Holy crap...
Are you guys actually READING this?

I tried to go to this page and got a bandwith exceeded error. I checked my bandwith details for the first time in months and saw it was booming. Not nessecarily over, but I checked the hourly usage, and saw bandwith consumption in very nice amounts, not to mention totally different. Back when I was working on my RPG game, I could tell if someone visited or downloaded something. If it was my first game, I would see there was a 12.3MB consumption, or a 700 something KB consumption for my other one. Usually, it was sparce and would be in those intervals. Now, according to my bandwidth, I'm getting people on the hour several times... just when I thought Bart was the only one reading this...

My stomach hurts...
Today I did my first breakfast shift. Thing is, I was never formally trained on how to do it. I had no knowledge of any of the special deals, how to do different breakfast things, nor did I even know what most things were. I don't eat McDonald's breakfasts.

Sure enough, it was busy as hell. I had a runner for a bit (runner=person who assembles your orders while you take the orders of the massive crowd) So that was no problem, I don't mind doing the cash register. However, I found myself in some problematic situations. I found myself with a few orders at once. Getting coffee ready is tough enough for me; I don't do coffee. My family doesn't drink it. It's also very awkward there.

Customers got impatient, one demanded her money back, but I was able to give her order just as she did. Another commented that this place needs to speed up. I felt like a total screwup, and responcible for ruining the entire morning there. However, I realized it wasn't really my fault. I made screwups now and then, but the big delays were the grill workers. I assmembled my shar of the orders, drinks, but when I went to grab the sandwiches or whatever from the grill, they just weren't there. The manager commented that there weren't enough people back there, and it shows. My items weren't ready when I needed them, and took a long time to make. That's the thing about servering: You get the easy work, but everything is blamed on you.

Things calmed down, and I okay. My manager said I could go on break, and I rung in my order. He was going to discount it, but he was busy, and just said "Just go ahead Joey. I got it. You've had a miserable day." and I got my meal for free. That happens sometimes, apparently. That was a nice gesture from one seriously stressed manager, who's living out the great North American nightmare: Working at McDonalds for 30 years.

When my shift ended, I was further frustated by the fact I'm only working tommorow and next Saturday, a total of 11 hours. I went outside to find my mom waiting in my dad's truck. I asked why she took it, and she said my dad had taken the car. Where? To Cape Breton. That's a good 3 hours away. Cape Breton? Why did he just go to Cape Breton? Apparently, my grandfather got really sick from probable food poisoning, but he'll be alright.

That helps... sorta.
Well, I went to work yesterday. It started out stressful, everything went wrong. I noticed a fly in the fridge, so I opened it only to have a small ilk carton have been sitting right in front of it, spilling. You see, this is the kinda thing that happens to me alot. Then, after it was mopped up, someone slipped on it. Thank God they weren't hurt. Then, I had to make a fresh batch of coffee, but not knowing how to make coffee, it overflowed everywhere. It turned out not to be my fault, a girl helped me tinker with it before turning it on, and that's where the mistake was. Either way.

However, after things quieted down, I was fine. No problems for the rest of the shift. One girl was asking if anyone could take a shift for her on Thursday, and I gladly accepted. However, she came back to say the manager wouldn't allow it; I don't work the drivethru yet. Dammit.

Then I checked the shedule. As it turns out, I'm working 6 hours on Saturday, not 4. That's more like it. And I'm working 5 hours on Sunday as well. That's good and all, but I'd be getting real full time hours at the Chickenburger, working most days, being out of the house and making a hell of alot of money. I really got screwed out of this summer.

After work, I went with a friend to see Pirates of the Caribbean. Excellent movie, I saw a few friends there, as well as some extremely giddy girls giggling before the movie started, and apologizing to the whole crowd, promising to shut up. I simply remarked "wow... I picked a great spot to sit..."

I also found a great job bank site. It's like having two sets of newspaper ads, and it's updated daily, unlike the one on the radio with the annoying commercials. Amazing results my ass...

I need another job...
Well, today was quite the day. I had a four hour shift today, and can you say "Nine buses of cadets"? Yep, nine bus loads, non stop insantiy for about an hour, I was busy preparing the orders while a seriously stressed out manager handled the register. Then it calmed down to a very quiet night.

However, the few hours I was previously worried about has become a serious problem. I checked the schedule, only 8 HOURS NEXT WEEK! That's it! That's terrible even for a weekend employment, I've worked more in a day than I am in a week. I am definetly in need of a second job, which balancing both shouldn't be difficult with such few hours. This is serious, my paychecks aren't even going to reach 100 dollars.

I dropped off a resume at Wendy's (for the 3rd time) since I found what appears to be a new sign saying they're hiring. God I hope I hear from them this time, I was promised an interview once the store manager returned, but that never happened.

Phew...
Well, long day today, certainly shattering the boredom. We left shortly after I got up. Went ot pick up my aunt, then went to the best mall in the province. It's huge, has tons of stuff, one hell of a food court and you can imagine you'll run into someone you know there.

Well, I didn't. Oh well. Then we left for the mall my mom works at, which for the last several times seems to be routine after we leave that mall, we go to that one. Checked out some games at Electronics Boutique, I think I'll start saving for a Game Boy Advance. Next, to the bug grocery store across the street, my sister wanted to buy this fzzy blanket, and I needed to buy my mom a present for her birthday (an Oprah magazine) then, dropped off that application to the pharmacy I'd been meaning to send for almost a month now.

So yeah, while I did finally get some out of house time, it's still quite quiet around here, with nothing overly exciting happening. Oh well, just wait till school starts...

