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Remember When FB had Notes?

7/31/2021

So I got my first real job back in 2009. I worked at Sears in the Dayton Mall. I learned, real quick, that my patience for adults was limited.

I used to write fb notes before I got into blogging. I forgot all about them until they started popping up in my fb memories. Sometime last week, a note I wrote about my experience as a cashier popped up in my facebook memories. There are some things about me that haven’t changed...I find that to be very interesting lol

Here’s the note written by 17 year old Ashley:
(I’m not going to make any edits. I’m going to leave it the way 17 year old Ashley wrote it)

Title: Things I Hate About Being A Cashier

When I’m opening up my registers and there is a sign that says This Cashwrap is closed go somewhere else and people still stand there and say can i ring out here...Does it look like i’m open..HELL NO take yo ass to a register that dont have a sign big as day that says i’m closed.
When customers say they saw a sign that said the shirt was 40% off and you gotta go all the way across the damn store just to prove to they wrong..READ PEOPLE it ain’t that hard.
When people return like 90 million things with 90 million receipts and then don’t know what stuff is on what receipt.
The store close at nine and the customer walks in at 8:59 talkin bout where is your juniors department..BITCH WE CLOSED!
When customers come up to the cashwrap asking you questions then when you go to answer the question they wanna answer they phone..RUDE ASS
When you page CODE 3 (which means i have a long line and need some help) and nobody comes
When customers agree to open up a card then don’t know they social security number..You like 30 how the hell don’t you know yo social security number
When customers try to return underwear that was from two months ago..REALLY DUDE??
When i’m working with one customer and then the next customer puts their stuff on the counter and stands all up in our bubble...back yo ass up i’ll get to you when I get to you..
When a customer wants to buy like 8 zillion things and then wants to say “look i’m in a hurry can you move faster” nope i think i’ll slow down
When customers come up to the register with an attitude then wanna take it out on me..bitch you attitude is bad but mine is worse please calm your angry ass down… i don’t care enough to put up with that kinda bull..
This just made me realize what i hate most...PEOPLE!!!

And that concludes this thing…

OK WOW!!!! Those lower case Is were very difficult to type as a 29 year old educator. This whole thing is a hot mess, but it does take me back lol I hated that damn job. My favorite part was counting down the registers at the end of the night. It was like a little game.

Did you ever write facebook notes?
Have you ever worked retail?

Thanks for reading!

And look what I was able to dig up from the archives lmao 18 year old Ashley in her Sears uniform...enjoy lol I wasn't suppose to wear jeans, but we all know I'm a rebel ;)

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My First Procedure

7/30/2021

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What a day! Technically, it’s the last day of my summer break and wow that was fast! I declared it a no work day to my friend earlier, but then I did two loads of laundry, got Noelle a bath and light detail, I folded and hung up all the clothes I washed, I sent out a few emails for work, and cleaned out my refrigerator. I got a margarita and took a midday nap, so there...balance!

So let’s get into it!

Back in 2019, I had a spinal tap. It was my first procedure and I was fine until I arrived at the hospital. I was shaking and my eyes kept tearing up. I was in the outpatient procedure waiting area for what felt like forever. My procedure was at 2 and I had to get there an hour early. I was assigned the head nurse and she made sure I knew that lol Her name was either Cindy or Sydney. I can’t remember.

So Head Nurse walked me through what to expect and then I started silently weeping lol I was now terrified. I got myself together and she started doing the IV. I was newly diagnosed with diabetes at this point so I was no stranger to needle pokes. She told me to prepare myself and I told her I’m usually fine as long as I can see it. Yeah...I know that’s weird. Most people look away, but I need to see it lol She said well that’s fine and all but I think I need to be the one to see it. Don’t you think? And from then on, Head Nurse was a bitch in my mind. I swear I hate to see myself in other people LOL I can be a smartass sometimes.

So after she gets me together, I go to pre-op where they continue to prepare me for the procedure. At this point, I’m full on crying!! There was a male nurse, older white man, and as sweet as can be. He really got me through this and I can’t even remember his name!!! That annoys me!!! Anyway, I’m crying and he’s talking me through what’s going to happen next. He’s trying to comfort me with statistics, which is very helpful! He then asks me if I’m a christian and the easy answer is yes. It’s really much more complicated than that. He told me that God says I’m his sister and that we are going to get through this together. The whole time, he called me little sister. He held my hand and he prayed for me.

