I'm back and I'm blue

I'm depressed, but here's how the past few days have gone:

SUNDAY: Worked the 2-11 p.m. shift at Wal-Mart. Craziness ensues. I have to run the Service Desk for two hours by myself. Two other supervisors have to go on registers while one runs the floor by herself. And honestly, who in the world tries to return cigarettes? Not just a pack, but a couple of cartons.

MONDAY: Another evil 2-11 shift. This was worse than yesterday, mainly because I had to run the entire front end all by my lonesome from 3-5:30 p.m. (because someone caled off) Not that I minded, it was just not my favorite cup of tea.

Just an FYI, if anyone out there is ever in a similar position, be evil to your cashiers. They'll do you murder on wanting to go home early. Believe me. The same ones that come back from lunch or break on time all want to go home half an hour early -- and can't be bothered to clean up their register before they go!

Everyone at the Service Desk left at 3:30. I finally stuck two half-trained people up there, but had to keep running by to show them how to do money transfers and the other odd jobs that the Service Desk handles. I still got paged every 15 minutes. "CSS to the Service Desk, CSS to the Service Desk."

I had to hunt down a Creole-to-English translator (yes, we do have them) for the Vision Center. Apparently, an employee had spashed cleaning products into his eye, but couldn't speak any English to describe what it was exactly. What fun! I hope he gets a huge check!

While all this is going on, someone tries to return an airbed that was part of a camping package, claiming it didn't hold air. It was bought in OCTOBER now, when the return policy is "90 days or less." She didn't even have the rest of the tent package, just the defective mattress. Oh My God! In order, here are the arguments:

But the product is defective.

But it was a Christmas present.

But we just used it last week.

But I have a receipt.

But I don't see why it has to be returned in 90 days when it was a gift.

But I just want another one.
Finally, I just decided that she wasn't going to give up, that it wasn't worth my time to argue any more and that it was simpler just to give the woman another airbed and send the rest of the package to claims. I always feel like I'm selling my soul when I give up on these returns.

TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY: I flew to Atlanta (it was snowing when I got into a cab at Hartsfield-Jackson) and failed the Foreign Service assessment process for the third time. I failed all three parts of the test, and really ended the day feeling stupid, supremely desolate and entirely bummed out.

There are no real positives for these two days, other than the $70 upgrade that got me into first class on AirTran. I did have a four-hour wait at the Atlanta airport on Wednesday night and roamed around Concourse E, the International arrivals/departures hub. It was kinda neat, except that I couldn't go into the duty-free shop w/out a international boarding pass (I really wanted to buy a Chanel watch). So basically, I wasted a flight, a hotel room and $90 in cab fare to get Popeye's chicken and red beans & rice at the Atlanta airport.

THURSDAY: This was my recovery day. I slept in and tried to reconnect with myself. I moped for a long time and successfully resisted the urge to cry. I decided it wasn't worth losing a lot of sleep over. I went to see Barrio Boy at Starbucks, got some burritos (when did Taco Bell drop the Grill Stuft product line) and watched the British DVDs of "Rosemary & Thyme" all afternoon.

I may look at other options to go abroad. Maybe teaching ESOL courses, although that would require certification, although I could get that. My therapist suggests working on a cruise ship. One of my friends suggests looking at international business opportunities.

Personally, I want to continue life as it is for a while. I want to really buckle down, work hard, save money and finish paying off my student loans and be free of that debt and then finish off my last few credit card bills. Then maybe take a year off and travel. We'll see.