B365V4.12 - Job losses

     So I guess our saga begins two Mondays ago.  I was sitting in the office, sorting weekend monies and paperwork and what not.  That us a process where I have to match the dropped amounts of money with what is listed on the cashiers sheet at the end of the shift, first I have to match the numbers and drops, then I have to sort the food stamps, the credit and debit cards and the overrings.  Overrings are when a cashier mistakenly hits the wrong key or a customer decides they don't want something that has already been scanned in, then the transaction has to be cashed out and labeled as an overring and dropped with their paperwork, then I get to go in on Monday and void out all of the overrings to get to our true sales number.  I imagine some people think I don't pay attention to such things, but in my stack of overrings was one for 8 Wicked male enhancement pills.  I could see maybe one, but in order to have 8 you either have to scan the same item 8 times or select 8 as the quantity before scanning and because it is a pill, it isn't an item we would take back after it left the store.  So I went all CSI Pittsburgh and took the time from the receipt and cross referenced it with our camera system.  Sure enough, someone did come in and purchase 8 pills (retail value of approx. $85), but the cashier took the money and the customer left.  This is why we do not let cashiers do voids on their own, theft is always a potential problem.  So I show the receipt to Brian as well as the camera footage showing the transaction did take place unlike what the overring stated, because my authority does not allow me to fire people, even over the obvious.  Hell an employee could shoot someone in our store and I still would need approval before anything could be done.  After seeing the case I had laid out, Brian called said employee in to explain himself.  The first excuse was that the customers credit or debit card didn't work.  That is funny simply because it shows on camera the customer handing over cash for payment, then he couldn't remember why he turned it in, so he leaves and calls Brian and says well Matt has it in for me, as if that explains anything we saw, then a few hours later he decides to remember that the customer brought them right back, which I watched the tapes for almost an hour afterward and he did not in fact come back, so with my detective sleuthing skills I managed to catch another thief and got him fired to boot.

      If that were the only job loss I were responsible for, it would have been an okay last couple of weeks, but I screwed up.  As you all know by now, I post little game recaps of all of the Pens hockey games, complete with the NHL.com video  recap.  I have tried to stay more on point during the playoffs, just because the Penguins luck seems to be better when I am on point (6 years doing this, 6 playoff appearances, 2 Stanley Cups, don't fuck with what seemingly works), then came the Pens - Sens series.  After Pittsburgh lost game 1, I got the recap up the very next day, after game 2 the series was tied and I got a little too comfortable, game 3 saw the Pens lose again and Marc-Andre Fleury get pulled.  Of course I scrambled to get the next two recaps up, but by then the damage was done.  If game 3 was the last MAF plays in a Penguins uniform, you all can blame me for not doing my due diligence.  That is a distinct possibility with the Penguins going on to win the series and the expansion draft looming.

     I should explain why I am doing a Friday blog on a Sunday night, that would be in part because until today, I have worked 13 straight days and 20 of the last 21.  I did sneak a concert in during that time frame, Coheed and Cambria at Stage AE.  It was my first outdoor show there and I like their outdoor venue more than inside which is colorless and boxy.  They put on a killer show, better than the 2016 show at the same venue, and while I never heard of the opening act before, The Dear Hunter, they played a pretty killer opening set as well.  C&C played some stuff off of their new album/CD/mp3 or whatever the kids call it these days, but they played enough of their older stuff that those of us closing in on SSI could appreciate it.  Being outside meant I wasn't cramped in the inside venue with a bunch of drunks, last show I was at I saw two people vomiting on the floor.  I've never understood the need to drink so much at a show that you cant remember it the next morning.  Sounds like a waste of money to me, but what do I know.

      There was some good news to cone out of my run of work days, I like to use them as bargaining chips when so needed, so as I was talking to Ed the other day on the phone, after game 5 of Pens - Sens to be precise, I asked him if he could check with 7 Up to see if they had any Stanley Cup Final tickets left.  I know, putting the cart before the horse, but the alternative was to leave time and potential tickets slip away.   Ed talks to the regional manager at 7 Up, they have the beverage contract at PPG Paints Arena, and we are one of their larger customers for an independent store, lo and behold they do have tickets left, two for game 1 and 4 for game 2, I said listen, I am not trying to be greedy, the two would work just fine.  And that, my friends is how I am getting into my first Stanley Cup Final game Monday night.  Truth be told, anyone could have went with me, usually I will post on Facebook that iIneed a "Partner in Crime", which means I have an extra ticket(s) to a sporting event.  Luckily someone responded, I hate eating tickets that I have finagled my way into.  Plus these are in the 7 Up  box, I cant just scalp and extra ticket on the street, 7 Up management will be there, last thing they need is some unknown stragglers meandering into their seating area and me trying to explain how they got a ticket in the first place.

      Well my laundry is just about done, I am multi tasking here, so I guess this entry is just about done as well.  Toodles.