Monthly Archives: July 2011

I Can’t Git A Nice Loaf A’ Bread

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Well it was sort of a good day, working with Bradley and eventually Jerry Vale. Bradley was humorous and quite hung over after an event he participated in at a nearby cigar bar. He mixed drinks last night and paid the price today. Still he was funny and elicited a few laughs from me.

Jerry Vale is not so funny though and tried my nerves after Bradley went home for the day. Nothing that he did intentionally, just that he has that touch. A credit card transaction somehow became a cash transaction.

I intervened and despite the customer being in a hurry, waited for me to sort it out. That meant including calling his credit card company to make sure he was not charged twice. I think it went through with no problems and asked the customer to check his statement when it comes in.

Then another customer came in with five flasks he bought a week ago as gifts for his bridal party. The party opted for things that weren’t flasks and since he had the proper receipt and brought them in on time, I had no choice but to refund his money.

The initial transaction happened on a day that I was off and I had no idea how to search for the proper sale. So I did a straightforward refund and it wasn’t until after that did Jerry Vale reveal that it was he that sold the original items.

For me, a daily goal is to break at least $1000.00 in sales and prior to the returns I was thisclose to achieving that goal. Since I did the refund under my name, I wound up eating the sales taking me away from being thisclose to $1000.00. I had no idea he was such a numb nuts and now he is avoiding me.

Instead of standing around in the front of the store as he is known to do, he is in the humidor. I am just annoyed basically. Jerry Vale avoids me a lot lately. He will walk in a different direction to get where he is going instead of just saying ‘excuse me’ if I am in his way. It doesn’t matter much to me. It’s odd though, he’s 6 years older than I am and yet in so many ways seems about 20 years older.

It’s been a long day. The heat was unbearable, so much so that I decided not to go out for lunch, I stayed in the cigar shack and smoked a cigar with some of the irregulars. It wasn’t too bad though all the comfortable chairs were taken leaving me to sit on the benches designed by the Marquis de Sade. Of course when a comfortable chair was available I only had about 5 minutes left for my lunch hour.

It’s the little things really, that add up and drives one crazy. Tonight I intend to get a good night’s sleep, having bought a new batch of melatonin since I finally finished the bottle I bought last summer. That’s it for now.

Day started out nice with sunflowers…



I Can’t Get Next to You

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A Wednesday night and I am home early. I opened the store this morning and in doing so, I got to leave early. Of course there was traffic entering the tunnel so that meant we sat on the bus (air conditioned) for a while before lurching into the tunnel. I think I am going to have to seriously consider taking the Path home.

Maybe take the first train that pulls into the station and if it is a train that goes to the bus terminal I’ll take it. If it’s going to the Path train, I’ll take it. Not really digging sitting on the bus and waiting and waiting and waiting.

So it was my first day back at work after 3 days off in a row. Sunday was a good day, spent a number of hours with my brothers, sister and sisters in law and their families in Saddle Brook. It was a nice barbecue with my niece and her husband and their dogs.

A nice time, with a few beers & hot dogs and hamburgers in the heat and me playing guitar. It was all rather pleasant. I saw my nephew who cleaned up his act and seems to be doing nicely, a day after he sky dived.

Annemarie drove me home in time to watch True Blood and it was good. The next day was a beach day with my niece Meghan joining Annemarie and myself. The water was a bit cold and the bug spray that I bought in 1999 turned out to be a bug attractor and I found myself in the midst of a swarm of biting flies.

They did not bother Annemarie or Meghan, just me and my bags. It was embarrassing enough that I waited for people to pass so they wouldn’t see the swarm on my legs and following me.

All it took was a quick shower to wash the bug spray away for the flies to leave me alone. Annemarie, Meghan and I made it back to Hoboken where we had a very nice pizza at Grimaldi’s on Washington Street, only an hour or so after having ice cream in Rumson NJ at Crazies.

After dinner a quick walk up & down Washington Street before Meghan dropped me off in front of my building and heading back up to Saddle Brook with Annemarie in tow. I climbed up the stairs and soon jumped in the shower washing the beach and bug spray fully off of me.

The next day, yesterday was just Annemarie and me at the beach. We left earlier than usual and were down there a little after noon. We had sandwiches and iced teas and swam a bit and before we knew it, it was after 3:00 which was the time Annemarie decided that we had to head back to Hoboken.

A nice and early Mexican dinner, then she was off. She had packing to do and wanted to visit Garfield the way she visited Hillsdale the night before. And just like that it was all over.

Like a child waiting and waiting for Christmas, it finally comes and then it’s gone too soon. Annemarie and I had been talking about her visit for a few months and now it was all over. She got on a plane early this morning as I was making my way to the cigar shack. It wasn’t easy to go back but it was air conditioned at least so that was something to take under consideration.

I really miss my sister and wish I could do more and contribute to the expense of her traveling back east. Maybe I’ll start saving now like a Christmas Club account. Makes sense since when Annemarie visits it’s like Christmas in July.