Im Tired!

Literally and figuratively, I am tired of working. Working at Wendy's, and simply working in general, requires too much work. So much dedication and diligence is required, that it is truly exhausting. I dislike it with passion. Looking beyond my disdain of working, and how much work it takes to hate work, I have to admit that I have been working for the past several days.

I think that the last time I came to this was on Wednesday. Luckily, I got Thursday off. Working on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday has been extreme. On both days, Wendy's has been understaffed. For example, usually there is someone to mop the floors and take out trash, but now we have had to give people double tasks and give them the chance to operate two stations. I have had to simultaneously take orders up front as well as make orders for the drive-thru. It gets so hard to handle at times that you just get tired from running in circles. On yesterday, we were so short staffed that they had to close the store for an hour until more people could be called in. I do not even know why we are continuously short staffed but it looks like it may even continue into next week. Amazingly, they are bringing in new hires.

I am just glad that, although I have to work each night until Thursday, that I will be leaving Wendy's in about 13 days. I do not really want to leave, but I am beginning to get tired. I doubt if I will come back and work in the summer or even next winter but we will see. If the same people still work there, then I may stay, if not then I will not return.

As long as I keep an attitude of looking forward in that I am being paid for this work at Wendy's, then I should still be able to keep the faith and stay positive. Like I tell people there, do not work yourself too hard. This is the only thought that keeps me going.

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The Plan

Normally, I would entertain discussion about Wendy's, but Wednesday was so slack at the store that all I sat and did was think about a new plan for my future. I do think that the plan has now become much more realistic than my previous one was. The Seven-year plan is basically of what I hope to have and achieve in seven years. Purposely, there is really no start date to this, but I am going to imply that is somewhere between last semester and maybe before I graduate.

The goal is to, in seven years, be married, have seven children, own a mansion on the riverfront, posses 14 BMW Convertibles, have a militia of cooks, nannies, maids, servants, butlers, and drivers (each will be entitled to 6 months paid vacation, lush bonuses, and a salary that is enough to fully fund the building of several houses a year), and be in an industry or government related job that is on the forefront of the latest in research climate, zoology, biology, and environment. And finally, be a leading contributor to beneficial causes and funds.

It is a pretty lucrative plan that thrives on the collaboration of several events needing to come together in swift procession. But I do think that with this focus as the forefront of my life it could be possible. The most viable plan would be this.

The goal is to, in seven years, have graduated from VCU with a PhD in Life Science, be employed by the government in a nice job with benefits and reasonable hours, be married have three children, a maid, a nanny, a butler, a driver, a cook, and be in the possession of two BMW convertibles, as well as a lovely house on the riverfront.

Ultimately, this goal seems to be the most clear and most realistic. I do hope to make it a reality. Currently, apart from the VCU part, everything else is still in the air. I must find someone to marry, and some way to have children, and some future employer, and purchase a plot of land, on the riverfront for the house.



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Christmas Day

Christmas Day is perhaps one of those most hyped events of the year. In my opinion, there is too much anticipation that leads up to this day. Sure, the ability and chance to gather with friends and family and eat bountiful amounts of food is nice, but when you look at the events surrounding this, it can be overwhelming. For example, people only officially get Christmas Day off, but most people sacrifice all of their vacation time to take not only the day before Christmas off, but also several days after it. This is very problematic for those who are unable to take days off, for when Christmas falls on Tuesday through Thursday, then they are cheated.

After experiencing, several years of receiving gifts that did not relate to technology (clothes), I have learned never to have high expectations for this time of the year. Sure, I would have loved to receive a Playstation 3 or some games, but being that I have never received much in the way of a game for Christmas, asking for this would have been too much. I was even more shocked over the fact that because we pay about $2000 a semester for me to live in Richmond to go to school for free, that I would not receive anything, even clothes. Some how, my parents surprised me and got me about several outfits, and my relatives sent a few cash options.

Christmas Day concluded, after this bountiful offering of gifts, with me being able to experience the joy of eating out with the family. It was a nice "potluck" dinner of sorts with everyone bringing some dish. I personally loved the egg rolls. As I have told my friends and everyone knows, I am pretty adamant about my grandmas cooking. It, as always is, the most satisfying cooking on earth and she did not fail to exceed my expectations. I love it.

I thought yesterday, although over hyped, as always, was quite a nice time to gather with the family and friends.

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All Work and No Play

Working over the winter break is perhaps a blessing and a curse. In a sense, it is good that I can use the time that I would spend at home doing nothing for earning money and being productive. It is terrible in the sense that I have to spend the time by serving customers and being really tired all the time to earn this money. As I think that I have said, I chose to come back to Wendy’s to work with my old coworkers, and to gain money to fund expenditures throughout the upcoming semester.

