The Happiness Thread

(Moved to correct thread )
Finally writing again. After a long period of creative inactivity, I woke up today with something to put on the page. I'll just see where it takes me. Also purchased the full version of Scrivener @Wreybies.

 

Welcome to the Light Side, young padawan.

 

Have finally, finally come out of the stalls of chapter two and the first two scenes of my MC2!

I know that may not sound like much to the rest of you but I have been kicking my heels for about a whole week! Because a) this boy was too scared at what I will eventually do to him to speak up, and b) my MC1 didn't let me go, having just too strong a voice and opinions.

But now the plot is moving, finally! I have dragged MC2 out of his shell, he grew a bit backbone, and, after a whole lot of more growth in the next oh five scenes, will be worthy of MC1 when they meet in fireworks. Yes!

 

Thanks to this forum, I feel a bit better at letting my protagonists do whatever they want within the context of the story and setting. It's all fiction, none of it's real; it's not set in our world -- as in our actual world, not a fictional copy of it. It's OK to allow suspension of disbelief overrule all actual world logic so long as it makes some sense within the story and its setting.

So now I feel happy. I just need a mantra to tell myself if I start overthinking and forgetting it's all fiction.

 

That is a good and freeing revelation.

 

I just lost the 'new' tag and became a fully-fledged member of these forums.

Hurrah!

I am now officially happy.

 

I wore my new t-shirt to class today and everyone liked it!

 

^ I loved that game. Once my character died of a gunshot wound from a inexplicable source. Could never find the traitorous cur who shot the wagon leader. >:[

Well, I'm proud to announce that very soon, I'm gonna hit the 10K word in my fantasy novel, which means that I'll be the proud owner of both a novella and a novel, both having breached the 10K word count.

 

Hi, I'm new here. Just signed up today. I'm stoked to have found this site.

 

Excellent!! Excellent!!

But seriously, glad you're here.

 

I quit my job!

I blame my therapist. I explained to him how much I hated my job, that I went to work fantasizing that some kind of (non-fatal) accident would prevent me from working that day. When you ask yourself, "how much would breaking my leg hurt, really?" you know you hate your job.
And my therapist said, "It sounds like it's time to get a new job."

The job was to call up alumni of the university and try to get them to donate. Beyond sewer worker, I couldn't think of a worse job. And at least a sewer worker knows his shit is genuine. My role was to "bond" with the prospect. To make them think I was interested in them. Make them think I cared. And when I had buddied up to them enough I would ask them for money. And I was good at it too, I managed an average of $50 a night.

You will not believe this, but I can actually be quite charming. In person.

But aside from being worse than sales, where a costumer could at least benefit from the money they were giving me, the job was skull breakingly dull. Around 90% of the calls would go to voicemail, in which case I would select "Answering machine/not home/line busy" from the call results drop box, and make the caller not, "left message."

And then the brass mentioned in a meeting that we shouldn't leave messages to them in the caller notes. "Brass can't actually see anything you put in there," they said.

So in search for some kind of creative outlet I started to add things. It started out small,
left message, but then again, haven't we all?
left message, and it all just seems kind of pointless, you know?

They got a little darker.
left message, I can hear you breathe

And darker
left message, at least when you're dead you can play with the worms
left message, don't worry, where I hid it they'll never find the body

And darker
left message, it crawls on all fours, it was human once

I resigned by email, saying that I'd found another job, which is a lie I don't even feel bad about. My only regret is that I couldn't leave the nuclear option message. The one I'd wanted to send from the beginning:
left message, your mother sucks cock in hell, hail Satan!

It's really better for everyone that I don't work there anymore.

 

No answer, left a message that I passed the background check on purchasing an assault rifle... That wouldn't get you arrested or anything!

 

I don't believe it.

 

It's Friday, I just got an assessment done, my life is relatively privileged, and I'm about to embark on a pleasant walk with my dog! Stuff is good.

 

So, I just wanted to comment on something that's got me really excited right now. At my job (still @Walmart) we are 3 days away from inventory, and I am having a lot of success. Unlike this time last year, I have my head wrapped around all of my prep, and my stress level is really low--despite the workload being twice as high. I've had several good walks with the store manager and even the market manager. Both are impressed with the condition of my dept., the execution of my prep, my attention to detail, and my level of commitment. I'm not without my opportunities, particularly with in-stock , but right now I'm hitting all the right marks to show how far I've come.

