Interactions

Did some groceries today at Woolworths. At the cash register there was a prominent sign reading, "Leave heavy items in your trolley. We can scan them". So I left the giant tin of olive oil, bulk laundry detergent and two things of cat litter in the trolley, because they are big and heavy. 

The checkout lady gave me a withering stare and said, "I'm going to have to scan them." So I said, "Okay" thinking that she would do whatever the sign had promised. But she just kept staring at me. 

"Do you want me to put them on the conveyor belt?" I asked. 

"Yes," she replied, as if to an idiot. 

"I was just doing what the sign told me. The sign says to leave heavy things in the trolley," I said as I put the things on the conveyor belt. But she had shut down and did not interact with me again, save to take my card and give me a receipt and wish me a good day. She animatedly chatted with the woman behind me though. I hate that.

The rudeness of the checkout chick was akin to the rudeness of the woman at St George yesterday when I rang up to find out why they were still holding on to money from staying at a hotel for work last week - it was a bond for the room, but I would have thought the charge would be released once I had checked out and everything had been paid for. But it took a whole week for the charge to come off. Anyway, the conversation went like this:

me: "I called the hotel on Sunday and they told me they would fax the bank and ask them to release the funds."

woman: "Where did they get the paperwork from?"

me: "What paperwork?"

woman: "Well what were they faxing?"

me: "They just said they would fax St George and ask them to release the funds."

woman: "Well what fax number did they use?"

me: "I don't know!"

woman: "You do understand that we are a national business and there are hundreds of fax numbers?"

NO YOU PATRONISING COW, I THOUGHT YOU WERE A ONE-WOMAN OPERATION AND YOU WERE KEEPING MY MONEY UNDER YOUR MATTRESS IN A TIN.

Ahem.

Then she left me on hold for about five minutes (I was on my mobile) and by the time she came back she was a bit more polite. After my issue had been more or less resolved she said, "Oh I have one other thing to ask you - would you like us to increase your credit limit to $10,000?" I declined.

I passive aggressed about it on twitter and their rep said sorry to hear it and to let her know if she could help, but what could she do? Honestly. People are just generally rude. I try to make an effort to speak politely and make eye contact and smile, even if I don't feel like it, because I know what it's like to be serving and having customers take their horrible day out on you. It makes it seem worse somehow when the other person doesn't reciprocate.

Though that's something I noticed at Supanova. I would get a little frustrated by the people who, when I smiled and asked, "Would you like a postcard?" didn't even bother to say "no thank you", but just ignored me entirely. But then there were the times when I would often offer a postcard to a passer by who looked blank and unengaged, and I would try to make eye contact and smile as I did it, and more often than not they would snap out of their blankness, smile back at me and take the card.

They were the briefest of moments, but they were good. Positive human to human contact. It makes things feel less bleak. It makes you feel like you are valid, you exist, you have been acknowledged.

WYD rant

I just have one question. How much money did the Catholic Church give to the NSW Government and the City of Sydney to get permission to take over Sydney?

There are many things that bother me about World Youth Day ('day'? Ha!), including:

• There are around 300 road closures at various times over the six days, including chunks of George Street in the city and Anzac Parade in the Eastern Suburbs (which are two major public transport routes). The events and road closures are also blocking access to two major Sydney hospitals (Sydney Hospital and Prince of Wales);
  
  
• The CBD and Darling Harbour are majorly disrupted for the pre-WYD events, with the procession of the cross and icon from the Harbour to Central today, and a mass for 150,000 at Darling Harbour tomorrow night (this, of course, happens to be when I'll be in the city for a concert at the City Recital Hall, and researching how I am going to get home is what started this rant off in the first place);
  
  
• Randwick Racecourse and the area within a 2km radius are almost a complete no-go area for the whole of this weekend (my mother's church in Kensington (just near the racecourse) isn't able to have a service in their church this Sunday because the parishioners won't be able to park anywhere near the church);
  
  
• The whole Pope-worship thing really bothers me ("'...He's like Jesus Christ on Earth,' said Liba Vazquez, 17. It was worth waiting two hours in the cold for a glimpse of the Pope, she said." (SMH) No. He is not like Jesus Christ.). And they're projecting images of Benedict on the Harbour Bridge, which is just creepy all round;
  
  
• And the thing that bugs me most? That people think that this has anything to do with Christianity. Trust me, it doesn't (I've been told by a reliable source that I'm starting to sound like a Reformer - it's like history come to life in a really annoying way!).

I might actually say something helpful in the next few days about all this, but don't hold your breath.

work rant (but first, a cat)

You might want to skip this post; it's extremely whingey. But first, a randomism.

This is a cat called Tequila that I found on the Cat Protection Society website. I am officially in love with her, but I am not allowed to have pets in the flat, I'm allergic to cat hair, and I probably couldn't afford to look after her properly anyway. Also I was watching RSPCA Animal Rescue tonight, which is odd because I hate shows like that, and I found myself miserably wishing I could have a pet. I really, really want a cat.

Anyway, that's enough of that.

