Archive for May, 2010


It has been years since math classes

Filed Under: Business and/or Work, Educational, Home and Garden by Paige — Leave a comment
May 31, 2010

To be perfectly honest, it has been over ten years since I took any math classes in college. And what you don’t use on a regular basis, you lose. I can remember when I was taking my math classes that I was also helping my kids through their classes with their math homework.

I like to think that my taking college courses while they were in school provided some inspiration, some “leading by example” about good study habits. And since I was taking math classes too, I could provide my kids with all of the free math tutoring they needed at the time.

But last night my nephew asked me for some Calculus help and I had forgotten everything I ever knew about calculus! That was rather embarrassing, to have to admit that my math skills were so badly rusted that I really couldn’t help out with his homework!  I wonder if I should take some refresher courses!

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I felt so bad

Filed Under: Business and/or Work, Computers and/or Internet, General Life by Paige — Leave a comment
May 31, 2010

Today was the first time that I’ve had to refuse a check from a customer. Usually when we get a check, we just run it through the scanning machine and it tells us to get the customer’s signature on a separate piece of paper that comes out of the cash register. That paper is basically telling the customer that the check is being transformed into an EBT. The check itself is voided and returned to the customer.

Not today. Today the cash register machine told me that I had to refuse the check due to information received from Tele-check. That is the first time I’ve seen that message! I was mortified, but I remained calm and asked the customer if he had another form of payment available. I explained that the machine was rejecting his check.

The poor guy was so upset. He had no cash, no credit card. I had to send him away without his medicine, which was anti-biotics. I felt so bad. I don’t know if he came back again on a different day to get his medicine or not.  But it is times like these that I wish all medicines were free!

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Trolling for fashion

Filed Under: Beauty and/or Health, Business and/or Work, General Life, Shopping by Paige — Leave a comment
May 31, 2010

I’ve noticed that since I’ve been working in the pharmacy that I’ve taken a larger active interest in the clothes and jewelry that I wear to work. I don’t want to spend a lot of money, but most of the clothes that I have been wearing around the house just won’t do where I work.

So I’ve been taking a look for comfortable, yet trendy clothes and jewelry to wear to work. And if I can find eologically friendly clothes and jewelry to buy as well, then I’m all for that, too! One of the things that I have to keep in mind, though, is that since I have to wear a lab coat, that most customers won’t even see most of what I wear. So I’m trying to focus on comfort for the clothes, but I definitely want to make a fashion statement on the jewelry!

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No holiday for me

Filed Under: Business and/or Work, General Life by Paige — Leave a comment
May 31, 2010

The pharmacy I work at is open on Memorial Day, and since I haven’t worked there long enough to be given paid holidays, or to be paid overtime for holidays, I was assigned to work today so the others could have the day off. I understand the reasoning behind doing that, I just don’t think that it is appropriate for companies to assign holiday work and not give some kind of holiday pay.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad to have the job, but it has been many many years since I had to work a holiday at straight time. And I feel that big corporations can afford to pay their hourly workers holiday pay, even if they haven’t worked there a whole year yet!

Just the same, it was a slow day, so I didn’t get overwhelmed. Busy enough to keep a fairly steady pace. If I have to work, the pace was good, so I can’t complain about that at all.

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Handy information

Filed Under: Business and/or Work, Computers and/or Internet, General Life, Shopping by Paige — Leave a comment
May 26, 2010

One of the things that really aggravate me, as a woman, is how often businesses assume that I am an easy target for rip-offs! As a general rule, I’ve learned that in many instances the best way to avoid being ripped off is to drag along what I call a “token male.” I did that when I was buying my first house, and I try to do that when I buy a car. Did you know that research shows that men get better deals on cars than women do?

That’s why I really like websites like the repairpal.com website. Their website will help you locate a reputable auto repair service anywhere in the US. You can fill in the city (for example fill in “Dallas auto repair” and they will show you a bunch of repair shops. What’s even better than that is that you can type in what kind of car you have (like the Chevrolet Silverado) and what kind of service you think you need (for example brake job) and the website tells you how much money you can reasonably expect to pay for the service. I really like that a lot because if I know ahead of time what something should cost, it can help me avoid being ripped off later!

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