10 YEARS......I Can't Believe It!

My trials and tribulations as a Wal-Mart Associate...
Today August 29,2007 marks my 10 year anniversary with Wal-Mart.Yep you read it right 10 years. I can hardly believe myself. When I started with Wal-Mart 10 years ago it was only a part time job to help me pay for my extras while I was in school. My mom and dad paid for my school, my books , my insurance on my car and most of my other expenses. I had to pay for my gas and well anything extra I wanted out of life. Basically my shopping addiction, that I still have. Which in turn meant my credit card bills, yes foolishly when I turned 18 I applied for not one but two credit cards and they both approved me. Now I didn't have a very high credit limit but it was still enough for me to want use them often. Getting back to Wal-Mart...

Some of you might say really Wal-Mart for 10 years. All in all it has been a very good company to work for. Yes Wal-Mart has gotten some really bad press over the past few years, but for me myself I have not experienced anything to terrible while working for this company. They really have been very accommodating when it comes to my schedule and my days off I couldn't ask for anything better. As far as extra time off and vacations that's also been good.But don't get me wrong I've had my fair share of bad days at work but I've also had a lot of really good days where I actually do like my job.

Tonight for instance it was one of the okay days. I managed to make it through the night only making two customers get upset with me. Now for those of you who don't know it but I am a CSM ie. Customer Service Manager, a front end supervisor if you will. One customer was trying to return a paper shredder with no receipt. She claimed she bought only a month ago and it just stopped working today. You should have seen this thing I mean it was obvious it was more than a month old. She had got too much paper jammed in it and used scissors to get it out well most of it. Doing this she managed to get huge scratches all over the top of it and on the inside of it near the blades. Also the trash can it came with looked like it had shredded about a million papers. This was not one of those heavy duty ones either. It was just a one of those ones that was supposed to be used not everyday and not for hundreds of papers at a time. The cost was $49.88. I told the woman I could not return it, without a receipt. She had to have proof of purchase, proof that it was in fact only a month old and not one year old like it looked.Now I didn't say those exact words to her but I was thinking all of this and the associate at the service desk was also thinking the same thing. Needless to say she was not happy with me. She told myself and the associate at customer service that we could just keep the piece of crap merchandise.

I know some of you will probably have different views on how I should or could have handled this situation, one of you being my husband. He seems have a different opinion on how I should have handle a lot of my customers. And that okay because every one's entitled to their own opinion. But in my 10 years at Wal-Mart I have been a CSM for about 4 of those years. In those four years I have had my fair share of customers who just use and abuse their merchandise and just try and bring it in to return, even though they've had it for like two years. And we all know Wal-Mart's return policy is 90 days just like Target's but some how it's just supposed to be different.

A journey through my career...

When I first started with the company in 1997 in Northern California I was a sales floor associate in the Men's Department. That only lasted through the Holidays, then I became a cashier. After being a cashier for about 5 months I was promoted to CSM. I did that for the next year and then that's when we moved across the country to Virginia. When I started in Sterling I was immediately promoted to the Head CSM position. I did that for a little over a year and at that point in my career I was ready to quit. I had had enough of the mean and nasty customers. I had been yelled at and cussed at enough.Then the position of Personnel Manager opened up so I applied for it and I got the job. I remained in that position for nearly four years. I ended having to leave that position because of our new district manager. I had been working at night for about nine months since I had returned from maternity leave after having Jacob. Our new district manager thought that I should be working during the day, only there was my training coordinator who was doing that. At that point I left Personnel and went to the one hour photo lab. I was really ready for something different. I was in the photo lab and absolutely loving it and after I was there for about nine months, we decided to move. This meant transferring again to another Wal-Mart. And this where I am now, for almost two years now I have been back in the CSM position. I can tell you that it's the same as it was nearly 5 years ago but it's also different in a lot of ways. One way that it's different in a good way is there are not as many mean and hateful customers out this way.

In the 10 years that I have been with Wal-Mart I have been through eight store managers. This is possibly one of the hardest things to adjust to. Sterling has the worst record of all. I was there just over six years and had five Store Managers. Right after I left there they got another Store Manager. From what I have been told by a friend who is still there, at this point and time they are again without a store manager.

