Interesting Things as of Late | johnozed

Thank goodness it’s Friday. I know it’s really Monday but I am off the next two days so for me it’s Friday. I can’t speak for the millions on their feet all day, not complaining, bless their hearts, but for me it’s a relief. And it was quite an interesting day at the cigar shack.

It started out interestingly enough last night actually. A little before 10:00 I started getting texts from Julio. He and Stine had a birthday party for Alexander at a park on the Hudson River north of the George Washington Bridge. It was cold and damp and they had a lot of food left over as well as birthday cake.

They figured I was just getting home, not realizing that I had gotten home a little before 8:00 since the shack closes earlier on Sundays. I was home, a little jazzy and not really wanting to go down to see them. But I figured I should.

I knew Alexander would be asleep by then so I threw on some track pants and went down for about a half hour. It was good to see them, both of them talking to me at the same time. Since I’ve known Julio for over 25 years we really understand each other very much, a word here, a gesture there, a cocked eyebrow and a lot is said.

I think that must frustrate Stine somewhat so I took extra care to pay extra attention to her. I came home with a large piece of homemade cake, festooned with Danish flags, some hot dogs, hamburgers and buns.

I came home and watched some TV with Bill before he went to bed and I eventually followed. Waking up wasn’t so easy and I mentally bargained with the alarm clock, which satisfied the both of us. The alarm clock now has off the next two days as well.

After showering and shaving and coffee and cereal I was out the door enjoying a slightly damaged Padron 1964 Anniversary cigar. As I waited at the bus stop I ran into Mr. Castro, an old friend from the past powdery days of yore.

He doesn’t do that anymore and neither do I. And neither of us miss it. In fact he can’t stand to be around the people from those days who are still sniffing here and there. We both rode the bus into the city, but did not sit together.

I made it to the shack early enough, Thomas and Bradley were there. I worked with Calvin yesterday and we talked about my problems with Bradley. Today I decided to take matters into my own hands and had a talk with Bradley who by the way has been taken off life support.

It was a nice chat, interrupted every now and then by commerce but we’re both glad we talked and it made for a smooth easy going day. I told Thomas about it since he was out of the shack at the time, and he jokingly said that he was going to try to put it back the way it was since he felt he benefited from the disconnect between Bradley and myself.

So for the first time in what seemed to be a long time, the three of us were able to work together and laugh throughout the day. Since I closed the other night with Thomas leaving early, which left it open for me to leave early and have Thomas close.

I made my way to the subway, this morning I had $2.80 left on my MetroCard and when I tried to use it this evening, the turnstile read to swipe again. I swiped again and once again got the same message. I swiped once more and got the message that there was insufficient fare left on my card.

The turnstile took $2.50 and left me unable to get through with $0.30 left. So I had to walk over and refill my MetroCard and when I finally was able to pass the turnstile, the train I wanted to board was leaving the station. I loathe the MTA.

Such a horrible corrupt organization, filled with the laziest teats alive (and possibly dead).

How ironic that I see Mr. Castro and chat with this a few feet away from us...

A day off and lacking in something to write. It’s happened before and it’s happening again. Bill is driving down to Atlantic City, my poor baby is a bit under the weather but he feels OK enough to do it. No word on whether or not her is driving tomorrow, as of now he hasn’t heard anything, so maybe he will be able to get some rest.

The cigar shack has been interesting as of late. Yesterday Marcus told the brain dead Bradley that he has resigned from the cigar shack, taking another job at a different cigar hut somewhere in midtown. I was taken aback by his announcement and said ‘What? What?’

Calvin knew about it, he is moving into Marcus’ position. That will put me in the number 2 position since I am the longest serving employee. The brain dead Bradley and I were standing in the doorway when the announcement was made, Calvin facing us and Marcus in between.

According to Calvin, the brain dead Bradley turned beet red when Marcus said what he said. I was flummoxed myself but wished Marcus the best and congratulated Calvin on his promotion. Calvin noted that the brain dead Bradley congratulated Marcus and said nothing about Calvin.

Calvin and I closed the shop last night and had a chat about the brain dead Bradley. I wondered how long it will be before the brain dead Bradley attempts to follow Marcus to the cigar hut. Calvin doesn’t seem to care since Calvin doesn’t seem to care for the brain dead Bradley.

He feels the brain dead Bradley lacks social skills and therefore doesn’t do too well in sales. He’s a good organizer which is something that could be said in his favor. Calvin also mentioned that Marcus had a problem with my being snippy sometimes to customers.

Calvin feels that my snippiness is usually justified and that most of the customers realize that they have to be careful with what they say to me since I usually return the volley. If you can dish it out, you have to be able to take it, at least that’s what Calvin thinks.

So according to Calvin I will be his underboss. It’s not an official position and there probably won’t be any increase in pay. But I assured Calvin of my loyalty, which is something I that I think is quite valuable. I did find out that I have 2 weeks’ vacation, starting in June and plan to take one of those weeks in July when Annemarie is in town with possibly, hopefully Earl.

I was also asked to work a double shift this upcoming Wednesday and being a team player I agreed to do it. 9:30 to 9:30 which really promises to be a long day. It promises to be a bona fide long day, not the usual 10 hour shift that only feels like a long day.

So with any luck, the brain dead Bradley will need to find a new outlet to plug his respirator in soon enough. I look forward to when I will see the back of his soft skull getting smaller and smaller as he walks away he will be out of sight and out of mind.

I’ll be back at the cigar shack tomorrow, then off again on Sunday. It’s a crazy schedule but that’s how it goes I suppose. I did have an enjoyable day today, ran into Mike Cecchini this afternoon and we made tentative plans to meet up. I’d love to play guitar with him so that might be going on somewhere down the line.

I also saw some Christianists proclaiming the end of the world on the street today, dragging their children along with them to a religious misanthropic rally. Fascinating people in a perverse way as they hope their predictions are true and that billions will die while they are sucked into the sky into the bosom of their Iron Age sky god.

They and only they have the inside scoop. I guess they are having rallies to recruit people to their cause, but man will those t-shirts look terribly silly on May 22.

But I guess you can’t have enough rags.