Madison Dollar Tree=NO THANKS

So things have been very different since I got down to Madison. I've always had a sort of romantic relationship with Madison and am glad to be here. Living somewhere more permanently is, however, less exciting. We didn't have internet for a week so instead of hash through what Liz already wrote in her blog, I'd like to mostly fast forward to more recent events.
Excuse me, but holy shit do I hate the Madison (Whitney Way) Dollar Tree. Before moving I had talked to the manager and thought he sounded a little drab, but whatever, I figured SOME of the other employees have to be more upbeat in personality. No. Then my EC manager suggested that I visit the store first because she's weary of the Madison stores having lived here previously. Liz and I went when moving into our apartment that first weekend. It seemed normal enough. Odana Road, next to Laredo's, in a nice strip mall...The size and content of the store was very similar to EC and I figured all would be fine, especially if seen as merely a transitional job. My manager and I talked a couple more times before my first shift and again, very drab. Boring, skeptical, fatigued, and it seemed like they needed me but were afraid to say it. So whatever. Tuesday night I go in and this high school mexican chick is just staring at me. ok:

"Hi. I'm Theresa and I'm here to work....Transferred from another store. Nice to meet you"
"Talk to the manager"
"Ok....where?"
Yer comes around the corner. "Follow me. You can put your purse here and you'll be on register 5". We proceed to sign and in it's awkward. Fred, who never introduces himself (though I did in a friendly way to him) grumbles about my log-in number thing not working for 10 minutes before we realize that someone else has the same 5 digits of their SSN as me. We figure it out and I get sign-ed on. Cashier for 2 hours, not a word from anyone. Then, "You can go on break". Ok, great well there's a huge f-ing line. After helping another 10 people I (politely) ask 2 elderly women to go to another register. They're fine with it. Big Ole Black Lady walks over as soon as they leave and slams two 4 packs of Shasta on the counter and I ask her to go to register 1 please so I can shut mine down (The light is already off). "Where your closed sign?!" "I don't know. It's my first day and I have already helped too many people after I was told to shut down. I'm sorry, but she can help you on 1." "No." ok, so ring her up and politely ask if she wants a bag, acting as though she hadn't just been extremely rude. "yeah, but don't bother!!" She grabs her own bag from behind the register and slams her shit and takes off. WTF?? The rest of my night was equally bad, we got out late and NOBODY talked to me. Then I find out the bank that I have to follow the closing manager to is fricken halfway to Middleton. I got done and needed a damn orange cream shake from McDonalds.
TONIGHT I did NOT want to go, but I was trying to be optimistic. "It'll only be for a month or so until I start subbing"... OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH NNOOO THEY DIDN'T! It was ten times worse. The manager was STILL old, boring, and cold and won't even look me in the eye. No feedback, no chatter, no help, no condolences. Drunk as hell lady loses her keys and wants us to drop everything and look for them. SHE SHOULDN'T BE DRIVING. IF YOU CAN'T TALK-YOU CAN'T DRIVE!! She swearing her head off and finally we find them aftering doing PA announcements and crap. By the time I had my break I wanted to walk out, but the manager is so frickin' creepy I thought he might come after me. I decided to finish out the night. I didn't know that the store outside of my front area looked like hell, and someone else was a no show tonight and that I would stay an extra hour and a half AFTER close. We didn't even do everything we're supposed to do because then I would have legally had to take a break. This was me working with the GENERAL MANAGER, busting my ass, and he just kept grunting and NEVER thanked me or gave me any feedback. It's not just the lack of feedback. It's the lack of instructions at all. Don't they know that stores do things differently and someone needs to tell me what I should be doing, at least in a general timeline sense? ARGH. Tomorrow I am NOT going. Wow, that was a long rant for only 2 days on the job.
I know I need money. I am determined to make a lot of it. I would rather scrape the grill at McDonald's than ever set foot in that hell-hole again.

One thing that Liz and I are looking forward to, being in Madison, is leaning about and experiencing diversity. Sometimes it's hard not to generalize or stereotype. Stereotypes exist because of patterns in reality. There have been a lot of pleasant interactions since moving here, with people of all backgrounds. Some of the customers were surprisingly welcoming for example. Some...paid for $23.00 worth of shit in dimes, nickels, and pennies and yelled at their kids to shut up the entire time. Some...yell across a quiet store because they think they own the place because they have an EBT card. Some...smell like they only bathed in their own urine for the past year and steal shopping carts at 7:30am to cart around their garbage bags and recycling.
Believe me. I care passionately about being a good person and doing right to all of humankind. But right now...I wanna bust a cap in someone's ass. I want to smack some of these parents. At the same time I want to hug some of these kids. I want to have a beer with some of these old Bill Cosby types and I want to make a difference somehow. So right now, I guess Madison has not been very much like I thought it would be. That's not negative. And it's not extremely different either...but it's perplexing at times.
ALSO, between Verona Rd. and our apt. must be the thicket from Bambi because I have seen a racoon, rabbit, a cat, many squirrels, and a FRICKIN' SKUNK. Damn thing was wierd. Very black, with 2 very clean, white stripes, checking out our patio area. Better be careful.
Well, that's likely plently of reading material for now. Tomorrow is major job hunt time and hopefully I'll hear back from some of the schools I want to sub for. Fat Z and Yakob are coming to visit Saturday night I believe and I can't wait! Cable=more frequent posting hopefully. Catch you on the flip-side folks. Send me some sega.