Imperfection embraced

So far, today has had its ups and downs. I’ll start with the downs, because they’re just annoying.

It’s cold, it’s windy, and the road to my house got covered with water at about 10am. It rained a bit in the last few days, but not a whole lot. However, the wind gusting to 35 or 40 mph from the right direction pushes the sound-water over my road. Ironic that this is the most highly traveled secondary road in North Carolina, yet they won’t fix this reoccuring spot, that strands thousands of people on the wrong side, twice now since I moved out here? ::GRUMBLE:: This is one of those issues that really bugs me. But, I can’t do anything about it right now, so we deal and hope to be on the right side when it washes out.

So, today? This was pretty much ok, since I was already at work, so it didn’t really affect me. But, I forgot to feed the cats before I left for work today and thought I’d be gone til 9:30 or 10 tonight. Turns out I get an hour lunch break, so I could have come home and fed them with more than enough time to eat and probably get back early. My manager mentions my hour lunch around 9:30, we get word around 10:15 that the road is washed out and the schools will be closing at noon. There go my lunch plans. So, that was annoying. Not end of the world, but definitely sits in the back of your mind. (Will I be able to get home tonight at 10ish when I finally get off of my 2nd job and a 13 hour work day? Will my cats hate my guts if they get no food til tomorrow? How do I go to work tomorrow without any fresh clothes? etc. Annoying when you’re trying to learn policies and procedures, not to mention make a good impression on your FIRST DAY of work. I mean, this shit is important for my future at my job. I need to show them how awesome I am, now that they’ve hired me.)

The ups are that the winds finally started to 25 mph, so finally half of the road was uncovered. There was highway patrol out directing traffic (hee, TINY road, BIG cops, lol) at 4 when I tried to come home. Part of what makes this good is that my manager and boss both agreed that I should try to come home when I could, because they were only planning on keeping me til 3:30 anyways. I’m doing computer training right now, so by then I had already completed 3 modules (policies, procedures, laws that NEED to be known, you know… shit that matters) and was starting the actual teller training one. This module is HUGE and has TONS of pertinent information. So, I’ve just finished reading about banking laws and regulations and learning about all the legal stuff, and now I was about to learn a million specifics about the bank itself. So, by about 3:45, my head was swimming with information, and I checked the weather report. I saw that the winds had dropped, so suggested that the road may be passable. They gave me their cell phone numbers in case I needed a place to crash tonight. Love them and their sweetness. For real, I’m overwhelmed with the feeling that I’ve made a great decision.

Also? Another teller was telling me that she had gone to her physical (out of town for a week) training before she had gotten the computer work done. By day 3, she was ready to quit, she was so over her head. So, I’m really glad that I’ve got a couple of weeks to do computer work and shadow other people before my out of town training.

Sidebar: Eva just took a walk across the keyboard, I think she wanted me to say “hi”. The characters she left behind looked a bit like a penis, so I deleted it. Dirty kitty!

Anyways, I need to go pack an overnight bag in case the road is washed out again later. I called my manager when I got home, and she mentioned that if I was interested, I could come in for a branch meeting in the morning a bit early. I don’t want a silly change of clothes to prevent me from being there on time.

So, tomorrow is the big day. I start my new job at the bank at 8:30am. I work there til 5ish, then go to my other job from 5:30 - 9:30. Then I get up in the morning and go back to the bank. Fortunately, I don’t work the other job til Saturday, but that DOES mean that I’m getting ready for a 6 day work week. Fun?

The good news is that I’m working! The bad news is that I’ll probably have to start drinking coffee again. LOL.

Happy Mothers Day to all of the fabulous mothers (and soon to be!) in my life!! I’ll admit it though, you MIGHT be jealous of my mom, because we went shopping at my store today and I helped her get some CUTE stuff. Seriously, my mom is adorable (she’s petite like me, but weighs what I wished I weigh, so she’s like a smaller version of me…), and I love helping her update her wardrobe. I try not to treat her like my barbie doll, but sometimes it’s hard not to. She’s just so damned cute. Anyways, I help show her how to hide the stuff she hates and emphasize her assets, and she always walks away beaming with confidence. (And, yes, I’m talking about my 50 year old mother here, proof that you’re only as young as you feel!!) I picked up a couple of items that I wanted to fill in holes with (I’m getting close to feeling like I have options in my closet for work), but we mostly spent money on her. Then my dad made us dinner and we finished it off with angel food cake, fresh strawberries, (light) vanilla ice cream, and (light) whipped cream. Mmmmmmm. SO GOOD. It was a good day, and I think my mom really had a blast.

So, yeah. Happy Mothers Day, and hopefully I’ll make it through my first week of work ok.

