Tag Archives: Bill

I’m So Bored with the U.S.A.

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Just got home. Checked Facebook. My brother Brian posted a YouTube clip of Elvis, Suspicious Minds. I don’t need to hear the song or watch the video to have the song become an ear worm and burrow it’s way into my brain.

And perhaps I’ve infected you with the mere writing of Suspicious Minds. For that I apologize.

Woke up this morning around 6:00AM, the usual for some but not for me. Bill was kissing me goodbye and also telling me about a bus hijacking in the Philippines, 8 passengers killed, the bus driver lived. Horrible news to wake up to.

I didn’t understand what Bill was saying but despite not knowing what he was saying was enough to cause the next 2 hours to be fraught with tension, with me not being able to go back for a proper sleep.

I just talked with Bill about it and he said he didn’t tell me anything about the bus hijacking, just wished me a good day and that he would see me tonight. I suppose that is what caused the tension.

“I love you baby, have a good day and I will see you tonight” “Leave me the fuck alone!”
Ah, we still have the romance in our relationship.

The work day was the usual drudgery. We had a big shipment of cigars in yesterday and it took four of us to put them all in stock. Today it was learned the order was not for our cigar shop. They found out before I came in and all 7 boxes we were packed and sealed to be shipped out again.

That all happened before I came in and it accounted for the harried looks on Marcus and Don Birch. The day was mediocre at best. I held up my end though. Raymond came in an hour or so later, after attending to family matters.

One of my first customers was a rather rotund gent Boob Zimet. I did my best to help him in the humidor and duly wrote down the cigar numbers for inventory.

I rang up his purchase and asked him if he wanted any of his cigars cut. “Yes, but not by you.” WTF? Marcus overheard that and came running out to make sure I didn’t slug the guy or comment on his ever widening girth.

Turdlike Boob Zimet waddled out and Marcus did a quick search for him online. To my surprise it turns our pus factory Boob Zimet works at the rather large law firm that Jason Flom’s dad used to work at. In fact, fat, old, & stupid Boob Zimet is a senior partner or something like that.

Marcus confirmed that the guy was a real asshole, and that’s really not Mike’s style to use language like that. It’s my style actually.

I found out that I was hired to replace Harold, not just fill in for him while he was attending the natural bodybuilding/rent boy conference in Miami Beach.

That’s what I was told when I started, but now it turns out they wanted Harold out of there and were looking for any excuse which they found when they looked at his attendance records.

Tomorrow night I have to attend a gathering of the cigar shop employees. It may be at the Carnegie Club, or it may be at the shop. Drinks and cigars are in order. I’d prefer the Carnegie Club, but for Don Birch it would be a hassle. I’m the one who lives out of state, on the mainland. He lives in Washington Heights.

In any event, I’d rather not, but I must so that’s where I will be. I don’t know if I’ll be writing or when I will be writing if I do. So that remains to be seen I guess.

Tonight’s walk from the shop was courtesy of Talking Heads, More Songs About Buildings & Food. From Thank You for Sending Me an Angel to The Girls Want to Be with the Girls. 15 minutes and 19 seconds.

Last night’s walk was from a Led Zeppelin playlist, from Good Times Bad Times to Misty Mountain Hop, 4 songs in 15 minutes, 58 seconds. And a thanks is in order to Gary Nelson for reading and commenting on this misbegotten blog.

The Doppleganger of Bobby Zimet


The woman was talking loudly behind me in French.

I’ll Try Something New

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It was a Monday today and it was back to work for me. That hardly happens, having a Saturday and Sunday off from work. The retail world doesn’t allow for such things that often.

Yesterday was a rainy Sunday, I just stayed indoors. I watched Gandhi on Turner Classic Movies. Still a long movie and it also had a 45 minute intermission since I went out and ran an errand during the break.

I never saw it from start to finish before and I never saw it with a trip to the supermarket in the middle of Gandhi’s hunger strike. It ended soon enough to watch True Blood which is finishing it’s third season in a week or two.

Bill came home close to the end in time to see someone kill someone else. After that we watched Mad Men which was surprisingly enjoyable yet again. Bill went to bed after that and I stayed up watching who knows what.

I thought about a 3 minute phone call that I had about 5:30 in the afternoon. Someone was very upset with the fact that I didn’t ask them to see Adele Bertei with the Raybeats and Gail Ann Dorsey with me on Saturday night.

I didn’t really ask anyone. I posted it here on this blog, and also posted it as my Facebook status update a few times. They didn’t see it and only found out about it when I posted the videos online. I did it for myself and went by myself.

No harm intended, no slighting either.

The other person was so upset and their anger started to come through so I told them that I didn’t like their attitude. The phone call ended shortly thereafter and basically set a pall on the rest of my day.

It’s too bad, once we were really close, but the past couple of times we had tried to do something, it didn’t go too well. For some reason I still look to them for recognition but it’s time I moved beyond that I suppose.

Still despite all that I slept really well and had a dream involving a Bill Murphy who used to slam me into the lockers in high school every chance he got. He was in a peaceful state in the dream and was trying to tell me something, or perhaps he did tell me something but I’ve forgotten it hours later.

Work was weird, it being a Monday. And it was steadily pouring out. I was fine when I came in, Raymond came in a few minutes after me, soaked to the bone. I was put on straightening up the inventory causing me to miss out on some sales.

I didn’t really care. Marcus came in later than usual. He had a weekend trip and came back all orange like John Boehner. Calvin was himself, nervous laughter behind most every sentence he utters. Don Birch was diffident, much like he was when I first started working with him, nearly two months ago.

Still I didn’t mind. I have a full work week ahead, off on Saturday, in on Sunday then off next Monday and Tuesday. I told you the retail schedule is crazy. I’ll probably be working Labor Day too, but it’s just another day in retail world.

And the mantra continues, ‘at least I have a job’.