MY LIFE - OCTOBER

Tuesday, October 31, 2000

I'm at work at around 3pm, thinking I've got six more hours to go (what fun), when I hear my manager ask Tom if we were closing at 6pm. When Tom said yes, I figured I lost about two and a half hours of pay, but wasn't really concerned with it that much. It was only a couple hours and if I really wanted to, I could make it up Friday either at Strongsville or Berea. So I continued to do my work and just not think about what was going to happen at 6.

Then Tom came up to me and told me I was going to get paid for my regular shift. I didn't really expect that. I wasn't going to complain about it, but I certainly didn't think I'd get paid. Lenny had been adament about paying people when we closed early for his own reasons. So I just nodded my head and said okay, then went on with business as usual.

I didn't hear a whole lot of complaining tonight before we closed, but that doesn't usually mean anything. People can be funny about that anyway. They'll wait two weeks, then ask why the store was closing so much. What will make it funny is that the store probably didn't close during that two week gap, making the customer seem kind of silly.

It is a problem though. Everyone keeps asking if this pharmacist shortage is for real. For those still not sure, it is very real. There are stores in every company that are down at least one pharmacist, sometimes more. I don't know why people keep acting like this is some sort of myth, that it doesn't really exist. They act like we're making this up as an excuse as to why the store keeps closing. It's really simple people. When you don't have enough pharmacists to staff the store, the company has to go to fill-ins. That wouldn't normally be a problem, except you have more vacancies to fill than you have pharmacists to fill with.

There are several CVS stores in northeast Ohio alone that are undermanned. We don't make this stuff up. I wish we were making this up, that way we could at least open up every now and then. We wouldn't have so many customers complaining about our hours and we would be getting paid. I don't why people think we enjoy closing so much. I would like to make some money every now and then. Closing doesn't benefit me other than I get to go home early.

It's also not like we're all leaving work and doing things that are remotely fun. Usually when we close, it's on such short notice that we don't even get to make plans. I don't do much more than go home and watch some tv. I'm not exactly living the thrilling life when I get to leave work early. Sometimes it would benefit me more to stay until we close at night.

But, people will be stupid. People will think this is our fault. People will think we're doing this on purpose. But what the fuck do I care? I'm only there three more days before I transfer. After that, I could care less when the store closes.

Unless I'm filling in over there for a vacation. Then I might get a little pissy.

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I got home today and was surprised to see my mom sitting on the porch, passing out candy. I didn't think she was going to be home because she had told me she had class to go to and wouldn't be able to make it. In short, my mom skipped school to pass out Halloween candy. I guess that makes it okay. So I stuck around and watched her pass out candy, every now and then going upstairs to see if I had any e-mail or anything like that.

I'm amazed that the neighborhood really gets into it. There were only a couple houses that didn't have any lights on, and some of those were out because the families there were out trick or treating. Our neighbors to the right of our house were funny. The one woman was dressed as a clown, holding her baby who was in some sort of costume, it kind of looked like a bear. It was really cute. It reminded me why I'd like to have children.

There were all sorts of interesting costumes and all sorts of interesting kids running around. One kid came up asking if anyone was going to jump out and scare him. Evidently, he had a run in with one person who chased him around with a chainsaw or something. At least that's what he said. I'm not going to question the validity of that either. This is Cleveland after all.

Anyway, right after he mentioned all that, as if on cue, his friend coming up the steps behind him yelled "BOO" really loud, scaring the kid practically into my mom's laugh. You can't teach execution like that. That kid had the timing down and everything. The other kid? He was probably regretting saying anything at that point. They got their candy and went to the next house where the one kid scared the other again.

Then our neighbor's large dogs started barking. I never saw two kids run so fast. They came back once they realized the dogs were inside and there was candy to be had. It was funny watching them back up though. It was something out of a cartoon. Backing up slowly, then running.

Then there was the kid dressed in drag. I just don't know what to say on that kind of thing. When it comes to that, I'm conservative. I'm about as comfortable seeing that as I am thinking about nails scratching a chalkboard. It was very interesting to see, but I don't want a repeat anytime soon.

