I am not sure whether I have told this story before, but when I worked at JCPenney, I pretty much had a panic attack in front of a whole bunch of customers, because loss prevention changed their expectations after Christmas and didn't tell the employees.

This was before gift receipts and gift cards, so generally, when a customer came in without a receipt they either needed to pick something out then, or get cash. In order to get cash, we had to enter in their driver's license #. It would pop up on the register/computer when you went to give them cash.

Apparently, there was a grace period on this for a couple of weeks after Christmas. But they didn't tell the people operating the registers because they didn't want us to tell our friends.

So I had a line of people returning things, I was all by myself, and the register "let" me give someone cash without putting in the Driver's License. Since I knew this was not the policy, I called security and told them, and asked them what to do.

And they said "We can't tell you what to do." Now keep in mind, I was already in trouble once for taking the credit card of a married couple (who I knew were married) from the wife even though the name was the husbands WHEN THEY WERE BOTH STANDING RIGHT THERE TOGETHER.

SO I said- 'What do you mean? Is there something wrong with the machine? Can I give her this money?"

And they just kept saying that they couldn't tell me.

And I was so confused, and thought whatever I did I would get in trouble, possibly fired for, and there was a really long line, and I was all by myself, and I just burst into tears, and I couldn't breathe. In front of all of those customers!

I ended up phoning the girls department (I was in infants) and they sent someone over to relieve me who was a nurse trainee, and figured out I was having a panic attack (I didn't understand what was happening), and I ended up having to be off the floor for about 2 hours.

She came back and said they did it every Christmas, but we weren't supposed to know they were doing it, we were just supposed to follow the prompts and they assumed we would do so without question, so I guess security panicked because none of us were supposed to know so we could not take advantage of it. It was so strange, and I am still a little embarrassed that I had a public breakdown over it! But it was like my brain froze and I could not figure out what the right thing was to do.

My mother has the WORST taste.

No, wait. My mother has the SECOND worst taste. My Aunt Olive's is way worse.

My mother has the SECOND worst taste. My Aunt Olive's is way worse.

Oh sweet Lord above. How is that possible?

Color scheme differences, mostly.

I HATE diving in and figuring stuff out. Hate. So badly that I'll just back away and leave it undone.

Greensboro has rocking chairs in the lobby, -t. Don't know about Charlotte.

Wow, Sophia, that is some astonishingly bad policy they had.

Have lunch (including Izze, nom) and have selected 4 squares for the superb owl pool. I think I won something last year, so I probably won't this year, but it's only money.

Greensboro has rocking chairs in the lobby, -t. Don't know about Charlotte.

Charlotte has rocking chairs in one of the concourses, I believe.

Wow, that sucks, Sophia.

I'm ok with diving in and figuring things out if the setup is built for it. I pretty much learned Moodle that way--my (good) manager (not to be confused with the one mentioned earlier) asked me to figure out how to use the learning management system and then how to make it do what we wanted. No micromanaging, no "why didn't you do it this other, more efficient way?" Just figure out how to make X do Y. On the other hand, things like, "take this article you wrote and make it better," don't fly for me unless you tell me what "better" means. More concise? More detailed? Frontload some outcomes in the first paragraph instead of having them flow with the narrative? Write about Tom Hiddleston's career arc instead of public health funding issues? "Better" is useless in this situation.

I would not be able to work where I work if I wasn't okay with diving in and figuring things out, but it's an exhausting way to live and contributes to my constant decision fatigue. And this is why I'm trying to find a role with healthier boundaries.

I just found a file drawer of applications from 2006 to 2010. Company policy says we only have to keep them for one year! And these all have to be shred. By me. Ridiculous.

This nonsense at the office is a big reason I do not want to deal with papers and organizing when I get home.

Beautiful house, Flea! Great news, Sumi! Plei, you may borrow my brother anytime. He's a good guy and he's even a geek, so bonus!

I generally prefer the dive in and figure it out school of learning. It's how I learned Photoshop, how I am learning painting, how I cook... I had the freedom to do that at my last job (oh so many years ago), which was largely why I loved it.