Working At A Toy Store During Christmas

As promised, here is my blog about working at a toy store during the Christmas season.

You're probably expecting a bitter rant about how mean people were and how horrible my life was for the last week and a half. But that's not what I intend to write at all. For the most part, I enjoyed my time working at the toy store. I like people and I like being able to help them find the stuff they are buying for their kids. You meet a ton of really nice people when you work in retail. The kind of people who tell you thanks a million times when you tell them where to find a Dora doll or who nearly give you a hug when you tell them the Mall of Georgia location has 17 Easy Bake Ovens. Plus I had really great co-workers who kept me smiling and laughing all day. Of course, it wasn't ALL fun. Being scheduled to work close was like my worst nightmare. We closed at midnight and for some reason there were always people still at the store when we closed, sometimes with their kids in tow. Who is still shopping at midnight? And who has their kids out of bed that late?!?! The last night that I closed I was at the store until after 2 AM because we had to clean up the store after everyone left. And it was a disaster. But that's extra money, so you didn't hear me complaining!

Of course, it wasn't all fun and games. I really did not enjoy being called a racist because we did not have an African-American family for a particular dollhouse. As if I personally loaded the truck that brought the stock to our store. And then got called "just Christmas help" by the same person. And being nearly run over by shopping carts was less than enjoyable too. Although that was nothing compared to being nearly run over with cars while chasing down shopping carts in a parking lot the size of my college campus in the 35 degree weather. But these were minor incidents. Nothing big enough to stop me from doing it again next year!

Oh...one last thought. If you call your salesperson "boo" you are probably making them slightly uncomfortable. At least if I'm your salesperson, you are.

I'm A Terrible Blogger

I know I haven't blogged in FOREVER! But I promise I have a good excuse. First it was finals and then I came home and went right to work. So every day after being at a national toy store (that shall remain nameless and whose views are not a reflection of mine) I haven't really been in the mood for blogging. But I promise that after Tuesday, when I am done working for the season, that I will blog again. I'm hoping to do a fun one about working at a toy store during Christmas.

Elections

I know I sort of promised a second post yesterday, but I was just too tired to update last night. Elections took 3 and a half hours, but I'm very pleased with the results (for the most part). I think the fraternity will be very successful in 2009. I'll be in the thick of things, as the Recording Secretary.

However, the election I'm more concerned about tonight is Georgia's run-off elections. Overall, it was a disappointing night. I don't want to be a bitter, sore loser, but I really feel like most Georgians did not take time to educate themselves before going to the polls today. The loss of Jim Martin to Saxby Chambliss is not all that surprising. He was still a little too liberal for this solidly red state. What I was more suprised about was the loss of Jim Powell to Lauren "Bubba" McDonald in the PSC race. I feel that this race was largely decided by the fact that McDonald had an "R" next to his name on the ballot and Powell had a "D". I find this an atrocious way to vote. Nearly all of McDonald's campaign contributions came from people connected to the utilities that the PSC regulates. Can you say conflict of interest? None of Powell's funds came from anyone connected to a utility. He refused to take any. McDonald is so far in the pockets of the utility companies that the Republican who currently holds the PSC seat publicly endorsed Powell and chastised McDonald. Yet, we see who Georgians elected. To further prove my point that it seems that voters didn't take the time to research the candidates, the third statewide race, for Court of Appeals, was won by Sarah Doyle, the more liberal of the two candidates. However, as a non-partisan race, there was no "R" or "D" next to the names, and voters likely picked her because she came first on the ballot.

You may wonder...what exactly is my point in all of this? I'm not entirely sure, so I couldn't tell you. I guess my hope is just that in future elections people will take time to educate themselves about the candidates before they go vote. And my other point to summarize this whole thing is that the Georgia Democratic party better be looking VERY seriously at who they want to groom for a Senate run in 2010. Johnny Isakson is up for re-election then, although he may not run again (instead, choosing to try for the Governor's mansion). The Democratic Party could take control of that seat if they pick a serious, MODERATE Democrat to run. I'm not talking a Vernon Jones or Mark Taylor. I think a good choice would be Cathy Cox, the former Georgia Secretary of State (not to be confused with Kathy Cox, the current Georgia Secretary of Education, best known for her appearance on "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?"). Anyway...that's just my thoughts.

Yours?

Thanksgiving

I slacked on my blogging over Thanksgiving. Not because I really did all that much over the break. Mostly I just ate, slept, and ate some more. Like I mentioned before, we did Thanksgiving with my dad's family on the Sunday before the actual holiday, so there really was nothing too exciting to look forward to on Thursday. Instead, we went to Golden Corral with my mom and her fiancee and had lunch with a couple hundred of our ethnically diverse neighbors. It was tasty, but hardly the family holiday one envisions Thanksgiving to be.

Probably my favorite moment of the break was winning Trivial Persuit. My dad and my little sister both beat me to six pie slices, but neither of them could get that last question right. So in the end I triumphed, mostly because I know my geography. I couldn't resist sharing the moment with Sam, who called me a doofus. We texted so much this break that I had to delete my inbox every day. Oh...and despite what a lot of people seem to think, Sam and I are not dating. Just thought I'd throw that one out there.

