So once again...work is hitting rock bottom for me. Though I did have Jess, who I adore and who has been with the company for 7+ years, working alongside me for the past 3 months, once again, she has been screwed over to the point that she is giving her notice in the next couple days. This is now going to leave me with another associate who can't function properly in the role that he has been given full time, and a supervisor who can't function in his position at all. Once again, I have a sinking suspicion that it is going to fall to me to make sure that my department runs smoothly and efficiently. Despite the fact that I am just an associate, and that I have only been in position for about a year, I am the most senior person in my office at this point. I don't know if that is an accomplishment to be congratulated, or if I'm crazy to have stuck it out this long.
Yesterday was easily one of the worst days I've had. I woke up in a bad mood, and while I know I shouldn't bring that to work with me, it was impossible to avoid once I got there to perk up. I was stressed out and cranky, and then I got into my very first fight with my assistant manager. Let me just say that that is completely uncharacteristic for both of us. We generally get along amazingly. However, I think he was feeling some pressure and was stressed out, and I was definitely stressed out and we clashed.
I was outside having a smoke, and he came out for his break as well. Normally, this isn't a huge deal, he will ask me a few minor work things but otherwise, it's just regular convo. This time, he pretty much laid into me about my lack of follow up on a customer issue for which he had asked me to reorder a part for a customer (which I did minutes after he asked me to, but apparently I should have emailed him to let him know that I did that-- which kind of makes me feel like he doesn't trust me enough to do my job), and then he was getting irritated at me because I haven't learned how to deal with installs. Here's the thing, I have never refused to learn new things, because generally, the more you know, the more invaluable you are. But. I have my own job, with my own responsibilities, that I am struggling to deal with. I used to share my job with 3 people...and now I am left to do it myself. Clearly, I am kept busy all the time. He pretty much insisted that since it is the store's busy season, I should be able to make time to learn another job on top of my own now. I don't get the luxury of having a slow season...
I feel like he doesn't understand that I actually work my ass off. I don't know what he thinks I do all day, but it's clear that he doesn't think I work hard enough (or it was yesterday, anyways). I don't know that I can meet his expectations of me. I get the impression that he needs me to make sure that all facets of the business are taken care of, but I am not the supervisor of my department. I don't WANT to be the supervisor of my department, or of any department in that store based on the way they are treated by customers and upper management. And I do not make nearly enough to be expected to take on the responsibilities that I think he expects-- though I've been told that there are no "off-cyle" raises.
Regardless, we left on fairly bad terms yesterday, and he was off today. I know through other sources that he has had a pretty bad week this week, and I do actually feel bad for the way I reacted. It was immature and unprofessional, and I was snotty to him. But he did the same to me. I think we both needed that person to vent to, and we just bounced everything off of each other. It's both good and bad...We are very similar in personality in a lot of respects, we both have high expectations of others and get frustrated when they aren't met. We take things too personally. Unfortunately, we both kind of exploded all at the same time, and once again, I left work in tears.
So we'll likely need to talk tomorrow. I'd like to offer an apology for the way I reacted, and I hope for the same from him. I'm sure we'll be ok by tomorrow. And hopefully things in general will be ok. I'm pessimistic about that, but I have to hold on to the notion that things can't get worse.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Treading Water In a Rising Flood
So once again, work is owning my life and abusing me in ways I didn't think possible. Not only did we lose Bob, our Kitchen/Bath/Appliance Expeditor and PC (which then split his 40 hour a week workload between Michelle and I), but this week, Michelle (Flooring and Hardware Expeditor and PC) announced that she would be leaving the company too.
I am now the only person left in my office to handle 120 hours of work in a 40 hour work week. Don't get me wrong, I have a supervisor. Do I think that he will help me? He might try, but I can almost guarantee that he won't be able to offer me the kind of help or support I need. I am stressed to the max already, and Michelle's last day isn't until next Friday.
Add to that the fact that my favourite manager ever, Cory, left the company this week and moved out of town. I have been in tears at some point every day this week. I have never worked in a place that under appreciates it's staff to the point that my company does, and I've never seen so many people come and go. And it's all based on the way we're treated. When you walk in those doors, you become a number. Customers yell at you, more work gets piled on you and you can't possibly keep up, which then causes more customers to yell at you because you're not moving as fast as they'd like.
