I was thinking about this list at work today. Even though I could go on --I'll stop at 20 because its a nice, neat number:
1. PDF's are your friend. If you want others to print your work you should learn to love them - or if you can't - learn to tame their redneck cousin the .doc file (and you do this by keeping it simple.. simple fonts.. simple layout..simple language optional)
2. I am a P.C. -- and so are most copy shops. Macs may look pretty but they don't work real well in a busy print environment (although we may keep one around for you -- but you can be sure the staff mostly use it to surf the web). If you can afford a high end mac you can afford a good home printer. If you can't you can at least learn something from number 1.
3. Show me a customer who uses the term "I need it yesterday" and i'll show you an asshole.
4. Thumb drives are a wonderful thing. If you want a copy shop to print your work invest in a small cheap one to house JUST the files you want us to print. Its so much easier to say "just print one copy of everything on the drive" then to say " well its housed in the folder called JezusluvsU and its called..umm...die_sinners_die version 1.xls -- or wait.. I think thats what its called. Can I just come back there and show you??"
5. The correct answer to "Can I just come back there and show you??" is "Hell no" but we'll say it nicer because you are a customer.
6. If you can do it yourself you probably should. Thats what the self service machines are for. We love self sufficient customers and we'll treat you better if you at least try - even if we end up doing it for you.
7. If you think checking your email involves typing your email address into the google search engine please back away from the self service computers --- very slowly.
7a. If - in 2009- you are still asking me "where is the icon to open aol" I will laugh at you on the inside.. and then outloud once you leave the store.
8. Of course i'll come over there and give you a computer lesson -- the ten or so people waiting on line?? Oh they'll wait...
8a. Nope I also can't sell you an inkjet cartridge or tell you why your printer is broken and only printing out your documents in windings. There are places that do that.. but its not here.
9. I'll be happy to give you an estimate in prices in anything we do. Please ask before you request a service. I may remember to tell you that copying your ginormous color copy job will cost you an arm and a leg but then.. if i'm busy I may not. Don't freak out that the cost came to $100 and not $1. Ask before you shop... you would ask the prices before you ordered the kobe beef wrapped lobster tail drowing in truffle butter at a restaraunt... wouldnt you??
9a. If you are the type of customer who wouldnt think twice about ordering the kobe beef wrapped lobster tail drowing in truffle butter - we'd love to have you. Money has a funny way of greasing the wheels of business.. even if you are a pain in the ass.
10. English please. If you have no idea what i'm saying theres a good chance I have no idea what you are saying as well -- and theres an almost 100% chance you have no idea how to read what i'm writing here.
11. International peoples.. i'll be happy to attempt your long distance fax to albania or tasmania or any other "ania" you can think of.. but please tell uncle boris to plug in his fax first so he doesnt end up yelling "Helllo!!" into the phone line.
11a Welcome to America.. we scorn your metric system (Scorn.. scorn!). A4?? Whats that.. a bingo number?? We use American paper sizes here made with good ole american inches.
12. Patience is your friend. Don't cop an attitude when I try to go over the details of your job just because you are in a rush and decided to wait until the last minute to do things.
12a. If you come running into the store flustered asking us to "quick print my resume.. I have an interview in a minute" we already can tell you aren't going to get the job.
13. You lack of organization is not my fault -- if you have no idea what you are doing or what you want what makes you think I will?
14. To be bluntly honest.. I really don't care what paper color you choose or what font you decide for your card. If you ask me "which one do you like better" i'm probably going to tell you which paper I can get easier or which font wont be a hassle to find. You are the customer.. its your choice.
15. I'll be honest again.. if you are fretting over a print I just made for you. You aren't sure if the color copy of your grandchild looks "life like enough"... and you ask me "Do you think it looks good??" I'll say yes because I dont want to do the work over again.
16. People, please don't use the counter as your own personal desk to spread out on. If its tax time and you need to divide your crap into 20 perfectly organized piles go take over part of the desk in the self service area. Be aware of what you are doing.
17. If you don't know what you are doing ASK us before you rack up $20 worth of mistakes you don't want to pay for.
17a Don't whine when you have to pay for your $20 mistakes.. its a learning experience.
18. Copy shop people hate people who bring in large piles of cut up newspaper. Actually we hate newspaper.. period. Its a horrible thing to work with and inwardly we will groan when we see it (if you look hard you may see it in our eyes). Doesn't help that the customers who usually want it replicated are usually haggard old ladies and men accompanied by their Caribbean nurses. If we see an old person coming in with newspaper and we can find something else to do.. we will. Do us a favor.. buy another newspaper instead of trying to copy it.
