Mr. Macy’s

In the early years of the 21st century, if you would have asked me if I would ever work in a job that has to deal with food, I would have told you no.  Though three out of the four jobs have done just that, including the latest one.  First was Kroger, and thats obvious.  Second was the theater, handing out the food.  And now a deli.

I went to the Orientation this afternoon, which is where I filled out the paperwork, and had a tour of the store.  The orientation itself was lame.  Let me explain.  It was mostly for floor staff, which deals with clothes.  I am not one of them, so most of the information was useless to me. The best part of the orientation, the whole 3 hours of it, was the final half hour.

The final half hour was the tour, I got to see the security room, where the guards were spying on unknowing shoppers, got to see the kitchen room, where…I swear its the biggest kitchen I’ve seen in a work place.  There were five fridges! As well as everything else you would expect out of a work kitchen.  Then there was the break room…holy cow.  It’s like I just walked in to an airport waiting room, except way nicer.  There was a computer lab kind of looking thing, tons of seating. Very nice.

Upstairs I noticed that including my deli, there is three restaurants in Macy’s.  One is very nice, which I actually get a free complimentary meal and drink there.  They also have a probably ridiculously over-priced hair salon, which again…I have a complimentary hair cut coupon. What else? Well there was a traveling agency and an eye doctor for starters. The store had four floors, it was insane.  And I wasn’t even in the Mall of America, believe it or not.

Well in the end, I had a nice little packet of goodies and information.  Being a part of Macy’s, I also get an amazing amount of deals in other places, like Dell, Nextel, Verizon, Apple…just to name a few out of a ton of more great places I can use my discount on.  Very cool, because I do need a new computer and phone. Got my shiny new badge, which connects not by a pin, but a magnet.

My work uniform is almost exactly like my uniform at the theater, plain black dress pants, dress shoes, white button up shirt, black Macy’s apron, and hat. I don’t have the dress shoes, but I should be okay with my plain black shoes that I have now.  A worker told me that, so I trust him.

Next step is to go to a register training for what seems to be eight hours in length on Friday.  I’ll have to bring some hot dogs or something to heat up, because I’ll be there for a while.  I plan on either taking a bike or walking…it is five miles…but for now the weather is fine.

OH so finally my school’s website changed its status on my financial aid.  For the longest time, almost a month, it’s only been saying pending…pending…pending.  Well they finally stopped pending, and guess what? It says incomplete for each and every one.  Bull crap!  I went there in person asking what I needed to finish, they told me, they handed me the files, I signed them all, and gave them back!  And now this? I don’t get it! School has already began, and I haven’t received my aid, haven’t received the loans that I applied for…I’m really beginning to worry here. I’m going to call them tomorrow…but I don’t really have much hope about that.  They aren’t taking calls right now…I should know.  I’ve called each and every branch trying to get them to help me and gotten nothing in return.  So we’ll see what happens…peace out.

I’ve Got a Golden Ticket

Sorry for the lack of daily blogs, but like I said before…day’s have been slow, and there really wasn’t anything to report. Well today is the day of my next interview.  At 3:30, I’m scheduled to go to Macy’s.  So I watched some more horror films as usual, but again at the most opportune time, I had the sudden onset of a migraine headache.

This wouldn’t have been a huge deal had it not occurred around an hour before my interview. So guess what? You can either call this my fourth migraine, or my third.  It is my fourth since moving, but my third of the month, I went back and double checked. I had the first migraine after I moved just before the start of the month. So yeah, for the past few months, I have been getting an average of about 3 migraines a month. That’s every week and a half. Well I popped three Excedrin, so hopefully it’ll die down before my interview.

Well I left the house at 3:00, getting to the interview just before my scheduled appointment.  When in the car getting to the mall, I started feeling the side effects of both the migraine and the drugs.  While the drugs killed the pain in my head, I still felt what was happening to my body.  I started feeling weak, as well as more tired.  I lost a little bit of feeling in my fingers, but I was fine overall.  The drugs really kicked in, cooincidently with the interview.  So I was seeing the manager’s face kind of ripple while talking to him.  I let him  know, and he was understanding.  We didn’t have the longest interview, because like I said before, he already talked to me before, so this was like…the last half of that interview.  After our interview, he sent me off to HR and then they gave me a job on the spot.