And of course, I just got off the phone with my dad and he's so sweet and supportive and is trying to hard to make me feel better that it actually makes me feel worse because he's validating everything that I'm thinking. He made a comment about how I shouldn't let a place like this break me down and make me feel worthless...and I don't even know how he could pick up that that is exactly how I am feeling. I should be treated like GOLD right now, considering that there is absolutely no one in the store that knows my job or could cope with the workload that I have right now. Instead, I'm told that there can't be any "off-cycle raises", no changes to the schedule...really, that I'm supposed to give everything I have to this job to get nothing in return.
I have been applying to other positions but I just haven't gotten that call yet. I just don't know how much more I can take of this place before I lose it altogether. And of course, my dad once again says the magic words, "If you need to come home, you're always welcome here. You can take some time off, regroup and get yourself back on track. Don't make yourself sick."
I, of course, have an apartment lease that I'm signed on to. And I know I'm not a quitter, nor would I be happy at home for an extended period of time because all of my friends have also moved on from there.
I am trying to tell myself that I can get through this. I hope that I really can. Maybe it will get better. Or maybe some good will come out of this. At this point, all I can do is hope.
Legitimately though, I wish that "Undercover Boss" would do a special on our store. The CEOs and upper level management in our company would be in for a rude awakening if they saw exactly how they are running their company into the ground and how thin they were stretching everyone.
I am now the only person left in my office to handle 120 hours of work in a 40 hour work week. Don't get me wrong, I have a supervisor. Do I think that he will help me? He might try, but I can almost guarantee that he won't be able to offer me the kind of help or support I need. I am stressed to the max already, and Michelle's last day isn't until next Friday.
Add to that the fact that my favourite manager ever, Cory, left the company this week and moved out of town. I have been in tears at some point every day this week. I have never worked in a place that under appreciates it's staff to the point that my company does, and I've never seen so many people come and go. And it's all based on the way we're treated. When you walk in those doors, you become a number. Customers yell at you, more work gets piled on you and you can't possibly keep up, which then causes more customers to yell at you because you're not moving as fast as they'd like.
And of course, I just got off the phone with my dad and he's so sweet and supportive and is trying to hard to make me feel better that it actually makes me feel worse because he's validating everything that I'm thinking. He made a comment about how I shouldn't let a place like this break me down and make me feel worthless...and I don't even know how he could pick up that that is exactly how I am feeling. I should be treated like GOLD right now, considering that there is absolutely no one in the store that knows my job or could cope with the workload that I have right now. Instead, I'm told that there can't be any "off-cycle raises", no changes to the schedule...really, that I'm supposed to give everything I have to this job to get nothing in return.
I have been applying to other positions but I just haven't gotten that call yet. I just don't know how much more I can take of this place before I lose it altogether. And of course, my dad once again says the magic words, "If you need to come home, you're always welcome here. You can take some time off, regroup and get yourself back on track. Don't make yourself sick."
I, of course, have an apartment lease that I'm signed on to. And I know I'm not a quitter, nor would I be happy at home for an extended period of time because all of my friends have also moved on from there.
I am trying to tell myself that I can get through this. I hope that I really can. Maybe it will get better. Or maybe some good will come out of this. At this point, all I can do is hope.
Legitimately though, I wish that "Undercover Boss" would do a special on our store. The CEOs and upper level management in our company would be in for a rude awakening if they saw exactly how they are running their company into the ground and how thin they were stretching everyone.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Ode to Retail Service Employees
Taking any position in a retail store is pretty well destined to be awful. Does it have to be, or should it be this way? I don't think so. After the day (or week, I suppose) we've just experienced, I've been prompted to write this, and I'm thinking of writing in to our local paper to try to give a voice to the retail workers in this city. I have never been treated so appalling, and I can see it is wearing on my friends and fellow coworkers too. So here are my thoughts. Of course if I send something in, it will be anonymous and better written too :)
The service industry is hard. Most people know this. At some point in their lives, most people will end up in a retail service position. So why then do people behave the way they do when faced with someone who works in customer service? Is it suddenly okay to yell, scream, call them names and berate them, use profanity towards them because you are the customer, and what you say is right?
You are NOT always right.
I work at a big box store. I have met wonderful people in my line of work. I have also had the misfortune of meeting the very worst people I can imagine. People who go out of their way to make your day awful, people who aren't satisfied until you are in tears. Don't get me wrong, you certainly need to have a backbone when you arein the front line of customer service. But I have seen some of the strongest people break because of customers who have no compassion or empathy whatsoever.
