That was the day that was

Oh my sweet Lord Jesus. I made it through today. The litany of things that went wrong started at 5 a.m. and just kept coming.

When I set the alarm for this morning, I accidentally set the clock ahead, so I woke up at what I thought was 6:45 in a panic, because it takes me at least 10 minutes to get ready, pack a lunch and then 20 minutes to get to work. Instead, it was only 5:45 and I wasn't due in until 7 a.m.

I decide to go on in early and get breakfast at McDonalds. That was a wise (unwise) decision. The place was a disaster.

The person who was supposed to open at 6 a.m. didn't show up, and apparently all of the county had decided to descend on Wal-Mart overnight. The overnight girl was nearly in tears. I skipped breakfast and got a manager to clock me in.

Then I realized that the person who was supposed to come in to help me was sick. So I was stranded alone from 6:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. ALL BY MYSELF on a freaking Saturday holiday morning.

I never got a break. I lost my voice last night and was speaking in a hoarse rasp for most of the day. I didn't take any crap though. "GO HERE, GO THERE, OPEN REGISTER 9." "WHAT DO YOU NEED?"

One girl tried to give me crap because she didn't want to go on one of the big registers on the grocery side. "I want to go on a speedy." "GET BACK TO 13!"

I took one cashier I could trust, signed out a set of keys for her, gave her my numbers and told her don't do anything stupid with them and had her do my running. I stayed at the command podium and basically guarded the money and gave directions for five hours without a break.

I only did one stupid thing. I got a wave of people in at 10 and had to open up eight registers at once, so I forgot to get one girl down on the schedule for breaks/lunches. She didn't tell anyone when it came time for her break, so three freaking hours later, she wants to know why we forgot about her. She'd been on one of the big grocery registers for THREE hours without a break, poor thing. I felt so bad for her. I just went ahead and sent her to lunch. If that's the worst I did, then sue me.

And I didn't lose any money either. My podium balanced EXACTLY right at the end of the day, even though I ran through almost $3000 in change in 8 hours. Absolutely freaking INSANE! And I've got to repeat this madness today (Sunday) and tomorrow (Monday).

And the worst part, the heifer who came in to help me at 11 was a half-hour late. "Oh, I didn't know you were by yourself." And she kept disappearing! I finally called a manager on her. Um, don't screw with me. I'll smile at you and plunge the knife in at the same time. I WILL DESTROY those who will not work!