Hello everyone! I'm sorry I haven't written in awhile. Still busy with work and school. Today we had day one of our Subdivision Garage sale. I think we made about $40 which isn't horrible... but tomorrow should be better since Casey will be home to help out. I was pretty bored most of the day as I was by myself. Charley didn't like me much because half the day I had him locked inside the house, and the other half I had the door open with the baby gate up. I did that mainly because we had a few shady characters around and I wanted them to know I wasn't alone. Turns out that a lady across the street had her Leapster and some games stolen right in front of her. I like the closeness of my neighbors so we are all on the lookout for weirdos. Quite a few of the neighbors came to check on me throughout the day since they knew I would be alone. Again, I will be glad tomorrow when Case is here. :)
We only sold 2 big items today- Casey's old trunk, and a bookshelf. We're going to move the electric washer & dryer outside tomorrow so people driving by can see them... hopefully we'll get someone to take them off our hands! Casey reassembled an old desk we had, so we hope to get rid of that tomorrow, too. It sounds like we did about the same as the other neighbors- no one really sold a lot of items and we were a little disappointed with the lack of traffic on our street. I hope tomorrow will be busier since it'll be the weekend!
I very much enjoyed having the day off work today. Yesterday sucked at work. Michelle was gone so I had to do a lot more than I normally would. She's taking almost a week of in July and I'm not really looking forward to all of that stress... but hopefully it will all go fine and won't be too crazy. One of the part-time girls got in a really bad accident a week ago tonight. She got hit by a semi and then hit another car on the highway. She's super lucky she didn't get hurt too badly. I was really surprised she came back to work this week! It was a relief though because Wednesday night I had to get ready for the garage sale and I was glad not to have to race to work after class.
Blah blah blah... it's dinnertime now and I'm waiting for Casey to stop playing his game so we can go eat. I'll update again soon when I have more interesting to write about... :)
-Ash
Casey, Ashley, Keaton, Nikolaus, & Rowan take on Chicagoland...
Friday, June 26, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
And another thing!!!
What the hell is up with people driving while wearing headphones?! I've seen it more here than I ever have. Can someone please tell me what is going on with this and if I missed a memo or something? I've seen it probably 4 times in the last 6 weeks. Ridiculous.
The summer class is going well so far; we had our first field trip last week. We went to the Garfield Park Conservatory and Lincoln Park Zoo. I'll post a few pictures... I can't say I'm overly happy with what I've come up with for the assignment this week... I guess it's the first assignment and I'm interested to see the type of work the rest of the class does. I just hope my pictures aren't boring.
I guess that's it... I just can't stop writing today. Let me try this again...
-Ash
The summer class is going well so far; we had our first field trip last week. We went to the Garfield Park Conservatory and Lincoln Park Zoo. I'll post a few pictures... I can't say I'm overly happy with what I've come up with for the assignment this week... I guess it's the first assignment and I'm interested to see the type of work the rest of the class does. I just hope my pictures aren't boring.
I guess that's it... I just can't stop writing today. Let me try this again...
-Ash
Monday, June 8, 2009
Short Stories
I'm trying to remember instances in life where I stuck up for myself, as it is a rare occurrence. Since the 'incident' with the a-hole attorney last week, I thought about other times where I was pushed to a new limit or did something out of the ordinary. A few came to mind...
I feel as though this is a repeat story, but it's one of my favorites, so bare with me. It was a hot summer day, right before the start of 8th grade. Very awkward time in my life. I got made fun of a lot for being short/ugly/pale, etc. One person that really picked on me a lot was a guy named John Grau. Every day at summer camp, he'd say something mean to me. We were sitting at lunch outside one day and he started in on me. The only comment I can really remember was that he said I had "bullet-proof hair". Now, I still don't know what the hell that meant, but I do remember looking at my soggy Arby's Italian sub (with all the ingredients; mustard, mayonnaise, lettuce, tomatoes, and greasy sliced deli meats). I launched the sandwich at John's head; it slapped him upside the face. He had to take a shower before they would let him in the pool. He had pepperoni in his hair. It was awesome. And very unlike me. :)
*****
Once, I was sitting in the passenger seat of my friend Sara's car at Sonic. I glanced at the car next to us where a family was eating dinner. The daughter in the back seat- a girl probably in late middle school and old enough to know better- threw the wrapper from her straw out the window. I got out of the car and threw it back in her window. Littering pisses me off! Apparently more that day than normal.
