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Crazy
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
- Hits: 1723
Payday, and as the Nephew has astutely observed the owner's always off on Payday. He doesn't like paying the staff. There's always something that he rages about, a fury that shouts and swears at all of the staff, it's predictable.
Tonight the excuse is the cheques seem too large.
There's a reason, our pay period, there's 3 extra days, and the tip cheques have always been a few days behind, the past few weeks have been busy (the weeks before have been quite slow), they've caught up, they seem high...
The owner has me check the math. He's suspicious.
The math adds up.
He has me call his wife to solicit an explanation, she's not answering, she's had to deal with him a couple of times already, she calls back when she receives my message. The cheques are correct.
He rails at the kitchen, the overtime is unacceptable, they should work only the allotted hours, their cheques are too large...
She sends him an email and explains that there's a Stat Holiday, they have to be paid overtime, and there's 3 extra pay days this period, hence the cheques seem large.
He's not yelling at me, railing instead at the others, the kitchen, the other staff, he knows what the issue is, he knows why and the solution, he just loathes payday.
He's Crazy. It's like this every paycheque.
The staff, ridiculously, try to understand, they get onto his page, think there must be something wrong with the paycheque, ask me if everything's all right, they are somehow sharing his point of view.
This is unbelievable...
"It's not about that", I explain, he's crazy. he knows we're due the money, he's just venting his pain upon paying us.
Everyone has a suggestion, "He should take an anger management course", or "He should take medication...".
They suggest it as if he knows. He knows, somewhat, but it doesn't make it any easier. We should deal with it.
Crazy doesn't know it's crazy...It's the rule. If he knew he was crazy he would be a long ways towards being sane...
Easter - 2012
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
- Hits: 1686
Work is work. Not the regulars, but the standard assortment of lost souls that fill every restaurant dumb enough to open on a national holiday weekend.
Never busy, never full, most tables having 1 course, house wine by the glass, pastas, or, if you're lucky a steak, always well done. Very slow, but the laid back pace is a welcome break from regular weekends.
No regulars, or at best one or two tables. Most of our tables, night to night, are regulars, holiday weekends are another story.
Friday already blogged, Saturday, slow, my turn to leave, the night strangely dragging, watch stopping, finally, finally I'm free. No day off on Monday, the owner's decided to open despite there being no reservations in the book. And, perversely, this is good, it guarantees my regularly scheduled day off.
Sunday the boy and I head to Red Deer to meet Grandpa for Lunch. No time for the Pedestrian Bridge (I've plans for some photos and critical observations & letters). I've a blue furry Easter Bonnet, with rabbit ears, that I'm wearing. With the blonde hair, dark roots and decrepit, ripped sweater and jeans I look s proper crack addict. People notice and laugh, some parents (grabbing a coffee in a Tim Horton's) clutch their children close, who cares, really? Survive the day, day off, 1 day, a regular day, in a 4 day holiday weekend.
Boy is envious of the cap, although he only hints. He's halfway through "A Clockwork Orange", liking it, refused to download "Eraserhead" as somehow it seemed just a bit too fucked up for him. He's completed all reading assignments, must find something new or his Mom will force him to read "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", which is a bit too contemporary for our taste (good or not). We'll check the VV in Red Deer.
Lunch, Dad, Grandpa, good. And, surprisingly, he doesn't comment on the blonde hair or the blue Easter Bonnet. I'm impressed, I should acquire some of his restraint. We catch up. I lightly tease the boy about his haircut, it's good, different, first noticeable haircut in about 5 years, I didn't know he had ears, this because his Drama teacher insisted, we talk fluff and Nonsense.
Then to Value Village, some treasures, I could spend a couple of hours here but the boy, grandpa, they're both bored, I'm quick. The stomach's off, a proper volcano with all the feel-good chilies consumed on Saturday, the washroom and that vague unease that I may be surprised again. VV then short, despite my desire to pry through every treasure, bagged jewelry item, thwarted, the obvious treasures that can be gleaned from an acre's worth of shopping in 10 minutes, for the boy a copy of Marlowe's "Dr. Faustus" - reading for a couple of days (he's in Drama, after all...), for myself some sparkly jewelry items for the daughter, a rosary ring, little angel medallion, (I could spend hours going through their little bags...), then the long drive home, miss the Stony Trail Exit and take the long route through the center of Calgary.
The boy notices the soundtrack of "Prospero's Books" playing from the MP3, makes a note, does he like it? Curious. Finally he's home in time for Easter Dinner, me to DQ for their 1$ burgers (filling the cracks that Earl's didn't), home, nap (long), coffee, up, and now again ready for sleep...
Demonika
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Other
- Hits: 1481
Last Friday, getting out of my box, tickets to "Demonika"
Clips on YouTube if you're so inclined, links not provided here. An event at the Distillery, and I pick up a ticket for the Nephew just in case he wants to come with me...
I show him clips online. He's not interested, surprisingly conservative for someone who professes such liberal vices...
I make it.
Completely. Out. Of. My. Box.
Post-Apocalyptic is the theme, a series of skits or vignettes on topics in the line of slave girls getting revenge upon overlord, various other S & M related themes, 4 hours in told but far less counting breaks, contests for best costume, underwear, etc, a S & M "Swing Party", as it were, hosted at a bar downtown. Sold Out.
500 Audience Members. Skits, lamely done with great gusto and elaborate costumes. 500 members in the Audience, 400+ of which are dressed in "appropriate" costumes, S & M gear, Mad-Max styled post-apocalyptic costumes, etc, etc, OVER THE TOP.
The skits, lame, what your child might perform in an underfunded high-school without the censure of a drama prof, still, there's a vitality, a devoted clique of followers, it's completely over the top but - for the first time in a long time, I'm completely outside of my box. Not a bad thing.
on Ashley Madison
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Ideas & Questions
- Hits: 1489
The questions (and ideas) suggest themselves. And while the correlation has been well documented, it's still worth noting.
Link: Ottawa top of list for cheaters
Note Calgary's #3. Quotable: "We find our strong membership in the West in keeping with the trend of people with conservative values participating in what is considered 'deviant' societal behavior,"
Me, personally, I'm a Liberal. Not as in the party, but as in the outlook...
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