As I will likely be moving on from WIS at the end of the year, here’s a look back at some of my memorable moments over my dozen or so years with the company.

1. Being part of a dedicated Rite Aid crew for three years. I got certified to count pharmacies and was one of the best counters. I also had some great supervisors and coworkers over the years.
2. Becoming a van driver in 2014. I took the role on after the passing of one of our longtime employees in December of 2013. I officially got the OK to drive in February after passing my road test, which I took on the turnpike coming back from Beaver Falls.
3. Working with two WIS legends who have sadly passed. Mike and Paul were longtime employees of the company going back to their days as Washington Inventory services. Mike was a navy veteran and his first store was Hills in 1989. He had some great stories to tell about his time there and had a heart of gold. Paul was a longtime track coach (we may have met at Hempfield at a meet or at a tournament). He knew the same coaches and runners I did. He was very dedicated to the job as Area Manager or as a supervisor or counter. He was also a longtime baseball fan who loved his Pirates. It was a devastating day when we found out that he had passed away. We got word at our Dollar General that he died. Sarah and Chase broke down that morning at their stores and I did so later.
4. Getting two big accounts back. We had the opportunity to get Kohl’s in 2015. It was quite a big deal at the time. Our big bosses showed up for the first one at West Mifflin in March of 2015. We formed a good relationship with our loss prevention guys. We kept the account until the end of 2018 when RGIS took them back. In 2019, after almost a decade, we got Target back. Chase would be the one taking the wheel for this adventure. He even had to go to Corporate with other WIS managers to learn more about how to run the account. Our first one in Butler went smoothly on Valentine’s Day 2019.
5. This is cheesy to most of you but to me it’s a big deal. We had some great overnight trips during my time at WIS. None were more impactful than Ashtabula. The trip where my definition of style began to take off. My love of fashion was born that night. All because one of my coworkers decided to look amazing while I was dressed frumpy (gym shorts and a T-shirt). Sara always inspires me to be fashionable and apologies to my sister/twin/fashion buddy, but Emily did one better on this trip. The legend of the pink cherry 🍒 dress started on this trip and that’s why it was so memorable.

The #5 story of my 2021 marks the end of an era. It also highlights my new job, and that awesome Friendsgiving.

In the summer, my previous employer bought its competition. That’s like McDonald’s buying Burger King or Wendy’s. Pepsi buying Coke. Lowe’s buying Home Depot.

What it meant was changes were coming. Nothing big over the summer but once September got here I began to hear whispers about the changes that would take place. The office was going to be split up into Dollar and Traditional. 3609 was going to no longer exist. Most of the office went over to Dollar and a few of us went over to Traditional. Basically I was going to be working with most of RGIS.

Our last day as office 3609 was October 29. My first day under the new Pittsburgh Traditional office was Halloween. I gave it a try and even did a CVS with their crew. For most of my remaining time I was using my normal 750s on Rite Aids so it’s not like much had changed.

Once I knew we were being split up I wanted to look for another job anyway. After 13 years of traveling for work I decided it was time for a change.

I applied at Giant Eagle and Goodwill and also made plans to look at Target, Walmart and Excela. After a successful digital interview with Giant Eagle, I got a call the following week for a second interview. I was officially hired the Friday before Thanksgiving and did my orientation the following Monday and some training on Black Friday.

So far Giant Eagle has gone well and I seem to be enjoying it. I got some praise last weekend for how well I was doing from a few of my veteran coworkers (who worked at the old Greengate store years ago). My first night didn’t even feel like it, though I still need help finding stuff so I’m still fairly new. It’s great being five minutes from home, knowing when I’ll be done. It’s also great to have a helpful night crew that works hard every night.

Takeaways from my 13 year WIS career are plentiful. I came up with five of them. They’ll be in a separate blog post which I’ll have a link up for.

