So. I am now a reciever at the bookstore, which was Walker's old job. It's not a bad job, but I do kind of wish it was my only job. The details aren't so bad, but because we can't find another supervisor (the boys at the head office don't like the idea of promoting our competent employees; they much prefer hiring from outside. For some reason), I'm kind of screwed in terms of scheduling.

By that I mean that the reciever works during the day (10:00 AM to 5:00 PM). And as a supervisor, I work nights (5:00 PM to 11:30 PM Monday through Wednesday, 4:00 PM to 12:30 AM Fridays and Saturdays).

So right now I'm on this funky flex-schedule which pretty much consists of me coming in as early as we can get away with (3:00 PM) without getting overtime to do recieving, then going out onto the floor and doing the standard supervisor stuff.

This kind of sucks, since I'm getting paid less than Walker did for his one job, and I'm doing two. I talked to my boss and asked if I could get a raise, and he said he'd see what he could do, but I'm not going to hold my breath for it. Hope, certainly, but expect?

Not really.

Work is otherwise going well.

We did have an event tonight. I have to admit, I wasn't impressed by the author -- he'd come in a few times to chat up the employees and try to tell us how enamored he was with his own book. I usually ignore the authors that come in (I can admit that; usually I don't care for them).

We've had some good authors in, though. My personal favorite was Peter Beagle, author of The Last Unicorn. He did a reading of a short-story he wrote based on Sherlock Holmes "lost years", and where he was hiding after faking his death. It was pretty good, though very long. I heard almost all of it, and really liked it.

The guy we had today, though? He filled me with hope and confidence. I wasn't trying to listen to him, but due to the way we'd set up the sound equipment, I heard him anyway.

But a little background on that: I was trying for a new configuration; our store has shelves along the walls, with little penninsulas of shelves that extend towards the central area. The true center of the store is filled with islands (technically, they're actually called gondolas). These are shelves on wheels that are a little bit taller than five feet. I think they weigh between two and three hundred pounds, loaded with books. Because they're wheeled, we push them into the 'bays' between the penninsulas (penninsuli?) to clear the center of the floor. Then we bring out chairs, etc.

Depending on the size of the event, we'll make more or less space. For Carly Fiorina during her event last Friday, we moved all of the islands and set up every chair we had. Something like 400 people showed up (370, I think Karen said was the final count -- our store was packed). For this guy?

I said we should set out twenty chairs, but I was being nice. I think he would have had half of the attendance if we didn't get rain.

Anyway, his writing filled me with confidence. Because I believe that my fanfiction is better than this guy's published work, and given my poor self- esteem, that's saying quite a bit. I have to admit: it's been a while since I seriously thought I might get published.

Also, today I got a note from Gal, a former co-worker. She left the bookstore a while back, but we promised to stay in touch, because we got along really well.

So well, in fact, that she said, "I was going to walk out on [the store manager], but then I thought, 'Brian's cool; I shouldn't do that to him'". Which is honestly, quite touching.

It may not be much of a job, but I like to think I do it well. Yeah, I know I can be lazy. I do slack off on pulls, section cleanups, and I let people working under me get away with a lot.

But I do keep the money spot-on, I don't forget closing duties, there has never been a single complaint about me or one of my employees on my shifts, and it seems to me that everyone gets along. So I was touched even more by the note and poem she sent me, which is what you've been spotting in the margins.

I wonder if I should ask her out?

I dunno.

As far as why I haven't been blogging much lately.... There's been a lot of crap going on. Now, Walker (warning: explicit lyrics; myspace page) has a more comprehensive explanation of the ... let us call them shennangigans being perpetrated.

I don't know how to feel about that one. :(

I could use a girlfriend, honestly. But I'm not sure if that's what she wants (it probably isn't). And I'm not sure it's a good idea.

Le sigh.