We are people too.
We have families. Lives outside of where we work. I sympathize if your life feels unfulfilled or you are lacking excitement, but please don't take it out on us. We are as underpaid and underappreciated and understaffed as you are. Most of us sincerely want to help you when you come in with a problem...until you tell us that we are stupid. Useless. That we should be fired. If the shoe was on the other foot, how would you feel?
Did I make everyone quit? Am I responsible for some of the best people and best employees I know being fired? I am front of the line, yes, but I don't control the schedules, the lack of staff, the lack of product in the store. I didn't damage your merchandise or sell you something that I knew to be defective.
I am not the root cause of everything bad within a business because I am the first face you see.
Currently, my workplace is in a state of chaos. Some of the best employees have quit or been released from the company, and the rest of us who are there are left to suffer. We are forced to take on more work than can be handled properly by one single person, and we are expected to do it with a smile. Do it better and more efficiently than the person who was doing it before, as we add it to our own responsibilities. The impossible is being asked of us every day. I apologize if sometimes I'm not as perky as usual, not as quick to smile because I'm trying as hard as I can not to cry in front of the customers. The amount of stress placed on those of us who are considered "good" employees is tremendous. Please try to take into account that we are trying to juggle double, triple or sometimes quadruple the amount of work than we'd usually have because our company doesn't appreciate our efforts and thinks that we should be doing more.
We work for minimum wage, maybe slightly higher. Before you come in my workplace to yell at me, please think before you speak. As I've said, the nicer you are to me, the more I will want to do everything in my power to help you.
I should also mention that when I am not working, when I have my own shopping to do, I am constantly watching the behaviour of customers in other stores. If you decide to take out your frustrations on a cashier or another customer service personnel who isn't a manager, please know that I WILL step in and say something to you. I hope that it will embarrass you. I hope that it will make you stop and think about what you are doing. And most of all, I hope that it will help the employee to whom you are venting on, as we are kindred spirits, forced to go through this same song and dance every day.
Get off your high horse and remember that you are no better than us. Most of us are college or university educated people, who have fallen into this industry because jobs are scarce in our fields. We are people, just like you.
The service industry is hard. Most people know this. At some point in their lives, most people will end up in a retail service position. So why then do people behave the way they do when faced with someone who works in customer service? Is it suddenly okay to yell, scream, call them names and berate them, use profanity towards them because you are the customer, and what you say is right?
You are NOT always right.
I work at a big box store. I have met wonderful people in my line of work. I have also had the misfortune of meeting the very worst people I can imagine. People who go out of their way to make your day awful, people who aren't satisfied until you are in tears. Don't get me wrong, you certainly need to have a backbone when you arein the front line of customer service. But I have seen some of the strongest people break because of customers who have no compassion or empathy whatsoever.
We are people too.
We have families. Lives outside of where we work. I sympathize if your life feels unfulfilled or you are lacking excitement, but please don't take it out on us. We are as underpaid and underappreciated and understaffed as you are. Most of us sincerely want to help you when you come in with a problem...until you tell us that we are stupid. Useless. That we should be fired. If the shoe was on the other foot, how would you feel?
Did I make everyone quit? Am I responsible for some of the best people and best employees I know being fired? I am front of the line, yes, but I don't control the schedules, the lack of staff, the lack of product in the store. I didn't damage your merchandise or sell you something that I knew to be defective.
I am not the root cause of everything bad within a business because I am the first face you see.
Currently, my workplace is in a state of chaos. Some of the best employees have quit or been released from the company, and the rest of us who are there are left to suffer. We are forced to take on more work than can be handled properly by one single person, and we are expected to do it with a smile. Do it better and more efficiently than the person who was doing it before, as we add it to our own responsibilities. The impossible is being asked of us every day. I apologize if sometimes I'm not as perky as usual, not as quick to smile because I'm trying as hard as I can not to cry in front of the customers. The amount of stress placed on those of us who are considered "good" employees is tremendous. Please try to take into account that we are trying to juggle double, triple or sometimes quadruple the amount of work than we'd usually have because our company doesn't appreciate our efforts and thinks that we should be doing more.
We work for minimum wage, maybe slightly higher. Before you come in my workplace to yell at me, please think before you speak. As I've said, the nicer you are to me, the more I will want to do everything in my power to help you.
