So, I started a new job a few weeks ago. It is at a gym. It is pretty mindless, so it is just what I need right now. I basically check people in, answer the phone, and make smoothies. Doesn't seem that complicated, right? For some reason, last week, I really did not think that I was competent enough to do this job. I called my mom in tears last week - almost to the point of hyperventilation - because I really thought that I was an idiot. It seemed as though the first statement out of everyone's mouth to me that day while I was working was, "Just to let you know, in the future, fill in the blank." Basically, everything I did that day was incorrect. Apparently, I don't know how to answer a phone correctly. After you thank people for calling the gym and then identify yourself, no matter what the question is, you are supposed to ask them if they are a member. Ex. Caller: What time is the step class being offered today? Me: Are you a member? or Caller: Do you have showers at your facility? Me: Are you a member? And if they say no, I am not supposed to answer their question - I am supposed to take down their name and their phone number and transfer them to my manager so they can try to sell them a membership. I don't work well that way. I want to answer the question and then ask if they are a member. I would be really ticked off if I called somewhere just to get a stinkin answer about something and I was transferred to about 1o different people just to find out if toilet stall number 2 has toilet paper in it. And then when people call wanting to cancel, I try to follow protocol, which changes about 8 times during every shift, no one wants to separate themselves from the little social circle that they have going on so I am constantly just taking messages. And of course no one will actually call the people back so the people that answer the phones are always getting yelled at by patrons. Honestly, I would want to cancel, too. Someone called the other day to ask to have a copy of their agreement faxed to them. I don't have access to the agreements, so I gave the message to someone who does. He proceeded to tell me that he was not going to fax her a copy of it and she would have to call back again to ask for it. Some of the people there are really, really lazy! The poor operations manager is there for 13 hours a day 7 days a week because apparently everything falls under his position. Then there is my nemesis - the smoothie machine. And why would it decide to work on the day that everything else was going wrong? My manager is up at the desk and someone comes up to ask for a smoothie. Of course, I jump on it because I wanted to actually do something right in front of her. Little did I know, we were all out of the flavor that the person wanted. So I prepare the mixture and put it in the machine to be blended. I hit all the buttons and notice that when the juice is supposed to be coming out, it is all water. I hit a few more buttons and hit blend and it literally explodes all over the place. I then realize that there is no more triple berry syrup crap under the machine, so I ask if he wants a different flavor. He tells me strawberry, so I give that one a whirl. Well, I put the blender cover with the closed lid on it instead of the one with the hole in it. When I hit the buttons and the liquid starts to pour out, it goes all over the place and then the blender kicks in. Now I have an even bigger mess. I swear I want to wear a t-shirt that says - "I really am smart. I can administer high alert drugs. Can you????" Then to make my day even better, there was a stuffy artsy fartsy man and his wife who are in their 60's who came in and he decided to check himself in as I was doing something else on the computer. I told him that I needed to rescan his card and he looked at my manager and said, "Ugh, it is so hard to train people right these days!" Needless to say, I no longer greet him. I swipe his card and don't say anything. I am too old for this crap and I am too old to feel badly about myself because of someone else's actions. I think part of the problem is that I am too nice and too soft spoken. When I am in NY, I never feel like I am not good enough, not pretty enough, or not smart enough. But for some reason, I always feel like that when I am in GA. Well, enough is enough. Take your nasty attitude and your triple berry crap smoothie and shove it where the sun doesn't shine!!!!

On a much happier note, Sam's lung functions are going up!!!! Yippee!!!! He is feeling better and looking better. He just needs to gain a little more weight. But then again, being that it is busy season, he has been eating at work. Once busy season is over, I will be fattening him up with eggplant, sausage, and pasta!

"You can't please everyone and you can't make everyone like you." Katie Couric

Taking the bully by the horns.

Imagine calling up a radio talk show host to get her "professional" insight on a situation and you end up being called a "shack up honey" and an "unpaid whore". This afternoon, I went to assist my dad with some errands and, on my way back home, I could not find anything good on the radio, so I turned on some Sirius radio. As I was flipping through, I came across Dr. Laura Schlessinger's show. I thought I would go ahead and take a listen. I figured that I could always use some entertainment and, who knows, I might learn something. Let me tell you - this woman is a radio bully! This woman called up to discuss an argument that she was having with her boyfriend and made the statement that "he still comes home every nite..." Well, she did not get one more word out after that. Dr. Laura cut her off and said, "Let me get this straight - you are not married to this man, but you are living with him? You are shacking up? I would not even be concerned about the argument you had. You are a shack up honey and an unpaid whore. Why don't you talk about that with him tonite!" And then she hung up on the woman. This poor lady called Dr. Laura looking for advice and all she got was a verbal beatdown! I felt so sorry for her, I just wanted to send her a hug thru the radio.

Ok, that was rant number one. On to the next. I love going to the grocery store. I am always in a great mood when I go. I especially love to look at all the fruits and vegetables. I don't know what it is, but I just love it. Today, I had my grocery shopping spirit shattered. I pull into the parking lot and park. As I am grabbing my list, I notice that there are 4 males walking in between my car and the car that was parked facing mine. I am about to get out of my car and I notice that Sam text messages me, so I called him instead of text messaging him back. While I am on the phone with him, I hear people screaming, so I look up. These people were actually yelling at me. Poor Sam just kept on talking and I am in awe as these 4 high school boys rolled down their windows and started calling me a "dumb white 8itch" and a "f&(*ing white ho". Plus, they were pointing and laughing at me! And I know they were in high school because they had on t-shirts from their school and they were obviously driving Daddy's SUV). The worst part was, they thought this was funny and ok! Sam just kept talking and I had to ask him to repeat himself 2 times. I was really enraged. I was tempted to go into Kroger to see if they had video tapes with their customers on it. But then I thought - um, ok, when I see who they are, what would I actually do? Call the police and say that some high school kids bullied me? Instead, I wandered to the deli counter and ordered my 1/2 pound of hard salami. Then, I mozied on over to the fruits and vegetables and felt better.

Today must have been the day for yelling at people in grocery store parking lots. Sam does not like the milk from Kroger. He says it "tastes funny". I am not really sure what that is about, but whatever. After Kroger, I went to Publix in order to get the Sam-approved milk. I buy the milk and, as I am walking to my car, there is a girl who is hanging out of her mother's parked car yelling, "I worked so freaking hard to get all of my homework done today and now you are ruining my nite, you 8itch!" And this is how the high schooler from Wesleyan (a private Christian Academy) spoke to her mother. She then proceeded to slam the car door and pound her feet on the interior of her mother's Mercedes as her mother went into the grocery store. I could not help but think about my own bullying in the Kroger parking lot and thought that there must be something in the air with high schoolers and grocery parking lots today. Luckily, my bully was not in my car with banging feet on the dashboard.

Now, onto the good stuff. Sam is home from the hospital after being in for 2 weeks at the end of January. There is some crud growing in his lungs so his doctor gave him a prescription. Hopefully, that will get rid of it. He spoke at Emory today. He speaks to the nursing program there every semester about what it is like to have CF. He may seem shy at first, but he loves to talk about himself and have all the attention on him. He is a nifty little speaker!

I started my second semester of school in mid-January. It was very scary at first, but I am getting thru it. I am doing my clinicals on a CF floor. I don't know about you, but I think that is pretty stininking ironic. And I have a new job! WooHoo for the new job!

"Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself." Lucille Ball