This past Thanksgiving my amazing sister/twin/fashion buddy Sara invited me (her icon) to a Friendsgiving get together. It was a great experience as we ate some amazing food, played Cards against Humanity, had a fashion show on her patio, did makeup, and walked to the incline. I shared some outfit ideas with her and we all had fun that day. My other sister Rae was there too and we had fun socializing that day. They were excited to learn of my new job as well. Sara and I both cried 😭 as I left her house that night but we had Christmas to look forward to.

What a crazy November but alas, a good one.

Toastmasters rounds out the bottom half of the top ten of 2021 at #6.

June 1 marked ten years in Toastmasters for me. Ten Years Toastmasters Strong. There have been many memories made along the way in my decade long Toastmasters Journey.

I’ve attended many district events such as the conferences and club officer training. I accepted the award for Select Distinguished District at the Fall 2013 conference. I served as Sergeant at Arms for the District from Fall 2012 to the end of the 2013-14 Toastmasters year. I am a two time area director with a stint as Division Director in between.

I achieved my Distinguished Toastmaster award in the summer of 2019 and accepted the plaque at our Fall Open House. I showed off the medal at our awards ceremony at the 2020 Fall Symposium. I also won the prestigious Spirit of Toastmasters award along with two other dedicated members. My goodwill to the District helped me achieve the award. We did a panel discussion at the Winter TLI that December.

Going remote because of COVID helped us visit other clubs when before it seemed impossible. Earlier this year and in the Spring, we held all our contests and Spring District conference all online. The conference turned out to be a huge success.

I finally got my opportunity to take part in the DTM gauntlet at our DTM gala on July 24. I hugged all the past DTMs and even twirled a few of them. What a fun night that was in addition to the disco dancing and fire alarms going off that sent us outside. We still danced though. The fun continued at Ron and Sarah’s on August 14. I highlighted these events a few weeks ago. It’s a honor to be an adopted member of Cranberry High Noon Toastmasters.

Last month I got the opportunity to visit Cranberry High Noon Toastmasters open house on my day off. They had many guests visit whether it was in person or by way of Zoom. We had 30 in attendance that day physically and virtually. I joined Sarah Rashmee Souri, Maragatham Maha and Linde Geissler Riley for lunch afterwards at Chen’s. My first time there and we had a great lunch. They even played Disco music. It was sign that we needed to be there.

The next night I attended the red carpet gala and officer induction at Laurel Highlands Toastmasters Club. What a celebration that was as everyone was dressed for the occasion. It was a great program too with Dana Mitnik talked about the history of Toastmasters in Fayette County, and Robert Johnson and Melissa Davis McGavick giving great speeches. Fred and Shawna were amazing that night as our emcees and the members couldn’t be any more proud than they were that night to be recognized as one the newest clubs in District 13.

I’m also proud to say I’ll be joining Laurel Highlands very soon as their newest member.

I took advantage of my day (or night) off to do some Christmas shopping. I could have stayed local and shopped at Westmoreland Mall but decided to head out to the other side of Pittsburgh and shop in Robinson.

I braved the traffic on the Parkway (and there was a lot of it… Squirrel Hill Tunnel, Fort Pitt Tunnel, and Greentree Hill) and arrived a little after 4 this afternoon. My first stop was the big Market District in Settlers Ridge. I don’t think you know this but I work for Giant Eagle now. This was the first time I saw the entire Market District and it is huge. It’s also very boujee. But I enjoyed myself there. I had some pizza, bought some alcohol, and headed to my next destination, Kohl’s.

I got a few Christmas items checked off my list at Kohl’s but despite the coupon, this trip could have benefited more from not coming here as it looked very picked over. Sephora taking over Kohl’s phased out their fine jewelry section in the bigger stores (smaller stores like Monaca and Butler still have a fine jewelry section). They’re definitely a better fit for JCPenney. That was my next stop.

I headed to the Mall at Robinson next and things got better here. I parked by the Food Court and walked into JCPenney through the home area. This was always a challenging inventory every year we did it when I worked for WIS. Ten of the eleven years we did it we always had trouble. It was also done in the summer most years so it was always a miserable count. Anyway, I had more success here than I did at Kohl’s. I knocked a few more items off of my list and got some great deals.

