Ugh

It’s been a rough couple of days. 

On Saturday, I had an AM shift. As I was driving to work in bumper-to-bumper traffic, the brake lights of the tractor trailer in front of me lit up, and of course, I hit my brakes as well… but nothing happened. I had the pedal pressed to the floor, but it was like I wasn’t touching it. Because of the traffic, though, I was only going a few miles an hour, so instead of crashing into the truck in front of me, I glided into it softly enough that he didn’t feel it and there was no damage to either vehicle. 

I somehow made it to work without any other incidents, though I was late because I was going super slow. After my shift ended at 3, I called AAA because I wasn’t sure I would make it home. The tow truck took my car to a garage to be checked out, and the diagnosis was not good. Not only had the back brakes failed, but there were a lot of other problems, including “possible internal failure.” I wasn’t surprised. I know pretty much nothing about cars, but I’ve been driving this car for five years, and I’ve known something was wrong for awhile. In the end, nearly $800 was forked over (and that was with a 10% discount) and I waited for three hours while they fixed my car. I didn’t mind the wait- in fact, I was really grateful that they worked on it up until closing to fix every single thing- but the fact that there were that many things wrong with my car was really scary. 

I was glad I didn’t have to miss work the next day… I thought. The day before at the same store, my manager had watched me do a few shows, and saw me being harassed by a customer. She told me afterwards that that was the line- if someone talks to me like that, I’m allowed to cancel the show. It was good to know what the limit is, but I figured I’d never have to worry about it. But then, during my third show, a woman stood front and center at my table with her two young children with her hand out, waiting for the free gift we give to everyone. But before we give them out, we ask them to watch a demo. Most people are fine with this, and if they’re not, they leave; no big deal. This woman, however, wanted her gift now and she was willing to berate me until I gave it to her, even going so far as to grab for it. Instead, I told the group that I was cancelling the show, and if they wanted to join me in ten minutes, I would welcome them. As I turned around to walk away, I heard a noise behind me and turned back around to find the berating woman flipping the table over (onto her children, I might add), grabbing a free gift, and running away. 

I was stunned. I have been harassed, I have been snapped at, and made to feel awful about myself at this job, but NEVER have I had to deal with physical violence.It shook me up, but after a walk around the store and having some people from that audience telling me I had made the right choice, I put up another show fifteen minutes later. A lot of people who heard the story asked why management wasn’t all over her, but from what I was told by the store employees, behavior like this is pretty run-of-the-mill in the inner-city store. 

That was my last day in that store, thankfully, but today was a challenge, too. I was working in a store that we’ve been in twice since I joined the company. It’s across the street from my house, and I was excited to go back, since we’ve done well there before. But many things were working against me: 1) We’ve been there enough that everyone who wants our product already has it, 2) it’s tax time and people are thinking about money in a negative light, and 3) the store doesn’t control its own thermostat, and it was cranked up to 80. I though it was just today, but I heard from my coworkers that it had been like that all week, and customers had been fainting. No one fainted while I was there, but no one wanted to stand through a demo while we all had sweat running down our faces. In the end, I only sold eight, which I don’t think I’ve done since I started at the company. But whatever; we’re out of there now. 

This coming week involves my neurology appointment and getting new headshots,both on the same day, both very scary.