Wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.  Hope you have a great tomorrow (today?) and here’s to a fantastic 2010. *cheers* *clink*

Short story:

Yesterday I downed champagne – had to treat it like herbal medicine.  I’m teetotal and was offered a drink but the automated Annie said, “Thank you” instead of, “Sorry, I don’t drink”. :/  Thankfully I was in the workshop alone, otherwise my actions would have been mistaken for something much different.

Eep, did not realise my layout looked a little funky in IE.  It looked fine on my laptop…?  On the uni. computer it looks awful though. :/  Just when you think you’ve sussed it out…

To do (mainly IE issues):

1. Fix footer;
2. Add padding on main menu links;
3. Change colour of main menu links (I realise that they’re not easy to read);
4. Do something about the “Quaint” link, to make it look more visible;
5. Add more to to-do things as I’m sure there are more problems elsewhere.

By the way, is anyone else having problems with Firefox crashing – quite frequenty as well?  It’s such an issue that I’ve been tempted to temporarily revert back to using IE. O.o  Not a good sign for any browser when users are being reduced to that, is it?

You’d think that a working in a jewellery shop would be drama-free – unless, of course, there was some robbery or something going on.  Well, not today.

Drama #1

Today I was urgently called into the shop – I don’t normally work Saturdays.  Apparently a customer was throwing a hissy fit due to the fact that her ring hadn’t been finished.  I would usually think “fair enough, it was a week or two since you brought it in” but not this time.  You see my manager is in hospital (Get better soon!)), which was explained to the customer but she (he?¹) wasn’t having any of it and was told her ring would be ready in the afternoon.  I came immediately after the urgent phone call – before 9:30-10am² – polished and rhodium plated the ring.  However whilst putting the finishing touches to the customer’s ring, she came in… ??? What the…it wasn’t even half 10 yet!  Luckily I was just wiping the ring dry by that time.

Drama #2

I started finishing off the polishing jobs which my manager was unable to complete.  Putting the jobs aside for a moment to rub polishing dirt off my clothes³, the door bell rang ( it rings every time the door opens) and I heard a woman sounding traumatised.  I continue on with the polishing as the front of the shop is not a place I should really be.  Then, one of the shop assistants walked in, asked me if I could quickly size a ring down.  I’ve been told that customer was in tears and her husband was acting quite aggressively towards another shop assistant – that’s a story I can’t go into as I don’t exactly know what happened.  Obligingly, I modified the ring and polished.  Job done.  Everyone’s happy, relieved or less annoyed.

Drama #3

There were so many spectacles that I was wondering what on Earth was going on?  Were we being Punk’d or something?  Anyway, one customer came in complaining about a her broken necklace, which had been brought from us about a week ago.  My problem was that when I was given it to repair, the necklace didn’t look right – I know it’s broke therefore it wouldn’t look right.  I mean, the break just didn’t seem normal.  Imagine a necklace made from rose gold and built as a series of links (3 rings then an oval, repeat).  If one of the links had split itself then the original joint would have just split, without any distortion in shape.  However, this link was bent out of shape and split.  Unless the laws of science changed then it wouldn’t be possible.  Something must happened to make the split happen in the first place.  Oh well, it’s been fixed and polished ready for pick up.

All these incidents, and some smaller ones happened before the afternoon.  I was allowed to go home just after 12pm so I could only imagine what may have happened after.  Never in my time working at the shop had I needed to do so many expresso jobs.  Actually that’s not true, I’ve done a few chain jobs but never rings.  So it was an eventful 3 hour day, and I didn’t cave under pressure *thumbs up*.

This kind of day could only happen when the manager’s away…

1. I wasn’t there when the ordeal took place. [↩]
2. Annie to the rescue!! *Superwoman pose*  Sorry, couldn’t resist. [↩]
3. Didn’t think to bring my apron.  I ended up smudging the dirt onto my clothes.  *Palmface*x2 [↩]

I’m pretty sure if hamsters did turn wheels in our heads mine would have passed out. I’ve been at uni, going to the lectures on Monday morning, being more creative for one project and concentrating on getting my puppet project done. I only have about three days left. :S I’ve only just started! I’d feel more at ease if I had a complete workbench at home. I blame my indecisiveness for the late making process – I wasn’t sure whether to do a top-hat man puppet or a flower. I went for the latter, now I regret not going with my gut instinct. My puppet (with limited movement, heh) is a little tricky to make but I’ll manage. I have to. Before next Friday anyway.

The one thing that really hits my nerve is when people assume my course is a doddle. An art/craft course is not a stroll in the park.

Anyway, back onto the point. I’ve been getting home late…about half 6. Strangely enough I’m not tired even though I woke up at 3 in the morning (yesterday), sometime. I did have my reservations about whether four hours sleep would be safe enough on the road but I felt very awake and chirpy, which is good for other road users. To be honest, I don’t mind coming home late during the winter because I quite like driving at night.

So, when I’m not at uni, I’m either at work (sometimes Saturdays as well) or working on projects. I’ve not seen my best friend for what seems like months. I’ve not even had a chance to visit my sister at her uni. There is no way I’m driving to Leeds by myself, no way. Especially since I lack any sense of direction.

Oh, and I’ve got an exam at the end of this year. O.o I’m quite bad at exams but the fact that it’s to do with history…is just the icing on the cake. Exam > Annie (hah).

Here’s a question: if I were to design and make a keyring, what would you want? I’m pretty sure my manager wants it in silver and there’s two key fobs. Any ideas? Anyone can make a suggestion, I’ll let you know my boundaries as the suggestions come but just as long as it’s nothing too complex I’ll be okay.

My entries are very choppy… /end of randomness