Moving on

Hey!

It is definitely beginning to feel like fall. I can now whip out the long sleeved shirts, jackets, jeans, and put away the shorts and summer clothes. I remember a year ago when I was abroad, I had left for Milan in early October. The weather in Denmark at the time was remarkably warm and in Milan, Italy it was pretty warm- about 80 degrees F. When I came back to Copenhagen a week later, however, it was suddenly much colder, which was a shock. Wish I was going on a trip to Milan right now!

Indian Creek is going well. I love the after school program. I led games this past Friday. The kids were more hyper and not listening as well. One of the kids brought Dutch Blitz, which is a super hard game, and is especially hard for kids with Autism. We also played Steal the Bacon, which went alright, except for the fact that the kids were real loud and not listening.

I start the other part of my job, TSS, where I'll work with clients one-on-one to help reduce unwanted behaviors and increase coping skills and help to pass along the skills to the parent. I have observed two other TSS workers working with other clients and am going to one tomorrow. I then have a 12 hour training, and then I will start the other part of my job.

I quit Panera last Monday. I have been with the company on- and - off for almost two years, which is crazy to me. I started working at Panera to make money to study abroad and for some insane reason decided to start working there again (at a different location) in February until now. I practically now could be a manager, which I have no desire to be.

Now that the the weather is getting colder, more people are coming to Panera, and more people = more problems. I was planning on working at Panera every Saturday, since Indian Creek is only about 30 hours a week to make some extra money, but working last weekend completely changed my mind. Last weekend was really awful. The employees that work at Panera who A. Care and B. Know what they are doing, all left for college, so they hired a LOT of new people. It is really frustrating because things are not running smoothly and no one but me, really, knows how to do things properly.

The customers that weekend were mostly pretty awful.Very impatient and condescending.We had one woman start screaming at us because before when she came to Panera there were croutons in her soup and she doesn't like croutons. She the proceeded to very closely watch the line prepare her food. Before they were even finished putting her side on the plate (an apple) she takes her plate and starts screaming, literally screaming, about how she can't believe they forgot her apple and oh now there is soup spilled on the side of her bowl! They give her a new bowl of soup and she then starts yelling about needing to see a manager. My manager was no where to be found because she was taking inventory in the baker's walk in and couldn't hear us. The woman eventually calmed down, but it was kind of scary. I'm pretty sure that woman had some sort of mental illness.

 That weekend, I also had an issue with a manager taking my phone for leaving next to my register behind the receipt printer (where no customer can even see) without saying anything. What am I in middle school? "A zero-tolerance policy for phones! If we see it or hear it, we must take it away!" That was a policy my high school. The last time I checked, I was out of high school, though to be fair, many of my Panera co-workers are in high school. I am a fairly mature person and would like to be treated like one. The manager who took my phone (and my other co-workers, mind you) clearly thinks differently. If she had warned me and said "Hey! If I see your phone there again, I will take it" that is one thing, but she took it! I confronted her about it and told her how I felt and she goes, "I shouldn't have to warn you, you signed the handbook!" Yeah, two years ago... I did get my phone back, though.

Needless to say, I'm pretty done with Panera. I have one more shift and then I'm done. Yesterday, I worked and it wasn't to bad. Probably because I worked with a manager who I like and also worked with at the Wayne location, too. Hopefully, I will be able to find another little source of income. 

I also have been training for a 5K with this program called Couch to 5K. I am currently in week 4. It starts off slow, running for 60 sec, then walking for 90 seconds during week one and it gradually goes up from there. I think I may be signing up for a 5K with my friend in October. I'm a little nervous, but it should be fun! Today, I ran/ walked 2.5 miles, which is crazy! I could barely do a mile before.

Sorry this post was so long. I had a lot to say. I am little sad to be leaving Panera, but I just can't imagine working there during XMas. I did that once in 2010, and NEVER AGAIN!

~Jenna

September

Hello!

I can't believe it is already September. I was not in America during the fall last year, so it is a little strange to be here with the season getting cooler. I remember coming back in December and it being cold and I still had summer clothes in my dresser at home.

I started my job on Friday at Indian Creek. I really liked it. I will start the TSS Worker stuff within the next couple weeks. I did the after school program on Friday. I was a little nervous about working with kids with Autism, but I found the kids in the program to be fun and not too difficult. Part of duties include being assigned two children and keep count of their behaviors. Each child has goals. My one client had a goal to keep on track with activities and not just walk away without saying sometime to the person they are with that they were done playing. I had to keep a tally of every time he interacted with another peer and every time he kept to himself.

The majority of the kids in the program are boys. A lot of these children are very, very intelligent, they just lack the ability to pick up social cues. I got to lead a game with the kids called social skills where they got to practice how they would react in different social situations, e.g., "pretend you see a friend playing a game you don't know how to play. What could you say to your friend to get them to teach you how to play the game?"

Last night, I got go out with some friends that I went to high school with. It's been a couple of years since I have seen some of these people. My one friend is getting married in January and will soon be buying a house! Ahh! Can't believe I am so old. Also, I saw many, many people from Upper Moreland. It was weird. There were also two UM teachers there. I never had these teachers, but it was pretty weird none the less.

I am very happy to have a job in my field and I hopefully will get more hours soon!

~Jenna