The shining

Driving home yesterday was an experience. The clouds overhead were dark and black and it was dark all around us. However, the sun was below the cloudline nearing the horizon and light came blazing from the west and nearly blinding us. It was something else to be surrounded by darkness but still having the full force of the sun in your eyes. It made for a very picturesque end of day.

My ongoing chest cold of three weeks decided to divide and conquer by moving into my head as well. So now, along with a horrible cough, I get to sneeze and have the sniffles. And with all the coughing my chest and back are aching. I realize my last post was about whiners and complainers, so I shouldn't bitch about this... but I'm worn out from this illness. I slept for 14 hours last night, interrupted only once at 5:30am when the mirror in the bathroom broke it's mounting and bounced off the countertop. I woke and thought it was a fever dream... my roommate and his boyfriend, not being sick, didn't know what the fuck it was and had to get up and investigate. I drifted back into the haze which pretended to be sleep.

So one more day of work to go and then I can try to rest Sunday and recuperate. With my luck the cold will turn into the flu and move into my back, something that I only get every few years, but that causes me a week of back spasms and restless nights. Fuck it, that's what Robaxecet with codeine is for. :)

Wheh, wheh, wheh...

Holy fuck people are complainers. People complain about bloody everything... government, taxes, traffic, air quality, hold times, etc etc etc... every so often I complain about something, everyone does... but some people make it their lot in life to be constant complainers. In elementary school I knew a guy who was the biggest whiner I've ever known. We ended up as friends, but man.. whine whine whine... my friends and I called him 'wheh' which is short for whine, or a combination of whine and 'wah!'. I have a few customers that whine and complain every single time they come in to see me... and because I have a cold I've decided those fuckers can whine until hell freezes over before they'll get shit from me. I have no more patience for whiners, they'd best hope they don't piss me off because they'll get a smile, a nod and shit all else. Customer service be damned, I try to be helpful to everyone that walks through the door, but if people are gonna get on my bad side, they'll get a receipt, a smile and a polite dismissal. I've used it a few times in the past few days to one or two of my complain-a-lots and lo and behold, it works. We have a few customers who like to call and complain, talking our ears off. I told the guys that the best way to deal with this is not to acknowledge the ongoing tirade of verbal diarrhea... if they have a point and you agree, say "yes, I know what you mean" and no matter what else they say, don't respond until they get to the part where they say goodbye, and you wish them a good day, evening, weekend.. etc etc... The guys love that method, it really works and maintains politeness and the act that we actually care. To an extent, I do actually care. I want people's gear to work for them and I want to help resolve their problems, but hearing a 30 minute speech on nothing at all makes me want to do nothing more than say "Shut the fuck up, dillhole." The irony of this entire fucking rant is that it's a complaint about complainers. At least I made myself laugh. Heehee!

Oh, my poor fucking brain...

Anyone who has to deal with any type of "client" or "customer" at work knows that there are many, many different types of "client" or "customer". Let me take a moment to name a few of the more infamous types:
• the "asshole" customer
• the "chatty" customer
• the "loud and obnoxious" customer
• the "boring" customer
• the "cheap" customer
• the "has to have the very best of everything" customer
• the "idiot" customer
• the "I need this done immediately, right now, 'Is it done yet?!?' " customer
• the "what kind of special deal can you make for me and only me?" customer
and there are many more on the infamous list.

Today, I had the pleasure of dealing with at least one customer from each of the above categories. My brain feels like someone dropped an elephant on it. Twice. I won't go into detail about the above customers, they are easily imagined. Instead, I thought I'd relate a few tidbits about a few of the rare customers I ran into today.

• the "utterly clueless, 'If clues were shoes, they'd be barefoot' " customer
This poor, dumb fuck must require a booklet just to keep himself breathing. I truly believe that boiling water, making toast or the simple art of walking would confound this guy. After the 40 minute phone conversation about a label on one of our products, I no longer felt sorry for this guy, I was worried about the future of our species. The dumbest fuck I've encountered in a long time.

• the "publicly kinky" customer
Situation: Redneck man and redneck woman standing at counter. Redneck woman is buying redneck man some computer parts. Redneck woman says, in her best hick dialect, "Yer gonna have ta kiss my ass but good, fer buyin' you this stuff!" Redneck man responds with, "I'll take care o' that when we gets home." They both chuckle/cackle. Redneck woman says, "You'll have ta do a lot more then just kiss my ass!" They both chuckle/cackle again. Redneck man says, "You just wait 'n see what I'm gonna do!" They both chuckle/cackle again, sending a shiver right down my spine. I'm a very open minded person and enjoy kinkiness, but after looking at those two and listening to that I wanted nothing more than to go home and take a long hot shower with a bottle of bleach and a large scrubbing brush. Shudder.

• the "call every five minutes in a panic" customer
This guy was a really, really nice guy. But he lost all his charm after calling me 80 million times this week. Impossible to reassure him that his computer would be ready, I gave up and started making up things to tell him that had absolutely nothing to do with the questions he asked. After interrupting me three times while trying to take one payment from one customer he's lucky I didn't send the mafia after him. I know where he works and I know where he lives. I should tell him that next time to see if he calls back.

and finally,
• the "smelly" customer
Everyone loves this customer. He, she or it appears every so often in many guises and many different smells, none of them pleasant. Today's "smelly" customer appears in a sweat and dirt stained shirt reeking like feet. Need I say more?

Thus, the fun of today was marred by some very trying customers and I am exhausted. But you can't win em all, unless you cheat.

It changed

Inspired by nothing I can put a finger on, I felt like being artsy. I didn't change much, but tried to make things look prettier. Or at least less boxy. I like it, though it still needs fine tuning. My piecemeal HTML and CSS needs to be revised too, I just clipped and snipped and inserted where applicable until it did what I want... but half the time that's web design 101 riles anyway. Whatever, I like the new look, it makes me happier than the old one.

Who wants to live forever?

Who wants to live forever,
Who dares to love forever,
When love must die?
But touch my tears with your lips,
Touch my world with your fingertips,
And we can have forever,
And we can love forever,
Forever is our today.
Who wants to live forever?
- Queen

I do. I want to live forever.
Eternity is my mistress.

Pretty fly for a white guy

Cuz all the girlys say....

Well, why wouldn't they, I'm so adorably cute. And not conceited at all. I have to go get my hair cut again, it grows so fast... and I'm not sure what to do yet. I have to add colour to cover the *ahem* grey, but for the rest I don't know if I shold get highlights done or just lightly bleach the bangs... what to do, what to do... I never had to actually think about what to do with my hair when it was long, it only did one thing. I feel young again. ;-)

The cost of freedom

I feel the bricks of the wall behind me. The surface is rough and scrapes my hands, but I have nothing else to hold on to. The streetlight above is the only thing I can focus on, the rest of the world is spinning. I close my eyes and try to calm down because if I don't it's all going to go wrong. It is done, I am finished. I'm so tired and there's nothing left to do now but leave. He told me it would be hard to leave him here alone, but I can handle it. I open my eyes, but it hurts to see what I've done. There's so much blood. So much blood. I didn't have a choice, he made me promise. I have never broken a promise to him, I can't even lie to him. What do I do now, it all seems so wrong. I stand up and take off the last of my clothes. I think my legs will hold me up now. I walk away without looking back. Only the stars keep me company, I am alone.

a hop, skip and a jump

I have relocated. I'm in a nice little room in a house I lived in before, but not in a basement this time. The owner is a sweetie, I'm comfy and it's only five minutes to drive to work. So the past two days I slept until 10AM, got up and got ready and left for work ten minutes before my shift starts. Whee. Life is fun! 8-)