Meet Sparrow, an average man passing an average life…
Friday, June 15
Boy, I was not happy with my oil change experience today…It was the local shop, where we usually get the tires changed out and that’s always worked well, but not today.
I had called yesterday to ask how much an oil change was…Cassandra, who it turns out does not know what in theeee hell she is talking about, quoted me a price of $25…Wow…That’s a pretty good price, so I asked if that included everything or if there were extras like, oh, I don’t know, oil and filters and stuff…She said no, $25 was the out the door price…Well, $25 is half what it costs in town, so I made an appointment.
I get there and I double confirm there weren’t any extras and Cassandra – who, again, had some zero clue what she was talking about – assured me there weren’t…Great…I left my keys and my number and went across the street to our fairly nice library and picked out a book to read.
$57.25…There were extras, including a here’s-the-broom-handle $4 to refill my washer fluid…No one was interested in hearing my complaints in this matter, either…They merely ignored them, which is lousy customer service…I got the impression if I would have stripped down to my shorts they wouldn’t have done anything…They weren’t interested that I wasn’t happy, so I sulked out and left them a lousy review at a couple online places.
I came back strong at the post office, though, where my latest purchase from the Legion emblem shop was waiting for me…I bought me a couple of nametags: one said Sparrow, Commander District 14 and the other said Sparrow, Commander Sons Squadron 89…These will come in handy at the convention because, of course, I can no longer wear my Post Commander nametag because I am no longer post commander.
I also bought a couple of Jotter pens, my favorite working pen…They come with the Legion logo and they’re only $7.99 each, a good price, tho with shipping it’s more or less the same as ordering a $12 one from the retailer and having it sent to the store…Regular readers of this crap know key is ol’ Sparrow being able to keep from running these puppies through the washer, which usually ruins them.
Other than that it was a very leisurely day…The Wife is still off in the big city so it was just me and the cat…I was not in the mood to do the lawn, so I didn’t and the cat and I spent no small amount lying in bed doing some reading with the windows open.
That leisure ended at the retailer, tho, where it was a dead sprint…We weren’t particularly busy but boy, were we shorthanded…I got there at 1800 and in an hour we were down to Buzz working Aisle 5, ol’ Sparrow standing post at the service desk with Maria the only supervisor, sufficient staffing to keep you busy even if you’re only traffic happens to be a few nuns…And we all need breaks and have to go to the bathroom and whatnot, too…I don’t know where the hell everybody went because I seem to recall we were pretty well staffed fairly recently, but boy, we were scrambling tonight.
In fact, Aisle 5 was left unattended for a few minutes…A girl from Apparel was manning it while Buzz was at lunch but her shift ended at 2000 and at 2001 she shut Aisle 5 down and told Maria she had to go…I was busy at the service desk, too, but between customers Maria asked if I could go to Aisle 5 despite the fact it was break time…Well, of course, I could…I love Aisle 5 and there were some good customers tonight, tho not a decent Bachelor Purchase of the Evening…Buzz got back about 2020 and I went to my break and when I got back Maria went on hers, also late.
I got to Hotel A early, about 2245, and the place was hopping…There were people outside in the gazebo, or maybe it’s a veranda, and this one guy was coming in and out quite a bit, first to use the bathroom and then to ask about breakfast, because he was just buzzed enough to take a deep interest in it…He noted the waffle maker but asked if we also had pancakes, a silly question, and then noted we didn’t have Froot Loops as a cereal offering, which made him sad…There were other guests wandering around the lobby, too, and this can be dangerous not because they’re going to ask for something, but you never know when someone is drunk enough to fall or start a fight.
Sparrow’s Sleep Log: 2230 Thursday until 0830 Friday…Ten hours and really good hours, too, and that, campers, is 23 hours sleep in two days, a fine total that provided a needed boost to the previously crappy weekly total…It was great sleep, too, because I cheated and took a PM and slept straight thru without once getting up to use the can…I did wake up about 0630 or so but summoning the strength all the great ones have, I rolled over and went back to sleep for two more hours.
Friends, fairly soon we will be charging for The Diary of a Nobody. If you are reading this ol’ Sparrow has a complimentary subscription for you but he needs your email address. Send it Gaylon privately on FB or email it to him at gaylonthewriter at gmail. Do NOT leave it in the comments section below or do anything other than follow the above instructions.
The Diary of a Nobody is a novel. All elements are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Anything else is a coincidence.
The Diary of a Nobody was inspired by the 19th century British novel of the same name.
Read Gaylon’s latest: We The People: Making America America Again at www.GaylonKent.com