I go in tomorrow for pooperwork and orientation, which apparently will take about three hours.. and then on Friday, I come in…or have an online training session for operating the registers, which the paper said will take 8 hours… Sounds a bit long to me, but I guess it’ll do.  The good thing about all this is that the training and orientation is payed minimum wage…at least I’m payed something.  Then the actual job will be 8.00/hr.  He said it will be somewhere between 0-40 hours a week, because the job is “On-call” he said most people get an average of about 20 hours. By the way, if any of you were wondering what the whole “Golden Ticket” thing was about, when I got the job, the HR lady handed me a yellow piece of paper which told me I was hired, and all the orientation & training info.   A golden ticket.

So the rest of the day, as I understand, will consist of, once again, BBQing some Hamburgers…maybe some hot doggies, and then yes, more horror films…I need to catch up! I haven’t seen like any horror film my entire life! Peace out!

Identity Theft?

Honestly, after I’ve lived here for three weeks, things have begun to die down more rapidly.  I’ve had interviews here and there, had some fun with friends, but nothing too amazing to report. So making these daily blogs can be difficult if you really have nothing to say about the day.

To catch you up, I am still watching horror films.  Not sure why, but I am, it keeps me entertained. I need to get a haircut pretty soon, because I’m pretty sure the MacGyver hair style isn’t popular any more. Tomorrow, I’m heading to the Mall of America to grab an application for Hollister, but I think for jobs I’m pretty set with Macy’s.  Even though I hadn’t had the interview yet, I have someone on the inside giving me the good word.

So the other day my  mom messaged me informing me that the Wellfare Department contacted her regarding my Social Security Number.  Apparently, some guys name, which I won’t disclose here, is under the number as well.  They told her that it could be identity theft…which could suck.  But it could also just be some guy filling out an application and put in the wrong social security number… Regardless, I need to go into the Social Security building to sort it all out. So much fun.

In other news, I did happen to get some coke, so that’s good.  As well as chips, and buffalo wings…so for the time being..I’m happy.  Peace out, guys

Horror Week

So for the past few days, I’ve been watching some horror films.  I’ve always kind of hated horror movies, never really appreciated them.  They weren’t my thing. Looking back, I always say that I watch everything, but when it comes right down to it, I have missed a lot on Horror films.  I guess that’s because normally I don’t see horror films as scary. If they aren’t, then obviously they aren’t doing a very good job then right?

Well I just got done watching quite a bit of horror films, and I think I have a better overall understanding of what they are trying to go for.  I saw all the three Final Destination films after seeing a trailer for the fourth.  I saw the new Halloween film, which also has a sequel coming out soon.  I saw Blair Witch Project. And finally, I saw Quarantine, which came out last year.

A reoccurring theme I see with good horror films, which contribute to your fright, is trying to make the audience feel unsafe.  Make it seem as realistic as possible.  With Final Destination, sure it’s really not realistic when you think about it, but after I saw all three films, it really made me think.  You know, like one small mistake could lead to my death.  The freak accidents in the film were caused by death itself, but humans are equally capable of making the same kind of mistakes.  It did a great job at teasing you on how the person was going to die, and at the last second, when you’re thinking they are going to be alright, bam! They’re dead.

With the movies like The Blair Witch Project and Quarantine, the part that pulls the audience in is the first person camera angle. Especially with The Blair Witch.  To make it seem more real and amateurish, it was full screen, and terrible quality. I could almost believe all of their reactions and what was happening in the woods. And the lack of a music score helped a lot with the realism, that goes along with Quarantine as well.  What I liked about Quarantine is you actually got to see everything that was going down.  Unlike The Blair Witch where you only heard noises, and caught a few eerie images towards the end.

Now Halloween on the other hand.  The only part of that film I enjoyed was the beginning half.  I really liked Michael Myers history of growing up and his deep emotional problems as an adolescent.  Everything made sense, which was great.  Then the second half, it just seemed he was out killing people, for apparently no reason. That really doesn’t appeal to me.

I’ve also seen all the Saw movies as well.  Now I’m not really sure why I watch those.  I think it is because they are clever, and you’re always waiting till the very last seconds of the movie to see the twist, which is always great.  I don’t know who comes up with the different ways to kill people, but those are all clever and twisted minded as well.

I know I’m just a couple months off the time of Halloween and scary movies and scary stories, but while I got time waiting for TV shows to return this fall, I might as well watch these. Also I didn’t ONLY watch horror films I also watched a chick flick.

