Yeah I noticed this summer that the Marshall's and TJ Maxx carries some higher end brands. I saw a purse that had two security devices on it and thought that was weird, until I saw the price was around $200.

I'm blanking on the brands but I know there are some higher end stuff. I don't know if it's all Marshall's that is like this or only the ones around here. There's money in the area if you count people with vacation homes in Stowe and Canadians that come down to shop and save. I would assume that's the demographic.

Unfortunatley they are short on plus sized clothes and I really need some pants for work. The TJ Maxx's is slightly better in the plus size selection when it comes to outer wear but they still carry price handbags.

Much health~ma for your sister, Beth.

I had a phone interview for a job nearby. When I asked what they were looking for in a candidate they parroted back my description of my approach to the job from 10 minutes earlier. So that's promising, I guess.

Good news Calli. Fingers crossed.

My sister interviewed for a new job this week. She really needs to get out of the toxic environment she's in now.

They asked for salary reqs before her interview and didn't seem to have an issue with it, so that would be nice (not that what she indicated is particularly high, but it's better than she makes now and would ease things a lot for her.)

Aside from feeling positive about the interview itself, at the end of it the guy looked at the references she provided and laughed. He knows all three of them both personally and professionally - one of them he said he speaks to several times a week and another he had lunch plans with next week. So that's gotta be good.

Hang in there, Beth. This will get less scary.

So much ~ma for your sister, Beth.

Sending good thoughts to you and your sister, beth.

And Calli, fingers crossed for you!

Much ~ma for you and Sis, Beth.

Stressed-out introvert's whine: We did a tour of our new workplace across town, where our entire department will be moving in January, yesterday - it's very shiny and glossy and I hate it so much it makes me itch.

It's on a completely open office plan -- not even the doctors have private offices, and the little conference rooms scattered throughout have all been filled with chairs specifically constructed to be too uncomfortable to sit in for more than an hour. Plus, due to the open office plan it’s going to be incredibly noisy once it’s fully occupied, so there’s an overhead sound system pumping white noise incessantly to muffle conversation. Plus plus, since research involving HIPAA-protected info happens in the building, the whole thing is secured - not just the entrance, but every single floor. We're only on the 5th floor, but we have to take elevators up those 4 measly flights; no more healthy leg-stretching stair climbing ever again, and not even a silent stairwell to retreat to from all the talk and the fans and the hum.

If I don't manage to transfer to another department (which I don't want to do; despite crabbing occasionally about them, I *like* these people -- I don't want to work with them in a fishbowl with a wind machine whooshing overhead eight hours a day, but I like them and I like the job), I am going to turn into a weird little snarling troll who wears earplugs and hides behind her Les Nessman tapemarks on her cubicle floor, I just know it.

Dread.

No stairs to your floor? What about exiting in the case of a fire?