Subj : how hard can research science be?
To   : Charles Pierson
From : August Abolins
Date : Fri Dec 18 2020 20:01:00

Hello Charles!

[On X-SMAPI-DateWritten: 16 Dec 20  14:57:20, you wrote to  
me]:

 CP> That makes sense. Your job still sounds pretty cushy to
 CP> me. But we probably have different standards for what
 CP> cushy is.

How's this for cushy:

This last week has intensified as people are very anxious to  
have deliveries of their Special Orders (not necessarily what  
I have in stock) arrive before Christmas. I thought that I was  
pretty much done with requests LAST friday, but people still  
came to me on Mon, Tue, and Wed to place orders!  In some  
cases it is not a problem as I have a special account with one  
distributor that guarantees a delivery in 24hrs (much better  
than Amazon, btw) ..at no additional cost. But some  
distributors need about 3 or 4 days to deliver - so an order  
on Dec 18 is still feasible.  So.. the "cushy story is..

At home from about 9p to 3a, I was busy studying orders,  
consolidating where I can, checking stock, and finalizing the  
orders that can be placed online through the web services.

Then.. after 5 hours sleep, I am back at the shop to finish  
the orders that can only be done via email and special  
resources that I only have at the shop. That took another 5  
hours - considering that I had to interrupt that with work at  
the counter, helping people with research, recommendations in  
person and on the phone, unpack and search existing deliveries  
for previous orders, and some modest chit chat.


 CP> Doing something I enjoy would be pretty cushy to me.

Sure, I can say that it wasn't like I *didn't" enjoy the  
above, but the work takes a lot of time and sacrifice to get  
it done (and criticism if I fail); *that* does not bode cushy.

And at the end of it all, I can't guarantee that it will pay  
off - literally.  ;)

So, yeah.. Sometimes I feel that I would rather peer into a  
telescope and make notes.  That would be cushy.

Today, I can feel some repercussions: my back hurts. It  
usually happens after feeling a lot of stress.  Considering  
the swings of stress that I endure, I'm surprised that I  
haven't developed shingles by now.

But I have to be back at the shop at 8a tomorrow to get at  
least 2 hours of uninterrupted time to unpack some recent  
deliveries that may or may not contain some special orders of  
the previous weeks.

Unpacking is not as simple as opening a box and sticking the  
books on the shelf.  Every order needs to be checked for  
missing items, damaged items, and in many cases the books need  
to be relabled with Canadian pricing.

Today, I learned that I was missing one box from a delivery of  
3 total.  The tracking record claimed that it was delivered at  
my destination LAST WEEK!  But the problem these days (due to  
Covid shit) is that the delivery guys self-sign on my behalf.  
They just drop off the boxes and leave. They don't give any  
time to check if all 3 of 3 boxes are present, for example.

Yeah, real cushy. :/

--
  ../|ug

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