Crazy Customers

Little hey, little ho, people! So I was busy last week and didn't have time to post anything, but I can write, and boy is there a lot to talk about.

So remember when I said how much I liked the old people customers that come to the B&N a few posts ago? Unfortunately, I've had my first run in with a rude customer this past week, and I think I also met my first real crazy person in my whole life while working customer service. Both situations were weird and something I don't want to go through ever again, but maybe it's a good thing such meetings happened so I can be prepared for the next time I run into such people. And it's not like I had nothing but bad customer meetings this week; there was this really nice customer WHO GAVE ME THE BOOK SHE BOUGHT.

But bad guys first. The rude person was this old lady in this nasty lavender jumpsuit with a neck brace and a voice like a frog who came asking about books by an author with the last name Kinley. I look it up, but I don't find anything, so I ask the lady if she could spell the last name. She acts all offended that I don't know this guy's work, because supposably he writes a really popular kid series, but she starts spelling out the name. But she gets distracted halfway into the name, and when I politely ask if she can continue (while eyeing my co worker Kari in case I need to ask for help) she basically tells me to find someone else to help her that can ACTUALLY DO THEIR JOB. At this point Kari steps in and I step back; I didn't say anything for the rest of the interaction, but believe me, I was mad. Not that I showed it in any other way besides crossing my arms. Kari told me later that while she was leading the woman and her daughter to the kids section to look for the book, the mean bag was rude to her too, still in disbelief no one knew what she was talking about, and instead of the daughter telling her mom to knock it off, she joined in the berating too. Afterwards Kari and I worked off some steam with some bad-mouthing, so I felt a bit better. But still! Just because you're wearing a neck brace, sound like you swallowed a toad, and have no fashion sense doesn't mean you have the right to be rude to people. (And for the record, she got the author's name wrong; it was Kinney. No wonder I couldn't find anything!) Bad karma on you!

The crazy customer came a few days later. I was helping some old guy with finding some pocket datebook refills when this other old guy comes up. He's hard of hearing but asks if we have a book about 'hollow earth'. The first old guy tells me to help the hard-of-hearing guy, so I do, but while plenty of books entitled 'Hollow Earth', I didn't know which one he was talking about. So I tried to figure out which one he was talking about, and it turned out 'hollow earth' was the book's subject. As it turned out, the hard-of-hearing guy was one of those conspiracy nuts, and when prompted by the pocket datebook guy, he went into this long rant that basically was him talking about how there's a city of aliens living under some city in California. Eventually he left, and the datebook told me that I 'owe him one', because he got the burden of the whole rant. And I was grateful, because he did save me, but good lord! I was not expecting to run into my first crazy person like that!

But there was one good customer this week. She was a girl my age, very pretty, who I was checking out at the cash register. She was buying one of those religious inspirational books, and we were chatting, with her talking about how she'd come in before (of course, I didn't recognize her). But after everything was said and done, she GAVE me the book she bought, saying I looked like I needed it. I was surprised, and said I couldn't accept it, but eventually she convinced me to take it, said she'd see me later, and left. It was one of the nicest things someone had ever done for me, and it proves that there really are decent people out there. As for the book, it's sitting on my bedside table, and every night I read a little bit of it. Very nice. :)

Other than a handful of bipolar customers, I was very busy these weeks with new experiences. I was placed in two sections I haven't worked before: second floor customer service and the kid section. Talk about two different beasts from what I'm used to. I had some help with the customer service part when it came to figuring out where stuff goes, but I was basically set adrift doing the children's section and accidentally put some books back that had been taken off the shelf for removal in the first place (because no one tells me anything!). :P Thankfully the bosses were understanding and told me to take this as a learning experience, which I will, so all's good there.

Editing is the same as always, which basically means I have two writers who do very well and one who makes me want to pull my hair out. I keep telling her over and over again how she links her source websites is wrong, but she either doesn't understand or isn't listening. It's not like I'm going to drop her for this, but I did write my feelings in the editor notes, so hopefully this will all work out. But for now, she hasn't posted this week's stuff yet, so I'm really hoping she does soon because I don't want to spend a late night doing editing work when I could be sleeping

And there actually is something concerning the writing department this week: I finally got my first royalty check! SHP finally got everything together and sent it to me, so there's some cash in the bank (I'm not saying how much, though). Otherwise, no new news.

Bi-Weekly (Dis)Likes:

Like 1: I saw a friend at the B&N. Tina is one of my greatest friends from high school, and we met each other totally by accident. Turns out she lives nearby and said I could stop over after work anytime. We chatted for a few minutes, and it was great catching up. Love you, girl!