I started to feel like I was more into the Christmas spirit now. I seemed more chipper as I walked through the mall. It was time for me to shop for my second family. I found one of the coolest stores in the mall called Boxlunch. They have a lot of neat pop culture stuff in there. A few years ago they had a decent amount of Bob’s Burgers merchandise in the store and being a big fan of the show I almost bought some of it.

I stopped at Starbucks and got a Peppermint Mocha latte. By now I was feeling festive and I was dressed fashionable. The cashier who rang me up at JCPenney loved my fashion sense and complimented me on my Coach accessories. This Christmas Shopping adventure would have been much improved if I skipped Kohl’s and ate in the food court, Bahama Breeze or even Olive Garden. Not that Market District was a bust but the sandwich area was closed (I wanted to try that Rachel that my mom had last week or a Reuben).

After I finished at the Mall at Robinson, it was off to Target. Here I would thrive in my Christmas shopping as I checked a lot of things off my list tonight. I got my adopted family taken care off including the Mighty Thor. I still have a little more shopping to do next week but I’ll keep that local (Westmoreland Mall, my Giant Eagle, and the local Target). In the meantime, I’ll do some wrapping this weekend and see the lights down in Youngwood.

I’m a week and a half into Giant Eagle and so far so good. I got some compliments Saturday night for how much effort I’ve put in so far. I barely lasted a month the first time around and really shouldn’t have taken the job anyways (or just put myself on a leave of absence at WIS).

I’m on a leave of absence at WIS/RGIS right now and I’m going to need to make a decision soon on when to be scheduled again. Given the way things have gone at Giant Eagle so far, it’s a win win there. I’m enjoying this taste of freedom and being so close to home; thus my time with WIS will likely be ending very soon.

If so, I’ll resign within the next two weeks and make an announcement on Christmas Eve. It’s been a good ride and I’ll miss the people and the all the great times we had together. If not for coming back in 2019, I likely wouldn’t be where I am right now. I’d have missed some memorable overnight trips (Ashtabula comes to mind).

I wouldn’t be blogging and I probably wouldn’t have found myself. Therefore I wouldn’t be as happy as I am now. I likely wouldn’t have been as inspired to buy Coach and my gender nonconformity wouldn’t have been as accelerated as it is now.

WIS 2008-2021? It seems that way.

Bye everyone. ❤️ you.

Last week we talked about what we want for Christmas and Mom brought up the idea of what kind of gift cards I would like for Christmas. The stores that came to land were: Target, Old Navy, JCPenney, and Kohl’s. The reason I’m putting this blog post together is to think of what I can buy with these gift cards if I get them for Christmas.

Target is easy. I can buy some more amazing fashion-wear. I bought a pair of leggings and a sweater dress in my last haul. I have a pair of leather leggings in mind as well as some sweater tunics and a leopard print fleece.

Old Navy is my second favorite. I already have enough jeans and sweaters but I can buy an amazing blouse or two or even some lip gloss or other beauty products. Maybe even a cropped jacket would be nice.

For Kohl’s, I’d love to check out their new Sephora kiosk (that goes for JCPenney as well). There’s also their Lauren Conrad line of purses I have in mind. I want this dusty pink crossbody that I found on Kohls.com. Also some fuzzy socks to keep my feet warm in the cold winter months.

JCPenney has always been one of my longtime favorites. I used to buy a lot of my wardrobe there (not so much anymore). My interests have changed a good bit too. I browse more at Sephora now than I used to. Their gift sets look amazing and their Fenty line (that’s Rihanna’s makeup line) may be expensive but I might try it out too.

Since I’m on the subject of makeup, why not think of ULTA as well. I’ve been in a few of their storefronts and they have some cool stuff too.

I had to lay low with my gender nonconformity until I got established at my new job. It’s back and I’m not giving up on being happy and living my best life and loving myself.

