Sunday, September 20, 2009

Pure Hatred

I'm no saint, and I'm certainly no victim, either. The one person in this world that I can honestly say I hate and mean it, is my ex-boyfriend, though he never did anything mean to me. His name was Brian, and I couldn't stand him. To this day, I wonder why I agreed to go out with him in the first place. I think it was because he was so different from my high school sweetheart (who I had dated for two and a half years and was obviously sick of). Either way, it doesn't matter. The point is, I dated Brian for nine months, and I really started to despise him after the first five.

"Style"

First of all, Brian is not my type and he's pretty much the exact opposite of me. I've always been more eccentric with my clothing, while he dressed very, very plain. One day I had him pick out an outfit for me; it made sense because I have all sorts of clothing and accessories in various colors, plus I have other fun things like tights, boots, chokers, wings, boas, hair extensions, etc. However, after that, he would start wanting me to pick out his outfits. This made little to no sense, because all he owned were plain blue jeans and button-up shirts (usually plaid and NOT in a variety of colors at all). Honestly, his wardrobe only consisted of these colors: brown, gray, tan, blue.

Another thing that annoyed me was the fact that he would "style" his hair and then ask me if I liked how it looked. Note that my previous boyfriend had long hair that he was constantly cutting, styling, dying, etc. Brian had less than an inch of hair, and it was his natural hair color. He would often try to put it into a faux hawk (which I absolutely despise, as I have a real mohawk with the shaved sides and everything). He would also usually wear aviator sunglasses and looked a complete douchebag.

"Transportation"

I've been driving since my parents forced me to take Driver's Ed at my high school when I was 15. I got my license right after my 17th birthday, and saved up to buy a car when I was 18. Brian had just started taking Driver's Ed when we were dating (we were both 18, but almost 19). Even after he passed Driver's Ed, he couldn't really drive. He only drove ONE time with his mom, and she yelled at him the whole time because he seriously didn't know what to do at a four-way stop (despite the fact that I would drive us everywhere). After that, he gave up, and never got his license. The sad part? HE HAD RECEIVED A BRAND NEW CAR FOR HIS GRADUATION PRESENT! Are you fucking kidding me!?

So yes, I had to drive us everywhere. We both worked at Taco Bell (I actually got him hired there and we started dating after we became coworkers) and for a while, we also both went to the local community college. So we basically went everywhere together and I did all the driving. And guess what he did? He always controlled the CD player. He put all of his crappy CDs in my car and we would be forced to listen to his music every fucking time (I can't stand his music). He would also smoke in my car, and he even bought a cheap plastic ash tray to put in my cup holder! He did this without asking, of course. I eventually made him throw it out so that my parents wouldn't see it.

"Sleep: It's Essential"

Brian and I moved in together at the beginning of the new school term; we had been dating for five months. We decided to live in a town home right off the freeway, along with our ex-coworker, Mark. This was when I really started to despise Brian in every way possible. Not only did we work and go to school together, but now we would have to spend every waking moment together. It was getting ridiculous.

Since we were starting the new school term and I was taking morning classes, I had to change my work schedule to evenings instead of graveyard. Brian, however, was still working graveyard. Guess who had to wake up at 4am every night to go pick him up since he didn't have a car? Exactly. This wouldn't have been so bad, except for the fact that Brian was very needy and his sleeping pattern was way off. So after I would pick him up and take us home, he wouldn't even be tired yet.

Almost every single time, he would beg me to stay up with him and have a bonfire outside. And every single time, I reminded him that it was 4am and that I had class in four hours and wanted to sleep. He never quite got that concept through his head. Sometimes he would beg for me to drive us to the local truck stop diner for coffee, knowing that I hated that place and that I hated coffee. The one time I caved in and did it, I wanted to kill him. We were there until sunrise and it was FREEZING, even with a hoodie on, because they never shut off the fucking fans.

One morning in particular, he woke me up when I didn't have to be up for at least another three hours, and had apparently made me breakfast. Breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs and hasbrowns (I despise hashbrowns, but as I said before, he has trouble remember simple things about his girlfriend). After that, I went straight back upstairs to bed, and he got really upset. "Why can't you stay up with me!?" Seriously, when I'm tired, I'm tired.

I still remember one time when I was getting ready for school and he was still sleeping (which was awesome because that meant I didn't have to shower with him). I told him that he had to be ready in five minutes because we had to leave. He never woke up. I even started the car and waited an extra five minutes, and I finally had to go upstairs and scream at him until he was awake. He simply played the innocent act; "Well I was half asleep when you told me that, I don't remember!" How does it feel to be woken up, Asshole?

