Still... so... tired. But things are just about back to normal. Worked a day shift at the bookstore Wednesday, closing tonight and tomorrow night (not to mention a mandatory associates' meeting at 8 AM tomorrow) -- yeah, the usual suck has resumed. For the most part, Wednesday was pretty slow and dull, which led me to think that maybe I prefer the days with multiple assholes -- because at least then I have a reason to complain (over and above the shitty wages and the toilet-cleaning aspects of the job). With the asshole customers, the job really feels like punishment, so at least then I'm getting a greater karmic benefit out of it. And stories, of course.
Shortly after I pondered these thoughts on Wednesday, a customer came in and attempted to pay for his purchase with a credit card. Now, policy is to ask for ID when there's no signature on the card, which I do. I'm often told by customers that I'm the first person to ever ask them for ID. Sometimes they note that that's the reason they didn't sign the card (whereupon I tell them that they might want to write "See ID" in place of the signature), sometimes they tell me stories about how they or a friend had people steal their credit cards and run up several thousand dollars in fraudulent charges in a matter of hours, and sometimes they get pissed off and bitch at me as if my asking were rooted in racism or personal prejudices or something along those lines. The guy who broke Wednesday's boring no-asshole streak was one of those.
When I asked him for ID, he replied, "The signature's rubbed off."
"I know," I said. "That's why I asked for your ID." I mean, I can't very well verify his signature if there's no signature on the card, can I?
So he went for his ID, and then he said, "You know what? No." The way he spoke was sort of odd, as if he could've been either frustrated or chuckling slightly, so I asked if he was joking. He wasn't, and angrily proceeded to lecture me about how he's fifty-two years old and how there's too much paranoia in this country when you can't buy a book without someone asking for ID.
I just blinked at him and said, "I'm sorry, sir." Then I asked for his ID again. He begrudgingly showed it to me, and the transaction continued according to plan.
In other news, Scary-Crayon ran over its allotted bandwidth for this billing period. Did I tell you that? Actually, that happened while I was still away. I wish I could say that it's because the site is getting more popular and is doing a lot of traffic now, but I'm not so sure that's the case. I know that we've gotten a lot of illegitimate traffic from people leeching images for their own personal pages and on extremely popular forums and whatnot -- even with our anti-image theft script, it's a) not foolproof and b) those foreign image requests still cost us bandwidth and muck up the log files -- so yeah, that sucks. I plan on working that into an upcoming article, though, as well as changing the script so that people who try to steal our images and bandwidth get a really nasty image in return. (I was leaning towards grisly roadkill pics, but that strikes me as disrespectful to the dead animals, so I'm thinking maybe a some shitting cow photos will do...) Anyway, the very next article will probably be A Random Lunch #6. I'd look for that on either Sunday or Monday.
Aaaand more brief acknowledgements!
Wendy -- Again, sorry for ruining your magic moment at the Met. But it was great to meet you! Now I can't read your blog without hearing a voiceover in my head, though. You've got a very strange voice, you know. And don't hesitate to call me if you get any bee stings!
Caren -- It was great to finally meet you, too. Thanks for the look around the Hoboken Reporter HQ! Thanks for great conversation! Thanks for being a fun trivia host and asking about the lovely Nakomis! And again, thanks for the book!
Oh, and for those of you playing at home, here's your trivia question for the day: How can you tell that Wes is more/less drunk in the above picture? If you need help, compare it to the photo with Wendy. I've only got two answers, but feel free to name more if you've got 'em. ;P
And Sydney -- Thanks for bringing the blue wig! I was very happy to finally see it. Many people tried it on (the blue wig is such a slut...), but nobody wears it like you do, baby. And thanks for tagging along and not hating and/or breaking stuff in that DVD/VCD shop in Chinatown! Did you watch any of the movies yet?
Allllrighty, that's all for now. I'd better start getting ready for work tonight. Ugh.
Ja.