19. Please don't question me as to why the individual cost of a copy is so and so cents.. or why we charge an opening fee with a digital file. How the hell should I know - I just work here. Do you go to Mc Donalds and argue with the cashier about why the costs of your Mc Nuggets are so high?? I bet you do.
20. Despite our reputation -- most of us really want to help you and do a good job. If you come in and know what you want, are somewhat positive, and can be a little flexible at times I bet you'll find that your expectations are exceeded.
What a mixed bag of a year. This year started with such promise. Small nuggets of hope and positivity for the future. Change was the motto of the year and certainly change we got. Overall though - not the type of change anybody wanted.
Myself - I started this year feeling happy and comfortable with where I was and what I knew and found out that I was too comfortable and wasn't allowed to stay. Forced to lose my job and pick up the pieces - i'll be on a new path come 2009. But for now i'm calm and contemplative.
As for how i'll spend new years eve - it'll be quiet and at home as usual. No place to go and no one cared to invite us anywhere. Scott and I will be cooking again - in theme style.
Last year we did a Mediterranean banquet - which came out very well. Pictures of last years dinner
This year we are changing slightly to a theme based on a "Greek Diner". Lots of comfort type foods with not as much having to cook everything from scratch.
We have a light lunch planned of some spinach dip with raw veggies and chips. I'm sure we'll have some college football to keep us busy while we munch.
Later on when we get bored we'll be having cheese blintzes with sour creme as an appetizer. For the main course Lamb burgers with feta cheese and a cranberry chutney. Seasoned Curly fries with Tzieke (Yogurt cucumber sauce). A small shepherds salad (chopped up cucumbers, onions, tomatos with oil/vinegar & goat cheese) I also bought a premade roast veggies with balsamic side dish that I think will go well. We bought some Arbor mist wine to go with it (since i'm not a big drinker).
For dessert i'm making a home made bread pudding and we have some spicy hot chocolate cookies. Scott bought himself some irish creme for midnight and maybe i'll have a taste.
I'm sure i'll take some pictures of the feast like I did last year and post them later.
What will YOU be doing on new years eve?? I'd love to hear.
Regardless may your 2009 be sweet and full of health, happiness and comfort.
..and according to scott the other cat has his face stuck in my shoes. Ugh.
Argghh... Need to stop procrastinating. Need to stop wasting all my time on facebook. Need to start planning what we are going to do so we dont end up spending our entire time looking at the pacific. I need to start looking over the guide books we have.
Come on.. tell me to stop procrastinating.
New years resolution: Finish planning the trip before the plane takes off.
- Mood:
lazy
I am trying to memorize the price list for my new store so I dont look
so much like a fool when I start on the 5th.
I'm used to memorizing prices. What i'm NOT used to is having to
calculate pricing in mass quantity. I've now realized that all the
registers i've used have been computerized. That being you use it like
you would a computer at home (screen, mouse, keyboard and all - only
there would be a cash register box under neath the monitor) - enter in
parameters (like joe blow did 25 copies of 60 originals - letter sized
today) and the machine would calculate based on the per page/side rate
on a same day basis and add tax for a final price. This made life
easier and quicker and made it very simple to get quotes or ring
somebody up without much hassle.
Of course at this new store theres a regular "old fashioned" register
- and I'll have to do the ring up/quotes by hand. Which isnt TOO bad
but still i'm horrible at math. Much less horrible then i was in
college but still pretty damn bad. My knowledge of fractions and
division is next to nill. Deep down i'm doing silent prayers that the
old clunker of a register at least calculates tax for you... or at
very least change. Oh god.. please let it calculate change!!!
Do any of you smart people out there have any tips or tricks in
calculating things like discounts (10%) or tax that maybe I can add to
my memorization routine. I think I may have to buy myself a smart
calculator soon. There must be one out there for a dope like me.
Seriously - I hate change sometimes in my life. I can't wait until my
new routine - math and all - is set and I can go about my job without
much stress.
One more week of vacation time until the job begins. And then one week
of work until my planned trip to san diego -- after that no vacations
for a long, long time :( 2009 is going to be interesting.
Just wanted to jot down that I was able to get a job today. Yay.
