Melantrys’ Page

I must have added up wrong last Saturday when getting the cash drawer all ready for Monday as my colleague K.’s count on Monday morning came up 1 Euro short.
In the afternoon Şişko was at the register; I was elsewhere in the store. I heard K. informing her of the missing Euro.

Şişko has this odd habit. Of course we don’t carry wallets when working at the till. But when buying something she always already rings it up, keeps the receipt and puts it in in the evening when she’s counting the money up at the office.

Now, I do know that she also occasionally puts money in when she didn’t shop and there’s money missing. Which is damn silly; we don’t have to. But not always anyway. Most of the times she just leaves the drawer like that, without even putting a note in, so that if you don’t count the money yourself in the morning you’ll think you lost the money yourself during the cause of that day… not that a note would really help in most cases because she frequently counts or adds up wrong.
And often when she has bought something and put the money in after the evening count, the drawer contains the standard amount of money in the morning. Which, sadly, is odd for her.

Well, on Monday evening she counted the money while I did the connected comp work. When she was done and had put in money from her wallet she announced that K. had been right indeed, and that the money came up 1 Euro short. I put the Euro in from the “petty money” in the safe.
So you can imagine my surprise this morning when I counted the money, and there was 1 Euro missing!
I only meant to find out where our counts of the different coins were off, and checked the paper she had done her adding up on yesterday. And guess what I found?
The total came up 1.32 short of what’s supposed to be in the drawer. Then she added what she had to pay for her shopping: 1.32 = standard cash drawer amount of money. Only…. she actually shopped for 1.35. I checked. Apparently she then remembered that there was supposed to be a Euro missing. So she crossed out the Euro on the paper and changed the total accordingly. And of course only put 0.32 Euros in.
Being the brilliant mathematician that she is she had also miscounted the 1 Euro coins by one. (That check I originally went up to the office to do showed that.) Had she not done that I’d never have wondered about the still missing Euro, but then of course she’d also have cheated the boss by “only” 3 Cents instead of 1.03 Euros…

I really don’t know what to do now.
The boss’s wife was shocked just last week upon finding out that Şişko had 8.03 Euros too much in the cash drawer without her noticing that in her evening count. Mrs G. kept brooding on that the whole day long and told her husband. Did anything happen? No.
Plus, Şişko is a world class liar. She already lied to my face about something that was concerning me, so she must have known I damn well knew that I was right.

Today a Turkish couple was shopping at the store.
Very, very regular customers.
Anyway, they wanted to buy four folding chairs, and I had a lot of fun already following their argument about whether to get blue or black ones.
While he was following A. into the direction of the cellar (and the chairs), she stood there, rolling her eyes, announcing to the world in general that blue chairs would not match anything in their kitchen at all.
Returning with the chairs he had to admit that his wife was right and that the black ones definitely had more style.

Then he asked me if he could leave the chairs at the register while they continued shopping instead of breaking his back with them. I told him that - quite on the contrary - he might even tone his muscles by carrying ‘em around for half an hour.
He said he’d rather pass, as he had seriously been having troubles with his back, and today was the first day that he felt able to attempt carrying anything again. “And already I have to carry these chairs; I think my wife is after my life insurance.”

When they were almost done, hubby stopped to look at a couple of watches. Like any undecided customer would do it. Handle this package, handle that one, approach me with a question about one watch (which I couldn’t answer the way I would have liked to, as the boss chose that moment to make an appearance; but the dude didn’t pick that watch then anyway, phew!), put that package back, stare thoughtfully at another one…..
… while all the while the boss was watching him very, very intently.

Yes, I know, even nice and funny people might attempt thefts. Even regular customers might attempt thefts. I just wish he’d stop watching every Turk, “Arab”, Russian, Sri Lankan or black person like a hawk…

A couple of months ago a former colleague was shopping at our place with her husband (both Russians), and he told me to follow them and make sure they didn’t steal. Hello?! All the time she worked there, there was never any reason to suspect her of anything. There just isn’t. She’s way too moral!

