It's winding me up at the moment, here's why.

When I was asked to work at that certain store there were various others I could have gone to, one being round the corner from me another about 10 mins away or the other two which are about 20 min drive from home.  I narrowed the other out because the drive would not have been very nice in winter so that's how I came to the conclusion of where I am now.  The store looked promising even though it was 17 km's away.

One of the reasons they employed me is because I'm hard working, can do the work of about three of their useless employees and I knew how to merchanidse well.  Work on my own initiative, unlike most of their employees.

I was promised after Christmas there useless employees would be re-training but the problem now is they have to do a lot of cut backs due to the lack of payroll and sales.  This means that the people they have employed continue to be allowed to be brainless.

You ask them to re-stock and they do it for about an hour but the motivation/passion/goal just isn't there, it's bloody fustrating.  I can get a full back log of boots and shoes out in one day and to get that level of productivity out of one of them members of staff would take three days.  No joke, I've been witness to it, you feel like saying don't bother I'll do it myself!  You have to trust them apparently, cut them some slack and the excusses are made for them by my manager why they can't do it.

I know some young people are very hard workers but the ones she has hired are so useless, it's like we have z list celebrities in the store and we are paying them just to be here.  Paris Hilton does more work when she shows up at a party!!!

This is one of the problems, we have a back room line and their jobs are to stock the store but they have never put any shoes out, they don't bother.  I find this very annoying.  So in affect I'm doing a shift leader job, restocker and also trying to train as an assistant manager.  It's hard bloody work.

I'll come in one day and they'll say, Cassie please concerate on the shoes/boots today.  So I'll have the big back log gone by the end of my shift.  Then the next day they will put me somewhere else even though if I kept going and reduced the shoes on the shelves and emptied it even more when the new stock comes in it would have a home straight on the shelves.

Another thing that annoyed me is this story and yes I know it could only happen to me.

When I came in the other day the toliets were blocked, full to the brim.  I thought nothing of it apart from in inconvenience but thought someone was dealing with it.

One of the staff came to me at 6pm to tell me that the drain was over flowing in two places at the back of the store.  I thought, ok......... I'll  phone the manager.  I asked them to move stock out of the way because like I said they just don't think!

I asked if she had contacted anyone and she replies "oh, the blockage, I forgot about that"  I thought she was joking at first then I asked "what do you want me to do?"

I was to call a plumber she had on her white board anyway I phoned him and he was fagging it over the phone and told me he may be able to get someone out by 8pm.  I said "right. ok but you do realise we shut at 9pm so just bear that in mind before someone comes"

It gets to 8pm and still no one had turned up, in Canada nothing is ever seen as being important or rushed.  That's unless you are driving because everyone seems to be in a rush and up your arse, lol.

He does turn up at 8:20pm so I show him all the drains and he gets on with putting a hose down the front of the store drain, I had to move fixtures and clothes.

It gets to 9pm and the plumber is still sucking water out and the store stinks!  I mean really smells.  I have a customer at the front asking what time we close and I said 9pm he asks if it was alright if he could look at jumpers I said sure. 

Anyway this is where the fun really starts bearing in mind I had to be cashed out and locking the door at 9:30pm.  It's currently 9:10 the customer is still looking around so I asks if he need any help, one question is leading to another now.  My level of customer service is going down very quickly as it is now 9:20pm.  He now proceeds to ask if he can look at the ladies clothes I said sure, our company has a policy where we can't ask the customer to leave it's stupid.

The plumber informs me that the problem is blockage of used tampons and there is a collection of them residing on the floor, nice.  He informs me that this happens every year and they call the company out and they can never do anything.

So not knowing now what to do, I try to call my boss again, but no answer on her home phone or her cell phone.  Feeling rather left in the learch I phone the assistant manager.  She tells me there is nothing I can do about the plumber and I ask her for her advice on the customer I can't get rid of she says there is nothing I can do about it.  I have to wait for him to leave.

I sign for the plumbers bill, one hours work for $375 isn't bad........not!  Then I proceed to go to the customer which at this point it's 9:30pm thinking that I should now be going home I am really getting annoyed.  I asked if he need any help and he said he was looking for something for his mother.  I thought right and then replied but I don't know how to help you because I don't know this womans size.  He then replies with she used to be very big chested but now her chest is very saggy and she weighs xx amount.  I thought this was a bit odd and made me feel a little uncomfortable.  He raises a ladies top and put it right up to me and says she's about your size.  I back away and walk off to the other girl that was with me and told her that I felt he was very creepy and wanted to get rid of him.