Change of plans for Wednesday. I want to shop at JCPenney in addition to everywhere else so that means I’ll be going to Robinson instead (there is no JCPenney in the South Hills since they closed the Century III location). I’ll start out with Market District and go from there. I plan on getting all my Christmas shopping done this week but I might have a little bit left over next week.

Let the festivities begin. 18 more shopping days until Christmas.

My first week at Giant Eagle came to a close early Sunday morning. Overall it went really smooth. Every night we have been busy putting away orders that needed stocked. It is Christmas after all. It won’t be like that come January and February but like Dad said, tough it out. I’ve had an opportunity to meet new people and learn more about some of the veterans in the company. I asked questions so I could perform my job more effectively. I’ve also gained an understanding of how the grocery business works.

Monday night was my first night on the job. By the end it didn’t even feel like it. I worked hard from the beginning and learned a lot. I started in paper products and made my way into pet. My first night I even got a cool Giant Eagle mask. That made me look legit. I had some experience from working at Eastgate Giant Eagle for a brief period. That would have gone better had I taken a leave of absence from WIS but it is what it is. At Hempfield we also put away Dairy and Frozen. My takeaway from my first night was that Dairy must be rotated and the expiration date should always be checked. We have a stockperson who is very passionate about the Dairy aisle and so far, things have gone well there for me. I’ve taken on most of the dairy aisle except for eggs, butter, and coffee creamer. I took my first swing at frozen foods on Thursday night and wrapped up the night with HBC.

Last night was a breakout performance for me. I got praise from one of my coworkers for how much effort I put into my work this week. I was also told I was doing an excellent job from a few of the longtime employees (who actually worked for that Giant Eagle when it was at Greengate East). Once we finished our part of dairy, we went over to frozen and put away five flats in a short amount of time. All of us including the frozen leader and the morning stock person got it done within a few hours. I put the last item away at 6:15am and then blocked a section before clocking out 15 minutes later.

The Dairy/Frozen leader was a big help and I enjoyed talking to him and learning more about his experience with the company. I hope we get to work again. A lot of people have worked many years with Giant Eagle so they really know their stuff. I want to continue making a go of it here and see where it leads me.

It’s nice knowing when I’ll be done and being so close to home.

Wednesday is my next night off so I plan to make the most of it and go Christmas shopping. I plan to head out to Bethel Park and shop around the South Hills Village area. I’ll shop at Kohl’s as well as hit up Market District across the road for my beer and wine coolers for Christmas. I also plan to do some holiday shopping at Target (the big one in South Hills Village mall). I plan to get all my shopping done in one day. Maybe next week I’ll get my wrapping done as well.

Time to check out some Christmas movies. I haven’t done so yet besides watching the Grinch. Elf and Christmas Vacation await.

Bye everyone. ❤️ you.

Spring continues in the #7 event of 2021 as Katie and Matt buy a house.

Katie and Annabelle were living in our Grandma’s old house for the last year and a half after I moved back home in the Fall of 2019. It wasn’t going to be a permanent fix and eventually they wanted to find another place to live. That Spring they moved out of the house and found one closer to us. It was within walking distance to us which meant Annabelle could walk right to Gigi and Pappy’s and go swimming anytime she wanted during the summer. Dad offered his services to Katie and Matt and cut the grass during the warmer months.

The first Saturday we moved the rest of the stuff out of Grandma’s house that we didn’t a few weeks earlier. The heavier stuff like furniture and other things. Dad put a lot of time into cleaning out the house to get it ready to sell that Spring. A week later I went over there for the last time and it made me so sad to see it empty. Another piece of my childhood was being taken away (like Greengate Mall and Hills). It was put on the market and sold quick. I know my parents wouldn’t want this on my blog but it was a big part of my 2021 so forgive me.

While life in the new house was great for Katie and Matt and Annabelle, changes would be coming soon at work for my office. We lost two of our top guns who would move to other positions in the company. Also, we learned that WIS bought RGIS which meant major changes down the road. You’ll read more on that as I round out the bottom half of my top ten and begin the top five next week.

