January | 2012 | johnozed

Another Saturday night at the cigar shack, me & Thomas. It’s been a good day, working with Thomas and Bradley. Not bad at all. Bradley has certainly stepped up to the plate since he became the assistant manager. He has a grip on things and is able to communicate extremely well, especially when compared to how he was just a month or so ago.

He was a nightmare to work with a lot of the time but lately he’s been great. It really makes a difference. Communicate early and often like my ex-boss Bobby Risotto was fond of saying. A problem pops up, you discuss it and hopefully it gets solved almost immediately. None of this subterfuge, the gossip that occurs from time to time.

I have come thisclose several times today with regards to humidor sales today. It would have been nice to close the deal but it’s not up to me of course, it is up to the customer. And the customers I’ve dealt with needed to think about it which is totally understandable. Bill is driving to Atlantic City tonight. He’s been doing OK with that.

A few weeks ago there was some problems that caused him to stop at every rest stop to relieve himself. It was worrisome to say the least but it was actually from his using aspartame a lot. He doesn’t drink water so he was using crystal light in his water for flavor which caused the problem.

I have cut aspartame from my diet a few years ago after having some intense headaches. I figured that was the cause and after I heard about how Donald Rumsfeld pushed aspartame onto the market without it being properly tested I knew it was the right thing to do.

And now I am home. Thomas offered to close since he would rather leave a little bit earlier tomorrow which is his sixth day of working. I have no problem with that since tomorrow we do close at 7:00 and that means I get to leave two hours earlier anyhow, so 15 minutes is really no big deal.

My numbers were actually pretty good today, especially after one of my customers came in and bought a couple of hundred dollars worth of cigars. He’s a nice guy who ran a record label after I left that label and we initially connected on that. Now he’s in Los Angeles a lot of the time, still a player in the music business and now on one of those TV shows where people sing and try to advance to some level without really paying any dues.

Of course I was glad I could get my numbers up, and though they were good, it really pales in comparison to the numbers Thomas posted yesterday, selling two humidors, totalling $9000.00. Good for Thomas and good for the store.

So now I am home, Bill is on the road, nothing on TV tonight. Saturday Night Live is a repeat and I don’t think I will watch it again, but then again I more than likely watch some of it after the 11:00 News.

Not posting tomorrow so I hope you all have a very nice day.

11. [Laid]

Well today has been a day off, and a mostly rainy day off at that. Still I was glad to have some time to myself and set about doing the things I had planned. Last night I came home, Bill was staying up for me and I walked in with a bit of anxiety regarding how many things I had to do today.

It’s true mostly that depression is from living in the past and anxiety is from living in the future. Last night I was a few hours ahead of myself so I was a little bit anxious. I calmed down soon enough thanks to Bill’s support. He went to bed a while after I came home and I stayed up watching some TV.

I slept fairly well last night and woke up at my usual time even though I had the day off. I had a meeting at 11AM so I had to follow my daily routine once again. I trimmed my goatee somewhat last night and shaved this morning after a shower. Bill made a nice pot of coffee for me again. He’s really enjoying making me coffee even though he doesn’t drink the stuff.

I was dressed and out the door once more, this time headed to the Path train. I stopped at the bibliothèque to pick up a biography on Marvin Gaye written by Michael Eric Dyson but I was too late. I ordered it but you only have five days to pick it up and today was day seven. I wasn’t sure what day I received the notice, so I was too late.

It wasn’t raining when I went into the bibliothèque, but it started to pour when I left. I hopped on a bus to the Path train and got on board a train to the World Trade Center. It was still pouring rain when I got downtown and made my way through Zuccoti Park where Occupy Wall Street had it’s start in September. Now it was empty and it was just me and one other guy walking through.

I made it to the meeting right on time and it lasted longer than I expected and I think it went well. Soon I was back on the street, talking to Bill and walking around Wall Street, killing time. I had plans to meet up with RoDa at 1:00 and it was only 11:45. I bought a Brian Eno EP at JR Music and hopped on an uptown train.

I got off at Union Square and thought about walking past where Farfetched used to be but figured that would be pointless and a bit of a downer so I mainly stayed on 14th Street. What used to be the Virgin megastore is now a Chase Bank.
Bleecker Bob’s which was one of the first places where I used to buy my import singles and albums as well as clothes is being shuttered to become a Starbucks. I hadn’t shopped in Bleecker Bob’s since the early 1980’s and I suppose my lack of loyalty is a contributing factor in it’s demise.

RoDa was only 15 minutes late which wasn’t so bad and we proceeded to walk over to Chelsea. I really wanted Roda to see the Doug Wheeler installation that blew me away a week or so ago but where it was nearly empty that Tuesday afternoon, today it was quite crowded and very stuffy. We decided to head out and wander around a bit, eventually deciding to give it another go next Tuesday.

We wandered to a few other galleries, RoDa being quite impressed with a few things we saw. We walked around a bit more before we both decided we were pretty tired from trooping along in the damp weather.
Then it was back to Hoboken where everyone knows RoDa. He can’t walk down Washington Street without a lot of people greeting him, he is so beloved in this town. We parted ways with a nice hug and made plans to try to hit Chelsea once again on Tuesday.

I was glad I was able to help lift his spirits since they were quite low the other day.