Lady Luck Hates Me, or does she?

What have I ever done to you, Lady Luck? First the rejection email from Target, to not hearing back from anyone else, to The Haunted Mansion at the State Fair calling to let me know that the positions been filled. They called around 4:00 PM.  Earlier in the day, I was just sitting back, watching horror movies, waiting to hear from them.  Ah well, I pretty much have a last resort, which is Hollister.  I was really hoping for this gig, but I guess its just not the right time.

A little after hearing the tragic news from the Haunted Mansion, I got a call from Macy’s, finally.  Scheduling an interview for Tuesday at 3:30 pm.  So at least there’s that, but the rest of the day was a bore.  I had hot dogs for lunch for the fourth day in a row, and then BLT’s for dinner.  Not too much to report.  I watched a few movies, but the day itself was mostly boring.

I wanted to go out and do something, but I really don’t know anyone here to hang out with, so I could go out, but I’d end up just returning to the house no long after. So I ended up just staying in and watching even more movies.  Tomorrow, I may going to another movie in the theater. Other than that, there’s nothing to report here, peace out!

1 Audition, 3 Tornadoes, 15 Viruses

Oh what a lovely day to start off with a virus scan of my computer. Let me start at the beginning. You see, when I first booted up my computer, all my main settings were gone…like the start up programs and background. The start menu bar at the bottom looked old, and something popped up saying we couldn’t find Windows profile…something or other so I restarted and got the same message. So I decided, what the heck, and started scanning my computer for viruses. Just a friendly reminder to me to get a new computer as soon as humanly possible

The scan went clear into noon after going for an hour and a half, finding 15 viruses and something like 4 warnings. Yeah I need a new computer. Not only because of that, but I have been having the worst trouble getting my internet to work. So as soon as I can, I plan to get a laptop.

So for the audition tonight, I decided to mix it up a little. For the main chorus of course, I’d dance to thriller, but for the verses I decided to add a little Gilleand Charm to the song. See normally, MJ would just kind of lip sync to the song and move his legs around a bit, here is what I decided. For the first verse, I would dance to Beat It and Billie Jean, the second verse, I would dance to You Rock My World and Dangerous, and the third and final verse, I would dance to Smooth Criminal. Then when Vincent Price starts talking, thats when I can start doing the Zombie Dance. I have to make sure to explain this before they start, just in case they play a small segment, which they totally might. I’ve got a plan, everyone.

So while after my shower, and I was practicing some more, the power went out for about an hour and a half, or two hours, not so sure. Later, I was told that a tornado touched down in Minneapolis about 12 blocks away from me. I thought it felt like tornado weather, but couldn’t really see past the trees! I can’t believe I missed it. Never seen a tornado, but I want to. Also, later in the day I heard there was actually 3 tornadoes in the area.  Later on, when I went to my audition, I saw some of the wreckage.  There were helicopters hovering above catching everything as well…nice.

So at 5:30 PM I headed out, to the fair grounds of Minnesota.  There I went to the Haunted Mansion, as stated in the email, it was big and red.  Inside I performed in front of two judges.  Apparently there were supposed to be more people showing up, but it was only me.  So I did the Thriller dance, they really enjoyed it, and asked me to do another performance as well.  It actually looks like…if I get this job, I’ll be doing more than dancing to Thriller.  Which in all reality doesn’t make any sense. Its there to promote the Haunted Mansion. So Thriller seems appropriate.  Anyways, they said they had a few other auditions in the next couple of days, but I’ll hear from them soon.  In their words I “Definitely got the moves down.” So I’m pretty hopeful that I’ll get it.

An Amazing Movie

So yesterday, I told you about another possible Michael Jackson impersonating gig.  Well, I started to wear my cautious hat when the ad was deleted off of Craigslist after only two hours.  I shouldn’t say deleted, I should say “Flagged” for removal. Now…that could mean a great many of things, it could even mean some kid flagged it for fun, and the site inspected it, removing it in the process…I don’t know.

So I was worried that perhaps it was a fake, there to steal your phone number, and send it off to several businesses to call you all day.  Regardless of the fact that I found the video of the Michael Jackson Impersonator last year at the same place… Thankfully, all this worrying wore off when I got an email from them this morning telling me to come in for an audition tomorrow (Wednesday) at 6:00 PM.  I said of course, and also asked if they were able to check out my video of me dancing to it two years ago.  They told me that they hadn’t been able to watch it yet, but will be able to later tonight.  Also, they apparently have a costume and a mask for me.  They also told me to take my fedora hat I told them I had.