I should also mention that when I am not working, when I have my own shopping to do, I am constantly watching the behaviour of customers in other stores. If you decide to take out your frustrations on a cashier or another customer service personnel who isn't a manager, please know that I WILL step in and say something to you. I hope that it will embarrass you. I hope that it will make you stop and think about what you are doing. And most of all, I hope that it will help the employee to whom you are venting on, as we are kindred spirits, forced to go through this same song and dance every day.
Get off your high horse and remember that you are no better than us. Most of us are college or university educated people, who have fallen into this industry because jobs are scarce in our fields. We are people, just like you.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Tim Barry, Chamberlain and Gaslight- oh my!
So the long anticipated and impatiently awaited Girls Roadie 2010 has finally come and gone. This post is probably going to have to separated into a few different ones because it's going to be long. I have a lot to say about this trip, because it was one of the best I've been on. Plus, I want to devote an entire post to the actual concert itself. It was most certainly a stand-alone.
So, we kicked off on Sunday July 25th. Picked up some coffee and bagels and timbits and began the journey to Minneapolis. We had already discussed taking our time and checking things out along the way, so we were really in no hurry at all. Border crossing was pretty basic, no hard times given which was nice. The only thing that I've never experienced was having two guards crossing you through at one time, and the second one just opened up my back passenger door and rolled down the window. I wasn't expecting that at all, but it makes sense since we did have a passenger in the back.
Back on the road we got. Our first stop was in Grand Portage, we stopped at this gorgeous look out spot and took some pictures there. Then we moved a bit further down to the Grand Portage Casino, both to exchange our money and to gamble for a little bit. I normally am not a fan of gambling whatsoever, but hey, when on vacation....I put in $20 and ended up losing it. As this is typically what happens, I wasn't too shocked. Kyla and Brandi didn't do too bad though, they both ended up a bit more than what they started at. Back to the road....
We stopped at a Holiday in Grand Marais to pick up some more coffee and some snacks, and I made the discovery of our trip- Jalapeno Cheddar Combos! Fantastic snack. Grabbed an iced coffee for the road and continued on. We stopped a while later at a roadside flea market, Kyla found some stuff and then we moved along from there.
A few hours later, our tummies were getting rumbly, so we stopped at a Perkins for all day breakfast (I think this was in or around Duluth). My cheese and tomato omellette with breakfast potatos was fabulous. So was our server, Alissa. Her boss did not seem so fabulous; in fact, he looked like the typical boss who just tries to make himself look busy so he doesn't have to do any work. He spent about 20 minutes straightening menus, in fact. We had a good laugh at his expense and left Alissa a good tip and a good review on their scorecard to make up for the fact that she has to deal with him on a daily basis.
We made a stop for some more gambling at Black Bear Casino, where I didn't win, but didn't lose. Completely broke even so I was alright with that. I was somewhat disgusted by the indoor smoking though-- as a non smoker who isn't often near smoking environments, it's a lot to handle, and I was started to feel gross as we were leaving. Some fresh air fixed that right up!
A while later, I was thinking we better stop for some gas just to be on the safe side. We weren't far from Minneapolis, but better to be safe than sorry, right? We saw an exit for gas, so I pulled off and pulled into a gas pump. Well, we get out of the vehicle and there's an awful hissing noise. We didn't think it was the tire, maybe just the air conditioning or something cooling off in the engine? So I filled up and paid and it was still hissing, so Kyla had me move my truck to a parking spot so we could look around the vehicle and see if we could tell where the noise was coming from...and at some point in our journey (and we're not sure where) I had run over a big fat nail! It became clearly visible when I moved the vehicle. Fackkk. Luckily, Kyla was pretty well versed in changing tires, and my dad has gone over it with me, so we felt we could tackle this inconvenience ourselves. Plus, no one seemed to want to come over to help us...So we go to town on loosing the bolts and trying to jack up the truck. After losing some hydraulic fluid from the jack (we loosened the pressure thingy too much!) we mostly figured out how to work it. But, we were struggling on where was a safe area to jack up the vehicle. This is when a very very sweet man (whose name we didn't get, but we decided he looked like a Mark, so he'll be forever known as Mark now) came over to help us. Mark figured out the jack and figured out a place that was good to jack up the vehicle on, and we got it up and ready to change the tire. Then it was a breeze to get the spare on! He only had to help me lift the tire onto the bolts and we were golden. Mark was such a blessing...we removed the nail from the tire with hammer I had in the back and it was huge. It was threaded more like a screw. Bastard. I wish we would have kept it but we don't know where it ended up. It would have been good scrapbooking material!
