Vintage Mac Living

Too Stressed to Even Think about Computers

- 2007.05.16

It's amazing how fast time moves. It seems like only yesterday my first article was published here, but it was two years ago. I can hardly believe it.

I've been writing for Low End Mac for two years as of today. My first article (Bigger, Faster, More: Enough Already!) focused on older Macs and how they can be just as productive as new ones.

When Dan Knight first hired me to write Vintage Mac Living for Low End Mac, I wrote about older Macs and how to make use of them. Since then I've also written about the Intel Macs (and the things I don't like about them), computers I've acquired, my views on rap music, the "30 days of old school computing" series, and so many others that I can't remember them all. It's been a lot of fun!

Stress at Work

However, this past month has had my life completely filled with stress. I've been so preoccupied that I haven't been able to think about computers, much less write about them.

Last month I decided to take some vacation time. I was to be off work from the 16th of April until the 25th.

At 11 p.m. on the 21st, one of my coworkers called. He asked if I could cover his shift from midnight to 6 a.m. I wasn't too happy about it; in fact, I was down right mad. I was on vacation, for crying out loud!

I asked him if he really needed me to come in, and he said yes. I said okay, but he would have to give me a ride (my car broke down a few days earlier). He agreed, and he picked me up.

On the ride to work, he told me that our Store Manager was quitting. I didn't believe him at first (this guy is always making stuff up), but when we got to the store, I couldn't believe my eyes - there was his letter or resignation. That kind of upset me.

A few days earlier he had said he was going to talk to his boss about giving me a promotion; now that wasn't going to happen.

But what really made me mad was when I got there, the manager who was running the shift wouldn't let me work. She made the guy that called me work his shift anyway (it turned out he didn't clear the change with the manager; he just expected her to be okay with it).

Fortunately a friend of mine was shopping at the Walmart where the McDonald's I work at is located and gave me a ride home. If it hadn't been for her, I would have been stranded there all night.

Needless to say, that was one hell of a night.

When I got back from my vacation, the new Store Manager had already taken over.

There was some more bad news: Our Assistant Manager (who was a good friend of mine) was being transferred to another store. That really sucked, because she and I were both hired at the same store, at the same time, and we were both transferred to the Walmart McDonald's at the same time when it first opened.

Out of all of the original crew people at my store, she and I were the only two left. We're still stay in touch, but it's strange not having her around.

Things Are Getting Better

Even though there has been a lot of change in the last few weeks, things seem to be working out. Our new Store Manager has seen my work, and she is promoting me to Crew Trainer. The promotion takes effect June 1st. I'm really looking forward to being the store's new Crew Trainer (at McDonald's, a Crew Trainer is kind of like a supervisor - a step above crew and a step below management). I can't wait!

With all of the distractions during the last month, I haven't had time to think about computers. However, I have had lots of time to think about work.

I know this article has nothing to do with Macs (or computers at all), but I thought I would give you all a glimpse into my life.

After all, there is more to life than Macs.

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Recent Vintage Mac Living articles

What a waste! Some schools would rather store old computers than put them to use, 2007.09.12. Denver Public Schools is one example of a school district so ready to buy new computers that it has tens of thousands of old, usable computers sitting in storage.
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10 years using low end Macs, 2007.04.06. April 1997: Apple's 20th birthday, Mac OS 7.6.1 released, Low End Mac begins, and the author gets his first Mac.
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