It’s the reason why I give my vehicle a name. I just might be riding around in a Cybertronian. You never know.
Monday was an absolute shitshow; we were short-staffed and busy as hell. On top of that, I could barely walk, as my left foot decided to start aching severely. Like, half an hour before I clocked in that day. I was limping to the doors, limping during the walks, and limping to each and every break I took. I was in agony.
It wasn’t until the latter part of the day that I realized why I was hurting so badly; it seems a nerve was being pinched by my shoe. Taking the shoe off immediately dulled the pain. So once I got home, off the shoes went and on went several Salonpas patches. Again, the relief was almost immediate and yesterday morning, my foot felt perfectly fine.
Yesterday was busier than Monday, but I expected it to be; Thanksgiving is tomorrow and everyone had to grab pies and other things for dinner. A few people were grabbing fresh turkeys; those don’t take as much time to thaw as the frozen rock birds that Walmart always sold.
Ah, that brings back memories: every year, the day before Thanksgiving, I’d have at least one customer in my line at Walmart, buying a thirty pound frozen turkey. Every time, the customer would ask the same thing, “Will this be thawed out by tomorrow?” Every time, I’d have to be honest and say “No.” Every time, the customer would get pissed and say, “Well, what the hell am I supposed to do?!”
I chose not to be honest in that case; the logical thing would have been to buy the turkey the week prior. It could have thawed in the refrigerator over the week and been more than ready. But I digress.
I don’t know which is selling faster at my Costco: the pumpkin pie or the pecan pie. We’ve had people buying multiples of both. Me, I’m not all that interested in a huge dinner with all the trimmings, so I’d rather skip the pie.
Thanksgiving is okay but it’s just not my thing. My mother was so insistent on having a perfect dinner that she’d stress herself out, then she’d take everything out on me. I lost count of how many times I rushed to my bedroom, in tears, because my mother had started shouting at me. By the time she realized she was the one who was causing her own stress, I was an adult and I had zero desire to celebrate Thanksgiving anymore. If it wasn’t her, then it was my father; one year, my ex dropped by to visit, bringing a friend of mine along. My ex told my parents that he was coming, but not that he was bringing my friend. My father wasn’t happy and I was in trouble for something someone else did.
Yeah, I’ve had nothing but terrible luck when it comes to Thanksgiving. That’s why I want to keep it low-key. The older I get the less I enjoy complicated things like that. Simple is what I like best.
It still is a shock to me that I have Thanksgiving day off; I’ve had to work so many of them that I nearly forgot it was a holiday. Walmarts in this area only shut down for one day a year and that’s Christmas. Thirteen years of working most holidays has made it a habit of sorts. It’s probably going to be a few more years before I get that out of my system.
Iacon East 