Well, if I get fired at least I'll know why...
So, today I had a guest call me every name in the book. Happens more often than you'd like to think in my line of business (I work in a call center) but not too often to me. For some reason though I thought the guy was funny, so I might have said some things that will bite me in the ass later if anyone pulls the call. He starts off saying that he's calling representing some orginization, but if this is how he conducts business then his company's in some serious trouble. It went something like this:
[guy's mumbling]
Me: I'm sorry, what was your name.
Him: Harper. [yelling] H-A-R-P-E-R!
Me: There's no reason to yell, your cell phone's making the reception bad but I can hear you.
Him: Bitch.
Me: [trying to be a good girl] That was uncalled for.
Him: You're being a bitch.
Me: That's no reason for you to act like a jerk.
Him: Fuck you.
Me: That's uncalled for.
Him: [more cursing, me trying not to laugh] Fuck you! I'm going to come over there and fuck you in the ass. ((not sure where that came from))
Me: I doubt you're man enough, but you're welcome to try. ((I know some of the supervisors will laugh their asses off if they ever hear this, but I'm still pretty sure it's against the rules to reply to a "guest" like that.))
Him: Fuck you ((he wasn't very creative)) I know where you work.
Me: Actually, you called for Caeser's but that's not where I'm at, so I'm betting you don't.
Him: You're a bitch... [and so on, and so on...]
Me: Very mature. Maybe it's time for you to hang up now, little boy. Shoo. ((I'm not sure why I told him to shoo, I even made the hand motions that he couldn't see.))
Him: [more cursing] I'm going to get you fired bitch.
Me: That's nice. I don't much care for my job anyway. Maybe I can get unemployment.
Him: What's your name.
Me: Rachel. Want my supervisor's name too?
Him: [more cursing]
Me: Thank you for calling Caeser's Palace, I'm hanging up now.
[Disconnect]
Now, I think I behaved pretty well, considering what I wanted to say. I didn't get pulled aside by a supervisor any time today (this happened early) so I'm guessing he never bothered with a super. But, they do pull calls at random throughout the month, so there's still a chance that the start of next month will see this call coming back *LOL* Wish I'd thougth to check the caller id before he hung up though, I could have put his number all over the net or had someone prank him or something else childish and fun.
That was highlight of my day. How sad is that? Then I come home, find my W2 in my mailbox, do my taxes online and find out that I have to pay. Again. Sucks!
And now, the January reading list. I read eight books, counting manga. Yay me! My goal to read more books than last year seems to be off to a good start. As usual, the bolded titles are reccomended. Plus, I've added a heart/star rating system. (It's out of five.)
"Plum Lovin" by Janet Evanovich ♥♥♥♥
This is one of Evanovich's between-the-numbers series. They're the little Stephanie Plum books that don't really go with the other books. They all have a holiday theme (this one was Valentine's Day, obviously) and feature Diesel, the sort of supernatural bounty hunter. In case you haven't heard of the series, they're about a woman named Stephanie who, sort of by accident, becomes Trenton, NJ's wort bounty hunter. She stumbles into messes and somehow ends up getting her man by the end. With help from her hot boyfriend, a super cool, really secretive bouty hunter extrodinare who may or may not be Batman (*LOL* Seriously, it's a running joke) and her best bud Lula, a former ho who has way too much spandex in her wardrobe.
This book involves Steph and Diesel playing cupid in place of a match maker who's also Stephanie's bounty while they hunt for a guy who gives everyone hives if he gets too close.
It was short and funny. The normal series is hillarious, and the between books are always cute. This one was no exception. A must for fans of the series.
"Yaoi Hentai" 4 ♥♥1/2
American manga. This is, obviously, the fourth book of the series. And, also obviously, it's got plenty of boy on boy lovin' and lots of kink. That's about all I can say for the book too. The art didn't really impress me, and although the tentical monster story at the end was worth a laugh, it wasn't a book that stuck with me. If I didn't see it listed in my planner I wouldn't have even remembered that I read it last month. It wasn't awful though. I would have remembered that! Must have been so-so. Just like the first three volumes.