You all saw that mask on that video from last year! Can a hat fit on it? I don’t even think it looks like MJ.  Oh well, we’ll see how it pans out.  I was thinking about if and when I get this gig, I could suggest teaching some people the dance to show up as Zombies towards the end of the song, but then it occured to me…From what the ad said, I’ll be dancing 4-5 times a night for 11 nights…thats approximately 50 times…I’m not going to find anyone who will volunteer to be zombies for 50 times with no pay!

Anyways, again we have some Financial Aid news.  My mom emailed me this morning explaining everyone in the family received FA letters telling them to go to a website and check what they can get.  She said that she got 1,000 or so in FA and 2,344 in the Frank O’Banon grant.  When I opened mine, it only had the Frank O’Banon grant, exactly the same number as hers.  No FA number, I don’t know what that means.  On my school’s website, it still says pending for my FA…so this is all very confusing still.

After lunch, I had the idea to take the bike out and venture.  I thought a good place to start would be the Mall of America.  First of all, because this whole time I’ve lived here, I haven’t gone once.  And two, because Macy’s hasn’t called yet arranging an interview, and I’m still looking for work.  Now it may be the last on my list, but I need to apply to Hollister again. Well that was my plan anyways.  There was a ton of directions to the mall, and I really didn’t feel like getting lost today.  I have other stuff going on today, so I’ll just save that for another day.

Later on in the day, I went out with some friends to see the movie “District 9.” Let me tell you all something right now.  Best movie of the summer, best movie of the year.  If you haven’t seen it yet, go…now to a theater, I don’t care if you have to sneak in.  This is not a film that you can wait for DVD or Blu-Ray.  Woo, I’m still in awe. For dinner I had an entire pizza in ten minutes…yes I know, impressive. But when it comes right down to it…I’m small, and a small man’s got to eat! Peace Out!

Say What? Another Gig?

As I mentioned two weeks ago, we have a cleaning lady that comes around every other Monday.  Well today is one of those Mondays as she showed up this morning around 8:30 in the morning.  Of course when she came around to my two rooms, she just sort of popped her head in the room and asked if there was anything to do, because I’ve been able to keep my rooms nice and tidy. I had her vacuum, but to my surprise, there is more than one…not exactly sure how many..

Also, I still have to figure out my Financial Aid situation.  When I called them a few days ago, the only thing they told me was that I had to come in to figure that out…well since that is not going to happen, I have to figure something else out.  I need to send them an email explaining my situation.  Not that I’ve moved, but that I will be out of town, and will be unable to come in. They have to be able to help me out. So I sent the Financial Aid people the email this afternoon, hopefully I’ll hear more from them soon.

So guess what, kids! On my dear friend, Mr. Craigslist, I noticed once again, another MJ gig.  This time not at a bar, but at the State Fair. I have to dance to Thriller as a promotion to their “Haunted Mansion”  For 11 nights, $50 dollars a night…if in fact they need me every night, thats 550 dollars in two weeks…I DON’T NEED A JOB! Haha, well anyways, this is a job where you need to audition..but somehow, I don’t think I’ll need much to get the part.  I stumbled upon this video from last year, for the same gig.

I’ll let you make your own assumptions on how freaking terrible the dude is…I mean seriously, just watch him.  How can the thought “What the heck is he doing?” Not cross your mind?  That’s not Michael Jackson! Here is me dancing to Thriller TWO YEARS ago.  I tested myself recently, and I still kick butt.  I actually think I did better than the video below.

So I sent them an email saying I’m interested, left them my phone number and experience in MJ dancing, including the Bar just a few days ago. I actually also sent them the video for an example. Hopefully, I will hear from them soon. Also, today I got migraine #3.  Thankfully, I caught it in time, and downed some pills. I was better in no time.  Also learned another negative thing about living here.  I shall make a list for you to read.

NEGATIVES: There is no such thing as National City here in Minneapolis, I need a new bank.  No such thing as Ivy Tech as well, so getting this education thing on a roll is getting increasingly difficult.  There is no Hacienda, Nelson’s Grill, or…wait for it…Steak and Shake. And I just learned that the family that lives here, never…ever…gets pop.

