Work

Dear God,

Thank you for blessing me with my job. I am enormously grateful to have been blessed with employment income, as I know that there are many that are without. Please forgive me for every single negative or seemingly ungrateful word, thought or action I've said/done while on my job and especially ABOUT my job, because I should always know better.

Lately, I have been incredibly challenged at work. You are always with me, God, so I know that You know exactly what I'm talking about. I know it isn't my place to ask, "Why?" as I'm sure that there is a purpose for it all. However, I must ask that You please help me to better respond to the issues that seem to be rearing their ugly heads here more and more often.

What is the lesson here, God? How do I respond to these situations? What is it that you're preparing me for exactly?

It seems ridiculous for me, a most inconsistent person, to request that there be some consistency at my place of employment, I know. But You know that I am someone who likes to feel that when I'm asked a question, I'd like to be able to give a confident response without having my response overturned by someone else because it's easier on them to do that than it is to back me up. In other words, it is my desire that my superiors consistently go for the "hard 'no' as opposed to the easy 'yes.'" Is that too much to ask?

Father, I would like to think that I am good at what I do. I don't really hate the work I'm doing even though it doesn't challenge me intellectually as much as it does emotionally. I like being able to help people and working hard has never been a problem for me - You made me this way. I simply request that if and when I do what I know to do at work, that I am consistently backed up by my superiors so that I'm not made to look like I don't know what the heck I'm doing anymore. I want to do my job correctly and professionally on a very consistent basis.

Thank you, Father, for hearing and answering my prayer.

In Jesus' name I pray, AMEN...

Until Next Time,

XOXOXO

Jessika

Consequences

Another instance in which I haven't a clue as to what will end up on this entry...

Was thinking about a conversation I had with my son last night. He was very passionately expressing his feelings about the hype around the suicide of a teenage girl that his peers have been talking about recently - in short: he's annoyed by all of it.

A very short synopsis: this was a teenage girl who flashed her boobs on a web cam and had sex with a boy who had a girlfriend and therefore, suffered some major consequences as a result. Apparently the footage of her bare boobs was sent everywhere and the girlfriend and friends of the guy that the now-deceased teen said "hooked up with her," jumped her and filmed the beat down. On top of this she'd received hateful emails, posts, comments, etc. Eventually, she killed herself.

This girl took a perfect opportunity to be a spokeswoman for young women who engage in questionable activities on the internet and in school and flushed it down the toilet. She doesn't even know how lucky she was to have been "caught" that quickly and to have been held accountable for this behavior as soon as it happened. In my opinion, it was all a huge flashing neon sign that she had no business doing those kinds of things. That her life was to have been bigger, BETTER than all of that.

It appears this girl was starved for attention. Craved it, probably prayed and wished and hoped for it. Unfortunately, she got exactly what she thought she wanted, and couldn't handle it.


I'm in no way saying that she deserved what she got or that she doesn't deserve any sympathy. I'm saying that I wish teenagers - and a lot of ADULTS, really - would learn how useful negative experiences can be to their own development of maturity and wisdom. It's disturbing to me that this girl, who wasn't mature enough to bear hearing and reading negative words, couldn't bear to be, in essence, "called out" for things that she actually did, could think herself mature enough to have sex and show her body to a complete stranger.

It's unfortunate how unequipped this child was to handle the consequences of her actions. It makes me wonder if perhaps she got away with too much at home and wasn't used to having to answer for her mistakes.

But that's just my two cents.

Until Next Time,

XOXOXO

Jessika

CHECK YOUR RECEIPTS!!!

In the last two to three weeks I've been overcharged at Food Lion, Wal-Mart - TWICE, Walgreens and CVS.

The overcharges weren't major, but they went as follows:

Food Lion (about three weeks ago): I bought two packs of cookies that were "on sale" at two for $5; one rang up at $2.50, the other at $3.89. I took my receipt and the item to customer service and was given a full refund and the item to take home for free. Didn't expect that!

Also at Food Lion (two Wednesdays ago), though this doesn't qualify as an overcharge because I caught it before it could be: I saw a sale sign on large raw shrimp that was buy one pound at $10.39 and get one free, but, as he was scooping the shrimp to weigh it, he did it from a section that listed the item on "sale" for $12.99/lb (still buy one lb get one lb free). When I noted it to the clerk, he said, "Oh, the $10.39 sign is old and it's wrong." Like he was going to get away with charging me $12.99. I said, "That's unfortunate, because I expect to be charged $10.39 per pound - and I think you guys should take that sign down." He adjusted the pricing for me.

Wal-Mart (two Sundays ago): I bought a Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen on clearance for $1.00 (big RED $1.00 sticker on the side) and a jug of Simply Lemonade at what the SIGN said was $2.00. The nail art pen rang up at $7.00 (full price) and the lemonade at $2.50. I didn't notice as it was scanning, so I went all the way home and had to come back for my refund.

