Kevin's Watch

Ok, so already posted in how do you feel about the arrival of the tire cover. It's stupid gorgeous. I've got it propped up against the wall and I keep looking at it and drooling. I already wrote a gushing thank you note to Kyle the guy who wanted to make that cover so bad he didn't give up and I also wrote a gushing email to his boss about his stellar service and how pleased I am with the quality of their product, the speed of their fulfillment and that I will recommend them to everyone I know who needs or wants a tire cover.

On other notes, having my bench warrant for my arrest revoked went very smooth and painless. The lady was very helpful and I figured that after all this time they would have tacked on to the original fine but NO, it was still the original amount. Had this been California it would have at least tripled by now. So yay! My brief brush with the law is officially over.

Other adventures of the day, I went to my new credit union to order some checks and do some stuff to get my Mom paid back for fronting the money to buy Vader. Turns out they still had a hold on my checks. It was only supposed to be for 15 days and it's already been 18 but that does include weekends. So, the teller that was helping me was the same girl that took my deposit when I opened the account. She remembered since it's not everyday that someone deposits pretty large amounts. Anyway, she decided to go above and beyond, I wasn't too concerned about the delay since it's not like my mom is chomping at the bit for repayment, nor am I using that money for anything anyway, but she thought it was excessive so she took the initiative to call the bank the checks were drawn off of and while I was in with another bank person ordering my checks, she came in and handed a copy of the checks to the lady and said, "I called and talked to this woman Amy, here's her employee number and she verified that the funds have in fact been released and it was on Friday of last week." So they took the hold off my account and gave me some temp checks so I can pay back my Mom. Then I mentioned that I had been having some trouble setting up my online account access. The lady helping me got me all squared away with it and we got to talking a bit during all this and she was super nice and very helpful and turns out that she's the actual branch manager. Anyway so it was really nice to have people go out of their way to help me get excellent service. I have to say that I am finding a trend I like and it seems that our society is finally getting away from that wham bam thank you ma'am attitude and taking time to really provide real customer service.


She ended up telling me that her door was always open and to come to her for any financial advice or to clarify any questions I had about various investments and that if she didn't know the answer she would do everything she could to help me find the answers.

I think that bank manager's helpfulness is more due to her being in Omaha than to any change in society. But I'm glad everything is getting squared away for you! You deserve it!

Ali, I think it has more to do with it being a CREDIT UNION rather than a bank. They seem to have the right ideas about customer service.

Sooo, I think I posted about the remote controlled helium monster shark toy. My boss actually likes it and I had an idea and we talked about the crazy idea which consist of hanging a sign from the shark that says mention the shark at the register and get 10% off a regularly priced item during your purchase and then flying the shark around the store at random intervals during the day. He's actually down with it. I think that would be so fun. I said we could call it the shark watcher price dropper red alert. He liked that too. We shall see if anything comes of it.

So today was a bit of a rough one. I was the morning copy and print person and then two people called in tonight so I had to stay late. I decided to treat myself and took myself out for a nice prime rib dinner. Rare and gorgeous with a sour cream/horseradish accent. I had a mixed green salad with blue cheese dressing and a baked sweet potato smothered in butter for my sides. We do all the printing stuff for the restaurant and so Kenny the guy who usually comes in was there working and I saw him but he was busy so I left him alone but on the way out he saw me and was all excited that I finally made it in and then asked me twenty questions about the food and the service and everything. I told him it was great.

Then I came home and there are nice thunder and lightening storms happening, which I LOVE. And I had another funny moment that my roomie filmed. My roomie has several cats, only one of which is male. He has literally fallen in love with me. He hears my voice and assesses the situation and then will try to attract my attention and he does all the behaviors that a male cat will do to attract a female mate. He will strut in front of me as tall as he can stretch with the last three inches of his tail twitching and then he will make sure I am looking and then fully elongate himself by reaching up as high as he can and scratching his claws on whatever is handy including the wall to make sure I can see how powerful he is. Once he's fully elongated he looks back at me and makes the mrrr/purr noise with a questioning tone. Then he will approach me and rub on me and then he makes the mrrrr/purr noises with an enticing tone and when I finally start scratching him he's so into me that he drools and rubs his head on my face and hand and has even gone so far as to make that clicking noise that cats do when they are absolutely fully engaged. Then when I do stop petting him he will just sit and gaze at me adoringly and he can't take his eyes off me. We have kind of played with it and it's funny because no matter where in the room I am he just looks at me with this silly adoring look and if I make any sort of move in his direction he gets all in a "come hither" posture. Too cute. Can't say when it might get posted cuz she's kinda bad about the vid posting but when it is I'll link it.