POSITIVES: I believe the minimum wage here is higher than Indiana.  The economy is also better, bigger city.  There is no taxes on clothes.  There are also great places to eat here that aren’t in South Bend.  Don’t remember their names, because I’ve only been to them once.  There is a ton of local channels here as well.  There’s always a ton of free stuff and talent gigs to find online, where South Bend rarely had them. There’s also more, but can’t think of them.

NOT SURE: There is one thing I don’t think I’ve ever had, but everyone is raving about here, a Malt… It’s like a Shake, but different.  Malt Milk, instead of Milk Shake… Apparently people here think it’s way better than a Milk Shake, but I simply refuse to believe that until I have one for myself.  They also say a local pizza shop is better than Pizza Hut…I don’t want to be opinionated, but I may shoot someone for saying this. NO one disses the HUT! (Jabba or Pizza)

Later on in the day, I mostly relaxed, watched some TV with some friends, and went to bed.  That seems to be a recurrence now that I’m all settled.  Come to think of it, before I moved I always watched a little TV before snoozing away.  Well anyways, that’s all for today, Peace Out!

Can’t Upsell the Master

After working the lawn yesterday, I was worn out.  I had a twelve-hour sleep! Thankfully, I went to bed at midnight, so was able to get a lunch before it was too late.  Again today is Sunday, and in the usual cases of Sundays its my day of rest.  So there isn’t a whole lot to report.

I did pick up a converter box at Best Buy. However before that, me and Michael went to Macy’s to pick up a few things.  Let me tell you something, after working in retail so often, you pick up on a few things.  For instance, upselling.  I worked at two different jobs where upselling was necessary, or you’ll lose your job.  I can upsell like no other, but in the end, it really enhances your perception to others trying to upsell you.

Michael was buying some brown shoes…that could work as casual, but at the same time be dress shoes.  This guy that worked there was persistant on him buying the most expensive shoes there, a pair of 175 dollar shoes… He said that any other shoe there would wear out in a matter of 6 months.  PLEASE.  My shoes that I wear now I’ve had for years, and I got them at Wal-Mart, no ones going to believe that crap.  Well he did end up buying a pair of 125 dollar shoes.  Before you go “What??” Let me assure you that he works at Macy’s and has “Macy Bucks” after working there for so long, he was able to use them on the shoes and get them only for 60 dollars.  Not too bad.

The converter box works great.  The only problem with it is…with fullscreen programs on HD channels, they are in a boxed frame, and there is no way to zoom in.  There is a zoom button but every time I try to use it, it says “Zoom does not work on this channel…” So I don’t know, at least it’s something for the new TV season.

Mr. Weed Wacker

Awoken by the sound of music (and by sound of music I mean construction.) You see this house is so close to construction that it makes the house shake like an earthquake. I woke to an almost empty house. Though Julia has already left, she has left me a list of things to do here still.  Today I am going to Macy’s to try to get a job.

This morning, because I’m taking over Julia’s room, I took everything from my temporary room, and moved it to hers.  Now her bed does have hearts on the frame, but thanks to my ingeniousness, I was able to cover them up, and make it still look like a bed, because it all matches. You see I am both decorative, AND masculine.

The temporary room still has my computer, and the TV, but that’s basically it. I was told that if you spend all your time in one room, and go to sleep in another, it will help with insomnia. That’s a theory anyways.  I guess I’ll attempt to solve that mystery.

So I went in to Macy’s around 11:30 in the morning.  I wasn’t able to get an interview, but I did send in an application.  Though the application was pretty confusing so I had the manager help me out with that. He asked me a few questions about myself, so it was kind of a mini-interview, he pretty much said I’ll have an interview either on Monday or Wednesday, so that’s good.  Bad news, I did get a rejection email from Target…and I thought I did so well too.

When I got home, I helped the folks here do some lawn work.  That’s right, the first time I ever mowed the lawn, and used a weed whacker.  Intense…I think I kind of sucked at it though…(looks left…looks right) Yeah in the end I was sweating, I was bleeding, but I feel more like a man. Anyyyways.  I also fed some birds, and picked up a cat.  Just little facts for you to think about.

Later on, I had dinner, and attempted to watch a movie from Netflix.  Unfortunately those pesky Netflix people send you scratched up disks so you can’t really watch anything.  Ahh well, peace out