Category Archives: Communication Breakdowns

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 Change

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It’s a Monday and it hasn’t been a busy Monday. IN fact it’s been quite the opposite. A lot of returns, Fathers who did not like their present for Father’s Day having their wives or children returning items. A pain in the ass mainly. Calvin thought it was rude, and I guess being a father himself, he wouldn’t return any gift that his child gave him.

It started out as a weird day, at least it started yesterday. I received a phone call from a woman named Jennifer who was calling regarding a job reference that my former co-worker Sean put me down as. I was eating my dinner at the time and did not take the call.

Soon after that Sean called and told me what it was about, which I gathered when I listened to Jennifer’s voice mail. I decided to call Jennifer this morning. I called Jennifer and was told she was in a meeting. I headed to the bus stop and after my usual morning phone call with Bill, I called Jennifer again.

She was out of her meeting and I explained to her who I was and what I was calling about. After a minute she figured it out and asked if it would be alright if she called me back in an hour. I thought that would be fine since I more than likely wouldn’t be in the cigar shack then.

The usual uneventful bus ride into the city, followed by yet another phone call with Bill and no call from Jennifer. I did hear from Sean though, he was anxious to find out what was going on. I told him what was what and he had no choice but to wait.

It was Calvin and I for a while then Jerry Vale joined us. It wasn’t very busy at all though and the way it stands now, Jerry Vale is kicking my ass in sales. That’s alright, I was busy with other things, like unloading and unpacking new inventory and making sure the proper inventory numbers were affixed to everything came in.

Finally on my lunch hour, Jennifer called back. She asked me a few questions about Sean and playing up her ignorance I wound up telling her that Sean basically discovered penicillin. She did not know that. I guess she never saw Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet starring Edward G. Robinson.

I never saw it either but I do remember my mother talking about it a long time ago. But I did have the gumption to look up info about it and this was years before IMDB. So Sean got a golden review from me and everyone should be happy.

Yesterday I was sucked into the Star Wars saga, the original trilogy. A Facebook friend posted a while back that watching those movies with post 9/11 eyes is interesting. The rebels are the Taliban and whatnot, and the USA is the Empire. When watching it that way, it makes for some interesting viewing.

Now I am home. I was hoping that Bill would be home but he took his mother for an appointment at the beauty salon and I guess he’s still in Manhattan.

Today I was determined to smile more, and I did make the effort. Not an ear to ear grin but a nice smile upon my lips. One has to be careful with regards to where one smiles, you don’t want to look like a grinning fool while walking past a group of thugs and wannabees.

As I was making my way through the bus terminal I had that look on my face and figured everything was alright with the world, but it wasn’t until I sat on the bus that I realized that my zipper was undone. That made me laugh to myself as I headed home.