NUMBER 167
First thing first. I made a boo boo in my last blog. Jesse (Not Jessie) Owens won four gold medals in 1936 not 1036. I should know better because I know my black history. "Get it together, VaLinda, get it together!" I got to be extra careful with my blogging. Now on to my story.
I am a little disappointed about being released from the "Part Time Job At The Asylum." I'm going to miss writing about and working with those screwed up people and their deranged lives and antics. I will miss:
(A) The bathroom drug taker.
(B) The crying woman who lives in a rundown trailer park with a boyfriend who does not work. I think and have heard that he sells drugs, but who knows.
(C) The young shift manager pregnant with baby number 3 by daddy number 3 who is the brother to the prostitute.
(D) The prostitute. Yep, she works there too. For a while I just thought she was lucky with men. There were white and black men coming in and out the store, giving her rides home (she has no car), money and flirting. I just thought she was a regular old slut, not a prostitute. I have always said, if you are going to be a prostitute, be an expensive one. Don’t charge 20 or 30 dollars, get some real money. Contact what’s his name from New York who paid $5,000 for his hooker. Get some money for your retirement.
You would think with all of the urban books I have read, I would have picked up that she was a cheap hooker. I finally got it when I overheard some of the employees snickering about her. She is a nice looking young woman with the worse hair colors I’ve ever seen. So, I didn't understand what they, men and a few women, saw in her, but to each it's own.
(E) The long time employee who cleans that place like a mother, but will cuss you and a few customers out in a minute. She has not been fired yet, because many of the customers who come into the store love her. Written comments from customers have always been how she provides outstanding service and she does, when she is not angry. She is the second longest employee there since the store open four years ago. She is also the one I had to hold on to and drag her outside of the store to stop her from physically fighting the prostitute.
(F) The only other employee with more time, from the opening, is a black, retired military man who is plan old lazy and no bigger than a minute. Nice enough fellow, but boy does he move slower than a turtle.
(G) The young black kid who worked for two weeks, left to sell drugs, returned a few months later, then left again. He told me he could not take getting up early.
(H) The young black kid who came from another store, he was close friends with the first manager I worked with, stole $100. The manager, who was really hurt by this since she went out of her way to hire him, called the police. He tried to play it off, but the police showed him and all of us the video of him opening the safe and stealing it. You can’t make this crap up.
(I) Another pregnant young black woman arguing on Face book with another woman who was also pregnant at the same time by her current boyfriend. She already have one kid by another guy and was pregnant by this guy when she found out. She got an abortion. I kid you not.
(J) Older white woman who came on board after her son convinced the manager to hire her as a shift manager. Her son was working there at the time. A good kid. He left a short time later to go back to school. She was always boosting how she would be a better manager because of her expertise in running other fast foods chains. I would just listen and sing in my head some random song. I do that when I’m not interested in what the hell you are talking about. It’s better than being rude, but sometimes I did say to her, “I don’t want to hear it.” She is also living in a two bedroom apartment with her husband, (never saw a ring), their son and their 19 year old daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend with their two kids. Do you think they need some more room?
(K) Shift manager who is the sister of the 3 baby mommy woman. She was there maybe 6 months before she was fired for cussing out the manager. She claimed it was a set up to get rid of her because she came back one week late from her maternity leave of her 2nd child. She now has two kids by a married man. She actually thought that when she became pregnant with the second baby, he would leave wife and live with her. Noticed I said, “live” with her. She did not want to get marry; it wasn’t worth it she stated. A day after she was fired, she came to the store and started stalking everyone, except me. I asked her why she was jeopardizing her ability to get a decent reference. She just said she was pissed. I said, “noted and I’m sorry, now move your ass on and find another job and stop fighting the woman who can give you a good reference."
(L) Young white woman living with her black boyfriend and his son. She called him her husband, but we knew better. Son started dating the 3 baby mommy. 3 Baby mommy enjoyed the ride for a few months and then got tired of him because he was so clingy. He also did not like her male friend visitors to the store. The relationship didn’t last long. According to her, he would not stop doing drugs. Check this out. She didn’t mind him selling it, but using it was a different story. Does this sound like a movie?
