He’s always here, I actually consider him to be my third (and unwanted) roomie.

He’s loud, inconsiderate and rude. He does not contribute in any way to bills, cleaning or groceries, despite taking advantage of all of it.

I constantly clean up after both of them, because I would rather live in a clean environment than wait however long it would take them to actually do anything.

I’m a woman on the edge. I almost physically punched him last night.

I really just wanted to put this out into the void, and I am expecting no response (unless one of them reads it– which is always possible, but unlikely–they’re too busy giggling and wrestling).

(Note: my roommate knows how I feel about him. I can only say “I hate him” so many times before it negatively affects our friendship)

Consider this an etiquette guide for shopping.

1)  You have absolutely nothing to gain by being the first one in the store.  
Waiting outside the store at 9:59 AM, eagerly watching us open the storefront will only get laughs and get you made fun of.  The only time when being the first one in a store is tolerated (and I say that lightly) is on a day with a GIGANTIC sale (which my store never has) or a big shopping day (tax-free weekend, day after Thanksgiving, etc.).  I once saw two frat boys high five each other for being the first ones in.  I laughed in their faces.

2)  Messing up clothing beyond recognition. 
When rummaging through a stack of shirts/pants/etc., it is perfectly fine to look through the stack to find your size by picking it all up nicely.  It, however, is not okay to leave/throw the apparel you looked through somewhere else on the table in a disorderly way.  People have worked very hard to put them in size order and make them look presentable.  And when the people putting those items out for you are obsessed with the clothing looking perfect (like yours truly), it is a no-win situation.  They will not be happy with you.

3)  Never tell us how to keep up the store.  
Telling me that you have a problem with the way the store is set up or run will get you a forced smile and this line: “I’m sorry you have a problem with _____, but it is a teen clothing store and our company sets an atmosphere that will be teen-friendly.”

4)  Walking into an obviously “employees only” section (aka the cash register area or the stockroom). 
Not only are customers not allowed in those areas, but it also kinda freaks us out.  It’s as if our personal space bubble has been infiltrated.  At my store, we have a large cash register area and have had customers come behind the registers to go from one spot to the other, use the space to sort through merchandise, ask us for assistance, etc.

5) Asking us to make sure we take the sensors off of the merchandise. 
“No, ma’am, we were just going to leave those on so you would set the alarm off when you walked out so we could sort through your clothing again.”

6)  Not answering our questions. 
Yes, we realize that you hate getting asked redundant questions at the cash register.  We don’t care for it either, trust me.  But blankly staring at us or laughing at us is just plain rude.

7)  Asking for an exchange without having the items you want to exchange.
It’s a tremendous waste of time for you to stand in line just to get told to bring what you want to exchange your return for with you.  It’s even worse when you say you were wanting to exchange items when we are literally in the process of giving you your money back.  Past a certain point in transactions, our computers do not have a “cancel” or “back” button.

8 ) Arguing over prices.
If an item rings up for a price different than what you thought it was going to be, do not get mad at us.  Simply tell us you thought it was a different price and we will see about it.  If the tag says differently, we’ll do a price adjustment and apologize.  If not, we will still apologize (I hate that) but inform you that it must have been misplaced in the clearance section.  Reading is hard, we know.
Also, pay attention to what things are ringing up as when we are scanning them in.  If there is a discrepancy over the price, bring it to our attention then.  Do not walk a few feet, look at your receipt, and come back angry.  We would have to do a return for a price adjustment, and that takes more time than it would have for you to look at the screen showing your purchase price.

Those are just a few of the problems my coworkers and I come across.  There may be more added as I work more, but these are the most common occurrences. 
We really enjoy when a customer is friendly and kind and does not make a fuss over the little things.  In fact, it kind of makes our day.  And you’re basically guaranteed you will not be complained about when you leave (and that can’t be said for everyone).

I was very excited about going back to ETSU for about a month.  But now that I’m having to commute a great deal for a schedule I planned around having a place closer to campus, I’m not as excited as I should be.  My mother is actually concerned that I’ve lost my drive and goals, which is not the case.  I’m bummed, that’s all.  I’m sure once I’m back in it, I’ll be fine.  I’ll just need something (or someone: TOM) to occupy my time on MW for about 3 hours on campus.  And don’t say studying.

One of my closest friends isn’t speaking to me, and it’s all because of me never knowing when to shut up.  I have opinions, and I never keep them to myself.  I have no censor.  I want the best for my friends, but I don’t always go about “suggesting” things or showing disapproval in the right or most supportive way.  This has happened before to one of my closest girl friends, and our friendship hasn’t been the same since.  We are not as close as we once were, and we hardly ever see each other anymore.  I don’t want this to happen with him, but I know that if I contact him again, I’ll make things worse.  The subject can’t be avoided.  It’s a waiting game now, I suppose.

My 22nd birthday is in a little over 4 weeks.  I definitely don’t feel my age.  I see all of these people I graduated high school with (and younger!) graduating college, getting married and starting their lives together.  When I was younger, I wanted to be married by 22-23 and be a mother by 24-25, and I certainly don’t see that happening and it’s kind of sad.  Sometimes I’m afraid I’m not “the marrying kind”.  We’ll see.