Anyway...today might be a rare two-post day because tonight my fraternity is having elections and I have been nominated for six different things, so I'll hopefully have some good news to share tonight. We'll see in about 4 hours!

High Museum

If you have a chance, you should absolutely go to the High Museum in Atlanta and see the Terra Cotta soldiers. It is an amazing display and worth having to drive downtown to see. Your ticket also gets you in to see the third part of the Louvre in Atlanta collection. All the works in that collection are considered masterpieces. My favorite was a picture of Christ on the cross where the tears were so realistic that they looked like water on the glass. And, if that's not enough art for you....you also get to see a display from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (my favorite museum that I've ever been to), plus the High's permanent collection.


Alright...I'll stop my High Museum ad now. You'd think I got paid to do that. In case you couldn't guess, that's what I did yesterday. I went with a group of students to Atlanta and met my sister there. We stayed at the High for about 2 and a half hours and then got lunch and came back to school and she hung out with me and my little sister for the evening. The three of us, plus my best friend Carl went and got dinner. Then we checked out an exhibit of student art and caught some of the basketball game. Then we went to my fraternity house for a party. Overall it was a very fun Friday. But now it's Saturday and I have work to do. :(

I'm So Old...

...okay, I'm not that old. But my roommates and Sam make fun of me a lot for it. This election season I was the John McCain of my apartment. Not because of my politics (far from it), but because I'm old. The evidence they use against me:

1. I'm addicted to the Game Show Network. Yes...GSN. What's life without a little bit of Jeopardy and The Wheel (that's short for Wheel of Fortune, for those under 75)?
2. Me and Sam do the crossword puzzle every day. We usually get a lot of it right.
3. I go to bed early and get up early. One night last week I was asleep by 9:30.
4. I'm ready for dinner at like 4:30. Early bird special, anyone?

I think that's all the evidence they've got on me.


In other news...
I'm very sad because my dad's side of the family ALWAYS does Thanksgiving at my grandparent's house on Thanksgiving Day. But this year some of my cousin's decided to go camping that day, so instead we're having Thanksgiving this Sunday. So I get to drive all the way to north metro Atlanta in one day for Thanksgiving and then back to school that night. My sister can't even come because she has stuff going on. Thankfully I think one of my roommates is going with me so I don't have to go alone. But I'm still not happy about it. Especially since my sister can't come.

Saturday of Fun?

Yesterday was a strange day. Gave a tour to a gazillion uninterested people, went to a great football game (my school won), and then basically did nothing but sit around the rest of the day. Which is very nice at the time, but makes me feel guilty afterward. Then I went to Waffle House with my little sister, which was nice.

I'm also starting to have some closure about things that have been bothering me and might be on the brink of something new...but that remains unseen.

Sad, but true!

So I was sitting in European History (1660-1870) yesterday watching a movie because my professor is out of town at a conference and I was a tad bit bored, so I started making a list. First I listed all the states. That wasn't too hard because I can think about it geographically and just go west to east (although things get a little hairy in the northeast). Then I listed all the capitals. That wasn't hard either...I had to learn those in fifth grade. After that I decided to see what I REALLY knew. So I listed all the governors/govorner-elects I knew. Then all the Senators/Senator-elects I knew. Those were some short lists.

Here's all the governors/governor-elects I could name:
Perdue (GA)
Perdue (NC)
Crist (FL)
Riley (AL)
Richardson (NM)
Jindahl (LA)
Kaine (VA)
Schwarzenagger (CA)
Palin (AK)
Sebelius (KS)
Perry (TX)
Pawlenty (MN)

Here's all the Senators/Senator-elects I could name:
Stevens (AK) ---although this could turn out to be Begich
Merkley (OR)
McCain (AZ)
T. Udall (NM)
M. Udall (CO)
Hatch (UT)
Landrieu (LA)
Coleman (MN)
Obama (IL)
Lugar (IN)
Sessions (AL)
Isackson (GA)
Chambliss (GA) ---although this could turn out to be Martin
Hagan (NC)
Webb (VA)
Warner (VA)
Biden (DE)
Clinton (NY)
Liebererman (CT)
Kerry (MA)
Sanders (VT)
Shaheen (NH)


Only 12 governors and 22 senators! Sad, but true.

First Post

So I've been reading my co-workers blogs for a little while and I decided to start one of my own. I'm not so sure about how well I'll keep up with it, or even if anyone will find it interesting, but it could be cool, so here we are.

I guess I should tell you a little about me:
I'm in my third year at a private college in the state of Georgia. I'm a member of an international fraternity, a history honor society, and I'm the president of my school's student recruiting organization. I'm very passionate about recruiting for my school, and hope to one day work in admissions.

I guess that's a really basic discription of myself, but I think it's more fun to discover who I really am through what I write about in this blog. I'm very opinionated and very passionate about things, so reading will definitely enable you to get to know me better!