*****
Right before Casey and I moved to South Carolina, I got tickets to go to the Counting Crows/John Mayer concert. I was pretty stoked because they are two of my favorite music groups. (Okay, so John Mayer's not actually a group. I'm too tired to try to figure out what word I want to use. Forgive me.) ANYWAY. Seems like every time I go to a concert, no matter where I'm seated, I ALWAYS get the tallest people in front of me. My equally vertically-challenged friend Tiffany and I were determined to make the most of this concert, so you can imagine our reactions when a tall (or maybe average-height... who knows) girl and her friend run up right in front of us. We really didn't want to start anything with them, so I tried to approach the situation by getting their attention and politely asking them to move over since we had lawn 'seats' and had a little more freedom to move around. Instead, one of the girls glares at me, moves directly in front of me, and starts laughing about it with her friend. I will also say that my favorite song, Mr. Jones, started playing right before this happened, so it made me extra angry. Without thinking, I yell out to the girl, "Wow, you're a bitch!" Then as quickly as I said it, I realized what I'd said, and waited to get punched in the face. Luckily the girl was equally surprised, and actually moved over. Good thing, too, because if she would have swung at me, I would have been too shocked to do anything back.
*****
Recently (read last week) our friend Aaron was visiting and we decided to take Charley on a walk. We went into a part of our subdivision we had never been to before. Suddenly, two dogs run up to us and start barking at Charley. The smaller one starts snapping at Charley and nipping him on his legs. Charley's a wimp, God love him, so he didn't try to defend himself. I guess seeing Charley get bit made my Mom instinct kick in, because I jumped in between the two dogs and started charging at the little dog to get it off him. I'm sure it looked ridiculous, and Casey was none too happy with me because I could have gotten hurt, but at the time I really didn't care. You don't mess with my boy!! Luckily the dog ran away and CB and I came away without any real injuries... besides maybe to the ego.
*****
I hope you enjoyed these random examples of me sticking up for myself/doing foolish things but having a positive outcome. More to come, of course.
-Ash
Friday, June 5, 2009
Mean People
Hello everyone! No clue who I'm talking to but I'd like to think that my absence from blogging hasn't scared everyone away. Or maybe my blogging did it, who knows. Either way, I'm writing again. This time I'd like to address something that happened earlier in the week, at work.
Monday seemed pretty normal *read Crazy* as usual. We had tons of phone calls, and like most Fridays, we had more than one closing scheduled in the office. Our job as receptionists is to get a room for the clients. Other than that, we have no control over the closing paperwork, or really anything else that has to go with the closing. Nine times out of ten, we don't even know the name of the people in the closing, and that hasn't been a problem in the past. Until Monday.
