A Bit Of This, A Bit Of That....

I finally finished altering that wedding dress I mentioned before, but not before I removed the last row of lace and found, as every single bead, sequin, and pearl hit my kitchen floor, that the lace was beaded after it was sewn on.  Five hours later, I replaced them all, and it fit like a glove.  And of course, the bridesmaid dresses came in earlier than expected so I ended up altering three of the five as well.  And, while it did all work out in the end, for all you non-sewers out there, trust me when I tell you, it's never "just a hem".  Now if only I could get paid....

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I have recently discovered Pillsbury now makes a gluten free pie crust, cookie dough, and pizza dough.  Why is this exciting?  Because it's not a mix.  It's a refrigerated dough that I can just pull out and use when I feel like it.  No mess, no fuss.  The cookie dough is fantastic, just scoop and bake.  And while we are not big fans of the pizza dough, the pie crust is REALLY good.  I made chicken pot pie with it, and well, the kids had to eat cereal for dinner because there was none left for them. Yup... another A+ parenting moment there...

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Tony got on a roll this weekend and started replacing all of the trim and rake boards on one side of the house with the plastic "wood" trim.  Never needs to be painted, and it will never rot, although it's pricey, it's totally worth it to know we don't have to do anything to it for the rest of the time we live here.  It's also nice to know there will be no furry woodland creatures settling in for the winter in the soffit that was exposed from the rotted wood, and that we didn't accidentally trap one in the attic while we fixed it....

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My pay cut became effective this week, and while it will likely take me a year or so to earn back the time/money I lost, I have to admit the extra free time is nice.  Losing a hundred or so customers allows me to focus on the 680 or so I still do have and gives me a bit more time for customer service.  The office is still a giant circus, and while I still do still make calls to the union for some of the staff, simply because I have a good relationship with the state union rep. and it's easier for me to address everyone at once, I no longer get involved with the 3 ring that ensues afterwards. The hard part is, Tony hates unions and hates my involvement at all, even when it's for myself.  Which starts a stupid fight, which inevitably ends with walking away, because it's pointless to fight about it.  It's funny though, because while he's yelling that I'm not listening to him, he's not understanding that taking care of things is what I do.  Two years ago, I would have taken the whole scenario, made it my own and been engulfed in the crazy 100%.  But because I have listened to him, I now just get the info and pass it along.  It's the way I stay true to who I am, (nice, a team player, generally easy to work with) without  getting screwed over by management.  Because at the end of day, it's not my circus, not my monkeys folks....

And while we're on the subject of work, I had an interesting customer day today.  In this particular complex there are several people on disability for various reasons. It's also low income, so there are many single mothers, starting out couples, etc.  I enjoy most of the customers there.  They look out for each other and are very friendly.  There are a few however that completely justify why we don't randomly go to the doors with certified mailings.

So today I'm standing by the boxes delivering as normal and a man with no respect for the personal space bubble,  got right in my face, and asks how his ex girlfriend got her mail if he had all the keys and didn't live there anymore.  I explained that she had met me there yesterday and I gave her her mail only, and that his mail was in the box.  He said he had no mail in the box, but hadn't been down to the boxes in 3 days. I told him to check his box, because there was mail in it yesterday.  He proceeded to tell me that he thought she had stolen it out of the boxes when I wasn't looking.  Um, no.... she asked me for her mail and I gave it to her.  Again, he insists he has no mail.  So I lock the section I am in and move on to his section, where he does in fact have mail in his box.  He then proceeds to tell me that she called him to tell him that she got her mail, and I suggested that the next time he talks to her he should tell her to put in a forward.  He then tells me he has no way to contact her and asks if I think he should send up a smoke signal or something.  I suggested that he talk to the friend she's living with (in the building 50 feet away) and have her give her the message.  After I lock up the boxes he then asks if he can get his mail.  I tell him yes, he opens his box, pulls out the mail, looks in his now empty box, turns to me and says....

"Why don't I have any mail?"

*sigh*

You can't make this stuff up folks...

I closed his box, gave him his key, and told him to go home and have a good day.

Maybe this "having more time for customer service" isn't such a good thing after all.