So we are finally back on the road, and everything was smooth sailing from there. We arrived at our hotel around 8pm Minni time and our roadtrip from Thunder Bay ended up totalling 13 hours! It is important to note that it normally only takes about 6. So we checked in, chatted with the front desk attendant (and we also didn't get his name, which is a shame because he was wonderful), got up to our room, and tried to decide what to do with our first evening in Minneapolis. Since we were right downtown, we got ready and decided to look for a karaoke bar that was supposed to be somewhere near to our hotel. We had a good long walk through the downtown area and explored. The city is beautiful. I've never seen such a clean downtown area. There was no garbage anywhere, the streets were completely clean. It was very impressive. And never for a minute did we feel unsafe. So we walked and walked and walked some more, until we finally decided we couldn't wait any longer for a drink. Since we couldn't find the karaoke bar, we ended up at The Ugly Mug. It didn't look entirely busy and had a little patio, so it did the trick. Was the bartender the friendliest guy at first? Um, not really...but there was a really cute patron there and he made sure to make us feel welcome. We got three beers and sat down near the back. The beer was not fabulous! haha I'm not sure what Kyla ordered, but Brandi was pretty correct in saying it tasted like there were pennies corroding at the bottom of the glass. However, we still drank them, and then we had the bartender make Brandi and I a surprise mixed drink while Kyla had another beer. Not sure what our mixed drink was, but it was a delight! There was definitely cranberry juice for colour, but it was a strong mix of booze. Loved it.
We ended up leaving to head back to the hotel, but along the way, we ended up finding O'Donovans Irish Pub, which is what we were looking for in the first place. Faced with the prospect of karaoke, Kyla and I just had to go in. I should mention that I LOVE karaoke. This place was by far the best karaoke bar I've ever been to. We immediately settled down with drinks and the song book and signed up to be added to the rotation. The other patrons were maybe not so very good, but they were hilarious and no one cared how good or how bad they were. That is to me what makes a good karaoke place. People were just there to have fun. We met a crazy cast of characters there: Mel and Josh (who were both in the bar barefoot and completely trashed), Ian (who was also trashed and was making out with his knee while he was singing? haha) and Blue Jersey dude, who apparently loved Kyla. I had chosen a couple songs before Kyla so I was up first out of the two of us. The first song I had written down was "I Want You To Want Me" by Cheap Trick, but since I like the Letters to Cleo version better, I was styling it more that way. First off, let me preface this by saying I'm normally very nervous to sing in front of people. I have a pretty decent voice, but I am really shy about it. I was totally cool and comfortable singing at O'Donovans based on the people there. In fact, when the DJ announced me and what I was singing, Mel started cheering for me and saying that she loves Cheap Trick! So I start the song off and I am literally loving life. I felt like a total rockstar in that place! People were dancing and singing along and it was just so much fun. Kyla did "Something Like That" by Tim McGraw and didn't use the stage, just wandered around the floor and sang to people. Super funny and we actually have a video of that. Then at the end of the night, Kyla got up with Ian and a new German friend and sang something...at this point I'm not sure what, we'll have to go back over the video. But we had an amazing time and are literally planning a trip back to Minneapolis just to go back to this bar. I wrote a comment in their guestbook on their website and the president even emailed me back to tell me to let him know when I was coming back and he'd buy me a pint...super cool. Really can't say enough about O'Donovans at this point, other than to urge people to go there. You won't be disappointed.
So that is where I'm going to end off for now, and I'll continue this a bit later....
So, we kicked off on Sunday July 25th. Picked up some coffee and bagels and timbits and began the journey to Minneapolis. We had already discussed taking our time and checking things out along the way, so we were really in no hurry at all. Border crossing was pretty basic, no hard times given which was nice. The only thing that I've never experienced was having two guards crossing you through at one time, and the second one just opened up my back passenger door and rolled down the window. I wasn't expecting that at all, but it makes sense since we did have a passenger in the back.