I applied for the job yesterday on craigslist and didnt know when I
applied if I had just sent in an application for my old job. But the
area and pay scale listed was different so I decided to take a chance.
I'll be on the upper UPPER west side of Manhattan around Columbia
University. This is, as it turns out, a rather lovely area of
Manhattan (what I could tell by my half hour of exploring). On the
next block over from the store is the diner featured in Sinefield
(toms) and a library (ultra yay). Theres a few really nice bookstores
(as one would expect around a college area), more starbucks then I
could imagine, quite a number of drugstores and banks. So it'll work.
My commute is going to be 1.5 hours each way which sucks.. but I can't
say that i'm not used to it. Going back to waking up at 5am (sigh)
since i'll be working from 8 - 4 monday thru friday. A slight pay
raise ($2.50 more an hour than last job) and not having to work on
weekends is great. I'll be at another copy shop -so I know the drill.
Woman i'll be working with looks super nice - but I have more to say
about that later when I'll post about a tarot reading.
Scott and I have a dinner tonight at 6:30 so i'm killing time. I got
my hair cut FINALLY (which is waht I said i would do once i found a
job) and bought myself a cute calendar for next year. Now i'll kill
some time and read here and try not to doze off.
My new job starts on Jan 5th. What a relief.. seriously. I hope
things go well at my new place. Its not perfect but it seems like a
good fit.
Have to post now before crappy computer times out. Hugs.
- something like a battery pack that one can plug into the spot where
the plug normally goes. I'm not looking to have to open up the laptop
and remove the battery. Thats a little beyond my comfort zone.
Ideas anyone.
As is most common, when one loses a job their covered health insurance is yanked away. Well not yanked really but made unaffordable. In my case, since the law dictates that I get a chance to continue my health care on Cobra (in which i assume the costs my employer was paying) - I was offered my monthly health insurance for the bargain sum of $500 a month. To me this was way above my budget range and I had no choice but to drop the coverage. So no more doctors for me for a while.
Of course once the insurance is gone costs go up on medications as well. I'm lucky that I only take one -- and its a generic. I had my lovely boyfriend go to CVS today to pick up my monthly medication.
With insurance it was costing me $7 - so i figured it wouldnt cost him more than $15. CVS charged him $33 dollars. $33 for generic B.C. pills. Are they insane???
Luckily for me a new target opened up near my home a few months ago. Target has the same low cost generics that walmart advertises (yay competition). I have to see about going by my doctors office on monday to pick up a new prescription to take to target. Shouldnt cost me more than $10 there (hopefully).
In general though I find it disgusting. With no insurance cost prohibits me from seeing a doctor and can effect if a person decides to continue with their needed medications. If my medication had been something serious the price might have risen to something like $100 or more a month. What unemployed person can afford that?
I hope the new administration remembers the promises it made to this country regarding health care. All too often it goes on the back burner but I think its one of the most important issues in the country today.. after the economy perhaps.
- Mood:
distressed
Dr Pepper to deliver on its free-soda promise
1 hr 42 mins ago
LOS ANGELES – Dr Pepper is making good on its promise of free soda now that the release of Guns N' Roses' "Chinese Democracy" is a reality.
The soft-drink maker said in March that it would give a free soda to everyone in America if the album dropped in 2008. "Chinese Democracy," infamously delayed since recording began in 1994, goes on sale Sunday.
"We never thought this day would come," Tony Jacobs, Dr Pepper's vice president of marketing, said in a statement. "But now that it's here, all we can say is: The Dr Pepper's on us."
Beginning Sunday at 12:01 a.m., coupons for a free 20-ounce soda will be available for 24 hours on Dr Pepper's Web site. They'll be honored until Feb. 28.
Dr Pepper is owned by Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc.
*** Free doctor pepper is good.. especially for my boyfriend who actually drinks the stuff. In other news I had no idea Dr Pepper owned snapple now.
- Mood:
curious
Today on the view they had a guy on called "the gadget man" - and he was showing all the neat gadgets for the holiday season. An Iphone, Wii, cooking gagets, some electronic tooth brush. All this is well and good but then comes the part that I hate.. the part deep down that I know is coming....... "And we have one for each member of the audience!!!" and the crowd goes wild!
But.. but... I want one too :(
I dont find it fun watching people get all this neat stuff for nothing. And here I went to that show once and all i got was a damn book :). That probably sounds bad doesnt it -- my point is do the broadcasters not realize that for the people out in TV land this just ruins the whole watching experience. Its one thing to give away a new album or novel... but to give away a stage full of cool stuff to the whole audience. Thats just showing off. Hell.. Oprah has whole shows like this. I never watch. It would kill me.
