It’s been a couple of days (a week actually) since I contacted my former boss Zack, about phone calls regarding my departure from the cigar shack. I did send it on a weekend and it went to his Blackberry. I figured that a simple yes or no would be forthcoming but so far nothing. I thought that maybe he was going to check with the legal department but there is no sign of anything being done. I admit curiosity plays a hand in this delay or non-response, and in succumbing to the curiosity I tend to realize that perhaps honesty is the best policy.

And that would mean telling interviewers the truth regarding my departure. That would encourage them to come to this here blog and read what I had written, which got me into hot water and cost me a job at the cigar shack. Creative types would be bemused at best, and to the others I would have an explanation. I was not caught on camera putting money into my pocket when the store was closed. And I certainly was not stealing humidors or offering to sell them to customers with the explanation that they fell off of a truck.

Both of those things actually happened and both of those former employees and busted though they may be, they are always welcome in the cigar shack. No, my crime was writing about someone who claimed to have no ego, when it turned out there was a massive ego, perhaps fueled by a lust for alcohol and his prescription pill snorting sidekick who sometimes played the role of a marsupial. That’s it, no stealing. In fact I was the one who took measures to prevent theft, finding boxes of cigars in the storage of empty cigar boxes and telling management about it, to which they did nothing.

So telling interviewers about my writing skills doesn’t seem like such a bad idea at all. True it won’t get my picture taken at Sundance but it is something I should be more assertive about. Is it a shame? I really couldn’t say. A simple yes or no would have done the job but since no response seems to be forthcoming I can’t afford to wait and will simply move on. I am sure the human resources department know about these sorts of things, how a bad call can lead to lawsuits. It’s generally better to say something favorable and simply move on.

I won’t be going to the cigar shack ever again, nor to the other outposts in midtown Manhattan that are under the parent company’s umbrella. Luckily there are better, less pretentious cigar shops in midtown and also Hoboken where I could get cigars should I want them. And of course there is the more affordable option and I could buy them online which is what I have been doing since the passing of May. Honesty just doesn’t seem to be the way to go.

Getting one’s hand caught in the till, or attempting to sell a hot humidor to customers can guarantee a look in the opposite direction and a pat on the back when walking through that doorway. Stealing is forgiven, but writing about things with names changed simply will not do in that world of the cigar shack and the Swiss cheese men who hold the leash.

I just know that there are a few customers who are grateful I didn’t write about the shenanigans that went on away from the camera’s point of view.

Then again with a nose stuffed full of Xanax and a customer’s bottle of booze slowly vanishing it should have been obvious to me that nothing would ever get done about IT.

Weeks later, still no response. Oh well might as well post this since it was taking up room on my desktop.

In 2005, I started a blog, just as a way to get out my thoughts and feelings.
In 2012, I was dismissed from a job despite doing a decent job-
because the owners did not care for my thoughts and feelings.
I didn’t post the security code, I didn’t post the combination for the safe.
No, I just wrote whatever frustrations I had and posted them here. Once posted I moved on.
Mister “I have no ego” had quite a large ego, revealed by a little star fucker who I once admired.