Back on the road we got. Our first stop was in Grand Portage, we stopped at this gorgeous look out spot and took some pictures there. Then we moved a bit further down to the Grand Portage Casino, both to exchange our money and to gamble for a little bit. I normally am not a fan of gambling whatsoever, but hey, when on vacation....I put in $20 and ended up losing it. As this is typically what happens, I wasn't too shocked. Kyla and Brandi didn't do too bad though, they both ended up a bit more than what they started at. Back to the road....
We stopped at a Holiday in Grand Marais to pick up some more coffee and some snacks, and I made the discovery of our trip- Jalapeno Cheddar Combos! Fantastic snack. Grabbed an iced coffee for the road and continued on. We stopped a while later at a roadside flea market, Kyla found some stuff and then we moved along from there.
A few hours later, our tummies were getting rumbly, so we stopped at a Perkins for all day breakfast (I think this was in or around Duluth). My cheese and tomato omellette with breakfast potatos was fabulous. So was our server, Alissa. Her boss did not seem so fabulous; in fact, he looked like the typical boss who just tries to make himself look busy so he doesn't have to do any work. He spent about 20 minutes straightening menus, in fact. We had a good laugh at his expense and left Alissa a good tip and a good review on their scorecard to make up for the fact that she has to deal with him on a daily basis.
We made a stop for some more gambling at Black Bear Casino, where I didn't win, but didn't lose. Completely broke even so I was alright with that. I was somewhat disgusted by the indoor smoking though-- as a non smoker who isn't often near smoking environments, it's a lot to handle, and I was started to feel gross as we were leaving. Some fresh air fixed that right up!
A while later, I was thinking we better stop for some gas just to be on the safe side. We weren't far from Minneapolis, but better to be safe than sorry, right? We saw an exit for gas, so I pulled off and pulled into a gas pump. Well, we get out of the vehicle and there's an awful hissing noise. We didn't think it was the tire, maybe just the air conditioning or something cooling off in the engine? So I filled up and paid and it was still hissing, so Kyla had me move my truck to a parking spot so we could look around the vehicle and see if we could tell where the noise was coming from...and at some point in our journey (and we're not sure where) I had run over a big fat nail! It became clearly visible when I moved the vehicle. Fackkk. Luckily, Kyla was pretty well versed in changing tires, and my dad has gone over it with me, so we felt we could tackle this inconvenience ourselves. Plus, no one seemed to want to come over to help us...So we go to town on loosing the bolts and trying to jack up the truck. After losing some hydraulic fluid from the jack (we loosened the pressure thingy too much!) we mostly figured out how to work it. But, we were struggling on where was a safe area to jack up the vehicle. This is when a very very sweet man (whose name we didn't get, but we decided he looked like a Mark, so he'll be forever known as Mark now) came over to help us. Mark figured out the jack and figured out a place that was good to jack up the vehicle on, and we got it up and ready to change the tire. Then it was a breeze to get the spare on! He only had to help me lift the tire onto the bolts and we were golden. Mark was such a blessing...we removed the nail from the tire with hammer I had in the back and it was huge. It was threaded more like a screw. Bastard. I wish we would have kept it but we don't know where it ended up. It would have been good scrapbooking material!
So we are finally back on the road, and everything was smooth sailing from there. We arrived at our hotel around 8pm Minni time and our roadtrip from Thunder Bay ended up totalling 13 hours! It is important to note that it normally only takes about 6. So we checked in, chatted with the front desk attendant (and we also didn't get his name, which is a shame because he was wonderful), got up to our room, and tried to decide what to do with our first evening in Minneapolis. Since we were right downtown, we got ready and decided to look for a karaoke bar that was supposed to be somewhere near to our hotel. We had a good long walk through the downtown area and explored. The city is beautiful. I've never seen such a clean downtown area. There was no garbage anywhere, the streets were completely clean. It was very impressive. And never for a minute did we feel unsafe. So we walked and walked and walked some more, until we finally decided we couldn't wait any longer for a drink. Since we couldn't find the karaoke bar, we ended up at The Ugly Mug. It didn't look entirely busy and had a little patio, so it did the trick. Was the bartender the friendliest guy at first? Um, not really...but there was a really cute patron there and he made sure to make us feel welcome. We got three beers and sat down near the back. The beer was not fabulous! haha I'm not sure what Kyla ordered, but Brandi was pretty correct in saying it tasted like there were pennies corroding at the bottom of the glass. However, we still drank them, and then we had the bartender make Brandi and I a surprise mixed drink while Kyla had another beer. Not sure what our mixed drink was, but it was a delight! There was definitely cranberry juice for colour, but it was a strong mix of booze. Loved it.
