u/TX_Farmer

I came back from my break today to find a full grown man plopped right on top of the work bench in my department. (I work in a retail picture frame shop.) I walked up and I was like, “Do you need help with framing?” He said no. I said he couldn’t sit there. He made some excuses about needing to sit down. I said there are some benches at the front and he toddled off. 😐 Huh!? What are people thinking?

A little later a lady started gesturing to me without me making eye contact with her. She was talking on the phone and didn’t even break from her conversation. I was like, “Can I help you?” She got huffy and said, “No. Go find someone who actually wants to help me.” Umm. I’m the only one in this whole section of the store. It’s just me. 🤷🏻‍♀️
I answered her question and carried on. If you’re gonna ask a question make sure the person is actually fully engaged.

I’m so tired.

I don’t understand bag charms. Especially those that consist of: a 6” stuffy capybara holding a strawberry, a rubber ducky with a bell inside it, and what’s basically a collection of 6x loosely tied para-cord strands with a 2” x 1” piece of hard plastic with sharp corners.

Just… why carry a bulky, noisy choking hazard attached to a purse?

I’m working on forgiveness for childhood hurts. I got the image of my father handing me extra responsibilities that weren’t mine to carry. (He’s incredibly demanding and took away approval when we didn’t work hard enough.) I also feel that he took a sense of safety and confidence away from due to constantly changing standards, and generally chaotic home environment.

Example - every graduation sucked because he sucked the joy out of the event by complaining about causing arguments. I learned to put myself second because his needs were more important.

I want to reclaim my accomplishments and joy.

I’m actively forgiving him. I love writing and visual art. I speak with a therapist.

Advice or tips for processing would be helpful. Have any of y’all done similar? Journal exercises or shadow work recommendations?

The store started getting X-mas trees in March. From now until the end of time all seasonal shipments are X-mas. Half the high wall is garlands. There’s glitter everywhere. I hate it.

I’m try to remember a book in which the H is captured and put in prison/jail. Then h (a princess?) visits H in a castle dungeon. They get to know each other and she learns that her family members are the actual bad guys. When H is rescued he takes h with him? It‘s fantasy genre.

My Granny passed away in 2000 and I’m learning new things about her from conversations with my Aunt C. and cousins. Turns out my Aunt C. (her DIL) asked Granny for a recipe. British war bride Granny shimmied off to her typewriter to type the recipe, but left off one of the instructions. (Like the oven temperature.) It turns out she wanted to know if Aunt C. actually tried the recipe because Aunt C. would have to call and ask for the missing info.

I’m dubious of the family recipe for Yorkshire pudding.

Fiesty British Granny was married to the Vermontiest Vermonster ever to Vermont. She and Grandpa were quite the pair. 💕

I work at a retail craft store part time, usually a few evenings per week. Yesterday I turned up and went about my business. I noticed a large man wearing a black skull t-shirt and shorts walking laps around the store. Honestly, he looked like he just got up off his couch. No cart or basket. He was being weirdly familiar with coworkers. I was wondering why is this guy doing this?! He’s just … loitering. 😳 I almost called the manager to report him for being sketchy, then my coworker said he was our new “rental cop.”

I buried the lead but it turns out he was a “loss prevention professional” who looked absurdly out of place in a store full of yarn and home decor. If they wanna hire an “incognito“ person it needs to be a woman in leggings with a couple kids. Nobody would suspect a thing. 👀

Yes, the marshmallows coated in sugar that appear in seasonal variations… I think they’re great, but my husband loathes them. (There really is no middle ground.)

Smores with Peeps is good. If you don’t mind the distressing appearance of bloated bunnies.

I cut the packs open and let them get a bit stale. just slightly crunch around the edges. 🙃 I put some in the fridge for a few days and … that’s amazing too.

I work in an area of the store off limits to customers. (We have a glass cutter, 175F dry mount press, broken glass on the floor, tools, and sharp edges everywhere.) It’s not a safe place, especially for rambling babies.

Today a toddler came running behind the counter straight at a rolling bin full of glass shards and metal. Because running away from Mama is a fun game. I said they couldn’t be back here. The kid‘s mom got mad and told me to chill.

😒 Sure. Like you’d chill if your baby was badly hurt.

I’ve been watching/listening to a lot of stand-up comedy the last few days. (In particular, Josh Johnson - he’s hilarious!) In every video filmed at small venues there’s 1-2 people close enough to a mic to pick up their specific laugh. (I don’t mean hecklers or attention seekers - just the normal crowd response.) It’s delightful to hear different laughs from unseen people enjoying the moment. 🙂

I’ve collected and used fountain pens since high school. I got my first Waterman pen in ‘00 at high school graduation. I currently have 30+ pens which I use in regular rotation. (My favorites are Pilot Metropolitan 🙂 and Kakuno). Me and DH aren’t rolling in money, so we frequent 2nd hand stores. I was rummaging through a bin of pens at a thrift store and spotted the Montblac cap design and thought, “Knock off?” Nope. Completely legit Meister rollerball ($300+) pen sitting in a tub of ballpoints. ✒️

The store where I work closes at 8:00. The manager makes announcements about closing starting at 7:45, then at 8:00 we tell customers to head to the checkout. Most customers have a sense of urgency if they’re coming in last minute. We can’t start cleaning until all customers are out of the store.

Last night at 7:30 the worst family ever came in - 10 family members of various ages. The babies were screaming, the toddlers were pulling stuff off the shelves and running away from the adults like it was a fun game. The grownups were wandering around filling a couple carts with random items, yelling to each other, changing their mind about stuff and setting it down… They moved through departments and left destruction. At 8:00 we’re telling them to leave. We get a bland, “Okay” and are ignored. A 10 year old wandered off and Granny went running to find her. The babies are still screaming. They left several carts of merchandise because - oops - nobody has a way to pay. 😒 It took 20 minutes for them to actually leave. Because of their nonsense we were stuck cleaning until 10:00 instead of being done at 8:30.

How are people this awful!?!