"Dragonswan" (Dark-Hunter, Book 1.5) by Sherrilyn Kenyon ♥♥♥
Now, I know that Kenyon's Dark-Hunter series is pretty popular, so some of you on my FList might already be familiar with the series. If not, here's the short story: sort-of-vamps/vamp-hunters created by the greek gods. The guys in these stories are always ultra-badasses and the girls are strong willed but ultimately fall for the alpha male routine and end up head-over-heals in love by the end of each book. Normally, this would make me sick to my stomach, but the way she writes the characters actually makes them really amusing, so even though it's the typical sappy and cliche filled het romance series I still enjoy these books. (So far. There's still quite a few books to go in this series, so I might get sick of it real soon. Who knows.)
I'm not sure how this book goes with the Dark-Hunter series, but they claim it's book 1.5 There's not even a Dark-Hunter in it! This book is about a dragon shape-shifter and his modern day mate.
Sebastian, while in the modern world looking for a lost tapestry that he needs to save his brother's life, accidently mates himself to Channon, a modern historian. So, what's a dragon to do? He takes her with him to midevil England.
Not a bad book. Really short too, so it doesn't require much of an investment. But nothing really special either. Take it or leave it.
"With Caution" by J L Langley ♥♥♥♥♥
I can not tell you how much I loved this book. I read the first in this series about native-american werewolves a year or two back, and thought it was good but relied a little too heavily on the sex scenes and skimped on the plot development, but this one I was ten times better. (Not that the first one sucked, this was just better.)
In the first book of this series, "Without Reservations", the book centered around Chay and his new-found mate Keaton. But towards the end of the book Chay's best friend Remi was badly injured and ended up being turned into a werewolf by their friend Jake in order to save his life. And that's when Jake realized that Remi was meant to be his mate. Which was a problem, considering that not only had Remi never known that his friends were werewolves (or that they even existed) but he was also, seemingly, homophobic. A big problem considering he had a great big wolf just dying to claim him. Jake promised himself and his friend to help Remi learn about his new life as a wolf first, before telling him, if he ever told him, that they were meant to be mates.
When this book starts Jake is still trying to be a good boy and keep his hands to himself, but then Remi asks for his help to protect his little brother from his abusive father and they find themselves getting closer. But, luckily, it turns out that Remi isn't quite as opposed to a little man on man lovin' as he'd at first seemed.
I absolutely fell in love with Jake and Remi really early into the book. Not to mention Remi's little brother Sterling and his future mate Rhys. The story was good, if a little predictable, and the characters were three-dementional and lovable. The sex was pretty hot too, which is always a nice extra *snicker* Plus, there aren't enough good werewolf books out there, and I love the way it's just treated as a part of who they are in these books, rather than a big deal. I'd higly reccomend these books!
"One Night Lesson" by Ryou Takagi ♥♥1/2
This yaoi manga had such a pretty cover that I couldn't resist buying it. Unfortunately, the cover was probably the best part. The art was so-so, the story was so-so, and the characters were only marginally enjoyable. It's a school boy manga, about a guy with a split personality. I don't remember much else, it was mostly forgettable.
"Dangerous Games (Riley Jensen, Guardian, Book 4)" by Keri Arthur ♥♥♥♥1/2
I love this series (I seem to say that a lot this month, no?) alot. It's about a female werewolf who live in Australia. Werewolves, vampires, and other non-humans live out in the open. And, as a result, there has been a special orginization created to police the non-human members of society. Riley, the title character, never wanted to be a part of that. Her twin brother, Rhoan is a Guardian (the supernatural police) but she was only a secretary. However, she's a half wolf/half vamp, which shouldn't exist, so she was already strange enough to attract some unwanted attention. Then some real bastards injected her with some experimental drugs that turned her into something else and she really had no choice but to become a Guardian or be shipped off to the government to be studied and experimented on.
In this book Riley and her brother are investigating a series of murders that might have been committed by a demon from Hell. They're being hunted/toyed with by an ex-Guardian who's not only crazy but out for blood. And on top of that she's having relationship issues. Her on again/off again lover, Quinn, is a very powerful vampire who thinks he knows what's best for Riley, even when it's not what she wants. Oh, and she's started seeing dead people. How's that for a bad day?