We ended up leaving to head back to the hotel, but along the way, we ended up finding O'Donovans Irish Pub, which is what we were looking for in the first place. Faced with the prospect of karaoke, Kyla and I just had to go in. I should mention that I LOVE karaoke. This place was by far the best karaoke bar I've ever been to. We immediately settled down with drinks and the song book and signed up to be added to the rotation. The other patrons were maybe not so very good, but they were hilarious and no one cared how good or how bad they were. That is to me what makes a good karaoke place. People were just there to have fun. We met a crazy cast of characters there: Mel and Josh (who were both in the bar barefoot and completely trashed), Ian (who was also trashed and was making out with his knee while he was singing? haha) and Blue Jersey dude, who apparently loved Kyla. I had chosen a couple songs before Kyla so I was up first out of the two of us. The first song I had written down was "I Want You To Want Me" by Cheap Trick, but since I like the Letters to Cleo version better, I was styling it more that way. First off, let me preface this by saying I'm normally very nervous to sing in front of people. I have a pretty decent voice, but I am really shy about it. I was totally cool and comfortable singing at O'Donovans based on the people there. In fact, when the DJ announced me and what I was singing, Mel started cheering for me and saying that she loves Cheap Trick! So I start the song off and I am literally loving life. I felt like a total rockstar in that place! People were dancing and singing along and it was just so much fun. Kyla did "Something Like That" by Tim McGraw and didn't use the stage, just wandered around the floor and sang to people. Super funny and we actually have a video of that. Then at the end of the night, Kyla got up with Ian and a new German friend and sang something...at this point I'm not sure what, we'll have to go back over the video. But we had an amazing time and are literally planning a trip back to Minneapolis just to go back to this bar. I wrote a comment in their guestbook on their website and the president even emailed me back to tell me to let him know when I was coming back and he'd buy me a pint...super cool. Really can't say enough about O'Donovans at this point, other than to urge people to go there. You won't be disappointed.
So that is where I'm going to end off for now, and I'll continue this a bit later....
Sunday, June 20, 2010
What other way to kick off a first blog post than....
Stories from the local strip club!!!
Yes folks. The Strip club.
I actually find immense pleasure in going to the Rips, if only because it is the one place I can go for a drink with my friends, and generally, no one bothers you. It also tends to be fairly entertaining, particularly when we all just sit and judge the strippers. (One of our friends used to actually bring home-made score cards with her, until she and her friends were kicked out for giving one of the entertainers a low score...)
Now, the local joint here is not classy by any means, and it actually is probably one of the LEAST classy strip clubs you could visit. In fact, I know of a time when someone (aka, me) actually passed out on a random stranger while in this establishment, and no one said a word about it. I was allowed to stay, in a comatose state, until I suddenly came to, and announced that I had to leave.
But I digress, and will move on with the awkwardness of last night. Now, anyone that knows me, will know and understand that I probably get myself into more awkward situations than most. I simple attract the weird and odd types.
So last night, we're watching the feature, Miss Nude Canada, I might add, and right at the start of the show, she is winking and blowing me kisses. I firmly believe that there are strippers out there that can SMELL uncomfortableness, and yes, there I was. Our friend Dickie even made a comment about how she clearly wanted me to get up on stage. Since that would be inviting even more attention that I no longer want or need, I decided to remain firmly in my seat. Now don't get me wrong, she was really entertaining! We were clearly understanding how she earned her title. As a former dancer, I could definitely appreciate her dance moves and also, I can always appreciate someone who can work the pole! Then she pulled out the neon body paint, and made a picture on a t-shirt from drawing on her body, which was actually really funny. So, bonus points for personality.
Then, the neon blue body paint was squirted at the top of her ass, which she then wiggled until it all sliddddd down and she rubbed that all over her ass cheeks. Not really as interesting to me....
So she got off, and the next girl came on, and I had to pee. I really hate using the bathrooms there, just because they're really pretty gross, and on most occasions, the doors don't really work, but when nature calls, sometimes you just can't ignore it! So I take off and run in...and boom, naked stripper washing blue body paint off of her ass in the sink.
