Jennie
This morning was such a mad rush as I needed to get Ella ready as well as take a shower. Then my uniform wasn't even dry, I'd forgotten to make myself lunch last night and I woke up later than normal. I felt frazzled from the moment that I woke up.
Then added to that, Lisa was watching Ella for me today.
I don't know why I felt more nervous at the thought of leaving Ella today than when I leave her with Jisoo. It's not like Lisa is irresponsible. She may be a bit playful but she can have her serious moments.
When I came downstairs and Lisa took charge, making sure that we were all ready to leave with plenty of time to spare, I was able to relax slightly. The way she made sure that I ate and packed me a lunch was really sweet. It felt nice to have someone care about me. Jisoo would help when we stayed there but she was family, Lisa was just a friend. Wasn't she? The way she took care of us this morning felt like more. I had to catch myself from kissing her on the cheek when she made me toast.
Why was that my first reaction to her kindness?
As it came time to leave, my stomach was in knots worrying. Will Ella behave? Does Lisa know how to handle a two-year-old?
Part of me knows that my worrying is stupid. I know Lisa has looked after her nephews and niece, she used to babysit when we were teenagers. She is great with kids; they seem drawn to her. But this is my baby being put into her care. It feels weird leaving Ella.
I was a little distracted heading into work, wondering if I was going to get a phone call from Lisa.
Work was its usual fun self. In other words, a total nightmare. At least this helps to distract me from worrying about Ella and Lisa.
I've been asked to put stock out. So, after grabbing the boxes of new stock, I head to the aisle. The first thing I do is check the dates and that is when the fun starts. Has anyone rotated dates? Some of them are out-of-date and others are not far off. I take a deep breath and clench and unclench my fists. Do not kill co-workers. After taking one more deep breath, I get started clearing away the out-of-date stock, before moving the rest of the stock into order. Once I get started, I get into a rhythm but still end up taking an hour on this one section. The amount of stock I need to throw away is ridiculous.
Before chucking it all in the bin, I show my manager who is thankfully one who aims to improve the store. He's young but came from another store like me and knows how different the store can be.
His reaction was like mine and he promises to have a word with the staff but we both know most of them won't change. Even when I was busy sorting it all out, one of my co-workers walked past asking why I was going through so much effort. They're of the mind-set that this is a shitty starter job, so why bother when they don't want to even stay.
It may not be the most glamorous of jobs but it's still decent work. The pay is good as well, with progression benefits. If I'm going to do a job, I want to be proud of the work that I'm doing and know that the customers are being taken care of.
After all, if the store gets a bad review, that is turned back onto my work ethics. It's not wrong to have pride in what you do and considering that work helps keep my child fed and clothed, I consider it a job worth doing.