Ok, so major snowstorm over the weekend. I didn't leave the house Sunday since it was UGLY out there. I got up and got ready and shoveled the front walk and then went to leave to go to work. Got in the jeep and nothing. Absolutely nothing. I called work to let Alan know what was up and he said to figure out something. I called roadside assistance and turns out that due to the high volume of calls and needed a flatbed truck (4WD requires one) that my wait time was 4-6 hours. So, I sat here all frustrated and decided to call the tow company directly and asked if they could come out between ten and eleven the following day instead. The dispatcher was actually grateful to be able to postpone and guaranteed that they would hit my time frame. So, I called for a cab to take me to Avis so I could rent a car in the meantime. Cab guy shows up and I get in and he promptly starts texting while driving me in three inches of unplowed slush. I go to put my seatbelt on and it won't click in to the socket. I start thinking, "Oh please just let us get to the rental place alive. I look at the driver and the instrument cluster catches my eye. The check engine light is on, the abs warning light is on, the central message board is alternating flashing messages of "check right front tire pressure low" "service engine due" "low brake lining" and "coolant level low." So I make it to the rental car place ok. Nerve wracked but ok. I end up with a jetta. It's ok, not as nice as the Altima but not the shitbox the versa was. I get to work and it's a bit chaotic. I'm in the middle of helping a customer and my phone starts going nuts. I silence it and when I get a chance to see who has called it starts ringing again and it's the taxi driver. I used my new bank card to pay for the cab and he says it keeps declining. I double check all the info and he's got the wrong expiration date. While I'm on the phone with him more calls are coming in so I get off the phone with him and realize I have 9 voicemails. I call voicemail and the first seven are him. The other two are from my new bank about suspicious activity on my account. I call back the bank number and the lady is nice but I used an annoyed tone of voice and she said, 'I'm sorry if this in inconveniencing you but we are only trying to protect you as our customer." I totally got checked and when she said that then I realized my tone was rude. I immediately apologized and told her about my day and then said, "I realize my day may have been frustrating but you just made me think about how much worse it could have been so thanks for helping put it in perspective."

Turned out what flagged the card was crazy texting taxi driver had tried to run it 11 times and because he had the wrong expiration it declined 11 times and he did all this in the space of 20 minutes.

I need a vacation...

Come to Albuquerque!

It's very tempting. However I have three crazy beeyaches that I've been friends with for over twenty years screaming at me that the first vacation I take is to SF. I do miss you and my lady tam and my grace and my thor a ton though.

Ok, so it was a long day at work. I think I might have mentioned this back in January but there have been some days where one of the registers has been short $20 bucks. It's got a pattern and it's escalating. Had a long discussion about it with the Bossman today. He thinks it might be a manager rather than a cashier but he knows it isn't me. Hell, if I was going to steal to supplement my life I would still be in SF. I just can't imagine either of my co-managers stealing and being that stupid about it. Anyway, it totally sucks that now I have to be suspicious of everyone. I really hate that.

Cameraman Jenn wrote:Anyway, it totally sucks that now I have to be suspicious of everyone. I really hate that.

Good thing you don't work in a bank. Paranoia is wildly encouraged.

It's understandable, I suppose, given the ready access to large sums of cash, as well as the ability to screw with unimaginable sums of electronic currency. Granted, the electronic stuff is harder to hide and easier to fix, but plenty people still fall prey to temptation. Fortunately, most of them do it with cash, so they don't make out with as much.

It just sucks. I don't ever want to believe that someone I know is stealing, it's just dumb. Also I don't like the fact that LP is scrutinizing us all. I don't like to be suspected which although Alan is sure it's not me, they have to do it because it's their job and most of all, I don't like anyone questioning my ethics for something petty like this.
Unfortunately there is a pattern, it seems to be Friday and sunday of every week between paychecks and it went from twice a month for two months to three times this month....

