Work

Work's been going really well.  Apparently I'm picking everything up really quickly and they're really impressed with me :)  I should hopefully be fully certified soon!  My manager also agrees that the hiring process at T is a mess.  No one ever told her when the new people were going to be coming in for training, we just kind of showed up.  And she told them they needed to hire people early to get them trained in time for black Friday, but they didn't (almost everyone in Starbucks worked over time that day).  She was supposed to be involved in the interview process for Starbucks team members, but they kept scheduling them on her days off.  But, I'm really glad that I get to work in a department when I can actually interact with and get to know my co-workers rather than just being a faceless employee at a giant store. 

Apparently at actual Starbucks the employees get free drinks, free bags of coffee, tips, etc. that we don't get since we're not a "real" Starbucks.  But, my manager is awesome and tries to reward us whenever she can.  Rather it be getting the store to comp us a drink, or yesterday's gift, a Lego Star Wars flashlight keychain:

Lego Stormtrooper keychain/flashlight

I also really like that since T has their own janitorial staff we don't have to do stuff like take out the trash or sweep and mop the floors.  I haven't had to wash dishes yet.  There are dishes, but I haven't had to do them yet.  And there aren't nearly as many as there were at Quiznos.

In other news, my roommate Mary gets to go to China for her job.  Her boss was going to do something with the production line and joked about her going with him. Well, she showed up to work Monday morning and he sent her home to get her passport to make sure it was still vaild and everything.  She leaves Thursday night!  So that was unexpected for her.  She doesn't really want to go, especially since it's with her boss, but at the same time everything's paid for (flight, hotel, meals, etc.) so she's excited to sort of have a paid vacation.

I also keep finding cool stuff in the city I live in that I never realized was there.  It'll be some place I've driven past a million times, but when walking by, or driving a bit further down the road, discover it.  Like along the main road there are a bunch of restaurants, stores, etc.  But every so often there are little inlets where there are more stores you can't see from the road.  There's also a fountain with giant frogs the spit water in one of them.  I drove past a park the other day with old men sitting at tables playing chess just like in the movies and on tv.  I knew places like that actually existed, but have never seen it in person.  There are a million other things I've discovered, but I can't think of them at the moment.

Also, the Americana (the outdoor mall where Corey works) is all decorated for Christmas, and every hour it "snows."  They have a bunch of foam float down from an upper level and it looks like it's snowing.  It was snowing when I walked home from work yesterday and it was super pretty.  I didn't have my camera with me, but hopefully it'll be snowing on my way home tonight so I can get a picture.  :)