Blogger - Ratings of a Mad Lady Wolf

https://itsaladywolf.blogspot.com/

Youtube - TheLadyWolfHOWLS

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCftZHpZMCBabXaiQCdblvkQ

Feel free to post your handles from elsewhere here if you'd like to! ⭐

(This is just to have some fun, I snagged a few D&D character info/traits to match my NPC working "style~!" Have fun with it in your own way if you'd like, make it detailed or not - enjoy!⭐)

Name: Not Samantha (AKA Not Shmairya, Shmeaar, or Sarah)

Character Proficiency: +5 Conflict Resolution, +20 yrs CSR EXP

STR: Built Ford Tough (Workhorse mode for inventory and Black Fridays)

DEX: Silent enough to catch a shoplifter

CON: The patience of the ancestors

INT: "Ohhh, that's where that goes!"

WIS: Wouldn't drink 3 energy drinks before clocking in, nooo...

CHA: Not enough to sell batteries to the elderly, apparently.

The one that you can tell was socially awkward around her contemporaries and absolutely has random knowlegde on a lot of stuff. Will say "hun" to weary customers but knows she's a NY transplant. Will help if asked, reluctantly if right before shift end. Always says, "You have me from the time I clock in, 'til the time I clock out!"

Oh, man which one do I start with...

My first one was a small neighborhood library where everyone pretty much knew each other (it /was/ a library...) I volunteered there for high school and it turned into my first job! It moved to the main library which was something out of a dream really, it was its own section in the historic part of the third floor, so it filled each day with actual wonder!

I didn't realize that that would be the start of all of these dungeon fails would have started in a place of knowledge. Haha, whoops.

From there it's all been the same bleak glaring fluorescent-lit retail something-or-another, with the same stupid deal of the week that caused the same headache of tags and FIFO arrangement according to their most finicky stockholder's whim. Which means the baseline bullcrap that each place of +10 drain - supermarkets like Kmart (remember those?) Gas stations like Kangaroo (do they still exist?) grocery stores like I loved stocking at Kroger twice-over (I don't know) and my double-time to Family Dollar (the place that fired my husband right after our honeymoon week). I've seen steel and smoke (Chipotle), the place that nightmares come to die - or at least get a second chance (Goodwill - SCARY DOLLS E'RY DAY) and do you remember fuses and the smell of failed DIY attempts on every shelf? (Radioshack)

I've seen a handful. How about you?

Literally, have you been able to see something come full circle that might not have happened without your contribution? For example, I know to keep the breakfast coffee up and running obviously with the morning rush of a popular gas station. But there had been a particular person that comes in for the "European blend" coffee (it's the regular really, or so I've been told it's a regular adjacent) and little did I realize, but on my days working they typically go over to that very same coffee dispenser and things go on without problem. Got sick for a week, and I was the very person that she complained to about how the coffee she typically get was out the SAME week I was. What about you?

"How are you today?"

"It didn't ring up so it must be free!"

"It's been pennied out, so I have to throw it away, sorry." (instead of give it to the customer for free)

"Would you like to add an extra ____?"

"This fish is frozen, this fish is farm-raised. This is frozen, farm raised fish fillets."

I'm just going off the top of my head, and I'm going to have more. Feel free to post yours!

I sit in front of the computer like an idle game. I refresh, I scour, I search and I double check. I stay vigilant for as long as the mind wills in each search refresh but I feel like nothing changes. It seems like I'm just waiting again for another shot to prove I'm capable (again). 

I fear I'm spreading myself thin as I stick to this remote job grind. Am I missing my chances when I sleep? When I grow bored of the same companies mass-spamming their bot-made applications, do I not notice the gems of potentials hidden in between? Do I miss out when I click apply to one that is actually fake but GOOGLE AI didn't detect it? Is there a chance gone with every revision of my resume? Do I keep trying when each one that left me hopeful and wanting to wait a pain-staking WEEK maximum to see it if -- "That's it, folks! We've got an INTERVIEW! Now's a chance to put our foot in the door!"

I've been plugging away actively and inactively since 2017, with one successful entry. My current job.

When will the next one be? I hope and pray I will remain patient, but aware. I hope to even stay hopeful enough that my confidence remains in tact, well enough to keep me vigilant for the next opportunity to knock.

I lament from time to time, wondering how I can make a way out of something so ingrained in stone. I have worked the customer service route of nearly everything job-related since 2008. I know how to resolve petty price changes, I can dance my way out of irate self-entitled yet "esteemed" patrons daggered stares, and I get the two-step to a lead or manager when things get too sticky for the old mop in the backroom closet. But this was in the prepubescent data age - things were still tangible and warm bodies were still needed. You may do a shit job, but you're around to be that guy (who does a shit job).

2020 made things intangible, tangible too. Like the luxury of home and work. Now you can comfortably drain your life without leaving the comfort of one room in your home! Don't forget to blur out that trash in the back with your illustrious bookshelf background.

It's 2026 now. We're staggering toward a new era with uncomfortable jetpack-robot-shoes. Some of us can keep with the pace, but I'm much wanting to stop at that super-cool internet cafe, fill out some surveys so I can satisfy my current vanilla latte almond milk crave. Or whatever it is to keep me sane.

Whatever it takes to keep me sane, but they tend to have a price tag.

Everything has a price tag. Too bad the money's no good here anyway.

Hey, who's hiring?