Tricks of the Trade

Whilst I was standing around at work the other day, I contemplated writing another blog post. (I seem to have a lot of time on my hands at work sometimes and find the need to come up with things to entertain myself with. Things such as straightening shelves, organizing the cashier's drawer, straightening the soda machine, and otherwise looking busy. That day I happened to write a blog post in my head.) The blog post I wrote in my head consisted of four things that I call The Tricks of the Trade, or in other words, The Things Any Normal-ish Person Can Use to Entertain Themselves at Work/Any Potentially Boring Situation. (The latter name being much longer and more complicated, I chose to go with the simpler and more clever first name.) 

1. Chew Gum. Personally, I prefer the Extra Polar Ice gum with the blue specks in it. Chewing gum refreshes a person's breath while providing the entertainment of blowing bubbles and making popping noises, as the situation allows. I remember a science experiment way back in the days of elementary that a friend did, which proved that chewing gum actually stimulates the brain and makes a person concentrate better. As this was an elementary school project, this begs the question of it's actual validity, but hey, I'm going with it.
2. Make Music. Since I have to be attentive to customers, I can't actually listen to personal music at work (weird, right?), but I can listen to the radio in my head. Again, as the situation allows, either hum aloud or sing in your head. Or if you're really brave, you can sing aloud, but as this tends to invite awkward stares, I usually keep my music to myself. I like to listen to the car radio on my way to work and pick a song that I can use to get me through my shift. Last week, I had "Born to Fly" by Sara Evans stuck in my head for two shifts. It was pretty exciting. So much so, that I will share it with you.
3. Keep Up a Conversation. Whether that conversation be with your co-workers, customers, or the weird guy that serves up your chicken sandwich at lunch, conversation with real human beings will keep your insanity in tact. Plus, people can be highly entertaining, providing for great stories at the dinner table later on. For example, I was working as a cashier the other day and a lady comes up to buy some ink. All of our ink is behind the counter, so customers tell the cashier what ink cartridge they need and the cashier searches for the said ink in the most efficient way possible. Anyways, so this particular lady asks for ink and I say "What kind do you need?" She says, "Well, I don't remember the number, but it looks like this and is about this size." She proceeds to create a small square with her hands. I sure hope she realized how dumb of a description this was. What I really wanted to say was "You know that all ink cartridges look like that right? And just because I work here does not mean that I have psychic powers that tell me what ink your printer at home takes. It's your job to tell me the kind of ink you need and my job to get it and ring it up." What I really said was this: "I am not sure what kind of ink you are going to need." Hmmm. I hope she got the hint. Co-workers also provide great entertainment while at work. One of my managers recently got engaged and so I get play-by-play accounts of dress shopping. She's a lot of fun to talk to. Another co-worker is a good little gossiper, so I get the juicy information like who is on probation and who got fired for what. 

I know I said there were four, but I can't remember what the last one was now. And three is the magic number anyways, so we don't really want four, do we? If you have anything to add to the list though, I'd love to hear about it.