tinhuviel | Entries tagged with bakery

There's a reason why the movie W. is being released so close to Hallowe'en: it's a freakin' horror movie. And what makes it even scarier is that it's based on a true story. Dubya will end up in the ranks of horror movie monsters like Freddy Kreuger, Jason Vorhees, and Pinhead. I can see it happening. He's been scaring the hell out of me for the past eight years.

Attention all you crazy Russian serial frienders: I don't mind you're friending me. Hell, I'd friend you back if you'd just pop onto the ole blog and tell me you've friended me and introduce yourself! But I don't like being part of some bizarre online competition. So, if that's why you friended me, please defriend me and move along. No harm, no foul. If that's not what you're doing, just let me know and I'll friend you back because I dig people on a certain level despite my rabid misanthropy. I especially like Europeans and I've always been quite fond of Russians, Czechs, and Poles. Slavs in general are of particular interest to me and I've actually tried to teach myself Russian and Czech. That was about twenty years ago, which means I remember none of what I taught myself. That said, I can't understand a word you write in your journal, but that's okay. If you're a legitimate friender, I'll friend you back and enjoy the Cyrillic appearing on my Friends Page. It may prompt me to try to learn Russian again!

I've decided to not return to the bakery. I'm thinking that Teresa is trying to "punish" me by not giving me any hours this week. Actually, even though I needed those hours, I've had a wonderful weekend, thanks to Teresa's so-called punishment. And her actions stirred within me the last vestige of pride that I possess and that the Man has yet to successfully beat down. I'm no longer a bakery slave! When/If Teresa calls to let me know she finally "needs" me to come back to work, I'm going to inform her that I'm no longer available to work in the bakery and that I'm going to do to her what she did to me. And I'm going to hang up on her. I've already told Tami that I'll be available to work more hours at the Dollar General. When I go in to work on Tuesday, I'm supposed to write down what days and times I'll be available for work. It's gonna be difficult not having that third job, but we'll make it somehow and I'll be saving what little pride I have left so that I can continue to partially hold my head up in this Corporate/Fascist state that's keen on eradicating any capacity for thought and self-preservation its consumers may possess. By the grace of the Goddess and God, I will persevere!
clumsycake is having a hell of a time trying to find a surgeon who will help her with her bladder problem. Since she has no insurance, she's trying to go through some charity organisations to try to get her surgery. The problem she's having is that tacking up a woman's bladder is considered an "elective" surgery, which means anyone who needs the surgery has to grovel in the gravel to maybe get it down the road. clumsycake is in pain and can't function because of her dropped bladder, yet the powers that be have decreed that her condition isn't that serious and should therefore be treated as an elective situation, if it's treated at all. She has an appointment with a doctor on Tuesday, after speaking with an Ask-a-Nurse nurse, who directed her to Regenesis. Maybe she'll be able to get the help she desperately needs. This is America's health care in action! Stay tuned here for more riveting updates on clumsycake's fearless sojourn into the dreadful quagmire of the US health care system.

There's something coming on the History Channel at 10PM which is what I'd called Must See TV. It's called Last Days on Earth. If you're even remotely sympathetic to my Alpaca Liptic message here on The Cliffs of Insanity, then you need to get thee hence and enjoy this Feel-Good Television.

I've decided that, the next time one of my animal companions finds themselves needing a "lamp shade" around their heads, I'm going to request the largest lamp shade available. Then I'm going to cut it into a daisy shape and paint it purple. Then I'd place this godawful thing on my unfortunate animal friend and promptly take pictures. I'm hoping that my animal friend would look like this:
I think Riley would be the perfect candidate for this dandy pictorial project.

Smidgen is exhibiting something I like to call the Feline Autumn Heebie-Jeebies. When she takes herself outside for any length of time, after she comes in, she has huge pupils and she runs about like a crack whore who's on a particularly festive high. Riley and Motley get the brunt of her FAHJ. Smidgen stalks both of them and just gets the greatest pleasure when she manages a smack on the sly. I'm hoping I can get her on film, walking on her hind legs, her arms in the air, and her eyes black as night. I've noticed that many cats succumb to the Feline Autumn Heebie-Jeebies. The change in the air seems to affect most cats, making them celebrate life to the fullest of their feline abilities. This means that someone is going to suffer and someone else will be amused by their moments of suffering. And the wheel keeps turning....