Perhaps i'm just pouting. Perhaps I should just try and get tickets again...
- Mood:
jealous
Scott, my father and I were having dinner tonight at the local deli. Behind us was a group of loud mouth local characters. Five older men about my fathers age eating and talking much too loud. Their conversation was filling the entire eating area and made it next to impossible to think about anything else.
They started talking about politics and I could tell that the group was made up of disgrunted republicans. I wont say "John McCain supporters" because I think from their tone even he wouldn't have had them.
So one of the dingbats got on the cell phone and the loud conversation continued.
"Hey!" said one the one talking on the cell phone "I'm having dinner with Obama!" (laughter) "Yes.. did you hear.. Obama.. Oh-Bah-Mah" (more laughter) "Would you like to join us. Oh-bah-mah! (again more laughter). And then a pause....
"So... did you hear they are taking down the statue of Liberty??....
Yes.. They are replacing it with (thinks..another of his buddies speaks up)"Aunt Jemima (laughter)
Aunt Jemima with a Chicken wing!!"
My mouth just dropped. I'm obviously not about to start a fight with a bunch of dingbats but its hard to listen to things like that being loudly talked about. The laughter continued and eventually the morons wound their conversation around to fishing or something like that.
The owner just shook his head when we talked about before we left. He could have argued with them but then he would have lost customers.
I've got to think that this coming term will really bring the true colors out of people around us. I have a troubling notion that the amount of talk like this that i'm going to hear will rise. These people - People who waved their flags and talked about being true Americans. Well let me tell them something.. You are not a true American if you hate a portion of the citizens of this country. You know nothing about whats going on in this nation now if you think this is about race - and thats all you can see.
Even though the triumph is there because a person of color won the presidency of this nation - it really isnt about race. Its about overcoming. About realizing what unites us now must go beyond the color of someones skin. A common country and a fight to try and unite us all.
Its an uphill battle I think - as proven tonight.
- Mood:
angry
Thank you!!
If you hadn't been such a royal F-up this outcome may never have
happened. If you hadn't have stood by and watched this country
crumble and cry out this moment might have been "unimpossible". You did your part to set the atmosphere where change wasn't just wanted.. but needed!
Its nice to have a moment to believe that perhaps in some way everything
happens for a reason. I find it better to look at it this way.
Big change can come with hope -- and its nice to see the country of my
birth have some hope tonight. I hope the promise that we feel comes
to fruition. I hope that it goes beyond politics.
Congratulations President Obama. Make us proud.
favorite phrases are "joe six pack" and "maverick" *wink wink*. If I wanted
a maverick in the office i'd rather vote for these two:
Thats right... hes writing checks his body can't cash. He doesn't play by
the rules -- he'll do a flyby any time he pleases. Hes good at foreign
relations ("I flipped them the bird") and can build a highway to the
dangerzone. Mavvverrrickkk :)
*grin*
... Its a shame hes bloody insane as well. Ah well.
* My very favorite leather bag has bitten the dust. A strap broke and after repairing the already stretched leather straps once I didnt want to pay to do it again. The bag was fraying and weathered so I thought it might be time to find something new. Something new on a budget -- which means no new $120 leather bag for me. Aw poo.. I really wanted one -- but I had $42 in amazon gift and thats what I was going to use.
So i searched and searched on amazon for much too long (like 2 days and
thousands of bags long). I'm picky and i want very specific things in my
bag. For those who dont know me well - you have to understand -- my bag is always with me. So its more than a pack. Its a purse, its a lifeline, its everywhere I want to be :P I'm all about organization and pockets. While the bag I ended up picking wasn't a total perfect find it was the closest I could come by. It was small enough (I dont like huge backpacks), it had a good enough organization system, it had one main pack section for all my stuff, it was cute and feminine, and it had a spot for my metrocard and phone where I could grab them easily.
As far as the purchase, a little note if you have amazon gift certificates: if you want to buy thru some online retailers you might be able get to them via amazon. Amazon covers quite a few online retailers thru their portal. I was able to shop from ebags via amazon.com and use my gift certificates (although i wasnt able to participate with ebags fall sale :( ) and I ended up buying this:
You can click on the bag if you want to see more .. or if you want to get it too.
