If you're not keeping up on my streams (shame on you! Sundays at 7PM EST, they're lots of fun), you might be wondering what's been going on with me as of late. There's kind of a lot, as to be expected when Cammy doesn't write any journal entries for two weeks, but really, I needed that time off to go indulge and explore some things. As such, I'll be doing daily entries until we're all caught up. Let's get the real life stuff out of the way first, and we'll talk about the fun stuff tomorrow.

So I am no longer employed by Staples. I was a tech there for just over six months, and I resigned. I did not get fired! This one was on sadder terms, and really, given the gigantic internal shitshow that company is undergoing right now (I can confirm from where I stood that a lot of what gets posted to r/staples is very much real), I both wasn't surprised and wasn't too hestitant to jump ship.

Long story short, I seem to get into it with a customer at least once a week—not even because I say anything at this point, because they just seem to read me as an asshole and get uppity about it. Now that Caby's been with me, she notes I have a very flat affect a lot of the time and I put things very straight, which to some, uh, challenged customers, reads as being an asshole. That's just part of being autistic. Folks take you weird. (I'm sure there's people who have seen me online who will imagine I was out here making fun of customers to their faces and saying edgy shit—I would've been gone a long time ago if that was the case. I know better when my employment is on the line.)

Staples prides itself on its customer service (because it has literally nothing else to offer people besides free Amazon returns), and I was already on my last warning for some shit that happened back in, what, September now? So with all the complaints (my GM estimated it to be about five a month), HR was looking for a reason to terminate me, and I wasn't about to give it to them and lose my ability to use my GM as a reference in the future (which he straight up offered, provided I resign). Plus, hour cuts—not just for associates, even corporate got reshuffled due to being so overbudget that the execs couldn't get their bonuses for 2023—already had me down to three days a week. Is $180 a week worth fighting that battle for? I didn't think so.

Of course, if you're an avid journal reader, you'll know it took me a while to really feel comfortable at that job. Staples held me to a much higher standard than my last job did, which taught me a lot, but was a lot more stressful as well. I'm already odd socially, and I left my last job due to being targeted and lied to, and it felt in a lot of ways like that was continuing but worse here (and I've since learned some things that corroborate my fears, but I'm well over it by now). Keep in mind, for all the complaints, my ESP numbers were consistently really good. I got a lady to buy an extra $240 worth of toner on top of a printer by offering to take $30 off the printer. I got some nice market baskets while I was there. It just took me a long, long time to get over those feelings of being out of place, and it was maybe too little too late in the end.

So yeah, I tried my best, I performed as best as I could, and it lasted about six months. I'm still happy with that, though. I didn't think I'd make it out of my 90 day probationary period. My GM stressed to me on the way out that I shouldn't doubt my technical ability, because I could fix PCs with a deeper grasp on their weird issues better than most, I could explain stuff supremely well to customers, and I was really good at getting extra shit on top of the sale. Corporate wants a very specific associate, and the weird and easily stressed kid who can dig through log files to find exactly why someone's PC isn't booting is not that. Sad, but it's just a retail job at the end of the day. I'll be replaced and I will find something better.

In the meantime, I'm going back to Wales. I always figured I'd go every time I cycled out of a job, and flights are bonkers cheap this time of year (I got this one for $620 round trip) and Caby and folks were okay with it, so back off to the UK I go! I won't be doing a gigantic trip diary this time, probably just a gallery of sketches and photos. Something a bit more collage-y and easier on me. I'll be gone February 8 to March 7. So hey, we'll be spending Valentine's Day together—makes up for being apart for our anniversary this year.

Speaking of that, I did do something for it, but it's not ready to go live yet. I'll give more details in a few days, but it's a site dedicated to CabyCammy and all the projects her and I get up to together. I took a break from working on it this past week to indulge, as I said, but I will be getting back to that along with all the other web stuff I'd like to do this year. Stay tuned for more regular blog posts! I'm getting back into the swing of things.