Back when I did LP, they taught us that 80% of people will steal, given the opportunity and the belief that they can get away with it. The longer they get away with it, the more risks they will take. Never a good situation. I hope yours is resolved soon.

We will get to the bottom of it eventually. And seriously? 80%? That seems high...

My day was actually ok today considering my district manager spent the entire freaking day in our store and both my regular color copier and the large format one went belly up. I ended up leaving early and going to another store to finish a few jobs so that they can make deadline times. It does mean I have to go in early tomorrow though which kinda sucks. But I figure hey, I'll get up extra early and get donuts and take them to the suspension shop that worked on my jeep recently.

I believe I left off with the drama of the jeep not starting during the last snowstorm. I had it towed, battery was dead. I had them fix the locks they forgot to look at when the truck was in for it's post purchase inspection. I got it back and took it over to the specialty suspension shop to get the steering stabilizer fixed and a general look see at the suspension and lift stuff. The guy who I dropped it off to was not the guy I ended up dealing with on the phone. By the way AV, dye your hair green with envy since it's a SIX inch lift. Anyway, I dealt with this really great guy Dave on the phone and they ended up fixing a few other minor things and it was touch and go as to whether I would be able to pick up the truck before they closed. Dave said, "Well, I assume you are tall so I could just leave the keys in the corner of the awning above the door." I laughed and said, "Dude, I'm five foot four." He was all, "NO WAY! I am six foot two and I had trouble getting in it, how in the hell do you get in it without a step????" I described the high kick, foot hook, toe point handle grab, haul ass up with arms method and he laughed pretty hard.

I think part of my get up early routine tomorrow is going to be to stop by krispy kreme and bring him some donuts and meet the guy who will be taking care of my jeep face to face. The steering and suspension work he did has made it drive so vastly improved it's awesome.

On other Jeep notes, my DM who spent the day was leaving just as I was leaving and when he saw me getting in Jeep Vader, he shouted out, "WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DRIVING?????" I yelled back across the parking lot, "WHY? Isn't my Jeep the uber jeep?" He started walking towards me so I aborted getting in and we yammered about the jeep for a bit. He did admit it was pretty damn awesome and he would love one like it but his hangup was the impracticalilty. Hmmmm.. I think I had that dilemma myself. He was also super impressed with the death star tire cover. I think he saw a different side of me today that made him reassess his impression of me and I don't think it was in a bad way. He actually said it was a beautiful toy and that he never imagined that I would be the type to drive something like that and I told him the story about the joking offer. He was impressed but still he's on the conservative side and we talked about values and so forth and then he still just shook his head and said, "I still have a hard time equating you with this vehicle." and I said, "There are times in life when it hands you bad stuff, like how I got to Nebraska in the first place and we've talked about that, and there are moments in life when it hands you dreams or fantasies that you can achieve and those are times when you have to weigh out what is more important, taking a chance or being impractical and following that dream or regretting it later and this was one in which I chose the dream and so yes, I'm driving a big monster gas guzzling completely impractical jeep instead of the practical cars I was looking at buying or that I've driven in the past 15 years and it feels right because I'm also driving a big monster gas guzzling monster that I love, that I've decorated in dorky star wars stuff and most of all one that makes me smile each time I start it up instead of one that just gets me from point a to b and I take no joy in and sometimes that little bit of joy is more important than anything else." He agreed and had a very thoughtful expression during that last part of our convo.

Lift doesn't mean anything. It's ground clearance I care about.

--A

Cameraman Jenn wrote: Sooo, I think I posted about the remote controlled helium monster shark toy. My boss actually likes it and I had an idea and we talked about the crazy idea which consist of hanging a sign from the shark that says mention the shark at the register and get 10% off a regularly priced item during your purchase and then flying the shark around the store at random intervals during the day. He's actually down with it. I think that would be so fun. I said we could call it the shark watcher price dropper red alert. He liked that too. We shall see if anything comes of it.

