise balcony appearance on the final day of her 70th Platinum jubilee celebrations.

The MTV movie & TV awards are on in LA.

AA has landed in Jakarta for talks with the president. 

Golfer Minjee Lee from Perth WA  has won the US Open and has become the biggest winner. 

The Australian dollar has fallen slightly to just below $0.72 against the US$.

Nadal wins despite taking pain killers for injuries and dies not know if he will ever play again although he would love to play in Wimbledon. 

Huge hail stones have fallen in central France injuring residents and killing one resident. Whilst in Germany hail has falledn to a few meters high.

There is a second hand car shortage in SE QLD after the floods where the cost of second hand cars can cost 25% more then new cars.

Another shooting in the US has occurred.

Tuesday 7th June 2022

Myer 9.30 am - 5.30 pm

Another dry but cold day. I forgot to put the red bins out last night and they are full to the brim.I have never seen so much domestic rubbish from this apartment block before and it's not even rented at full capacity like it was pre COVID when the red bins were never full like they are now. Since the passing of the guy living in Unit 1 A there has not been a dedicated resident to take the bins out or take them back in. I was doing it when I was the last resident living in the block but I can't put the big red bin out as it is too heavy. 

I had a massive asthma attack as soonaa I arrivedat work. The second time I've had a severe allergic reaction at work.

Tickets down and new daily deal and tactical tickets up this time on red sale paper not the normal  persimmon colour.

Can't believe nobody has bothered doing the price increases.

Really not feeling well at work today most of today.

News headlines today include

Boris Johnsin the UK prime minister has survived a leadership challenge over partying during COVID lockdown. No apparent sucessor.

The East coast of Australia is experiencing another cold snap . Still windy on the coast of NSW and Melbourne has it's coldest day of the year today ( 13 degree forecasted). Good for sniw lovers not good for Tawoomba.

Paramount is being sued over copyright issues for Top Gun Marrick movie

Rising interest rates and rising costs of living continues to put stress on households. Mortgage stress continues as another interest rate hike is due by reserve bank today .

There is a fuel shortage as price fuel spikes

Princess Mary participates in a 1.6 km fun run for charity.

Toll overhaul for NSW is planned with drivers getting a possible toll rebate over a certain amount as tolls ramp up over the following weeks.

J Lo gets emotional at MTV awards.

QLD forensic labs are under reviews due to problems with the labs.

Wednesday 8th June 2022

Myer 9.30 am - 5.30 pm 

VIVID Press Play @ Ivy 7 pm - 8 pm Session

Another cold but dry day today after last night's questionable is it raining on my way home as I reached St Leonards Station. 

I catch the usual connecting buses to get to work in time. I recharge my Opal card (again) before work. Breakfast is a chicken and mushroom pie i grab from a cafe nearby. I eat it before making my way to the staff entrance/exit. I needed something hot on a freezing cold morning. 

I didn't have to collect the ipads today just attend the huddle. There is only me and the team leader on today snd the unvaccinated team member and  the cocky casual on in electricals today. The day sheetalways exiles me to electricals but I hate being in electricals because I can't do solveups ( electrical returns due to faults) .

It was so busy today and I endedup doing around $4000 worth of sales. I thought I would not make any sales today as everyone was just returning stuff. The cocky team member from electricals had a few hundred dollars worthof beddingreturns which we don't usually allow due to health regulations. They had selected sheet sets not quilt cover sets! and standard pillow cases not European ones! I  always go over any bedding with customers so they end up getting the correct products reducing any returns. A girlwas with her father buying bedding but when I asked them if their mattress was less then 40 cm deep they weren't sure therefore put the sheet set on hold so they could go home and check. I asked what her name was and she said "Toby" ( odd but I didn't question it) until I heRd her father respond to her with  "identity  faud!" then I realised what she had done. I signed up a Myer One membership but forgot to scan the barcode gain and no one else wanted to join up today . I sold 2 bags for $1 each  to s customer but got her the largest ones as all the orange and white reusable bags are the same reduced price. Lunvhwas a struggle to fit in around 2.30pm  and was a very quick sushi hand rolls  and the till rec was down $20 on one of the tills. No customer service manager today - yay!

I made sure I went to the toilet before I left work at 5.30 pm. No time to go after leaving work today as I had to get the Bline all the way to Wynyard straight after work today to meet a work colleague  at 7 pm to go to the Ivy. Yes I went to the Ivy and it is the very first time I am going to this night club. Where if you are over 21 you are too old for the Ivy and where sleazy  old men hangout to hit on these younger girls. 

It is freezing when I arrive outside the Press play sign. So I make my way down to Angel Place. I meet up with my work collegue and we make our way to the Ivy. People are already makingtheir way to Press Play but no one actually checked tickets. Just before meeting my work colleague a Korean  acquaintance texts me with " oops I am too tired from work,  Can we meet up another time?" my simple response was "NO". She does this to me all the time and sends me random texts to meet up and how I am. I don't have time for these types of people. Especially after all the effort of telling her where to get a ticket  for Press Play online. I am so glad i didn't get more tickets but did wish the other team member from the shoe department could have come along - she was genuinely tired and therefore could not come along. 

So it was a very long ascent up several flights of stairs to actially get to the entrance of the Ivy. Upon arrival the work colleague needed to go to the toilet. Then we just made our way around the night club . Pity the lift did not go anywhere except down - ie no access to the penthouse or other dining floors.  It was an event for all ages until 9.30 then after that all ticketed sessions required photo id. I really didn't think utwas an appropriate venue for kids. See why in description on my videos uploaded onto my YouTube channel.

Press Play Window Display 

iceberg selfie station # 1 - I love this selfie as my work colleague was wearing monochromatic colours and blended in 

Organza fabric selfie station # 2 . I loved this selfie as well but it took me a while to get the white organza material draped around my work colleague.  The colours projected onto her was just good timing when I took the selfie.

polar bear selfie station # 3

performance # 1

tv guy

futuristic dj

performance # 2

performance # 3

performance # 4

laser light show

projection onto white curtains

performance # 1

lights that change colour flash and rise and lower

Each performance was accompanied by lights projections music and  dry ice to create smoke which at times made it colder where we sat down near the performance space. Up above there is a chance to catch the performers up close before they make their way down to their performances. 

After leaving the event I took the work colleague to the IGA Locale where she purchased a drink and I purchased a loaf of Jesse's bread and 2 weird tasting vegan bars the chocolate one was ok but the other one tasted like soap ( not really but I just can't describe the weird taste which was not hot cross bun as per the packaging - 50 cents each now I know why! ) . After that a stop at Jimmy Falafels & a citymart convienence store for her vape refill. I had no idea she vaped. Then it was home. The work collegue had never been to an IGA before - everything is so neat she was scared to take anything off the shelves and sayshow her local IGA looks nothing like this one!

A train from Wynyard to St Leonards Station was very quick however the wait for a connecting bus home was a long cold wait at an open bus stop. There were quite a few people waiting there.  