It's now 9:45pm and still can't get rid of him, lucky for us the plumber is still here.  I go back to call my assistant manager again as now I just want to go, she said be professional and tell him the store is open tommorrow without saying can you piss off now please.

In the end my co-worker got rid of him saying "sir sorry I am going to have to tell you to leave as we are having drain issues"

He goes to the till with all his products and most of them he said he didn't want creating a mess at the back of till.  He then asks my co-worker to put a top up next to her, then says pull it tighter around her waist.  Luckly she is a girl with an attitude and told him no and he finally left at 10pm an hour after closing with the plumber.

I spent the next 20 mins cashing up the last till and filling my paperwork out etc etc.

I was due to open that morning and was dreading what I was going to find.

Our back room manager says we have a problem, I reply I know I have a problem but what do you think it is.  She said she tried to plunge the toilet and now the drains are over flowing.  I thought great 8am and I have to phone my manager.

This time she answers, I explained the situation and she tells me to call head office.  I call head office and she tells me to call drain doctor I ask for their number and she tells me to look it up in the Yellow Pages.

I'm looking in the Yellow Pages and not finding it, so i'm getting fustrated as we only have me and another front floor person.  I grabed all the directories and get two of the back room staff a copy each and tell them to find drain doctor.  I can't use the web at work as the pages are blocked so one of them calls her husband.  Apparently the only Drain Doctor is in Calgary, I don't think this is right.  I told the stupid woman we were in Edmonton!

I call head office back and she then tells me to look in our Yellow Pages and pick one.  Not liking this even more and the need to "cover my arse" kicked in.  I call my manager back, she's getting anoyed now and tells me to call the guy we lease the building off to get a referral.

This is going on over a few hours, I get the referral and he reccomends someone when I call them they want cash on delivery or credit card.  So I have to call my boss back, which to this she isn't happy about and takes the situation off me with a statement of, "someones head is going to roll in a min"  I replied "as long as it isn't mine I'm not bothered!"

A few days later some of the people are now aware of the crazy night I had at work but nothing is said as to how I was to best handle that sort of situation again for the next time.  It's the not knowing what I'm surposed to do which is the annoying part.

My manager does not thank me about the plumber mess, to be honest nothing is said!  Apart from the fact the bigger company that was called in that day couldn't do anything to sort out the blocked drains either but now there is a $2,000 bill for there time.

I get given this task to change the prices on the outside of shoe boxes on our most popular syles of boots.  Because they are going up in price it means getting a sharp knife and cutting the price off, opening the shoe boxes and taking the price tags off very time consuming and I get this great task. 

I started it at 3:30 and was due to finish work at 8pm, just 15 before the end of my shift the other shift leader comes up to me and informs me about having to do the garbages, coat hangers and debit bin.  I said out loud, "they must think I'm wonder woman!"  Why couldn't one of the others that hasn't been doing anything all night have done it.

After I've finished I realise I don't have next weeks shift in my diary, to my shock next weeks shifts haven't been printed.  I mean on a Friday evening and I have no idea what i'm working next, wtf!

I leave a message for my boss letting her know what I've finished and asked her to contact me with regards to next weeks shifts.

All day yesterday there was no call, so this morning I had to phone work and find out.

I'm extremely annoyed with work at the moment.  I know I won't be able to get my wage anywhere else so my hands are tied.  My hours have been reduced to an average of 20 and is now making driving to work pretty stupid.  I'm fustrated, maybe I should have a chat with my boss but I feel she has the habit of pacifying situations.  I was brought in with two other people to help change the running of the store and since going there nothing has really happened.   Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.

Hopefully we shall have our visa soon

I cant believe January is nearly over, just where is time going to i wonder.

Christmas is now just a blur its great looking back on the photos and remembering the fun we had. The kids said it was the best one ever. They didnt get a great deal of expensive pressies for a change. However being active and in the tropical pool nearly every day certainly made them happy.

At the moment our lives seem to be in limbo, unable to make plans as we are hoping by April to be on our way to Darwin.

Ive been giving a lot of thought to how i want my future plans to go. I know i want to go to uni and get a qualification that will enable me to work till i retire.