A large, locally owned and highly successful superdupermarket near where I usually stay when I'm in the States has a candy boutique. They very cleverly placed a model train track that runs around overhead. The train runs intermittently so it gets your attention ("Why is there a train whistle overhead?"). Of course, the kids want to go see the Choo Choo, and once there they want to buy all the pretty candy in the clear plastic hoppers. Very clever marketing. What I'm saying is that you can use a gimmick like that helium shark to draw attention to whatever YOU get commission on. Of course, if it's photocopies, kids won't care about that; but high-end back to school supplies, yes.

My thoughts exactly DotD. Av, you are still jealous and you know it.. I'll get the damn ground clearance for you...

Anyway, so my journey home was really interesting. I had to stop at the grocery store and pick up a few things so I was wheeling my cart around the corner into the center cross aisle and about to make a right turn into the laundry supply aisle and nearly ran over this guy. I slammed on the brakes and he stopped abruptly and I said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to nearly run you over." and I smiled at him. He smiled back and said, "Well you didn't so that's good." Then he insisted on "ladies first" so I said, "Well since you are standing right where I want to go and I have to go first it means I AM going to run you over after all and I don't think I would feel very good about that." He laughed and stepped back and then told me he appreciated my humor and that I had kind eyes and he didn't think I was the kind of person to run someone over with a shopping cart on purpose. We had another laugh and then I'm not sure what sparked it but he just started telling me about his life and his military experiences in Iraq and it was really interesting and so we stood there in the laundry detergent aisle for about half an hour while he did most of the talking and I did a small bit. At the end he introduced himself, his name is Daniel. Then he said, "I'm not sure what prompted me to tell you all that but I just started to talk and couldn't stop, I hope I haven't held you up too much or weirded you out or anything." and I was like nope, not at all. The weird part is that it just felt to comfortable and at the end we were just like ok, see ya later like we were old friends or something.

THEN, the guy I'm always yammering with when I go in there was working and he was watching the self check out stations. I stopped on my way out to yammer with him a bit and we were talking all close and conspiratorial about star wars geekery and I was nagging him that he still hadn't come outside to see my monster jeep yet and all it's star wars accoutrements. I guess we looked like there might be something suspicious going on to the sheriff on duty because he came over and asked if there was something he needed to check out. We laughed and I told him we were just geeking out over star wars stuff and monster jeeps. So he geeked out a bit with us on star wars stuff. Then as I did go to leave my geek out buddy hugged me and then the sheriff guy insisted on walking me to my jeep and told me there has been a ration of assault muggings targeting women in parking lots this past two weeks involving what seems to be the same group of guys in the area and that I should carry pepper spray. So we walk out and I point to the jeep and say, "That's me." He's all NO, so THAT'S why you were talking about monster jeeps. Then we get close enough (dark and I need to wash the jeep) for him to make out the death star tire cover and he's just like, OMG, awesome. Another guy is walking to his car and sees us and the tire cover and comes over and we end up having a three way geek session for about ten minutes and then are joined by a third guy and a fourth guy and I end up in the parking lot with four guys geeking out over jeeps and star wars for about half an hour. Four of us drive jeeps, one of the guys drives a Dodge Durango but my truck was by far the most bad ass of the bunch and we all agreed on that. That also just felt like a group of friends hanging out... so odd but fun.

It's nice when the full moon brings fun weirdness and not bad weirdness....

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yammering in the parking lot, etc., etc., etc. DID YOU GET DANIEL'S DIGITS?

Oddly it was not a get the digits night. I just liked the flow of convo and the way it seemed so relaxed and non threatening and non committal and just a bunch of folks talking and having fun. If I do run into Daniel again I will get his digits. He was super cute and had an amazing deep rich speaking voice that probably added to my being so spell bound. But seriously it was just a hey whazzup no cares no fronting no expectation talk to the world night.

Well, okay. I'll accept that.

Cripes I am tired tonight. Yesterday was a rough day. We were totally SLAMMED at work and I had to double as copy and print and manager on duty. I didn't even touch a register to count it down until about ten minutes after we locked the door. I didn't even check the store. I literally just counted registers and left. I came in this morning and my boss comes over to me and says, "I think I have a very clear idea of how your evening went last night so I'm just gonna let it go." I replied with, "I think that would be a very wise idea." Then we laughed. Today was crazy like that too in the end of the day. Right now we have all the graduation party stuff getting planned and the first of the bridezillas are heading into the last stretch of planning and printing. Makes a busy time of year.