There was also a beautiful wedding that took place that Spring too but I’ll get to that later.

In this week’s look back at 2021, we highlight the #8 and #7 event of the year. That would be the crazy Spring I had to endure. It all began at the end of March.

I finally addressed the elephant in the room after so many years and made the decision to visit a dermatologist to have them look at my head. After what seemed like an eternity, I was going to have my cyst drained and my head would finally look normal again. Don’t ask me why I didn’t get it addressed sooner.

Before I did that, I would have to visit the doctor and get a referral. I hadn’t been to the doctor in 14 years (again don’t ask) so it’d been a long time for them too since they last saw me. I had my
blood pressure taken and it was HIGH. Like “I’m about to have a stroke HIGH”. Dr. Gerger made arrangements for me to go to the emergency room at Excela Health in Greensburg that afternoon. What I thought was going to be a few hours in the hospital turned into a four day stay.

That night I posted on Facebook that I was being hospitalized for high blood pressure. I got the biggest outpouring of support from family, friends, my church, and my coworkers. I was in good spirits despite my situation. “Fashionable even when in the hospital” is what Sara told me on Facebook. The nurses crushed on my Coach crossbody purse.

The nurses and doctors took great care of me. I watched a lot of Netflix and spent a lot of time sleeping. I don’t think I ever left my hospital room those four days. I was released the day before Easter and couldn’t have been happier to come home and celebrate the holiday with my family. Easter Sunday was a beautiful day.

I began the long road to recovery by taking my medicine everyday, visiting my heart doctor, and getting my cyst drained. I would have a stress test done in May. My head looks normal and my test came back good. Blood pressure has come down and I’m in good spirits.

The week after I came home, I received an invitation to attend Rob and Sara’s wedding in May 15. I RSVP’d immediately. Paula told me, “You’re family. Of course you’ll be there.”

My family mourned the loss of my uncle that weekend, the same weekend I attended the Spring Conference on Zoom. Everyone came out the night before to visit. I stayed home as I was just removed from my hospital stay.

More on this crazy Spring of 2021 tomorrow.

Bye everyone. ❤️ you.

I haven’t started my Christmas shopping yet, since I didn’t work much in November. But I recently took a job at Giant Eagle and should get my first full paycheck next week.

I’ll make plans to shop later next week. Not sure where I’ll go yet. It all depends on my work schedule. I’d love to shop out in the Pittsburgh area and hit up Market District. I can probably get a discount there now that I’m employed by Giant Eagle. That’ll still happen as I want to buy alcohol for the holidays. I want to buy my wine coolers (I’m a cocktail 🍹 person as well; it’s the year of gender nonconformity after all) and get dad some beer 🍺 . I might have to keep it local however when it comes to actual Christmas shopping.

I plan to shop for my family. My mom has given me some ideas as what she wants. She always answers my question with Peace on Earth, knowing that always annoys me. I know she’s kidding and I should have a better sense of humor. It’s hard for me to say because I’m older and my interests have changed. With my gender nonconformity the highlight of 2021, it’s hard to explain to my old school parents that I want a gift card from ULTA (they’ve never even heard of the beauty chain). One thing I’m interested in are some charms for my Coach purse. I saw these cherry 🍒 charm I can put on my bag to make it look more stylish.

I also plan to shop for my other family, my adopted family. I mean a lot to Paula and the girls and they are the same to me. Sara even told me I was more family to them than most of her blood family. I got some gift ideas from Sara when I was there for Friendsgiving. I’m hoping to come up and pay a visit around Christmas depending on their plans. We’ll also schedule dinner at the Rialto soon for her early birthday as well make plans for Ligonier (to have coffee) and see the lights (I’m sure she’s talking about Overly’s). I would also like to get something for the Mighty Thor 🐶 🐾.

I want to shop at JCPENNEY (maybe Sara and I will make plans to shop if our schedules agree) and Target. I still support the small businesses but in a different way from 2020. It’s more shoutouts on Facebook and Instagram this time around. My mom and sister and aunt shopped at Market District, HomeGoods, and IKEA. Mom even brought home some baklava from Market District. We’ll eat that a little closer to Christmas.