Like 2: The mythical creature display. Our local museum had a display all about magical creatures from around the world, and I went to see it with my grandma. Hands down one of the best displays I've seen, and so informative considering I'm a fantasy writer and want to include these types of animals in my books.

Like 3: Red dot sale at B&N. Basically a few tables are set up in front of the mall entrance and are loaded with stuff with a red sticker on it, which equals 50% off. With my employee discount that becomes 80%, so I was able to pick up a nice how-to book concerning cats and their care (because I really want a cat someday).

Like 4: The nice customer and the book she gave me. See above.

Like 5: Being a membership sales master! For this weekend only if someone becomes a B&N member, they get 20% off their whole purchase instead of the usual 10%. I was able to sell and renew many memberships during my time on the register, so I feel rather accomplished.

Like 6: Souvenir from Las Vegas. My mom went there on vacation and was nice to send this beautiful gold and green cocktail ring that's awesome to wear. Thanks mom!

Dislike 1: Rude/crazy customers. See above.

Dislike 2: People who leave stacks of books lying around. This turns out be a phenomenon on the 2nd floor, and of course it drives me nuts! People can't take the time to put everything back where they found it? Yes, I put books on the shelf, but for one time only, because I am no janitor, plus I have other more important things to do than to clean up your unbought crap. If anyone's reading this, please put something you're not buying back in its rightful place, please.

And quote!

"Few of us get anything without working for it." -William Feather

Bye,
Colleen

The Music Department

Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na BLOG TIME!

So this week at work, I actually got to man the music department by myself for the first time. Now, I'm watched the music department before, but this was the first time I've been in the section for a whole work shift. At first I thought it was going to be like working the mall cash register (meaning that barely any people buy stuff and I'm bored to tears), but not so! Apparently on a weekly basis there's a DVD and CD tag check, which basically means we go through the CDs and DVDs and make sure they have a price and security tag on them and there's no loose tags lying around. When I was working in the department it was time to check the CDs, so I basically spent my whole shift, when not ringing up customers, flipping through the entire CD rack and making sure everything was tagged and writing the amount of tags found on a chart. I didn't know flipping through CDs could take so long (on the bright side, I found a Black Veil Brides CD that's only five bucks; hooray for hidden treasures!) Not only that, it was a closing shift while I was in the music section, which meant closing that up, which entailed vacuuming the floor with a crappy vacuum, sanitizing the counter, phone, and computers, making sure the CDS and DVDs were all in place, dusting the shelves, and taking out the trash and whatever cardboard boxes were lying around. It's a lot of work, but it's nice to be in one section of the store while everyone else is out all over the place. I wouldn't mind doing the music department again.

The internship is going well. The writers are posting their stuff, and I'm editing while nitpicking all sorts of little mistakes. Nothing really going on this week except that I got assigned a third writer to look over. That might sound like more work, but she is by far the closest to professional out of all my writers with the least amount of mistakes. She is no problem at all.

No news for writing, so it's time for another BURN IN LIGHT character profile! This week we have Uncle V, Enid's uncle and legal guardian. His full name is Vincent Delacroix, and he's a Protestant preacher for a nearby church (he actually used to be Catholic but had to convert to be able to adopt Enid). As said, he adopted Enid because her mother died in childbirth and her dad's not in the picture, and all in all he's a good father figure; he loves Enid deeply, and she returns his affections by respecting his wishes and trying not to make him worry with her hunting ghosts (which he can see, by the way). He's also good friends with Al and Thad, and he's just a really likable guy that's hard to hate.

Weekly (Dis)Likes:

Like 1: Black Veiled Brides CD find. See above.

Like 2: Extra shifts. I was asked to do an extra shift this week, and I was more than happy to take it. That may be surprising to others, but I'm happy when they ask if I want extra hours. Yes, it means some extra cash, but in asking me, the bosses are showing how capable they think I am and they trust me with these extra shifts (that's what I like to think, at least).

Like 3: Dining out with the grandparents and their friends. I got to eat out twice this week with my grandparents and some of their friends at two different restaurants, and it was great both times. I ate good food and had good conversations with my grandparents' friends, who I have a lot of respect for because of how awesome they are and make for good conversation. Good times.

Like 4: I got a somewhat new charger! My grandma read about how my old charger was cracking, so she gave me the one that came with her old laptop. It's in perfect condition, so thanks Grandma!

Dislike 1: Being sick. I haven't been feeling good the last few days, and it's not like I'm dying or not taking care of myself. I just feel like I want to doing nothing but sleep, and I hope I feel better soon.

And quote!