The most exciting part for me, though, is the opportunity to show the big impact I've had on my dept. Last inventory, I was in role for only a few months and still sort of new to the job and company. The dept. shrunk (lost) just over $59,000. Now, after a year and a half as a DM, I'm tracking a deficit of only $26,600. I expect the count to put it near $32k or less (If my data is close and things are prepped well). That's a reduction of almost 50% (60k to 30k). That would be a huge win, especially since the dept. expectation is $28k. All we have to do is make sure the agency gets a good count.

And all of this is after my associate quit a couple weeks ago. After we get the results and I take a well deserved rest, I want to seriously consider putting in for management. I'm already putting in longer hours and owning the leadership role I've been given. But for now, I just want to see this mission through and of course thank the people who've helped me get this far.

 

I'm happy because @matwoolf liked two of my posts today (and I love her).

 

So what's your department? What have you done differently to lower your shrink? Does your department have a high shoplifting problem or does your shrink come from employee theft or damaged items? Good to hear you are doing well!

 

Matwoolf is female?

 

Her? Mat is a man isn't he?

 

Mat is short for Mathilde

 

Hi, @Andrae Smith ! Great to see you around! I'm glad your job is going well. Any writing going on?

 

@minstrel Hey buddy! It really is good to see ya. (Sorta ha ha) In the last year, I've done little to no writing. Tbh I've been a little unfocused and kinda lost, consumed by work and school and trying to have free time with my family. The creative juices kinda dried up. But in the last few weeks, I've made some changes, gained some vision.

Last week I wrote about 600 words, which I shared in the forums. It isn't much, and it is certainly not complete on its own, but it's something and I had fun doing it. I'm actually going to go back to it once I have a little more time and energy and free write for a while. I find that I'm a better editor than writer, and freewriting may help me find the direction the story wants to go.

How the heck have you been?

 

Hey @Lewdog . My department is Checkouts and Impulse Merchandise (Dept. 82). I'm responsible for the in stock at the front end including the candy, snacks, tobacco, general merchandise (Chapstick, lighters, headphones, etc)' as well as batteries, As Seen On TV, and all the impulse strips in the store. I've product everywhere but I am primarily evaluated on cleanliness, in stock, and zoning at the front end.

I can't say what I've done differently from the previous DM because I heard there were 2 before me in that same year. I can say I think I brought an attention to detail that was lacking in the absence of a longterm DM. There is a lot of merchandise to keep track of and a lot can get lost to theft, consumption, or just getting misplaced throughout the store. Without someone who is keenly dialed in to the freight flow, a lot can be misplaced.

One thing that I have done differently in the last 8 months or so is try to have a hand in everything that happens in my department. If we get even a single case of batteries, i know where it was stocked and when. If we are missing a carton of cigs, I know when it should have arrived. If we're low or out of a product, I know where it would be in the back or when we're getting more (and how much more). Now I can't remember exact numbers on all of these things, but I have the awareness. I could also tell you when sales were up or down, in which categories and probably why. Shoot, I could tell you the exact location of almost any impulse strip that came in and got hung.

Another key difference is that since last inventory, I've graduated from the learning phase in a lot of areas. A lot of shrink can come from price changes not done correctly. This year I was particularly careful about managing markups and markdowns as well as eliminating liabilities like clearance merchandise or negative on hands early.

Like I mentioned, a lot of my shrink comes from theft and consumption. Someone wants a candy bar, they take it. Someone wants a single pack lighter, it's easy to pocket. Chapstick and lighters god the fastest.... But I've also noticed that a lot of losses were coming from bad unloading and stocking processes. I've had batteries come in at night and never make their way to me or to the counters. Likewise, I've had them come in and put in the wrong places, sometimes sent to the wrong departments or hidden behind other merchandise so the overnighters can claim they worked everything 100%.

But after a period of fighting me on my expectations, my over nighters understand what is acceptable and that I do notice the little things.

 

I want this license plate.