One of the things I love about these books is that Riley is very comfortable in who she is. She's a werewolf, she likes sex, she likes men; she's not ready to settle down, and she'll fuck who she wants, when she wants, and so long as nobody gets hurt it's all good. Too often in romance novels (which is what these threaten to be, more often than not) the female heroins are all "oh, I want him but I shouldn't... I don't want him to think I'm slut or anything..." and they come off all repressed and uptight. Riley is the exact opposite, but without seeming like a whore even though she takes multiple partners in most of the books. And she manages to kick some serious ass in between all the partying.
These books are fun, action packed, and have an interesting take on both the normal paranormal romance book and on the traditional heroin. I've read the first four books and have enjoyed each one more than the last. Give them a try.
"Today's Ulterior Motives" by Sakuya Fujii ♥♥♥
Another so-so yaoi manga. Seems I picked a buch of those last month. This one was about a theater director/writer and an aspiring actor. It was funny at times, but that's about all I could say about it. It was, like I said, so-so.
"Details of the Hunt" by Laura Baumbach ♥♥♥♥
This was a slash novel about an alien bounty hunter from the 26th century and a pirate from the 18th century.
Talos, a big grey time-traveling alien with one of the weirdest penisis (seriously, read the book, it had me confused and amused) that I've ever read about, goes on a mission to retieve a pirate from earth in order to find out where he burried a culturally signifigant treasure centuries ago. Aiden, who is a point-for-point ripoff of Jonny Depp's portrayal of Capt. Jack in POTC, is cute and cocksure, but he's got a moral code and isn't a half bad guy, even if he is a pirate.
Talos snatches Aiden out of the sea right after he's been thrown to the sharks by a mutinous crew. He's supposed to keep the human in stasis, deliver him to his buyer, and forget all about him. But, his ship is damaged, Aiden wakes up, and I'm sure you can guess what happens next. Yup, love is in the air, the "historian" who wanted Aiden's treasure turns out to be the villian, and Talos ends up with a human mate.
Predictable, but oddly cute. Talos and Aiden were actually cute together, and although I knew what was coming even before it came, it was still a good enough book. Although, the editing was horrible. I swear, I felt like getting out my yellow highlighter and making notes in the margins!
I'm off for the next three days. I'm loving this 32 hour shift, even if it does give me less money. I feel more rested with three days off every week, and I find that I've been taking fewer EOs too. Yay!
[guy's mumbling]
Me: I'm sorry, what was your name.
Him: Harper. [yelling] H-A-R-P-E-R!
Me: There's no reason to yell, your cell phone's making the reception bad but I can hear you.
Him: Bitch.
Me: [trying to be a good girl] That was uncalled for.
Him: You're being a bitch.
Me: That's no reason for you to act like a jerk.
Him: Fuck you.
Me: That's uncalled for.
Him: [more cursing, me trying not to laugh] Fuck you! I'm going to come over there and fuck you in the ass. ((not sure where that came from))
Me: I doubt you're man enough, but you're welcome to try. ((I know some of the supervisors will laugh their asses off if they ever hear this, but I'm still pretty sure it's against the rules to reply to a "guest" like that.))
Him: Fuck you ((he wasn't very creative)) I know where you work.
Me: Actually, you called for Caeser's but that's not where I'm at, so I'm betting you don't.
Him: You're a bitch... [and so on, and so on...]
Me: Very mature. Maybe it's time for you to hang up now, little boy. Shoo. ((I'm not sure why I told him to shoo, I even made the hand motions that he couldn't see.))
Him: [more cursing] I'm going to get you fired bitch.
Me: That's nice. I don't much care for my job anyway. Maybe I can get unemployment.
Him: What's your name.
Me: Rachel. Want my supervisor's name too?
Him: [more cursing]
Me: Thank you for calling Caeser's Palace, I'm hanging up now.
[Disconnect]
Now, I think I behaved pretty well, considering what I wanted to say. I didn't get pulled aside by a supervisor any time today (this happened early) so I'm guessing he never bothered with a super. But, they do pull calls at random throughout the month, so there's still a chance that the start of next month will see this call coming back *LOL* Wish I'd thougth to check the caller id before he hung up though, I could have put his number all over the net or had someone prank him or something else childish and fun.