"We are what we believe we are." -C. S. Lewis

Bye,
Colleen

Labor Day Rush

Yo, dudes!

Talk about being busy this week. I had my first taste of holiday rush with working Labor Day at B&N, and it was crazy. I was supposed to divide my time between the cash register and customer service, but I ended up working the register the whole time because of all the crazy amount of people coming to buy stuff. And there was a lot of people; they seemed to come in waves, like for a time there wouldn't be anybody, then one person comes, and you help that person, and by the time you're done with them, a whole line is staring you in the face and you have no idea where they came from! It's stressful, but the upside is all these customers keep you busy, which means no time to get bored and possibly goof off and get in trouble (not that I actively try to do that). I wonder what the holidays are going to be like?

So B&N is good, and so is the internship. My boss talked with the writer who's been giving me trouble, and said writer has one more chance before being let go. That said, this writer didn't let me down this time; she got all her articles posted on time, which means I didn't have to stay up late editing them. That's solved; now it's a matter of getting her to properly link stuff. With the way she does it, I basically have to track down the specific webpage the picture came from so we can properly source stuff, because she just gives me the main page of that website. But baby steps, people. We're getting somewhere.

No update on the writing front, so to tide you over, another character profile from BURN IN LIGHT. This time I give the gentle gentleman Al! His full name is Alastor Bachman, and he's the ghost of a nineteen-year-old lawyer in training. In the late 1800's his family integrated from England to Philly (he still has a bit of a British accent) so Al's dad could live the American dream by starting his own law firm, and Al was more than happy to study under him. Sadly, Al was killed in a mugging gone wrong by a slashed throat, and he's been a ghost ever since. Out of fear of what came after crossing over when it was earned, Al decided to be a guardian ghost (ghost version of a guardian angel) to prolong his stay, and for the past hundred years he's guarded many people. His latest 'ward' is Enid, and the two of them have been friends since the day she was born. Having been there for her growing up, Al knows all about her and can be somewhat of a father figure. But something in him might want it to be more, despite all the obstacles in the way.

Weekly (Dis)Likes:

Like 1: Got a new book. It's the second one in Lev Grossman's 'Magician' series, and I got it for four bucks when it originally was 26! Ever since I heard the trilogy was basically a grown up Harry Potter, I've been wanting to read it. Can't wait to get my hands on the first.

Like 2: Closer gym. I've recently started going to the gym that's in my grandparents' neighborhood country club, and it's great. It's close by, it's got all the usual equipment, and it doesn't feel like a total drag to get up and go there.

Like 3: Writers who get their stuff sent in on time. See above.

Like 4: The fact they finally discovered Jack the Ripper's identity after 126 years. Who doesn't like a mystery being solved? (Click here for more info). This can't help but bring me to ...

Dislike 1: Serial killers. Who likes those guys!?

Dislike 2: Dumb questions people ask at the B&N. "Do we pay at customer service?" "Where is customer service?" "Where do we pick our books up?" "Where's the bathroom?" Granted, the last two aren't exactly stupid, but since when have you ever paid for something not at a register, and how can you not notice a giant 'Customer Service' sign? It makes me want to make a Q&A poster and hang it around the store (and before you ask, no, Mom, I didn't actually suggest this to any of my bosses. :P)

Dislike 3: My charger cord for my laptop has a tear in the plastic covering the cord part, exposing the wires. It's not big, and I've patched it with some tape, but I REALLY hope I don't have to buy a new one any time soon. Those things are expensive!

And quote!

“By doubting we come to the question, and by questioning we may come upon the truth.” -Pierre Abélard

Adios,
Colleen

Frustrating Writers

Hi, lovely people!

So, one of my occupations is going well. I'm still enjoying my job at B&N with working the cash register and helping out at customer service. There's been a few times when I make some minor mistakes because I'm still learning stuff, but my coworkers are awesome and I'm getting better every day. Our customers are pretty sweet, too; a lot of them are people my grandparents' age, but they're so nice to serve, as are those with kids because they're cute and make good conversation (as long as they're not crying). And thanks to my padded socks, my feet don't hurt as much as they used to. Finally, I had my first closing shift. B&N closes at 10, and when it does the people left in the store basically team up and walk around, rearranging messes and putting back out of place merchandise where its supposed to go before leaving the store as a group. Usually it's the second floor that needs more work than the first, and everyone says it's going to be a nightmare when the holidays start. But for now, it was really easy, and it was satisfying to walk out the door knowing I helped out.

