I guess you could say my day today could be separated into four parts.

Part One

I went to work at the central office as usual, arriving at around 7:30. I worked for the next three hours, until about 11:00. I discovered that, somehow, Steven was not obligated to volunteer to help out at a store this week, which actually makes any argument weaker for me to stay at the office to offer POS support. I even passed on some not-in-file holiday candy to add for me, which Ellen (who happened to be working at Columbia City) had emailed me. Steven was happy to take care of it for me. Damn it!

Well, there it is. Today is done, and so are two days working four-hour shifts at a store Thanksgiving week. A continuous record of avoidance broken. It was weirdly a source of pride for me, this record now broken. Next year? Fuck it, I might as well sign up again. Being able to say I've never had to do it is all over now.

Part Two

So, just as I did yesterday, I left the office at 11:05 so I could catch the Rapid Ride "D" bus on 1st Ave N and Denny at 11:15; transferred to Light Rail downtown; and was at the Columbia City store by noon. Both days, I reheated my leftover ravioli lunch just before leaving the office. In true OCD fashion I always eat lunch at work at noon sharp, which having a store shift starting at noon throws a wrench into. So, I heated up the ravioli as late as possible before leaving so I could eat my lunch on the train as close to noon as possible. Today I actually ate on the train; today I ate while walking from the Columbia City Light Rail Station to the store. I then took the above photo of the store's exterior.

And then I went inside, and began my shift without needing to talk to anyone. Scott the Store Director was nowhere to be found, amd I couldn't find Amy either (although I saw her later and waved at her; we never did actually speak today). I just put on my PCC apron, affixed my staff name tag, and set about wandering the store, looking for shopping baskets to pick up and spots that needed cleaning, and answering customer questions about where to find what product.

I did this two days and still never did end up bagging groceries at all. I did bring up shopping carts a whole lot of times from the parking garage, though nowhere near as many times as I did yesterday. Today was a lot more just walking around umtil a customer had a question, which, honestly, I think is the greatest value of any added help—the frequency with which I still had to find another staff member notwithstanding.

It was kind of surprising to me, actually, that yesterday was noticeably busier than today was. (Erica, who now lives in San Diego, posted a comment on my Facebook post today that "Tuesday is always the worst day!" Who knew? Everyone but me, apparently!) It made for less stress, although being on my feet for four hours straight, but for one fifteen minute break, was still tiring.

I got several customer questions today asking where things like canned pumpkin or cranberries were located. Curiously, even though I got at least three questions yesterday as to where the marshmallows were located, no one asked me that today. I guess yesterday was Marshmallow Day, and today was Cranberry Day.

Strangely, one of the memories from the day that most sticks in my mind was the crushed olive I saw on the floor over by the Deli cheeses. I went to fetch the broom and dustpan to pick it up, and when I returned to it, a customer had run over it with her shopping cart, and it was stuck under one of the wheels for maybe ten feet, leaving a sort of trail of winding slime behind it on the floor.

I saw Rachael again, the woman from the office who was the one other person volunteering shifts today, hers 10-2 instead of my 12-4. We chatted a few times. After a while, though, about an hour after I returned to the floor after my break, I was kind of just counting down the clock, walking around the store until 4:00 finally arrived.

Oh, and I nearly forgot to mention Laurie again, the POS person who works at this store—a very longtime one, in fact; she worked at the Seward Park store before it (that store had to be closed and was replaced with this one a mile away in 2015), since I believe many years even before I started in 2002. She was always one of the ones a bit relentless in their OCD pursuit of getting their job done (which, to be fair, makes her a good match for that job). Laurie can be sort of abrasive at times. She happened to be already fetching shopping carts when I went down to check one time, and so I helped her with it; that's actually much easier as a two-person job, when bringing up three sets of three of those things in one trip. While we were in the elevator, she told me she had just been walking around (as in, checking to see what needs to be done, such as the shopping carts). I said, "That's all I've been doing." After a beat or two, I added, "I've been sweeping a bit." Then, totally unnecessarily, she said, "Well, I have not been tracking you." Uh. I wasn't suggesting I thought she was.

But then, when Laurie's shift ended around 2:00, I was back sweeping by the bulk section, and she came up to me to say goodbye. "We never get to do this," she said, and then opened her arms for a hug. "Thank you for being wonderful." It was very sweet. She complimented me on how well I communicate via email. She wished me a Happy Thanksgiving and I said the same, and then later I saw her in her coat doing her own shopping.

Part Three

And then, also for the second day in a row, I walked straight over to Gabriel's apartment, which is all of a block and a half away from that store. Lea was not home this time, and Gabriel was returning from taking Tess to a day at GameWorks downtown. That gave me time to cross the street on Rainier Avenue and get a dusk photo of the building he lives in.

He got there soon thereafter, and he texted me to meet him at Columbia City Bakery. He bought me a butternut squash "pocket," which was unbelievably delicious. I told him so while eating at in his apartment. "I expect much less from butternut squash," I said.

Once we were in the apartment and settled in, I only had about an hour. We chatted for a bit. Then Gabriel suggested watching an episode of the animated series The Clone Wars, and I've got to say, I wasn't much impressed. I caught Gabriel snoozing a couple of times over there in his chair, like an exhausted old man. To to be fair, I was also feeling like I would have loved to curl up and take a nap right there myself.

Lea actally got home before I left, but I saw her only very briefly, because she got a call from her mom in London and went into the bedroom. She was there until I left.

Before I left, though, Gabriel made me an eggnog based cocktail he immediately declared was one of the worst drinks he had ever tasted. I kind of liked it, although it had no hope of matching the quality of the Mule drink he made me yesterday. The drink he has for himself today, though, a "holiday" liquor blend I can't think of the name of now, was also better. Still, I got a couple photos of us holding our drinks. As I said to him, "I need to pad my Thanksgiving photo set." I also got a group selfie with him and Tess and Lady before leaving, excluding Lea because she was on the phone.

Then I downed the eggnog drink and was on my way, as Gabriel called out to me as I left, "I love you Matthew!" I finally said "I love you too" and was out the door. (I keep thinking about Garth Algar and how he would just say, "Thanks!")

Part Four

I caught Light Rail back up to Capitol Hill, and by the time I arrived, Even was already parked in the lot at 7-Eleven on Pine and Madison, waiting for me to let her into our garage. I got into her car after walking there from the Light Rail station, and I then let her into the garage to park in Shobhit's spot.

We went into the condo briefly, so I could feed the cats and clean up a bit of cat puke. We walked downtown together since it was going to be too long before the next bus, and then we went to see Knives Out together at Pacific Place. We both quite enjoyed it, but I have not yet had time to write the review; I'll do that in the morning. The writing I am doing this evening is exclusive to this entry.

It was nice to hang out with Evan for a bit, as we see each other so seldom anymore. It looks like she may meet me for a mid-afternoon lunch on Saturday, though. After the movie, it was very cold outside (39°) and we caught a bus back up the hill. I walked her straight to her car in our garage and she was on her way, making way for Shobhit to come home shortly thereafter from work and still be able to park in our space. We didn't have a huge amount of visiting time outside of the movie's own run time, but we were together about 45 minutes before the movie and another 20 minutes or so after.

And now, I am tired as fuck and I want to go to bed. Maybe I'll dream of what a great life and what great friends I have.

[posted 11:47 pm]