My options are do the easy route and possibibly familar route and re do my Enrolled nurse training and have a diploma after 2 years. In some ways it would possibibly be a step back as i qualified some 20 years ago as an EN

Do the degree nursing course of 3 years which would give me a long term job, the hard work dosn't put me nor does the studying but unsure if i want to go back to nursing again.

Thirdly i could do a humanitarian and welfare course lasting 3 years again i would be registered with the association of welfare workers but im not sure of the job avaliabilty at the end of 3 years studying.

Im 40 in June so no spring chicken and want to work with people and use my life expereinces as well as my current qualifications to secure a decent life for myself.

I dont think V is too keen on me going back to studying again and would rather i just get a job, so i had a look at some of the jobs that interest me and they all need formal qualifications in either nursing or welfare/social work. So either way i think going back to uni has to be done.

Not much else going on.

Well helllooooo.

Long time no hear.  No I haven't forgotten about the blog.  To be honest I think I spend

 far too much time playing Mafia Wars, lol.  I have the worlds biggest pile of ironing to complete and I've just finished a coffee and i'm in need of another so let me just put the kettle on before I start.

Right it's boiiling, so what's new in Cassieland.  I survived Christmas in retail so that's a start, eh.  Lots of hours were put in and I bearly saw Neil during Christmas.  Apart from Christmas Day and New Years Eve.  We went to watch Avatar on Christmas Day.  Oh hang on there's the kettle, wait a mo.

Right, there we go, as I was saying we went to watch Avatar, to be honest I didn't really think much of it.  To Neils disgust, we saw it in 3D and I still just think it was just a film.  What's all the hype about?

I'm also trying my best to work my way up at work, trying to learn as much as I can as quick as possible.  It's handling the difficult customers which is the hardest part of my job.  My manager and Assistant Manager have said they are going to do all they can to help give me a leg up.

I can give two very opposite stories about two customers.

This man approached me he looked angry to start off with.  He asked what are warranty  was on boots, I've been caught out before by this question so I flipped it on him.  "How long have you had the boots"  he replies "well over a year".  I then said "six months is the lifespan of a work boot what's the problem with them?"

He pulls them out and says the stiching has come apart.  I was looking at these boots and they were well worn!  There was hardly any tread left.  I said "sir, I think you have had your wear out of these boots and there is nothing I can do for you, we don't cover general wear and tear"  He tried to argue with me but there is no way I'm letting him walk out with a brand new pair of boots for free!  His girlfriend then shouts "Bull Shit Lady"  This kind of pissed me off.  I then said I will give you our phone number and you can talk to the assistant manager yourself tommorrow. They followed me to till I wrote down the number and as I passed it to her she snatched it out of my hand.  Then she looks at the customer paying for a pair of boots and says "how long have you had your boots for?" he replies "five years, why?" she then says "well I wouldn't buy any boots from here they don't stand buy their "life time guarantee"  I just wanted them to get out of the store how dare they try to stop another customer from buyng a pair of boots.  I think he thought they were nutters anyway.  It makes me laugh when they say "life time guarantee"  we don't have a life time guarantee and do they think its for their life time.  Buy one pair and you never have to buy another ever again.  We are a buisness, we need to make money.  Life time guarantee what an idiot!

The next customer goes to the other extreme.  He came in with a pair of boots and they had come apart it was an obvious manafactuers defect but we didn't have the boot size to exchange.  So I phone about 5 different stores untill I found his size.  While I was on the phone I was saying how my car needed a wash just to create small chit chat.  He left the store very happy with the service.  Then 15 mins later he came back with a car wash for me and said how much he appreciated my good service I was blown away.

We just came back from the first ski trip of the season.  We went to Marmont Basin in Jasper.  The ski was good but a little too much powder at the bottom.  Neil fell and hurt himself, he got the edge of his ski caught as he was turning back to see where I was.  As he fell he bashed his head and his glasses cut his nose.  He had blood on his face and it worried me at first, I wish I took a picture though because it wasn't as bad as it first looked.  We are back again in February with our friends which we are really looking forward to.

We have booked tickets to go back to Blightly in April.  I don't really want to go back to be honest it's like a chore.  The only reason I am going back is to see if I really am missing anything about my old life.  I like the new one I've created here in Alberta if i'm honest.  Lifes really great here, our jobs seem much better I don't think we have any regrets.

We have received the 120 day e-mail from the Canadian Government telling us to submit everything to London so we are on our way now to gaining PR.  I've decided to stop eating crap and drinking alcohol for the up and coming medicals we will need to take.  I'm looking forward to house hunting, getting out of this rental we've been in since moving here.

