Friday, November 20, 2009

Costco

On Wednesday, I passed out crab cake samples at Costco in Strongsville, OH through Adecco, an employment agency. After taking two buses to get to Southpark where I had lunch at McDonald's, I walked to the Holiday Inn near I-71 (About a ten minute walk from the mall, it would have been a little bit closer from the bus stop closer to Costco, but I left at 10:00 A.M. because I had good coordination between buses at this time. It also allowed me to have lunch in a "leisurely" manner before my 12:30 start time.) because the coordination and bus (Not RTA) trip to Costco originated from there. At Sign-In, I received my visor, apron, and hairnet. After the brief orientation and short bus trip, I was eventually placed at the Crab cake Sample area. I had two partners. One partner quietly disappeared as her shift was over. The other partner did all the cooking with a convection oven. She also did the sample size cutting and the placement into the baking/serving cups. I passed out most of the samples and refilled the supplies which were replenished by another temp worker, so we didn't have to leave our station. I also offered appreciation for shopping at Costco.

Although I arrived later, I was offered break and dinner first. Since we weren't supposed to wear our watches, we were given a timer for our breaks. The timer distributor was also our relief. Dinner consisted of a complimentary hot dog and soda ($1.50 value as a package deal)
which was ''paid for" with a manager's business card which we were given at sign-in. I also had a large slice of pepperoni pizza (Only $1.99). I added two types of mustard and pickle relish to my hot dog (Foot Long). The food was filling, but a little spicy. Unfortunately, while I was looking for a fork or spoon to eat my relish that fell out of my hot dog, a staff member threw my wrapper with the relish out. At least, I finished the hot dog.

We ran out of boxes for the samples, and they weren't giving us any more since closing was in about an hour. Before leaving the store, we took our carts to the office area near the restrooms to clean them. We were then sent to the snack bar to wait for the bus back to the hotel to sign out. My crab cake partner gave me a lift to the bus stop because it was raining. (The bus stop was past Costco, since RTA didn't add a bus stop to accommodate Best Buy and the rest of the stores in the strip because it would have been a difficult maneuver after a left turn from Howe Road.) The bus arrived shortly after being dropped off. Since I was between buses, I walked home from Broadview and Pearl Roads after departing the bus. The walk home was uneventful except for the rain. From the time I got on the bus on Royalton Road to arriving home, it was just about an hour. It was a fun day at a very popular sample stand. I was very surprised. I didn't know crab cakes were so popular.

On the next day, I was offered a last minute offer to work at Costco again that day, but I wasn't home to receive the call. It would have been difficult to make it on time although I would have had coordination between buses. I could have had more fun (and more money).

My next report should be after Thanksgiving since I will be sending Gift Exchange e-mails to my immediate family. Have a nice Thanksgiving. I'll be in touch.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Happy Birthday, Paul

Today is my nephew-in-law Paul's birthday. I hope that he and Mandy had a nice celebration. It's a privilege to have you in our family.

The next report will be forthcoming.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

The Bus from North Olmsted

I mentioned a bus problem in my last post. As we were leaving Ruby Tuesday, we just missed a bus that I wasn't expecting to make. Perhaps, we would have made it if the pen to sign the receipt worked. Fortunately, another bus was coming shortly. This particular bus was coming from the Cuyahoga-Lorain County Line. Normally, the bus would have continued on Lorain Road all the way to the West Park Rapid Station. At this time of day (Around 6:00 P.M.), however, it went to the North Olmsted Park and Ride (near I-480) before turning back to Lorain Road and its usual route. Since Bob and I do not normally ride this bus in the time period, we did not fully know how the bus would travel. The schedule did not show any unusual derivation from the two routes. (The bus sometimes ends at the Park and Ride instead of going to the County Line. ) As a result, Bob would not let me go back one stop to make sure that we made the bus. Fortunately, the bus did as Bob expected it to do, much to our relief. After the train, another bus, and a fifteen minute walk, we made it home safely. It was a day to remember. (See the last post.)

