Middle man

Sunday

Oh but where to begin? I suppose I am supposed to start at the beginning, but I am not sure exactly where that is and where I should end up.

Well some thing have definitely changed since the last blog. The change meter went up again. Another $4.24 gets added to the barbie so the total stands at $60.38. I swear this new gig is just awesome for all of the change meter goodness that has been had.

Second, for the second time this basketball season, I pimp the fact Pitt was #1 (they did ascend to that lofty status the day after I mentioned it) they went right back out and lost to Providence College. While they did pick up another win on Saturday versus Seton Hall to raise their overall record to 26-3, the loss earlier in the week will surely drop them from the top spot when the poll comes out on Monday.

The fantasy hockey team, while most certainly not going to make the playoffs, got a little boost this week when Martin Brodeur finally came back from injury. Not that he did anything amazing mind you. Wait he did. Over the course of his first week back he gets me two shutouts and 3 wins while I am playing the first place team in the league. It may not mean much at the end of the year, but I refuse to mail it in, regardless of how slim my playoff hopes are.

Well some things have happened since the dreaded glog of last Sunday, which I am sure all of you dutiful students of the blog read, and I should get about discussing them.

You may remember that work tried calling me in on Sunday for a 3-11 shift and I played it off as not being home, which both was and wasn't true, I wasn't home early, taking in a morning beer or three, but was home later for the hockey game that was the main point of the blog. Anyway, work had called a few more times after that, I assumed that it was again to see if I could do the Sunday evening shift, so I paid it no mind. Monday morning I go strolling in for my 7-3 shift when I am asked if I got the4 message. I explained I wasn't home, which was why I didn't call back about the Sunday shift. They said, no the other one. Apparently two people from the 3-11 shift got sick at the same time,, one was suffering kidney stones and a the other had a kidney infection. My first thought was I should have gotten into the organ selling racket, because I could have made a killing. But what they really wanted was for me to switch to 3-11 for the coming week to fill the newly created holes in the schedule. Oh and by the way, when I work those shifts, I am in charge. Mind you, I have been trained on some of the stuff, I can run the bank and what not, but I have not been trained on what all gets done on that shift, nor have I ever been trained on how to close down the lottery at night, which is one of the things that goes with that shift. Yet here I am been thrown to the wolves so to speak, after 5 weeks or so I am now running the place. I wish I could say there was more coin involved with the transfer, but I don't believe there is. I will find out for certain come Wednesday, but I don't expect a bonus in my paycheck. This kids is why you should never track down thieves during your shift. Not for the inherent danger involved, but because people think you are, like, responsible and stuff. That's not cool.

Needless to say my first night was a disaster. The bank ended up 70 dollars short, I had no understanding of closing the lottery so I just threw everything in an envelope and dropped it in the safe wishing management the best of luck figuring it out Tuesday morning and I got the hell out of Dodge. Nobody called me Tuesday, one of my two scheduled days off, and apparently I got the bank money mixed in with my drop, so they found it and I was saved working for free, as I would have responsible for any shortages in the bank.

Wednesday was a little better. I managed to train myself on closing the lottery, don't ask me how, it is just a gift I have. Back in high school, any time I had a number problem, like say stuff for calculus, if I couldn't figure it out, it just gnawed away in the back of my brain and there would be times where I would be at home sleeping and I would think of new ways to approach the problem while in a complete slumber. The lottery crap was much the same, it just stuck in the back of my head what should happen compared to what I was doing and I came up with a solution and it worked, so I managed to figure it out all on my own. That being said, Wednesday came with its own set of challenges, as a former employee of the shop came in. I have mentioned the charge shet we get at work before, they are sheets where if we want to buy something, we write down the price of the item on the sheet and have a fellow employee verify it for us, and when they do our checks, they take out the stuff we charged, minus a discount that we are granted for shopping there. One thing we are allowed to do is bring in cigarette coupons and attach them to our sheet as a bonus. The store redeems the coupons from the manufacturer, so the store gets the money back it pays out and everybody is happy. Well, this guy who used to work for us comes in with three different coupons and asks Matt, the guy I am working with, if he can staple it to his charge sheet and just give him free cigarettes. Sorry kids, that ain't happening on my watch and I told him as much. He mumbled on about how he used to work there and blah, blah, blah, to which I reminded him that worked was in the past tense and we don't do any favors for him anymore. If he had a problem with it, I could always call the manager on the phone and they would be more than happy to set him straight on the difference between employee and customer. Not only did he not get his cigarettes, but the next day when I approached management about it, I got him banned from the store entirely. Mess with the bull baby, get the horns.

Thursday was no better. While I had figured out all of the money problems and things ran rather smoothly, I learned that of all three shifts I could work, the customers on the 3-11 shift have to be some of the stupidest people on the planet. You deal with more drunks and idiots on that shift than even the overnight shift, where it is relatively calm by comparison. We end up with a lady who comes in and uses the ATM. She puts her card in, gets at least $20 and her card and a receipt then proceeds to start yammering that she didn't get the money she requested. Linda, who was working with me at the time said that she would have to call her bank to make sure there were no problems with her account. Well, the lady starts mouthing off, say that we she call, to which I said we don't have the number to call to begin with. Next she kicks the ATM to which I again tell her that she will have to call her bank and if she continues to kick the ATM I will call the police. She says that I am mouthing off to her, to which I say I am just laying out her immediate future if she proceeds with her course of action.