I know that this is by far my longest blog yet and hopefully not my most boring. For those of you who did not know much about me now you know just a little bit more. Well about my last 10 years at Wal-Mart. I can't believe that I was 20 when I started there. Some days I feel like I have been with the company for 20 years,but that's not possible. I know that I will not make another 10. I hope to some day in the not so distant future be at home with my babies.But until then I will just keep working and trying to enjoy each day as much as I can.

I will say this about Wal-Mart I have met many,many wonderful people there. I have made some great friends and built some very special relationships, ones that I will cherish for the rest of my life. Thank You!

Birthday Party and More.....

Jacob jumping off the slide at Kavon's

Jacob playing pin the dog tag on Scooby

All the birthday party kids!

Jacob,Johnny,Kavon and Logan

Okay so for those of you who did not here my car is on it's way to being fixed and we should have it back no later than Wednesday. It turns out that it was not the transmission but it's a broken axle. And this is apparently a KNOWN problem with my year of pilots. It has yet to be a recall though. When the mechanic that went to check my car out went to call and order my new transmission Honda told him to check something else. Well this something else was the axle. So the part has been order and should arrive at Miller Honda today. With that being said Jason our service advisor said we should have it back by Wednesday. That means no issues of not having a car for our short beach trip this coming Monday. YEAH!!

On Saturday morning we went over to our neighbor/friends house for a birthday party. It was Kavon's 3rd birthday. The kids had a blast running all over the place and they even played a game pin the dog tag on Scooby Doo. It was a Scooby Doo party.We ate pizza and then had cake and ice cream. It was a very cute Scooby cake with yummy chocolate icing. Just Mommy,Daddy and Jacob went Jenna stayed home with Nana.

The rest of the afternoon we just hung out at the house and then we went to one of our favorite places to eat here in town Sansui. After dinner we went next door to Pet Co so Jacob could look at all the animals he loves.When we came home we decide to hang out outside for a little while since the weather had cooled down a lot. Jenna decided to take a little spin in Jacob's Cozy Coupe and she loved it. On Sunday of course Mommy had to go to work. Yuck, and let me tell you it wasn't a very pleasant day at all. We we're very short handed and the customers were coming in in droves. Everyone was doing all of that last minute back to school shopping. It was absolute madness in my store. Hopefully we'll just have a few more days of this and then it will be calm again that is until the holidays are here. I know I shouldn't mention it but before we know it the stores will start putting out the Christmas stuff. Hope everyone had a good weekend.

Jacob looking at the kitten's at Pet Co

What Next?????

Last night I wasn't sure about what to blog about and now this happens.

Okay so there's a picture of it, My beautiful car a 2006 Honda Pilot. We got it in October of 2005, so it's not even two years old yet. And so the adventure begins.....

Today Thursday,myself and the kids were loaded in the car and on our way to a play date at the Burger King down the highway from us. We were meeting two of our neighbors there as well as their four kids. We were going to this particular BK because it has a little play ground there that's perfect for our toddlers. As I am pulling out of the neighborhood right behind Kelly I might add, my car makes this horrible noise like I had just run over a huge rock or something. Only I didn't run over anything. So I pulled over put the car in park and walked around and couldn't see anything that was obviously wrong.I put the car back in drive and it would barely move.I managed to get the car turned around towards home and that was about it. Now when I put it in park it made this horrid grinding sound. So I packed the kids up and walked home.Joe called the dealership and then a tow truck. The Honda dealer now has my car and we won't know anything for sure until tomorrow.Joe and myself seems to think it's probably the transmission. This should hopefully be a warranty item.

So besides having a broken car I had a very upset little boy. Jacob was so sad that Mommy's car was broke and he was not getting to go to BK and play with his friends. He kept saying Daddy's car help us. It was so cute but also so sad at the same time. Then the whole walk home he said, bye bye mama's truck. My big boy is just too cute. That was our adventure for today. My car will probably be at the dealership for the next week. Hopefully we will get it back before we go to the beach next Monday Labor Day. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

In-N-Out Burger.....Yummy.....

