Wishing we'd bought the damned doll......

So you remember me saying that we got DD a MP3 player for her birthday??? And that it was $118 dollars and came with a free month's subscription to yohell music???? Well, here I am to strongly, strongly suggest that my friends don't EVER BOTHER with buying a s@ns@ mp3 player, and CERTAINLY don't bother with yohell music unlimited. They're both rip-offs. While we had the month's subscription, DH "downloaded" more than 90 songs onto DD's mp3 player, only to discover that when the subscription ended, so did her ability to listen to the damned songs. Oh, her player still had them on there supposedly, but she couldn't listen to them because her subscrip. expired. It was starting to resemble Goblin-logic in Harry Potter. You pay for it, so you get to "own it" till you die (or, till the subscription expires), then the ownership reverts back to the seller. *shaking head* So, yesterday DH decided to shell out the $70+ for a year-long subscrip to yohell music unlimited so that we could download more music for DD on this player that we already spent $118 on. Yohell tells you on the FRONT page of their schpeal that you can "play and save music to ANY PC" through your subscrip. That you have "Unlimited Access from ANY PC without paying PER TRACK", no mention of having to actually PURCHASE the tracks once you've got the subscription. In fact, it says the exact opposite. That once you have the subscrip. you don't have to purchase the tracks individually. They're yours for the listening & downloading. That's what the front page says. That's what DH signed up for and shelled out $70+ that we can't really afford. Then, when he started trying to download songs for DD, the program kept refusing to let him unless he shelled out another $.79 PER TRACK! *shaking head* He even emailed the tech folks for yohell music unlimited and they said that oh yeah, the subscription only allows you access to see what music there is, and have the right to download for less than the $.99 per song that anybody else would have to pay. *WTF!!!* So, she's now got 30 songs on her player that HE downloaded from OUR cd's for her listening pleasure. *sigh* I guess that's what we're going to do: download from music we already own. What a freaking rip-off!!!! I'm totally wishing we'd gotten her the American Girl doll instead. At least that wouldn't be useless after 30 days unless you're willing to continue shelling out a small fortune each month.

**********

As far as work goes. I went to talk to BIG Boss Lady on Monday. (And, I didn't have to worry about pissing off Boss Lady by going over HER head, as she wasn't the one who wrote the memo to us pages. It was FROM BIG Boss Lady, so going directly to her shouldn't cause any problems.) So, I told BBL that I couldn't in good conscious sign off on having read the memo without bringing my concerns to her first. She made a couple of valid points (1: that if I DO NOT finish my pick-up, fine, but don't rely on verbal messages, leave a note for the folks who are in the next morning) for my sake. I pointed out how hard it is to get the job done in the time allotted (and I wasn't the only one who'd brought this up, so she knows that most of us have the same problem) and that by the time we get to the END of the pick-up, that's left plenty of time for somebody to be disarranging the shelves back at the beginning, and it's impossible to keep going back over & over again to straighten up behind people, that eventually it's going to have to be "good enough". She said that this is a valid point and when the first couple of pick-ups don't end till after 9:05 or 9:10 themselves, a third or fourth pick-up that includes going back up & down each aisle would be out of the question. So, all in all a successful talk with BBL. I felt pretty good after talking to her. Esp. when she said that other than leaving notes for KO the next morning, she felt that CM and myself weren't the focus of her concern, that we were doing a reasonably sufficient job with our Monday night pick-ups.

Things were going well until a couple of hours later I'd had a woman at check-out who was very confused about how we run things and kept getting upset when I told her (repeatedly) that I couldn't renew an item for her if she didn't have it with her, that I'm not qualified to do such and my computer doesn't have that kind of capability. The library director was thankfully there and able to get her to go to circulation with him to get the situation straightened out, but as she walked away she asked me if she had any overdues. I replied that she had one "delinquent item" but that it wasn't blocking her card, and she said "oh, that's probably the one that was due Sunday." I simply reqplied with "that's a possibility, I don't know but the folks at circulation can tell you what it is." And she left with the Library Director (who's a great guy, by the way!).

So, shortly after her confusion, I got off my shift at the check-out desk and went to get my outdoor gear on and go empty the outside book-drops and BOSS Lady (my direct boss, not HER boss) came up and asked me if I'd told the confused woman that she had a book that was due back on Sunday. I responded with "No, I told her that she had 1 delinquent and that she could find out what it was at the circulation desk and SHE responded that it was probably the one due back on Sunday. I don't know WHEN it was due back, or what it was, and I didn't say anything of the sort to her!"

BL: "Well, YOU shouldn't be telling her that she's got ANY delinquents!"

Me: I've seen CM, and KO, and LG, and CF, and EC, and EVERYBODY ELSE tell folks RIGHT UP FRONT that they have delinquents on their card. I make it a rule NOT to say anything up front because I don't want to deal with arguements. But, this lady asked me a SPECIFIC question, and I wasn't going to LIE to her! I didn't do anything that is ANY different from what ANYBODY else here does, and YOU even said we are ALLOWED to make the distinction between "delinquent" and "blocked" with this new system.