Bah, bah, bah…..

Still no sign of Orlando by the way; this is starting to worry me.

What else is “new”?

I still don’t know what “asshole” means in Arabic; shame on the Kid for suddenly having to log off. As my sister put it, one should never miss an opportunity to broaden one’s horizon.

The mutilated knuckle of my thumb is red and swollen and hurts; I think I really deserve some pity here… *pouts*

Oh, and I’m bored, so some more senseless picture posting:

Behold Birger, the Saxon…

… teaching me a bit of swordplay

Was too busy yesterday to post but this is just too funny. Well, at least to me it is.

At the end of each work day the Warengruppenbericht (containing, among other things, the day’s earnings) has to be faxed to Central.
The regular fax machine is broken, so until it is fixed (erm, ok, until the boss manages to re-install it…..) we are using his own private rather ancient fax machine.
It has been explained to Şişko, and she has used it in the past already.
The boss left early on Friday, it was my afternoon off, but still… no worries. All the difficult comp work for the day had been finished by the boss.
So.
On Saturday morning I checked the fax machine for the meter of requests from other branches and the spam we keep getting. And what else did I find? A copy of the Warengruppenbericht….
Now.
To fax, you insert the paper, printed side up. Then you pick up the connected phone and dial the number of the fax machine you want to send it to. When it starts beeping and screeching into your ear, you press the large “Start/Testkopie” button on the fax machine, then hang up the phone.
If you totally forget this rather extensive activity with the phone and just press the “Start/Testkopie” button the fax does what the button’s name suggests - make a rather ugly copy on fax paper.

*smirks*

The fax machine also prints a regular sending report (and luckily it had done so early yesterday morning) or I might have been moved to just destroy the copy (nice person that I am) and fax the Warengruppenbericht. But the lack of faxing activity shows up on the report of course, and the boss would wonder at that. And my love for that colleague really doesn’t run so deep that I’d destroy that report as well; the boss would miss it.
So I faxed the thing, made a note on the copy saying that I had, stapled it to the report and put it on the boss’s desk for his reading pleasure when he’ll be back on Wednesday…

Also - Şişko never tiring of telling the boss how lazy I am and the like (not true!) - I immediately informed A. and S. of what she had done.
That brightened up our day a treat.

Still no sign of Orlando….

I discovered something very disturbing yesterday and today.
We are selling a Schnappie game (you gotta catch Schnappies out of a pond with a sort of fishing rod) and a Schnappie figure; you know, the kind you put in the back of the car which nods its head.

*wails*

In other news: Dear sister of mine, the Christmas department has finally been opened. Come and take a look around.
Do come anyway. Maybe you need some cheap towels or sheets or stuff. For the first time ever we’re selling those with 30% off!!!!

Which is the reason why I bought myself a (dreadfully brown) fluffy blanket.

Oh, and still no sign of Orlando.

I know I promised you yesterday that I would post today, but I don’t really have any idea what to post about.

I could ramble a bit about my day, what do you say?

How about the boss quote of the day?
He discovered 3 rolls of plastic freezer bags that someone had pulled some bags out of. From the middle of the roll of course. So while he was unrolling and re-rolling them and muttering I said: “Well, now, Mr G., if the poor people didn’t know what a freezer bag looks like….” Mr G.: “True, they surely don’t know that in the Ukraine.”
No further comment.

Still no Orlando shopping at the store; he must really have read the blog….

Oh, and a colleague made me smile today. After having unpacked some Halloween decorations she was muttering about not liking Halloween at all and not giving the kids anything. Then she asked me when Halloween was anyway. Me: “October, 31st.” She: “It’s always pretty close to All Saints’ Day, isn’t it?” Me (mumbling): “Yes, that’s why it’s called Halloween.”
Ahhhh, I should be more generous towards people who don’t speak English. But regarding her age she must have had it at school….

Last, but not least, I can proudly announce the harvest of all of the ripe peppers, plus their cutting in half, scraping out the pips and freezing them.
Now all I gotta do is remember not to rub my eyes……..

