Ups and Downs

Well, my work situation has vastly improved. I talked to Debbie, and so for the last few weeks I've been working just under 40 hours a week, which is much more manageble. I've even had more than one day off a week for two weeks, which is shocking.

The downside of this month is that my Grandpa died. I flew down to Florida (luckily, above listed manager was totally understanding and didn't give me a hard time about having to miss work at the last minute) for the funeral, which was really depressing, as one might imagine. On the plus side, everyone in my family managed to behave, even the crazy one (I won't say which that is, on the off chance she or he might find this post.)

Eric's mother drove me crazy. Wait, that's not fair... drove implies past tense. What I meant to say was, she is driving me crazy, drove me crazy while I was in Florida, and will more than likely drive me crazy in the future. There we go. She kept pestering the Hell out of us to come down for Thanksgiving, even though we kept telling her that I'm a cashier, and the day after Thanksgiving is the busiest day of the shopping year, so odds were slim but I'd give it a shot. I talked to Debbie, who thought I'd be able to get that time off, so I put in the request. The next day, my grandpa died, I missed this whole week of work. His mother doesn't seem to understand that I need to confirm with Debbie that I can still have that week off, since I just missed this week. I understand that if there was someone else at the store who hadn't taken any time off lately who really needed that week off, it wouldn't be entirely fair to let me go when I've missed so much work the last 3 months for family stuff. His mother doesn't. She also doesn't understand that when I'm blacked out (ie, not allowed to take time off) between December 15 and January 15 that it means that we will NOT be able to come down for Christmas or New Year. Here was our conversation:

His mother: Will you be down for Christmas?
Me: No, unfortunatly I'm blacked out between Dec and Jan 15th.
Her: Oh.....

(Much later)

Her: I'm really depressed that you won't be back for the holidays... are you sure you can't come back?
Me: Yes. No one in the store can take time off between Decemember 15th and January 15th.
Her: (thinking) Well, maybe you could come the week before Christmas.
Me: (amazed she's made it this far in life) Christmas is the 25th... a week before is the 18th... that's during my blackout time.
Her: Oh... what if you came before then?
Me: .... well, if we come for Thanksgiving, then that means we'd be home for a week and then have to come back.
Her: Oh, darn... well, at least you can come for New Years?
Me: (repress rage repress rage) No, New Years is January 1st, I can't take time off until the 15th.
Her: Oh................................................ are you sure you can't get the time off?

At this point I made an excuse to leave and let Eric deal with her. Ugh. On the plus side, rage makes me forget sadness, so the constant levels of irritation she provided helped me not be too upset for long.

Now, to go watch the Gators. Fingers crossed for luck; I'm worried.

~Katie