Friday was uneventful, save for I got free soup to take home from work. One bowl of chicken dumpling for me, woohoo. I was just happy that my week of being thrown to the wolves was over. Just a Saturday night to go and I would be back on my normal morning schedule. Or so I thouight until today when I got a call from work asking me to again work the 3-11 shift on Monday. I am already dreading it and it is a day away.

Okay, enough bitching and whining about work. Besides, as bad as finding out I was on the 3-11 shift Monday would be, Saturday was quite good. I had a meeting regarding my calendar post and afterward I went to lunch at the Squirrel Cage, one of the last refuges for those of us that like to have a cigarette after our meal. Plus I managed a trip to Barnes and Nobles prior to lunch and snagged me a couple more books to read. While I won't give away what I bought until I finish it, then it will appear in the Neverending thread. I will leave a clue from the book I am currently reading.....

Going back to New York is like going back to an old girlfriend just because you remembered how great the sex had been. The minute you come, you remember all the reasons you'd decided to go the last time.

Actually even though I have had the book just a little over a day I am better than halfway done with it, so it may be making its way to the thread in relative short order.

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Late Monday night

Okay, I have eked into Monday, actually it is technically Tuesday morning but who's counting? I ddi another 3-11 shift at work, and out of the goodness of my heart, and because I didn't want to cook when I got home, I bought the crew pizza for dinner. I just ordred form the place next door to us and had someone pick it up like 15 minutes later, but most of the people I work with I like and if they are going to leave me in charge, then I am doing things my way, which includes the occasional treat for those that do good work.

Well fantasy hockey didn't turn out as planned, though I at least held my own this past week, going 4-4-2 against the first place team. A slight moral victory, nothing more.

And I was right, Pitt did fall from the #1 spot in the poll, they are now #4 in the country, UConn moved back into the #1 spot and Pitt will play them this Saturday so all bets are off as to where Pitt will be come next week.

Speaking of UConn, I am missing an Asshat and that needs to be addressed rather quickly. The winner of the Asshat last week is one Ken Krayeske. After UConn's game against South Florida, as is normally the case, coach Jim Calhoun adrressed the media in the post game press conference, when a voice shot up and asked the coach that given the economic turmoil that the state of Connecticut is in, and the fact that UConn is a state school, should he cut his salary since he is the highest paid employee at UConn? The questioner was Ken Krayeske. Now of course there will be some that say this is a legitimate question, and certainly when Jim Calhoun started floating numbers around about how much the basketball program brings in, he didn't help his case any, but the post game press conference is there to talk about the game that was just played. If someone wishes to interview the coach about his salary, they could easaily set up an interview with him outside of a post game press conference. Worse, Krayeske isn't even a journalist, he was there on a freelance photographer's press credential. This wasn't a matter of trying to ask a question and get an answer to it, this was just a set up for Krayeske to get his name in the papers, nothing more. Which is what he is pretty much known for, as he is the Green party candidate for governor in Connecticut. It is all about the show and nothing more. You will not see Krayeske actually ask for an interview with Calhoun, nor will you see him badgering the other departments at UConn to see if the professors would be willing to take a pay cut since their departments aren't raising money. Krayeske, I dub thee Asshat.

Not to be outdone, this past week's Asshat was relatively easy to figure out. A mere couple weeks after having her boyfriend beat her, guess who is back together with Chris Brown again? Yes Rhianna is an Asshat as well. Actually I wish that they would award all Grammys that way, a throw down between the contestants rather than that boring pat on the back for creating garbage ceremony that they have. I would pay money to see someone kick Robert Plant's ass, Allison Kraus could be his tag partner. But alas, that isn't how they hand out the award, so Chris Brown beating on Rhiana prior to the Grammy's didn't come with a trophy, so it was just bad news. Taking him back isn't just bad news, it's Asshat worthy.

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Tuesday

Okay, a pause in the action. I hope to wrap this up here. My day of consisted of me trying to set up a training run over at 860 AM WAMO, where Lynn and I will be doing her new radio show come Monday. I was hoping that I would be back on my normal schedule by Thursday and I could just stop over after work, but that was shot in the ass this morning when work called and said they need me to do 3-11 the rest of this week as well. Boo hiss. It looks like I will have to go to the station first and then go to work. Yes for those of you not paying attention to the calendar, starting Monday I am back in radio, just two hours a day, from 5pm-7pm, so I won't be giving up the new full time gig, but I will be snagging 10 hours of radio time a week, an additional drop of pocket change for me, but I will take it.

Likewise, I did finish the first of the two books I bought already. I gave away one clue as to what the book is, I will give away another before adding it to the blog page, so here we go.....

You know why we hate you? Not because you don't know what we know, but because, even if you did, you wouldn't give a damn.

So I am sitting here waiting to commit extortion, and planning a lot worse. I'm what you would call a career criminal. That's why I'll never be you. And I'm proud of it.

There, another book tease and with that I am done. I have things yet to do tonight, not the least of which is get a good night's sleep for a change.