Creeper

     This past Friday I was able to go home for the weekend -it was very relaxed and wonderful to be with family.  Sadly though, yesterday I had to return to Arlington because I had work at 11:30. Since the weather has been so bad these past few days I was hoping I would get off work early...I mean, who comes to Braum's when it is cold outside? Lots of people.
     So, to my dismay I did not get to go home early, and on top of this great sadness the 'Creeper' returned for a visit with one of his little buddies.  The 'Creeper' is a middle aged man whom is a frequent customer to my Braum's who totally freaks me out.  Yesterday he showed up around his usual time (about 1:00 p.m.) and to my displeasure I was assigned to take orders. Yay!  Before I continue you (whoever you are) might be wondering what qualifies this man as a creeper -how about a few examples:

Example 1:

This is the first time I met Creeper.

One day several months ago I was asked to sweep the lobby while someone else was taking orders.  At this time our Braum's was pretty busy so people who had already ordered where standing at the front of the store (away from the counter) waiting for their orders.  I at this time was sweeping near the front doors, minding mine own business -thoughts consumed with who knows what when 'Creeper' first made his presence known.  He turned to me, "You working hard?"
   This is a very normal question (and somewhat irritating) to be asked by people so I looked up and smiled, "Yes sir."
He nodded his head and smiled, and turned away.  I continued to sweep, thinking our conversation was over. "Hey, is that one Mexican girl working here today?  I can't remember her name..."  I looked over at him confused (I was pretty new at this point so my mind was blank on who he was talking about).  "You know, she's more of a heavy girl...do you know her name?"

Finally remembering who he was talking about I shook my head, "No, she's not here today."

He nodded his head, "I can't seem to remember her name."

I am not one for lying, but there was no way I was going to tell him her name (I wasn't exactly sure of her name either, but I was 75% sure it was Maria), something about him seemed really off.  "I'm newer here so I don't know everyone very well." I answered. I turned and continued to sweep thinking our conversation was done with but he spoke up again.

"Oh, well whatever her name is, she lives in those apartments down there (he was pointing in some direction), I don't know her very well but she lives there."

Okay...weird, but maybe he is just one of those socially awkward people.


"Oh okay," I didn't even bother looking up, hoping he would get the point that I really had no interest in talking with him.  Luckily before he could say anything else his number was called, and I continued sweeping.

About fifteen minutes later I was sweeping where the tables were in the middle section -the section where he was sitting.  I kept my head down, and made sure not to make any eye-contact.  Right when I was getting done with the section I heard my name called out.  I turned around and looked towards the kitchen, but saw no one there.  I shrugged it off and went to put the broom and dustpan away and then went around picking up the dirty trays sitting on top of the trash bins.  By this time Creeper was done with his meal and throwing his away, he looked at me and smiled.

"Are you working hard theJu (obviously he used my real name)?"  My heart literally stopped when I heard this, but I just looked up at him and smiled, "Yes sir, I am."

Let me stop right here -you might think; why would that be weird?  He could have just read my name tag, but my name had come off of my tag almost a month prior.  It could have been very possible that he just remembered my name, but I had never seen him before.  Thinking about it later on someone could have just old him my name...but why would he ask for it or want to know it?  Completely weirded out by what had happened I made sure to carefully watch him so I could know which car was his...I wasn't taking any chances.  After I got off work that day I looked around to make sure I didn't see his car, and even while driving I frequently checked in my review mirror...I did not want him knowing where I lived.


Example 2:

Many times since my first incident he has come in, and each time he has brought in a different person.  Almost every single time that I have been there he has brought in a female at last twenty years younger than him.  I am not one for listening in on other people's conversations; I don't like invading people's privacy...so I have become pretty good at tuning people out.

 This rule of mine does not apply to him.