Attorney Zachary Lawrence shows up for his 3:30 pm closing. Michelle takes him to the big conference room because she thinks it's the right room. He comes storming out a few seconds later and says that we've made a mistake, and demands to have another room. Michelle & I look at each other, trying to figure out what do do, and the overly impatient man says, "I see your lips moving, but nothing's coming out." So I volunteer to take him to another room, but when I get in there, I see that it's already been taken. I mention that he may be the first one there from his group, to which he argues with me that there is "no way" he can be the first person there because in the 30 years he's been doing business, it's never happened. No matter what I said to the guy or how much I tried to lighten the mood, he was pissed anyway, so he argued with me. As we get back up to the front desk area, he yells out at me, "How about this? When you figure out what's going on, you just let me know." Okay, fine. I go back to the other side to find a conference room. I feel myself getting frustrated, but I take a deep breath and try to just brush it off. When I return to the front of the office, I say, "Hey, guess what? We have a room for you!" to which he replies, in the most condescending voice, "Well isn't that just great?" If someone would have heard the words I said under my breath as I walked him to the conference room, I probably would have gotten fired. I take him to the room where he proceeds to tell me how small it is and that they will need a bunch more chairs. (I think about how it is definitely too small for his ego and fat ass, but I say nothing.) I can feel my face get red with anger, but I bite my tongue and bring in more chairs. As I leave them and walk back to the front desk, I feel myself on the verge of tears. All it took was one look from Michelle and I lost it. The next 30 minutes or so, I attempt to calm down. No one has ever been that rude and condescending to me in person. Unfortunately Bill, my boss, is busy with agents, so I can't go in and tell him what happened. More and more people in the office find out that I cried (since I tend to light up like a light bulb), so I tell the story a few times. Then I find out that Ann, our Title lady, has been running back and forth between 2 closings, and Mr. Lawrence has been treating her the same way. He'd say things to her like "I don't care if you are working with other clients" and demand all of her attention. Between he and his client, Ann is almost in tears from the things they've said to her, and I consider her to be tougher than I am. Around 5:30 I see an opening in Bill's office, so I run in and try to tell him what's going on. At the time I felt a bit like I was telling the teacher on a mean student, but I also didn't want the news getting back to him that I cried without being able to tell him why. I told him what the guy said, and then mentioned that he'd been the same way toward Ann from Title. I will never forget the look on Bill's face. He instantly puffed up and said, "Is the attorney still here? I'd like to speak with him."
Bill walks out and introduces himself to Mr. Lawrence. This is basically how it went:
B: My name is Bill Gill, and I'm the broker here at Baird & Warner. I have had complaints from two of my employees that you have been rude to them. We do not tolerate that here. You are a guest in our office.
Z: Well, if your staff knew what the hell was going on, it wouldn't have been a problem. Who are these two employees? I want to talk to them.
(I had been listening from the front desk, and almost instinctively I jump out of my seat and run around the corner where the two men are standing.)
Me: (Waving) You wanted to speak to me?
Z: (Stuttering... surprised by my sudden appearance) Fine, if you have a problem with me, then why don't you have the cops come and kick me out? (Who the hell says that? Maybe it's happened to him before...)
B: Really? Okay.
Bill proceeds to go to his office and call the police. Mr. Lawrence grabs his stuff and walks out to the parking lot. He tries to come back in, but Bill meets him at the door. They yell back and forth for a minute or so, arms waving around. I get a little nervous because Z is a BIG guy and I wonder if he'll try to throw anything at Bill... luckily he knew better. Apparently Z says that he wants to know where the edge of our property is so he can stand there and wait for the police without looking like he is "fleeing the scene". Bill suggests the Starbucks parking lot.
Cops come, and we tell them the story. The cop just laughed at it, especially when Bill said, "Well, he's the one who told me to call the police, so I just took his advice.
Long story short, he's no longer welcome in our office again. And it really doesn't pay to be an asshole. Since this happened, I heard from at least 3 other people in the office who have had to work with this guy, and apparently he wasn't just having a bad day on Monday. Seems like he gets off on talking down to everyone and demanding everyone do what he wants. Newsflash: You can get a lot farther in life without being a bastard. Though there was a long list of things I wanted to say and/or do when dealing with this man, I am thankful that I told my boss and that he stood up for us. It would not have been worth getting fired over someone who makes it his duty in life to make others miserable. I'm having a hard time getting over this situation because I haven't ever had to deal with someone like that before... but I guess it's a good lesson to learn.
More later, I'm running late.
-Ash
Monday seemed pretty normal *read Crazy* as usual. We had tons of phone calls, and like most Fridays, we had more than one closing scheduled in the office. Our job as receptionists is to get a room for the clients. Other than that, we have no control over the closing paperwork, or really anything else that has to go with the closing. Nine times out of ten, we don't even know the name of the people in the closing, and that hasn't been a problem in the past. Until Monday.
