did not mean to work yesterday...

I had plans to do some stuff around the house, possibly do some planting of things that have been sitting in pots for weeks - if not months - on Thursday. But none of that got done, when I got a call from Publix, offering me the opportunity to come in and get paid for being productive. So I got on my Publix attire, and went to clock in.

Just the process of 'clocking in' is pretty strange. When you try to 'punch in' the clock with your personal personnel number, and have not be scheduled for work by management, in the computer that tracks everyone's on the job time: of course you can't! But I discovered that the computer (reminiscent of Big Brother - as well as cameras mounted overhead all over the store + plus satellites observing our every move, + Google mapping) is always watching. It reads everything, remembers everything, even mistakes, and keeps a record of every effort, which makes me a little more paranoid than usual. And 'usual' is probably pretty high - due to personal history.

As you know, and I have stated here any number of times before: Guilt is a Great Motivating Factor.

But there have been so many weeks lately that I might get eight hours of work, and that would be divided over two days, when the assistant produce manager called and asked if I would come in and make salads, I quickly agreed. The fact that I had nearly nothing else on my schedule for the day was a big part of accepting. I did  tell him I had something scheduled at noon, and would need to work around that, but said I would come in as soon as I got my (uggh-ly) green shirt on. They thought they had a person coming from another store to do the fresh/prep.work over the weekend, but there was 'a failure to communicate', therefore a problem with Short-handed-ness.

I took a long lunch break, left at 11:45 and went to a 'lunch and learn' at the museum, sponsored by GSUSA. A staff member from the local office, and the CEO of the state-wide council talking about the history of Girl Scouting. Visuals always make a talk more interesting, and they had a powerpoint with photos from one hundred years of GS. The Historic Georgia Council have been celebrating all year, as has GSU nationwide. Girl Scouts started on March 12, 1912 in Savannah when Juliette Gordon Low gathered some girls in Savannah to begin a program for females modeled on what she had learned from observing Lord Baden Powell in England (as you know: the 'father' of Boy Scouts.).

Then we viewed a 'recruitment film'. Amusing - it had to be from the 1920's - no talking, but a musical score. Girls were in serious 'uniform mode', wearing hats that look like what we see now on Drill Instructors, and fashion-forward bloomers. Camping under the stars, with blankets for bedding, that they carried slung over the shoulder. Doing some fire-building that would not be 'safety' approved by today's standards. At one point demonstrating swimming skills by traversing a river, fully clothed, including hat, that she tucked her waist length braid under before paddling across. Overall so informative, that I am planning to write the local staffer and suggest they take the talk/video/film On The Road.

Then I went back to Publix to the salads that were incomplete. Left about 3:00, happy to add some extra hours onto this weeks' paycheck (that won't show up in bank until next week.)