Okay, so it was Sunday morning. I had been out a bit to late, but was up early and feeling pretty good. I was opening at work and was due in by 6. I got myself showered, fed, dressed, and smelling good all with a minimal of fuss. I even made a lunch! Richard was ready earlier and headed out the door, even tho we were both due at our respective jobs at the same time. It wasn’t a carpool day, so I was lagging about 5 minutes behind him. I finally made it down stairs and was at the door balancing my man-bag, waters, lunch, and phone all at once. I opened the door to the garage to put on my shoes that are always sitting just outside that door. As I slipped on the second shoe I lost my balance.

Time stopped.

It was in slow motion that I caught myself and heard the door click shut.

Shut.

And locked.

“This can’t be happening” I thought. I blinked. I tried the door. Locked. I shook my head and tried it again. Harder. Locked.

I was in my garage with my man-bag, waters, lunch, and my phone. I had no keys. My car was locked. I was locked out out of the house. My keys were just inside. I panicked.

You see, even tho this had happened before (to RICHARD, not ME!!) we had no spare key tucked away. I tried everything I could think of to “break-in"… Not being a pro at that I had no luck. There was no way any of my credit cards were gonna pop the lock. I tried 2 of them, so I know! I was also trying to call Richard. He was not far and could’ve turned around. Well at first. But with each passing moment that he didn’t answer he was further and further away. So I went to plan.. erm… C. Yes, plan C at tis point. I have everyone’s number from my job! Who could I call at 5:20 in the morning? Who could save me?

As I went down the list it slowly occurred to me. I had only one option that could get to my store and let the staff in on time. My boss. So after dreading it and trying with renewed desperation to credit card the door open for 10 minutes I called him. Yes he was up. Yes he would open and wait for me. And he laughed at me the whole time. I was so embarrassed. Ugh. I explained that I had to get ahold of Richard to get him to come back home. He was fine with waiting. He was still laughing. I died a little on the inside.

So after Richard got all the way to work he had to turn around and let me in to get my keys so I could go to work. I was only a half an hour late in all, but humiliated. We now have emergency procedures in place should such an event occur again. 

tagged: work richard morning emergency embarrassed event locked out

daniel · early evening · 1 comment · ping it

Whew! What a week! What a summer!

In fact, where did summer go? I mean srsly? It’s already Back to School! (I capitalize it, because in my industry it’s more than period of time, it’s an event.) I have to say tho, I have been having a blast. Every weekend off Richard and I have had places to go, things to do, and met new folks all along the way. It has been the Summer of Twitter, as we have made a few Twitter friends into real friends. That’s always odd at first. Going from contacting someone online thru Twitter, to actually dialing them up on the phone and getting together for drinks or meals. Heh. I love Twitter. Anyhoo, I think my summer is coming to a bit of an early close, as my work schedule has me booked the next three weekends. I don’t socialize much on my working weekends because the hours are just to extreme, what with the 5 and 7 AM starts or the late closing shifts. After the 3 weeks of work my parents arrive. 7 days of tour guide. Wee! Then we are already into October. Bam. holiday. 2 months of loooong work days, few days off… Another year passes.

Do you see why I am always tense? The passing of time is so cruel for us career retail people! Gawd I am stressed out now. Heh.

tagged: work holiday people twitter retail time friends weekend parents summer

daniel · late morning · say it · ping it

Can it be? I’m not coughing? My head… it’s not hot? I don’t feel achey? Whaat?

Okay yesterday I felt better (at least at the start). Today I’d venture that I feel.. good! Still not 100%, you won’t find me at the gym or anything, but I do feel good today. Wow. Hopefully it’ll last this time…

Does this mean I have to not only go to work, but also stay there? Ugh. For my whole shift? Double ugh! Oh well, better than lying on the couch waiting to die. Right? 

tagged: work sick flu couch better

daniel · mid-morning · 4 comments · ping it

Blog neglect is like one of the main symptoms of the flu. Did you know that?

I have been so sick! I haven’t been this ill since the start of the year. I literally thought I was going to DIE. (Have I mentioned I am am bit of a baby when I don’t feel well?) Anyhoo, I am at least up and around today. Barely. I am still hacking and wheezing and sweaty. Ugh. At least I don’t have a temperature anymore. That was the worst, when your body tries to cook itself from inside out, I hate that the most…

Oh well, back to reality. I do have to work today. I won’t be *doing* actual work. I don’t want to get the associates sick… But I will be there. 

tagged: work blog sick cold reality body ill flu fever

daniel · late morning · 3 comments · ping it

I did in fact get my new iPhone. I guess I left the blog kinda hanging on that…

Let me just say, What a debacle! Getting a new phone should not be so hard! Seriously. That said I am so glad I went thru it. I like being one of the idiots out there “first”. LOL. So after my 3 hour wait the SECOND day I was finally next. I was so sure my activation would be fast. I knew which phone I wanted (8G, I have a brand new iPod Classic that is huge so no need for 16G), I knew I qualified for the upgrade, should be smooth. After another 20 minutes (I know, right?) a “specialist” approached me. We got to work. He fetched the phone, took my info, and entered it into the activation handheld thing. We waited. The result came back fast: “Error. Account does not qualify”

WHAT!?!

