Weekly Log - 06 through 12

Monday Jul 06

I accumulated some responsibilities between last Friday and today. As it turns out, there will be nobody really supervising me during the promotion time. Everything important there may be to do, I have to do it. Why? They're understaffed and decided to lay everything down on me. Don't you just love Mondays? (short answer: no. Long answer: no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no)

Tuesday Jul 07

My brother is 17 years old today. And I'm in for probably one of the busiest days of the week. See, the product I was hired to promote comes to the store today. With what went on yesterday, I am pretty damn sure this is going to be a tragedy in three acts: difficult, disgraceful and depressing.

So, first of all, there were no brochures I could hand out to customers so they could take home and discuss the product with their loved ones. When I told this to the sub and the manager, they poked fun at me. Then, there are no more promoters coming in to the store on the weekdays, which means if I was to do things as they told me I should, I would get lunch around 4h30 in the afternoon. So fuck that, as soon as one o'clock rang, I packed my shit and went out to grab a bite. Then the manager complained I wasn't approaching customers... what started off as a passive sale became an aggressive sale of sorts. And although everyone has already realized that this is something customers won't care much for, everyone keeps pressing for me to try and sell it by force. The manager in particular found it strange that the SIM cards and cellphones weren't flying off the shelves. I wondered if he knows how to spell "economical crisis settled in and people don't give a shit about buying a new cellphone" (I can spell it on demand, by the way). Next to no advertising on the store, and did I mention on top of promoting this piece of crow, I also do everything else I did before?

So, I spent my day doing three jobs: promoting that bullshit, handling the info counter with all things related and handling store maintenance when needed. The store is really disorganized. I don't know how they managed to get everything done before I got here: understaffed, nobody gives two fucks about anything... and hey, I'm starting to understand why. When I did give two fucks, they made fun of me, I might as well shrug and forget about it, and do the best with what I've got. If they don't like it, fuck them.

On the eve, I was very tired, of course... still, I went out for dinner with Pops. He didn't want to set a date for the weekend, as I was expecting. It sort of feels like he wanted to get this out of the way as quickly as possible. I'm serene: too tired to bother with questioning Pops, I'm over that stage, I smile and nod and forget about it the minute it's over.

Happy birthday, Kid Bro. Thank crow I came home in time to get the birthday cake. I won't even discuss the fact my younger brother is 17, let's just slice down that bitch and send it down the hatch.

Wednesday Jul 08

There is a lady who comes into the store everyday, sometimes more than once a day, always wearing the same set of clothes. She thinks I stole her supermarket membership card for some reason. And she makes it a point to tell so to everyone in the store. She always buys more or less the same things. So... today, everyone came to warn me she spread around the store that I asked her for her card and refused to give it back.

Now, I'm not the smartest person in the world, but it's clear for me. Why is it not for others? Is is possible I was the only one who realized the pattern? Same clothes everyday, same shopping list, same words at the same hours of the day...? Remembering things that never happened, forgetting shit that did? She old lady has Alzheimer's. How is it possible nobody else bloody noticed and actually bought the story that I kept the card? Why the Hell would I want a supermarket card belonging to someone else if they're free? Crow, am I actually surrounded by true idiots this time?

Thursday Jul 09

Getting up today was terrible. I'm exhausted - still one day ahead.

Things were chaotic in the store today. I had nearly no time to take care of the promotion itself, although a few more people have been buying the SIM card. In the afternoon, the super decided she wants to check my entry time from day one on camera. My soul's serene: I never got in late, I never left early, on the contrary. I usually stay past my exit time, until whatever I have in hands is finished. Besides, it's Thursday. In 24 hours, it's weekend and I don't really give a horse's patootie if she has me committing murder on camera then. I just want to lay off my legs for a couple of days.

Friday Jul 10

And here we are: it's Friday, I'm tired and the eight hours I spent at work couldn't go by fast enough if they were tossed. Mum divided some cash between me and Kid Bro to buy clothes. My wardrobe's pretty worn out, and I don't mean furniture. Some pieces I've been wearing for ten years. Yeah. I wore more or less the same number when I was thirteen as I do now. Give or take.

Two women started fighting on the store today, too. And I don't mean an argument, I mean a bag-flail fight. The sort the security had to come out of his corner to part. I spent the rest of the afternoon with the Mortal Kombat theme playing in my head for some reason.

Weekend Jul 11 - 12

On Saturday I went shopping with Kid Bro. We bought some new clothes and spent the rest of the evening at the mall having coffee and snacks with the guys. I spoke at length with Kid Bro about the house we live in - he hates it and I like it. Kid Bro actually wanted to have a huge house with a yard... the sort of house I really don't like. I like my houses small, cozy, with less to clean up than a huge, high maintenance, expensive place. In fact I doubt I'll ever change houses again. I like this place... sure, the neighborhood blows smoke and you can easily get robbed or killed around here... but you can get robbed and killed pretty much everywhere, as Truman Capote's In Cold Blood shows. Plus, as I see it, the minute I close and lock my front door, the rest of the world outside ceases to exist completely. It doesn't really matter where I am, as long as I like where I live and I have friends close by.

I spent Sunday resting and working on hex maps. I'm still in love with that gIMP script. I've been making a whole bunch of them, both for campaigns and for the short stories I'm writing. Downloads for the weekend include Tenacious D's The Pick of Destiny because I wanted to laugh. I've watched The Graveyard Shitf (1990), The Orphanage (2007) and Phenomena (1985) - soon to be reviewed if I get the time.