Monday, December 29, 2008

2008 Rachel Wrap Up

2008 in a NutShell

Started my Masters program at Augsburg
Watched as the 35W bridge opened back up
Fell into the long arms of a tall man
Had a scare from mom's behind
Witnessed the first Black man get elected President
Blasted through below zero December days
Ran 26.2 miles through Kansas City
Ran 13.1 miles from Stillwater to Hudson
Ran a couple 5K's here and there
Said goodbye to the legend of politcal news-Tim Russert
Let the gas eat my money up
and then rejoiced when prices went down.
Walked with sand in my toes
and lost a few toe nails.
Took pictures beachside
started to plan the next vacations.

Holiday Shoe Sales

I never thought I'd be happier to hear the end of Jingle Bells as I was this past Friday. I started the seasonal job in shoes with a perky outlook. "I will get to listen to Christmas music as I work!" I seriously thought that it would be like an adventure. I wanted to see the other side of "The Day After Thanksgiving."

That was until I stood for 8 hours straight handing credit cards back to people and saying "Receipt with you or in the bag?" My feet and legs never hurt so bad. I couldn't understand the pain. I ran a marathon just months ago! Feet...where are you? Maybe it was the marathon running that really caused the addition to some of the pain. My right knee twitched at the end of my 12 hour shift on Black Friday. The same right knee that I was dragging across the finish line in Kansas City.

The worst part about my job in shoe sales- I was not allowed to sell shoes. I was a designated "ringer". Bewildered customers looked at me for shoes and all I could say was "Sorry, I can't get shoes for you. I will have to locate a sales person for you."

I can't complain too much, though. The store that I worked at gave me a nice Employee Discount. I'm sure the people I bought gifts for enjoyed it much more though. I was able to get them twice the amount of stuff for the same chunk of change.

I'm finally done. Finally done with hunting down the shoe horn for the old fellers. I'm done answering the phone only to find out that I can't complete the task of finding shoes for the caller. Finally done picking up shoe stuffing from the floor. Finally done.