Now I’m in the procedure room. It is a huge room with so much equipment. I’m still full on crying as they numb my back. The doctor walked in all cheerful and excited and I’m just crying. The sweet nurse is still holding my hand and telling me what’s going on. I feel them rub stuff all over my back. The doctor says if I hit your nerve I’m sure you’ll let me know and I’m thinking WHAT THE FUCK!!! The tears start coming out even faster!! Everybody’s promising me that it’s going to be okay and I’m just like what? He can hit my nerves? What is that going to feel like? And why is that some kinda joke? I found out lol

So the doctor tells me that it’s time to put the needle in. I completely froze. As scared as I was, I wasn’t trying to end up paralyzed because I was shaking from crying so hard. I was bracing myself for the poke, but I literally felt nothing UNTIL HE HIT A NERVE!!! It didn’t hurt, but man!!! Its like a buzzing feeling. It’s difficult to describe. When he hit my nerve, I was like heyyyy!! It was like that was my only reflex because part of my back was numb. He apologized. It happened maybe 4 times.

After it was over, I went back to the first room I was in with Head Nurse. She said that I had to stay flat on my back for 4 hours after the procedure and then I should be fine. I asked her how long I would need to take off work and she said if I laid on my back for these 4 hours, I would be fine. I told her I teach kindergarten and asked if she was sure. She assured me that I would be fine and that I may get a “slight headache” exactly 24 hours from the start of my procedure, which was at 2.

At exactly 2pm the next day, I felt like I was about to die and I was ready. I was up underneath my desk because I couldn’t function. “Slight headache”? Head Bitch got that one completely wrong!!!! I had to leave work and go back to the hospital where I was informed that I should not have been told to go back to work. I spent the day hooked up to an IV watching 31 days of Halloween on Freeform. I watched The Addams Family movies and I slept.

I had the procedure on a Monday, went back to work Tuesday and left, and was off until Friday. And I only went back on that Friday becauseI felt up to it and we had a meeting so there weren’t any kids. Zoom wasn’t on anybody’s radar yet lol

This experience didn’t do much for my distrust of the medical field.

Thanks for reading! Gotta post another one tomorrow soooo see you soon!

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Rekindling Old Friendships

7/18/2021

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Heyyy!

I cannot wait to move. As I’m writing this, my neighbors have music playing so loudly that I can hear the words to the song. The mom doesn’t work and she’s home with three or four kids all day. I think she tries to drown them out with music. IDK but why do I have to suffer?

Anyway, let’s get into it! ← do I say that every time? Lol I feel like I do.

This is about to sound like a love story LOL and will completely go against what some of you know about me. I have no shame!

So this week’s post is all about rekindling old friendships. Not those raggedy friendships. Nope. Leave those alone. I mean the ones where you never thought you’d see the end. The ones that were nothing but laughter, shots, more laughter, deep conversation, even more laughter, more shots...or those childhood friendships where you were split up by geography and a lack of resources.

I’ve had tons of friends at different phases of my life. Never was I truly alone. I might’ve been fighting some demons that convinced me that I was, but I always had people. Now some of those people are not here with me in this phase of my life. Most of them are not here because we grew apart. Some of them are not here because they don’t deserve to be. The friend that this is about, she and I didn’t grow apart and I didn’t feel like she didn’t deserve to be a part of my life. She just disappeared.
So I wrote a post about her and our fading friendship. You can read all about it here: Dear Old Friend

If you can remember, I was completely baffled at what happened in our friendship. I blocked her on most of my social media and I didn’t want to talk about her at all. I was BIG hurt.

Never have I ever felt the need to backtrack on friendships. People are here for seasons and I am fully aware and comfortable in my understanding of that. People are 100% allowed to decide that they don’t want me in their life. I’m comfortable with that, too.

All those other friendships, I was like Moneybagg “I don’t backtrack, man fuck that, I don’t miss nobody” But THIS one lol I was in my feelings.

The pandemic moved this process of reconnecting along slowly and quickly at the same time. Obviously we couldn’t get together, which made it slow, but in all the years that we had been apart, we never talked as much as we did in the last year. We spoke a lot through text and instagram; always supportive of one another, not really addressing the elephant in the room. We decided we needed to reconcile in person. So until that time came, we continued to avoid discussing the issue. I didn’t mind, I was just happy that there was positive communication.

