Trick or Treat!

Do you remember your favorite Halloween costume growing up? My mom had a sewing machine when I was younger, and whipped me up some pretty neat costumes. The outfits that I remember most are; white bunny rabbit, Pocahontas, clown, and genie. The tricky part came on the day of Halloween. Depending on the ever changing Washington weather, each costume had to have a layering system that didn't take away from the coolness of the outfit, but allowed for a comfortable warmness. When you're in California, all those rules fly right out the window with the warm California breeze.

Aaron isn't a big fan of Halloween as it is. If we dress up, I always have to think of the idea and bring it to life with little or no help. This year, my cousin invited us over to her house, to enjoy trick or treat night. No adults costumed, just a glass of wine, a big batch of homemade chili, and some great company. Her little guys are the cutest, and were such a joy to be around for the evening. Her eldest was dressed as a cowboy, and her youngest was dressed as a cow. You didn't have to look around all the layers to figure out what they were. It was apparent. They were joyful, loved little boys in costume, that didn't care as much about the candy as they did a good story.

Aside from the good food, great company, and adorable little boys, I'm sure the best part of Halloween for Aaron, was that he didn't have to dress up. But for me, the best part was that I didn't have to wear any sort of jacket!

Learning Curve

Growing up, I was a straight A student kind of girl. My parents held me to a certain standard, and I have never outgrown my need for perfectionism. I am a quick learner, I enjoy growing relationships, and most people that I have worked for when asked the question, "Would you hire her again?" Without pause would say, "Yes."

Working in California, was such a huge learning experience for me. The job I did was both physically and mentally challenging. Not mentally challenging in the intellectual kind of way, but in the; this is a whole new crowd I have to learn and adapt to kind of way.

The crowd of people I am specifically talking about is 'Inventory Control Clerks.' There are a handful of nice ones, that are patient to a new deliverer's learning curve, but the majorities are ladies and gents that have no relational skills whatsoever, and have therefore been moved to the backroom. This is where they will not be scaring customers away, and causing the rest of the staff to receive a bad secret shop score.

ICCs usually open their doors around 5:00am, but aren't morning people. Although there are set guidelines of how to receive deliveries sent out by the corporate office, each ICC has their own personal set of rules. If you don't remember the particular set of rules that the store you are delivering to has, you are shunned. My personal learning curve was not helped by the fact that our company was new in the NorCal area to direct delivery. And, although our product had been in their stores for 20+ years, some of them didn't recognize it, and were skeptical that I should be bringing it in. Maybe the Budget truck I had to drive for 2 months had something to do with it.

This is what I wanted to scream at the skeptics every time I came across one, "Seriously! How many people try to sneak product INTO Safeway!?! It would be pointless! If the product wasn't in your computer, customers couldn't purchase it anyways, and our company would never get paid!" I never actually said this out loud to them of course. Instead, I answered their questions with a smile, and told them to have a great day when I left. It was only in the confines of my truck cab that I would scream in frustration, and on some days, be in tears from their lack of kindness.

California ICCs, you taught me so much about my character, and how important it is to shrug off negative nellies. You taught me that even though you were nasty to me, I could not dwell on it for the rest of the day. Because in the end, it's not your poor attitude that makes or breaks my character, it's my own. I thank you all for that.

The Joys of Public Housing...

I have been a very blessed girl. All through out my life, I have lived in a private residence, minus a couple years that my mom and I lived in a duplex. The amenities of living in a house include; privacy, no noise from neighbors that are 'attached' to you, control of utilities, and in our case, more space. With that being said, neither Aaron nor myself had experienced apartment style living, let alone hotel living.

After fulfilling our month long contract in the Extended Stay located in Dublin, Aaron and I moved to an Extended Stay Deluxe in Pleasanton. The hotel assistant manager was very cool, and he tried to place us in a location where we would be least bothered by other noisy guests. We very much appreciated his hospitality. The one thing we forgot to take into consideration when we moved into our new room was the phone.

Aaron had unplugged one of the phones just in case, but didn't realize that there were two phones in our room. The very first night we were staying in our new room, the phone rang around midnight. Mind you, we had already been sleeping for a few hours, because we got up to go to work around 3:00am. Needless to say, I answered the phone, and this is how the conversation went...

Me: "Hello?" (Groggy Tara voice :))
Girl: "Is this room 107?" (Non-groggy)
Me: "Yes."
Girl: "This is supposed to be my boyfriend's room." (Sounding a little worried)
Me: "Maybe he switched rooms?" (Trying to be helpful)
Girl: Silence, but not getting off the phone.
Me: "Unless your boyfriend is my husband, this is the wrong room."
Girl: Silence.
Me: "Sorry I can't help you. Goodbye." Click "Um... Aaron?"

Although I was not super happy about my sleep being interrupted, this is still something Aaron and I joke about. I'm just hoping that the poor girl figured out what room her boyfriend was in and that he didn't get dumped over it.