Sleep really late. Just as well I don't have to work tomorrow.

News headlines today include

The cost of living continues to rise as the cost of iceberg lettuce cost $12 a head and fast food  outlets suchas KFC will now be using a blend of cabbage and lettuce due to increase cost of lettuce. Watermelon can cost $20 . All this as offical interest rates were raised by the Reserve bank yesterday by  .5 % forcing the AUS$ to rise well above the $0.72 mark against the US$ again.

Energy cost spiral with crisis talks today. Aging coal generators and the war in Ukraine are the cause. More strain on household budgets along with increase in fuel prices, grocery costs and mortgage stress.

Going nowhere as Melbournians and Australians suffer long delays with passport  processing applications and renewals waiting more then 7 weeks for a passport. People have been lining up since 4am to obtain them - there is a 3 month wait.

Thursday 9th June 22

Day off ( I was again asked yesterday by the team leader if I could work today - how many times is that now 4? For the last time NO! Do I have to post this on the Whats App group chat?)

It is a beautiful day but I slept in until 10.30 am! I had another very allergic night. It will be another do nothing catch up day today.

I paid my rent today changed the bedding and made a lamb shank  and vegetable stew to be used hopefully in a pie I plan to make.

Preparations for work tomorrow. It will be 6 hours of mark downs to be done.

News headlines today include 

A 69 year old man has died in a car crash struck by a white Audi where the driver and 2 others ran from the accident. A woman remaining in the Audi is being questioned. Police are asking witnesses to come forward as they searchfor these 3 men in the stolen Audi. 

An 18 hour seige has ended on the Gold Coast 2 men have been arrested . Residents have spent a cold night in their cars due to the road being closed off. 

An 11 year old boy missing overnight after getting off a bus has been found after spending a night in the cold.

2 bodies have been found dead in a house following a welfare check.

Jacinda Ardern NZ PM is meeting AA today.

A deadly car crash in Berlin has killed a teacher and injured several teenage students on an excursion when an out of control  car veered off the road onto a footpath . It was unsure if the driver had a medical episode or if it was an act of terrorism. Police are questioning the driver who has been identified.

David Attenborough is knighted ( wasn't he already a Sir?) with a higher honour by Prince Charles for services to broadcasting and environment.

The Marons thrashed the Blues in the state of origin last night ( who whould win the football last night was a topic of conversation)

A teenager who survived the Texas shooting last week has given her testimony in a US gun control debate. 

All big banks have passed on the interest rate increase. There is another 2 %  interest rate increase by the reserve bank forecasted.

The AUS$ has again fallen to below the $0.72 mark against the US$.

The Australian Commonwealth Games uniforms for the Birmingham Commonweath Games have been revealed and have now been sent to be manufactured.

Friday 10th June 2022

Myer 10 am - 4 pm

Today was really busy again and I had a really long staff appraisal with the customer service manager who showed me the new staff servalience system ( I cannot find any other word that could describe this -- basically no team member at Myer has any privacy when they are working every move you make is watched and tracked therefore it is extremely important that document everything Myer does in the event legal action needs to be taken against them.

As you know I am a casual and asked for leave well in advance in July. I was told by the customer service manager that it was far too in advance so I wrote a note in the diary to remind her and advised her of this. I did not ask for any more leave leaving it closer to when I wanted leave in July. On the 4th June 2022 she posts the following text message on the Whats app team group chat

"Hi team just a heads up for the month of July it is fully booked for time off. Please let me know if there is a day you need but I cannot guarantee that I will be able to do it.  Any one who has already arranged time off had been actioned.  We also have a scan on the 12th of July which I would like support with as you are all amazing and in know you will.  Please give me a thumbs up so I know that you have read this and of course let me know if you have any questions thanks for your support. 👍🏻"

Now I asked for leave for June and although I prefer July. I need to take time off to see if being at work is the cause of  the severe allergies I have been having including 2 asthma attacks which I don't get outside of work and a 3rd one that I managed to prevent. I was told by the customer service manager that the rosters had been already done for June so no guarantees that I could take leave in June. Well 1. the above text does not say leave csn't be taken in June. 2. I'm a casual and Myer has not offered me a part time position after almost 2 years with them therefore I should be able to take leave when I like because they are not paying me for it. 3 . If she has done the roster for the month in advance then why can't I see my shifts more then a week in advance at a time on Kronos and it keeps changing so much I have to keep a hard copy diary a digital diary on my phone and keep checking Kronos every single day re last change where a shift was added that wasn't there before and I was asked 4 times to work and worked today because they did not have enough staff. The customer service manager says i didn't give her enough notice for leave well I'm giving her more notice then she gives me for my shifts. Very unfair.  

I think I may have to take a chance and resign before getting another job. I am still looking when I can.

News headlines today include

It's the Queens birthday long weekend and airports are in chaos again with long queues and recommendations of arriving 2 hours prior to departure for  domestic flights and 3 hours for international flights.

Petrol prices have sky rocketed again in time for the long weekend. 

AA meets Jacinda Ardern for a dinner but its back to business with discussions of border controls - deportation policies. The first foreign. A asylym boat has been interceptedfrom Sri Lanka

The Tamal family living in detention and fighting for their freedom to remain in Australia for the past 4 years are finally on their way back to Biloela on a temporary bridging visa. They will be greeted by friends who will continue their fight for them to remain in Australia permanently. Their return coincides with Biloela's multicultural festival  and the youngest daughters 4th birthday.

A cold snap has hit as far North as Queensland with severe weather warnings this weekend.

The AUS $ has dropped to just above $0.71 against the $US .

Saturday 11th June 2022

Queen's Birthday Long Weekend

Myer 10 am - 5 pm 

No customer service manager today and it's a 3 day super weekend.

A very busy day today.

News headlines today include 

Britney Spears gets married for the 3rd time however without drama when her first husband gate crashes her weather.

A break away international golf tournament spearheaded by Greg Norman has seen golf defectors banned from playing at the rival PGA tournament. Several big name golfers have defected to this new Saudi  golf tornament which is more lucrative then the PGA. 

Sunday 12th June 2022

Day Off

A beautiful day today but I still have so much to catch up on. I don't think I will be venturing out today.

I sent a text message to the customer service manager for leave request on 27th and 28th June 2022. She responded with she will be back on Tuesday to will look at it then.

Paid my off site storage rental due today until the end of June only. I am tryingto cut off everything to the end of June which is the end of the financial year.

I baked a large chicken sausage roll and put my 2 very full loads of a laundry in the washing machines.  I put the 2 loads in the dryer overnight.

 

News Headlines today include:

The Australian government will pay France a settlement for the terminated submarine contract  Australia  had with France during the Morrison government and AA will be meeting with French president Macron to mend Australia's relationship with France and thinks the settlement paid was a fair deal.

The US government has sent a 747 to pick up its first shipment of pallets Bubs Australia baby milk formula to assist the US's approximately 74% of baby formula shortage. This will be the first of a number of shipments. The shipment contains baby formula that is allergy friendly as well. This will not affect the Australian supply required as manufacturing has been increased to meet this extra demand. 