Those of you who have not had the privilege to try the most incredible burger in the world I am so sorry. I LOVE LOVE In-N-Out burger. Of all the things that I miss the most in California besides my family and my friends I would have to say this is it. In-N-Out burger, oh their mouth watering cheeseburgers, french fries oh and I can't forget the ice cream shakes. They only have locations in California of course, parts of Arizona and parts of Nevada like the Vegas and Reno areas.

Why am I talking about these delectable burgers when they are oh so far away? It's because in about a month Joe has a business trip in Las Vegas, Nevada. The kids and I will be tagging along and we will spend a few days in Cali with my parents and then the rest of the time in Vegas. We will be there for about a week. Now normally when we go it's like a four day trip or so. In those four days I usually try and have In-N-Out at least two times. Now that we will be there for an entire week I will get to have it many more times. I've already checked and there are SEVEN locations in the Vegas area, yeah for me! I cannot wait to have one of those juicy cheeseburgers and those delicious hand cut french fries.

So those of you that are not from this area of the country and have not had the opportunity to eat at INO, if you're ever on the west coast please, oh please do not forget to have an In-N-Out burger. I hope I haven't made everyone to terribly hungry :)

Summer Fun and Frogs.....

Today was a lazy summer day the weather was great and we spent lots of time outside. Early this afternoon while Daddy was mowing the lawn he stumbled along some temporary residents of our backyard. Jacob was so excited about these new residents it was frogs. One of every boys favorite things those slippery, slimy little things.

After playing with the frogs we decided to try out the new slip n slide that Mommy found at Target for a really good deal. Jacob had such a blast on it. Daddy even slipped and slided on it a few times with Jacob and Jenna also did a little slidding of her own.

All in all we had a good day Jenna's already out for the night, she did not take a single nap today.And Jacob and Daddy are just lounging on the couch watching a movie. I am going to go join them now because before you know it, it will be time for me to go to bed as I have to go to work in the morning:(

And so it begins....

Several of my neighbors are doing this whole blogging thing and I must tell you I am pretty addicted to reading all of their blogs plus some of their favorites. But the idea of me starting my own is just a little scary. First of all those of you who know me very well know that I am not very good at writing especially when it comes to grammar, punctuation, etc. Those of you who didn't know this about me will soon see what I mean.

I absolutely love taking pictures of the kids. So hopefully I will do a good job of keeping everyone updated with pics and all the wonderful adventures that Jacob and Jenna take us through each and every day.

So here's the latest.....

Jenna is now completely walking and is on the verge of turning her walk into a run. Don't you dare tell her "No come back here, or you're going to get her" because if you do that she just giggles away and takes off on you. It really is the cutest thing, but it can also be frustrating when you are trying to be a serious Mommy or Daddy. She officially has two teeth both on bottom and it looks like we've got at least another two or three coming in very soon. She really keeps us very busy and always on our toes. We thought that Jacob was an active baby well she showing us what an active baby really is.

Now for Mr. Jacob he is getting to be such a big boy. Every day he's just a little more independent wanting his Mommy and Daddy to do less for him. His speech is really coming along and hopefully when we go back to school in less than a month his teacher will be as impressed as we are over his progress he's made this summer. He's telling us stories now about all the things that happen in his day whether he was with his Mommy, Daddy or his Nana. He just has to share everything with all of us and we just love it. He's also getting quite good talking to his Grandma and Grandpa on the phone he let's us know when he's done talking to Grandma and ready to talk to Grandpa.It's actually quite cute to hear him say Grandma and Grandpa. He has also had a couple of little growth spurts in the last six months or so. He is now a tall 39 inches.


I hope I've caught most of you up to now since I have been lacking in updating our other website.We've been very busy this summer and it has also been a very hot summer. Today we went to the Clarke County Fair that's the county next to ours. The kids had a blast and earlier in the day we had our bi-weekly play date with some of the neighbors.

Hope everyone enjoys this new blog thing. And please let me know what you think and hopefully with time I will get better at it. I promise I will try and update this more often. Hopefully I will have time to say at least a little something if not everyday every other day. Again wish me luck and please fell free to leave me comments.