Dilemmas, Distresses, and Driving

Since my last post, humble reader, my life has continued to twist and turn.

After saying how great work had been so far, I ended up tired and disgruntled after Saturday night's time at the store.  And, just yesterday, I got a call from Trader Joe's offering me an interview this Thursday.

Let's discuss the first item...  The problem with work on Saturday night wasn't the majority of the time.  No, in fact, it was the aftermath of work.  The store closes at nine.  My end of the night duty was to wash dishes:  all of the various coffee machine parts, elements of the juicer that had been demonstrated earlier, and various other bits and pieces used throughout the very long weekend day.

It took me almost forty minutes to scrub the bowls, hoppers, grills, tubes, containers, mesh screens, and ten thousand other pieces that make up our machines.  Hence, a shift that was to end at 9:30 became walking out the door (as a group) at 9:50.

From there, the drive home was frustration piled upon frustration... a driver from Maryland unable to figure out that you have to pay before leaving the parking garage (in spite of dozens of posted signs); stupid, slow people driving through Oakland; almost getting smashed by a Duquesne University student bus; dangerous drivers in the East End... the usual suspects.  But heap that onto my worn out, achy exhaustion and I was fit to be tied.

It hadn't been all bad, though.  The highlight of the night, though, was my official knife training.  Getting to play with gorgeous, expensive cutlery is fun - no two ways about it.  Those skills came in handy on Sunday when I had two knife demos, one of which turned into a very nice sale.  Said demonstrations kept me from having to work the registers, which I was trained to do on Sunday and which stresses me out.

It's not a complicated system by any means.  It's just laid out in the least intuitive way possible.  One has to log in.  Then one is told that their password - only a week old and never used once - had expired.  (Makes sense...)  One is then prompted, even before ringing a single item, to enter the customer's name into the system.  Then we can get around to the actual sale itself.

I still enjoy the place.  I like my co-workers, even if I'm still trying to figure out how to read a couple of them.  I like the customers so far.  The first time I ever answered the phone, a woman was calling to ask if we carried the Le Creuset tagine (kismet, right?).  I was able to expound at length on the wonders of the thing, impressing my manager hovering nearby.  I even showed the staff how the ceramic tagine top fits on the 4.5 quart round Le Creuset oven, thereby making a larger base for cooking - and blowing my co-workers' minds.

That brings me to the dilemma... the Trader Joe's interview.

I'd applied there even before I did at SLT.  SLT just happened to fall into my lap while TJs wasn't hiring at the time.  Trader Joe's is close - like walking distance close... 0.9 miles to be exact.  If I chose to bike there, the road has dedicated bike lanes.  Drive?  Parking is free.

This is all quite the opposite of SLT, which is over five miles away.  In Pittsburgh terms, that's at least a twenty minute drive each way.  I'd die if I biked there and I have to pay to park - $30 for 10 ins and 10 outs from the garage.

What remains to be seen is the number of hours, the pay per hour, and other minutia.  I like SLT because we're a smaller crew and, let's face it, I can talk about kitchen goods until I go blue in the face.  Trader Joe's always seems to be busy, has an enormous staff, and carries a dizzying array of products.  It might be trading driving stress for a larger world of stress, but we'll see all about that.

Until then, friends, I'll try to keep sane and have this roller coaster car I call my life attached to the crazy tracks!