Monday 13th June 2022

Myer 11 am - 5 pm

Queens Birthday Public Holiday

Another nice cold day with possible showers forecasted.

Stupid 144 bus was so slow this morning I missed the awaiting B line bus. The driver advises us that there will be another one in 10 minutes. Maybe he's not worried but another passenger and I were as we need to getto work at Warringah by a certain time. In the end the other passenger hailed and Uber and waited for it. She offered me a ride but I said that it's ok because I don't start until 11 am - she started at 10 am and was running late already. I don't get into strange cars with strangers.

It was busy at work. There was only time to take a 15 minute break.

Tomorrow there is yet another sale the weekly Home Sweet Home sale every Tuesday  which means all the super weekend sale signs that end today have to be taken down before the end of today and  the new  Home Sweet Home sale signs for tomorrow have to be put up. 

The team leader organized this as it was far too busy today to do anything else but serve all day. 

We thought it would be a nice quiet cruisy day as it is the Queens birthday public holiday - how wrong we were. They had 4 staff on each counter for Saturday and hardly 2 staff on each counter today in Homewares and electricals. 

Time wasters today were vague customers wasting your time which I say should be banned from shopping at Myer, removal of security tags that were just stuck and price overrides of clearance items - items further reduced but not loaded onto the POS yet as they are not valid until Wednesday so each item has to be manually adjusted on the POS to be honoured for the customer.

So tired I just missed the Chatswood bus do had to cross the road to wait forthe 299 to Manly and wait for the next 144 bus home. It was a very long wait for each bus and a very slow journey home.

No customer service manager today to yell at me today thank goodness. Still waiting on my leave request to be approved.

News headlines today include

Lack of GPs around Australia means some regional areas in Australia have an 8 week wait to see a GP. The shortage of GPs is due to the number of medical school graduates opting not to become GPs.

The Tamil family who has returned to Biloela have taken part in the multicultural festival  and celebrated the youngest daughter's 5th birthday - the first outside of detention. It is likely they will become permanent residents.

The queen has hit another milestone becoming the worlds second longest reining monarch after the late Thai king. Of she holds on for 2 more years she will become the longest reining monarch after King Louis the great.

Melbourne companies ate trailing a 4 day work week.

A list of the Queen's birthday honours awards include the late Shane Warne , Donna Hay, Matt Moran, Ash Barty etc.

There has been an increase in tennant complaints to landlords in regards to  mould issues and who is responsible for repairs.

The deputy prime minister has met the defence minister of China  for the first time in 3 years in Singapore  to thaw the Australia China relationship with important trade and defence talks.

The AUS$ has fallen to just above the $0.70 mark against US$.

Today is the big freeze at the MCG

There is a rise in  youth crime rates in Mermaid Waters on the Gold Coast.

Tuesday 14th June 2022

Day off

Another nice day today but another do nothing day today. My allergies are still really bad. 

I did report my Centrelink fortnightly income today after contacting APM about why my payment has been stopped. I have advised them that I have resigned from my job at Myer. I just had to. I finish at the end of June 2022. I have never been treated so badly by a employer in my life. 

News headlines today include

Australia's Socceroos makes it into the World Cup in November after winning a penalty shoot out against Peru.

The energy crisis in QLD and NSW may need to blackouts. Energy companies have been urged to open extra energy plants. Sydney power could be cut due to power demand outstripping supply. 

Inflation soars in the US a high of 8.8%  with a warning that increasing interest rates too high too fast could cause a global recession. The stock market is already plummeting.

The AUS$ has fallen to around the $0.70 mark against the US$.

Robert Hughs has been released from Longbay Jail , transfered into detention and will be deported to the UK after handing in his Australian passport today.

Victoria is pushing for a 4th vaccine dose for workers in healthcare sector as an increasing amount of works are off sick.

Bailey Smith will be interviewed by the AFL integrity unit with a possible 2 week suspension ban  for the use of illicit drugs. ( that's illicit drugs not banned or performance enhancing drugs ) . He partied hard to beat anxiety  and other mental health issues.

Amber Heard gave her first interview after losing her case against ex husband Johnny Depp. She still has to pay damages to Depp but she is unable to afford  the repayment. She says she does not blame the jury for the decision.

Rebel Wilson comes out with her new girlfriend or has she?

Top gun star asked to star in mission impossible movie by Tom Cruise.

Japan is next on the list for deputy PM of Australia to strengthen ties with.

Phil Nickleson still hopes to return to PGA after being banned from playing in it  for defecting to the Saudi funded golf tournament. He will still play in the US Open as this golf tornament is unaffected by the ban. 

Donald Trump is blamed for the riots during the last elections

The Sydney Harbour Bridge was shut for an hour today due to s technical glitch.

Knights of the order of the guard which Prince Andrew is a member of was told by Prince William snd Prince Charles to stay away  from and the intervention was for him to stay in the background and to stay away from royal duties as not to draw attention to himself.

HughJackman's apartment is on the market for sale.

Wednsday 15th June 2022

Day off

I woke up early this morning but most of my morning was spent chasing Testra, looking for jobs and other problems.

Still no word from the customer service manager in regards to my annual leave request for 27th and 28th June 2022. I think I will just have to call in sick. She was meant to have a look at it on Tuesday.

I think I must have spent 7 hours today in total trying to track my phone I ordered and paid for online at a Telstra store in Chatswood.

Basically I ordered s A13 Samsung prepaid phone outright on 5th June 2022. i was told it would take about 3 working days as it was in stock by a Testra staff member but it could take upto 10 business days to arrive at my PO box address.

It has been over a week and after checking my text messages, tracking details on my Telstra app and my emails could not see any confirmation details after receiving a hard copy and email of my order which only detailed an invoice number and payment details. I therefore followed this up with a phone call to Telstra aftertrying to chat several times with the "bot" on the Testra app who were too slow and did not answer my questions instead passing them on. I waschatting with the botat thesame time as talking to thefirst Telstra operator based in Tasmania. I had to end my call with her as it was getting nowhere and I was on the phone for hours and had other things to do. She sent me an email to return to the store to receive a refund after she escalated my complaint and it was found that my order was cancelled on 6th june 2022 - yes the very next day and I only found out about today by ringing. If I had not followed up i would not have known. I said to the Telstra staff member let's see who is faster you or the bot. I called Telstra again and was hung up on. I called Telstra a 3rd time as I was still waitingfor a response. This time I was put through to a Telstra staff member in Melbourne. They told methe same thing ie to return to the Telstra store i purchased itfrom for a refund.

I returned to the Telstra store in the afternoon after returning my bottles to recycle. They could not give me a refund so they called the technical faults line who could not help and esculated my complaint. I lodged an online complaint straight away online to the Telecommunications ombudsman whilst I was onthe phone for yet another 40 minutes or more to Telstra.

Now I am left with aorder that was cancelled, no phone , 50000 points deducted from my Telstra rewards and $155 payment taken from my international bank card. 