Mood: irritated
Where? home
Music: Patrick Hernandez - Born to Be Alive

Well, I have the weekend off it seems. I got a call from Teresa at 6:15 this morning. She said I was supposed to be at work at 6 and she wanted to know what was going on. I told her I didn't know I was supposed to be at work and that I had appointments at 8 and 10, and I didn't see how I could come in to work with prior commitments. She said that I said I'd be available on Fridays. I said that I might become available on Friday evenings and would let her know. She hung up on me. So I called later to find out what my schedule was. Amber told me that Teresa had instructed her to inform me that she'd call me if she needed me. I'm not calling Teresa back to beg for this job. She can kiss my natural white ass. I've done everything I was supposed to do and have gone above and beyond the call of duty for her, and I don't I think I deserve this kind of treatment. It'll be hard if I lose the bakery job, but I've gone as far as I can in swallowing my pride and lowering myself to meet the expectations of my "superiors." I can't go any further. I just can't.

Mood: frustrated
Where? home
Music: Faudel - Maïna

My day started out at 5 AM. The clock went off and my sorry arse oozed out of bed, unwilling to deal with the fact that I had to be at work at the bakery at 6. But I pulled myself together and plastered a smile on my face, and off I went to Ingles.

( Oh, but there's more! If my ugly mug didn't scare you off, click here and continue, won't you? )

Mood: bone weary, yo
Where? home
Music: SOS Band - Take Your Time (Do It Right)

Johnny didn't show up to make the doughnuts this morning. I got to the bakery at 6 and he wasn't there, when he should have been there at 4. I waited around for thirty minutes, hoping he'd turn up and figuring he'd just had a late night celebrating his birthday, which is today, but no Johnny. So I called him and got his voice mail. Damn. And I don't know how to make the doughnuts. I didn't even know how to make the muffins, but figured the worst that could happen is I could ruin them and we still wouldn't have muffins but, if I baked them right, then at least we'd have muffins. So I ploughed on through and set to work after I tried to reach Teresa. By the time Teresa called me back, it was a little after 7 and the muffins were made and cooling, and I had a rack of French bread in the oven. She was livid over Johnny, telling me she was on her way in to make doughnuts and instructing me to go ahead and bake the muffins. When I told her that the muffins were cooling and the French bread was being baked as we spoke, she said "Well, we're better off than I thought we were. I'll be there in about thirty minutes. Don't try to make the doughnuts."

Don't worry, I thought, I won't. I don't want to burn the grocery store down. I just want a hot croissant 'cos, dammit, I'm hungry and Johnny makes the best around!

Needless to say, it was a difficult day at the bakery, but I think I did well considering I'm still only about half trained in what I need to be doing, mainly because I'm not supposed to be doing it. Teresa said I was getting an on-the-job crash course in how to bake bread and she's right, I am. Everything I baked seemed to turn out pretty good, especially the muffins, except for the Kaiser rolls. They looked like tumours. I told Teresa that she could have baked the bread with the heat of her temper alone, which she found kinda funny, despite her sour mood.

She's planning on suspending Johnny for a week because he didn't call her, but I defended him saying that he probably celebrated last night and figured he'd be fine to do doughnut duty this morning, and that he probably didn't even know he wasn't up to make the doughnuts yet. He's just a kid and is more than likely still prone to bouts of sleep without reason. What I wouldn't give to be able to sleep like that again! But Teresa's dead set on teaching him a lesson, even if she has to make the doughnuts every morning for two weeks. Her words, not mine. It'll be interesting to see how things turned out when I go back tomorrow afternoon. Sheesh. What a drama pit.

