New Content, New Year
Right so here we are in 2011. Woo. Hoo. When last we left this merry collections of ramblings and examples of "the voices" being so loud they could be heard on the internet I had posted a bit of a screed on mental illness. Quite frankly my diseases jumped the shit out of me and while I'm not surprised to still be here, neither am I surprised that I thought about NOT being here any more.
Since then there's been a couple new developments. Speciffically, I got shitcanned from Goldy's. Apparently, when you are hired for a job at Goldy's Locker Room the expectation is not that you work up to the level that your co-workers set. Or the example that the MANAGERS set. The expectation is that you live up to an arbitrarily established idea of what you as an individual should be doing. This is not communicated to you in advance and, even if you're doing the exact same level of work and customer service (in some cases better given that I never ignored a customer to text my girlfriend and actually showed the fuck up for work on Snowpocalypse 2010 when the fucking snow fucking broke the fucking dome and the whole town hung up a closed sign unlike my boss Dustin) you can still be fired for "Not meeting expectations. Not the expectations we had of the other people on staff mind you. You were doing the same quality of work they were, don't get us wrong. But we had HIGHER expectations." That is a direct fucking quote. And they had the audacity to wonder why I got angry. Jagoffs.
So I'm out looking. Again. And I am sick of it. So sick in fact I'm splitting my time these days. If I'm not obsessing about a new job and spending hours a day looking for work (online since noone is hanging out signs at the stores this time of year)I'm obsessing about getting the resources together to open my own store. I reckon if I'm gonna get my career fucked in the nostril but some idiots lack of even a gerbil-level IQ I'd rather be the idiot in question. I'm doing the research, figuring out the numbers I need to make happen and I've been making progress. Finally got the base number to start working out what my initial inventory will cost me per unit. Now that I've got that I can camp out with a calculator and a set of gaming publisher websites, work out what X number of Y product is gonna cost me, throw that in the blender and hopefuly pour out a number that some bank or investor is gonna be willing to hook me up with.
I've no illusions about it being easy or the fast track to fabulous wealth. If I'd wanted to be rich I'd have gone to college and found a passion for something more lucrative than working a cash register and pretending to be a Half-Orc in my spare time. But if I can get by and eventually do enough to pay myself a small, modest salary-say what I've averaged at most of my working-for-other-people jobs - I'll be happy. Like I told the girls; I'd rather have the stress and anxiety of being the guy the buck stops with any day over the stress and anxiety of wondering when some nitwit is gonna decide that I looked at him funny or that some other aspect of my life I'm unable or unwilling to change makes me unsuited to work for him despite being his hardest working, most reliable employee.
I'm also, at my friend Jason and wife Cat's suggestion going to start a wordpress blog on gaming. I know a lot about the industry and the culture. I've got enough material in my longhaired little (ok I take an XL in a hat shut up already ;) ) noggin to fill up numerous entries. Gonna try to get the first one up this week or next and then a twice a week schedule. As for why I'm making this bold and daring announcement it's simple; half my friends and clan already know anyhow and the support is universal. Everyone who has heard about it has said the same thing "You can do it Bob. Can't wait to attend the grand opening." So what the hell. Make the jump, weave the net on the way down and see what happens. Like the song says
"So ye've been a man of action/ as y'er layin there in traction/ take some small satisfaction/in sayin' 'Jeeze at least I tried!'"
Slainte'!
Since then there's been a couple new developments. Speciffically, I got shitcanned from Goldy's. Apparently, when you are hired for a job at Goldy's Locker Room the expectation is not that you work up to the level that your co-workers set. Or the example that the MANAGERS set. The expectation is that you live up to an arbitrarily established idea of what you as an individual should be doing. This is not communicated to you in advance and, even if you're doing the exact same level of work and customer service (in some cases better given that I never ignored a customer to text my girlfriend and actually showed the fuck up for work on Snowpocalypse 2010 when the fucking snow fucking broke the fucking dome and the whole town hung up a closed sign unlike my boss Dustin) you can still be fired for "Not meeting expectations. Not the expectations we had of the other people on staff mind you. You were doing the same quality of work they were, don't get us wrong. But we had HIGHER expectations." That is a direct fucking quote. And they had the audacity to wonder why I got angry. Jagoffs.
So I'm out looking. Again. And I am sick of it. So sick in fact I'm splitting my time these days. If I'm not obsessing about a new job and spending hours a day looking for work (online since noone is hanging out signs at the stores this time of year)I'm obsessing about getting the resources together to open my own store. I reckon if I'm gonna get my career fucked in the nostril but some idiots lack of even a gerbil-level IQ I'd rather be the idiot in question. I'm doing the research, figuring out the numbers I need to make happen and I've been making progress. Finally got the base number to start working out what my initial inventory will cost me per unit. Now that I've got that I can camp out with a calculator and a set of gaming publisher websites, work out what X number of Y product is gonna cost me, throw that in the blender and hopefuly pour out a number that some bank or investor is gonna be willing to hook me up with.
I've no illusions about it being easy or the fast track to fabulous wealth. If I'd wanted to be rich I'd have gone to college and found a passion for something more lucrative than working a cash register and pretending to be a Half-Orc in my spare time. But if I can get by and eventually do enough to pay myself a small, modest salary-say what I've averaged at most of my working-for-other-people jobs - I'll be happy. Like I told the girls; I'd rather have the stress and anxiety of being the guy the buck stops with any day over the stress and anxiety of wondering when some nitwit is gonna decide that I looked at him funny or that some other aspect of my life I'm unable or unwilling to change makes me unsuited to work for him despite being his hardest working, most reliable employee.
I'm also, at my friend Jason and wife Cat's suggestion going to start a wordpress blog on gaming. I know a lot about the industry and the culture. I've got enough material in my longhaired little (ok I take an XL in a hat shut up already ;) ) noggin to fill up numerous entries. Gonna try to get the first one up this week or next and then a twice a week schedule. As for why I'm making this bold and daring announcement it's simple; half my friends and clan already know anyhow and the support is universal. Everyone who has heard about it has said the same thing "You can do it Bob. Can't wait to attend the grand opening." So what the hell. Make the jump, weave the net on the way down and see what happens. Like the song says
"So ye've been a man of action/ as y'er layin there in traction/ take some small satisfaction/in sayin' 'Jeeze at least I tried!'"
Slainte'!