Newsheadlines today include

As cost of living sours, the inflation rate could rise as much as 7% or above,  an underestimation from the 6% forecasted by the Reserve Bank . More interest hikes by December this year and comes after the share market plunge in US.

The AUS$ has now fallen to well below the $0.70 mark against the US$ now at $0.68 

The Wiggles pay tribute to the Socceroos win as they partied hard ivernight after their win.

Millions of minimum wage workers wait to see if they will get a payrise today of 5.1% in in line with the current inflation rate which is the recommendation from AA to the Fair Work Commission.  The Fair Work Commission will make their desision today and make an announcement today at 10.30 am. There has justbeen an announcement that minimum wage workers will get a 5.2% pay increase which is approximately an extra $40 a week ( or an extra $1 per hour analogy)

Ipswich has an emergency with an exclusion zone where a truck has lost its load of gas cylinders which have fallen off aa the truck come out of aservice station and some of the cylinders ruptured. There is a risk that they could explode therefore the highway has been closed and residents to keep their windows closed. The highway has since been partially reopened. 

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have moved out of Kensington Palace and moved to Adelaide Cottage closer to grandma before returning to school.  They will attend a new school.

There are blackout threats in QLD VIC NSW TAS and SA ( with Melbourne and Adelaide blackout threats tonight) ttdue to power generators withdrawing their power supply due to caps on prices. These companies claim they can't operate on these caps which means they will be operating on a loss. These price caps are only temporary and is a to be paid back later . The cost of power and fuel is already sky rocketing. It has been suggested that a solution is to move to more renewable sources of energy. Crisis talks and negotiations are on the way with these power generating companies. Residents are advised not to panic about blackouts during Winter. Wholesale power generators who withdraw their power supplies after the price caps will be investigated. 

Queensland is experiencing a crime wave in Brisbane . Crimes are more for the thrill. The youths involved are arrested then released the following day.

COVID and the flu have exacerbated the hospital system in NSW resulting in longer wait times for hospital treatment and elective surgery.

Masks at airports may be ditched as early as this weekend however masks are still required on aircraft

Thursday 16th June 2022

Myer 10.30 am - 6 pm 

Still no word from thecustomer service manager  in regards to my leave allday today yet she had time tosend me a the following text message

"Hi can you please check the m comm and metrics straight away please you are on the naughty list thanks "

I had already checked it - if you check it but don't open anything it does not register.

I spoke to the ex team leader from electricals andaskedhim how his new role in the mens and kids department was going. I think he is doing really well there. He made a comment which hinted why he made the move and I think the unvaccinated team member and I both know why he made the move and I don't blame him. I may have never formally made a complaint but I assume it was a transfer to another department or resign in his situation.

A new team member from the cafe started in homewares today and her firdt shift is from 12 noon to 9 pm tonight ( how can Myer make someone's first day so long and without supervision! We all had 4 hour shifts first day)  - let's see how long she lasts as there is a very high staff turnover at Myer Warringah and most staff have left -  and me well I am making my moves to hopefully exit Myer. Stay tuned. I will be writing to Myer CEO Mr King in the future ( after I exit Myer ) about how horrific it was to work at Myer.

I have become quite good friends with one of the cleaners - she is so nice and always a very hard worker. I asked why she has never applied to work at Myer and she said distance from Myer and unreliable public transport which is the same problem I have. She would have problems with start and finishing times expected.

News headlines today include

Crisis talks by government and  energy's market regulators step in to end energy suppliers  withdrawing energy supplies resulting blackout threats in NSW and 4 other states by keeping the lights on and power running. Blackouts and energy supply shortages could continue throughout Winter. ( For Christs sake Australia is not a communist country like North Korea yet we are under hostage by energy suppliers). Blame is on aging power stations and no investment in alternative renewable energies. 

Mask mandate rules scraped in QLD NSW WA with other states to follow.

The Soccaroos return to Australia

Kids will get an extra year of school  5 days a week free pre kindergarten.  VIC will have this implemented by 2025 and NSW by 2030. This is not mandatory and trials will in certain regions in NSW this year.

Huge tides leading to flooding and heavy fog have plagued  Brisbane today.

Minimum wage has increased to $21.38 an increase of 5.2 % above the inflation rate of 5.1% on July 1st 2022  except workers in hospitality tourism and aviation.

Friday

Myer 10 .30 am - 5.30 pm

Another beautiful day but I'm stuck at work.

Still no confirmation of leave request. It's too late nowthe day trips to Lake Mountain are booked out now for June andit's not enough time for me to go on a proper break.

It's happened again - another customer complaint that Myer  overcharged them due to  incorrect labeling of boxed estelle 28cm c skillet with lid in  NZ $ amount instead of AUS$ amount. This timethe customer was pretty angry when requested to bring the item back. Last time it was an industry clothing.

No Myer One sign ups today, I had one yesterday butforgot to scan the barcode again - made sure I scanned it afterwards to record.

Lunch was so late today past 3 pm - I finish at 5. 30 pm. I caught thebus with the team member from shoes tonight ie the 5.40 pm 280 Chatswood bus. 

So tired a bus straight home on the 144 bus after recharging my opal card at Woolworths Metro with my last $20 in my bank account again. It seems that travel to snd from work is constantly draining my bank account. 

Prepared my lunch for tomorrow for an early start

News headlines today include

AA hosted an informal dinner at the lodge last night for state and territory leaders. Today he hosts his first state cabinet meeting with all state and territory leaders to discuss everything from the energy crisis health crisis cost of living increases etc.

A 3 year old from Sa has died of COVID and the fear of serge omicron this winter.

Kim Khardasian & partner have been spotted in Queensland on an island after she posted photos on instagram.

Tom Hanks gets angry at fans who almost crushed his wife by getting too close on a night outing telling them to back off. 

Australian Netball is on the brink of collapse and surviving on grants from the government.

The energy crisis and threats of blackouts continue in Australia.

The AUS$ is again just above the $0.70 mark against the US$

Saturday 18th June 2022

Myer 9 am - 5 pm 

VIVID Closing Night

Today 3 team members called in sick therefore it was just me a newteam member and another team member  in homewares and 2 team members in electricals.

The store by 5 pm looked as if a bomb had hit it. It was so busy today and still customer complaints that there is no one around in departments to serve them therefore they all come over to the homewares department to be served. 

The morning started off slow and most of my day was baby sitting the new team member who's English is not too good.

The customer who complained about being incorrectly charged for a 28 cm Estelle skillet with lid returned with a photo of the price label. She was charged in NZ$ not the AUS$ which 

By 8 pm its wet and cold. So glad i can sleep in a little tomorrow but heaps to do.

News headlines today include

Sunday 19th June 2022

Day off

I had an interview in the city today at 11am at Victoria's Basement - a kitchenware and homewares chain store. They stock everything. If you can't find what you need here the only other place to go would be online. I was a little late as there was trackwork yet again!

