Work Dec 8, 2013

Last week was my first Mon to Fri work week and my second five day work week. I worked Sat Nov 30 to make up for Thanksgiving Day on Thur Nov 28. The adjustment to working full time continues. I have been getting between six to seven hours of sleep a night which includes weekends.

There were two traffic accidents. The first was on Fri Nov 29 I forgot to mention. The second was on Mon Dec 2. I was late to work as a result. Some of the employees arrived late because of accidents. It appeared management has an understanding such that other people could cover when the store opens.

Speaking of covering shifts, one of our full time workers was sick. We were short handed on Wed Dec 4 and Thur Dec 5. I received inventory at the receiving area on Fri Dec 6. It was my second time accepting boxes from the distributors and vendors. The full time warehouse clerk gave me suggestions on pushing and turning the dolly.

There was stress inside the building on Wed. I felt it from the other co-workers and management. Everyone was stressed. I was the last person to stress out. I found an error in one product. The error was a couple of employees sold a product without getting it priced from the owner. Holiday stress.

I priced inventory and entered new inventory in the database 95% of the work week. The other 5% was preparing the webpage for the opening of the second store. Researching and finding information were time consuming because there are multiple sources for information and I work on a laptop. The 15.4 inch screen made work much longer. Fortunately, I created templates on Excel and Word to make researching more efficient.

Some of the male employees their wives are the breadwinners in their residence. Interesting. It was the first time I met men who were mostly dependent on their woman.

There were moments I felt lonely. It was a lonely feeling such that months or years later all my friends want to end my friendship and I'm not going to meet new people. Feeling lonely sucks.

My manager commented the store needs more fun. It reminded me of my first job after college. My manager at my first job commented on the office being too quiet. I wish I knew how to promote fun in a workplace. If I knew how, then I have a different profession.

The latest Google Maps app update included entering my home address and my work address. I checked my commute when I eat breakfast. The Google Maps included multiple routes and estimated times.

The second store opening day is scheduled for Fri Dec 20. The permits and licenses are approved. I'm looking forward to work in Los Gatos soon. The commute is shorter.

The lighter side of the work week was new "Employees Only" signs for the back area instead of a piece of white paper with "Employees Only" written in black marker. It looked more professional.

Finally, the U.S. Labor Department released the latest unemployment report. 203,000 jobs were added in Nov and the unemployment rate dropped from 7.3% to 7.0%. The rate is the lowest in five years. The job market is still weak.