Maybe next year I'll make sure I'm busy. There were some cute kids though. It would be hard to miss Halloween.

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Is it me, or are skirts and dresses getting shorter and shorter everyday? I was at a gas station getting gas (how obvious is that one?) when a car with a couple girls pulled up. One of the girls, the driver, got out and started walking towards the door. If I hadn't done a double take, I would've sworn her dress wasn't long enough to cover her ass. Upon the second glance, I saw that it was just long enough.

She looked like she was about 16 or 17 too. This was very short. I mean, I'm all for this kind of thing, but I don't really know if I've ever seen anything so short except in rap videos and things like that. She was a good looking girl, but that was almost too skimpy for me to handle. I'm almost hoping that it was just something she was wearing for Halloween.

Again, I have nothing against short skirts and dresses. But sometimes I just wonder what's going on. Do girls think it's really necessary to show as much as possible? If you have good legs or a good body, we're going to notice. You don't have to be falling out of your outfit to get our attention, even though that will not hurt you. It just isn't necessary.

If anything, that's something I think you might wear on a date where you know you're going to be alone with your guy. I don't know how comfortable I'd feel if I had a girlfriend who wore that kind of thing all the time. Then again, I don't know what it's like to have a girlfriend, so maybe I should just shut up about the whole thing.

I just thought it was going overboard a bit.

---

I've been coming across some old pictures in our house of me and others when I was younger. To be honest, I look like a complete dork. I look like I've never seen the outside world, like I was living in my own world and the rest of you didn't matter.

Maybe that explains why I always seem to be behind on things that are cool, or why I don't always understand what the hell people are talking about (it took me twice as long to figure what the hell Busta Rhymes was saying). I've been behind from the start. That means I'm about due to start figuring out that if you wear cologne, more girls will like you.

I a couple of years, I'll be impressed with FUBU clothes. In a couple of years, I'll think Nelly is a fresh rapper. In a couple of years, I'll be talking about the Browns returning to Cleveland. Okay, maybe not that last one. I've been paying attention to that situation closely.

Popular culture confuses me though. I don't pick up on trends until they're way past their prime. I don't buy game systems until they've been out for two years and you can't find the games for them anymore anyway. I buy shoes about as frequently as I change the way my hair looks. I buy clothes just as frequently. I could care less about the current style of jeans. Right now, I'm loving my Arizonas.

I'm so far behind, Rosie O'Donnell is more hip than I am. At this rate, I'll be dead before I figure out what the hot item is and actually buy it when it's still hot. My car is one of the few things that I've bought that I bought relatively new. Even then, it had been out for almost a year when I bought it. I catch onto trends as well as Dennis Rodman can act. In short, not very well.

I don't watch movies. Part of that is I don't like going to the movies alone and I don't have anyone to go with, the other part is that the movies that have been coming out have done very little to impress me. Godzilla still gives me nightmares. Just what the hell was the whole point of that movie? Nothing makes me want to jump up and see a movie.

I don't rent movies, except for that time early in the summer when Jacqui was still around and we watched a movie together. That still ranks as one of my best moments. Ever. I haven't heard from her in three months now and don't expect to hear from her in the near future. But I don't rent movies, which is what I was really talking about.

I don't buy music that much. I don't listen to the radio except to listen to the Indians when baseball season is taking place. I watch tv a little bit and find myself amused by things that long ago made people sick from overexposure. I was one of five people who didn't watch Survivor once. I didn't watch the Summer Olympics (which made me one of the many, surprisingly), but I watched the World Series.

Popular culture just confuses me. I need a translation guide for all the sayings, movies, music, television, and other stupid things that come up. Beanie babies? I was so clueless on that one for a long time. Same with Pokemon. I had no idea what people were talking about. I though someone was talking about a queer kind of acupuncture therapy or something. I had no clue.

I guess I'm happy that way. At least then I can claim I was naive when the latest trend comes around. But now, I'm thinking about buying a playstation.

Don't even say it. I already know it's been out for a long time. I'm not stupid, just slow.