Month: October 2005

I haven’t really done one of these in a while, so I figured it was about time.

I’m about two weeks into the new job, and it’s going pretty well. I’ve never seen myself as a salesperson, so it’s definitely taking some getting used to, but I think I’m starting to get it down — at least, being able to sell two cameras yesterday helped my confidence a bit. Cameras are probably one of the few things aside from Apple computers that I even could sell without feeling somewhat dirty afterwards, though — trying to sell something I didn’t like or care about just wouldn’t work for me.

Of course, there are pros and cons to mall jobs. For instance, the schedules can be very flexible…which will be nice once school starts and I’m working around classes. Right now, though, while we’re re-adjusting around a new hire who didn’t work out, my expected day off today has instead become a 11am-8:30pm shift. Not a major catastrophe (I’m flexible enough right now to be able to do it, and it’s a few more hours), I just won’t get the cleaning I was planning on doing today done until later on this week.

Also — while Prairie and I were planning on going to Alaska this Christmas, it looks like that won’t be happening after all. Initially I was planning on leaving Kinko’s in late December, spending a week or so in Anchorage over the holidays, and then getting a part-time job to go with school starting in January.

The more-sudden-than-I-expected departure from Kinko’s and subsequent acquisition of a retail mall job just a couple months before the Christmas rush has changed our travel plans. It’s just not realistically possible to expect to be able to get much time off at all over the Christmas shopping season, so we’ll be staying here in Washington after all, and we’re looking at coming up in the summer instead. A bit of a bummer, but that’s just how things have worked out.

Other than that, things pretty much progress as usual. My posting frequency here has certainly slowed down as I re-adjust to not just living with someone, but living with someone I’m dating. When Prairie was still living in Ellensburg we’d chat via iChat each evening, which made it very easy for me to multi-task, browsing the web and tossing posts up here while we were talking. Now that we’re both in the same apartment, I’m spending a lot less time in front of the computer (gee, imagine that!). We’re finding the balance point to make sure that we both get our respective “me time” (which, in my case, generally involves sitting in front of the ‘puter), but for the moment, I’m pretty much perpetually behind in my reading and keeping up with what’s going on in the world. So it goes!

And…that’s it for now. Gotta get going on that whole getting-ready-for-work thing…

Originally written by sirriamnis:

I. Thou shalt have thy ID.

I don’t care if the staff knows you. I don’t care if you know the owner. I don’t care if you’re fifty. I don’t care if you’re the Pope. ID. You must have your ID on you when you are in a bar in the state of Washington. And if you don’t have it, why not? Didn’t you know you were coming to a bar?

II. Thou shalt get out of the bar staff’s way.

If you see someone coming toward you carrying a bunch of glasses, a bus tub or a mop, do not just stand there in drunken puzzlement and awe. MOVE! Oh, and moving an eighth of an inch in one direction or another is not moving. Get the fuck out of the way.

III. Thou shalt not dance with cigarettes.

It does not make you appear sultry, alluring or continental. At best you look clueless and white trash. At worst you look like an inconsiderate jerk who doesn’t care if they burn someone or ruin someone else’s clothes.

IV. Thou shalt not tip badly or not at all and then hit on the bartender.

Because of what we do for a living, we do judge people on how they tip. If you tip one of us a quarter or not at all, don’t bother hitting on us. If you don’t think enough of us to tip, you obviously don’t think enough of us to date us. We’re just going to humiliate you publicly. This is a special exemption to Commandment IX.

V. Thou shalt not interfere with the bouncing staff.

When throwing someone out, the bouncers are doing their job. Do not argue with them because the person they are throwing out is your friend. You are not a lawyer, and they don’t care. And if you are a lawyer, you should be smart enough to know A. when your buddy is being a drunken ass, and B. That Washington State grants businesses the right to refuse service to anyone, as long as their decision is not motivated by race, gender, religion or sexual preference.

VI. Thou shalt not make inappropriate song requests.

Do I go to country and western bars and demand they play the Sex Pistols? No. Do not come to a Goth/Industrial club and request the Dixie Chicks. And especially do not get huffy when the DJ laughs in your face. He probably assumes you’re joking. You’d have to be, right?

VII. Thou shalt not drink on the dance floor.

See Commandment III and think about spills and broken glass on the floor under your feet in those thin-soled shoes. Besides would YOU want to wind up wearing anyone else’s drink? I thought not.
Sub-commandment: Thou shalt also not set thy drinks on the dance floor for the same reasons.

VIII. Thou shalt not touch others without permission.

One would think this to be unnecessary and self-explanatory, however the number of clam heads that have to be thrown out for this says otherwise. Apart from being rude and demonstrating what a completely classless fuck you are, in Washington State groping, pinching and other unwanted sexual contact are considered Sexual Assault and they will put you in the Pokey for that.
Also, do not assume because someone lets other people touch them that this gives you the green light as well. If you don’t know that person, HANDS OFF! And I don’t care what they are wearing.

IX. Thou shalt take no for an answer.

Persistence is annoying in puppies too. When a girl/guy says they’re not interested, pick up your wounded pride, go off to lick your wounds, and try again with someone else.
Also, making a nasty rejoinder to someone who was kind or neutral while brushing you off does not make you appear witty, funny or more desirable. It makes you look like a great, big, steaming pile of shit.
This goes both ways. If someone works up the courage to hit on you and you are not interested, a simple no will suffice. Anything more mean-spirited than that and you have crossed the line into cunt-dom and deserve all the verbal abuse you get.

X. Thou shalt leave at closing time.

The ugly lights of harsh reality are on.
The bar staff are clearing drinks and glasses.
This is not up for debate.
Do not argue.
Do not resist.
Just get your shit and go.

All of it seems pretty obvious to me, but I can’t count the number of times when I’ve wished that more people had these in their head. Bunch o’ savages in this town….

Much fun last night!

While Prairie stayed home to sleep (and sleep, and sleep) after finally finishing off a two-week-straight stint of work, I headed out to Captiol Hill for eckstacie‘s birthday party. Got to her apartment around 6:30-ish or so, met up with some people I’d already met (surviving_moth, oblique_ref, sgtjesse, spookygrrrly) and some I’d not met before (art_geek, dyslexia, and others whose names I’ve spaced on and whose LJ accounts I didn’t snag, if they have such), and had a very pleasant evening sitting around, talking, and generally being silly.

As the evening wore on, we moved the party down to the_vogue, losing a few people along the way until it was just myself, Sam, April, Elizabeth, and Ellen — “Four girls and a man in a skirt!” We snagged a spot by the couch near the sound booth, and I bounced over to say hi to gracesine and rainfromheaven. On the way to the club I’d called xementio to let her know that we were on the way, and she showed up a while later, so I got to introduce her around and show her the Vogue for the first time (yay for new Alaska transplants!).

Later on Kris, Suzanne, and Noreen showed up, and then Jillian (who I’d met and flirted with a bit months ago) and her boyfriend (er…Chris?). I actually got to be a social butterfly last night, bouncing around with all the people I knew there! I haven’t really been able to do that since I left Alaska, but my social circles are finally expanding enough to allow me to do so…quite a lot of fun (“You’re such a flirt!” Melissa said at one point).

Eventually, of course, I had to wander on — due both to having to work this morning and promising Prairie that I wouldn’t stay out too late — and so I made my goodbyes, came home, and fell into bed.

All in all…not bad. And one last Happy Birthday to Sam! Yay birthdays!