Lent xx - 5:30am Days - Connecting people by (tele)communications

Today was my Friday. So excited! Got assigned to Spider. One of the busiest sections in the store, especially because of 20% coupon and predicted rain. Oh boy. Stocked what I could, then found a bunch of what I was missing packed up, sitting in the tunnel, waiting to be opened. Managed to unwrap and hang on hangers some of the pj tops I needed. Jeri, stocker lady, took over, and did all the rest. Discovered Kim was at work during the morning meeting. Traded shifts, so she got to start at 9:00am. The Wave was fun this morning. Little girl spotted me and immediately wanted to pin trade. Her sister came over and traded with Brian. So early and right off the bat! Went back, stocked fancy white rain jackets and finished 2/3 of the hats. Deemed it "decent" and went to break. Must say, maybe they stocked Spider really well last night. If so, I absolutely appreciated it. Did not have anything caffinated while on break. Realized on my way back onstage that that was probably not the smartest idea. Got pulled back and forth between working register, directing Guests, and trying to straighten. Didn't get to give that much attention to spider actually. Met a woman from around Elgin. Special Ed assistant on spring break. Talked a little bit about all the education layoffs happening in that area. Later, met a stressed out Dad who was buying all sorts of items for his family. Worked through his pile of items as quickly as I could. Though stressed, he still had a bit of a friendly tone. Hope all's well for him and his family. Biggest event of the day was couple I met who wanted a cloth (soft? Not fleece) zip jacket in navy blue in XL. Tried calling stockroom. Must've not had my radio connected properly, never got a response. Went down and checked. Only had medium and 3x. Woman, annoyed, wrote down the sku number from the jackets, saying she could never get what she wanted at any of the stores. I offered to call World of Disney to see if jacket was there. Had to head to jewlery to get a phone. Soon as I reached it, stopped by the other two Cast Members there. One, older British-sounding guy, wanted to know if we had extra links for a certain watch. Other had a question about batteries being included in the watches and how to start them. I had no answers; it was my first time in jewlery. It was their first times too. Called operator to connect to World of Disney. Had to go through a little phone menu. Pressed key to talk to Cast Member. Phone went silent. Not dead, no ring tone, but nothing was going on. Tried again. Same thing. Tried again, got a little further, then phone went silent. Kept trying, alternating with Mail Order (apparently closed on weekends, thanks a lot), and trying to figure out how to dial the World of Disney number directly so I didn't have to keep using the operators. Got someone's private voicemail, and when I finally figured it out, twice got the message that Merchandise was closed on weekends. I pressed number to talk to Cast Member, how'd I get there? Meanwhile, continued to get asked a couple of questions from jewelry Cast Members, still trying to help their Guests. Couple said they had to meet someone (eventually revealed it was for a Fast Pass). Would come back to find out whether or not World of Disney had jacket. Woman's name was Denise, that's all I got, and then they left. FINALLY reached live person at World of Disney. Was asked to hold as they had a substantial line. Must work really, really quickly, because not too long after, they were back. Explained what I needed. Said they needed to walk the floor. Came back after a bit and said no. Thanked them profusely. Decided to go on break. Just coming up on 1:00pm and figured if couple would be back, I should be there for them. Jewerly was a little better. Meag stopped by and helped sort things out with the links Guest, although they also wanted to do a return, and Meag directed her over to the other Cast Member (busy helping start the watch) to wait even longer, rather than just doing it and getting Guest on her way. On my way to break, recalled what I had learned in the morning regarding white rain jackets and pj tops (and salmon-colored Minnie pants and black patch peace jackets!) and checked with stockers unloading tubs. Jeri had just hung up an XL navy jacket. Thrilled, though didn't show it. Ran back up to get back and Guest hold form, put the jacket on hold, and went to break. Cut break early by 7 minutes. Felt couple would've been back by then. With less than half hour to go, decided to try straightening. Was asked by random Guest if we carried Hollywood Studios shirts. Meag found me and asked to go to register, since Guests were coming in from rain. Explained I was waiting for Guests and had to leave in 15 minutes, but agreed. Got register in Bubble and helped Kim out by cutting down the line. Luckily, in 15 minutes, another Cast Member (possibly Alice?) took over. Finished taking care of packages being shipped out, returned my radio, and clocked out. Never saw couple. Mentioned to woman named Karen (staying until midnight) about the Guests, should they come back. Cleaned up my cart and inktags and left. Took bus to keep out of the rain. Didn't help in parking lot. Right foot feeling pretty wet. Rain coming down at different speeds and angles prompted me to have some crackers and chill out. Managed to take a bit of a nap. Woke up just as the rain was letting up a bit, yay! Started car and was headed out, when noticed the entrance to backstage had big puddle of water people were driving through. Decided to exit by health services. Got back to apartment and ate two bowls of Cinnamon Chex (new, just opened, and quite good). Took care of an e-mail, learned some Disney trivia on The Hub, and fell asleep. Had planned to be up to watch first episode of "Life" on Discovery Channel. Woke up half way through. Said screw it, went back to bed. Woke up again after midnight. Decided to take care of little mess I'd made with my impromptu nap. Clothes away, teeth brushed, ect. Soyoung asleep on couch, so decided to update here. Stacy came back, waking her up, so Soyoung moved in here. Stacy now unnecessarily on computer on couch. Sorry, probably still tired. Much to do, but going back to bed.

This week Wednesday I start at 10:45am (or something like that, maybe 10:00am). Otherwise, all 5:30am days. No Monday or Tuesday off, working those days straight through until Friday, whch was requested off for Easter. All 5:30am days except for one. Still don't know if I'm working Easter. Working Tuesday means I can't go to Kennedy Space Center. Got to change that, yessiree.

Also, while at work, Democrats only needed 2 more votes to reach 216 needed for their healthcare bill.Looking up "yessiree" on Yahoo! just now, looks like they got it. Woo hoo!