After that it was a visit to the Kit Kat chocolatory ( refer my vmvideo uploaded onto my  Youtube channel and early blogs on my visit to  the Melbourne one).

Just some of the kit kat flavours I selected from the pick and mix range

Below is a list of kit kat flavours I selected . I will try andreview each one as i taste them and rate them. I have had a few of the  Japanese and UAE kit kats and the main difference is the Japanese ones are lighter and more subtle in flavour and the UAE ones are substantially more heavy in flavour which is not a bad thing at all.

Japanese 

1. Pistachio subtle but definitely pistachio flavoured 8/10

2. Matcha I like this flavoured kit katas I am a big fan of Japanese green tea over just normal green tea 9/10

3. Salt caramel yep it sure is! you can taste the crunchy bits! 7/10

4. Milk - smooth milky very much like the Australian milk chchocolate kit kat but slightly lighter. 6/10

5. Bitter this is basically dark chocolate 6/10

6. Ruby this was all the rage a few years ago when the Melbourne kit kat chocolatory opened and everyone wanted to get their hands on this new rare type of chocolate which tastes and looks very much like a berry white chocolate kit kat. It is meant to be naturally pink in colour and slightly tart. No one cares about the ruby chocolate now - the traditional dark milk and white are still the accepted varieties of chocolate although caramilk burnt ( caramelised ) white chocolate was also a trend at one stage. 6/10

7.Cassis nice purple coloured white chocolate  but tastes too similar to the other berry flavours 6/10

8. Strawberry yuk not a fan of  white chocolate tastes very similar to strawberry cheese cake or ruby chocolate 4/10

9.. Raspberry tarter then strawberry but same pink white chocolate. I think this tastes more like the ruby chocolate 6/10

10. Yuzu one of my favourites. I love yuzu in everything .Tart tasting citrus. 9/10

11. Passionfruit I quite like it tart but nice passion fruit flavour that is not artifical 8/10

UAE

12. Cherry brownie - heavy but I quite like it. Reminds me very much of those old fashioned boxed red foiled liquor ( kirsch)  cherries more then a cherry brownie except without the liquor ( I don'tthink that would go down well with the UAE) 8/10

13. Strawberry cheese cake visually nicer then it tastes. snap it in half and see a layer of white and jammy red but the cheese cake taste and berry need work - more like white chocolate ganache and strawberry jam and again a chemical after taste. but a favourite. 7/10

14. Biscoff this melted but yep it was just a milk chocolate kit kat with a Biscoff biscuit in themiddle instead of the usual wafer biscuit. Nothing special about it and availablein tthe supermarket 6/10

15. Tiramisu I did not like this one, it had a strange chemical taste 3/10

16. creme brulee I liked this one as it had micro bits of toffee that simulates the torched sugar top of a creme brulee when it is cracked. 8/10

Takeaway lunch started off with an abalone nari from sushi hub followed by my favourite seeded pesto vegetarian roll from Luneburger and adding a piece of crumbed fish with a squeeze of lemon from The little Fish Shoppe near by.

Home onthe train to Wynyard  rail replacement bus express to Chatswood and  another bus home.

Not well so home and slept . A bit of fruit was for dinner. Still no call from Telstra in regards to my complaint hence update sent to the telecommunications ombudsman via their website.

Prep for work again tomorrow. 

Newsheadlines today include

Children under the age of 5 may now be vaccinated for COVID in SA under a trial  

approved by the US FDA. Also a needless device is being trialled for vaccinations.

Meanwhile in VIC mask mandates vaccination mandates and isolation restrictions/rules have  been overhauled and relaxed or scrapped meaning thousands of unvaccinated Victorians can now visit and return to work from next weekend eg in education food distribution seafood and meat processing quarantine accommodation industries. Parents can drop kids off to school aslong as they stay in the car.  Masks no longer required at the airports in with NSW and other states.

Biden falls off push bike soon after greeting reporters. He is uninjured just fell due to getting his foot caught in the peddle

As the energy crisis continues in NSW down near Dapto South of Sydney a substation has exploded and caught on fire from a  failed transformer. As demand out strips supply of energy, NSW residents have bern assured that this woll not affect the supply of energy. 

Monday 20th June 2022

Myer 10.30 am - 5.30 pm 

Today was a blur, it was too busy at work and I was so tired.

All I know was I was still spending a lot of time shadowing a new team member with limited English and the customer service manager was on today.

I asked if tickets had to be printed as it is Home Sweet Home again tomorrow and usually I organize with the team leader and print out the tickets in the morning to be put up in the afternoon around 4pm to get them out of the way. Not today, the customer service manager wants me to stay at the counter and she will do it. It takes her more then twice as long to do so.  We eventually get the tickets bought over by the cocky electricals  team member.

Other issues that happened today - too much to do which is always the problem. We need to find all the blue clearance stock and sell it before the end of financial year at 90% off or it is to be transferred out and written off. Really?

Home the usual. Sleep Work again tomorrow. Clear during the day mostly but it usually sprinkles overnight.

News headlines today include

Michael Buble has added an extra show to his December tour in Sydney tickets unavailable until Thursday.

Billy Joel is coming to Melbourne for a one night show only

A SA woman  who has lung  cancer slipped and fell whilst pruning a tree fractured her hip  had to wait over 3 hours in the cold whilst waiting for an ambulance 

A deal with the US will allow Australians to train on US submarines 

Tuesday 21st June 2022

Myer 10.30 am - 5.30 pm 

Home Sweet Home Sale ( yep just after the Super Weekend , Bedding Blitz, Home Sweet Home & Mid Season Launch sales).

A wet day today. I always try not to leave home until the last minute always running for the bus or waiting for buses that don't show up.

As soon as I arrive I was told to help out in kidswear, my first 2 hours were spent  in kids until I was told to return to Homewares. 

lunch at 1 pm fried beef rice  noodles and satay chicken

News headlines today  include

A bride died after a buggy overturned on Hamilton Island. The accident is under investigation. the groom was uninjured and was trying to do a U Turn when the buggy overturned. The bride was not wearing her seat belt.

Anumber of industry workers are on strike again over pay and conditions including more rail disruptions forecasted.

2 people smuggling boats were intercepted and taken to Christmas island detention and deported. The government is addressing how Australia has become an easy country  for refugees from  Shrilanka and Pakistan who are currently experiencing economic and political issues much like Poland is experiencing an influx of Ukrainian refugees due to their war with Russia.

The Australian arm of Moderna  may be supplying Australians as early as August with a new updated combination  COVID flu and 2 other repiratory viruses vaccine manufactured in Melbourne at the new research facility although it will take years for facility to be fully operational.

