Category Archives: Iron my Shirt

About Her

Since I didn’t sleep well on Tuesday night I figured I would sleep well on Wednesday night. Nope that wasn’t the case despite melatonin. It wasn’t an especially tiring day but I was busy enough. I didn’t even nap during the day. I stayed up until 12:20 and went to bed.

It was stuffy since it was raining and the windows were closed in the bedroom. I lay in bed and listened to Bill start to snore. I told him about 4 times that he was snoring. He’s not supposed to snore since he wears a mouth guard which adjusts his jaw to allow his soft palate to do something and keep his airway open.

Or something like that.

I followed my advice and got out of bed around 1:30 and sat in front of the computer and posted my insomnia on Facebook. I did eventually go back to bed and slept alright. Of course the melatonin kicked in at some point making it difficult to wake up.

But wake up I did and did my thing. Developing a routine lately and was at the bus stop a little after 8:00 this morning. The bus was like a sauna, much warmer than it was outside and there wasn’t many people riding at that point.

I asked the bus driver if she could turn the air conditioner on and she said it was on. I think she actually had both the heater and the air conditioner on.

Subway ride uptown, spent some time in the shade of a nearby hotel talking to Bill on the phone. Got to the shop at 9:25, no lights on. 9:30 is when I’m supposed to start. I stand outside the store until 9:45 when Calvin shows up saying he didn’t think I was working the early shift.

I did my best to ignore that and punched in 15 minutes late. I will have to tell Calvin that I don’t want to be marked as late tomorrow when I was actually on time and it was he who was late. According to Raymond I should tell Calvin that and he would understand and make amends to my hours to reflect that I was on time.

This will all change when I get a key to let myself in. Until then I am still the newbie.

Visiting the cigar shop, there are arrogant customers on occasion, and quite timid browsers. That’s just 2 of the usual customers that sometimes wander into the cigar shop.

My attitude is ‘if you have money and you’re rich, well good for you’. I hope they got their money fair and square or even if it was inherited, that’s fine. It’s just that, one guy comes in, dressed very nicely, asking for a specific cigar.

I’m more than happy to oblige, it’s my job. I explain what I know about certain cigars, and make recommendations. He asks for one cigar and decides to buy a box. He says he’s going on a friend’s 150 foot yacht and I can only guess he doesn’t want to come empty handed.

The cigars he wants are in tubes and cost over $400.00. There’s another box which is the same type of cigar, just not in tubes. And it has 5 more cigars. He gets indignant and thinks he’s getting a lesser quality cigar since he’s paying less.

I have to explain while he gets all huffy. Then because he’s buying cigars and lives in the apartments above the store, asks if he gets a discount since he lives upstairs, then demands a free cigar cutter.

People like this aren’t the norm and we do get a fair number of monied cigar smokers who don’t mind paying for 4 or 5 cigars the price I would have paid for a box. I’ve met a few of these guys and they’re good blokes.

But there’s one in every tax bracket I suppose.

Then there is the timid browser who walks in. They’re greeted with whatever salutation the time of day dictates. They shrink and barely mutter a word in return, which is fine. They just try to be as invisible as possible and obviously lack social skills.

It reminds of of Stingy and the Autistic Manfred. Raised to think the world is your enemy, and everyone is out to get you. I just don’t know how these people get through life.

Tomorrow and Saturday I work the late shift. I’ll try to post beforehand since I’ll be too tired to do so after work, but there are no guarantees.

47 years old and still getting pimples.

It’s Like That

Wow. I am home from my first day back at work and I am watching a DVD about the founder of De La Concha as was suggested by Zach the assistant manager of the store.

I like Zach. He’s a nice guy. Seems to like me. We got along great during our meetings, I feel very much at ease with him around.

The day didn’t start off with ease. No, not at all. In fact I woke up and wanted to throw up. That’s how nervous I was. I showered, I shaved, I made coffee and had a bowl of cereal.

Last night I had my clothes all laid out, good to go. One less thing to worry about. Even though the forecast was some showers in the afternoon and the temperature headed for the 80 degree area, I wore the suit and tie.

Actually had the tie in my bag. I had to be at the shop at 9:30 and caught a bus around 8:15. Arriving at the bus terminal I headed down to the subway and caught the train uptown. I was about 20 minutes early and decided to head to the men’s room and put on my tie and also to change my t-shirt.

I had the dress shirt cleaned and pressed last week and when I tried to button the button on the tab collar half the button was missing and not making it easy to button. It could be done only after I muttered ‘fucking hell’ and stamping my right foot.

Perhaps if I stamped my left foot it wouldn’t have happened. In any event I was in the shop at 9:30 as planned. It was a slow start and for the first hour I was in the humidor, looking at all the different cigars. It seemed like I was in there longer than an hour but no, it was just about 60 minutes.

I was working with Don, another salesman and Zach. Harold also came in a little while later. They seem like good people and me being the low man on the totem pole I was in for a good ribbing.

They asked what kind of cigar I liked and I said La Flor Dominicana. That was the joke of the day. Not a good cigar in their eyes, like smoking cardboard they said. I spent a lot of time after that looking at and polishing various desk top humidors and other high end products.

Lunch came around 1:30 and at first I visited the market nearby but that was crazy crowded. I opted for Subway which was close and had a tuna sandwich which was like eating paste. I ate near the park and then wandered into the park, looking for a spot to sit down and relax.

Found a bench on with no one nearby and enjoyed a Avo cigar. Nice cigar, expensive too. I can see why they were mocking me at the store. I definitely have to get back into the swing of things, develop a routine again.

I worked until 7:00. It was supposed to be 7:30 but Zach said I could leave early since it was my first day. I left around 7:15 and walked down to the Path train. I dislike waiting on the lines for the bus. Walking is so much better than standing around.

I got home around 8:30, a zombie. I peeled off my suit and got another suit together for tomorrow. The plan for tomorrow is to carry the suit, shirt and tie into a garment bag and change when I get to the shop. That means I’ll have to get there earlier, but at least I will be comfortable and not too sweaty.

Yesterday's me.