I read a spoiler for the movie “Orphan” last night.  “HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” is what I have to say about the “twist” ending (don’t click the link if you actually want to give your money to that shit).  Peter Sarsgaard, I’m incredibly disappointed in you. 
Oh, who am I kidding?  I’m torrenting watching (legally) the hell out of this movie.

Things are looking up for me.  I’m out of my funk for the most part, although my living situation still bums me out pretty much daily.  I’ve still yet to see “Harry Potter” (shocking!), but I’m hoping I’ll be going in the next few days to the drive-in near Thom’s house to see it and “The Hangover”.  What a double feature!

There’s been a lot of family trouble in the last 48 hours (none of which I will get into) and it’s been really hard on my parents– I hate seeing that.

Friday night, we went to go pick up my cousin and went out to eat.  I couldn’t eat (and all of you should know that’s a bad sign) and was feeling terrible.  I got sick (I haven’t thrown up since 2nd grade– with the exception of when I got my wisdom teeth out and I had a reaction to anesthesia) and couldn’t hang out with my cousin, who I hadn’t seen since high school. 

I did, however, go to Dollywood yesterday with my mom and cousin after weeks/months of wanting to go and that was a nice time, but we were having to be on the phone quite a bit and so it was hard to keep my mind off of anything for too long.

In all this mess, I’ve started to feel sorry for myself.  I’ve been thinking about my future, the lack of “independent living” this coming school year, and my relationship with my family, friends and my boyfriend and how the latter two have really taken a hit lately.

I’m taking a lot of my frustrations out on Tom, and he does not deserve it.  It’s causing a lot of unnecessary arguments and issues.
I’m hardly ever in Johnson City, and it makes seeing my friends very difficult. 
Every day, I’m feeling more and more lethargic and not wanting to do much of anything at all. 

There was no other reason to post this but to explain my behavior and mood as of late, and I hope things all-around will get better.

And this happened on the same day that I found out I may not be moving to JC after all.  I’ll just go right out and say it– FML.
But I shouldn’t be selfish.  The reason I may not be moving is because my mother’s job isn’t as secure as it should be to sign a lease on an apartment, and seeing as how my father is a teacher, getting an apartment on just his salary would be out of the question.  We’ll see how things go. My fingers are crossed.

So I’m a little blue these days, and I’m constantly tired.  I feel like Dorothy in the episodes of “Golden Girls” where she has chronic fatigue syndrome.  I went to my grandparents’ today and I was so tired I could hardly speak, and I got about 8-9 hours of sleep last night!  My eyes are swollen, I’m cranky, I’m lazier than usual…it’s not the best combination.

On a more pleasant note, I reallllly want to go to a water park, and I think Six Flags White Water is where I’m going to go.  Now, all I have to do is convince Tom to go with me and find a one piece (because Lord knows people lose their tops and bottoms on the slides and I am not about to let that happen!) that I can stand to wear and isn’t ridiculously priced (ModCloth, I’m talking to you).  This should be interesting.

I’m pretty certain I need to start exercising again.  I started about 12 weeks ago and kept it up for about a month, but I just got bored (as I do every time I try and do this).  Any ideas about what I can do to keep from boring myself into obesity?

My best ladyfriend Adrienne is in the (relative) area for a few days.  I haven’t seen her in almost a year!  She moved to this country called Texas and got a job sellin’ underwears.  She stopped by the store today, but since there was a miscommunication between us, it was about an hour and a half after I’d left (and I was already about an hour away from the mall by that time)!  I’ll be honest, I cried a little bit.  I really hope she can make it into to JC again before she goes back.

At first, I was really bummed about Hollister “giving” me a 4 day weekend.  But I’ve gotten really used to this.  I was up til 3 am last night!  Which, for me, is huge.  I go to bed around 11 most nights.  Sometimes I think I’m an old lady trapped in a 21 year old’s body.  I’m okay with it.

I heard a rumor that Carmike is doing a Harry Potter MARATHON!  If this turns out to be legit, this needs to be made into a group thing.  Who’s with me?  I doubt Tom will be too into it.

Once I move into my apartment, I’m going to have a Highlander party.  I will be cooking some foods, baking some cupcakes, and whoever comes will be watching the greatest movie of all time.  That is, if those that attend can handle me quoting it in awful accents.  You’ll be getting free food, so I’d say it would be worth it.  Oh, and I’ll be singing Queen’s “Who Wants to Live Forever” over and over and over….

I’m pretty sure the summer is made for Meat Loaf songs.  I think I’ll make a CD.

I wore my “Born in the USA” t-shirt today, and I heard the song on the way home from Wal-Mart.  I don’t think I’ve ever felt as American as I did at that moment.

I’m deleting my Twitter account soon.  Probably tomorrow.  I can’t guarantee that it’ll be permanent, but for now I’m tired of it.  Too many stupid problems happen because of that place, and I’d rather not have it.