I’ll get some stocking stuffers together as well. Target is perfect for that. I did that a few years ago for Chase, Ashley, Maura, and Emily, buying them chocolate kisses and peanut butter cups.

Another thing I want would be gift cards. Since we have a lot of stuff, that’s a good way to go this holiday season. Mom asked what I’d like and I told her Target, Kohl’s, JCPenney, and Old Navy. I didn’t tell her this but I also want a Sephora or ULTA gift card. I know she will probably say NO to that but it can’t hurt.

Maura showed me some scrunchies at one of our Rite Aids a few weeks ago and I thought they were really cute. Maybe that’s one of the gifts I will get from my amazing fashion buddy. Can’t wait to celebrate Christmas.

Last night was my first night working for Giant Eagle. Nervous about how it would go, last night/early this morning felt like nothing at all. In fact I think I picked up where I left off.

Before I talk about my first night on the job, let me enlighten you all with a little backstory on why it went very well.

I worked for Giant Eagle briefly about three years ago because I wasn’t happy with the way things were going at WIS. I didn’t like the bullshit Target special projects we were doing; our office had less than twenty people in it; and I gave in to speculation that Target was going to be horrible when we would get the account back in 2019.

I got a call from the Eastgate Giant Eagle in November of 2018 and took the job when they hired me. I went through orientation a few weeks later and worked my first night on Dec. 15 (coincidentally my ten year anniversary with WIS). At the suggestion of my dad, he told me not to give up WIS in case Giant Eagle didn’t work out. I worked three days at Giant Eagle and two days at WIS. That would turn out to be the deathknell of my short lived Giant Eagle career.

Working overnight at Giant Eagle and daylight at WIS just wasn’t going to work out. On my end, it really meant no days off in between jobs. On their end it was hard to schedule me with the other job. With a gap in between days, it was too hard to learn my new job when I was already ten years into working at WIS. A month into it, I told my boss at WIS I was coming back. That turned out to be a good thing as they got a driver back, I was able to take part in Toastmasters events, and that Fall saw me find new interests that made me who I am today.

The changes made this year as WIS bought RGIS have not been in my favor. Therefore, I was ready to make a change. I applied at Giant Eagle and Goodwill and thought of Target, Walmart, and Excela as other options. From the looks of it, most people are bailing out of WIS so it’s not just me.

Last night I got right to work and met some of my new coworkers. Ian (the HR representative who trained me) told me I was going to enjoy working with the night crew and he didn’t disappoint. The team was really awesome and they made my first night go really smooth and I’m thankful for that.

I started on paper products and that went really quick. From there it was onto pet food. Hardest part of that is putting away the little cans of Fancy Feast. Easiest part is putting away the big bags of dog food that weigh 20-30 pounds. That’ll give your muscles a workout for sure. I took my first break around Midnight. When we finish a section, we need to block it to make it look good for customers when they shop.

We put away juice, coffee, and some baking products and blocked the other aisles and then it was onto the biggest job of the night, stocking the dairy aisles. One thing I learned about dairy is that you need to rotate it all the time. Check the dates, especially on milk and cheese. While we put away dairy, another guy was putting away the frozen aisles. That’ll be my next task I’m sure.

After the meal which we usually take around 3am, the rest of the night usually goes fast. We stocked the aisles from the other vendor (UNFI). They have a warehouse out in New Stanton near our WIS office. How can you tell if it’s UNFI? Check the labels. If it’s blue, it’s Giant Eagle. If it’s orange, it’s UNFI. Yellow means it’ll be a separate vendor (Frito Lay, Pepsi, Coke). We finished all of UNFI around 6am and wrapped up with some Health and Beauty. Overall my first night was good. Hopefully I won’t hear of anything bad we did when I get there tonight.

I even got my Giant Eagle mask last night. Does this mask make me look legit?