Wednesday 22nd June 2022

Day off

I did not venture out at all today. There was so much to do such as pay the bills do the laundry wash the dishes catch up with myblog and deal with my complaints with Telstra and HCF. Customer service hasbecome  so poor with companies and more and mistakes are being made with companies it's now a serious matter. How can a private not for profit health insurance company keep missallocating my payments and threaten to cut off my cover if I don't pay my membership by a certain date when I have paid in advance and been with them for 28 years without making any claims? How can a major publically listed telecommunications company that I've been with for decades take my money and my points and cancel my order online the day after I received a confirmation invoice without advising me by text email or vis their app and refuse to refund me when I chased my order over a week later realizing this? Both companies nolonger have contact numbers to speak to a real person. Instead  you have to go through a series of press options when you call and are on hold for hours or put through to any random person in another state or country!

News headlines today include

Public and Catholic school teachers are joining forces striking again on 30th june 2022 in Sydney.Upto 85000 teachers are expected to strike.

VIC offensive bill passed today after police were previously filmed by a bystander as an accident unfolded where police officers were involved in an accident and killed.

Collingwood's De Goey has had a  ban on playing due to his mid seasons antics in Bali. Meanwhile 2 collingwood team members were caught berating women in Tiktok videos. 

4 men have been charged in Ladley QLD  after a man was stabbed dead and his house set on fire on Monday

La Nina is over for now but there is a 50% chance it could return for a 3rd time in Spring  although rare. November has been the wettest Spring in 122 years yand Sumner Winter is also wetter then normal.

The Britney Higgins alleged rape trial has been delayed due to Lisa Wilkinson's logie award speech due to it increasing publicity. 

Entire energy market will return to normal operations as EMO ends control over them.

It' world giraffe day.

A plane has crashed at Miami international airport injuring several.

Bill Cosby has been found guilty of sexual assault in a civil trail from the 1970s. 

Prince William turns 40. The Queen is awarded the canterbury cross by the archbishop

The AUS$ is hovering around the $0.69 mark against the US$

Thursday 23rd June 2022

Myer 10 am - 6 pm 

customer service manager on today

ex team member ticket girl volunteers to work 6 - 9 pm today

I processed an interstate phone order today for a customer who wanted a blk crystal soda stream delivered interstate to SA.

I made a mistake and over charged a customer for a more expensive quilt. Refunded in full bynew team member. Custoner didn't want the quilt in the end. 

I sold another customer a warm mini jumbuk quilt. Very annoying customer who returned to purchase a quilt cover and 2 cushions. They rang back and  apparently whoever served them forgot toremovethe hard security tags.

Did I forget to scan the barcode for a new Myer One sign up again? Yep!

News headlines today include

NSW nurses  will strike on Tuesday. The NSW government wants to enforce fines to unions for industrial action to stop the increase in strikes from happening . $55000 in fines for first day of strikes  and $33000 each strike day after to stamp out strikes.

QLD is planning to implement a travellers tax to assist the tourism industry recover from  the devastation of COVID.

The EMO has returned control to the energy suppliers in a phased return. Power prices will still increased on 1st of July 22. More generation into system is needed with investment in renewables and fixing aging or off line power generators to ensure there is enough energy in the grid to prevent blackouts from overloads or not enough supply to meet demand.

The Queen has hosted a visit without her cane

Unvaccinated teachers allowed back in classrooms in VIC.

Lisa Wilkinson calls in lawyers after her Logies speech which delayed the Britney Higgins rape case.

Robbie williams is being lured to be the half time entertainment for AFL football grand final in Melbourne.

Students are lagging behind in QLD in literacy and numeracy.

Friday 24th June 2022

Day Off

Good food & Wine Show Sydney Opening Day ( 21st anniversary of the show).

I didn't get to the Good Food & Wine show until after 12 noon today as I had to submit my fortnightly income to Centrelink and the online website stalled therefore I rang up to confirm. 

I also  had to deal with Telstra and another pesky phone call . It seems Telstra has changed my casual  post paid monthly phone contract and increased it to $58 per month from $55 per month without informing me and it just happened after my cancelled phone order complaint lodged therefore I lodged another complaint. How dare they try to call me whilst I am at the Good Food & Wine Show on my day off.

I don't know what it is but I am not enjoying this year's Good Food & Wine Show at all. It's not even advertised outside the ICC. Either I'm too sick to enjoy it or there was nothing to see or taste this year. In the first half hour I managed to purchase a side of murray cod after sampling it, a bottle of NZ cherry juice after I tasting it and a round of cumin chedder cheese after sampling quite a few cheeses and a packet of quang dong powder after sampling the jam. I think I have seen all the food stands skipping the ever increasing alcoholic beverage stands. So far I have tasted bulgar, salted caramel chocolate biscuit,  several cheeses, a few gourmet dips, sampled some non alcoholic beverages, had a freeze dried mango flavoured batlow apple slice, a fresh slice of modi apple, drank some pure papaya and lime puree and managed to score a whole papaya and a whole modi apple as well as some cheese sticks. There are quite a few people here but it's not crowded - maybe it will be tomorrow. The Harris Scarfe The Kichen has the usual group of chefs which is rather boring this year. It's 2 pm and I've had enough already. Where are the almonds the prunes ( found both!)  and olive oils? No pizza , no bread? 

More giveaways! I take a seat at the very back of the Harris Scarf The Kitchen  it's almost 4 pm and after walking around for so long I decide I need a sit down torest. i sampled more non alcoholic beverages keeping away from the gin and tonic and scotch and whiskey. I tried the Canadian dry although I never liked the taste of it and Yuzu but after tasting a Wimbledon and goodness know what the other one was decided on the Canadian dry but when I get home will have to chill and dilute them when I actually drink it. I managed to get a packet of Arnotts cracked pepper and thyme crackers to pair with the cumin cheese block I purchased snd also purchased a small packet of curry spice blend to go with my murray cod side I purchased. I won't starve after today that's for sure! 

The seats of the theatre all have Green Harris Scarfe bags on them - I will need that for my purchases - another freebie to add to my list!

5.15 pm and it's time to head home.

News headlines today include

The Victorian government has had 4 major cabinet ministers retire just 5 months out of their state elections. There will be a cabinet reshuffle with some ministers portfolios ending as soon as today.

A new portrait of Kate and William has ben revealed and displayed at Cambridge University

Murdoch and Hall's divorce may end up being being one of the largest settlements.

Melbourne has made it to the # 10 most livable cities with Sydney # 13 sandwiched between it and Brisbane 

There are longlines at Melbourne and QLD airports today as school holidays start in the 2 states. 

Brisbane is shrouded in fog again today whilst in Sydney it is an overcast grey day.

Residents are urged tostay away from hospitals as the strain continues in the hospital system and fears new strains of COVID and flu cases increase.

Another monkey pox case has been confirmed in Melbourne where a 20 year old Eurooean man is in isolation. Contacts are being urgently traced.

In NSW there is a firefighter shortage with burnt bush regeneration at twice the speed there are bush fire warning already.

20 year digital nomad visas are on offer for people to move to Bali and work from home. Eligibility to anyone aslong as earnings are from offshore sources . This is an attempt to increase tourism.

A synchronized swimmer competing overseas fell unconscious and was rescued by her coach recovering and hoping to compete again all unfolding in front of cameras.