Hey, wait a minute, this is a post!!!

Originally I wanted to write some more stuff on the elections today. But I’m so damn tired of that crap.
Suffice it to say, now that Dresden 1 has voted as well, the CDU gained one more seat in Parliament. Still Müntefering (SPD) claims that the SPD is the strongest faction. Are rumours that the SPD wants to deny the CDU/CSU the right to be counted as one true? Did Schröder only stand up to Bush on the Iraq issue to now become just like him and manipulate an election? Now that’s a scary thought.

And tomorrow I will have a day off, er, we will be celebrating the German reunion. If the weather is fine and I can kick my sis and bro-in-law into action I might go to that Tag der offenen Tür (literally: day of the open door, dunno the correct translation) at the mosque two villages away that a customer told me I should go to. Bazar, food stalls…… Yes, right, faithful friends. Yummy Turkish food and veganism does not compute. But sis and me can watch bro-in-law eat I suppose. Oh well, we’ll see what the day will bring.

Talking about that customer, lol, she was there to bring back a faulty watch, and told A. and me that she had bought that when the fat lady had been at the till, “I always forget her name.” Me: “Mrs J.” A.: “Or you could just say Şişko (see previous post for spelling and pronunciation).” She laughed even more when I mentioned that I was well aware of what that means….

Bluh (copyright by da Muffin Man). It is late, so good night everyone. Or welterusten, as teh Dutch faction would say.

Thankfully, not my boss or some of my colleagues.

I’m starting to fear Orlando must have stumbled onto it, and is now living in mortal fear of the cashier lady of doom. Haven’t seen him around since the day he wore that Slayer shirt.

The Muffin Man is addicted enough by now to leave comments pestering me to write on.

The Dutch faction…. hm, dunno, I’m not sure.

My sister is reading even my link list; and I think she might be willing to talk to me again come Christmas.

And this weird Australian dude still has not left a comment. Tch.
If he did I might link to his page, but then again, that hasn’t been updated ever since it was created I think…

I was having a hectic week, and don’t really know what to write about, but the Muffin Man’s will is my command (at least in a very few very minor matters).

Today I learned something about my colleague, Ç, which I had not known before. I did know that her eldest daughter had to be treated for cancer a few years back.
Today we somehow got into talking about that, and she told me that the girl had had a brain tumor and had needed an operation, followed by radiation and chemo therapy. A very frightening thing to go through for any parents I’d say.
The girl is normal, pretty and healthy these days, but I’ll never forget the small pale thing, bald head wrapped up in a colourful scarf, tiredly looking at people out of dark-rimmed eyes.
Every couple of months the doctor who treated her phones them up and arranges for them to talk to other families who are facing the same frightening experience. And Ç says she gladly talks to these people, giving them the hope that everything will work out for the best, as it did for them; that things are not as frightening as they appear to be.
I think that is a very nice and brave thing to do; it can’t be easy having talks like that on a regular basis.
*hands out medal to Ç*

What else is new?

Şişko (please pronounce as Shishko; thank you) is a very…. unique… person.
Almost 3 years of our new currency, and she still accepts dud coins, like 1 or 2 Pfennig pieces. The worse thing is, if she notices (with a strong emphasis on the “if”), she tries to pass ‘em on to customers.
On Monday she accepted a 25 Øre piece as a 2 cent piece. I suppose I’ll never know if she finally realized while counting the day’s earnings, or if she accidentally chose that one to go into the deposit box. Fact is, it was lying on the table, and I immediately saw that there was something very odd about those 2 cents. When I told her what it was she told me to put it into the deposit box anyway. Yes, I am sure our boss would have appreciated getting a call from the bank, telling him to drop by and bring them 2 real cents please, thank you. I almost asked her if she thought that the people at the bank were imbeciles who wouldn’t notice, but checked myself barely in time. After all that would have implied that she is one as well. I did bring the point of thorough checks across though. So she decided to put it back to the change money and hand it out to a customer.
Me: G, (I’d never dream of calling her Şişko to her face; she might ask what it means…) are you aware that the moment you realize that it’s no valid Euro currency you are committing fraud by passing it on?
Şişko (*smiling cunningly*): Yes.

