Getting Started

I decided that I wanted to get free stuff. So I looked online and found several sites that will send you free stuff in exchange for feedback. These sites are much easier to join than the sites that offer to pay you for your feedback, and since I was just interested in getting free stuff I did not mind not getting paid in cash to write reviews.

Once of my friends actually introduced me to this concept so I started looking into it. I found several sites that outline how to do this kind of thing.The Penny Hoarder.com is one of the places that I found very useful. I was also recommended by a friend to join Smiley360. Here you do a series of surveys to find the kinds of products you would like to try and they will start finding products that fit your interests. They send you these products for free and you simply write a review of your experiences with the product. Simple as that. There are several more sites you can join and I will keep you updated as I try several more out.

If you want to look into any product testing sites I found quite a few of them on a page called Money Pantry. I have not looked into most of them by I have joined Smiley360 and BZZAgent.

Dear Guy who was rude to my trainee,

I understand the frustration of trying to order food and not having the person understand you, but that does not give you the right to be so rude to a new employee. I know she took your order correctly because I was listening. Then when she went to cash you out, you decided to change the amount of money you gave her after you had already paid. Just so you know, some people are not skilled in math, especially when you put us on the spot like that. I know this because I am terrible at math, that is why I am a writer. I have had six years to memorize the amount of change that needs to go back for certain amounts. But when you are new like my trainee is, you have to try to add and subtract in your head.

When you so rudely pointed out her struggle to her, I had to step in. After looking at the change you handed her after she had typed in the total from the first amount you gave her, I was able to complete the math problem for her. But then when I attempted to explain the solution to her so that she could adjust the next time a rude costumer came in and changed everything, you started trying to talk over me with rude, snipe remarks about people sucking at math.

First of all, you are twice this girls age, with twice the amount of experience. She is not even out of high school, and this is her very first job, and only her 2nd day on front counter. She is not used to the pressure you place on her to get things 100% correct. So, when you talked over my explanation to her about the change problem and said “This is a simple math problem, it is ridiculous that it is that hard for you to figure out,” you are very lucky that I did not jump over that counter and give you a piece of my mind. Instead I gave you the courtesy of ignoring you and raising my voice so my trainee could continue to hear my explanation. Then I shot you the best smile I could muster, which I am sure came across fairly evil considering you were so rude to us.

So guy who was rude to my trainee, I hope you have customers who treat you with respect instead of what you have shown my trainee and myself. Just because we are young and work fast food, does not mean we are your floor mats. This would be a good lesson for those of you who think I create the prices. Please don’t shoot the messenger for goodness sakes, I get just as upset as you do when the prices go up. Every time I see that a prices has gone up, I know I will soon have to deal with angry costumers who decide to take their frustration out on me. Please accept that we cannot change any of these rules, and when we decide to “bend” the rules because you throw a fit, we are actually putting ourselves in a position where we can get into trouble for doing so.

Sincerely,

Fast Food Employees,

and all Service Employees out there

Mindless vs Mindful

After a long weekend of riding my horse and fighting confederates, it is now time to go back to work. You would think that after so much time off I would be able to concentrate fully on the task ahead… Wrong. Today has so far proven to be a writers block day, and it’s not just me, my partner is also having trouble. We are supposed to be writing short quotes to go along with pictures of various school related things. We have not been able to come up with any new ones so far and on top of that after reading through all of the ones we came up with last week we came to the conclusion that they are all very corny.

So what are we to do? We work a very creative job, where our brains are always brainstorming and sifting through new ideas. Sometimes this brainstorming process goes rather well, other times it leaves us pounding our heads against the wall hoping ideas will fall out of our ears. This theory is usually not successful. Yes, I know… I have it easy working at a desk in an air conditioned office with no real deadline to keep track of, but my brain hurts from all the unsuccessful attempts to come up with a quote.

At this point I would rather work a mindless physical job where I can just let my muscle memory take over. Like working at the fast food place that is my second job. That is a completely mindless and muscle memory job. Not as much as my factory job was but I still don’t have to do any real thinking. Just listen to the order and type it in, give the total and take the money. Simple.

But then I think about how boring that job is and I remember that I like my first job better than my second job because I get to be creative and do something a little different every day. So I need a job somewhere in the middle. One that requires thinking, and problem solving, but also something physical. Then again I am kind of lazy at times, so maybe just a job that requires thinking and problem solving…. Which is the job I have now…. hum, well that came full circle. Maybe my writers block day will pass and I will be able to come up with some epic quotes but I’m not holding my breath. Time to get back to work.

Only Two Weeks!

I only have two weeks left of college and I am freaking out. I have a lot of work to do but I am plugging away at it. There is a certain class where every time we meet he adds another part to our final project. This project is worth 150 points. We had to write a communication journal 3 times a day for 26 days. I have over 15 pages of journals, today he added that we should write journals for an extra 5 days just to make it a month. Which means that I have to write journals longer than I thought I had to. On top of that every Monday, after writing the 3 entries we have to summarize all the communication exchanges we had that week coming to a total of 4 summaries. Then we have to take all that we have learned and put it in a final paper, which we cannot start until all of our journal entries are in. Journals end on the 2nd of this month. I have to turn the final paper in on exam day on the 5th. And then take my exam for this class.

At least my other class gave us all our assignments in advance. I have completed all but one which I should have done by today. I even completed the final exam already.

Then there is my 3 independent studies. I have completed one of them, still working on finishing touches in the other, and the last one I still have a lot of work to do. I have 5 news articles to finish, I have a 5 page paper to write on a ethical issue, and several assignment to put finishing touches on so I can add them to my professional portfolio.

Oh yeah, one last thing. I have to find an internship for this summer. Talk about stressful. One week of class left and one week of exams. If I live though this stress I will need a few weeks to recover. Here goes, back to work.

Too Busy?

I like to stay busy and have something on the agenda to get me out of bed every morning. Last semester I had two part-time jobs and a full school load. This semester I have a part-time job, two communication classes and three independent studies. I stay busy everyday.

Right now my weeks look like this: Monday- Homework, Work, Workout, Horse chores, “Social life”; Tuesday- School, Workout, “Social life,” Homework, Horse chores; Wednesday- Same as Monday’s; Thursday- Same as Tuesday’s; Fridays- Same as Monday’s and Wednesday’s.

Most days there is not enough time in a day to get all of those things done, so I try to choose the most important ones. Which means things like workouts just don’t happen, and homework gets pushed to the back burner. That means that I am up until 1am on Monday and Wednesday nights trying desperately to finish enough to fake it through my school day. I don’t even have time to get stressed out. As soon as I finish one task I move on to the next. My life revolves around my “To Do List” because without it I would forget something important. I have to include “remember to breathe” in order to avoid passing out.  This the life I have chosen for myself. I am not willing to give up my job, school, or social life. So I struggle though each day, trying to follow my list, remembering to breathe and pray to God I don’t forget anything important.

But is my body trying to tell me enough? I have been keeping a headache diary for less than a month now and between January 23rd and today February 5th I have had 4 headaches, 2 dizzy spells, and 3 migraines. On top of that, my stomach has decided it wants to tell me when I can and can’t eat regardless of when I actually need to. I am taking pills to reduce my migraines, ibuprofen to fight the headaches, and stomach pills to help ease my stomach pains. Are pills what I need? Or is it a simpler life?

In today’s society a simpler life is not an option, so I guess that means grin and bare it with my job, school, social life, pills, lists, horse chores, and workouts…..

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I can’t seem to sleep either…. I am on pills for that too….