Good and Bad

First the good:
Windstar is in Northrend now, level 69 and still going. I decided on a whim to go to Howling Fjord first, instead of Borean Tundra, like I normally do. So my little druid was merrily questing along, and finally found the npc that gives the Utgarde Keep quests. Not long after grabbing the quests, I got an invite to dps (I had put myself in the lfg queue as dps/heals a little while before). The group had done the first boss already, but at this point I'm just wanting my quests done. Got one done (collecting the armaments) on the way to the rest of the group. There was a DK tank, priest healer, mage, another DK, and me. We actually wiped a couple pulls in (dang geists). Other DK drops group without warning. We get a shadow priest, who then leaves almost instantly, with the mage leader telling us they had needed the first boss. Then we get another priest to heal, and the first one goes shadow. DK tank is has been getting beat up by this time, and warns us she needs to repair. (Going by toon gender here, no idea whether the player was female or not.) We continue, having several more deaths, only one was a total wipe though. Tank informs the group that 3 pieces of her gear is broken. I tentatively offer to try to tank. First pull went awesome, next pull was crazy and we almost wiped again, because everyone piled on the mobs soon as I faerie fired them, before I had aggro on all of them. I asked them to let me hit them all next time, and had no problems after that. Got all the way to the last boss, then wiped again, because my noob self couldn't keep out of the smashes. So the by-then-repaired DK tanked the boss, he died, we were happy. I then gave the DK a pally plate drop I had won earlier, so she could vendor it to help cover her repairs, because I felt kinda bad about all her deaths. I had only died a couple times, so my repairs were cheap. I'm apparently now her favorite druid ever. :D All in all, a good example of a group that might not be all uber and stuff, but had a generally good attitude and tried to work together. And add the fact that I haven't bear-tanked since BC, and had the mage and DK sending me tells about how well I was doing, just made it a fun time. O yea, this was in a kitty leveling spec too, not even a proper tanking spec. /flex


And now that bad:
(Warning! rant alert)
I was randomly browsing blogs while afking on Star, and I followed a link to an older post in Too Many Annas, that lead to something that has been bugging me for a while. Little bit of info, so I don't confuse anyone - I work in a grocery store, as a bagger. I am female. This does not seem to be a popular job for females. The company I work for has redone a lot of their older policies. One such policy is our carry-out service. We never really did it before, unless the customer asked. Now the Higher-Ups in the company want us to do it All The Time. The customer has no choice, we are taking their groceries out for them. Although the employees have been told that if the customer refuses the service, we don't have to force it. The post I read just reminded me of the response I get, in regards to this policy. Specifically, the fact that no customer ever will let me take their grocery cart out for them. Men in particular. I have gotten to the point that I don't even ask men if they want my help anymore. Because they invariably say no. And maybe it's just me, but I usually feel like I'm getting a condescending attitude from them. "That's ok, little girl, you don't have to push this big heavy cart outside." (Esp. when said 'big heavy cart' has all of 4 or less bags in it) That's not what they say, but the tone of voice is there. Now, I will admit, I'm rather small, maybe 5' 5" or 6", and rather skinny. I also look about 6-7 years younger than I really am. But I am stronger than I look, and besides, this is my job. I get reproached by my superiors when they notice I'm the only bagger there, in the middle of all the bigger guys, that is not walking customers out. Then consider the fact that I am cooped up inside all day, until I would almost kill something to get a bit of fresh air, and a chance to stretch my legs. But no, I am kept inside, because the customers think they are doing me a favor by taking their own stuff out. But mostly, my biggest problem is the macho-male attitudes I have to deal with, for my entire shift, every day that I work. This, I believe, is the biggest reason why I have been hating my job so much lately. :(
Well, that and the fact that my totally random scheduling has screwed up more raids/RP nights than I can count. Including an invite to Black Temple on Wednesday, if I can make level 70 by then, which will be no problem. But I can't go because I don't get off work until 2 hours after the raid starts. Also missed the little party the Riders and friends had last Tuesday, because I worked late. Poor Star got there right as everyone started to leave. Call me crazy, but I seriously wanted to cry then. The fact that it was the only late shift I worked all week, and it just had to be on that night, just made it even worse.
Sorry for the Massive Wall o' Text on the second part, but this has been building up inside me for a long time, and I just had to let some of it out. :(
(/end rant)

Been bouncing story ideas in my head lately, so hopefully I will have a happier post next time. /waves