No worries, faithful readers; the coin is enjoying a happy retirement on my desk now.

Talking about funny money…. Today I fingered a 1 Reichsmark note from 1904 and a 100 Reichsmark note from 1908. A colleague got them from a relative and intends to sell them at one of those antiques and second-hand fairs. *drools* She has no idea what they are worth yet, but when she finds out I suppose we’ll both know they’re worth too much for me to want to buy them.

So we had elections two days ago.

What a waste.

For those who don’t know much about German politics: The next elections were only due next year, not now. But our red-green government coalition (SPD & Die Grünen) was having some serious trouble lately passing their reforms because their opposition was very big.
Furthermore in most of the last regional elections the CDU (Christian middle right wing party) had won.
And last but not least, a new left-wing party was forming by merging the PDS (remnant of the East German SED) with a brand new left party (WASG) under Oscar Lafontaine (ex-SPD member).

Fearing a strong enemy in the new left-wing party (Die Linke) in next year’s elections, especially since the SPD had ceased being “the working man’s party” and turned into a slightely more moderate CDU during their almost two terms, the SPD - or rather the chancellor (Gerhard Schröder) - disbanded the parliament and used the first two of the above points as reasons for early elections.
Schröder’s hope possibly was that this way the new left party would not have enough time to really form (picking name, compromising on agenda, etc, etc, etc) and campaign before elections. Another year might have established them as a serious competitor for the left votes.

The public was none too happy with the SPD’s reforms, which hurt the lower income classes. That is something that is historically incompatible with the SPD….
Being re-elected again was far from being a certainty. With a not-yet fully formed new left party the SPD’s chances would be slightly better - or so they thought.

Polls showed they were dead wrong though. Most people thought of voting for the CDU.
Thankfully Stoiber (CSU, Bavarian branch of/coalition with CDU) provided the public with some interesting comments - like his dissing of the East German counties - and Merkel (CDU) was - although being better than expected - the absolute loser of the tv duel between her and Schröder, which shifted the public opinion yet again.

I say thankfully because, even though the SPD is a cheap copy of the CDU these days, the CDU is still worse. If they can rule as they please, people will not be better off, oh no.

So Sunday’s election leaves us with….. nothing, really.

35,2% voted CDU (black)
34,3% voted SPD (red)
9,8% voted FDP (yellow)
8,1% voted Die Grünen (green)
8,7% voted Die Linke (deeper red?)
——————————
45,0% black-yellow
42,4% red-green

Both coalition factions are dead against working with the new left party. Both CDU and SPD claim the right, nay, the comission, to have talks with other parties and provide the chancellor.
The way they’re talking now no real majority can form either way.
Furthermore one division has not voted yet for some reason that doesn’t quite make sense to me. So maybe things will change yet again and give the SPD a slight majority after those last people will have cast their vote as well.
Not that this would really change the whole no-win situation.

What will they do now? Disband the parliament yet again and hold new elections???????

And on a lighter political note, Alba, die Wurst, will be slapped around with a large trout for daring to ask if I voted FDP.

Practical poll:

You work at a shop with a flagstone floor. A small puddle of rainwater has formed overnight. What do you do?

a) Leave it. It will dry up eventually.

b) Get a clean floor-cloth and mop it up.

c) Disappear for some mysterious 7 minutes to fetch a bucket of water, a scrubber and a floor-cloth.

I told Mr G. today that the people at central must have gotten it wrong about us having to count the bottles with expiry dates after the 15th of this month and putting them back on the shelves instead of giving ‘em away, as it said 16th on most of ‘em, and it wouldn’t make much sense to put off goods back on the shelves and raise the price. Well, our talk about this was a tad longer, because it went back and forth a little. He was pretty sure we had to count all the off bottles and sell ‘em. While I was voicing my “doesn’t make much sense” opinion he loudly snapped at me to “get this into my head”, only the expression he used was more unfriendly than that…
Still, he decided to give central a call.