Attorney Zachary Lawrence shows up for his 3:30 pm closing. Michelle takes him to the big conference room because she thinks it's the right room. He comes storming out a few seconds later and says that we've made a mistake, and demands to have another room. Michelle & I look at each other, trying to figure out what do do, and the overly impatient man says, "I see your lips moving, but nothing's coming out." So I volunteer to take him to another room, but when I get in there, I see that it's already been taken. I mention that he may be the first one there from his group, to which he argues with me that there is "no way" he can be the first person there because in the 30 years he's been doing business, it's never happened. No matter what I said to the guy or how much I tried to lighten the mood, he was pissed anyway, so he argued with me. As we get back up to the front desk area, he yells out at me, "How about this? When you figure out what's going on, you just let me know." Okay, fine. I go back to the other side to find a conference room. I feel myself getting frustrated, but I take a deep breath and try to just brush it off. When I return to the front of the office, I say, "Hey, guess what? We have a room for you!" to which he replies, in the most condescending voice, "Well isn't that just great?" If someone would have heard the words I said under my breath as I walked him to the conference room, I probably would have gotten fired. I take him to the room where he proceeds to tell me how small it is and that they will need a bunch more chairs. (I think about how it is definitely too small for his ego and fat ass, but I say nothing.) I can feel my face get red with anger, but I bite my tongue and bring in more chairs. As I leave them and walk back to the front desk, I feel myself on the verge of tears. All it took was one look from Michelle and I lost it. The next 30 minutes or so, I attempt to calm down. No one has ever been that rude and condescending to me in person. Unfortunately Bill, my boss, is busy with agents, so I can't go in and tell him what happened. More and more people in the office find out that I cried (since I tend to light up like a light bulb), so I tell the story a few times. Then I find out that Ann, our Title lady, has been running back and forth between 2 closings, and Mr. Lawrence has been treating her the same way. He'd say things to her like "I don't care if you are working with other clients" and demand all of her attention. Between he and his client, Ann is almost in tears from the things they've said to her, and I consider her to be tougher than I am. Around 5:30 I see an opening in Bill's office, so I run in and try to tell him what's going on. At the time I felt a bit like I was telling the teacher on a mean student, but I also didn't want the news getting back to him that I cried without being able to tell him why. I told him what the guy said, and then mentioned that he'd been the same way toward Ann from Title. I will never forget the look on Bill's face. He instantly puffed up and said, "Is the attorney still here? I'd like to speak with him."
Bill walks out and introduces himself to Mr. Lawrence. This is basically how it went:
B: My name is Bill Gill, and I'm the broker here at Baird & Warner. I have had complaints from two of my employees that you have been rude to them. We do not tolerate that here. You are a guest in our office.
Z: Well, if your staff knew what the hell was going on, it wouldn't have been a problem. Who are these two employees? I want to talk to them.
(I had been listening from the front desk, and almost instinctively I jump out of my seat and run around the corner where the two men are standing.)
Me: (Waving) You wanted to speak to me?
Z: (Stuttering... surprised by my sudden appearance) Fine, if you have a problem with me, then why don't you have the cops come and kick me out? (Who the hell says that? Maybe it's happened to him before...)
B: Really? Okay.
Bill proceeds to go to his office and call the police. Mr. Lawrence grabs his stuff and walks out to the parking lot. He tries to come back in, but Bill meets him at the door. They yell back and forth for a minute or so, arms waving around. I get a little nervous because Z is a BIG guy and I wonder if he'll try to throw anything at Bill... luckily he knew better. Apparently Z says that he wants to know where the edge of our property is so he can stand there and wait for the police without looking like he is "fleeing the scene". Bill suggests the Starbucks parking lot.
Cops come, and we tell them the story. The cop just laughed at it, especially when Bill said, "Well, he's the one who told me to call the police, so I just took his advice.
Long story short, he's no longer welcome in our office again. And it really doesn't pay to be an asshole. Since this happened, I heard from at least 3 other people in the office who have had to work with this guy, and apparently he wasn't just having a bad day on Monday. Seems like he gets off on talking down to everyone and demanding everyone do what he wants. Newsflash: You can get a lot farther in life without being a bastard. Though there was a long list of things I wanted to say and/or do when dealing with this man, I am thankful that I told my boss and that he stood up for us. It would not have been worth getting fired over someone who makes it his duty in life to make others miserable. I'm having a hard time getting over this situation because I haven't ever had to deal with someone like that before... but I guess it's a good lesson to learn.
More later, I'm running late.
-Ash
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