Anytime he is in Braum's and I have to be near him I always make sure to listen in on his conversations.  From what I have noticed by observing and listening is that it seems like he doesn't really know any of these girls. It almost seems as if he randomly picks them up off the street and asks them if they want to have lunch with him.  Also, all the girls I have seen with him seem to have some sort of mental disability.  I've tried to reason with myself -maybe he's just a really nice person, and works with people with special needs.  No matter how hard I try to convince myself that I am overreacting I just can't.

So every time I see him with a girl I say a silent prayer for them.

Example 3:

This example does not come from an encounter with him, but I feel it proves that I am not completely overreacting.  Last Friday when I was working drive/sundae bar I heard my manager say something to another employee. "The weird guy is here."  Automatically I looked over the top of the sundae area and not to my surprise Creeper was walking up to the counter.  I then walked up to my manager, "So I'm not the only one who thought that?"

She shook her head, "He gives me the creeps...he's probably some serial killer/ rapist...but I'm going to be nice today."



So yesterday he walked into Braum's and I again was at the front counter.  This time he brought another guy with him (who was with him when example 3 happened).  After he had placed his order I asked, "can I get anything else for you sir?"  He just smiled and stared at me for a second, but then laughed as he shook his head.

"Nah, no...I'm good."

This sent major chills down my back...I can't wait until I leave Braum's.

One of my many "Endearing" Qualities

Since it has been so long since I have written on this thing I have decided to slowly update on what has happened to me in the past six months...

The very end of November of last year I moved out of my parent's house and moved into an apartment in Arlington to be closer to the school.  I have a great roommate...for the most part we get along.  Obviously it is not going to be perfect; we both are going to do things that annoy each other.  For example...I never buy groceries so I drink all her milk, or sometimes she tends to act more like 'mom' then roommate -but its all cool.

   This post though, has nothing to do with my roommate or my apartment, but there is a point some what relevant to my moving out.  I have learned many lessons since moving out of my parents, such as "money does not grow on trees".  Yeah, that was a tough one to learn -I am not one of those 'savers'. Well, I can't say that completely because I absolutely hate buying food or anything that I need, but when it comes to my brother who only lives 1.2 miles (exactly) away from me I tend to become a big spender.  I absolutely adore my older brother...he is seriously a gift from God -nothing compares to his adorableness.  Its really not fair.  I can spend $50 on him and not even think twice...its just not right.  

Despite all the lessons learned (I will post some of those later) I believe what has benefited me the most about moving out is that I have come to know myself better.

   Before I moved out I knew that at times I could really be a klutz/air-head, but never had I even thought about how much of one I was.  Every once in a while I do something quite silly, something I can easily shake my head at and laugh about.

Example:

One fine day when I was leaving work to go home I decided to stop at the atm at Wells Fargo to deposit my check.  Since it was such a pretty day outside I decided to drive around with my sunroof down.  Anyway, I pulled in into the parking lot, parked and rolled up my windows.  Before I got out I debated whether or not to  close my sunroof -but quickly decided to leave it open because the atm was right there so I would be able to keep an eye on my car.  So I got out and shut the door, and right as I heard the door shut I had a literal *face-palm* moment.  My keys were inside the car...my locked car.  Even though I knew it was locked I checked all the doors...locked. Yay. But thankfully I had an 'aha' moment -my sun roof was open.  

   I am a shy person...one of the most easily embarrassed people, so I actually thought about not climbing through my sunroof to get in.  Realizing though, that that was stupid I walked around to the back of my car, climbed it, and dropped through my sun roof.  Once in the car I literally laughed at myself...it was just so me, and on the bright side I had probably made someone's day as they watched me climb my car in a busy parking lot.

Every day I seem to do something like the example above...and most of the time I don't end up inconveniencing  myself.  When I tell my humorous stories to my family they amusingly shake their heads or roll their eyes.  Every time I do something like this I just tell myself: "this is just one of your many endearing qualities".  I say almost every time I do something silly.  That was until a few weeks ago when I shut my car door (that was locked) with both keys and phone inside...and yes, no open sunroof.