"Erectile Disfunction At The Age Of 19"

After Brian and I moved in together, we never had sex. Ever. Why? Because he was never in the mood and could never get it up. Ever. Sometimes I would get up at 3am, put on a sexy outfit and do my hair/makeup, and pick him up from work like that. He would simply smile and say, "You look nice". Oh, realy? I look NICE? Well...? Yeah, that was it. Nothing ever happened. I would try so hard, but I eventually gave up.

Eventually, I cheated on him. Yes, I know I'm a cold heartless bitch, and all of that. I've cheated on boyfriends before, including my high school sweetheart and my first boyfriend. I haven't cheated since the time I cheated on Brian, and that was about two and a half years ago. So no, the phrase "Once a cheater always a cheater" isn't necessarily true.

Basically, I found someone on MySpace that I hadn't seen since high school (Will). We arranged a night to meet up and fool around while Brian was at work. I lied and told Brian that I was going to a friend's house. Really, I met up with Will at his work (Pizza Hut, ironically) and we drove back to his place and did the deed. When it was over, I spent the night and went back home the next morning. Brian never had a clue.

"Destructive Ending"

I cheated on Brian again about a week later; it was the night before his birthday. I know, I'm horrible, blah blah blah. See, he had a couple of old friends over that night for beers, but he had to leave for work. So while he was gone, I invited Will over. Will brought some friends and a ton of beer. Eventually, everyone left except for me, Will, and my roommate Mark (who was very passed out on the couch and had been for some time). Will and I did the deed again, and afterward, he left a very rude message in lipstick on the mirror, for Brian to find.

Brian had called me during this party, and he knew that Will was over there with friends. I knew that by the time he got home, he would be very upset with me because he didn't trust/like Will (we had all gone to the same high school and supposedly Will raped one of Brian's friends, which we now know isn't true). As soon as Will left, I cleaned up the mess he had made on the mirror, which took a very long time. I also threw away all of the empty beer cans and put them in the recycling, which also took a while. Finally, I did the dishes and put the hard liquor away in the freezer. I even wiped up the tables and counter tops; the house was completely spotless and nobody ever could have guess there had been a party there that night.

After that, I knew that Brian was due home at any minute (his mom was driving him), so I went to bed, still with makeup on. As soon as he got home, he apparently made his mom come inside with him. He woke up Mark and asked him what had gone on, but Mark didn't remember a thing and I believe he had even passed out before Will and his friends had arrived. Mark was very shocked at how clean and booze-free the house was. Brian immediately assumed that Will and his friends had taken our hard liquor, so he woke me up to yell at me. I told him that the liquor was in the freezer.

At this point, I was VERY exhausted and passing out, but Brian wouldn't have it. He dragged me out of the bed and demanded to know why I invited Will and his friends to the house. That's when he saw the hickies on my neck. Yes, hijinz insued. He proceeded to call out to his mother, "MOM! Mallory has a bunch of hickies on her neck!"

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Lost Marbles And Loose Screws

Subject #1: The Baby

No, I'm not referring to an actual baby. This woman was in her 30s. She ordered several items via our drive-thru, including a Nacho Supreme with no tomatoes. I was taking orders; my freak of an ex-boyfriend (I will discuss him later) was taking her cash. As he hands her her order, she takes a look at the Nacho Supreme and immediately starts bawling her eyes out. Note that she wasn't teary-eyed in the least when she first pulled up to the window.

"You put tomatoes on my Nacho Supreme!" She wails and wails and wails, and cries her eyes out, and wails some more. My ex-boyfriend starts to feel very, very awkward. He offers to have them remake the Nacho Supreme for her, but even after she gets the new Nacho Supreme, she keeps wailing until her car is at risk of flooding. "You don't understand! You ALWAYS put tomatoes on my Nacho Supreme when I tell you not to! Always, always, always! Why, why, why!?"

Finally, the awkward ex-boyfriend fetches our manager. The manager attempts to calm the crazy woman down, and even takes the Nacho Supreme off so she gets it for free, tomato-less and all. Does that even slightly ease the crying? Of course not. This crazy blubbering bitch keeps on crying hysterically, even as she's driving away.

