And it was back to work for me. Made it a point not to take a Xanax and for most of the day it was the right thing to do. It was an easy enough day, nothing really stressful for the most part. Woke up a few minutes later, mainly because I just wanted to spend some extra time in bed.

Bill had headed off to work as usual and hour before I even considered waking up. But Neil Diamond’s Crackling’ Rosie did get me out of bed. Was it a sign? An omen? I showered and did my thing, breakfast, coffee and email. Nothing groundbreaking there.

I did stop by the bibliothèque on the way to the bus stop. I was at the bibliothèque yesterday and saw a Bettye LaVette CD in the racks and almost picked it up, but decided not to. This morning I thought it might be a good thing to bring to work, listening to Bettye LaVette interpreting British Rock & Roll classics.

But I should have picked it up yesterday since it was unavailable this morning. The problem of living in a town with hipsters in it I suppose. Still I walked over to the bus stop, letting the 10:15 bus go by once again, deciding to wait for the 10:30 bus. Uneventful ride once again.

A walk to the subway listening to David Bowie, so swishy in his satin and tat, in his frock coat and bippity boppity hat. Got to the area of the shop early again and stood around outside, killing time and talking to Bill on the phone briefly.

The day was OK mostly. I went out to lunch again, opting out of staying in for the hour to myself. A lovely hour to myself, spent on a bench by the park is miles ahead of sitting around watching TV and smoking cigars with people I just sold cigars to.

I came back, found Calvin to be quite moody. I don’t think he was able to have his alcohol after lunch. And he was only able to have an hour lunch instead of the hour and a half he usually takes. By this time it was Calvin with the new guy, Bradley and Sean. And Sean and I have been getting along famously lately.

Sean told me about how Calvin told him he didn’t like his attitude and they were thinking of cutting his hours back. I did my best to reassure him. He’s busy looking elsewhere for work, as is Don. The new guy doesn’t know any better.

A customer came in. She looked like Susie Essman, if Susie Essman was brought up in the gutter and had no wit. Calvin passed her onto me. She wanted to buy a pen and since we were standing in front of the DuPont pen section of the shop, I showed her a few of those.

How much were those pens? $300.00 and up. She asked for something less expensive, around $100.00. So I showed her some less expensive pens. She didn’t want a roller ball pen. No wait. It’s a ball point pen she didn’t want. Or was it? She wasn’t sure obviously and I dealt with her the best that I could.

She settled on a shiny silver pen, ball point for $125.00. She asked if it could come in black ink and I said sure, we could change the cartridge if she wanted. She never brought it up again. I made the sale, and started to wrap the pen for her.

Her daughter walked in, made up like a whore. She yelled at her mother for buying the wrong pen. Roller ball pen! Not ball point!

Calvin walked over and asked what the problem was. The mother turns and sees Calvin, 6’2”, shaved bald black head and melts. The daughter makes goo goo eyes at Sean. Outbreak of jungle fever! I took the necessary steps to void the sale since I saw it would go to Calvin, waving my 1/3 of 1% commission goodbye.

The mother asks Calvin if there are any cheaper pens and Calvin says yes of course there are cheaper pens and proceeds to show her less expensive pens. The mother looks at me and grabs Calvin’s shoulder making him bend down some so he can her what she’s saying about me.

I stand there and smile. I know what’s going on.

The daughter is practically drooling over Sean who doesn’t want to have anything to do with her. I walk away. The sale completed, Calvin got his commission.

I come back and Calvin says he’s mad at me. He asks what happened? Why didn’t she like my attitude? When did the situation change and I tell him. The situation changed when the daughter came in, berating her mother for buying the wrong type of pen.

I tell him, the mother wanted to see $100.00 pens so that was what I showed her. She didn’t know what she wanted and I did my best to guide her. And then I told Calvin that the mother was hot for Calvin and the daughter was hot for Sean. Just a matter of fact. I certainly didn’t care.

Calvin soon left for the day leaving Sean and the new guy and myself. I can’t get out of this place fast enough.

Well today was a fucked up day, and it didn’t have to be. Calvin assumes the lead character, named after vaginal slang. It started out alright. Decided not to rely on the Xanax and started off the day slowly. It was drizzly out again but I was lucky enough that it stopped once I headed out to the bus stop.

Enjoyed a nice cigar while I waited and kept my distance from the sensitive people. Rode the bus in, stared out the window. Got to the bus terminal, and hopped onto the subway, listening to Pylon, Chomp.

Ran an errand when I got off the subway, making me about 5 minutes late. No worries I figured since I am always early. There was Calvin busy filling in a phone order. I got myself together and opened my register.

Calvin had a project for me. He wants me to connect with a store nearby which specializes in shaving accoutrements. Something about having a shave and a cigar. Something that I’d really rather not do.

I did know that Sean knew the guy who ran the shop and started to say that Sean was tight with the guy, when Calvin shut me down saying ‘Sean is stupid. Sean is a part timer.’ Wow. Here is the manager (really the assistant manager, too busy sniffing Marcus’ butt to actually become the manager) putting down a co-worker, calling him stupid. Nice managerial style.

It was off-putting to say the least, enough so that I mainly kept quiet. Raymond mentioned that Calvin always talked shit about people when they weren’t around, and here was Calvin now asking if I was going to be like Don Birch.

Quiet and doing my job, not joshing around like I usually do. I’m sure he calls me ‘the homo’ when I’m not around. He asked if I was alright and I said I had heard from the US State department twice yesterday.

I did.

I applied for 2 government positions and they replied that they received my resume. It was quiet after that, Calvin raking in the big commissions. You can bet that he does not make a 1/3 of 1% commission. I windexed glass.

I’m out of the commission competition business. I just don’t care. It was loud crap jazz music all day at the shop. I made it to lunch and told Bill what was going on in the shop. He was surprised to say the least. Before I went back to work, I took a Xanax.

Sean was in by that time. I eventually told him what Calvin said. That caused Sean to keep making jokes about how stupid he is. Every little mistake that he made, he blamed it on being stupid.

Calvin stole a customer from me. Right from under my nose. I rang up some pricey cigars and Calvin added a lighter to the bill, removing my name and putting his name in my place. I took refuge with Sean in the humidor.

Marcus made it back to the shop in the late afternoon. Apparently, the shop next door was complaining about the smell of cigar smoke. So some technicians came in to check the air while Marcus smoked a cigar in the back room and Calvin rimmed his ass.

They were going to the Carnegie Club to have cigars afterward and who knows what else. Sean and I closed the shop, friends again, now that we have a common enemy. Calvin. Starts with a ‘C’.

My Ernie

His Bert