One day while I was putting out the trash, 3 baby mommy and young white woman were arguing over the son. White woman did not want her step-son to be hurt, especially by a woman with 2 kids (she was not expecting the 3rd one yet). 3 Baby mommy started cussing her out and sticking her finger in her face. Before I could step in and calm them down, the young white woman started crying and ran down the street. She quit two days later. She told management she was scared that 3 baby mommy and her sister, who had just been fired, would come after her. Are we in high school?
There were others who came and went. Their excuses: Not enough money, too much work to be done, to much cleaning to be done and too many customers to deal with.
“Hey, (Talking to a customer at the counter), I’m on the phone trying to get a ride to the club tonight, can you wait a minute?” That was the normal way sometimes.
When I was let go last week, after three years, I was the third longest employee on my last day. Can you believe it? I worked longer there than over 35 people in three years. It’s a shame isn’t it? It was just a part time job to get me on track with the Dave Ramsey plan to get out of debt. It work and I must say I became an even better human being. All because those people showed me how not to live and how to live. I was able to get some of them to read the books I brought and I hope I did make their lives a bit better. They made my life better and I’m very grateful for them.
MARLEN SUYAPA BODDEN - THE WEDDING GIFT - $11.04 - - - Another book I just got and have not started, but here's a review:
When prestigious plantation owner Cornelius Allen gives his daughter Clarissa’s hand in marriage, she takes with her a gift: Sarah—her slave and her half-sister. Raised by an educated mother, Clarissa is not a proper southern belle she appears to be with ambitions of loving who she chooses and Sarah equally hides behind the facade of being a docile house slave as she plots to escape. Both women bring these tumultuous secrets and desires with them to their new home, igniting events that spiral into a tale beyond what you ever imagined possible and it will leave you enraptured until the very end.
MARK LEIBOVICH - THIS TOWN: TWO PARTIES AND A FUNERAL-PLUS PLENTY OF VALET PARKING!-inAMERICA'S GILDED CAPITAL - $11.99 - - - As one reviewer on Amazon, Fareed Zakaria (CNN) stated, "Many decades from now, a historian looking at where America lost its way could use this book as a primary source." He's right. The backstabbing, game playing, money hungry, power hungry nuts running Washington, DC is hilariously funny, and in many ways, so damn true. I have never read anything by Mark Leibovich, but I enjoyed his writing style and it was not too, too politically inclined. Maybe just a few names in the mix and you will remember many of the stories from the past. Either way, I saw the book as another reminder that despite the fact that after all we have fought for, the constitution, the Declaration of Independence, Civil Wars, voting rights, women's rights, etc, we in America still ain't got our shit together. I just want to know when will it stop. Probably never. 
MICHAEL J. HEITZLER - THE GOOSE CREEK BRIDGE: GATEWAY TO SACRED PLACES - $16.19 Paperback - - - When I moved to SC years ago, I enrolled my kid into West View Elementary in Goose Creek. Goose Creek, a suburb of Charleston, as well as other smaller cites was facing an economically bad impact with the closing of the Navy Base. Many families became jobless, houses were selling for dirt cheap, major grocery stores, restaurants and other services were gone. Here I am arriving from Washington, DC, a northern women who grew up in the heart of DC with all of it's "Chocolate City" mentality. There at my kids school I met the principle, Michael J. Heitzler. He was also the mayor of Goose Creek. It just floored the hell out of me. So when I saw this book in the library last week, I could not believe it. Have not read it yet, but I'm sure it will be interesting to learn a bit more about Goose Creek, South Carolina from the Principal and still Mayor of Goose Creek. Even the name says "Mayberry R.F.D."
DAVE EGGERS - THE CIRCLE - $6.50 - - - I just got this book in the mail a few days ago. Not even close to finishing it, but what I read so far, Face book better be on the look out. It's going to be a creepy future with everyone watching everyone.
LAUREN WEISBEGER - REVENGE WEARS PRADA: THE DEVIL RETURNS - $11.04 - - - You have to be a fan of the movie to enjoy this book. If nothing else, to find out what happens to the characters. If you were not, then it will read just like another fluff story of girl gets fired from a one in a million job with the one and only who can even make the Devil cry, "Miranda Priestly." Ten years later she is a successful owner of a major magazine, which Priestly wants. She marries rich and have a beautiful daughter. The Devil will rise again and bring her usual havoc to all. "That's all."
No comments:
Post a Comment