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So I haven't posted about it yet, but I've been meaning to because I'm a topic whore :/

I finally got a new job, and it's the job I really, really wanted. I'm going to be working at Lane Bryant whee

I've hated food service but been stuck in it forever, and I've been dying to get into retail but most places I didn't have luck at, or else they don't have clothes in my size so why apply, anyways? So the place I've been dying to work at but figured wouldn't hire me did. Of course, I had an interview scheduled for Monday night that would have paid a dollar more in retail, and I could have gotten the job 'cause it's really simple and I have two friends who already work there...but... I'd much rather be getting discounts on clothes I already buy rather than $1 an hour more.

It was a lucky chance, too. I locked my keys in my car but my friend and I got cut early at work, went to my car, saw them in the ignition, went to see if security could unlock my car for me and then noticed at Lane Bryant they said they were having a job fair (the store is scheduled to open September 7). So we went to my house, picked up my spare keys and I got to change my clothes, she went to her house and did the same, then we came back and after getting my car fixed we interviewed. We both got hired right then and there.

I've worked there the past two days setting up things for the grand opening, we were moving boxes around and setting things up. We got to set up the sections so that we can hang the clothes up, I never realized how it was done, it's amazing. Today they're bringing in the clothes, and of course that's the day I'm not there *pout* I had to peel blue stuff off of all these bra drawers gonk It took 12 girls 3 hours to do them all. I did 3 by myself, peeling, dusting, augh.

They've got two sections, the cacique side, and the normal Lane Bryant side... they didn't tell me what I'd be working, apparently people have specific jobs, like fitting room attendant, cashier, person on the cacique side or person on the sportswear side.... I hope I don't get on the cacique side 'cause...uhh... I love under wears too much, and I need to save my money.

But it's so awesome because I'm surrounded by girls that are almost all big like me, in fact I'm in the middle, close to the smaller side. I hated always being the fat girl at the places I worked, although part of the problem was usually guys outnumber the girls at these places and so I'd always hear the guys talking about all the hot girls -_- It's just so much more fun to be surrounded by bigger girls, too... they're almost all really nice, a few of them don't really talk to me but nobody has been rude. I've already made two friends in two days, and they're both really cool girls.

And then I get 40% discounts on the clothes I already buy (55% during certain times of the year), am making about as much as at my first job, and a quarter more than at my current job which I hate.

I'm so excited!

So...discuss:
4laugh Jobs: your jobs, your dream jobs, awesome jobs, etc.
4laugh Working with fat girls, and how awesome it is.
4laugh Whatever else this post inspires you to talk about, 'cause I kinda rambled a bit sweatdrop

I prefer Torrid, too... but we don't have a local one, I would have to order anything I wanted offline and I prefer trying on clothes first sad

But I'm going to be moving up to St. Louis in 6 months, and they have a Torrid up there... one of the reasons I wanted to find a retail job here was so that when I move up there I could apply at Torrid and have a better shot since I'd have worked retail before. And since now I'll have had experience in plus-sized retail I think my shot will be even better, hopefully.

Gotta start somewhere, I feel kinda bad saying that though, my job is rather cushy. sweatdrop

But we loves her <3

sounds killer

I nearly broke the doors by accident sweatdrop

Uh-huh...excuses, excuses.

My co-worker's son thought that blow jobs were just jobs where you don't do anything. She was freaking out because he's 9 and she doesn't know what to tell him, but she doesn't want him mentioning them at school. >>; So I'll assume you're talking about that kind of blow job.

I'm afraid I can't anymore :/

I haven't been saying anything 'cause I've been waiting to give them a chance to shape up, but they've really screwed with me a lot. I can't say ******** me over only because I still have my job at the deli.

Anyhoo.

So they hired me, and I turned in my 2 weeks notice at McAlister's, and managed to work a few scattered shifts at Lane Bryant, which was really only bringing in the stuff to open the store with. Building maniquens, moving in the bra dressers, peeling off the blue stuff on EVERYTHING, cleaning, setting up....

Then I worked opening day, where they stuck me outside the Cacique side of the store for 8 1/3 hours (I had a 30 minute break at one point in my 9 hour shift) where I would attempt to greet people, usher them into the store and inform them of the special deals. That was all well and good, except for most women were too stupid to realize that Lane Bryant and Cacique are the same store, and I even said "Would you like to come check out Lane Bryant and Cacique during our grand opening? Everything is 40% off" only to have most people ignore me, and my favorite was a lady that told me no thank you, then walks into Lane Bryant's door (which had another girl, although she didn't spend nearly as much time at the doors as I did). People cooed "Oh, you have the easy job, out of the crowed, to which I replied "I WANT to be in the action! I WANT to be in the store!" I DID NOT want to stand outside the door for 8+ hours getting ignored and my feet hurting. Not to mention, they praised the girl by Lane Bryant's door for bringing in so many people, when in reality I could have brought in the same amount had I been outside the main store's door. And I got to watch it, they even asked me if I was uncomfortable with people to which I responded "No, but I think it's somewhat awkward to stand outside a well-known plus-size store and tell skinny people to come in, and anybody who I think is big enough to come in I don't want to offend by picking and choosing." Seriously, you know how many women would get offended by you telling them to come check out your fat people store? So I had to figure out a nice way to invite people in, and I willingly greeted everybody. The highlight was probably that everybody kept asking me where I got my clothes, and I could tell people liked my outfit. Not to mention the old gentleman that came up to me and said "I don't need anything from y'alls store....but if I were a woman I'd go in and check them out because you look so pretty."

