Category Archives: Communication Breakdowns

I Don’t Care Darius Rucker

Well I just got home and I also just got a smartphone. I don’t necessarily feel any smarter and in fact I found myself being one of ‘those people’, walking around with the device in my hand and nearly oblivious to everything.

And even writing this I am distracted by the smartphone. Too much information and not enough skill at accessing the information. Now the smartphone is connected to the computer, trying to figure out some way to connect.

In other news, it was a strange day at the cigar shack. Calvin was out, Thomas and Bradley were in. Thomas was great as usual, Bradley was a fucking bitch, as usual. Such a moody guy and he seems to thrive on being moody.

I was that way when I was a twenty something, nihilistic most of the time, but I grew out of it, with some assistance from loving friends and family. Apparently Bradley does not having loving friends or family and so we have the bitch that was in today.

It’s strange he can be really funny when he is on, and when he is off he is absolutely a horrible person to work with. I seem to recall him saying that former co-workers down south had similar difficulty working with him and here he is today, proving them right.

Thomas on the other hand is a pleasure to work with and I know I’ve said it before but he really is a good salesman. Puts just about everyone else in the shade, except for Calvin of course, who’s been doing this cigar shack retail gig for a long time.

There’s a commercial on TV lately, some guy talking to the camera saying that ‘You’re not the type of guy to work in an office. Maybe you should look into mechanics or HVAC’ or words to that effect. I usually run into the room saying ‘No, wait! I am an office guy and have no place in automotive mechanics or working in the world of HVAC!’

Unfortunately I am not the target audience for that ad, Lincoln Technical Schools or APEX or some other technical school.

Today Jimmy Seltzer came into the cigar shack, good to see him and his purchase raised my quota to second place, a couple of hundred behind Thomas and a few hundred ahead of Bradley. Jimmy is such a good guy, says I could use his house in the Hamptons anytime I’d like, even when he and his wife are not there.

Alas I don’t think I have the time or the means to get out there right now, but the offer is certainly appreciated. Jimmy Seltzer also mentioned that the entry I posted a couple of weeks ago should be expanded into a full story, perhaps even a book. He made a suggestion as to how to do it and I paid heed to his sage advice.

Now with just a few words to go, my smartphone is singing its siren song imploring me to give it attention. It’s almost like I have a Tamagotchi!






A dying bee that I flicked off of my jacket


I Did It All

Another crazy ass day, very interesting to say the least. It started out raining when I woke up, Bill kissing me goodbye. He looked quite nice to my sleepy eyes at 6:30. I got out of bed a while later, shuffled over to the kitchen, making coffee, pouring cereal and stepping into the shower. Soon after that I was fully dressed and headed to the bus stop.

Yesterday as I approached the bus stop a guy was standing there drinking a vitamin water and when he finished it he threw it in a nearby bush with a garbage can merely 10 feet away from him. I fished the empty bottle out of the bush and showed it to him, telling him there was a garbage can for that sort of thing.

He didn’t say much, merely grunted. He got on the 10:15 bus as I smoked a small cigar and waited for the 10:30 bus. He was there again this morning, not drinking his vitamin water this time. I hope I don’t see him every day, two days in a row was enough for me.

A few stops after I got on, Lois’ husband Fred got on. Once again it was Thursday and time for Fred to get his new books. We exchanged stories regarding retail and customers. He won that round. After getting an iced coffee I headed in a little early since Thomas texted me, telling me he was running late. I opened his drawer and started the day off nicely.

Bradley was busy checking stock so I covered the floor until Thomas made it in. Calvin was out somewhere and expected in the afternoon. Some bullshit came through regarding hurricane Irene and corporate headquarters. Are we getting paid for the days we were closed or not. Calvin said yes, headquarters said no.

Thomas took the lead on the behalf of the staff and maintained a very heavy emailing back and forth with regards to all that. It was not raining when I went out for lunch and was able to sit on a bench near the park, enjoying a cigar and reading the latest Mojo magazine.

When I was out to lunch, one of the salesmen that frequents our cigar shack came in with very nice gifts for the staff. Apparently we had done a bang up job in the last quarter and were rewarded quite generously. It was for staff and not for management apparently so it turned out to be a good thing when Calvin phoned and said he was not coming in after all.

The mood had lightened up further when some regular customers came in. Turned out they were away and out of the country, one was in Cuba and the other was in the UK. Good to see them both.

The troll like creature waddled in again, with a fresh haircut on his balding dome and once again talking in a stereotypical 1970’s gay lisp. Supposedly it’s OK for him to do that since he has a brother who is gay and the fat little troll also has a closeted roommate. But it’s not OK with me and I celebrated my two week anniversary of not talking or dealing with it.

A nice bus ride home with Denise who I used to see all around town. Now we’re on different schedules so we don’t see each other often enough. We share a birthday or at least used to share a birth date. We’re both born on the same day, different years but now she is a witness for Jehovah so no more birthdays for her. Still it was very good to see her.

A roller coaster of a day and I am quite glad it’s over.