That was highlight of my day. How sad is that? Then I come home, find my W2 in my mailbox, do my taxes online and find out that I have to pay. Again. Sucks!
And now, the January reading list. I read eight books, counting manga. Yay me! My goal to read more books than last year seems to be off to a good start. As usual, the bolded titles are reccomended. Plus, I've added a heart/star rating system. (It's out of five.)
"Plum Lovin" by Janet Evanovich ♥♥♥♥
This is one of Evanovich's between-the-numbers series. They're the little Stephanie Plum books that don't really go with the other books. They all have a holiday theme (this one was Valentine's Day, obviously) and feature Diesel, the sort of supernatural bounty hunter. In case you haven't heard of the series, they're about a woman named Stephanie who, sort of by accident, becomes Trenton, NJ's wort bounty hunter. She stumbles into messes and somehow ends up getting her man by the end. With help from her hot boyfriend, a super cool, really secretive bouty hunter extrodinare who may or may not be Batman (*LOL* Seriously, it's a running joke) and her best bud Lula, a former ho who has way too much spandex in her wardrobe.
This book involves Steph and Diesel playing cupid in place of a match maker who's also Stephanie's bounty while they hunt for a guy who gives everyone hives if he gets too close.
It was short and funny. The normal series is hillarious, and the between books are always cute. This one was no exception. A must for fans of the series.
"Yaoi Hentai" 4 ♥♥1/2
American manga. This is, obviously, the fourth book of the series. And, also obviously, it's got plenty of boy on boy lovin' and lots of kink. That's about all I can say for the book too. The art didn't really impress me, and although the tentical monster story at the end was worth a laugh, it wasn't a book that stuck with me. If I didn't see it listed in my planner I wouldn't have even remembered that I read it last month. It wasn't awful though. I would have remembered that! Must have been so-so. Just like the first three volumes.
"Dragonswan" (Dark-Hunter, Book 1.5) by Sherrilyn Kenyon ♥♥♥
Now, I know that Kenyon's Dark-Hunter series is pretty popular, so some of you on my FList might already be familiar with the series. If not, here's the short story: sort-of-vamps/vamp-hunters created by the greek gods. The guys in these stories are always ultra-badasses and the girls are strong willed but ultimately fall for the alpha male routine and end up head-over-heals in love by the end of each book. Normally, this would make me sick to my stomach, but the way she writes the characters actually makes them really amusing, so even though it's the typical sappy and cliche filled het romance series I still enjoy these books. (So far. There's still quite a few books to go in this series, so I might get sick of it real soon. Who knows.)
I'm not sure how this book goes with the Dark-Hunter series, but they claim it's book 1.5 There's not even a Dark-Hunter in it! This book is about a dragon shape-shifter and his modern day mate.
Sebastian, while in the modern world looking for a lost tapestry that he needs to save his brother's life, accidently mates himself to Channon, a modern historian. So, what's a dragon to do? He takes her with him to midevil England.
Not a bad book. Really short too, so it doesn't require much of an investment. But nothing really special either. Take it or leave it.
"With Caution" by J L Langley ♥♥♥♥♥
I can not tell you how much I loved this book. I read the first in this series about native-american werewolves a year or two back, and thought it was good but relied a little too heavily on the sex scenes and skimped on the plot development, but this one I was ten times better. (Not that the first one sucked, this was just better.)
In the first book of this series, "Without Reservations", the book centered around Chay and his new-found mate Keaton. But towards the end of the book Chay's best friend Remi was badly injured and ended up being turned into a werewolf by their friend Jake in order to save his life. And that's when Jake realized that Remi was meant to be his mate. Which was a problem, considering that not only had Remi never known that his friends were werewolves (or that they even existed) but he was also, seemingly, homophobic. A big problem considering he had a great big wolf just dying to claim him. Jake promised himself and his friend to help Remi learn about his new life as a wolf first, before telling him, if he ever told him, that they were meant to be mates.
When this book starts Jake is still trying to be a good boy and keep his hands to himself, but then Remi asks for his help to protect his little brother from his abusive father and they find themselves getting closer. But, luckily, it turns out that Remi isn't quite as opposed to a little man on man lovin' as he'd at first seemed.