Remember that time that I mentioned the beach party in which I was falling down drunk? Yeah, well, I thought I’d share some of the pictures with you. I finally just played with them, and they were hilarious!

I thought this one was hilarious and shows you a glimpse of my drunk ass. Christine was probably as drunk as me, yet managed to look nice for the picture. Okok, her face is definitely funny too, but at least she got her chin in the right place.

This one on the other hand just makes me laugh my ass off. I don’t know what Christine was doing or yelling about, but Ben looks like he’s just along for the ride.

The look on Evan’s face says “yep, I was trying to tell you, she’s wasted”

Definitely my favorite. Well, next to the one of Christine’s ass. But she has mentioned that if she happens upon THAT one on the web, she’ll kill me. So, instead, we get the girls.

Ok, that’s all for now. I hope you enjoyed the flash of beach debauchery!

I still haven’t made my decision. Basically, it’s a matter of money, or people. I LOVED the people at the bank with $1 less an hour, and although I wouldn’t immediately be the head teller, there is definitely room for growth. The manager, who I interviewed with and immediately fell a little bit in love with her, started as a teller 5 years ago. And the benefits are a little bit better. The other place is $1 more an hour, but a lot more responsibility. That’s not a bad thing, but I’ve never done the job and feel like I should actually learn what I’m doing before I’m telling other people what to do.

Argh.

Anyways, it doesn’t matter. I’ll make my decision tomorrow and that will be that.

Today, however, I had a FABULOUS day. I worked at my part time job last night, and it happens to be at an outlet store for an AWESOME clothing line. Think Gap, LL Bean, Polo… my store has those sorts of styles, but is a different brand.

Anyways, I worked for 5 hours last night, and started learning the merchandise. Then, I went back today and spent a little bit of my birthday money from my grandparents and TOTALLY hooked myself up. My wardrobe is getting to the shabby side of life, and I don’t have a lot of nice things to alternate between for a bank position. So, I got a bunch shirts, a couple of skirts, a couple of pairs of capris (ACK! I never bought them before! But they actually looked good and will work well for the summer), and a nice jacket that will work with all of it. That way, when I’m working inside and it’s cold, I can put it on and still look nice!

Oh, and then I had a total weakness. I stopped by my favorite shoe store out here and got these:

Oh my god, I’m in LOVE.

No, I’m not kidding. They are SO cute. And they’ll look really good with the skirts I just got, and look adorable with pants. They were my one allotted splurge with the birthday money (shh, I had been told directly to use my discount and clean up my wardrobe at my new retail job).

Yet, I need advice on shoes here, people. I’ve never had to dress nice for a job, and I’m kindof excited at the prospect of shoes. I was just able to do a HUGE update to my wardrobe, clothing wise, and will be able to add bits and pieces over time with my paycheck from that job. Any advice of shoes you couldn’t live without, yet are adorably cute? I’m looking for comfortable, yet cute to wear with skirts and capris. I mean, I live at the beach yet will be a teller at a bank. It’s like business-casual meets the beach, you know? I have never worn heels, yet like the idea of a little bit of a jump on my height. I’m only 5′3″, but generally heels kill my feet, so if I’m gonna be able to breach that territory, I need comfort too. I refuse to hurt myself for fashion.

Links are also appreciated, cuz, you know, I’m cool like that. But, for real, I turn 26 in a couple of weeks, and I’m trying to give myself a relatively inexpensive jump start for the next part of my life. I want to look my age, not a homeless college student, you know?

Love love!

Ok, so now I have 2 jobs to choose between. And, I don’t know what to do! They’re both with great banks, but one pays $1 more an hour. However, for that $1 an hour, I’d be the head teller rather than a normal teller. Is it worth it? Anyone know?

To be totally honest, I think I’d rather work for the bank with the lower pay. This is for a couple of reasons. First of all, it’s a bank based in Canada, so the benefits are really good. Also, it’s the bank I’ve been with for years, and I really like the way they work. I also love the manager, and when I stopped by today to make a deposit (haha, a check for $39 from my mom!), she was excited to see me and introduced me to another lady saying “This is Cassafrass, she’s starting next monday!”

However, the bank with the higher pay has TONS of room for growth, as their head teller is moving back to PA, and the bank manager is actually a VP for the company who is filling in as the bank manager for the time being. It’s also a community bank, in every sense of the word. They’re only located out here, and encourage their staff to take continuing education classes (paid for) and to be involved in the local community out here.

Gah! What do I do? I already told the first bank “yes”, but I don’t start til next week, so it’s not really official yet. I called the second bank today to let them know that I had accepted another offer, and she was like “why?! we’ll pay you more and you love it here!” Ack.

Decisions are hard to make. But, the good news is that I get to decide between 2 jobs that are equally good.