This was one of the many weeks I had been spending the majority of my nights at my Aunt and Uncle's house (yes, I live in an apartment but never actually stay there).  I was on my way to their house from work, but decided to stop at Albertson's to pick up some ice cream (the previous night I had had some of my Uncle's Ben and Jerry's and felt guilty for it).  Instead of taking in my purse I decided to just put my debit card in my back pocket. Anyway, I got out of my car and shut the door *face-palm*...right as the door shut I realized I had left my keys in my car, *face-palm*...I had debated whether or not to leave my sunroof down and had decided not to. *Mega face-palm* -After a quick search of my person I realized I had also left my phone in the car.  FACE PALM, FACE PALM, FACE PALM, FACE PALM....

At this point I was feeling pretty stupid but I walked into the store and asked to use the phone.

"This sounds really stupid, but I left my keys and phone in my car...can I use your phone?"

Graciously they did, so I called my brother and prayed he was in the area (he is never at his apartment either).

"Hey bro, where are you at?"

"Working with Dad." 

"Oh, well since you are not in the area would you mind calling Nate? I am kind of marooned at Albertson's...I left my keys and phone in the car." 

Thanks to my wonderful brother he was able to get in touch with his roommate, who was luckily unoccupied at the time to come and try to break in to my car.  About 20-30 minutes later he showed up, but quickly determined that he would not be able to break in unless I was willing to pay for a new window (I was definitely not willing).  Not wanting to break my window I decided I would get a Lock Smith; I was not excited about how much it would probably end up costing but at this point I figured I deserved it because of how inconvenient I was being to myself and to Nate.  So we called the guy and he said it would cost about eighty dollars and it would take him about an hour to get there.  Luckily though, Nate and I are good friends so it wasn't too bad waiting out in the parking lot -it was really nice spending time with him.  About an hour later we got a call from the Lock Smith company.

"Hello?"

"I would like to apologize ma'm.  We had sent a guy out to go to you about half an hour ago, but when he was on the highway he got rear-ended by another car. I apologize again, but I would suggest you try to find someone else."

FACE-PALM ^2

I was a little dis-hearted and feeling pretty guilty for causing a guy to wreck, but Nate called another Lock Smith company; this time I was told it would only be $40 dollars and it would take about thirty minutes to get to me.  Luckily, the man arrived to Albertson's safely and was able to un-lock my car and charged me only half of what it was going to originally cost.  Despite being fairly lucky with the absurdity of the situation I couldn't help but be a little upset with myself.  Not only was I out forty dollars, but I had wasted over two hours of my time and my friend's time (I am so thankful he is as patient as he is)...oh, and even though all of this was in the pursuit of ice cream I had no ice cream.

Even though a lot of time was wasted I am glad this happened to me...I learned that I need to be more careful and not be so rushed.  AND that I cannot write off everything I do silly as "endearing" -sometimes it is just plain stupid.

 

Hello again...

So, it's been awhile...and I could make up a million excuses but I know my dearest Uncle and only faithful subscriber would not think they were good enough.

So, a lot of things have happened since I last posted (Dec of last year).  First, I got a job at Braum's, even though I did everything but swear that I would never work there.  It's been okay.  The first night was easy...I couldn't understand why in the world my brother hated working there.  The next night I worked I called my Mom crying saying I was going to quit and I hated it so much, and it was the worst job in the world.  Even though she promised that it would get better, I didn't believe her but, Moms are always right...it did get better.  I can't say that I enjoy it, but it doesn't totally suck.  I work with fantastic people; my manager and shift managers are amazing.

Even though I am quitting Braum's soon (when I do I will have worked there six months and am moving back home) I believe I will miss a few things.  I really do think this job was a blessing; I learned a lot and have met many incredible people (and not so incredible people -will explain in next blog).

I will be sure to write more, both current and past...but I think this is enough for tonight.  I just wanted my dearest Uncle to know that I am actually going to write on this thing.

Oh, and by the way...it was totally Opa's fault Sheperd K, he is the one who left you only an ounce of lunch meat :p