So, about once a month the Terminix guy comes in. I hate that. The smell gets to me. Plus I end up feeling icky for about 3 days afterwards. Now, their website INSISTS there is nothing dangerous about the chemicals in their spray. I doubt it. I mean, look at the bugs. They don't seem to happy about it.
So we are having a little lunch thing today at work. Or should I rephrase it; everyone here at work is having a lunch thing at work, me? I am at my desk watching the phones as usual. I can hear them chatting, laughing, eating. Me, I wait for 1 to come along and see if there are any scraps left. Sure, I had to bring in my part. I brought chips and dip. Of course, I don't know if there will be any left. Last time there was a lunch, I got sick and so I didn't eat, which was fine anyway, as there was nothing left to eat at 1. I feel like I should tell them all to fuck themselves and not bring anything, but I also feel like if I don't bring anything I won't be 'part of the team' and you must be a "TEAM" player. Got to be part of the fucking team, no matter how much the team tries to fuck you over and kick you out or ignore you.
No wonder the secretary on tv or in the movie always has an attitude and a cigarette. This job is giving me an attitude (okay, I've always had the attitude, but it is bringing it out in me) and maybe not a cigarette but give me a beer or something, I could shoot some of these people.*
*If you are reading this, you being the one person here who has the link to this blog, I don't mean you. You, I like. I like the person in the cube next to you too. She's nifty. I just hate being expected to be "in the group" except when the group is there actually participating. Then I must be down the hall covering for the group, so when I can finally participate, you have to be excluded...except there is nothing to be excluded from because The new group consists of oh lookie...its just ME. Sorry I think its hormones. Stress? Not buying it? Neither am I.
Work bites ya in the ass and spits ya out.
Monopolies in the Comic Industry. I AM PISSED
I didn't get my comics today.
Yes. It IS wednesday. Yes Wednesday is Comic Book Shipping Day.
Yes, if it were a good, free, world, and Capitalism was alive and well here in the U.S. of A, I would be sitting down with a nice cold Diet Coke and my issue 2 of Kabuki. But No, It isn't and I'm not because I don't have issue 2 of Kabuki. It is being held hostage by some UPS truck somewhere outside of Milwaukee.
To those of you who are unfamiliar with Comics and the business of your Local Comic Store (LCS for short), I shall explain.
1. You get a catalog called Previews, about every 4-5 weeks. Similar to a 1" thick phone book. It is filled with goodies and fabulous wonderful comics and figures and t-shirts and trading cards that you can order from your LCS. You have an order booklet with it that you fill out and give to the wonderful proprietor of your LCS. My LCS owner's name is Eileen. I LOVE Eileen. She is awesome. She goes ABOVE AND BEYOND for me. Well, anyway, your LCS owner then sends the order out to Diamond Distributors. (No, they don't have an option. they MUST use Diamond. There are NO other companies out there that sell Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse, or a variety of other publishers as they have signed exclusive comics with Diamond Distributors.)
2. Diamond then Fills the orders, sometimes Carefully...or like 2 weeks ago, not so carefully, and ships them out.
3. On Comic Shipping Day, your LCS gets the order. You dutifully show up, your comic money in hand, anxiously awaiting your latest installment of Powers (Go Ben-Diddy!) or Kabuki (David Mack is what happens when A Raging ADHD hottie writes comics...) If all goes well, you hand your LCS your money and you leave a happy lil camper. (With me, its about $25-35 a week).
4. On September 15th, I was looking forward to Freaks of the Heartland issue 5. I go in. Get my order. No Freaks! No freaks?? Huh? No freaks? Now, If I wasn't so devoted to Miss Eileen, I could have hopped into my car and drove 15 minutes North to another LCS and gotten it. I could have driven 25 minutes South and picked it up, There is a store near my job...I could have gotten it on my lunch break.
You see, Diamond wasn't so careful when it packed the books up. The comics were SO damaged, bent up, torn up, that she had to send them back. She wasn't about to put damaged goods on her shelf. However, When you are late on Comic Shipping Day, some people do just get them somewhere else, and don't buy the items the LCS ordered for them from the LCS. That means my LCS is out the $$$ if she can't sell them to someone else.
MY POINT: TODAY
This is the SECOND time this has happened in as many months. NONE of the comics arrived. Not ONE.
The box is on a UPS truck outside of Milwaukee. It got put on the wrong Truck. The other four LCS's within a 30 minute drive from me ALL have their books. She just didn't get hers. Every time this happens she looses about $300.00 in sales.
It gets better, when there was a comic shop open in the mall, it was a branch of another shop in the county. They had their Wednesday ships out TUESDAY night. Why? Because they got their shipments on Monday. She tried calling her rep because they broke street dates (you get fined for that) but she had no proof, they didn't offer itemized reciepts...they just said *CB 2.95 *CB 2.99 *CB 2.99 TBK *14.99 TC 1.75 or whatever. The reciept has to be timestamped, dated, and have the title of the book written on it.
It is F'd UP and I don't see how Diamond can Get Away with it!!! Its not like there is someplace else she can order from.