About bloody time
Well, today stuff finally happened. Firstly, we went out to dinner, me, my sister and my mom. I just wanted to pick up some KFC, but my sister changed her mind. Usually, resturant wars are long battles of attrition that last for about half an hour till someone breaks from hunger and just goes where everyone else wants.

Went there, went to the mall there, and tommorow will also be busy. At least, I think. My mom has alot of errands to run tommorow, and we're also picking up my road test reciept (finally) to get my final test for my driver's lisence. Only thing is, as it would turn out, my aunt isn't staying with us, but with someone else. But she's still visiting, in fact, she tapped on the window at 10:30 at night (which scared the hell out of me) and said she planned on visiting us tommorow. Well, we'll just see what happens.

Hmm... that's a problem
Today I went in for my first real shift, 12-6pm. I discovered there's been a huge shift change, so now i'm not working till Saturday, on a shift that's been reduced to 4 hours. I also know there's people complaining about hour shortages, experienced people with about 14 hours a week. Not only is that not a good thing, but I also fear layoffs if things get too severe. I'm gonna do what I can, but I don't think there's much I can do to keep myself off the chopping block if layoffs come soon. But I have no real reason to believe why they would. I just hope the hours improve.

Anyway, they put my on fries today, never did that before. I was actually put on the spot, people needed me to make the fries during the rush hours. I actually enjoyed it, though. Then back to business as usual at the counters. Saw a few people I knew, pretty good day.

But now, my long, spell of recent boredom and nothing interesting going on is probably continuing. Great timing with this schedule change, since my shift tommorow was cancelled and I'm not in till Saturday. And on Thursday, my crazy aunt is visiting, possibly averting any chance for my mom to leave the house, thus leaving me stranded here.

Not that it matters, I guess. Tommorow wasn't till 5:30, so the only point of that shift was to make money, and I only have to go in Saturday at 4pm, rather than 8 am, so I'll be able to do stuff (if anything) on Saturday, and work off the rest. But still, because of this, I'm looking at a minimal first paycheck.

I am SO glad I don't live with my uncle.
Did I mention that these last days after not working have been... really boring? Usually on weekends, my mom will have to run some errand, probably to the mall she works in, allowing me to go and keep myself busy. However, the last couple weekends, this hasn't been happening. I've been so bored, and staying here during weekends is very frustrating.

Also, for the past couple years, it's been routine that we get take out food on Fridays. In fact, the only times we missed it since this year started was in Feburary, when I was sick, and yesterday. My parents were gone to a wedding. I was debating that maybe I should just have a pizza delivered... but I just so happened to have lent my dad 10 bucks... dammit. Then I thought maybe I'll try my luck with the barbeque and make a steak, my parents neglecting me on the operation of our barbeque, but I figured I could probably remember how. Then, while looking for some matches, I noticed leftover meatsauce and had spaghetti. So yeah, that sucked.

The next day my mom was still not doing anything. My dad went out to get my sister's clarinet, that's it. However, my grandmother was up for the wedding, and she was taking me, my cousins, aunt, uncle, etc. To dinner. We went to Swiss Chalet, after a heated debate between my uncle and her daughter. He's so mean to her, even if she is a bit stubborn. He's scary as hell. A temper beyond anything you've ever seen, he does everything short of beating her. He freaks out at every little thing. A man who gets up at 5 every morning and goes to work for 12 hour shifts without saying a boo should have more patience.

Lousy time zones...
Makin my entries look a day later than they are... oh well.

So, I had my last training shift yesterday. As it turns out, I'm only having 3. No more shifts for the rest of the week.

I'm finally starting to get the hang of that place. I've been struggling to settle in there, being able to go to work and know that nothing will go overly wrong, and I think I'm gonna be fine. Next week I have 3 shifts, opposed to the CB's two per week, and after doing the math in my head, I should be able to expect higher paychecks at this job.

I actually drove home, last night. Haven't drove in awhile. That'll be my next priority, getting my lazy ass up to get my full lisence test scheduled. Then I need to deal with my dad, who won't let me near a car due to terrible insurance rates in Nova Scotia. He won't let me insure our cars, being the huge pessimist he is, banking his money that I will get into an accident. Right now, my only hope is to buy my own piece of junk and insure that. My mom promises she'll work something out, though.

*stretches*
Well, McDonald's training leaves something to be desired. What they fail to mention in training are "practice shifts" which basically they send you out there right away. You can get help, but damn, there's a lot of stuff to remember. I wasn't exactly ready to do stuff myself yet. I screwed up several orders, luckily, the managers don't pay much attention to you.

However, two quite interesting things happened today. This woman I was working with, her boyfriend came in. He missed his bus, and was hanging around here in the mostly empty lobby most of the night. Then, another woman comes in, walks over to him and starts screaming, yelling and bitching at him like crazy. People in the back office started coming out to see the show, everyone just watched in amazement. Quite comical, some stranger walks into McDonalds, makes a scene, and leaves. There were a few customers at the resturant too. We didn't do anything to stop her, we were too amused/scared.

Then, whem my shift finally ended, my mom still hadn't arrived (Big Brother was on, so she'd be late) so I sat down in the empty lobby with some food to wait. Later, some girl comes through the door with a couple friends and sees me and starts laughing at me shouting "Ha! Now isn't that great eating McDonalds by yourself at 10 o'clock at night!" and just keeps laughing. The next girl comes from behind her, and turned out to be someone from school. She told me to ignore her, saying she has issues. Indeed.