I can't tell you what would compel a full grown adult woman to cry like that in a fast food drive-thru of all places. I can tell you, however, that I don't care if somebody just shot her whole family in front of her; when you're ordering fast food, you need to pull yourself together for the two minutes you're there. For fuck's sake, the nachos are worth less than $2 and we fixed the damn order for her right away. I have never seen anyone cry so hard over a $1.60 item before. I feel sorry for her children and/or husband, if she even managed to get any of those.

Subject #2: Garbage Guy

Our lobby used to be open until 1am on Friday and Saturday nights. Usually we didn't get anyone too creepy that late at night; just annoying teenagers who would hang out in the parking lot. Not the movies, not at parties... a parking lot.

One night, a very strange, very smelly man came into the store around midnight. He was wearing jeans and a blue winter jacket; he had a combover and glasses. He was holding a garbage bag in his hands.

Instead of ordering, he decides that I give a shit about a weird story... Something about how he lost his watch, and went through the garbage bag looking for it. After he finally finished telling me his stupid (and repulsive) story, he finally got to the point. He asked me if he could throw the garbage bag away in one of our garbages. I'm sorry, but since when did you have to ask an employee of a fast food joint if you can throw your garbage away in their garbage? He could have just done it and I probably wouldn't have even seen him.

For the rest of the night, he just kind of hangs out in the lobby, making conversation with the dirtbag teenagers. Apparently this guy wants to go to a town about four hours from here, so he asks them if they'll give him a ride. They're obviously joking back and making fun of him, so naturally, they tell him "What a coinsidence, we were just going to head up there!" After about ten minutes, he finally realizes that they're picking on him. Frustrated, he calls them jerks and then storms out. The teenagers continue to laugh... loudly.

So here's what I'm saying: A very strange-looking man walked in with a garbage bag, told me a story about how he lost his watch and was looking for it in there, then decided to just hang out with the teenagers and ask them for a ride to a town that's roughly four hours away. What. The. Fuck.

Subject #3: Demanding Man

We used to get a regular who was very obviously Christian-Conservative. He was very funny-looking; sort of like Garbage Guy. He was scrawny with glasses and a combover hairstyle. He had a gay son who went to my high school, and after realizing who his parents were (sometimes the wife would come in as well), I could see how the kid ended up being gay. Anyway, the dad was always very nice and friendly, but in sort of a creepy way; like he was being extremely fake on purpose to psych us out or something.

One day, we were extremely busy and understaffed because we hadn't been expecting such a rush, and THREE people had called in sick. Naturally, we were behind on all of our orders. The drive-thru was obviously our first priority because we have a timer that we need to keep as low as possible (in case you're ever wondered why the people at fast food places seem to be rushing you at the drive-thru). A few people had ordered inside, and their orders were taking 30 minutes or longer. And yes, we were warning people about the wait.

I was forced to go on a ten minute break, even though I didn't want to because of how understaffed we were. As I was walking to go sit in the lobby, the man approached me, looking extremely angry. "I have been waiting for my food for over half an hour! You know, this really defies the meaning of fast food!" Obviously, he thought he was being clever... I had to explain to him that we were taking care of the drive-thru orders first because of the timer. He cut me off and shouted, "And to top it off, it's a real mess back there!" (referring to the back of our store, which was of course messy).

I don't know what this guy wanted. Did he want us to make food for our customers, or did he want us to drop everything that we were doing and clean up? Jesus fucking Christ, people baffle the hell out of me. I shouldn't have had to deal with something that idiotic while I was on a break. Needless to say, I'm happy that I eventually quit.

Subject #4: Shaky Old Man

There was an old man who would come inside to order. He was so old, I often feared that he would have a heart attack or something in our store. He had VERY shaky hands that he couldn't seem to control. Taking change from him was awkward.

One day, he actually came through the drive-thru, and my boss was taking cash from him. After the order was finally out, she turned to me and looked like she had seen a ghost; she was extremely pale. Apparently she was spooked by the fact that a guy like that was driving. I can't blame her.

This is why there should be some sort of age limit to driving.

Subject #5: Princess

We had another old regular who came in quite often. He liked to call me Princess from the first day I took one of his orders. I believe I ended up working the lobby for nine months before they moved me to drive-thru, so I saw him a lot. He would always call me Princess instead of Mallory. My coworkers thought it was creepy, but I knew that he was just old and nice.

When I was moved to drive-thru, he was really upset about it. He would ask, "Where's Princess?" He would always make me come over and say hi, but after a while, my coworkers would let him know that I was too busy to just walk over and talk to him. So as an excuse, he would always have me grab him one of the trays we use to hold the soda cups (they were located at the drive-thru).

