April 15, 2011

  • About being a bagger

    Last night, I went to sleep with a runny nose; I fell asleep with toilet paper shoved up my nose, and I woke up without being able to find the toilet paper. I've been having to rely on Tylonel PM lately because I've been having some trouble sleeping. Perhaps I have too much on my mind, but it's not very common anymore for me to wake up from an alarm clock. Sometimes I wake up a couple hours before my alarm clock goes off and I have to force myself to go back to sleep. I don't feel like I've got a lot on my mind, and I don't think that I've gotten too much sleep either. The only belief that I have is that I'm too stressed out about adjusting to my new life as someone who works and goes to school at the same time. However, I've been adapting better than I expected and perhaps I've been pushing myself too hard to adjust. I no longer think about playing video games but I am solely concerned about important school stuff going on; I just got finished with a math project (which I feel that I did really well), and I have a Sociology research paper that's due on Wednesday before class (though technically it's due on Monday but the teacher is allowing us an extra day before he starts counting off points for being late). I have until Wednesday to finish the 5-page research paper on social problems (which really isn't that bad but I have to spend a lot of time doing research and finding information to use for my paper...writing 5 pages is the easy part). As you can imagine, I've been having to plan my schedule accordingly and when my plans don't work out like expected, I start to feel unaccomplished. Now that I think of it, I'm pretty sure that's why I've been having trouble sleeping because I haven't relaxed psychologically.

    My schedule could be a LOT worse though considering the fact that I've only worked about 14-15 hours so far. For the most part, I've been going to work at 7 PM to 11 PM; 11 PM is late but it's rather not that bad. I'll explain why:

    Before 7:00 PM, I can get some things accomplished and I can take a nap. Typically, I take a nap at 5 PM and start getting ready for work at 6. My job is, literally, five minutes away, so I can take a shower, shave, eat something, get dressed, and leave.

    At work, 7 PM - 9:30 PM is the toughest time for an inexperienced bagger. This is when customers get off work and spend some time stocking up at the grocery stores. For small amounts of items, I have no problems bagging because I have enough time to adequately separate the products and put them in plastic bags. But for larger amounts of items, it takes me a little while to bag items. Sometimes customers have to wait a minute after paying for me to finish bagging the items; I work as fast as I can, almost to the point of sweating, but I can't rush too much or else I'll bag items that don't need to be bagged together, and I'll over look an item and forget to put it in their cart. So far, I've only made one mistake of leaving behind a can of green beans. 

    After 9:30 PM, it starts to slow down; I still have to bag large orders from time to time, but I have more of a chance to take a breather and relax between customers. If I like the cashier I'm working with, I like to chat with them (I chat with them regardless though). I'm not sure if all the cashiers like me yet; sometimes it does feel awkward when we have nothing to talk about, but a couple cashiers have told secrets about other people. One woman even told me she doesn't like working with someone because of their lack of obedience. I suppose I'm good to work with because I follow orders and don't really complain. So far, I'm on people's good sides and that's where I plan to stay for as long as possible.

    I got the job sooner than I expected. According to my grandmother, it was only supposed to be a summer job but now that I'm settled in and making money on the side, I plan on keeping the job for as long as I can. Working and going to school makes me feel better because at least I'm being productive.

    That also reminds me that I went to my counselor, but I'll talk more about that in my next entry. I don't feel like typing anymore. ;)