I woke up hoarse this mor... afternoon. Yeah. Not because I am sick, no. But because I've been singing too much. That's right, I said singing. And as any real singer will tell you, that is not supposed to happen. If you sing from your diaphragm, your throat does not become irritated. Too bad I am not a real singer! What's with all the singing then? Well! Last night, when I got home from work, I saw something Joe had brought home lying innocently on the coffee table... KARAOKE REVOLUTION!!! It's a game made by the same folks who made Dance, Dance Revolution. Holy crap, it is the coolest game EVER! I had no idea it would hijack my whole night plus several hours this morning!

Here's how it works: You sing into the microphone and you can adjust the volume of the lead vocals (so you can sing along or sing alone), or adjust the volume of the music itself, etc, etc. You get points when you sing, and if you get a certain number of points, you win either a gold or platinum album. I cannot stand how fun this game is, y'all. This morning, at like, 7:00am, I got a platinum album for my rendition of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. I am so proud! And such a total geek! I don't care, though, it's awesome.

I HAVE to have a karaoke party, now! That's all there is to it.

As I said, last night I got home from work. Work! I am working now!! My first day (night?) went pretty well! I wore make-up and tried very hard to be outgoing, though I was a little freaked out at first. Then I remembered how comfortable I was with customers when I worked at the animal shelter, so I just decided to tap into that. Instead of, "Hi, are you looking to adopt an animal today, or are you just here to visit?", I'd say, "Hi! Welcome to [the store]! Is there anything I can help you find?" And then I might remember to tell them about the sale. Or not. I'm new, remember? Cut me some slack, dude.

Anyway, I found the work generally very easy. And I'm thankful that's how my first day went. Difficult first days are no fun at all. The girls I work with seem really nice, too. One even likes logic puzzles and does them for fun, just like me! I have a magazine of logic puzzles sitting on my coffee table right now (I have to clear off that table soon!)!

Another girl (I'll come up with pseudonyms eventually, don't worry) made me crazy because she told me to go ahead and use the long pole thingy to get a shirt down off a high rack. So I was working on it (this is a totally new skill for me!), and co-worker girl said, "No, go on the other side."

"What other side?"

"The other side!"

"What?"

"Hold on. I'll do it. You haven't worked retail before, I can tell."

in my head: Fine, beeyotch. Jesus.
out of my mouth, a little defensively: "I've worked in a pet store. And an animal shelter. And I teach kids. But no, I haven't worked in a clothes store before."

So she took the pole from me and did exactly what I was attempting to do, only faster. "See, if you do it on this side," she said, still being vague as hell, "It works better."

I wanted to shake her and scream, "Just say RIGHT or LEFT!"

I didn't, though. Yay, I'm still employed!

Other than that, the whole evening rocked. I helped customers, I opened fitting rooms when people needed them, and encouraged sales of clothes when the folks trying them on looked super snazzy! Everything went really well the whole evening through! I learned a little about store policy, about how to help customers, and that fifteen minutes is less time than I think it is! So much for relaxing breaks!

When it was time to close, and we had to clean up the store, the girls said with much sarcasm, "Oh, now for the 'fun' part of the evening..." I immediately imagined myself on hands and knees scrubbing the rubber runners where the walls meet the floor (something I actually had to do while working in the pet store years ago), and I cringed. But all we had to do was straighten up the merchandise and then swiffer the floors. I was so relieved! I couldn't believe those girls made it sound so awful. When we took out the trash, they seemed super grossed out by the smell of the trash room. But my last few jobs have involved me being in close proximity to puppy, dog, and even baby poo, so a little trash in a trash room is just not anything to complain about, really.

That's the weird thing about this job, I think. It's that on the one hand, I am so excited to be dealing with something so simple -- clothes. No life or death crises to handle, no crying over being separated from dogs I love, no dealing with temper tantrums that make me want to rip out my own teeth or send me into anxiety attacks...

On the other hand, the fact that I have dealt with all those things in the past makes it really hard for me to take people seriously when they're all "It's super important that such-and-such goal is met." I'm like, who cares? It's just... clothes.

But I guess I understand. I mean, any business is important, and I do want the store to do well, so I plan on working hard towards whatever goals we need to meet, etc. I'm just not going to treat anything as a life or death situation, when it's not.

Anyway! After all was said and done and we were leaving for the night, the girls both said what a great job I did, and that they appreciated me just jumping right in and doing what needed to be done. That made me feel pretty cool. I'm glad they seem to like having me aboard. I like being there, too. This could turn out to be a really fun job!