So let’s go back to June. She and I made a date to go to brunch. I was so nervous like it was a blind date or something. We ate and drank and caught up on YEARS of personal life stories. The restaurant closed and we moved to my car. That’s when we were able to really dive into this thing that we had been avoiding. The details aren’t important. What is important is that this whole time, we both felt the same way. We were both unsure of how it happened and thought that the other person ended it. Neither of us reached out in an attempt to respect what we thought the other person was choosing. Neither of us could let it go.

What did I learn?

The same energy you put towards a trash ass dude can and should be applied to a quality friendship.
Communication is never not the answer. Like everything always boils down to communication.
When you can’t let something go, there’s usually a reason and it should be explored.
Another Broken Egg makes really strong cocktails or I’ve become a lightweight.

Obviously, things can’t go back to being the way they were because we’re not those people anymore, but I am excited for what the future holds and grateful for the lessons that I learned from this experience.

Have you ever had second thoughts about an old friendship?
Would you reach out to that friend?
Have you rekindled an old friendship?
How did you reconnect?
Was the reconnection worth it?

Thanks for reading! See you next week :)

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In My Opinion: vol 1

7/11/2021

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I said I would write a blog soon...is this considered soon? Sorry! One day I’ll fill you guys in on this strange situation in which I have found myself.

I’m home, sitting on my couch, watching HIMYM because I got back into that.

Sooooo let's get into it!! Have you ever had a conversation with people and they say something you disagree with wholeheartedly? And then you realize lots of other people have that same opinion that you disagree with? This post is about some of those opinions.

There are a few things that have come up in the last few months and I’d like to share my unpopular opinions about them.

The Wiz is not good. It’s actually quite creepy. That movie is not for me.
You owe people explanations. I disagree with the notion that it’s ok to do things that are rude under the guise of protecting your peace or self care. It’s a cop out for people who don’t know how to communicate and don’t feel the need to learn. This isn't about people you don't care about. Obviously, you don’t owe EVERYBODY an explanation. But you can communicate with friends or family. You don’t have to go into detail, but unless you live a life on an island by yourself, there are people who count on you to show up. My anxiety caused me to say fuck everybody and, in my opinion, that was wrong. I could at least give my loved ones the courtesy of a “high anxiety day” text or something like that. I just think people have taken that whole no explanations thing to the extreme.
You cannot be a good parent to the kid and be shitty to the other parent. You think kids are not that smart, but they can read a room better than you think. I’m not saying you have to be besties, but coparenting is more than just sharing a kid. It’s a partnership. You're on team “kid”. Let’s say you’ve got a basketball team and one teammate is putting undue stress on another teammate. It’s going to affect the game whether the audience knows there is a beef or not. Part of doing what’s best for the kid is being a good coparenting partner. Putting your differences aside to get along. Some of yall be worried about the wrong things. You’re modeling how to navigate complicated relationships, which are inevitable. Now even though I just said it’s a partnership, I also understand that some people who make children are deadbeats and don’t deserve to be a member of the team!!! I get that, but this is primarily about coparenting teams where both parents are present. I’m not a parent, but I know children and I’ve seen the effects of bad coparenting.
KINDERGARTEN GRADUATION IS RIDICULOUS!!! Kindergarten graduation is an extremely archaic practice that we need to get rid of. I think kindergarten graduation was a cool idea back when kindergarten was half day, had nap time, snack time, and was mostly play based. To me, kindergarten graduation says "hey, now you get to go to real school" BUT KINDERGARTEN IS REAL SCHOOL! It’s full day, there are no naps, and it has common core state standards like every other school grade. They even have to do map testing. I have been moving away from the graduation because I honestly detest the whole thing. Graduating Pre-K makes sense. Graduating 8th grade makes sense. Graduating high school makes sense. Graduating kindergarten no longer makes sense. Now I do believe in celebrations!!! Students need to be celebrated more for the things they accomplish that don't show up on the report card. But having a graduation just to go to the class across the hall? Nah. I’m over that.

Hopefully I didn’t just offend or piss anyone off, but these are my opinions. I welcome comments, concerns, new perspectives, etc. Message me, comment, text me...everyone reading this knows how to reach me lol

Thanks for reading!!
I'll be back next Sunday with a new post!

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