It’s Sparrow, an average man passing an average life…
Monday, July 11
There was a phone call right when I reported for duty and it was this guy who said he worked for the restaurant asking for Amy…Or he thought it was Amy…He wanted the gal working this afternoon and we told him we’re not in the habit of giving out employee information and could we help him???…Well, he had a complaint, but it was so secret he wouldn’t tell me the problem or even his name…We don’t have the entire front desk schedule committed to memory so we were non-committal as to when Amy would be back or even if she was the one here today, and I ended up asking this dipwad if I could be of further non-service to him before hanging up.
Another remnant from the hippy group that was farting around in the forest north of here came by tonite, plainly from the group because you could smell them from five feet away…Like the ones from last nite they, too, were committed to cleanliness, made obvious by the fact the chick half of the duo later came by and asked for more towels.
– How many do you need???
– I dunno…How many are in a room???
Crap, I thought, that is quite a commitment to cleanliness…Yours truly wasn’t entirely clear on the answer, either, but we said four, probably a pretty accurate guess.
– You better give me four then…He’s a towel hog.
Meanwhile, ol’ Sparrow’s thinking that as filthy as they are, this will probably be the last go-round for eight hotel towels and maybe Head Housekeeper Gloria will give them an appropriate send off because there is no way they would ever be clean enuff to be cut up into rags.
In the lobby this morning there were a couple of gents talking about this and that, and before long were talking about their trip here…On motorcycles, which were parked right our front, as if a hotel desk clerk is going to stop a band of thieves from taking them…We’re not…In fact, the only advantage we can think of offhand to parking there is that we might be able to give the police a description of the perpetrators…Presuming we see them, which we may not, especially if we’re in the back office…And don’t presume there’s video coverage there, because I don’t think there is.
Anyway, they got talking about their trip and we overheard one guy saying he “negotiated with the wife” and gets to take three such trips a year…Thinking about it, this is probably a pretty good deal for him…It’s not as good as hitting the road whenever the hell you want, but it’s far better than zero trips…And props for him for making his marriage a team effort…But I’ll tell you what, while this wasn’t a pledge made when my marriage was ending but thinking about, ol’ Sparrow doesn’t really want to be in a position where he has to negotiate things like this…For right now, at least…This could change the instant Jackie from the gym is single…Which isn’t likely as some routine surveillance has shown that she and her dork husband recently bought a house in a small town south of here.
The big news is we got a video chat in with our old friend Doug…Recall last year in LA we saw Andy and Dana, who, like Dougie, we’ve known since kindergarten, but Dougie wasn’t in LA because he settled in Japan ages ago and Dougie had messaged me advising he’d be in LA for a few weeks later this summer and could his ol’ chum come down???…Well, the only possible way we could go would be to take Tuesday off from the hotel and Wednesday and Friday off from the veterans service office (VSO), which is doable, and we could do this without affecting November vacation plans.
It was good to hear Dougie’s folks, Lothar and Pauline, are still alive and kicking, at 94 and 91 specifically…I remember both, of course, and actually saw them when I was in LA years ago…His dad is a cantankerous sort, but you’d probably be, too, if you’d had a hard childhood in Germany, found yourself living under the Nazis, and then BOOM you’re a POW of the Soviets in War II…He then made his way to the US in time to fight in Korea…I always remember his mom as being rather kind and constantly blabbing with Ma Sparrow at school functions.
It was slow at the veterans service office (VSO) today…The big news, however, is the Department of Human Services – which the VSO is attached to for administration purposes – Christmas party is Wednesday…I am not making that up…COVID precautions wiped out the one in the more traditional month of December and a couple of other dates ended up not working for assorted reasons.
This is the first of two DHS parties this summer, with a summer spectacular planned for next month…The dining options are bratwurst (and stuff) and a taco bar, but I forget which gathering has which one…I think it’s going to be bratwurst Wednesday and the taco bar in August, but I may have those mixed up…Liz will probably be there, and the hope is she sees the (supreme) error of her ways and grovels for a second date with me, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.
Sparrow’s Sleep Log: 1400 Monday until 2130 Monday…7.5 hours for the day – a fine total, of course – and 11.5 hours for the week, a mediocre total.
Proof that ol’ Sparrow will whine about anything – as if further proof were required – can be found in the fact that he is already fretting about how 7.5 hours in the sack might affect the Tuesday Sleep Session (TSS).
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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.
It was inspired by the 19th-century British novel of the same name.
Coming soon! Gaylon’s books in actual book form!
