Tag Archives: Cigar Shack

I Don’t Care Angie Stone

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Another Monday. Another opening, another store. Well not really another opening, that was Bradley’s job today, and the store is the same as it ever was. It’s been quite muggy here, high hummus all around.

Yesterday was a day off, and I went to the art and music festival on Washington Street a few times, each time with a fresh undershirt since I was generally drenched. 3 or 4 undershirts were worn yesterday.

I agreed to help Ahndi at Hoboken Daily News and take some photographs. His son just got married in India and since he was unable to attend he figured a nice picture of himself in a suit and tie would suffice.

We talked about doing the pictures at 1:00 and of course I got there on time. But Ahndi wasn’t ready and asked me to come back at 2:00. So I went back at 2:15 and he had a helper in the store, plus 2 policemen.

I convinced Ahndi that it wouldn’t take too long and when things quieted down I took about 6 photos of him. Then I wandered around the festival for a while before heading home with a sweaty undershirt.

Got in contact with Rand & Lisa when I came home, they were out and about. So after a little while I headed back out but couldn’t find Rand or Lisa. I stopped by the Guitar Bar but no Mr. Wonderful either. I did see Alice, whom I walked with last week but she was going in the opposite direction.

After a phone call with my sister I headed back home again. Had a nice lunch and after emailing and whatnot set my alarm clock for an hour for a nap but only managed about 15 minutes which turned out to be enough. Then I decided to go out yet again.

A text from Rand saying they ran into the city to run an errand. Thought they would be back but there was no response to my texts. Maybe there was a response but my cellphone seems to be on it’s last bars so if they replied I might not have gotten it. I didn’t see anyone I knew, so maybe they saw me first.

I but the guy with the drinking problem might have burned so many bridges that he wisely stayed away. I went home again after sitting by the river and smoking a cigar and getting sweaty all over again. Bill came home a little while after I did and we watched some TV, Boardwalk Empire which really started things off with a bang and then we watched Pan Am which we both liked somewhat.

Off to bed for Bill after that, I soon followed. I think I slept really well but Bill said that I was jumpy which I don’t remember being. I dreaded going to work today, me like all the other people dreading Monday but it wasn’t so bad after all. Bradley was taking a class in checking identification which I took twice already, Thomas and me manning the fort and Calvin at an off site meeting regarding organ donations. He has a Farfisa he wants to donate, they’re only looking for Hammond B3’s. Such is life.

Looking forward to going home. Bill’s play ‘Destinations’ is doing the last performance tonight since the last shows originally scheduled for the end of August were cancelled due to the threat of Hurricane Irene. Give the troupe some closure, it was a good show, a good run and they deserve it.

Things were going well mostly today at the cigar shack. Thomas and I did alright, Thomas knocked it out of the box actually. With a half hour to go I went in the back to have a seat for a minute. Just about then Thomas gives a yell for some assistance, apparently his register was crashing, might be under attack from a virus.

He was looking at wedding bands online when it all went pear shaped. Tomorrow I expect that the excrement will be in the HVAC system. Both Thomas and Bradley are out so I guess I’ll be the one. Not looking forward to it. But it will more than likely give me something to write about.





I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside

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Oh just got back from the cigar shack today and once again it was a bear of a day. It started out in a blasé way, grey skies, falling rain. Not much inspiration to get out of bed. Bill headed off later than usual, only about 45 minutes before I got out of bed. Shower, cereal, coffee and whatever.

And soon I was out on the street walking to the bus stop, talking to Bill on the phone. I love our routines. No Deborah on the bus, just the friendly bus driver and quite a few unfamiliar faces. Broke away from the herd in the bus terminal, going my own way.

Despite just missing an express train I was still early enough for work. Iced coffee, a trip to the bank and another phone call to Bill. Then I found myself in the cigar shack. Calvin was sequestered in the office trying to manage a budget for the next quarter.

This is probably the reason why he turned down the managerial position way back when. He was off yesterday trying to make sense of the budget, during which- a slurry phone call was had in the afternoon. He told me he did not want to be disturbed and I did my best to avoid him at any cost and I was mostly successful.

Of course there are customers who claim to be Calvin’s best friend who popped their heads in and distracted Calvin from his job at hand. There were three of us on staff today besides Calvin. Bradley and Jerry Vale were in as well and Bradley kept grabbing the lion’s share of sales, even Jerry Vale had passed me by.

I was too busy doing menial tasks so I didn’t really care. These things had to be done. When they were done, Calvin emerged from the office and felt that I was loafing about and suggested that I send out some emails to my clients and try to drum up business. Apparently we’ve gone in the past seven days from doing so much better than the year before, to hardly anyone coming into the cigar shack. Since the last year/this year announcement was made, things had definitely fallen by the wayside.

And I did not really need to know the gauge of Calvin’s Prince Albert. Bradley split at his appointed time leaving Jerry Vale and myself with Calvin crunching numbers in the office. Since I was off the floor I was way behind, but it could be explained away.

As I was outside cleaning the window some Europeans came in and were looking around. I tried to help them as best as I could and to my delight we got along quite nicely despite the language problem, thanks to the overworked interpreter in the entourage.

They decided on a nice paperweight and a letter opener to go with it. I set about getting it all ready, and while trying to find the boxes for the items. I found the letter opener box but the paperweight box proved elusive. I didn’t want to but I had to ask Calvin if he had any idea. He didn’t, only saying it should be where I couldn’t find it.

So it was on my knees I went looking for a nonexistent box. A few minutes later Calvin emerged from the office and with an air of authority told me to ring up the item while he found the box. Only he didn’t find the box, he found a box similar to what I was looking for. A different paperweight would now be without a box.

I rang up the items as well as wrapping them and they thanked me before heading out the door. The sale put me in second place right behind Bradley.

Calvin mentioned that Thomas and I will spend tomorrow matching the items in the showcases to the empty boxes nearby. Calvin planned on leaving the cigar shack at 7:30, at 9:19 I left him in the office with a ‘see ya tomorrow’ and heading out the door to my life.




Have another drink drunko!