Saturday 25th June 2022

Myer 10 am -  5 pm

Another hour from 2 - 3 pm today in kidswear but I could not stay any later as i needed a lunch break as well. 

The new team member did not work today and neither did the custome service manager. 

Today I spent an hour in kidswear relieving the team member for her lunch break at 2 pm with me taking my lunch break between 3 pm and 4 pm after hers ! I had a sausage as a protein supplement to my bottle of water mini cucumbers banana and apple as well as prunes cheese slices flatbread and a packet oftrail mix I had packed for my lunch today. 

It was so busy in Homewaresagsin today with 4 other team members on berween 9am and 6 pm. 

Instead of taking the unreliable 280 bus to Chatswood , I took the 199 bus to manly thenwaited for the 144 bus at Manly taking it all the way to Chatswood as I desparately needed some face cream , change fir the lsundry again and some other grocery items I had run out of. I also returned my single empty water bottle to be recycled as the corner store in Chatswood is not open tomorrow to get rid of it.

I waited for the next bus home and decided not to go away anywhere tonight or early tomorrow so I can sleep in and catch up on stuff.

News headlines today include 

The US supreme court has overturned abortion rights meaning it leaves it up to each state to impose their abortion rights. Some abortion clinics have already shut their doors upon hearing this result.

The airports are in chaos yet again with the start of the school holidays. Passengers have been advised to arrive early with some arriving 2 or more hours early only to find whilst waiting in line to check in,  their gate for their flights had already closed. Previously the airport chaplin was also lending a hand with baggage handling.  People have been inconvenienced with delayed and cancelled flights and lost luggage due to airport under staffing.

Sunday 26th June 2022

Day off

I did absolutely nothing today except empty my rubbish bins do my laundry and clean.

I am still not well due to my allergies which have become quite severe. No i do not have COVID. I have what is classified under an auto immune disorder - have had it all my life and it's just flared up really badly this year hence my severe allergies. Mainly affecting my skin but is affecting my eyes and ears. Stress causes it to become worse.

News headlines today include

Vaccine mandate rules will ease for Victorians and Queenslanders this week where unvaccinated workers in industries such as meat and food processing teachers will be able to return to work although there is concern amongst teachers and parents of  immuno compromised students. Vaccine mandates will still apply to healthcare workers. Visitors to aged care facilities will no longer need to vaccinated. NSW vaccine mandate rules are forcasted to follow suit.

NASA will launch 3 unmanned rocket from the Northern Territory overnight. It will be NASA's first commercial space launch using a port outside of the US.

AA travels overseas again to attend summits to meet with world leaders. It is important for the PM to establish good relationships with leaders of the world and form close alliances especially with Chinas increasing presence in the indo Pacific region. He will also visit the French president Macron to mend relationships over the severed submarine contract now that a payment settlement has been reached.

Monday 27th June 22

Day off - leave requested  although it won't make a difference to me now as day trips to Lake Mountain where all booked out by the time my leave request for today and tomorrow was approved after I had to chase it.

I did not venture out today as I am still catching up on things and cleaning the apartment.

Whilst I have nothing to write about on my leave, I will catch up with some product reviews I forgot to write about

News headlines today include

Successful launch by NASA of  unmanned rockets in the NT has put Australia on the space race map.The rockets were launched to study xrays in space. 

AA will sit in on a NATO summit in Spain with world leaders to discuss the rising insurgence of Russia in the Ukraine and China in the Indo Pacific region before heading to France to mend the severed submarine contract with president  Macron.

Qld mayor is under pressure to step down from her position on the QLD 2032 Olympic committee due to a drink driving charge. 

The Sydney CBD will be disrupted again today by climate activists protesters . The government is standing firm on fines to organisations who cause disruptions with protests. The harbour tunnel was closed off today due to protest

The anti abortion protests continue for a 3rd day in the US.

The cost of living continues to rise much faster then anticipated. Inflation was originally forecasted at 4.25% but is now at 5.1% but by July it is expected to be 7% thanks to the RBA's poor decision making to raise interest rates. It will be months or years before relief will be seen for residents.

Due to an abundance of job vacancies retirees are now being encouraged to return to the workforce orcontinue working for longer by increasing the threshold of how much retirees can earn in order to not affect their pension.

Tomorrow intercity and regional trains will run trains at 60% speed and on Friday at 75%  speed as industrial action over safety concerns of new trains and pay and work conditions.

Victoria has a new cabinet ministry sworn in s 5 months before their nextstate rlection in November.

Prince Charles is in the spotlight again for dubious donations

Tuesday 28th June 2022

Day off - leave requested  although it won't make a difference to me now as day trips to Lake Mountain where all booked out by the time my leave request for today and yesterday was approved after I had to chase it.

I could not go anywhere over the 2 days leave requested therefore ended up taking the bline to Narrabeen and walking around Narrabeen Lagoon. I did not complete the entire loop as it started to rain on and off quite heavily at times. It is a 8 - 9 km loop and I probably walked the equivalent distance as I did 2 hair pin turns back to my starting point ie where the Bline bus stop is. Some parts of the lagoon trail are just boring other parts I could walk or sit there for hours. It's a shared 2 way  pathway therefore you have to keep left and beware of bikes in both directions. Ducks ducks and more ducks - this lagoon is full of animal life! It reminds me of Stanley Park which is full of Canadian geese and the occasional squirrel. Here the lagoon is full of a variety of ducks geese and the occasional black crow. Some of these ducks end up across the road at the local chicken shop or spotted having a drink out of the local dog bowls. They look so well looked after much like my beloved pet ducks long passed named fluffy and beaker.

These ducks are so well fed and clean they could be mistaken for someone's pets!

Another 2 well fed ducks hanging around thelocal chicken shop across the road from Narrabeen Lagoon - someone's pets or just 2 stray ducks? Signs advise not to touch or feed the ducks around the lagoon however locals ignore these signs and I witness these ducks being fed the odd hot chip!

News headlines today include

Today all trains are operating  at 60 km speed limit causing commuter disruptions. It isthestart of aweek long industrial action where trains decrease their operating speed as theweek progresses in protestof safety concerns.

Climate activists are again heading to the streets of Sydney's CBD on a second day of protests.

Tomorrow teachers or waa ehat nurses will go on strike for better conditions and wages ( I'm confused every industry seems to be going on strike!)

Wednesday

Myer 9.30 am - 5 30 pm

Today is the last day to use up those Dine & Discover vouchers the NSW government issued during the COVID pandemic that expire on 30th June 2022. I have no idea where to use mine so yesterday it was a mad rush to the little fish Shoppe at Town Hall where I randomly purchased 3 pieces if crumbed fish, a whole stack of crumbed calamari rings and a small tub of marinated octapus just to use up oneof my 2 x $25 dine vouchers. The lady at the fish shop even suggested where else in the cuty I could use them but I didn't want to spendit on cakesor sweet treats. There was no time to use it at lunch today therefore Ithought another round of KFC would do therefore I ended up purchasing 10 pieces of chicken and a bottle of water for just over $23 - yep short again andlikethe very first dine voucher I used I forgotthe sauce therefore was a few $$ of the $25 again. How am Igoing to eat all 10 pieces of KFC? Easy !peel off all the crust and take off all the chicken and mix peas mushrooms onion parsley mustard cheese and a few other herbs like rosemary and whatever vegetables I may have with it in a bechamel sauce and encase it in puff pastry to make a pie.

