Invasive.

I have deleted an entire post rather than allow a spamment that I stupidly published without reading first. Honestly, do they think we're all going to rush to join their pyramid scheme based on a comment on a stupid bloody blog? Arrrgh!! Is there anywhere in the world that is safe from advertising? I read in W1red magazine yesterday that there are now places in large cities where audio ads are played when you walk under a sensor. The deal is that you don't know where the voice is coming from, so you stop and listen, looking for the person who you assume is speaking to you. I guess they assume that consumers will be so impressed with their ability to invade every fucking space in our lives that we will run out and buy their product. Yuck. I don't know if I can ever live in a city again.
The good news is that it was a rather lame post- nothing to report, or rather, very little time in which to report it, so I just spat something out. And now it's gone. Work has been very busy and mostly pleasant. I am still learning a ton about all of the plants, and being so enamoured, fighting on a daily basis not to buy one of everything. My "blue" roses bloomed- they are, of course, pink. And coincidentally we got a new order in yesterday, so I bought another "blue" one (we'll see...) and will return the pink. That's the one nice thing about the B.S. Squared: In corporate America, the Customer is always right.
Speaking of the Big Stupid Box Store, I recently learned about the security policy, or lack thereof. The Loss Prevention Lady was fired last Friday because she saw a customer acting suspiciously, followed him out to the parking lot, and asked to see his receipt. He showed it to her and proceeded to cry foul at the top of his lungs, threatening to sue BS Squared for harassment. They of course panicked, and she was gone before the end of the day.
There are no cameras to speak of outside the BS Squared. Though they can monitor your every move inside no matter where you are, there is not even one camera in the parking lot, so if one were to lift, say, a five hundred dollar grill, or a trailer, or as many bedding plants and shrubs as one could carry, one could do so without fear of punishment. And people do. At least, with the plants they do. The grills and trailers and riding lawnmowers are locked down. But our numbers are always off, and it is because the BS Squared refuses to spend the money to get security cameras outside, and overnight people come and help themselves to whatever they want that lives in the parking lot.
They do, however, feel free to blame their losses on Elizabeth. I heard Fat Sam the Store Manager (He is above not only MMJ, but also Barb and Bob)telling her the other day that "you lost money out here last year, so you don't get any more help." In the meantime, SRS (she weighs a hundred pounds soaking wet)and L are running around loading pine straw, wheat straw, soil, and rock for customers, and we can't get all of the plants on the shelves because they have sent more than we ordered and there is no room. Meanwhile, plants are dying because no one has time to water them.
Crazy Kathy the Cashier tried to stop a customer leaving yesterday after the alarm went off, but they kept walking, and Bill pointed out that she might want to leave it be lest she be fired. She threw her hands up, knowing that Bill was right. You won't be fired if somebody steals from you and gets away with it, but you may be fired if you try to stop them. See how that works? Yeah- I don't get it either.
The other person from my company is now on full time at BS Squared as well. I do not enjoy her company, to put it as politely as possible (this will likely be the last time that I am this polite). Since she shares a first name with my late grandmother, (and because it suits her) I will refer to her henceforth as Grandma. Grandma is not chronologically old, but she has a way about her that invites the comparison. She is older than I am, but not as old as she acts. She is mostly physically incapable of doing the job, as she is "recovering" from back surgery(it has been a year now), but she still insists on having a full time schedule. It takes her literally more than four times as long to do anything as it does anyone else, and mostly she just gets in the way. She is constantly reminding everyone of her pain, through pained expressions and slow, SLOW progress- even when she is walking, slightly bent and with one hand held to her lower back. She is generally useless and quite depressing to be around. I discovered even before she started back to work that she is addicted to drama and longs for attention and sympathy, and I have no time for either. I showed up last week on her second day, and all of the BS Squared employees rushed to greet me, happy for the help and the opportunity to unload their frustrations. If Grandma were a more pleasant person, her limitations would be at least somewhat forgivable, but she is a miserable bitch and therefore her presence is insufferable. She complains constantly about things that can't be helped, or that are simply part of the job, and is constantly underfoot and over your shoulder (how this is possible with a woman so completely crippled is beyond me, but she somehow manages), and hyper-critical of Elizabeth, whose job she applied for and was refused. So I spent the first fifteen minutes of my first day with Grandma defending Elizabeth, and the rest of it avoiding her completely except to try and ask her what the fuck she was doing.
The good news is that we can work fairly independently of each other, and since I am young and nimble I can mostly avoid crossing her path.

Saw my friend M play with his new country band last night. That was fun. My friend J and I were, we discovered, at the same bar at the same time and neither of us working for the first time that either of us could remember. Of course, I had been up all day and only stayed for one more beer after he arrived, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.

Saw Jamie on Sunday for the first time in weeks. Got myself a couple dozen eggs and we hung out and caught up a little. Things have been quite hectic and i am finding it difficult to keep up with anybody. It also looks like the b.h. is going to take on at least one more shift at his new job, so I don't know when things will be less hectic. Ah well, at least there's gardening to be done. That always keeps me centered.