So the next week they didn't schedule me, I figured it was 'cause I hadn't come in to tell them when I could work so I could tell McAlister's and work both jobs. My friend didn't get scheduled either, so we went in on the day Linda, the GM was making the schedule and said "Hey, are we going to get scheduled this week?" She looked surprised we hadn't, said she'd put us on and confirmed our hours, telling us to call back later that day or come in the next day and get our hours. Well, I return the next day, check the schedule and we're not on it AFTER CONFIRMING MY HOURS AND TALKING TO HER AS SHE'S MAKING THE SCHEDULE.

I ask for Linda, and then come in 3 days in a row, always being told I just missed her and that she was off 'til last Friday. I catch her Friday, she seems shocked we're not on the schedule, tells us she'll check the schedule and see what she can do, then when we return it's "Ooh, I'm sorry, I don't have any extra hours I can give you...I'm over by 50" (HOW THE HELL DO YOU GO OVER YOUR HOURS BY FIFTY? SERIOUSLY!) But she told me to take somebody else's shift if anybody would give me one....and that they'd call me in if they needed somebody. So I did, I got one shift for yesterday, I took that shift on a Saturday, they attempted to call me in Sunday but I turned it down for my friend, and then Monday morning I get a call saying they decided to cut shifts and that I didn't have to come in. WELL GEE, THANKS GUYS.

So my friend and I kept checking in on the schedule, it's been delayed and delayed...and I feel aweful today, just really sick...couldn't talk, couldn't breath...I actually drank sweet tea (for northerners, it's tea brewed and while it's hot the sugar is mixed in so that it's a part of the tea, unlike adding sugar to cold tea where it doesn't mix in, anyway....) mixed with lemon and heated in the microwave 'cause my manager insisted it'd help me to talk better...which it did...but my friend was shocked I drank as much as I did because I hate tea. So then my friend goes to check for both of us because I told her I didn't have the energy to deal with that s**t, and comes back a good while later with a note she shows me... INSTEAD OF TELLING US FACE TO FACE, MANAGEMENT PUT OUT THE SCHEDULE WITH A NOTE SAYING "HEY, WE HIRED TOO MANY PEOPLE AND SO WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO LAY SOME OF YOU OFF...WE'RE SORRY, BUT IF YOUR NAME ISN'T ON THIS SCHEDULE WE NO LONGER NEED YOU." I understand, they ******** up.... I get all that... but it just seems so wrong to me.

I turned down an interview at Jessica McClintock with two of my friends, where I would get 30+ hours a week (which is what I'm required to have) as well as $8 an hour, as opposed to $7 at Lane Bryant and the $6.75 at McAlister's that I make...but I figured with discounts it'd even out between there and Lane Bryant.... I called in the day of the interview ('cause I got hired Sunday and couldn't call before they'd close) to tell them I didn't need to interview and that I had unexpectedly gotten hired at Lane Bryant, already filled out the paperwork, and I was sorry but my hours wouldn't be the same as I had thought they would if she did want to interview me.

I wouldn't be so mad had it not been, when they hired me, told to me I'd get 30+ hours a week 'til after Christmas...I may have gotten 30 hours total for two weeks. When I talked to Linda as she was making the schedule, which was the day before my last day at McAlister's, I had the good sense to ask her if she'd be able to since I could tell things were odd... she freaked out, told me maybe 16 and that if I could still work things out with McAlister's it'd be fine for them to work around me having two jobs...and that we'd be on the schedule, but that she didn't want us to have any false ideas...WHICH SHE HERSELF GAVE US.


I'm considering writing to corporate. They didn't do anything horribly bad... Actually, I think the hiring under false pretense is bad (They could've said "we just want to hire you to open the store, and once we're open we won't need you 'til maybe Christmas, if you wanna re-apply then") and I could see them accidentally doing one or two of those things...but to pull me and my friend around like that for weeks and then do this to us just seems wrong, it's at least bad business...and while the note said we could re-apply for Christmas season and we'd have the upper hand over other applicants...and I'm considering doing it because I just REALLY want an extra job to save up money and I REALLY want to get into retail...so if I write to corporate I imagine it'll hurt my chances at being re-hired. However, at the same time...do I really want to work at a place with such bad management if corporate doesn't check up on what they did to me and my friend. I mean, that's just HORRIBLE business, and that's HORRIBLE managment.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVED my co-workers... I liked the management, but they didn't know their a** from a hole in the ground.

And I spent over $150 total on clothes specifically for work, and while that isn't bad for the amount of clothing I got... I don't need 3 pairs of dress pants now! I could have saved that money up! I had to buy a metallic shirt to wear for their opening, and what the hell do I do with it now? I might wear it again, but it isn't one of those shirts I wouldn't have bought of my own volition.

And to instead of when we came in pulling us aside and telling us face-to-face that they were sorry and what happened, to write an impersonal letter to fire multiple people is just so rude and wrong to me.

And to top off my day, I learned that my boyfriend lost his job after his second mistake in two weeks cost him. He worked at Valvoline, and while there was really no damage to the car this time (last time he narrowly escaped automatic termination as the claim wasn't big enough for them to fire him) but this time it was just an innocent little mistake.... and not only do I feel bad for him, but it ******** up our plans. But I'm trying to be positive for him when I'm in a negative mood><

At least I still have my job at McAlister's, and have 31 scheduled hours, which is awesome.... as in I need over 30 hours and a nice paycheck... but sucks since I WANT OUT OF MCALISTER'S AND OUT OF FOOD SERVICE! That's why I tried to get the jobs in retail! Augh! So now I think I'd be an asshat to go back and re-apply at Jessica McClintock... I have an aquantince who told me to apply at a kid's shoe-store where she makes good money, but it'd only be part time so I'd still be stuck at McAlister's, but I think I'm going to apply anyways because I still want extra money.