Tag Archives: Economy

I Feel It All

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Well since I doubt if I’m going to get a chance to write this later at home, I figured I would start now while still rearranging the deck chairs. Woke up at the usual time this morning, 6:30 and wondered why would I be in a hurry to get to work.

There was a chance that Tom Chin might be in, that rare Friday, but he said only in the morning. I had a plan to leave work around 3:00 like I usually do on Fridays, but decided against it.

I knew I would be going to attend the ‘Irish wake’ at Farfetched tonight and rather than go home and then come back into the city, I decided an extra hour of sleep would suit me fine.

I would go into work later than usual and stay later than usual and head down to Farfetched. I also wanted to be in the office since it was Trudy’s last day. Once again nothing that she has done, just the economy is such that the charitable foundation couldn’t afford her to come in four days a week.

They offered her two days a week but really, who can live and work on two days a week? So she asked them to let her go and since it’s the end of the month its ‘good bye Trudy’.

She works with a woman named Debra and I was asked to join them for lunch which I did. A new restaurant in the next building. Italian food, nice décor, but we sat in the upper level which ascetically was nice but in reality we were that much closer to the ceiling which meant it was over warm and quite stuffy.

I had the chicken picata by the way which was ok though I should have ordered a side dish of pasta since this was just two pieces of chicken in a lemon sauce with capers. Hit the spot in any event.

Now it’s 4:30. I was planning on staying until 6:00 but Vivek just walked through the door, stressed and I certainly don’t want to deal with that, not on a Friday afternoon about to go to a party of sorts.

Just finished talking with Vivek, he’s stressed of course but in a good mood. His partner is planning an extravagant birthday weekend for himself so I guess there should be an all points bulletin for two rowdy Indian guys on the loose in Manhattan. Mothers lock up your daughters!

Trudy just gave me a weepy hug, thanking me for being her friend since she started working here. She’s a wonderful woman, from Northern Ireland. A real sweetheart who will be missed and not only by me.

She’s another friend I have to keep an ear open regarding jobs, if I hear of anything. So much of that going around I can only hope my ears are big enough since I know my arse is big enough.

I’m sure I will fill you all in with details and pics from the Farfetched finale.

The Wolves (Act I and II)

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Fucking hell. That’s the type of day it’s been. Didn’t start out that way surprisingly despite the fact that I wasn’t able to go to sleep when I wanted to. Wound up falling asleep around 1:30. It seems the 2 hour nap that I had taken earlier stole some much desired sleep. I lay in the dark and laughed about how fat I am.

Still with about 5 hours of sleep I felt pretty good as I woke up and got my act together and headed out to catch the bus. Almost finished with the Lennon bio and of course it’s due today. I figured I would be able to find some time and read it, maybe at lunch, maybe on the bus ride home. It was not to be.

On Friday I got an email from Tom Chin telling me to get a few expense reports together and he wrote especially that I shouldn’t wait until Monday to do it. I took care of most of that as well as some expenses Vivek had me do for his other company that he and his business partner are doing.

They claimed $8000 and change, I found they were owed $8200. I could only do so much on Friday since I was the only one in my company in. Greg Stevens seems to be fading from the company. I guess being the president of nothing in particular will diminish one’s enthusiasm, Vivek was travelling for his other company and Tom Chin doesn’t come in on Fridays.

So today there was a lot of things that hit me as I walked through the door. Some company needed our tax ID number which I tracked down and when I sent an email to Tom Chin and Vivek, Tom Chin said he was working at home, feeling ill. He told me I had the info available but I couldn’t find it.

That’s when I found it looking in other years files. He started yelling at me telling me what I had (which was what was asked for) was wrong. He’s a jerk in person and a fucking bitch when he’s sick on the phone.

Then it was the expenses which out of $1700 was listed, I found $1600. I told Vivek about it and he insisted I call the bookkeeper. I decided not to call her and figure it out myself. An hour after I usually leave, I was still there. I had everything spread out on a table and showed Vivek, ‘I have this, I have that. This is that, that is this.’

After a day of looking at these expenses I was toast. I even told him I was toast, two hours after I usually leave. He had me call the bookkeeper and started screaming at her. It was ugly. Apparently he was on a yelling kick today, going so far as to scream at his pregnant wife that she’s ruining his life over the phone.

I didn’t hear that but heard about it. I cleaned up whatever I had on the table which was no longer in neat stacks. I was really toast and all the stress started to mess up my back. Back in his office I can hear Vivek yelling at Tom Chin that he had to fire the bookkeeper after tax season. I know this will bite me on the ass tomorrow as well as Thursday when the bookkeeper comes in.

But I didn’t do anything but just tell him that he might be getting less than $1700. My name was mentioned but it was about ‘why should John have to file those papers? Why doesn’t the bookkeeper do it?’ I don’t mind doing the filing, I’ve been doing it since day one at the firm. But man, I don’t think in all the jobs that I’ve had, I’ve never bore witness to such an ugly scene.

I asked a question which opened a whole can of worms which I will hear more about this week. Usually I rearrange the deck chairs on this Titanic, but now the captain is losing his mind and the crew is turning on each other. Left the office feeling lousy and even though I smoked a Padron, it didn’t really give me the satisfaction it usually does.

Made it to the bus where I had to stand, lower right part of my back throbbing. No reading the Lennon bio. I should return it tomorrow, it ends badly I know.

Came home, my brother Brian called. He’s stressed and I talked with him for a while but I don’t think it helped either one of us.

I really hoped to talk to someone, but it turns out, I don’t have anyone I can talk to. Julio is busy with Stine and Alexander, no time for this big baby. Annemarie is too far away and plus she was unavailable since she was working or en route from work.

Forget about my brother Frank, he’s no help these days unfortunately, and Bill is directing his first play tonight and when he calls later he’ll be all about how the directing of the play went, and I wouldn’t want to rain on his parade.

Perhaps tomorrow will be a better day, but I obviously have my doubts. It’s all about the economy, my company trying to stay afloat and get whatever monies owed to us and it is stressing everyone the fuck out.

Oh yeah, the coffee maker crapped out and I spent a good part of the day filling it with white vinegar to clean it out.