I started drinking Yuengling through a convergence of events, the first being going to a Pirates game with Jim and Ronni and learning that that was what they were drinking. I guess I am a sucker for peer pressure after all. Second was learning that my watering hole, Uncle Jimmy's considers Yuengling a domestic as far as pricing goes, so out when the Miller Lite's and enter the Yuenglings.
Anyway, Ed decides to pay me today. Mind you our checks are usually stamped for Thursday, even though they hand them out on Wednesday, so I was not expecting to have any cash on hand. Instead I did have cash on hand and thus my dilemma, do I still get my free buffet or do I make efforts to procure a new laptop. I opted for the latter and hopped my 65 Squirrel Hill, thinking I would go to the Giant Eagle on Murray and use the Coinstar machine to buy an Amazon gift card to cover the cost of my soon to be new laptop. The cool thing about Coinstar machines is that they do not charge for gift cards. Unlike cashing change in, where they charge nearly 10 cents on every dollar, you can insert bills for gift cards and there is no charge. And Amazon acts almost like a bank with their gift cards, you can bankroll gift card money and use it as needed. This plan keeps my debit card off of ye olde Internet, which is fine with me.
So instead of the buffet run, I opt for a Squirrel Hill run instead. First to Giant Eagle, then to the Squirrel Cage for dinner. I approach the Coinstar machine and go to insert some bills for a gift card and alas the bill acceptor isn't working, so I have to alter my plans and buy a gift card and go through a normal checkout. Presumably this will benefit my Advantage card in some way, though I doubt it helps me in the long run(usually gift cards are good for fuel perks, since I don't drive I do not reap the bennies) I grab a gift card and put $400 dollars on it. If my replacement laptop costs more than that I can always add cash later.
But when I get to Jimmy's I learn it doesn't, as long as I am willing to sell for a Dell refurbished model, which I guess I do, the remainder of my gift card monies is in my account should I require books, glorious books. I have been slacking for quite some time on my reading, not that there isn't interesting material out there, just that I don't know what it is yet. I am in the middle of a book, I knocked off three chapters at the Squirrel Cage while eating dinner, but I doubt it is something the masses at large would find interesting. 50 shades of grey it is not, lol.
But I pull out the tablet ( Jimmy's has wifi ) add the gift card to my Amazon account and purchase my laptop. 1st world problems begin when you can't by a laptop with a beer in your hand after all. Of course it is also open stage night at Jimmy's, which basically means garage rehearsals for the uninitiated. They start playing then someone coaches someone else on what they are doing wrong. That being said, it is providing adequate background noise for my typing, so I should shut up about it.
If the Squirrel Cage was lunch ( and given I hadn't eaten until that point today, the argument could be made) I am thinking of what is for dinner. The obvious choice would be Larry & Carols just a few doors down from Jimmy's, the only non selling point to that being I used to work there.
Back in my radio days when full time in radio paid shit, I often scrounged to find part time jobs to help pay the bills while I foolishly pursued my dreams. One such part time job was Larry and Carol's, where I had worked my way up to manager, albeit in a part time basis. Back in those days it wasn't uncommon to work until 3 or 4 in the morning, go home and sleep for a half hour or so and then make my way back to the radio station. I'll admit I was a fucking fool to dedicate myself to a radio station who couldn't give two shits about my well being, but that is hindsight speaking. Back in the day I thought radio was where I would end up.
So it came as no surmise that when it came to choosing between working at the station versus part time managing a pizza shop, I chose the station, though how it played out wasn't quite that simple. Dan, who was the owner of Larry & Carols at the time I worked there, asked me if I could come in on a Saturday. I said that I could drop by but my full time job had me there until al out 8 pm. Anyone who is familiar with public transit here in Pittsburgh knows how hard it is to get from Greentree to Oakland on weekend schedules, but I made it back and poked my head in the pizza shop. it wasn't busy at all, they had maybe two orders which the people on duty should be able to handle, so I tell Rich, the manager on duty, that I am going home ( my apartment is literally a two minute walk from Larry and Carols ) and to call me if it gets busy, otherwise I have already put in an 8 hour day at one job and I would prefer not to be up half the night ( L & C closed at 3 am ) when I had to be back at the station in the morning. So I go back to my place and close my eyes, sleep is just about to come when my phone rings, it is Dan, saying I need to be there right away. So I trudge out of bed, make my way to the pizza shop and they have three orders, and three employees on duty. Meanwhile Dan has made his way to Jimmy's, perhaps in the very barstool I now occupy, so I look at Rich and say " Call me when you are actually busy and not when Dan decides he is thirsty. " I go back home and not more than 15 minutes later my phone rings again, it is Dan, wondering where I am. I said that I am at home, if it gets busy, call me. Otherwise there is no point in me standing around when I have already worked 8 hours today. Dan proceeds to tell me that I am fired f I don't come in. Lesson to anyone out there, I don't respond very well to threats. So I make my way back to the pizza shop, I walk in and look directly at Dan and say, " You know, it is a damned shame that everyone here cares more about this business than you do, you are to worried about sitting on that fucking barstool to give a shit . " Yes kids, when I leave a job a do so with a bang.
But Dan has since sold the business so there is no uneasy tension when I go in to order something. Now if I go there it is simply a matter of convenience, it is the closest thing open with food I want. I doubt any of the current employees even know I worked there back in the day.
Okay I opted to come home after Jimmy's, with a brief stop by to see Numan at Quck Stop. Now to eat my chicken salad and post this drivel.
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