I know he was probably just old and silly, but why did he simply insist on seeing me all the time, no matter what?

Subject #6: Confused Bragger

One day, I had a very strange and loud customer in the drive-thru that I was taking cash for. He never spoke a word directly to me, because he was on an old-looking cell phone. As I was taking his cash, he spoke in a booming voice, "I'M ON THE PHONE WITH MY HOT WIFE!" I didn't know what to say to that, so I just gave him his change. As I started to give him his food, he shouted, "I HAVE TO GET HOME TO MY HOT WIFE!" He was also talking to his "hot wife" over the phone, and calling her things like "Baby" and "Sexy".

I could understand the need to brag about having a hot wife to a male Taco Bell employee, but I'm clearly a girl. I have no manly features. It almost seems like maybe the guy was being dared to say and do such an immature thing. To this day, I'm still confused about it.

There are more screwy stories to tell, but these are the only ones that I can remember off the top of my head.

Taco Bell: Not Exactly Disney World

In my entire life, I've had one real job, and only one real job. When I turned 17, my mom forced me to apply at every fast food place imaginable. I was surprised when Taco Bell called me for an interview... five months later. I was even more surprised that I was called back for a second interview and was actually hired. Apparently my boss "took a chance on me" because I was so quiet. I'll admit; I wasn't a very confident or outgoing person back then, especially when it came to the real world (if you can put Taco Bell and real world in the same sentence).

Let me tell you something about taking orders in person: It's awkward. It's nerve-racking. And it's not okay until the customer is finally finished ordering.

When there weren't any customers, I had to wipe down tables with a sanitized rag (we're supposed to call them "towels", but who are we kidding?), sweep, or clean and stack trays with that same sanitized rag. Those were fun times because I didn't have to deal with people. I could just clean. With a smile, of course.

But naturally, as soon as a customer walks in, I have to assure them that I'll be right there... as I awkwardly make my way to the other side of the counter. The customer stares at the menu. The customer stares at me. The customers stare at the menu. All the while, I stand there and smile. And stare at the screen in front of me. And keep smiling. Sure, it may not seem that weird, but it certainly feels like you're in a creepy book about robots. As soon as the customer starts ordering, the tension wears off... but not entirely. Because the customer is still going to ask you what comes on what item, how much something costs, how a new item tastes, etc.

I was pretty happy when I was finally moved to the drive-thru after however many months it was. The drive-thru is much better. It's not awkward because when you're taking the order; you don't have to stare at them and have them stare back at you. When you finally meet them face-to-face, you barely have to look at them. They hand you the money, you give them their change and their bags of crap. It all works out.

But every now and then, you have to deal with complications. I'm not talking about the complications where, a cook made the order wrong or the customer changed their mind at the last possible moment. I'm talking about people who are just weird in general, or rude for no reason, or too emotional to too old to be driving. Don't even bother asking me what's wrong with them; I'm no therapist and I couldn't tell you. All I can tell you is that people are people, and not all of them can keep their marbles. The interesting thing is, I'll bet that roughly 90% of these crazy people don't realize or believe that they're crazy. They think that how they're behaving is perfectly normal. They've lost all hope of common sense. You know that phrase, "there is no such thing as a stupid question"? Well, it's bullshit. There are stupid questions, and they're matched with equally stupid people.

In my next blog, I'm going to tell you some interesting (but true) stories about the strangest customers I've had to deal with. Being one of the main cashiers for both the lobby and drive-thru, I have quite a bit to tell (our particular store loved to stereotype and make girls deal with customers and guys make the food).

My Life: An Introduction

No, this is not going to be a blog where I tell you about my happy little life stories. I'm not going to tell you what shampoo I used this morning, or what I had for breakfast, or how awesome my friends are. I'm not going to spew out a bunch of crap like, "Oh em jee, my boyfriend is like, SO perfect!" or "You won't believe what I saw so-and-so wearing at the mall yesterday!".

I'll tell you about the fucked up customers I've had to deal with. I'll tell you about the time I was arrested. I'll tell you about the time I was stalked. I'll tell you about my fucked up parents. I'll tell you about the people who have changed my life, for better or for worse. I'll tell you about my influences, and maybe even my goals in life.

I've been wanting to get all of this weird shit out for a long time, if you can't already tell. I apologize if my blog comes off as depressing, because I can honestly tell you that I'm not depressed. My life has just been... kinda screwy.