The internship is another story. Not that I hate it; on the contrary, I love it and love doing it. The problem are the writer's I'm assigned. If I didn't say so last week, I had six articles to look over, but none of them were posted until Sunday afternoon and evening and I had to stay up late to get them done in time. This time, one writer did post her articles on time, but the other has only posted two so far out of four, and I REALLY don't want a repeat of last week. If this continues, I'm going to ask my boss if I can have another writer because I can't afford late nights with the early mornings I have. This makes me, as a writer, worry about my own relationship with Rich-the-editor; I hope I was never like this with him when we were working on SA.

Writing wise, no big news. Still chugging away at my latest manuscript and getting into the story.

Weekly (Dis)Likes:

Like 1: Phoenix Wright phone app. This is a game where you play as a lawyer trying to prove your clients' innocence in various cases, and it's addicting. It takes a fair bit of logic, but it really makes you think, and the stories are so funny. Worth it.

Like 2: My Pandora radio station. The radio in my car is busted, so my iPhone to the rescue!  

Dislike 1: Writers who don't meet deadlines. See above.

Dislike 2: Not getting enough sleep and sleeping half the day away. Enough said.

And quote!

"If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door." -Milton Berle

Bye,
Colleen

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho (It's Off to Work I Go)

Hello, nation!

I know, I've been a bit overdue for a post, and that's partly do to my own laziness. See, I was working on an entry for last week, but the internet froze and I had to shut it down, which made me lose what I had written. Bad reasoning, I know, but don't say you haven't ever done the same before with something you've done.

Book writing front remains slow in terms of publishing and whatnot. I'm still writing, though, which is good after the long break I've had, not to mention I like where my current story is going. Right now I'm doing a chase scene with the main character and her friend vs. a whole bunch of cops and flying cars, so it's a good thing I've seen plenty of action movies to know how to end this.

My internship is excellent. In case you haven't been told, I applied for and was accepted for an associate editor's internship for a fashion blogging website called The Fashion Foot. It is unpaid, but it's good experience since I still do want to work at a publishing house, and it's something I can do straight from my house. The articles I've been working on are really fun: I basically look over 8 to 12 of them during the weekend and fix up the grammar and pictures, and they're about a variety of subjects. My favorite so favorite is an article about DC's Batgirl and her recently updated costume. Go and check it and other articles out at http://thefashionfoot.com/

Work is going well, too. I actually got to do customer service, which is more than just standing behind the assigned desk. I actually got to learn how to work a handheld scanner which I use to put books away in the right place, and I lead people around the store to wherever their book may be. Which is good, because I want to be moving since my feet STILL haven't gotten used to me being on them all the time. But yesterday I actually went shopping for some more work cloths, and not only did I get a cute pair of pants and some shirts, I got some padded socks that will help with feet. And cashier work is going smoothly too. One of my manager's actually told me that I've been doing a good job with selling B&N memberships, so that's a definite confidence booster. It's nice to know I'm doing my job well, and this makes me want to do it better.

Bi-Weekly (Dis)Likes:

Like 1: Getting told I've been doing a good job selling memberships. See above.

Like 2: My internship. See above again.

Like 3: Shopping and getting new cloths. See above again.

Like 4: Mt new sunglasses. I got a pair of gray-rimmed, dark Michael Kors sunglasses, and they look fabulous on me. It's helps that they're also prescription so I don't have to wear them over my regular glasses.

Like 5: Pandora radio app on my phone. The radio's on the fritz for the car I drive, so I just turn that on and it provides me with all the good music I want. Now if only it had a repeat button...

Dislike 1: Everybody leaving. My mom's moving to Arizona, and my baby sister's off to college. I love them very much, and while it's a little lonely, I'm glad they're living their lives and doing what they want to do.

Dislike 2: The smell of the B&N's bathroom. Being a somewhat public restroom, I can understand it for being smelly, and it probably isn't to a lot of people. But it is with my sensitive nose, and I wish they'd put some Febreze in there.

Dislike 3: Online banking. This isn't really a dislike because it basically does it for me, but me and Mom were talking about bills and stuff, and I ended up feeling stupid because I don't know the first thing about how to pay bills. American education seriously needs to start including personal finance in math classes for high school students, because out of all the useless junk math we're taught, how to pay out bills is not one of them!

And quote!

"Work isn't to make money; you work to justify life." -Marc Chagall

Love your faces,
Colleen

In the Biz

Hello, people!