I'm really glad that search is over with. I was pissed when my old bag
broke. It had been a good friend for a little more than 4 years.
* Went to Ikea today. The new one in bklyn. Its very out of the way (in red hook, brooklyn). I can see why it benefits them to pay for shuttle
service. Its a very nice store and the cafe is great. Nice food and low
price. Good views of the harbor and statue of liberty. Going on a wed
afternoon the store was pretty quiet. We went just to get out of the house for the day and ended up buying some swedish food and cheap stackable glasses. I love the new waterfront harbor space they set up by the ferry stop. Ikea set up nice chairs and funky metal lounges. Its a great place to go on a cool fall day with a drink and a book to read. A picture of the funky lounge chairs Maybe next thursday when i'm off again (jewish holiday nonsense) i'll think about it.
* Stopped by the new Brooklyn Trader Joes on the way back from Ikea. True,
its seen as a hipster grocery store -- but I really like it! Their food
selection is wonderful. We bought a great instant teryaki chicken for
dinner tonight (which scott was nice enough to make while I collapsed in my room). I bought some more awesome Basmati rice blend as well as a few odds and ends. I wish the store was closer to me.. but considering how much some of the items cost perhaps its better that its not too close.
* Watching Countdown on MSNBC. Keith Olberman cracks me up and hes not too bad to look at either. Hes showing clips of the Palin / Couric interview tonight. Ugh! Even though Couric annoys me to no end - Palin makes me want to slap my head against something hard.
I'm sure shes a very nice lady.. and she looks swell with her fancy glasses and updoe. She shows that republican women can be stylish and not scary like McCains wife (who I think would look smashing with a pair of vampire fangs... have you seen some of her pics??).
Now, I dont know many republican women but I know one who sort of reminds me of Sara Palin -- my good friend Christine. They even have the love of tanning booths and stylish shoes in common - and i'm sure they share some similar views. What they dont have in common is intelligence. My friend christine is soo much smarter than this woman!! I would have respected McCain more if he picked Christine -- and christine is in her 20's and has never been a governor (that I know of :P) but I know she could have held her own in an interview better than this dim chic. WTF? Tomorrows debate should be a doozy.
*Heard from my friend emily tonight. Looks like she'll be having her baby
soon. So excited for her and her husband. I know everything will go well
and I look forward to meeting their new little lady. Its still shocking
that one of my friends is having children.
*Scotts Birthday is coming up soon. I'm glad he's happy about it. My
father will be taking us up on a long weekend trip to the adirondacks around that time. I'm really looking foward to a little mountain time. A little fall fresh air can really do a body good.
* I have to go to work tomorrow.. blech. These odd days off really throw me off. How am I going to get myself to sleep now???
Sweet dreams and hugs.
Giant Microbes .com - http://www.giantmicrobes.com/
They make stuffed animals to look like "popular" microbes and
diseases. You can even buy them in their own special Petri dish.
Sometimes there are no words.. no words at all. Why would I order one
of these?? Well, you never know when you'll have the urge to hug a
Chlamydia microbe.
To brighten your day i've yanked a happy dancing white blood cell.
http://www.wptz.com/news/17539127/detai
I think I just gagged a little.....
yesterday. On the third page of the paper was election trail news -
polls, snippets etc. And in the center was this picture....
I'm not exactly sure what the person was thinking when he/she captioned this photo. I could see if it was attached to some kind of humorous article that contained something of the tone of the caption.
But no.. it was just THERE. Alone..with no like material. Perhaps the "Doesn't anyone have anything else to do?" was mildly funny.. to say the least - in a lame Ha... Ha? kind of way. But the caption undearneath made me want to strike my head repeatedly on the table. You can't miss it the one -- I circled it and blew it up.
"Barrack Obama addresses, like, trillions of people........" Huh?? What?? Well at least they got the commas right. But still.. even if its a free paper its still supposed to be staffed by adults. Even on my old crappy high school paper we'd never write like that (and we wrote pretty bad at times). But perhaps i'm really not getting the joke. I keep looking but I can't find one.
Things like this really need to be connected to an op-ed piece to make any sense. I'd like to write one - and this would be the caption: "Metro, ya know, like kills the brain cells of bazillions of New Yorkers, ya know, like fer sure... whatever!"
Ugh!
"I come here because you are a prettier than my copy machine."**
???
You make the call...
** said to me by a customer at the copy shop that I work at.
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