Control Freaks

Work is still stressful. The two keyholders are the youngest people in the store. And neither of them are motivated to work. Today, the one I worked with spent a vast majority of time just wandering around. Back and forth. Talking.

I think the main problem is that they are too afraid to go up against the Assistant Manager. Because the A.M. is rather freaky. As in, going off for all kinds of weird, insignificant reasons but unable to actually be available weekends, nights, or do much more than the basics to skate by. I'd love to get paid to take days off, not have to work weekends or nights and pass off as much task work as possible to the underlings.

Good leaders lead by example, unfortunately my leaders are "Do as I say but not as I do."

And I have an attitude problem. What. Ever.

Bunch of Books

24. The Snake, The Crocodile, and the Dog - Elizabeth Peters

25. The Last Camel Died at Noon - Elizabeth Peters

26. The Ape Who Guards the Balance - Elizabeth Peters

27. Seeing A Large Cat - Elizabeth Peters. The Amelia Peabody mysteries. Obviously, I'm really enjoying this series. I'll be picking up some more of them as soon as the next trip to the library comes up.

28. This Child Will Be Great - Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Quite a good biography of Liberia's first female president. Even more appropriate considering the news the past couple of days. After reading her book I fail to understand why they are asking her to step down. She seemed to be quite open about her past, but I guess they felt it wasn't enough.

29. Drood - Dan Simmons. Interesting. Huge, but interesting.

What to do?

Work is....work. Go in, keep my head down, go home. It's too bad really, because they've got potential but they are so mired down by bad people, bad work ethic, and bad customer service that I don't think they'll ever dig their way out.

I moved finally. And transferred to this new store. And it? Is a mess. I mean, if you look at the big picture it is pretty. Everything on the shelves, it's well lit, fairly new looking. It's the nitty gritty organization on those shelves that is utter shit. Nothing in order, it is quite likely that you'll find the same thing in three different spots and none of those spots where it is supposed to be.

No consideration of customers. They think they have great customer service, but they don't. They don't even bother. Tone of voice, helping multiple people at a time, hogging the only computer we've got and not multi tasking with it, having no concept of their product and where it might be, and my all-time favorite: snobbish behavior.

They don't like how someone's dressed? Customer service for that person just took a shit. And that? Pisses me off. Because I've been that customer and been treated like that just because I was poor. Fraking rude buggers. Granted, some people you can just tell they aren't worth it. But that seems to apply to just about anyone, not just one group IMO.

And they should be doing twice what the store I came from was doing. And they aren't. These guys were our main competition for contests and such and they should have been blowing us out of the water. And yet, they weren't.

Now I know why.

What a freakin' disaster area.

Bump...a bunch of Books

Since I'm never really working much anymore, I've been taking advantage of the local library system.

12. The Language of Bees - Laurie R. King

13. The Clan Corporate - Charlie Stross

14. White Witch, Black Curse - Kim Harrison

15. Tangled Webs: a Black Jewels Novel - Anne Bishop. I love the Black Jewels books. They are high on my reread list. :)

16. The Hidden Family - Charlie Stross.

17. Death of a Bore : A Hamish Macbeth Mystery - M. C. Beaton. I'm enjoying the Hamish series on audiobook. These are definitely fun.

18. The Family Trade - Charlie Stross. Now I have to wait for the library to get the next one in the series.

19. Across the Face of the World - Russell Kirkpatrick. They only had the first one in the library. Waiting on that one too.

20. Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street: A Life of the World's First Consulting Detective - Baring-Gould. Fascinating "biography" of Mr. Holmes. Actually shelved in biography, too. :)

21. Bridge of Birds: a novel of an Ancient China that Never Was - Barry Hughart. Master Li and Number Ten Ox. I can't recommend this one enough. Awesome.

22. The Years of Rice and Salt - Kim Stanley Robinson. Would recommend this to anyone with an interest in Buddhism and what might happen in the bardo.

23. Death of a Witch: A Hamish Macbeth mystery - M. C. Beaton. Yet another audiobook, and I'm liking this author more and more. The reader for these books, Graeme Malcolm, is very good. I guess he's done hundreds of audio books but since I'm new to the genre, I'd never heard him before.

And that's all the books I've read since last time (that I remember).

In other news, the house is slowly coming together. Boxes being unloaded and keeping up on the rest of the house. Including giving the cat a bath. I can't say he enjoyed it, I certainly didn't and I know the fleas didn't either. But less fleas = happier cat.

Downside is that he's so fuzzy that it takes forever to dry him out. And I haven't unpacked my hair dryer yet.

The Wii Fit is also being used on a regular basis. Not that I'm seeing progress but whatever. -2 lbs. In a month. *sigh*

Books #4-11

So I'm way behind on this but considering 8 of these books is a series re-read, it's all good.

Books 4-11 were a reread of Laurie R. King's Mary Russell series. I can't quite recall how I wandered across this series for the first time but when I read the cover blurb, "A Novel of Suspense Featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes" it intrigued me. I am a Sherlock Holmes fan, I read the Holmes canon about once a year. I've tried many Holmes stories but very few have lived up to the original and I wondered if this one would.

How was she going to keep Holmes his sharp, acerbic self and include a young woman into the mix without having the story fall down flat?

Mrs. King gave Holmes a true partner. Ms. Russell definitely has her own interests, like Theology, that Holmes has no interest in and Holmes has interests, like beekeeping, that Russell doesn't share. But Holmes trains her genius into becoming a detective. And not just any detective, but one that can work on the same level as himself. They are both brilliant minds and challenge each other's stereotypes and preconceptions of men and women. Russell doesn't outshine Holmes but neither does Holmes leave her behind in the investigation business.

I think that is what makes these books work. Mrs. King treats Sherlock Holmes as he was shown in his own canon, not changing his previous actions/emotions but brings someone in who can live on the same intellectual level as the Great Detective.

I really enjoyed this series and like to recommend it to friends who enjoy mysteries and/or Sherlock Holmes. My personal favorites are O Jerusalem and the next one in line, Justice Hall. Ali and Mahmoud Hazr are my favorite new characters that Laurie R. King has introduced me to.

Go! Get to the bookstore! Buy!

This reread brought to you because the newest in the series "The Language of Bees" is out in hardcover right now and I had to refresh my Mary Russell history to read the new one.

Enjoy!