BL: Well, yes, but...... Maybe it's a better idea if YOU don't say anything of the sort any more!

Me: She asked me a direct question, and I don't believe in lying when asked a direct question.

BL: Hmmmmm..... (and she walked away)

Now, as I said to BL, I didn't do ANYTHING wrong. I didn't say ANYTHING that shouldn't have said. I didn't MISLEAD or do ANYTHING different than I think CM would have. Than I've seen PW do (when she was working with us) or LG (BL's favorite kiss-ass page) or even KO (the Senior Page). So, why she's ranting at me about it, I don't know. She herself even gave us the go ahead to say that there are X-number of "delinquents" if it pops up on screen. *sigh*

So much for having a good day at work Monday. I don't know WHAT I did to piss off BL so much that she hates me and now seems to enjoy finding ways to chew me out for things that I don't deserve a chew-out for. I wonder if she somehow found my blog and has seen that I've ranted about her before. *sigh* Oh freaking well. I'm not mentioning her or anybody else by name. And this is MY blog, and if I want to rant about work here, NOT on work-time, I damn well will!

I was SOOOOOO damned happy to have yesterday off! And I've got next Monday off as well. *grin* It's veteran's day and the lib. will be closed for the day. Of course that means I'll miss Biggest Loser next Tuesday as I'll be working Tuesday night instead of Monday, but that's ok. Any day off as a holiday is ok by me.

**********

The Dr's appointment yesterday went well. DD's ear infection did NOT reoccur. And her lungs sound clear & un-aggrivated according to the Dr. And the Dr. agreed that we can try DD off the asthma meds. BUT, if she has ANY flare-up, we're to get ahold of the Dr. and get her back on the meds. Ok. We can do that. And DD will still have her rescue inhalers here at the house and at school & daycare. And we've got some Pulmocort Respules put away for emergency if needs be. So, if she has a flare-up, DD won't be without meds to help her through until we can get her on her Singulair from the Dr. again.

So, it was a good appointment. YEAH!

Unfortunately DH is still fighting this cold. This morning he woke up sounding very rough & his voice hoarse. He was hacking & coughing so I tossed him his bottle of cloraseptic and told him to take it with him to work. I wish he'd let me make him my ACV tea and would take some of our Vit. C. drops like DD and I have been. That's how she & I are staying healthy. If he'd just get over his dislike of vinegar (at least enough to drink this stuff a couple of times a day) he'd be feeling better by now. As it is, this cold has lasted longer than any other cold I've ever seen, with him. But, it also hasn't bothered him EVERY SINGLE DAY. Yesterday he sounded fine, the day before that a little bit of a cough but not bad. Sunday, he didn't have any problem, but spent all night coughing Saturday night. This morning he sounds miserable. Tomorrow he'll probably sound fine again.

**********

This weekend I get to go shopping at "The Holiday Marketplace". *grin* I LOVE this winter bazaar. It's the absolutely nicest there is in town, and the biggest as far as I know. (It's a craft bazaar, but it's also kind of an indoor "fair" type feel. Not with all the exhibits & rides & such, but with all the vendors that come up from Anchorage that we only see now & at the fair. So, it's a blend of hand-made goodies, and more eclectic store-bought goodies. Things like "hippy" wear that you can only get here in Fairbanks these two times of year.) They hold it at the Carlson Center every year about this time in Nov. and I generally don't have any $$ saved up, so I have to stand around with my proverbial hand out to DH for the check-book or cash. This time I've saved $45 from several of my most recent paychecks to spend without having to endure his sighs & glares. He says he's ok with me spending some $$ on myself, but he's also rather grumbly when he just doesn't see the point in what _I_ want to buy. LOL So, this $45 is for ME. We may spend more $$ on christmas gifts on others, but that'll come out of our joint account. This is MY mad-money. *giggle*

Unfortunately we also found out that DD's got a practice at the U. at 3:30, which is all the way up on the hill on the other side of town. Thankfully the Holiday Marketplace opens at 10 am, and I told DH I want to be there no later than 11 am so I've got plenty of browsing time before we have to leave for practice.

THIS is the only kind of shopping I really love doing. Of course it'd be even better going with girlfriends instead of the hubby & kiddo, but hey..... I'll take what chances I can get. I don't like clothes shopping. I DO like grocery shopping, and craft-shopping borders on love. BUT, shopping for goodies at the fair & at the Holiday Marketplace is GREAT!!!!! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it. And the crowds don't even bother me, because invariably I see somebody that I want to catch up with anyway. *grin* OOooooooh, I'm so looking forward to spending 3 or 4 hours browsing lots & lots of goodies on Saturday.

**********

I think that about covers it for now. I've gotta go do my 20 minutes of exercise so I can get something to eat. *grin*

Have a Blessed Day!