nearly insane

i'm nearly insane with impatience. so close that i almost stuck my arm through the phone this morning when i was talking to the poor bank employee who regretted to inform me that it was going to take ANOTHER 7 to 10 business days for me to get my new checks, which were supposed to be delivered to me a week ago..and that those 7 to 10 business days begin after i come in to show proof of my new address because she won't change it in the system from my word over the phone. they can't print out any extra checks for me either..."we don't do that"... i really almost stuck my arm through the phone and punched her in the face. well, considering that isn't actually possible. i asked "Well, what am i supposed to do, i have bills that need to be paid". and to her "i'm sorry maam, but you'll have to wait for the checks in the mail"...i said "this is rediculous" and hung up on her. i don't know if i was the talk of the morning, but i went there after work today to show them my lease, and the guy i spoke with said he could overnight me more checks to my current address, and still change the system to have my new address. i smiled and said 'thankyou, have a nice day'.

now i need to be just as bitchy with my landlords to make sure that the cabinets that have recently been water logged and smell are fixed and changed...i can be assertive, i really can...i have to be...

so, today...my boss and i were out on the job, as i've been shadowing my fellow team members since i started...she was the lucky one to have me with her today...we went on all our visits...has some good discussions with our members, and were starving, so headed to the polish part of town to grab some cheap lunch and head back to the office. a VERY polish grocery store also sells take-out food for lunch and it's super cheap an good, so we walked in to order our food.

now, just a bit of information about my boss. she is a very dynamic black woman. and i say this with utmost respect and admiration...because she will teach me a lot. she is the most positive and thoughtful person i've met in a long time and would give you her last dime in a heartbeat if you asked her. but she also knows how to get business taken care of, and is not one to be taken advantage of.

so, back to the story of the polish grocery store. so, we're in line to order our food...the two of us stand out like sore thumbs...she more than me, as a black woman, but me too, we're both obviously NOt polish, nor do we speak anything but English. so, my boss, bless her heart, begins to tell the employee what she wants in her plate, finishes her order and waits patiently for the girl to give her the food. as it's the first time i've ever been to this store, i'm not sure how things work, and am merely observing the order of business...but my boss quickly notices that the girl didn't weigh the food on the scale, but merely places a stamp on the container which has the amount of money charged for the food. it was $2.50...nothing to make any mention of...but my boss, having gone to this store numerous times before, is curious as to why her food wasn't weighed like usual, and asked the girl...who has limited English speaking abilities...and thought that my boss was giving her a hard time. my boss, in turn, started getting frustrated because she wasn't getting a straight answer from this girl...and instead of just taking a breath to make sure that they were both listening to each other, she took this as attitude and started making a fuss. the whole time, i'm like...ok, it doesn't matter...it's only 2.50...who cares if she weighed it or not..there are 12 other people in line, hungry and wishing you'd just hurry up and get going...it doesn't matter. but she kept on. at one point she asked the girl if she spoke English, to which the girl gave a look of deep insult and then was even harder to get anything out of. needless to say, my boss finally let it go, and said she'd meet me at the front of the store. meanwhile, other people were passing me in line, and i had to specifically ask the girl if i could be waited on b/c, by association, i was despised as much as my boss was, and they didn't want to serve me. all the other customers in line were speaking polish to the employees and it was obvious taht the girl was talking about us b/c in and out of their talking was "can you speak english"...they were mocking my boss.

needless to say...it was funny, and i completely think my boss was out of line cause she made a huge deal out of nothing, but it was really funny. i know my boss didn't mean any harm cause she said, the second i met her at the front of the store, that she was soo embarrassed by her behavior and she apologized over and over for embarrassing me. i just laughed and said not to worry about it, but she kept going on about how she can't believe she made such a scene. sometimes we can't help ourselves.

i think i won't be eating polish food for a while. my boss joked that when she goes back in there, she'll have to wear her hair down and do what she can to make sure she looks as different as she can. though another coworker reminded her, that a black woman in a polish store is going to stand out like a sore thumb no matter what she's wearing. i guess polish people don't like black people much...and this didn't really help that...

it was funny though.