Hours later he informed me that the lady there hadn’t been aware of there being bottles with a slightly different expiry date, and that we had to give all of them away. Which surprised me a little, because he of course did not apologize, but actually telling me to give ‘em away sort of meant admitting the fault.

Oh, for those of you who care, I resigned my post as mod on that anime forum. I did not really feel welcome there, and…. well…. it’s not as if I ever gave a rat’s ass about anime anyway. It’s just sad cos in the beginning it was more fun and I felt as a part of things. Oh well, the merging of several forums brought a whole new group of mods and even admins along, who knew all and sundry, except for me, that strange woman Nana seemed to like to have as mod.
And then things changed. If the “rulers” of a board always act like they are so old and wise while many users are childish, they should maybe refrain from hoisting a weird macho up into their midst and publicly insulting a 9-year-old kid, who surely spammed and wrote crap, but there’s just ways and ways of treating children…

Wow, it’s late; I’m off to bed.

Oh, and Drew: If this keeps you up to date concerning Melantrys-related topics, how about keeping me up to date on Drew-related topics with some comments?

Some things just make you feel old.
Like, when a woman not much older than yourself gives your t-shirt a thoughtful look and then says: “Korn… Our Florian has just started listening to Korn.” And somehow you get this feeling that “our Florian” is around 14 years old.

Or of course, when you’re crawling around in the garden, pulling weeds, and your back and knees are hurting like the blazes.

Or when you almost knock out your front teeth with your bottle of beer/orange mix cos your aim was off. Must be old age setting in.

*feels teeth with tongue*

I feel there was a lot more I wanted to post before the drizzle outside washed my brain out of my ears this afternoon.
Yeah, it drizzled all the time I was slaving in the garden. And it was coldish. Looks like the Indian Summer is over.

This beer is…. odd. Coke-beers by almost all brands are fine, but this orange-beer by Warsteiner….. dunno, dunno, dunno. *takes another sip* Bluh. Huh. Half-way through the first bottle I thought it wasn’t that bad after all. But half-way through the second now…. nah. Not so yummy.

On a concluding boring work note - I am almost done with “my” department (yeah, besides doing the till I’m also responsible for foods reaching their sell-by date, ordering cosmetics and cleansing agents and keeping the shelves of the latter two in order, which isn’t exactly easy when you are shackled to the till 4 days out of 4.5 days per week plus having to catch up on the holiday during which colleagues put it all in the wrong places. But I’m almost done with restoring order, yup. Hooray. All hail me.

And now I’ll end this post, before I start telling you about what I had for dinner.

Sometimes I feel like I’m the only sane person alive. Let’s skip my being annoyed at my colleagues’ incapability of differentiating between shower gel, shampoo and body lotion (each has its fixed place on the shelves, and they always mix ‘em up…) and go straight to the lady who right after paying peeled off the price tags, rolled ‘em up and dropped ‘em onto the floor and unpacked something she had bought, liberally throwing styrofoam around, that - from the look of the floor behind the till - she must have actively been crumbling to pieces while unpacking. When the boss kindly suggsted she use the bin at our door, she practically exploded. Ohhhhhkay….

Yeah, right, the boss is back. But he seems to be happy with the job we did of getting along without him, so maybe he’ll go on holiday again soon.

Right, enough boring shop talk.

I think the Muffin Man left a few weird comments that I’d like to understand better or answer with an annoyed “What do I need wallpaper for? These colours are my doing, you Canuck!!!” Or were you talking about my renovation?
So what do you not understand about the super-sexy Turkish lady in Amsterdam? Or was it the Enschede that confused you? Frenziebot resides in Enschede.
Last but not least I’m wondering who the hot mamma is this time. Still me or my sis for killing Sims like that…?