(For further reference, go to http://www.riderta.com . Check out the 20A, 35, 46, 49, 52, 55, 66 (The train), and 75 schedules. It's too bad that they got rid of the Circulators because the maps would have illustrated "clearly" what I didn't fully discuss in my last post. )

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Burrito Tale #2

On October 26, Bob and I went to Qdoba in Rocky River, OH to enjoy a free burrito because it was a birthday perk from the restaurant's E-club. As it turns out, both burritos were free because I had earned a free entree with my Qdoba Card which I have had for awhile. (It's like a Frequent Flier card for restaurants.) The burritos were tasty.

After lunch, we went to Crocker Park in nearby Westlake. We bought nothing at the lifestyle center. It's no big deal since browsing is one of our favorite activities.

Since we were in the area, and I had a Dillard's/American Express bill to pay, we decided to patronize Ruby Tuesday near Great Northern Mall and Plaza in North Olmsted for dinner. Originally, the plan was to patronize the Ruby Tuesday in Seven Hills (on Broadview Road). (Coincidentally, Qdoba is across the street.) We could have hit both restaurants in one simple trip, but the area is not interesting enough to spend the time between meals there. Also, it's a one bus trip from our house if you go at the right time.

To get to Great Northern, first, we took a bus to the Westgate Transit Center in Fairview Park. We were then going to take a short bus trip on West 210th St. to Lorain Road in North Olmsted, so we could take another bus to Great Northern. I discovered that we had some time to kill due to RTA service cutbacks, so we walked down to Westgate in Fairview Park (partially in Rocky River) to do some browsing. After browsing, we crossed the street to catch our bus. While waiting for our next bus, two RTA school buses chose not to pick us up, although these buses are supposed to be available for regular passengers. Fortunately, our bus was coming soon.

Three buses after we started, we finally made it to Great Northern. It would have been a lot simpler a month earlier because the trip from Crocker Park to Great Northern was a one bus trip. Surprisingly, the trip back to Westgate Transit Center on the same bus would have been longer than the route we used to go back since the bus took a wide loop through North Olmsted and Fairview Park that we won't discuss at this time. There was a second bus to go back to the Transit Center with two separate loops (One went through Bay Village (too complicated to discuss), and the other one, which was simpler, mostly used Detroit Road (We went back on Detroit Road on this trip.) to go back to the Transit Center. (This route still exists for the most part, but the bus has changed. The route has also been simplified.) (There is still a second route from the Westgate Transit Center to Crocker Park. It uses Center Ridge Road as this bus did before, but instead of ending at St. John West Shore Hospital, it goes all the way to Crocker Park. (The bus that used to go to Great Northern from Crocker Park also went to this hospital and then to Crocker Park the exact same way that the current bus does now. The current bus now begins and ends at the Transit Center instead of going to Triskett Rapid Station in Cleveland.))

To make a long story short, buses similar to Airport/Hotel/Rental Car shuttles were eliminated by RTA due to budget cuts. Crocker Park is now served by regular buses (Regular buses went to Crocker Park in the past, but mostly in Rush Hour.) Crocker Park to Great Northern is more complicated, but since we don't do it often, we can live with the hassle.

After finally making it to Great Northern, I paid my Credit Card bill. We then did some browsing. Believe it or not, we actually bought something. It was hairball relief for Katie (our "earth tone colored" cat.). This purchase came from Petsmart. Originally, it was a prescription, but since she enjoyed it, we decided to buy some more after we found similar stuff over the counter. Our black cat, Morgan, enjoyed it, too, but it wasn't meant for her. Both cats receive cat treats after Katie's "medication". I guess the cats are living the high life.

After Petsmart, we finally went to Ruby Tuesday. I had a birthday perk from my E-club membership of a free burger. We enjoyed our burgers. I paid the bill. There was a delay because the pen to sign the credit card slip didn't work. I used the pen from the front area. We then took many RTA buses and the Rapid (Not in that order!) to eventually reach State and Natchez and then walked home (We took a slightly longer walk than normal home, since our regular bus's frequency declines after 7:00 p.m.) (There was a moment of "panic" at Great Northern, but I have confused you enough for one post.). It was a long but memorable day.

Until next time, stay safe.