In review, for this week I was given Wednesday and Thursday off. The trade-off for that was that I would work Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. To work Sunday, is usually a huge privilege as it the east busiest day of the week. However, being that this is a holiday weekend, I failed to realize that it was going to be more busy than normal. Friday and Saturday were both as busy as ever, and Sunday unfortunately proved to be as busy as those two days combined. Apart from the fact that on Friday and Saturday that I did have a runner for a short time, I mostly spent the time on Sunday taking and making all of my orders. It was aggravating that I had to do it alone, and this probably contributed to my headache. As the time on Sunday went by, I went exponentially slower and slower.

Working at Wendy’s allows you to see how things go on when there are less people than needed. If we had one more person working then things could have proceeded slowly, though as that proves, it was Sunday and it is hard to decide if there are going to be many customers choosing to dine in. Moreover, even with that, the other person would have gone to work in the drive-thru, so I would have once again had no help. In order for me to proceed faster, I would have needed about three more people working (one for the drive-thru, another for fries, and then a front sandwich maker). However, alas, life does not work in planned out proportions that support efficiency.

I hope that today (Christmas Eve), proves to be less busy. Who knows what today may hold.

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Work Friday

Once again I was able to work at Wendy's. Friday's are usually my most hectic days to work. It is usually on this very day that virtually everyone chooses to come and take part in the most bountiful and tasty offerings that Wendy's usually offers. This Friday proved no different. It was not until the 8 o'clock hour that I was able to move offline and away from the front counter. Of course, at that time I was only able to wipe down a few tables before a new crowd of people came stumbling through the door. Although there was a multitude of people, I did not receive a single disgruntled customer. It was quite amazing actually. The only problem that I had was really with a few of the newer workers. I really disliked the fact that one of them continued to move around and not say excuse me or anything. At one point I wanted to scream! She literally took the hot fries that I was about to give to my customer and took them for the drive-thru. Another worker continued to make frigid fries!

It began to get annoying after I had to keep giving customers new batches of fries. I still managed to hold everything together.

Basically it was a fun day at work. I hope to work on less crowded days though.



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Fall 2007: It's Over

I went and consulted one of my good friends and I declared to him the information about Fall Semester 2007. He told me explicitly, in his funny way, "Its Over!” In all actuality, it was Reid, a character from Tales of Eternia, a role-playing game that I have on my Playstation Portable.

For the Fall Semester of this year (lasting from August 23 until December 18) I was enrolled in four courses. The four courses were Introduction to Anthropology (3 credits), Introduction to Chinese (4 credits), Introduction to Chemistry 2 (3 credits), and Basic Practice of Statistics (3 credits). In total, this was perhaps one of my easiest semesters thus far. I was only enrolled in 4 courses, which game me about 13 credits. The most that I have ever taken was 15 credits during the fall of 2006.

Most of the courses this semester were quite easy. The only one that was difficult was perhaps Chemistry. I have learned that I dislike Chemistry very much. There is too much in the way of memorizing concepts and then applying these concepts using detailed and lengthy combinations of algebra and chemistry. At one point, I was like, “what are we in, a math class now?” Overall, it turned out well. I do have to give props out to one of my friends. Although I was adamant about studying it all alone, I have to say that whenever I did study with him, that it was quite helpful. In the future, perhaps he will continue to help others in their study groups of sorts. I have to say that I am very much against the idea of holding study groups. They are too taxing on the mind, body, and soul and people begin to rely heavily on them instead of on their own study abilities. Regardless, they seemed to benefit. I could not do it because I felt they moved at a slow pace. I even think they scored higher than I did for a large part of the course, but I got an A in then end, and as long as everyone succeeded and was happy, who am I to get mad?

Ultimately, my GPA is now a 3.837. Following my classic tradition of dropping classes during Add/Drop Week, I will probably not reveal my final schedule until, after Sunday January 20, 2008, which is when Add/Drop Week ends. Therefore, everyone will have to live in suspense until that day arrives. I probably will not drop whatever textbooks I buy for courses. Currently, I do plan to buy three textbooks from Amazon for only about $150 dollars; I hope that the prices do not alter by the time I receive my first check from Wendy’s.

School resumes on Monday, January 14 2008.

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What's Good?

One of the reasons why I love Winter Break, is that it gives you time to sit at home and have some good ole personal time. It allows one to be able to think and ponder about all the things they do in life. You get to review the course of the year, make plans for the New Year, and think about all the things that need changing. In my mind, I find that there are tons of things that I could have avoided doing (not that they were bad). There are things that I could do better, and there are people that I could have avoided and left behind. Ultimately, the time for thinking is extensive, and plans form for the upcoming year.