It drives me BONKERS! I would love to see some compitition to Diamond, or at least Diamond treating ALL of their clients equally. Not likely any time soon, I'm sure.
I shouldn't listen to the radio.
traffic makes me twitch. It does. I hate traffic. Why can't people learn to drive? It took me forever to get here this morning.
I actually did have a point this morning. It was about listening to the radio on my way to work. Mostly its nonsense, nothing worth listening to. Every once in a while there is someone talking about something interesting. Something about politics or world news. Now, it would be awesome if I had XM radio and could listen to the BBC or something and get real news, rather than the filtered censored news we have here in the states. Free Speech my Ass.
I am not too sure about how accurate these numbers are but I heard that Kerry is losing pull with married women voters between 25 and 40. These are the MOTHERS AND WIVES out there. Why in (insert your higher power or powers of choice here)'s name would would a MOTHER vote for G.W. Bush? Give the man another six months and he is going to have to reinstitute the draft. How can a mother vote for that. Sure Kerry can't speak in a normal sentance, no charisma, and its not like I really like the guy. What's to like. But I don't really dislike him either.
Its mostly that I CAN'T stand bush. I don't have very many pairs of comfortable shoes anymore and I am out of free time too. I don't know how much protesting I can cope with anymore. Plus, there really aren't any good protests around here anyway. We need a president who is unobtrusive. Who can just smooth things over. Calm things down. I don't think that is too much to ask for. At least one that won't go around making up lies about other countries just so he can blow things up. I mean, if thats the way things work, I want to declare war against TEXAS...well, not texas, just the part where he is from. And I wouldn't strike when anyone is there either...cause I don't want anyone hurt. And I would evacuate any animals first too...cause they didn't do anything..... Okay, strike that. I would INVADE his ranch in Texas. Take it over. Tell him that its for his own good. I would tell him that I was there to LIBERATE his Peoples. To bring Democracy to his Ranch. I would FORCE him to see it my way. And if he didn't agree, I would tell everyone else lies about his ranch...that he was growing drugs or abusing his 'peoples' or harboring illegal weapons or something until they agreed with me. I would manufacture evidence. I would double talk. I may or may not have been at a place that may or may not have had a substance that may or may not have resembled something that might have been percieved to someone untrained who could have unknowingly thought it to be something it wasn't and assumed I might have been involved in something I was or was not involved in. You see? Its not that hard.
But to me it is. Because its too much like lying. It is too much like being a fraud. I can't do that. Just like I can't invade his ranch and liberate his 'peoples'. As much as I'd like to give him a taste of his own medicine, as much as I'd like to make Bush realize that he DOESN'T speak for the people of America, because he WASN'T elected by the PEOPLE of America, and he sure as hell isn't evoking MY GOD when he preaches because MY GOD wouldn't fight HIS war.
Of course, now I have to work. So I can make money. 1/3 of which I will pay in taxes. Most of which will pay for Bush's war. No wonder I am so angry.
I admit it. I am an office monkey. Sure. Not a the most glamorous position in the world but its my job. And I am good at it. Damn good at it. But the people I work with make it nearly impossible!!!!! I get a call, I say my little schpeel... I find out who they want to talk to, and who they are from where. I either get the person they want to talk to or tell them they will have to have their voice mail. LATELY the people HERE have been saying: give it to bill or joe or george.* I am too busy. John can take it I don't want it. Tell them I'm in a meeting. I have people calling REFUSING to be put into voicemail. Willing to stay on hold for 45 minutes to talk to John or Joe or George or whoever, just because nobody EVER calls them back!! Meanwhile, I am apologizing to these clients who call, trying desperately to find someone WILLING to help them out. I would do it but, unfortunatly, they haven't really trained me on anything other than how to answer the phones. Which honestly, I already knew how to do.
More later...l
*bill, john, george, joe... I know you don't work with me, I just borrowed your names so the guys who do work with me don't get pissy cause I called them out.
lunch time
This is when I get lonely at work. Everyone is going to lunch, meeting their friends, whatever. I can't go to lunch with people here because the person I would LIKE to go to lunch with has to cover the phones for me while I go to lunch. Why? cause she has boobies which makes her qualified to answer the phones. Grr. Argh.
Other folks go to 1 1/2- 2 hr lunches. They talk, hang out...whatever. I have up to 1 hr. If I am not back by 2...even if I didn't get the hell out of here until 1:20, but I can't leave until everyone is back... I get it pointed out to me that I took a long lunch. That I inconvienienced the other people for not being here. I do, however, get the hour taken out of my daily hours even if I only got 40 minutes. I have stayed late on several occasions, and only had 8 hours on my check. It just gets hard always going to lunch on my own.
but finally... its my turn.
Today...is much like yesterday...
I sit here at my desk, bagel and schmear in hand, trying to figure out what the hell I am going to do with my life. Lord knows I don't want to be doing this for the rest of it. Anyone have any ideas? Anyone? Yeah...didn't think so.
Well, how about this...anyone know Microsoft Access? I hate Microsoft!