So, it was the first week of work this week, and it was good. Most of it was training with how to work the cash register and the system B&N uses to find that one book you're looking for. Yes, it sounds boring, but it wasn't too boring for me; it's when I don't have something to do that I get bored, so I was fine with this. Best part was actual cashier work; I was put up at the front registers and got to help people buy stuff. I made some mistakes, but that's normal, and everyone I've talked to so far says it takes some time to get a hang of all the details of register work. And I believe them; the instruction guide to working the cash wrap was BIG, and there's a lot of things I have to remember. But it's fun talking to people and seeing what they're buying, and I get to see friends; my friend Niki from high school came in to pick up an order she made, and we talked some. It was nice to see her, and I hope other people I know pop in as well.

As far as writing, no news on the book front, but I'm taking on an internship! It's an associate editorial internship for a website called The Fashion Foot, basically it's my job to look through a certain number of articles each week and clean them up. It's a good counter balance to the bookseller job, and it'll give me more experience in the way of publishing. Because while I already like my job at B&N, I do hope to someday work in a publishing house. Here's hoping!

To BURN IN LIGHT, the character's name is Enid Delacroix. She's a high school senior, an average student, and quite frankly scares the pants off of anyone she meets. Part of it is how she looks: she has pale skin, white blonde hair, and amber eyes that look orange depending on the lighting. Here's a picture drawn by my best friend Tina:

Another reason she scares people is her attitude: tough, no hold bars, intolerant of any sort of bullying or bad behavior whether it comes from a ghost or human. She's nice only to those she considers her friends and family; anyone nice but unknown to her she's wary of until she knows them better (that is if she decides she wants to know them at all). She's kick ass and powerful when it comes to dealing with ghosts; she does not like chasing dead people sometimes, but she has accepted her abilities and does the best she can.

And that's this week's news. Onto the Weekly (Dis)Likes!

Like 1: Went to the Royals vs. Giants game, and we won. It was a really good game made better by the company I kept: my sister's friend and her sister. It was a good evening.

Like 2: It's Shark Week! Shark Week, oooh haha!

Like 3: My job. See above.

Like 4: My internship. See above again.

Like 5: Got my hand on The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith, aka JK Rowling. I love her to death, so I can't wait to read her latest work.

Like 6: My new shoes. I got some light brown wingtips to wear to work. They're comfy, and a whole lot better than my regular flats.

Dislike 1: Achy feet. The one thing about working at a cash register is you're standing a lot, and that equals feet that really hurt. Hence the shoes I got.

And quote!

"Immature love says: 'I love you because I need you.' Mature love says: 'I need you because I love you." -Erich Fromm

Bye,
Colleen

I GOT A JOB!!

Hello, everyone!

As the title says, I have a job! It's a part time bookseller position at one of the local Barnes and Noble, and I am so happy to get started. Today was orientation with tours and paperwork, so it wasn't too terribly exciting, but I start training tomorrow, so hopefully everything will get more interesting soon.

While the job front is fulfilled, there's been no news from either the agent or Rich-the-editor on BURN IN LIGHT's potential publication, so I'm just going to assume it's been put on hold. But I'm okay with that. Because I, finally, have started writing again. It's back to the normal half a page schedule, but that's normal for me. Not to mention it's just great to get back into the story; I've missed it. Said story, by the way, is my sci-fi story MOA-27, with the cyborg out to take down the scientist who made her and rediscover her past by means of the connections she forms with her teammates. Very high-paced, very techy, and something I love completely.

So back to BURN IN LIGHT. I talked about how I don't remember exactly where the idea for the book came from, but have I told the story behind the location it's set in? The story takes place in Philadelphia, PA. There is a big difference between a real city and the made up Florida town where I placed SWAMP ANGEL, but I wanted to see how location affected the plot (to tell how it did would be giving spoilers away). But I was mainly inspired by the time I spent in Philly taking a mouth long art study at Moore College, a small art school in the city. While I was there, I made art, lived in a dorm, and explored Philadelphia, which I liked for its history and just the general feel it gave off. I think what struck me about the city was how it was both old and new, and that both those sides fit together. This in turn was kind of how I saw the story: you have the new (humans) working with the very old (ghosts) to keep the life (and unlife) of each being the safest it can be from those that go bump in the night.

Weekly (Dis)Likes:

Like 1: I got a job! See above.

Like 2: I've gotten back into writing. See above also.

Like 3: Royals' baseball game against the Minnesota Twins, and we won. :)

Dislike 1: Blisters. If I've said it before, I'll say it again. I hate blisters. I got one wearing heels, and it hurt something awful. I hope my feet can get used to that certain pair, because they are adorable.

Dislike 2: The rate my DS and iPhone die. It's not like I try to make it so that I need to recharge them every day, but it seems like I have to. :P

And quote!

"If the world seems cold to you, kindle fires to warm it." -Lucy Larcom

Bye,
Colleen