It may only be July, but we’re starting the countdown towards the busiest time of the year at the store which translates into MAJOR transitions, big product sets, lots of headaches…. and the phenomenon known as the “overnight”.
There used to be a time when I could stay up all night and never feel it the next day. I am here to tell you… THOSE DAYS ARE OVER!!! I kinda forgot about the fact that I’m 51 and not 15. While my mind tells me I can do anything at this age, my body has other thoughts.
Overnights mean going into the store at 10 PM and being locked into a building with 6 other people who are your co-workers and friends, all the while hoping that by the time you leave the store at 6:30 in the morning you are still friends! Because by about 3 AM, sleep deprivation sets in… tempers get short and the sounds of wailing and the gnashing of teeth are starting to be heard from different aisles. I’m pleased to report that J and I are still best friends!
It means “lunch” at 1:30 AM and hoping that everyone brought what they said they would because there is no running out for pizza at that hour! It means being thankful that you brought a pot of sloppy joes even if someone else was supposed to bring the main dish that night… which at the last minute turned out to be a fruit platter. And I use the term loosely since the “platter” turned out to be a pint of strawberries that had seen better days and 6 bananas! And it means chowing down on chicken and sloppy joes and tacos in a bowl and pasta salad and bbq weenies and coleslaw at an hour of the morning when most reasonable people would see fit to be sitting in a Waffle House having a proper breakfast.
It means the sound of groaning if anyone dares sit down for a minute and dares to get back up.
It means LOTS OF COFFEE!!!!
It means the radio blaring music and breaking into an impromptu boogie-down in the middle of an aisle while one of the kids is hollering for me to sing the Roller Skate song.
It means dragging yourself out of the store at 6:30 in the morning, knowing you have to be back at 10 that night and wondering if you’ll be able to sleep while it’s light outside. It means finding out you shouldn’t worry about that because your body is so exhausted it could sleep through anything at that point!
It means doing it all over again the next night and knowing there’s another one of these to get through in 3 weeks.
There’s nothing like it….
I’m gonna go rest now!
I think we were the only ones “bobbin’” down the isles dear friend. The others were looking at us like we’ve lost any sanity that might be left…but then what the hell do they know…I can appreciate good music even if those around us IE “H” and “K” don’t…pooey on them….
It’s kind of sad that those youngun’s you speak of can’t seem to keep up with us old fogey’s…what’s a little sleep deprivation anyway… so we get a little cranky so what… that comes with the territory… And you were kind when you mentioned the fruit “platter” OMG Schnucks would be put on notice if they tried to sell what she did as a “Fruit Platter” Never again will I ask her to bring anything (including herself LOL) oh that wasn’t nice was it… Ah well… Keep your head up Sista
J
By: joan on July 11, 2008
at 8:31 pm