Wednesday, July 16th, somehow lunchtime, 1:14 p.m., sitting in my spot or near my place, which has been occupied by yogurt with some sort of salad and oven-roasted turkey breast in the shade, but still in the heat.

Work has been very slow today, and I am still juggling my responsibilities for a b c d as well as the company that they placed me at. Marcus spoke up in my defense or on my behalf with regards to the hoops that ABCD are making me jump through while working for that fruity company.

Meanwhile I’m getting anxious on Mike’s behalf he has to get a job and he has to get it soon and right now it’s slipping into any job will do of course I can’t say that he has to make that decision but nothing’s happening despite sending out a bunch of applications no one’s responding which is distressing for me and I don’t know if it’s just stressing for him because he doesn’t seem like it but I’m sure he will at some point.

I wandered around Union Square in the sun. I should have worn a hat. Now I sit in the warm shade smoking a mini cigar, but he had people walk dogs, professional dog walkers, This might be something Mike could do.

I toyed with the idea of phoning Mike’s previous job on his behalf, unbeknownst to him, and seeing if they would take him back. Would that be underhanded even though it’s in his best interest, and even though they more than likely would say no, thank you?

It has been a long slow week during a long hot summer.

Bill is going to be in a play next month, and now he is in rehearsals for the play, so he won’t be home when I get home. I have to stop at the dispensary to pick up my order, which is necessary for a good night sleep.

The dB’s song ‘Ask for Jill’ has been playing in my head the past couple of days, thank goodness I do like the song, I do find the lyrics highly entertaining.

I’m going to look up professional dog walking jobs for Mike. I believe these are the doldrums. Not depressive doldrums, just boredom.

The gentleman who waters the sidewalks as well as whatever greenery might be around, just removed the food that I mentioned earlier.

Not much else to report at this moment, it’s just fucking hot. I laugh as I write that I laugh at how my phone accepts the word fucking. Almost halfway through this mini cigar, and once the mini cigar is done, more than likely go back inside where it’s air conditioned.

I just had a memory of working in the warehouse for HBJ in Saddle Brook, New Jersey, but how much of a simpler time it was. After I graduated from high school, I went full time. I can’t say I was a good worker, and I probably should have been let go a few times but because of the graciousness of my mother and how she was regarded, they looked the other way no matter how many times I fucked up.

But it was a simpler time. My world was a lot smaller then. Lodi and Saddle Brook were basically the areas that I knew best. In at 8:00 a.m., out at 4:15 unless I was working overtime, so 6:00 p.m. or 7:15. I didn’t have much to think of since I was living with my parents, and like I said, life was simpler. Thinking of Debbie Pless, sister of Gary Pless. I really should write about those HBJ days. Those formative years…

An email from the company that placed me where I am. They want me to focus on where I want my career to go with the company that places me where I am at, let’s call them ABCD.

They seem to think that I am a careerist, someone that wants to dig in my heels and get entrenched in this company, when all I want is a job that I go in in the morning at 8:00 a.m and leave in the afternoon at 5:00 p.m. and that’s the job.

They stay on their side I stay on mine.

“Hi John, I love where this is going however, your development plan needs to be focused on the where you want your career to go with ABCD. We need to think of the future. A couple of questions…
Do you want to stay in the receptionist position?
You mentioned your professional future. What does that look like for you? You have so many possibilities at ABCD, think outside the fruit box.

What position is the end goal?
You mentioned refining your communication skills?
What training will you take to achieve this?

Like I said, I just want to come in and do my job. I don’t plan to have a career or any ambition or any dream since I’ve never had them before, and I’m much too old to apply them today.

Just had an encounter with a gentleman named Damien, whose real name is not bothering to make it up because he just wasn’t that interesting a guy. Damien explained that he liked working at the other office where I started at which is a lot more uptight than where I’m at now. That is what rendered Damien uninteresting.

I explained that I much prefer this one, and he just didn’t seem to care cuz they don’t do conversation or small talk, it’s not something he likes to do, so he’s more comfortable sitting there awkwardly a few feet away from me and not interacting, so it wasn’t the end of the world though.

So it’s my lunch time right now, and I’m at my usual spot, or at least close to it. So it’s a woman who is documenting everything on her phone, where I usually sit. That’s another quiet day I’m keeping myself busy.

I’m dictating, not documenting.

Yesterday, before I left Mike in the apartment he suggested I bring an umbrella since heavy rain storms were expected and that’s what happened. But Mike forgot to close the window because I supposedly said that weather forecasters are wrong half the time.

And of course it rained. It rained quite a bit and Bill was on the highway and the highway flooded he didn’t get home until late and I was fast asleep.
I just walked away from the woman who is documenting everything about her life. Now I sit on the stoop of a condemned building or at least a building that’s being renovated and gutted from the inside out.

Just had a quick talk with Mike. He’s filled out 120 job applications in the past two or three weeks hopefully one of them will get back to him. He’s going to keep throwing things at the wall and he’s going to see what sticks.

The building under renovation seemed a bit sketchy or at least made me uncomfortable enough to get up and walk away from that. So now I sit under scaffolding which is also sketchy. I do like this neighborhood more than I like Tribeca.

I’ve stepped away from the scaffolding and am standing 3 ft away from it, not under it.

How do I tell the company that placed me here that I’m just looking to work, not looking to make a career, I’m much too old for that? I think if I wanted a career, I would have thought of it years ago, but I never did; I just wanted a job.

The young woman who took my spot has vacated this spot, and I am sitting here next to someone’s bicycle, and they did not know how to lock it up properly, so they locked it up incorrectly, taking up three spots for one bike. How inconsiderate.

Bill is at his gym on West 73rd Street behind the Dakota. I hope he’s having a good time.

Listening to Candy-O by The Cars, remembering driving around with Henry Venegas in 1979, listening to this, smoking cigarettes at Summit Avenue and Essex Street.