News headlines today include

AA continues his diplomatic tour with talks with world leaders after an invitation to attend NATO in Spain now brokering  trade deals with the Spanish PM .He attend a dinner withthe king & Queen of Spain and mentioned Chinas increasing presence and threat in the Indo Pacific region due to Russia and Chinas' close ties and the current war in the Ukraine. Meanwhile Indonesia is worried about Australia's military alliance with the US but has assured Indonesia that they are not under threat.n

Police in NSW and ViC police are closing in on bike and gangland groups to put an end to their violence and crimes. Police are still hunting for the latest gun man that shot dead a gangland member in Rhodes. 

Ghislain Maxwell has been sentenced to 20years jail time for her part in grooming under aged girls to satisfy her partner's sexual appetite.

Victoria's ambulance system was on code red again where on Tuesday there were absolutely no ambulances available for call outs. The problemhas been rectified for now. Meanwhile SA is also in crisis with their hospital and ambulance system. Residents have been urged not to call 000 unless it's absolutely necessary.

The Queen has been seen out and about again in Scotland.

Nick Kyrios has caused a stir again by having a go at the umpire & spitting on court before winning his match.

Train go slow continues today or is that tomorrow ? who cares anymore industrial action continues for the rest of this week except for the climate activists who are testingup today to recover and regroup before taking to the streets again to protest. Looks like every industry and their dog are out striking if it's not teachers its healthcare workers if not healthcare workers it's cleaners if not cleaners it's public transport workers if it's not public transport workers it climate activists etc etc etc.

There is a new Barbie and Ken movie being made with Margot Robbie playing Barbie.

Thursday 30th June 2022

End of the 2021/2022 Financial Year!

Dine & Discover vouchers expire today.

Myer 9.30 am - 4.30 pm

The customer service manager is not in until later today. All is good when she is not present but when she is back all hell breaks loose.

I grabbed the ipads and attendedthe huddle.  Ssme shit every morning but this morning wewere still in the huddlewhencustomers werewalking around the store walking past us during the huddle. My scanrate is still above the average but I had no more customer feed backs after the customer gave me a 5/10 dropping my 92% customer satisfaction score down to 88% .it's so unfair everytime i score a 9 or a 10 the % hardly goes up 1 % however if you get a single poor customer satisfaction score your % score falls 5%! The only reason i received a 5/10 was because the customer complsined that there wasnot enough staff on toserve and itwas one of 4 similar complaints received that morning. It's so unfair that customer may have given me a 5/10 which stands out like a sore thumb amongst mycustomerservice feedback scires but they gave Myer an overall 4/10.

My morning is spent answering phone inquiries and dealing with a poor older customer who was told her quilt she ordered in store and paid for instore was ready to be picked up at Myer Roselands when it should have been delivered to her home address. Icouldnot even ringthe roselands store to have it transferred to the warringah store for her, instead I got through to the customer experience centre of myer who were the worst department to deal with. They advised me that it was notpossibleto do a store tostore transfer - whynot i have done a few to resolve acustomer complaint in the past when requested. You just place a yellow sticker on the item and take it to the dock to forward on. In the end the quilt was organised to be delivered to the customer's address via thecustomer experience centre. What a mess. We did have the same quilt in stock in store but let's not complicatethings further and leave it as organused. Nowthecustomerhas to wait another 3 - 5  days for delivery.

Then there was the lady who wanted 4 white vue cereal bowls however when she came it they werethe wrong ones and I could not find the ones she wanted.

Lunch was from 1 pm - 2 pm. 

I reconciled one of the tills and got another team member to reconcile the other till.

The customer service manager randomlyasks me to help the junior merchandiser move allthe clearance items off the AH&G wall so I did some of it which was all the stock off my trolley before it became busy therefore Ihad to return to the counter. 

Another team member and I were getting desperate trying to workout where we could redeem all our remaining dine and discover vouchers which expired today. After spending my last 2 dine vouchers at The little Fish Shoppe on Sunday and purchasing 10 pieces of KFC and a bottle of water last night to use up my final dine voucher, I still had one discover voucher left to spo end. If I had been able to take a proper annual leave break I would have spent it on accomodation or a sight seeing activity. Sodespo a rate westartedasking everycustomerfor suggestions. Most said to get an e movie voucher which lasts 3 months however that offer expired lastnight as advised by another team member who was correct about that. 

My last customer of the day put me into 10 minutes over time finishing at 4.41 pm. I asked the VM team member about what to use the discover voucher on and movies was again suggested. Iwalkedwith her to the food court as she was getting mad Mex for dinner using her dine vouchers. I went up to Hoyts and there was a huge queue. I asked the manager about getting an e movie voucher and she confirmed that the offer had expired. So I made my way to Telstra to lodge a complaint about my increase in phone bill before walking across the road to catch the 199 bus to manly and the 144 to Chatswood where I nade my wayto Hoyts Mandarin Centre joining the long queue - yep everyone was trying to use up their discover vouchers today. Apparently thelineat Hoyts Westfield was much longer - I hadno intention of going there afterseeingthe line at Hoyts Warringah.  The queue moved fast and Idecided to book to see Jurassic World on Sunday 3rd July at 2 pm. The ticket was $23 but the staff member told meyoualso get popcorn and a drink with the discover voucher - ok then! Done . Redeemed!

It's freezing tonight and looks as if it is going to rain. Next stop recharge my opal card at Woolworths Metro and get some olive oil. The shelves are empty again.

Home watched 8 out of 10 does countdown ate some fruit salad  and sleep. So tired.

News headlines include

First a lettuce shortage then a tissue shortage now there is an egg shortage all this with the cost of living and inflation  increasing making the price of groceries less affordable. going to the supermarket has been described as a lottery now - more like living in a communist or 3rd world country with foid shortages. Meanwhile energy prices increase tomorrow.

Teachers are on strike today with more then 10 000 empty classrooms. Meanwhile industrial action continues with trains continuing on go slow with the government trying to end this industrial action with an agreement to inject money to fix the safety problems of the fleet of trains.

The Australian dollar has continued to drop  below the 69 cent mark against US $.

China responds to AA comments at the NATO summit of China's growing threat to the Indo Pacific region and provision of assistance from Australia to ease food and fuel shortages due to Russia's war on Ukraine. Justas Russia is trying to regain and unite former Russian territory, China is trying to strengthen and gain increasing economic deals with countries in the Indo Pacific region. Australia is not part of NATO but has been invited along with other countries suchas NZ . Although NATO deals with European issues, it is now becoming a global organisation dealing with worldwide issues towards the future as it reaches out to non NATO member countries.