A wasted afternoon? or divine intervention?
Wednesday started fantastically. I was awoken to a phone call from Abby... the Silent Alarm had somehow gotten pulled, and she wanted to know how to turn it off. I gave her a suggestion or two and she handed the phone to the Police Officer who had shown up at the scene. He seemed to think that I was a slightly deaf person, as he kept asking me if I "hear" him. He said that I needed to come and fix the silent alarm so that it, basically, never had a false alarm again... and he said it in a fantastically condescending way, as if I didn't understand the gravity of a false alarm. In addition, he said that if we kept having false alarms, if there was ever a real alarm he would "not be so quick to respond". I was so taken aback by this man's audacity, that I didn't even think to ask for his badge number... because what a fucking asshole. He just basically told me that they wouldn't respond if we had a real alarm... no, wait, I take that back. He THREATENED to not come if we had a real alarm. When I told him that I didn't know how to fix the alarm system, and it came out that I was not the owner nor the manager of the store, I honestly think he was a little embarrassed that he was leaning so hard on me. Our phone conversation ended about 10 seconds after that revelation occurred. Too bad for me, as that's when I got the clarity to think about asking for this guy's name and badge number. What an asshole.
After the various SBC disasters of the past couple weeks, I was not looking forward to going out to the new store again. I was actually pretty hell-bent on not going out there Wednesday afternoon... telling myself that if they couldn't figure it out themselves we would just use another company. But my Catholic guilt, which controls my life in every way, prevailed, and by 3 PM, I was out at the new store waiting. The appointment was for sometime between 2 and 6 PM. So after not having heard from this dude for the first hour, I called SBC. The woman told me that we were the last stop on his route and that he would be there at 4:22 PM. "That's pretty specific" I said in my normal half-asshole jest. She did not take it as a joke, and proceeded to explain to me exactly how that time was calculated. "Okay, interesting" I responded. I then called Jeremy Johnson (Andrea's brother... and the dude who's taking Seth's old job [remember Seth? of course you don't]). I told him that SBC would be out at the store at 4:30ish and I asked him if he wouldn't mind coming then and taking care of it, as I was an hour and a half early (and, honestly, because I didn't want to have to deal with these bastards for the third time. I was very frustrated with them). He asked me if I wouldn't mind waiting. Wow... what a perfect way to spend such an already awesome day. He then said "why don't you go to that bar across the street from the store or somethin'. " I too depressed to drink (as funny as that sounds)... but the new store IS going to need a place to get groceries (like bananas), so I went for a walk to try to find aforementioned grocery store.
I decided to walk up Damon, instead of Milwaukee... and I noticed all sorts of bars on Damon. Not much else... lots of bars. I continued walking North up Damen and came across a Potbelly. It's a sandwich place... and I've been meaning to try it (as I've never been there), but I still hadn't found a grocery store so I kept walking. A couple blocks later, convinced that I wouldn't find a grocery store, and way hungry and pissed that I was going to be wasting my afternoon, I was ready to turn around. This is the weird part. I didn't turn around. I thought it would look weird to the people on the street if I just turned around for no reason... so I kept walking. I don't know why... I just did. I then came across a Chipotle... which is a totally sweet mexican restaurant (one of my new favorites). I said to myself "sweet... forget Potbelly's, I'll go in here". And I wouldn't have found it if I hadn't kept walking for no reason.
When I was almost finished eating, Jeremy called me back. He said he had made it to the new store after all, and wondered where I was. I turned around and headed back to the store (and my car). He and I talked for a bit, waiting for the guy to show up. He wanted to know if I was happy with the company currently and what I felt about the way things were going. While I was about to respond with "No, I'm not happy. I had a talk with my sister about going back to school to get a teaching degree" he said "Because I really want you to be happy." I don't know why, but that struck me. I had been under the impression (because I'm paranoid) that Andrea bringing Jeremy in meant even LESS for me to do, and that maybe he would try to figure out a way to phase me and my salary out of the equation. Hell, if I were him, I'd do it. Hmm... if we get rid of this guy we don't know what to do with, I'll be making more money. You're damn right I'd be gone. But he not only wants to keep me around... he wants me to be happy with my job and the company. Divine.
After shooting the breeze and talking shop a little past the "4:22" time, I called SBC again. This time, the man on the other end told me the guy wouldn't be there until "4:44". I did not use the joke a second time. I told Jeremy, and he had better places to be, so he left. I ended up waiting until after 5 (two hours from the time I got there) for the repair specialist. But this dude seemed worth it. His name is Roy Smith... and when he got there, brotha told me everything that needed to happen and how he was going to do it. This is a FAR cry from the first idiot they sent. I told him that if the construction workers left before he was done, I would come back and lock up.
So I left a little after 5:30 and headed back to my apartment. I had to do laundry badly (and only did two of the five loads or so I need to do)... so I waited for another two hours (to make sure I didn't have to go back to lock up) and I started my laundry. At almost nine o'clock, Roy calls me to lock the store: almost 4 full hours after he started. I had just put both loads into the dryers, so I had about an hour to accomplish this task.
In the car, on my way to the store, I got a call from Ken. Congratulations are in order, as he passed his promotion test and will be, as of early next year, a Staff Sergeant. This unlocks a bevy of nicknames for me to use (including "S.S. Kenny Hoots", "FUBAR Four Bar", and the 'token' "Sarge"). While we were talking, I was forced to take a detour as the North Ave bridge was being worked on. Thank goodness Ken's as big a computer nerd as I am, because he was able to direct my detour. It was like having On Star on board... *nods* Ken's my personal On Star. I got to the new store and was able to lock all four doors with my four keys (even though only one of the keys works... and it works in only one of the doors... figure THAT one out, if you will), and get back to my apartment in time to fold my "dry" laundry. What a fantastic day!