I usually focus during this time simply by not doing anything with friends or family. I like to just sit at home and surf the net, read books, write stuff, watch TV, and play videogames. Why do I do this? Simply put, I am quite tired from the semester of running around. If only you knew how much running around, I do, how much time I dedicate to people and causes, and then trying to sort out issues. That is not even counting the amount of time it takes to even do my own studies (not that I study), but to just review homework and do it. The end of the semester is usually the most trying time because it requires trying to spend time with people whom you may never see again as well as closing the books on several subjects, missions, goals, and even organizations. That is not even to mention the fact that once you get feedback and results back, there is this huge suspense of failure or success.

Mainly, the reason why I do tend to avoid calling people on the phone during this time is that it takes up so much time. It is counter productive to my mission if I pick up the phone and call you. My mission states that this is a time of personal solitude. If I talk to you then I am better off just going somewhere and spending time talking to you; ultimately distracting me from my mission of contemplating my life. Usually during the break, I have only been concerned with seeing only one or two people, and they know who they are. Actually, one of them we do always try to go out to eat whenever I am on a break. This always inspires me and brings me great joy. She is just so amazing!

That is beyond the point. Ultimately, as I declared a long time ago, the purpose of me really writing these notes and such is to give people an entire view of me. After being declared as being sinister and evil by someone whom I have never met, I have had to make it my mission of discovering just why someone would be able to deem me as sinister. In a way I have slightly been able to see why this would be so. Still, I would not have called my total personality as being sinister and evil. Everyone I met has had some sort of "nefariousness" in them (well not everyone).

Today, I do feel like revealing a new quality that you probably would have never been able to see in me. Therefore, I must take my third person approach.

Tristan has been deemed as one who never tells people his true feelings. Sure, he will spend time telling you his problems with others and the world but people usually have to question if he is really being sincere about these comments. It has even been claimed, that he says these things but if he has a problem he will never work to resolve it. He looks to others to solve them; if no one does then he will continue to discuss but will not do anything about it. In actuality, he spends his time building a large and complex tangled web of false stories, mistruths, half lies, tall tales, fables, mysteries, novels, fictional plays, and other such things that will have someone running in circles. It has been brought to his attention as to why he does this. Well he simply does not know. He usually does this to see and hear people's responses. In a way, he is testing to see just how good they are. More often than not, he can predict their response. Ultimately, it can easily be reversed and done to him. In the rare instance that his entire myriad of lies fails, he is revealed as weak, insecure, and ultimately emotionally unstable. Fortunately, it takes a great deal of persistence, trying, and confusing stories from others to deconstruct this web, so no one has ever seen him in his most broke down state. However, in the most recent times, the web's outer layers have begun to disintegrate.

In a short set of words, Tristan is ultimately lost currently, looking for someone to cling to for help and support. After being left with going a year with no friends he is ultimately confused and stuck, drowning in sea waving his hands wildly looking for whomever to cling too. Unfortunately, most people are to slick and he slides right off. Surprisingly this past semester and summer, he did find a few people who have been able to offer him moral fiber and support. They will remain nameless here.

In addition, Tristan, does have one minor confession, he does feel sorry for not going to visit two of his friends at their house before the semester ended. He had planned a day to go over there but the surprise news of an emergency assignment that needed to be done and completed by the next morning halted his plans for that evening.

This one has gotten to be quite long. It will be continued at another time.

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Back To Work, Back in Action

Day 2 at Wendy's went exceptionally well. I was able to return to my favorite position in the store and work amazingly well. As you can probably guess, I worked as the Front Register Operator. I believe that there is something special and exhilarating about working on the front counter. The luxury of being able to move at my own determined pace is probably why I love it. At times, I can generally move at a quick pace; some customers have been able to notice my speed because I do slip and slid on the floor, and ricochet off the door handles and counters. It can be so fun. The only two negative aspects with working in the front are that I have to clean the dining room at the end and then I have to interact with customers. Between you and me, I hate person-to-person interaction on all levels, work, play, and even eating.

Working in a fast rood restaurant that has a drive-thru window has one striking flaw. That flaw is clearly, that in most cases, in the winter the cold north wind blows through the window and lowers the temperature of the store greatly. Customers and workers always come in and complain that it is too cold to do anything. I found myself shiver and sniffing because it was so cold with the wind blowing on me as I took and served orders. Customers begged me to increase the heat setting. We cannot increase the heat setting when it will just get colder when the drive thru window opens. I, never did communicate, that fact to the people, unfortunately. At one point, I was going to put a Wendy’s coat on, but I felt weird because the coats were all too big for me. I managed to get over the coldness eventually.

Yesterday proceeded without haste. I was able to secure a raise, so I can make essentially, hopefully, two hundred dollars more than I had originally projected, so I can hope to get new Wii games and such. I hope even to earn enough to acquire Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core, if I earn enough.