Mood: tired
Where? home
Music: Shriekback - Feelers (Live)

Teresa, the bakery manager, has already hired someone to take up the slack I've created by finding the computer control room job. The problem with this is that this new person will be getting the majority of my hours, not just the hours I won't be able work in order to take on this new job. Teresa's reason for this is that the woman has kids and can't very well work just evenings because she'd never have any time with her children. Well, I have a disabled family member at home, but I'm still having to work whatever hours tossed in my direction simply because I'm not a breeder. It's not fair.

And right after I found out this bullshit, I was instructed to properly train that moron girl child who's made everyone's life in the bakery miserable because of her slack ass. The sooner I get away from the Ingles bakery, the happier I'll be.

Mood: bitchy
Where? home
Music: Shriekback - Mahalia

I baked and panned 528 cookies. I bagged about 300 cookies. I hate cookies.

Mood: tired
Where? home
Music: Walter Egan - Magnet & Steel

Went to work, got paid, ran errands with Aunt Tudi, paid bills, came home broke. Resting until 3:45, at which time I go back to Ingles for four more hours. I'm looking forward to a big cookie bake < / sarcasm >, but I'm already a quarter of the way prepared for it, so it's all good. Amber was supposed to pull 600 cinnamon buns for a big sell-off starting this morning. The note for her bread pull was to pull 150 4-count cinnamon buns. She pulled 150 cinnamon buns. So mine and Teresa's morning consisted of hauling arse to get the rest of the buns baked and frosted, and out on the floor. We did it with 15 minutes of my time to spare, since I was leaving at 10 AM. Brooke came in at 8:30 and helped to get it all done. Without her, it would have been much more difficult. But we made a good cinnamon bun tag team, having fun doing it. Not too shabby.

And right now, I'm currently on the phone with fucking Bank of fucking America trying to work out some sort of plan to save my home. Maybe John McCain could let me have one of his seven homes if no other homeless or soon-to-be homeless Americans have dibs on it. Blah!

It'll work out. It has to. I know it will, because it has to.

Mood: peaceful, believe it or not
Where? home
Music: Tom Lehrer - New Math

With Smidgen on my chest, vibrating with love, and the laptop on my stomach, processing my words with precision and mechanical glee.

I'm tired, having worked 5.5 hours at the bakery tonight. I wrote on 3 cakes, one of which was a true challenge. This Asian man who could barely speak English wanted me to write Happy Birthday My Darling on a two layer coconut cake. Ingles' coconut cakes have big blobs of whipped icing on top of them, along with a cherry right in the middle. They aren't very conducive to writing with icing, but I did my best because the guy seemed so sweet and tried so hard to communicate with me. When he came back, I gave him the cake and he seemed really pleased with it. I explained to him about the topological landscape of horror the cake posed for my mad icing-writing skillz yo and that I had to remove the cherry in order to write birthday. He was fine with it. I did offer to give him a cherry to replace on the cake later and he asked if maybe he could have four. I gave him eight. He asked what the price would be and I told him they were free, that they came with the cake. He beamed and grabbed my hand and shook it, thanking me profusely. As he walked away, he told me to have a very good day and I told him to do the same and to enjoy the cake. I think I'm losing my mad Sith skillz yo, which irks me. I should have told him that he was lucky to get a cherry at all for all the grief having to write on that cake brought me. But I felt good about what I did and how he reacted, so I'm not gonna mull over it too much. I can spread chaos and unrest at some other time. Today I did someone who looked like he needed one a favour.

I'm starting to like the bakery job better than the Dollar General job. I get to work by myself most of the time and I don't have to deal with too many people. And the people I do deal with are usually nicer to me and all-round more civil than the folks I encounter at the DG. Just sayin'. Speaking of the Dollar General, I should be getting my insurance card in the mail soon. Once I have that in my hot paw, I'm getting me some medical attention, yes I am. And some dental attention. Oh, and some visual attention too. My glasses don't seem to be working as well as they used to. So, it's off to Dollar General to work tomorrow morning. I'm happy with anyone who gives me medical coverage. I work there from 9 to 3:30.