I think that's me updated now, just need to spell check all this and I will try not to leave it too long before getting back to you guys.

Love

Cassie

Firstly I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, I hope Santa brought you all what you wanted.

I got my bright yellow ski jacket for hitting the slopes in this year, this one has lots of pockets and covers my fat arse which is exactly what I needed, I also got some purfume.

This year is a complete contrast to last year, we actually have plans.  I messed about on Facebook and BE and will be playing my Wii resort game with Neil straight after typing this blog.

We will be having an English Fry up for Christmas dinner, including Black Pudding, English Baked Beans that I brought from the English shop.  There weren't cheap either and that's why we are doing it for Christmas dinner.  Four cans of Baked Beads cost me $12.50 and that in GBP is 7.45 or there abouts.  the Black pudding was $8.33 GBP 4.96 and I got some custard at $3.50 GBP 2.09.  We don't buy this stuff all the time and it was just a bit of a treat really.

In the afternoon we are off to the pictures to watch Avatar with some friends.  I was shocked to hear the pictures is open on Christmas Day, the poor people that have to work it I really feel sorry for.  I remember last year speaking to the family on Skype for hours and having nothing planned.  Now look at us, we've made some great friends here, and really struck it lucky. 

Nothing else to tell you guys, hope you have a great Christmas period, I'm working most of it but i'm going to try my best to enjoy it.

Love you all, Bye.

Just seen the results on the OU website, i got a grade 4 pass, i had hoped i would get a grade 3 but a pass is a pass. So thats me got a degree, at long last.

Im just waiting for confirmation on the degree from the OU asi canged to an open degree, i need to find out if it will be the BSc or the BA. Hoping it will be the Bsc, i then have to accept the award before i get the certificate. also my last course gave me an additional certificate in health promotion.

Ive been crying with a mixture of happiness, relief and sadness that my gran wasnt alive to see me get my degree.

Im treating myself to a bailieys tonight and maybe even a take away.

Any how got to get the kids from school, back into the pouring rain.

I could have almost kissed the girl from DHL when she picked up our precious envelope.

So this is it, police checks done, medicals done and in oz already, just waiting for the visa now.

I start voluntary work on Thursday, i will be visiting an elderly lady who lives on her own in the next village. I only visit for an hour and ive also agreed to help out at the local day centre for the eldely when they are short staffed. Im now going to body max classes on a Monday, spinning class on Wed and aqua fit on Friday. Feel happier having something to occupy me now .

Im off out shortly to take the dog for a walk as he has not had a walk for a few days due to the state of the field near us, way too boggy but as its freezing outside the ground is solid now.

Now ive just got to be paitent and wait for the medicals to be finalised and the visa to be granted. Ive got Christmas to shop for and the holiday to look forward to.

Thats all for now

Cant believe the application form has finally been finished, just need to photo copy it so that if anything happensand they query any of the questions then we can refer back to anything.

Going to get DHL booked for next week. Will be so glad to get this paperwork on its way to oz.

V has decided no matter how much the kids and i want to get to oz asap he still wants to wait till April. This is really bugging me as i turned down the chance to do my return to nursing course which finished in April as i did not want to delay him. But since it is his employer sponsorship that is taking us to oz i just have to accept it. Even if im freezing and hating the cold weather so much.

It seems strange to not be studying and i must admit i have been rather bored with just doing housework while the kids are at school.

Ive started a new fitness regime and my body aches so much, ive been doing aqua fit for just over a month now and have enjoyed it, so this week i also started going to a body max class on Monday, i enjoyed it but i felt stiff and sore when i finished and yesterday i did a spinning class which was the hardest work out ive had in a long time, im alll aches and pains today, tommorow its back to aqua fit. I shall give it a few more weeks before i decide if i will keep  the spinning class up.

I suppose i had better get on with tidying the living room up  

WE are slowly getting closer to a life in oz.

Im almost ready for sending the visa application off. Just got to get some copies of the data page of our passports done and have them certified. V needs to finish filling in his forms( i thought he had) then i will be booking the courier and getting them sent off asap.

I know one of the laterals has just recieved her visa today, they had theirs sent off in September so it not been too long for them.

V wants to wait till April before we move over to Darwin, but im hoping to go sooner. I suppose we will just have to wait and see how things go.