Today Thursday and Throw Back Thursday

I take this to mean---I am a genius!!!!!

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Okay--I visited the Circus today and found out the problem.  The Blu-Ray was purchased because they had to have it for the Netflix to play through?  The Netflix streaming video doesn't stream.  It floats along and occasionally gets stalled by a rock in the stream.  Reason?  The router is too far away from the TV/Blu-Ray.  The router is in the back bedroom next to the computer--about 30 foot away from the TV.  What to do?

I told them to call Comcast, their provider.  Perhaps another router just for the TV?  I don't know--but I do know, Comcast can straighten it out for them.

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My dryer repairman is coming tomorrow to install a new thermostat--I told them it was the thermostat because you know.........

He will arrive sometime between 9-1:00.  So I will have to get up early.

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I went up to the Wal-Mart this afternoon.  I am going broke feeding the cats/birds/squirrels.  I got some peanuts in their shells for the squirrels. 

 Unfortunately, the Blue Jays ate all of them.  I have managed to keep the squirrels out of the bird feeders.  How in the world do I keep the birds out of the squirrel feeder?

I also got a smallish bag of Safflower seeds for the bird feeders.  Birds love them, squirrels hate them.  I don't know how St. Francis ever kept all his animals alive living on a friar's salary!!!

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Merle came down and helped me carry in the heavy stuff.  Jug of litter-bag of dry cat food-24 pack of wet cat food (bits because the won't eat pate')--5 jugs of Diet Pepsi--some Ice Melt--and a gallon of milk.

I love my Wal-Mart Savings Catcher.  I put in the receipt number in the site and it checks 27 local stores for a lower price on all the items.  If there is a lower price somewhere else, they give me the difference.  

Then I put that amount into my Blue Bird card (to be used like a debit card at Wal-Mart) and they double it.  So far, I have $50.49 on that card since Christmas.  I just let it build up and then if I run out of money end of month and need food or something, I go to Wal-Mart and use the money on the card.  

So much easier than the savings thing they have at the Meijer store--you have to go on their site, and click digital coupons, then at check-out, put in your phone number, your pin number and it totals up the savings.

Yes--It's nice to shop at Meijer, which is a nicer store, the prices a bit higher, but with my budget--it's Wally World for me.  I have a very Liberal friend who constantly scolds me for shopping at Wal-Mart where, "they don't pay their employees enough!"  I tell her, "if the Wal-Mart employees aren't happy, they can always go across the street and work at Meijers."

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Speaking of Meijer--Dar thinks she is going to get fired!!  She caused a big stink last week and now, the manager won't speak to her.  She went to his office to talk to him and he got up from behind his desk and said, "I don't have time for you and all your stuff." and walked out of the office.  

Just the week before she told me how well she is doing at the store and how the manager wants to promote her--yeah right.  Now, even the Assistant Manager won't talk to her and the cashiers on both sides of her won't speak to her either.

Meijer is a union store, so I doubt she will get fired.  Just my opinion, but from my experience, once you get into the union, you won't be fired no matter what you do!  So many tales from ex-hubs about guys working at GM that took naps for an hour after lunch in their hidey holes, smoked pot at lunch hour and sometimes, were so drunk they could barely work.  AND that was in the Skilled trades department!

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And speaking of GM--like my segue? (How do you spell that?  Seg Way)--Shortly after my divorce I had to find a job.  All I could do was type 80 words a minutes (thank goodness)--and applied at Kelly Services.  They sent me to the Buick Motor's Headquarters in Flint--as a receptionist--for two weeks.

I was in the department where GM employees came to buy a company car.  All the big wigs got brand new Buick's to drive--3,000 miles, then they turned them in for another new car and we sold the Buick's to GM employees for a 28% discount on the price.  Great program!!

I worked with five of the most wonderful men I have ever met--big wigs in their own right, but so down to earth and nice.  They'd give me a few other jobs to do besides answering the phone.  The more I did, the more they complimented me on what a great worker I was--the more jobs I took on.

Within a couple of years, I was no longer a receptionist, but was doing all the paper work for the car purchase.  One day I spoke to the head guy in accounting and asked if it was possible for me to fill out the car titles, along with all the other paperwork.  

Usually when the dealer came to pick up the car, he couldn't get the title.  I sent the paperwork down to accounting, they filled out the title and mailed it to the dealer.  That meant the customer had to go back to the dealership, in two weeks, just to pick up the title.  

Well--the head honcho in accounting didn't think that was possible.  All the titles were kept in a locked drawer.  I told him I had a locked drawer in my desk.  He'd have to take it up with the guy that was head of Buick.

Thankfully I knew the head guy as he came into our office every time he turned in his car to get a different one.  I knew all the guys on Mahogany Row as we called it--because the offices there were huge, with lovely furniture and appointments and had Mahogany paneling on the walls.

A week later, I had all the titles for our fleet of cars in my office.  When the dealer came to pick-up the paperwork, he got it AND the title AND all he had to do was go up to where the cars were parked and back to the dealership.  He could do the car deal in one day and the new owner didn't have to go back in to get the title.  

I was so naive that I didn't know there were special steps, and levels and procedures and proper channels you had to go through in the Corporate world to get things done.  All I knew is that me having the titles and filling them out was going to help our dealer's.  Therefore, I thought, it's a good thing, let's do it!  I didn't ask permission from my direct boss, I thought of the idea one day at lunch and on the way back to my office, I stopped in Accounting and asked. 

Two months later, the head big dog came up to my desk and told me that, I was named Buick Motor Division's Employee of the Quarter.  A photographer and interviewer would be in the next day.  My face and story would be in the next booklet put out for ALL Buick employees--all over the country and Canada.

My work building

Buick Motor Division--World Headquarters

John is supposed to be showing me paperwork--which he is, but he is saying, "Wanna go to Angelo's for Coney's at lunch?"

and I am saying, "Sure."

I went in as a receptionist for two weeks, Buick "bought" me from Kelly Services after 6 weeks and I stayed for 7 years.  I was considered a Part-time Flex Salary Employee--meaning I could only work 28 hours a week (although I always worked more).  I didn't get all the GM bennies my fellow workers did, but I did get to buy a car at the 28% discount.

Salary?  $9.00 an hour.

Best job I EVER had.  First job I ever had, LOL.  I sure miss those guys--still.

Buick was downsized in 1992 and I was out of a job.  I moved up to Saginaw and worked for a Buick dealership there.  The reason I got that job?  The General Manager had met me twice when he came into our office to pick up one of the company cars.

When my unemployment ran out and I got settled in Saginaw, I went into the dealership and asked him if there were any job openings.  Two weeks and a few tests later, I had me a job--a HUGE decrease in pay, but it was fun.

and....that's a whole nother story.