The customer service lady was quick to cut me off to say, "Oh, it's $2.50," when I started to tell her I was overcharged for the lemonade. I explained that the sign said $2 and she said, "I'll go check but I get it all the time and it's $2.50." Nevertheless, she saw the sign, figured the price "might be going down" and she didn't know it - but she "doubted it."

Also at Wal-Mart (yesterday): I bought Salada Green Tea t $2.32 and it rang up at $2.86.

CVS (last Wednesday):  I bought some "Just the Basics" facial cleansing wipes at $3.19, buy one get one 50 percent off. They both rang up at $3.19 each.

Walgreens (Saturday): I bought a Wet n Wild lipstick at $1.99 and it rang up at $2.99.

I HIGHLY recommend you guys take a closer look at what you're buying (if you're not already doing so), what the signs say the prices are, and what actually IS being charged as you're being rung up. And if you find you ARE overcharged, even if it's only a few cents, and even if you don't realize it until later, GO BACK AND SAY SOMETHING ABOUT IT! GET YOUR MONEY BACK!

I don't think this is all "just coincidence." I think it's possible that retailers are purposely allowing stuff to ring up at higher prices in order to take advantage of their too-busy, too-much-in-a-hurry customers. They are depending on us to say, "It's only a little bit, no big deal, not worth the hassle of going back to customer service." Or maybe I'm too much of a conspiracy theorist:). I've only JUST started rechecking my receipts so God only knows how much money I've freely "given" to retailers because of this deception.

Those "few cents" here and there can really add up (and ARE adding up - for THEM!) - but if enough of us are checking our receipts and holding retailers accountable for their "mistakes," we may be able to get them to stop with their shenanigans!

Until next time,

XOXOXO

Jessika

Thou Shalt Not Stress...

That was my mantra for the day. After coming back from a long weekend, my first day back at work (Tuesday) was an absolute nightmare, professionally and personally. I've noticed in the last week or so that my right eye started twitching again, after going quite a long while without issue (at least two months).

I needed a break. So, I took a personal day yesterday and was honest with my supervisor as to the reason: I was stressed out. She was very understanding about it.

My eye did begin to twitch a little bit today but it went away almost as quickly as it came. I was and continue to be determined to have a good day, in spite of whatever may come. God is in control, therefore, so am I.

My responsibilities here include more than daily physical duties. It's imperative that I also do them with a positive attitude, as unto God Himself. I've lost count of the number of times I've disappointed Him AND myself with my attitude, impatience toward less intelligent people, etc. It is my firm belief that I continue to run into these situations on SUCH a consistent basis because I have not yet mastered the response. God is training me to do better. It won't be until I have CONSISTENTLY responded in the way God would have me to respond that these situations will begin to diminish. I just KNOW IT!!

I've often asked God why I'm still here, why I have to put up with this place in a thankless job that often makes me feel pretty miserable. The truth is, currently, there is no better atmosphere for "training" than this place. I don't come in contact with as many people when I'm not here, there's not much adversity (thank GOD) to contend with in my personal life, therefore, I remain here.

I was a cashier at Giant for three years. By the time I left there, I was the best I could possibly be. I was ALWAYS friendly, always fast, memorized EVERYTHING there was to memorize as far as procedures, transactions, produce and other codes, etc. In other words, there was nothing more I could have done to be better than I already was. I was the best cashier I could be.

I worked in the mortgage department of a bank for two years. I excelled at my position in reviewing mortgage documents for compliance, could not have done it better than I was already doing it. The only way for me was up - my supervisor wanted me to pursue mortgage underwriting. I wasn't interested, so I moved on.

And now here I am...at the same job for 12 years!!! God has kept me here for a reason, and it's much more than to earn a paycheck so that I can take care of my family. His plans and thoughts are much bigger than my own, and I am overwhelmingly grateful that He has bothered to have them for and about ME at all.

I welcome the challenge, the growth, the CHANGE...

Until next time,

XOXOXO

Jessika

Up and Down...

Sigh...

There has been a lot going on in my life recently and I can't even write about it all. Let's just say that things had been really, really great and then got really, really cruddy, really, really fast...

I'm assuming this is all happening because God is doing what good fathers do when trying to grow their children up: providing opportunities for us to demonstrate all we've learned/been taught, or throwing us in situations where we (hopefully) learn how wrong we've been doing things so that we can make positive changes.

I'm not angry - though I was at one point in time. Right now, I'm just disappointed, saddened even, at the turn of events. It sucks when you're expected to exercise patience and understanding with someone who shows no remorse for what they've done and/or refuses to take responsibility for what's happened.

On a positive note, I had a great weekend with my mom and niece in town in celebration of Jada's birthday. We shopped, ate at Pho #1 which was AMAZING, spent time laughing and talking and just all around enjoying each other's company. We also had one of Jada's friends over, who we like to call Milkshake. She's the cutest, tiniest girl ever with hair past her behind. Milkshake inspired a new cupcake flavor for Epic Cakes 101 that I can't talk about, and that will most likely only be available for one month out of the year, so look out for that announcement!

I'm going to go now. I'm tired.

Until next time,

XOXOXO

Jessika