I've arranged with my boss to meet up on Friday morning for a chat about my future at AFES. Not that I want to leave, but I just want to see what he thinks I should be doing and to compare that with what I think I should be doing, and maybe just air a few grievances I have. There are things I really love about my job, such as the fair amount of freedom I have to design, write and edit. But there are other things that make it really difficult, and I am sick of feeling overwhelmed, panicky and kind of depressed about the whole thing.

That doesn't sound like the ideal job, now, does it?

I love being busy. I love having lots to do and the sense of achievement I get when I finish a project - for example, Salt magazine. But, and I guess this is the case in any office-type job, I just get worn down by the relentlessness of it. There don't seem to be seasons or ebbs and flows, it's just one ongoing slog that doesn't ever seem to stop.

Working for a Christian organisation has its own unique issues too - it's fantastic to be working for the gospel, to be working for something I believe in passionately and to be part of this amazing movement. But, as with any Christian organisation, funds are limited which means you're never going to be paid well, and you are tacitly expected to give a lot more of yourself than you might in a secular organisation for no reward or recognition other than being told "good job" every now and again.

I know money isn't the most important thing, and I would much rather be working at a place where I felt there was some meaning to what I was doing. But when I never seem to have money once I've paid the rent and the bills, it can get a little wearing. I think about my skill set and what I bring to the job, and consider what level I could be working at in the secular world and I get a bit irritated. I don't want a six figure salary by any means. In fact, I'm not even really after a pay rise at all. But there is a certain meanness about money because we're always trying to be faithful to our supporters that I find really annoying. I am all for financial accountability, but sometimes it can be a little Pharisaical to my way of thinking.

The other thing is the issue about my holidays, or lack thereof...I didn't realise how depressing that would be (for those who weren't reading this blog at the time, I was sick for weeks and in hospital for a while, so used up all my holidays and sick pay, and kept getting paid. I am now really far behind in hours and am having to work extra to make up the time I owe). I thought I'd just put my head down, work the hours off, and it wouldn't be an issue. Now that everyone else in the office is planning to take one or two weeks off over the next couple of months, it's starting to get to me. Not only do I not have any holidays, but once I've worked off my hours I'm going to have to keep working extra to accrue any holidays for the end of the year!

I think what really grates is that it isn't as though I frivolously frittered away those holidays; I was really sick. I couldn't help it! Prince of Wales Hospital is not the ideal holiday destination as far as I'm concerned. Even though I know it's above board and only to be expected that AFES would want me to work what I'd been paid for, part of me wishes there was such a thing as jubilee* in this situation.

It's all a bit poor me, isn't it? I went for a walk at lunchtime today and marvelled at the wonderful weather and thought how blessed I was to be reasonably healthy, with a job and a home, with gifts and the ability to serve. I haven't really got it hard at all. But that doesn't mean I have to feel exhausted and sad whenever I'm at work. There's lots of good work to be done, and I want to be able to do it.

* Jubilee
a joyful shout or clangour of trumpets, the name of the great semi-centennial festival of the Hebrews. It lasted for a year. During this year the land was to be fallow, and the Israelites were only permitted to gather the spontaneous produce of the fields (Lev. 25:11, 12). All landed property during that year reverted to its original owner (13-34; 27:16-24), and all who were slaves were set free (25:39-54), and all debts were remitted. The return of the jubilee year was proclaimed by a blast of trumpets which sounded throughout the land. There is no record in Scripture of the actual observance of this festival, but there are numerous allusions (Isa. 5:7, 8, 9, 10; 61:1, 2; Ezek. 7:12, 13; Neh. 5:1-19; 2 Chr. 36:21) which place it beyond a doubt that it was observed. The advantages of this institution were manifold. "1. It would prevent the accumulation of land on the part of a few to the detriment of the community at large. 2. It would render it impossible for any one to be born to absolute poverty, since every one had his hereditary land. 3. It would preclude those inequalities which are produced by extremes of riches and poverty, and which make one man domineer over another. 4. It would utterly do away with slavery. 5. It would afford a fresh opportunity to those who were reduced by adverse circumstances to begin again their career of industry in the patrimony which they had temporarily forfeited. 6. It would periodically rectify the disorders which crept into the state in the course of time, preclude the division of the people into nobles and plebeians, and preserve the theocracy inviolate."
from Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary

two morning mini-rants

Neither of these things are new observations, but I feel inclined to rant on them anyway. I went to the Prince of Wales Hospital this morning to submit my paperwork for the operation. Two things really ticked me off:

1. Parking - they charge you $2.70 per half hour at the hospital, which is almost as bad as the airport (well not quite - the international airport is a whopping $7.00 per half hour). I hate car park operators who blatantly make a fortune at the expense of a captive audience - there is really nowhere else to park near either the hospital or the airport. So taking advantage of sick people and travellers. Bastards!
   
2. As I was driving back to work down Barker St, the person in front of me was unwrapping something and throwing each bit of packaging out their window to stream behind them down the street. Why would anyone do this? Do people really have such little regard for the world around them? Bastards!

That's enough about the bastardry of the world for the moment. I think I'm just cranky because I'm still thinking about the food I'm not allowed to eat.