I don't even think she noticed me because I ran past her and went into the last stall, where at the point, I am sitting there trying to pee, while my nervous bladder thwarts all attempts (seriously...I don't do ANY public bathroom very well, much less one with a naked stripper in it). So, dilemma. I figure, I'm going to leave and come back later...but I still have to wash my hands. So I go out and do an unfortunate linger behind said stripper, who is still wiping blue off of her ass, until she kind of looks up and I finally say, "I'm really sorry, but can I just sneak in and wash my hands?" and she is completely sweet and apologizes back and lets me get in and wash my hands in the sink that is still housing blue water. And I at this point, feel that I need to try to make things less (or maybe more, depending on your perspective) awkward by engaging in small talk; primarily, why is this poor woman cleaning herself in a public women's restroom. Apparently, here and Winnipeg don't offer showers or separate bathrooms for the entertainment. I was horrified. HORRIFIED. These are not discreet bathrooms in the least; usually the main door is wide open (not that the people haven't seen the girls' bodies already, but geez, they still need some privacy!) So I finish up and book out of there and run back to tell my friends of this experience, where, as expected, they thought it was pretty darn funny.
But I got my turn to laugh when Kailyn went in there and didn't find any strippers, oh no, just a man taking a shit in one of the stalls.
Good night all around...
Yes folks. The Strip club.
I actually find immense pleasure in going to the Rips, if only because it is the one place I can go for a drink with my friends, and generally, no one bothers you. It also tends to be fairly entertaining, particularly when we all just sit and judge the strippers. (One of our friends used to actually bring home-made score cards with her, until she and her friends were kicked out for giving one of the entertainers a low score...)
Now, the local joint here is not classy by any means, and it actually is probably one of the LEAST classy strip clubs you could visit. In fact, I know of a time when someone (aka, me) actually passed out on a random stranger while in this establishment, and no one said a word about it. I was allowed to stay, in a comatose state, until I suddenly came to, and announced that I had to leave.
But I digress, and will move on with the awkwardness of last night. Now, anyone that knows me, will know and understand that I probably get myself into more awkward situations than most. I simple attract the weird and odd types.
So last night, we're watching the feature, Miss Nude Canada, I might add, and right at the start of the show, she is winking and blowing me kisses. I firmly believe that there are strippers out there that can SMELL uncomfortableness, and yes, there I was. Our friend Dickie even made a comment about how she clearly wanted me to get up on stage. Since that would be inviting even more attention that I no longer want or need, I decided to remain firmly in my seat. Now don't get me wrong, she was really entertaining! We were clearly understanding how she earned her title. As a former dancer, I could definitely appreciate her dance moves and also, I can always appreciate someone who can work the pole! Then she pulled out the neon body paint, and made a picture on a t-shirt from drawing on her body, which was actually really funny. So, bonus points for personality.
Then, the neon blue body paint was squirted at the top of her ass, which she then wiggled until it all sliddddd down and she rubbed that all over her ass cheeks. Not really as interesting to me....
So she got off, and the next girl came on, and I had to pee. I really hate using the bathrooms there, just because they're really pretty gross, and on most occasions, the doors don't really work, but when nature calls, sometimes you just can't ignore it! So I take off and run in...and boom, naked stripper washing blue body paint off of her ass in the sink.
I don't even think she noticed me because I ran past her and went into the last stall, where at the point, I am sitting there trying to pee, while my nervous bladder thwarts all attempts (seriously...I don't do ANY public bathroom very well, much less one with a naked stripper in it). So, dilemma. I figure, I'm going to leave and come back later...but I still have to wash my hands. So I go out and do an unfortunate linger behind said stripper, who is still wiping blue off of her ass, until she kind of looks up and I finally say, "I'm really sorry, but can I just sneak in and wash my hands?" and she is completely sweet and apologizes back and lets me get in and wash my hands in the sink that is still housing blue water. And I at this point, feel that I need to try to make things less (or maybe more, depending on your perspective) awkward by engaging in small talk; primarily, why is this poor woman cleaning herself in a public women's restroom. Apparently, here and Winnipeg don't offer showers or separate bathrooms for the entertainment. I was horrified. HORRIFIED. These are not discreet bathrooms in the least; usually the main door is wide open (not that the people haven't seen the girls' bodies already, but geez, they still need some privacy!) So I finish up and book out of there and run back to tell my friends of this experience, where, as expected, they thought it was pretty darn funny.
But I got my turn to laugh when Kailyn went in there and didn't find any strippers, oh no, just a man taking a shit in one of the stalls.
Good night all around...
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