One of the other problems with working in any place in which customers orders must be taken involves order accuracy. When I left Wendy’s a few months ago, one of the most repeated qualities that Wendy’s Propaganda for employees stressed was order accuracy. I remember one claim in which workers are required to repeat the order three times to the customers. (On a side note, if we repeat it, enough we could eventually trick people who do not remember their order into getting less than they paid for; a truly nefarious thought indeed). For some reason, I felt the need to repeat everyone’s orders because I hate the fact that people forget what they say. The disgruntled customer that I served decided to add to her completed order three small Vanilla frosty’s. I assumed that the new button on the register was automatically rigged to total up three small frosty’s. In actuality, it was rigged to do three medium frosty’s (a flaw of the computer, for the chocolate frosty the computer automatically rings it up as a small chocolate frosty). Therefore, I totally the order up and then proceeded to cash it out. The woman realized that I had charged her for the wrong thing (she was able to do mental math multiple 99-cents by three to get a reasonably price). I followed this and realized my error. I had to race and get the manager to do a void of sorts. My manager claimed that there is a difference of 20 cents, which there is. However, even with this, there is some other problem with the inflation of prices with tax. Therefore, we, even though we were right in that she would get 60 cents back, the woman claimed that we still did not give her enough money. The manager went into the back to verify this on the calculator. In the meantime, I had to stay up front and entertain the customer. By entertain, I mean listen to her tell me and everyone else in line about her struggle with making money and her fight to fight for every single bit of money that she has earned. Therefore, by us taking two minutes to get her an additional dollar, she was claiming that this was a galactic fight of epic proportions in which one dollar would cost her, her entire life savings and projected new worth. I was like, please calm down, it is just one-dollar, you can easily find one-dollar in the bottom of your couch at home. Of course, I did not say that aloud. Overall, everything was straightened out.

The night ended sharply around 11 PM. I was able to finish everything in breakneck speeds; thanks in part to my ability to do the entire dining room clean up in a fast speed. I have it all literally memorized. I get today and Thursday off, and then it is back to the Wendy’s for fun on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

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The Semester Ends

Now I might not have managed to stay on the track as I had originally planned of updating this but now I think I may be able to focus on it. It will be my New Year's Resolution to provide continual updates to my blog. I do hope I can stay on track. I will have to put it on the daily schedule, just as I make time to do surveys, I will have to do it for this too, it seems.

The final grades are slowly tricking in and in the future I will make a specific update for that. On yesterday I went back to Wendy's to work. I was surprised to see that many of the people I had worked with before were still there. Apart from a few new faces, everything for my night shift was just about similar. Surprisingly I still knew about everything to do and managed to still get out at my regular time.

A few things were a bit weird though. First off the computer system seems to have undergone an entirely new overhaul. The font is now smaller and there are about 20 times more buttons it seems. In fact, it is so small that one has to literally pound the keys in order for it to respond. I would have expected them at least upgrade their version of Microsoft Windows (I believe they are either at 95 or NT). Regardless, I worked that out. I actually miss how the credit card thing would automatically accept the card. Now I have to mass a silly Credit Card button.

Secondly, apart from adding a few new functions, everything with the entire way that Wendy's works is still the same. Although there are new menu items, the 99 cent menu has undergone a few price increases, Frescata's and other promo's are gone, and now the drinks and stuff and Frosty has undergone changes. Personally, it was too much to grab at one time but I got it.

I cant believe that they havent been able to revolutionize the art of Fry cooking and make it take less than 3 minutes to cook, lol.

Last night I got about one disgruntled customer. Apparently, after I repeated her order to her twice even after she said okay, once she got her order she claimed that she had ordered another drink and then got so upset that she told me that Im not even fit to even take orders. She even asked me, "Are the nuggets hot?" I was like "If you have a problem with anything on your order bring it back to me and I will fix it for you and give you abundantly more?". She walked away in a sort of disgruntled way, and I felt bad for her because I gave her a free drink and she was still mad. Hm, but oh well, I did get compliments and good marks for the night.

The final annoying thing was that the vacuum cleaner was in a state of disrepair. Even after me being gone for a year, they have still managed to be afflicted with the vacuum cleaner curse. This can be looked at as either good or bad. Good in a sense that we could do less work because we dont have to vacuum the entire dining room, but bad in a sense that we have to use a broom to sweep the food. The broom is more time consuming, and leaves the floor not looking that clean but it manages to get the job done.

Ultimately, I am glad to have returned to Wendy's for it gives me something to do since just about everyone I know has gone their separate ways for this Winter Break. I am hoping to use the (hopefully) $600 or so dollars I gain from this for more Nintendo Wii games in the upcoming months. Hopefully.

Also, lastly, I do not want to hopefully have to keep paying for food from Wendy's. It makes no sense to pay for food from your own employer. But who knows, I might have to do it tonight.

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