Monthly Archives: December 2011

I Follow Rivers

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Well it’s a day off and I am killing time before heading into the city to visit Bill’s office party. It’s been a weird day to say the least. First off I burned my finger trying to get the heater to work properly. It’s blistered and I am relying on the present day old wives tales and remedies, in other words, I am using the internet.

Finger running under cold water. Aloe, actually sunblock lotion- as well as apple cider vinegar and now it is under a bandage. It’s not as painful as it was earlier. Initially it wasn’t painful at all but within minutes I started to feel it. Luckily I’m not playing guitar in Bill’s combo, just shooting video.

According to Bill’s Facebook update, he is readying himself and his ensemble SmoothnFusion for their first gig. It promises to be a fun evening, and instead of cutting out to let Bill have his fun with his work mates, I will be hanging and eating and perhaps drinking. It’s likely to be the only holiday work party that I will be attending since you can bet that the cigar shack won’t be having anything like that.

In fact, I made the mistake of opening an email from the cigar shack. Apparently numbers are down and the new head cheese is unhappy with that fact. In turn he is coming down on Zack and Zack is coming down on Bradley, Thomas and Jerry Vale as well as myself.

Of course the head cheese whizzes do not seem to take into consideration that sales are down nearly everywhere, and in a store such as the cigar shack, a lot of people that had the money to buy pricey items in the previous months and years don’t have it this year.

Thomas, Bradley and myself have spent hours emailing our customers reminding them that we are still in business and ready to sell and ship cigars and accessories whenever they would like, but the cigar shack offers no sales, no two for one deals, no discounts. It’s merely business as usual.

And since it is business as usual people have been buying the cigars and accessories elsewhere at other cigar stores in the city or online where it is even cheaper. All over the country, bricks and mortar stores are in difficult positions due to it being cheaper to buy cigars online. And reading the email I am reminded once again that shit truly runs downhill.

Can’t sell a $5,000 humidor every day, which I proved the next day when my sales as well as Bradley and Jerry Vale’s sales all took a nosedive. My problem is that I should not have read that email on my day off, my own time.

So tomorrow when I return I will send even more emails to my customers who if they don’t ignore the email, could likely be sending them to their spam folders. I myself get plenty of cigar offers from various cigar distributors, back from when I used to work at the cigar shack, and I do take a cursory look before deleting them, so I can’t really fault any of my customers for doing the same.

I guess I will also have to change my tactics and stop treating people the way I like to be treated when I go shopping or rather when I used to go shopping. I too, shop online you see. When I would go to a store where there were sales people on the floor (bookstores and record stores generally leave you alone) I wasn’t too keen on having a sales person hover around me, or in my face pushing high end items that I couldn’t afford nor was I much interested in.

That will have to change and I will have to be all over them like white on rice. I’ll just do the opposite of how I like to be treated when I shop.

And now, enough of that infernal place. Time to get ready for Bill’s office party. I am looking forward to it totally and I know Bill is as well. It is going to be a fun time for all concerned and you know what? I deserve a fun time I think.



Dave Stewart – Its My Party

I Feel the Earth Move

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OK, so the computers that we use at the cigar shack are so decrepit that I often make jokes about how we bought them at a garage sale that was had when the Soviet Union collapsed. All tubes and wires and little or no upkeep. Several layers of dust coat the inside of the computers which more than likely hinders any process that they go through hour after hour, day after day.

The home office had been notified and sent the cigar shack a new computer which remained in it’s boxes for weeks, if not a month or two. Finally yesterday the IT guy came in and was all set to hook up the new computer and take away the old one. Well as luck would have it (just as we had the computer in a box for a few months) the new computer was too large for a spot under the register.

A plan was made to get a jigsaw and saw some space under the counter to make room but that was decided against. Now the new computer is back in the box and ready to be sent back to wherever it was that it came from. Lithuania I believe. The humorous part of it all was the computer was laying in the box for so long and no one had the sense to take a look at it. Foibles I believe is what they’re called.

So today Thomas is back from his vacation and he’s back to being the cocky 25 year old he is. I have to keep in mind that if you treat someone with kindness and equanimity that does not necessarily mean you will be treated in the same way. And that’s how Thomas operates. A lesson learned I suppose.

And today like every other day, my beloved Bill has been outstanding. Really great and supportive and I certainly look forward to shooting the set that his jazz combo will perform at the holiday party his company is having at a hot nightspot somewhere in midtown. I’m also looking forward to some excellent food and perhaps a pint or two.

I am also glad that Bill won’t be moving his equipment out of there until next week so that will be once less thing my beloved Bill will have to contend with tomorrow night. After his combo plays he can relax but knowing Bill he will be a flippin’ and a floppin’ on the dance floor as he is known to do.

I attended the party a few years ago thanks to Bill sneaking me in and he was so well known that people kept asking him when he was going to hit the dance floor. Since I work the next day (first day of four eleven hour shifts) I might just split and let Bill get his groove on. He wouldn’t mind and I could just go home and upload the video. Either way who knows what will happen.

I do know that it will be grand to spend quality time with Bill and it’s always a pleasure to watch him play his keyboards. I am so glad I am married to him. And he is so glad to be married to me.

One last thing, I am running another blog concurrently since certain people have wondered where the pathos is, why are names changed. So the names won’t be changed and the whole blog will be as is. So send me an email with bloggo deux in the header and I will send you the link. Some of you already get bloggo deux so there’s no need to send me the email.



02 No Fine Lines 1