After work, Aunt Tudi and I have some errands to run. Then I get to come home and mow grass. Whoop-tee-doo! ::she says, doing her best Adam Sandler impression::

Mood: sleepy
Where? home
Music: Clannad - The Poison Glen

I'm home until 4:20, then I'm off to Dollar General. According to the schedules through next weekend, I'll be pulling around 52 hours from both jobs. This is very fortuitous. Even though the pay is low, at least this will keep us afloat until I can find a higher paying position somewhere.

At the bakery, Teresa reiterated how she wished I could come in at 4 AM to learn how to make the doughnuts. I told her that I'd see what I can do. I'll probably acquiesce and do this for her because I like Teresa and I feel bad for her. She's harried and has employees who aren't doing what they need to do. Hell, I'm one of them because I'm new and slower than molasses, and I don't know how to do everything yet. I'm still learning, which means I'm not as much of an asset as I could or should be. It'll happen though. Teresa seems really pleased with me despite my lack of skills, enough to want to give me the responsibility of doughnut duty. I'm not sure I could make it to work at 4AM though. It about killed me to be a Rochling at 6. I'll have to give it some thought, but..... it may mean a bit of a raise. Who knows? If I do take Teresa up on her offer, I'll have to start wearing a moustache (or let the one I banish from my upper lip on a daily basis grow wild), so I can effectively chant "Time to make the doughnuts" as I wibble out the door at 3:45 to the lilt of Aunt Tudi's laughter.

Oh Sweet Goddess, I'm so sleepy! And I work at DG from 4:30 until 9 tonight. It seems like all I do now is work and write rambling posts here. What I wouldn't give to have a paid day off.

*YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWNNNNnnnnnn*

Mood: sleepy
Where? home
Music: Jeff Lynne - September Song

I made a mistake this morning. I thought I was supposed to be at work at the bakery at 8 AM, but it turns out that I wasn't supposed to show until 12:30 and work until 8 PM tonight. Teresa, my boss at the bakery, was very happy to see me, though. The girl who worked last night ran into some problems and didn't get half of what she needed to do done before she left at 8 PM, so Teresa came into a serious mess when she arrived to make the doughnuts at 4 AM. She was so behind it wasn't funny and she's supposed to be back at the bakery at midnight tonight to take inventory. Needless to say, she was a panic attack on two achy feet. She asked if I'd be willing to stay and help her get caught up, leave at noon, then come back at 4 to close tonight. Of course, I didn't mind, so here I am trying to get my feet to stop throbbing so I can go out and mow the grass before I need to clean up my act and go back to Ingles at 4.

My moon has been particularly atrocious this month and I feel more like dying than I do pulling bread dough out of a freezer at the bakery, especially after mowing grass for an hour, but onward I trudge regardless. Something tells me that I'm going to keel over like a dead woman once I'm home to stay tonight.

Mood: okay
Where? home
Music: Jan Hammer - Magic Theater

After a crash course in bakery etiquette, I was cut loose to serve my first evening at the Ingles bakery all alone. Not thirty minutes into my shift, I was called up on to do the one thing I hadn't been taught to do: write on a cake. The dude asked me if I could write "Happy Birthday Carrie" on a sheet cake for him and I was just honest with him. I told him that I was new in the bakery, I'd never written on a cake before, and I had not been taught, did he still want me to try? He said "yes" and I cried "FOOL!" then proceeded to do my thang, whatever that thang might be.

( the results of my decorating excursion )

I totally crapped out on the 'C' but, all in all, I don't think I did half bad for an amateur rookie. Maybe it was just Beginner's Luck. What was lucky was that the store manager came by for a visit right after I'd finished with the cake and set it aside for when the man returned to pick it up. She was flabbergasted that I had no experience. I'm flabbergasted that they hired me into this job, knowing I had no experience.

I must admit that this is the one thing I can honestly say I loved doing. It's a shame I won't get to do it that often, since cake decoration and writing is primarily a morning activity. Meh.

Mood: accomplished
Where? home
Music: The Moody Blues - Gemini Dream