Work.

Well. It's been quite awhile since my last entry. And life has been interesting.

I'm working incredibly hard. I currently have three jobs - one at Subway, one at Lakes Latté (a cute little coffee shop in Pequot), and one at a resort called Pinedale (where I do cabin-cleaning on Saturday mornings). I rarely have days off anymore - I count myself lucky if I get an afternoon off. Most mornings are an early start - beginning work at 6 or 6:30 - so I'm not getting much sleep. Plus Adelaide is going through some heinous teething right now, so the small amount of sleep I'm getting is constantly interrupted.

Hopefully my work situation will change soon. I've discovered that Subway makes a great sandwich but a horrible employer. My bosses are not nice people. They make me doubt my own word (I told Lady Boss I couldn't work a particular time; she schedules me for it anyway, insisting I wrote it down for her and "I've got it right here in your own handwriting that you can work"). They 'forget' to tell you things ("Oh didn't Guy Boss tell you you're not at Store 1 anymore? Oh I thought he was going to tell you - no, we're just scheduling you for Store 2 now, okay? We decided two weeks ago"). They have double standards with their employees (the manager at Store 2, for example, works incredibly hard, was not allowed any time off over the summer, and is given no leeway - the manager at Store 1 "forgot" to tell her coworkers she was going out for a 25-minute cigarette break when she was working at Store 2, and was defended by Lady Boss who insisted that Store 1 Manager was "having a rough day" and we should "cut her some slack"). AND I found out today that it's not unheard of for them to be mean and whatever around this time of year - why? They pay out a summer bonus to all employees who work from Memorial Day to Labor Day (ie. the whole summer). The more summer employees they can piss off and get them to resign before August 31st, the less bonuses they have to pay.

Now, I realise publicising this blog entry on the Internet could be seen as some kind of slander. I have no definitive proof or whatever to back up what I've said. All this is from what I've heard - except for the lack of communication thing with me. So take it with a grain of salt.

Me? I'm not even caring anymore. I got a little upset this afternoon when I found out about their alleged Less Employees Means Less Summer Bonuses deal. But I had to remind myself that the whole thing is really not worth my energy to worry about. All I need to do is get to work, do my job, and go home again. They want to create a whole lot of bullshit, well, that's their prerogative. Once I've got my summer bonus, I'm handing in my resignation. Sure, I could quit now, saying that a few hundred dollars isn't worth it. But if they want to get rid of summer employees, I'm going to make them pay for it first! ;)

Lakes Latté, on the other hand, is a haven. Just stepping inside the doors is a heavenly assault of the senses. The aroma of coffee fills your nostrils, your lungs, your entire body. The warm lighting of the seating areas makes your whole day feel like nap time (not necessarily a good thing for me during our lunch rush, though :P). The sound of the coffee grinder, the espresso machine, and the funky "café appropriate" tunes (which range from Beck, Ben Folds and Jack Johnson to Basement Jaxx, Daft Punk, Weezer, The Fray and the soundtrack to the anime Cowboy Bebop) are enveloping and fun. The touch of... well, I'm not sure if touch is a sense that features here. Did I cover the others? Smell, sight, sound... oh, of course. And TASTE. Boy howdy. You haven't had good coffee if you haven't had a coffee at Lakes Latté. Honest to goodness, this isn't a promotion for them or anything :P but I'm just so in love with them, I have to rave! We use organic fairtrade beans, and we grind them ourselves as we go throughout the day. We use one more shot per drink size than most other coffee establishments (for example, a "small" 12oz drink usually is just one shot of espresso - we use two). We have a huge variety of flavorings, with a good selection of sugar-free choices. We... um. Well, we just rock all round. THE OREO FLURRY. Oh my goodness. You haven't lived til you've tried an Oreo Flurry. And I'm not saying a "McFlurry". Gawd no. This is different. And awesome. I describe it to customers as "heaven in a cup", because that's rooly-trooly what it is. Mmmm.

My current favorite drink? A 12oz brevé, with coconut and vanilla (a brevé is made like a latté, only you use half-and-half instead of milke). MMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmm. Talk about enveloping. That thing just swallows you right up.

...

Well I must say I'm enjoying the direction in which this post has come. I started out all "boo hiss Subway SUCKS" and now I'm salivating at the thought of the lovely brevé that will greet me when I go to work tomorrow. :)

So, long post short: Work at Subway sucks. Work at Lakes Latté is teh r0x0rz. That is all.