Tag Archives: Bill

I Don’t Even Know Myself

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Well it’s been a nice day off, and after yesterday’s headache if it was raining cats and dogs it would still be a good day. I came home last night, Bill stayed up to wait for me which was quite nice. We talked or rather Bill listened as I told him my tales of woe.

He went to bed and I stayed up watching The Sorcerer’s Apprentice for some reason. It wasn’t that good but then again it wasn’t that bad. It was a good way to kill some time, to tire the mind and the eyes and prepare one for a good night’s sleep. And it was a good night’s sleep.

Bill was up and out at his usual time, way too early for me, but he once again kissed me goodbye before heading out. Such a nice thing. I eventually got out of bed and started my day. Had nothing planned really, just a day to decompress. I did have to do some grocery shopping and there were shirts to be dropped off at the dry cleaners.

A brief chat with Mona at the cleaners then a walk around the supermarket, pushing the shopping cart and trying to avoid the little old ladies who hog the aisles. I saw my favorite cashier Isis and she was looking good and as usual quite friendly. I came home and had a nice breakfast and after that, set about trying to figure out the smartphone and all the apps that I could get as well as surfing the net and checking emails.

A few weeks ago I got a letter from an old friend. It’s a rare thing to get a letter these days, a handwritten letter. The penmanship took some time to figure out and I felt that I in turn should respond with a letter of my own.

So for the past couple of days, I would sit on a bench by the park and write my letter. I opted to print the words out since my cursive skills seem to have fallen by the wayside. Sure a sentence here or there is relatively legible but a few pages written looks like a first draft by Ted Kaczynski, full of words crossed out and misspelled.

With a final post script I was out the door, enjoying a cigar and wandering around Hoboken eventually winding up at the Frank Sinatra Post Office by Pier A. On the way back home I stopped at the Garden of Eden and got myself a small salad since I noticed my diet had been lacking in green leafy things, to eat.

I ate that at home and soon after that I had a nap. While I slept I dreamed about our neighbor Mike who was moving lots of things in and out while Bill was trying to squeeze past Mike’s cronies to make it up the stairs to me. I set my alarm on the cellphone and also left the cellphone in the TV room while I napped.

I heard it go off and decided a few more minutes wouldn’t be so bad to sleep. It turned out to be 15 extra minutes before I got out of bed. I headed out for what is likely the last time for the day, stopping by Hoboken Daily news and seeing Andy for a few minutes before heading home and making supper for myself.

And now I am here, writing this and trying not to do much of anything else. That’s about it. My friend should get the letter in a day or two since they do live in town. I hope they enjoy it since I already forgot what it is that I wrote.






I Don’t Do Gentle

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Oh yes, it was the day from hell. And it started out in the hellish manner before I even left Hoboken. I wait for the bus and nine times out of ten I am the one who flags down the bus. Most of the other people at my bus stop are way too involved with their iPhones and their smartphones.

You would think the bus driver (who I like and just got back from his vacation) would pull up to the person who flagged the bus, but no. He stops the bus wherever there is a young woman standing. It annoyed me enough that I just let everyone else get on the bus before me, including people who don’t know how much the commute is or lack the exact change necessary.

And of course once those people, about ten of them, got on the bus all of the good seats were taken leaving me to sit on top of the wheel well. It was the first of many things that happened. Bill was off today so that he could work the load in for the show that opens later this week. That meant no calling Bill for support or just to hear his voice, letting me know that he is there for me.

I soldiered on, not looking forward to working alongside the Possum. Sure enough there was the Possum on the phone when I walked into the cigar shack. Another scheduling debacle. Calvin was in the office which is where he spends most of his time lately. Jerry Vale was due in later in the day.

It was another slow day, not much business. Calvin mentioned that the sales for last month were lower than the previous year and the way things have been lately, October does not bode well either.

A customer came in today, I recognized him from being in the cigar shack on Sunday. He was returning the $395.00 lighter he bought on Sunday, he wanted a torch lighter after all, and the one he bought was a soft flame. I remember Thomas selling it to this guy.

The possum stepped up and offered to take care of the return and I thanked him and set about helping another customer. When an item is returned, the return falls to the sales associate, in this case it would be Thomas. The Possum made the return mine and on the tally for a good part of the day, I had about 20 sales, but only $9.69 in my column thanks to the refund which should have gone to Thomas. By the time I found out, it was too late to do anything about it.

Another customer came in with a return as well, and I recognized it as my sale. It was a key chain that a forgetful daughter bought for her father’s birthday at the last minute. The mother came in as a favor for her daughter, all the way from Rockland County.

I was going through the motions of the return and asked if the mother had the credit card. She said no, that I should credit her account since she pays the daughter’s credit card bills all the time. I told her we couldn’t do that. So she frantically tried calling her daughter, texting her daughter, all the while nervous about the time left on her parking meter.

She also did not believe me that we can get cellphone signals in the cigar shack. She went outside and came back in, telling me that her daughter just texted her about something unrelated so she was going to text the daughter to call back ASPCA. You read that right. I finished the return and immediately wrote that one down.

The day plodded forward, the Possum stealing a customer from me, I in turn stole a customer from him. I did not ask how he liked them apples, but did hope he would choke on one.