Father and Son Reunited
Out of nowhere... I got a call from Nick yesterday. I couldn't be as excited about it as I should have been... and let me tell you a little bit why. It all started Wednesday morning... when I went into work to take care of a few things. Greg (Gary) was already there, making waffle bowls and taking care of things he couldn't take care of the previous evening. On Wednesday morning... I go through the thoroughly enjoyable and always important Inventory check. I started my weekly hour-long weighing of shit and we soon realized that the person who was scheduled to work during the day (Cherise) was NOT going to come in. Greg and I looked at each other... hmm... he was scheduled to work in the evening... and I hate customers (read: people), so I sure as hell wasn't going to work.
Well... on Wednesdays, I also have to take care of receiving the inventory that I ordered the day before... so I had to stay anyway. Greg called Aaron to cover his shift... but Aaron couldn't show up until like three. So Greg and I were able to take care of customers and the store from open until Aaron showed up. Then Greg took a break for 2 hours... and I eventually took a break for two hours, but I had to come in at 6 because someone we had scheduled to work that night couldn't come in (sound familiar?).
There Greg and I were, at about 7... Aaron had left and he (Greg, not Aaron... try to keep up!) and I had been working since open... And Elizabeth (who was on call) finally called us and asked if we wanted her to come in. Um... yes... I don't want to have to serve these damn people. She came in sometime later (I have no idea when... probably 7:30 or 8) and we all served customers like a big happy family. And then the waters came. We have two drains up front (one by each stone) and three drains in the back. Four of the five started overflowing... um... what? Hmm... Greg and I tried to figure out why they all filled with water and we concluded that they have some kind of interconnecting pipe system between the four drains (makes sense)... and that the furthest back drain (near the "three compartment sink") must be where the clog was. So I started plunging that drain... and plunging... and the "water" started shooting back up at me. I put the water in quotation marks because I really don't know what was in the water. But I've got a guess...
Andrea showed up after I had successfully plunged the drains back into working order. She called a plumber and ordered us (Greg, Elizabeth, and I) pizza. Then the drains started overflowing again... this time seemed worse, even though we had turned all the water off. It was weird. But I had fun sweeping the "water" off the floor.... and Elizabeth, Greg, and I eventually started sliding on all the water. We were able to slide from the stone to the back room... it's impressive, trust me!
Elizabeth couldn't stay all that long after close... so Greg and I finished ALL the cleaning of EVERYTHING. He and I were there until 1 AM... meaning about twelve hours of work (minus those two hours we each took for stupid things like eating... or a nap).

That was why I wasn't as excited as I should have been when Nick called me (sorry son). But once it hit me... I was WAY happy. So I picked he and Carrie up and brought them to my place. (By the way... in typical "Albion spends money when they want to" fashion, they're staying at the Hilton. Nice) Anyway... we went to Gino's Pizza East and ordered a deep dish pizza. It wasn't as good as Lou Malnati's... but it was still pretty good. Then I took them to my Coldstone and got them some ice cream... I just basically tried to enjoy my time with my son. Of all the timing of all the visits I've had since I got here, his was best... It was wonderful to see him (shit... and Carrie's totally hot, too... heehee, takes after his old man. We sure can pick em.... rawrr). I miss him so much :(
Take care son.