I absolutely fell in love with Jake and Remi really early into the book. Not to mention Remi's little brother Sterling and his future mate Rhys. The story was good, if a little predictable, and the characters were three-dementional and lovable. The sex was pretty hot too, which is always a nice extra *snicker* Plus, there aren't enough good werewolf books out there, and I love the way it's just treated as a part of who they are in these books, rather than a big deal. I'd higly reccomend these books!
"One Night Lesson" by Ryou Takagi ♥♥1/2
This yaoi manga had such a pretty cover that I couldn't resist buying it. Unfortunately, the cover was probably the best part. The art was so-so, the story was so-so, and the characters were only marginally enjoyable. It's a school boy manga, about a guy with a split personality. I don't remember much else, it was mostly forgettable.
"Dangerous Games (Riley Jensen, Guardian, Book 4)" by Keri Arthur ♥♥♥♥1/2
I love this series (I seem to say that a lot this month, no?) alot. It's about a female werewolf who live in Australia. Werewolves, vampires, and other non-humans live out in the open. And, as a result, there has been a special orginization created to police the non-human members of society. Riley, the title character, never wanted to be a part of that. Her twin brother, Rhoan is a Guardian (the supernatural police) but she was only a secretary. However, she's a half wolf/half vamp, which shouldn't exist, so she was already strange enough to attract some unwanted attention. Then some real bastards injected her with some experimental drugs that turned her into something else and she really had no choice but to become a Guardian or be shipped off to the government to be studied and experimented on.
In this book Riley and her brother are investigating a series of murders that might have been committed by a demon from Hell. They're being hunted/toyed with by an ex-Guardian who's not only crazy but out for blood. And on top of that she's having relationship issues. Her on again/off again lover, Quinn, is a very powerful vampire who thinks he knows what's best for Riley, even when it's not what she wants. Oh, and she's started seeing dead people. How's that for a bad day?
One of the things I love about these books is that Riley is very comfortable in who she is. She's a werewolf, she likes sex, she likes men; she's not ready to settle down, and she'll fuck who she wants, when she wants, and so long as nobody gets hurt it's all good. Too often in romance novels (which is what these threaten to be, more often than not) the female heroins are all "oh, I want him but I shouldn't... I don't want him to think I'm slut or anything..." and they come off all repressed and uptight. Riley is the exact opposite, but without seeming like a whore even though she takes multiple partners in most of the books. And she manages to kick some serious ass in between all the partying.
These books are fun, action packed, and have an interesting take on both the normal paranormal romance book and on the traditional heroin. I've read the first four books and have enjoyed each one more than the last. Give them a try.
"Today's Ulterior Motives" by Sakuya Fujii ♥♥♥
Another so-so yaoi manga. Seems I picked a buch of those last month. This one was about a theater director/writer and an aspiring actor. It was funny at times, but that's about all I could say about it. It was, like I said, so-so.
"Details of the Hunt" by Laura Baumbach ♥♥♥♥
This was a slash novel about an alien bounty hunter from the 26th century and a pirate from the 18th century.
Talos, a big grey time-traveling alien with one of the weirdest penisis (seriously, read the book, it had me confused and amused) that I've ever read about, goes on a mission to retieve a pirate from earth in order to find out where he burried a culturally signifigant treasure centuries ago. Aiden, who is a point-for-point ripoff of Jonny Depp's portrayal of Capt. Jack in POTC, is cute and cocksure, but he's got a moral code and isn't a half bad guy, even if he is a pirate.
Talos snatches Aiden out of the sea right after he's been thrown to the sharks by a mutinous crew. He's supposed to keep the human in stasis, deliver him to his buyer, and forget all about him. But, his ship is damaged, Aiden wakes up, and I'm sure you can guess what happens next. Yup, love is in the air, the "historian" who wanted Aiden's treasure turns out to be the villian, and Talos ends up with a human mate.
Predictable, but oddly cute. Talos and Aiden were actually cute together, and although I knew what was coming even before it came, it was still a good enough book. Although, the editing was horrible. I swear, I felt like getting out my yellow highlighter and making notes in the margins!
I'm off for the next three days. I'm loving this 32 hour shift, even if it does give me less money. I feel more rested with three days off every week, and I find that I've been taking fewer EOs too. Yay!