I went to work at 11 last night. normally I am there around 2 am, but I needed to get in and out before everyone else came in. I've been having some crowding issues at work, mainly because of Easter. Plus I really like working by myself, I get much more done that way, and I don't really have to clean up while I go, I can leave it till the end. I don't see the crowding part getting any better unless they do some major renovations to the store. I am also busy enough that I am going to need some help before the major 4th quarter holidays get here (I sound like I know what I'm talking about!). Hopefully this will happen, I have to talk with Liz and the store managers about it. It needs to happen, because the holidays are going to do me in this year if it doesn't, and I really hate missing the entire fall, which is my favorite season.

I was coming back from the freezer around midnight (the freezer is located on the opposite end of the building from the bakery). I was rolling my noisy cart along with my head down when I heard "Good morning Robert," which scared the living hell out of me. It was Nick, from the warehouse. Then he said, "I didn't want to scare you," which is what people who come in super early and unannounced always say to me right after they scare me. He is going to be working at midnight every Saturday now, because he goes to school and has been married for a little over a year. He's working a few hours each morning, and then working the whole day Saturday. Which is good, because he can get stock out on the floor before the Saturday rush. There is not much stocking going on on Saturdays, because the warehouse people always end up bagging at the registers.

When I started this job, my supervisor was one of the store managers, and she was also doing the baking to help us get started (I started on the first day that the bakery opened). We went in at 7 the first week, then I convinced her that we needed to come in early. So we started coming in at 4, she made the cinnamon rolls (which I have since taken over), and I made the breads and rolls. After a few weeks of this, she got tired of coming in early and gave me a key to the store, so I became the first one in the store. I also told them to put in a doorbell for the back door, because you can't hear someone knocking from inside the bakery. Unfortunately, someone told them to put it in the kitchen I guess, because that's where it is. If I have all three of the mixers going and the radio up loud (which I have to, because all three of the mixers are going), then I can barely hear the door. The people who ring it know this, and they tend to lean on it. :)

Since I was there early, they started telling delivery people that they could come in early, so I had to let them in. Then some of the workers started coming in early on a daily basis, instead of just during holidays. Everyone is scheduled to start at 7.30, but some started coming at 6.30. Then last year, the warehouse was scheduled to start at 5 am. I was losing my alone time, which I cherished very much. I like listening to loud music that I enjoy or can sing along to, it helps me work a lot faster. It's hard to do that when you have Amish people in at 5.30 who aren't supposed to be listening to music at all. I don't really care about the other departments being in there early, because I only see them when they come for coffee. There just isn't enough room in the bakery for a lot of people, plus we have very limited oven space, and there are things that we can bake only in particular ovens. And the oven are not the best. They are deck ovens, which have an awful lot of bottom heat, so we have to bake some stuff inside another pan (kind of like Air-Bake pans). Plus the ovens were older than me when I started, and they're not very reliable. In the early days (I've been there 7 and 1/2 years), the ovens used to get a gas buildup in the door where the burner was, and occasionally would blow the oven door open, which was VERY loud and totally unexpected. When this happens at 4 am when you're there by yourself, you have to make sure that you have a clean pair of underwear with you. :P

Like I said, I do like working by myself, even though it can be scary sometimes. I've been doing it since I was 17, so I'm used to it by now. I don't know if I am being selfish here or if I'm right. Time will tell hopefully.