Monthly Archives: June 2010

Action Time Vision

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Well I’ve been home now for abut 45 minutes. I think I’ve turned a corner. Not as morose or as despairing as I had been the previous couple of days. It wasn’t an easy transition but I think it’s nearly over.

The weather has been very cooperative and today was the second day in a row where I wore my suit to work, not scrambling to find a place to change from street clothes into a suit. I hope it lasts but I know, summer is around the corner.

The guys I work with are good guys it seems, though the guy I was replacing was fired yesterday. He was supposed to be working until the first of August. But apparently when he was supposed to be working the weekend and Calvin wasn’t going to be around, he would call in sick, or have something come up.

That took it’s toll on his co-workers and Marcus and Calvin decided to do something about it. They asked him to resign but he wouldn’t so they fired him. I liked Harold. He was a good looking guy with washboard abs, but he also liked himself a lot.

Too much ego said Calvin. Calvin also mentioned that he thought Harold had a few sugar daddies on the side. A handsome muscular model living in Chelsea is bound to have a few sugar daddies if he so desired.

So that leaves a core group of 5 workers. Calvin, Raymond, Don, Ryan and me with Marcus managing the two Manhattan stores. I actually prefer this store to the store I frequented which was around the corner from Wanker Banker.

Calvin allows me to pick the music and the co-workers seem to like my choices. Some Latin jazz, some Woody Allen music. Today I opened the store with a Brian Eno playlist which was about an hour’s worth of music.

Not so much ambient stuff but some of his more interesting fare. James Brown was in the mix today as was The Bird & the Bee. And Raphael Saddiq. I sort of took over the music choices on the second day. The day started with just me and Don.

It takes a while for Don to warm up, at least to me. For about 2 hours it was the two of us and hardly anything was said. That made for a slow 2 hours, but he liked the Eno stuff I was playing, saying that it sounded like Pink Floyd.

No, I didn’t throttle him.

Calvin showed up at 11:30, scheduled to work the late shift. I worked the late shift yesterday with Calvin and found that working the late shift one night and opening the next day is no easy task, at least not yet.

Once Calvin showed up things got easier, and it being lunch time it meant customers started drifting in. For lunch, a turkey sandwich at what seems to be my usual spot near the park. And of course Calvin recommended a cigar, a Tatuaje robusto which was really good.

It’s great to spend time outside in the open air, just looking at people. I did have a good chat with Don, who said I shouldn’t be overwhelmed by the situation of starting a new job. It was good to hear, and also good to see that Don eventually thaws out.

I’ve been having some problems with sending photos from my cellphone. The pics are usually sent to Facebook but haven’t been showing up there. I thought it was a Facebook problem but it is actually a T-Mobile problem so a visit to the local T-Mobile store is in order tomorrow, my day off.

Have a few things planned for tomorrow, and the number one plan is sleeping late. It’s actually number one on my list.

a lunch time view

I also had gotten tickets for the Colbert Report tonight, but had to give them up since I’m working!

Abzug

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Updated @ 11:00PM
Puttering around. Late shift today. First time. I doubt if I would be able to write enough and still get a good night’s sleep so I am going at it right now.

Before 9:00 AM. I will be working from 11:30 to 9:30 today. And I guess I would probably be getting home around 11:00 tonight. I just checked an email, I forgot I signed up for tickets for the Colbert Report tomorrow and I regretfully had to cancel.

And tomorrow I am working the 9:30 to 7:30 shift. It would have been fun to do but oh well. I am employed now.

Last night I saw Bill in a play at Theater for the New City, Tiger Tiger. I took the Path train in and got off at 14th Street.

I wasn’t sure if the theater was on First or Second Avenue so I called Google 411. It’s an automated service which was useless. They could not understand the word ‘theater’, but then again a lot of people can’t either.

I gave up and used T-Mobile’s service which had a human being who told me it was on First Avenue. I walked down Fourth Avenue and strolled by where Farfetched used to be.

Still a dark hole of a store which is the intention for the goth set. I guess they’re doing well. It was a trip of sorts walking through the East Village since I hadn’t been there in a while. It was energizing.

I had a bag of clothes that Bill had forgotten, as well as some of his head shots. I made my way to the back of the theater where I met the rest of the cast, Bill and five women.

The play was a bit unnerving. It was an almost full house and the subject matter involved Bill being a child molester. Sufficiently creepy.

Some of the audience thought it was funny though I really don’t see how it would be intended to be humorous. The acting was well done though, with some tech things overpowering the lines being said.

After the show I helped Bill get his things together and carried them home while Bill went to the cast party. Took the Path train from Ninth Street and after a wait of a quarter hour I was headed back to Hoboken.

Deserted streets at 10:30 on a Sunday night. Home by 11:00, Bill was home about 45 minutes later. We talked about the play and soon he was in bed, I stayed up a little while later, exchanging messages with a Facebook friend is Los Angeles, whom I’ve never met but reminded me that I am more than my job.

He has a few other friends that are rejoining the workforce and that it’s difficult for them too. Touching that someone who I only know online is concerned for my well being. How fortunate am I to have people like this in my life, both physically and online?

Now it’s getting close to the time I should start moving. It’s cool enough for me to take Bill’s suggestion and go to work, wearing the suit, with a towel and some extra t-shirts.

Have a good day.

Update:
Todays guests at the shop, Al Sharpton, A skank with boobs falling out complaining about how cigars smell and then asking for a job, a Mama’s boy, 2 Rwandan diplomats.

The guy I was supposed to be replacing by August was fired today. That speeds up whatever processes I might have been involved in (which could be a good thing).