I forgot how busy life can be here at UW. There's always something I can fill my free time with. Sometimes, I have problems visualizing the concept of eternity, but right now I think I have a pretty good comparison: it's my life right now, where there are no breaks for rest or for fun. Every gap between classes and work has to be filled with homework, or some other sort of productivity. Thank goodness that's only in theory, not in practice, or else I'd have to shoot myself. In reality, I do allow a little bit of fun to slip its way in there. Probably not how my professors would like to have it, but it's definitely necessary...

Constant sleep-deprivation is also something I have to reacquaint myself with. In Tuebingen, I always had enough sleep because I had enough free time. Now, I consider it success if my lack of sleep doesn't result in me getting sick.

Other random notes that relate to my life at this moment:
-I am addicted to avocadoes. I eat at least one a day. I hope they are good for me. God knows I probably shouldn't be buying them, considering how much they cost.

-At work yesterday, there was a 4-pack of avocadoes in the trash because one of them had split open. The other three were fine, but they had to be tossed anyway because that's the policy at TJ's. Last time that happened, I wrote down the price on the spoils sheet and took the other 3 to the breakroom so people could eat them. It kills me to see such good food go to waste. Andrea would have a fit working at TJ's.

-I am going to buy myself a bike in the near future and ride it everywhere. I should do it sooner than later, or else I won't get to enjoy it in connection with the splendid weather we've been having lately.

-My neighbors are the coolest bunch of people ever. We all play dress-up every day.

-Being back at UW, I feel like I encounter a whole bunch of walking cliches as I make my way through campus. Sorority girls in their North Face jackets and their straightened hair. College boys with long hair and cargo pants. So much of the same thing. I'd rather see some diversity; I love seeing it when people are different and wear things they like, and do things they like to do. That's why normal is boring, and why my neighbors and housemates are so cool.

-My physics exam this morning wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be. Sweet. Hopefully my bio stuff on Monday will go just as smoothly.

-I love and miss my family. They will be up tomorrow for the UW/OSU game, and I can't wait to see them.

-The sun is out, and I'm going to go enjoy it a bit before it's time for work. Ciao!

Work and school are, in an increasing effort to make me go insane, taking over my life and consuming all my time. Consequently, I have little room in my schedule for much besides working hard and then relaxing. As such, I rarely get around to blogging anymore. Maybe it's just as well, since I don't have much to blog about except for work and school...

... but since I am already posting, I might as well post a little bit of something. And it's going to be about customers in stores, especially at Trader Joe's, and what you should or should not do as a customer.

My list of do's will probably be short. But what else can you expect from the employee?

-DO ask the employees where stuff is. We'll help you find it faster than you just wandering around, and we don't mind.
-DO apologize for getting in the way of an employee, especially if they apologize to you first.
-DO be at least a little friendly when you interact with us. We're people, too!
-DO bring your own bags - either old paper ones or reusable cloth bags. Save a tree.
-DO bring things to our attention. We need to hear feedback, because we want to offer stuff that you people want to buy. We need to see when something is missing a price tag, or is located in the wrong place, because that way we can get a price on it, or move it.

Now, the list of don'ts:

-DON'T dig in the back for the freshest milk or cheese or meat, unless you need it to last a while. You should see the stuff that gets thrown away at night at a grocery store.
-DON'T just sit there and watch us bag your huge cartful of groceries. The checkers at TJ's don't usually have baggers, and it's stupid to just sit there and do nothing while the checker scans everything, then bags it for you. Help out!
-DON'T walk up creepily behind an employee and start asking your question. Say "excuse me" or "hi, can I ask you a question?" This is basic human decency. If you fail to lead into the conversation, how are we supposed to know you're talking to us? I think this has to be my pet peeve, when I'm doing something and a person behind me just blurts out something like "do you have any rice noodles?" It shows complete arrogance on the part of the customer.
-DON'T scold us for things like high prices or low quality of a product. Low-level employees have nothing to do with these things. Submit a complaint or talk to the management. They get paid more to deal with that kind of crap. We get paid low wages to stock shelves and lift boxes.

There are many reasons why customer service is crap. In Germany, they don't give a flying frick about customer service. You gotta eat anyway, right? So you have to shop at a grocery store. They win their consumers over with low prices. That way, they cut out this whole thing where you have to kowtow to the customers' every demand. The customers know that the employees personally don't care if you find everything you're looking for or not. In the US, the employees don't care either, but they have to pretend they do. It's really just a bunch of BS, and it's nice that Europeans tend to bypass that.

I'm sorry, I don't know how I got on that rant. I'll just go to bed now, since it's almost 3 am anyway. Have a good night.