So like, he tried to be all sorry and “better luck next time” but I was NOT leaving without an iPhone. I became one of the customers that made the wait so long. I made him call AT&T. After 45 minutes of trouble shooting the account it turns out that there was some corporate discount that we didn’t even know we had that was the issue. Ugh. So we removed it and finally the phone was set up. Phew. So now I had to go back to a real AT&T to figure that out another day. Whatever. I had my iPhone!

One more step. Plug it in and make a call. I did. I called Richard. It didn’t go through. I tried again. No luck. It rang, but went to AT&T operators. Huh. I cringed. I dialed MY number. My old phone rang. Shit! They put the upgrade on the wrong phone! At this point I was politely told by a number of Apple people that I was SOL. It was an AT&T thing. AT&T told me it was an Apple thing. I was screwed!

Finally an AT&T supervisor told me to swap the SIM. After an hour on the phone, of course… But now all is welll and I am a happy boy! LOL

tagged: work richard iphone apple time new upgrade wait

daniel · early morning · 4 comments · ping it

Look at my new Apple product! I call it iGotnothing.

Well kids. I am a little down today. I showed up at my Apple Store bright and early, like a good little Mac-boy. I was expecting the line, since I opted for sleep last night. 8:00 was when I stepped into place. In fact, it all started out really hopeful! The plan, according to the Apple associates was this: 40 people let in at a time, 10-15 minutes each. I was about number 300, but I do exaggerate. Could have been a lot less in front of me. Still, at 15 minutes each group I figured about 2 hours. Seems logical, right? We have been through the lines with Apple before. They usually don’t screw up too bad.

After about 2 hours I really was getting discouraged. I had definitely moved up, but not much. And we had been at a standstill for a really long time. Twitter kept me appraised of the issues as we went. Servers down! Servers up! Servers DOWN! Richard came over with a snack. I finally got to go look at the entire line. Wow. He waited with me for 30 minutes. When it finally looked like I was moving again he took off to get ready for work. I waited, chatted with the gal next to me, and questioned the Apple folk. They were saying all systems were a go! Twitter linked me to more stories that it was bad. iTunes servers were the issue, and folks have been having trouble with iPhone 2.0 updates as well as the Apple Store activation parade…

It was when I was reading about how folks were sent home with NO WORKING phones (after Apple DE-activated old iPhone, but could NOT activate the new one) that a woman came past the line with her 2 new phones and a warning. “Don’t let them activate you here! I have been inside since 8:15 trying to get activated!” I decided screw it. I, like so many before me, left the line. After 3 hours.

I figured dude. 3 hours and I am not even halfway… Plus my current iPhone is working fine. Rocking iPhone 2.0 too! So I can wait. I waited this long… Right?

tagged: work richard iphone apple twitter time itunes issues warning

daniel · late morning · 1 comment · ping it

As you probably know I am getting the new iPhone on the 11th (or as soon as I possibly can since I work that weekend). So I have been watching the iPhone news pretty closely to be sure I can transition. You see, I’ve not had mine *that* long, and there is a 2 year contract and all… Most of those questions are now answered:

iPhone 3G questions, answered

I can’t even wait.. 

tagged: work iphone news weekend questions wait 3g

daniel · late morning · say it · ping it

I was just about to get in the shower when it occurred to me that there are only 4 more work days (5 total) till my 6 day vacation! I am so excited… I just had to sit and enjoy the feeling a bit. We aren’t planning to go anywhere, what with gas prices what they are. Probably some local San Diego tourist stuff. We like that kind of thing. Plus the big 4th of July will be happening, and along with that our 11th anniversary. We have big gifts planned… iPhones! I get a 3G and Richard is taking the original! I can’t even wait till the 11th! I don’t know what will be more fun. My new iPhone or watching Richard learn to use his. Heh.

Anyhoo. Now I just need to get thru the next 4 5 days. 

tagged: work richard iphone vacation gifts anniversary excited 3g

daniel · mid-morning · say it · ping it

This week’s grandma.

Okay it’s not that bad. It’s just odd. Last week I was out and having fun with the boys. This week I am at home making sleepy tea and stressing out because I should really have already been asleep by now. On a Friday. Dude. What a difference a week makes. Gotta love the J.O.B. yo. Anyhoo, water is boiled. BRB. Okay. So while that steeps I should like blog about something… Hrm. Actually I need to fold laundry. The buzzer just went off. BRB.

Okay. Back. What did I miss? Oh! I was going to blog something. Right. Well, I have to say it’s been a slow week. work has been good. Really good in fact. Except for that part that I have to keep going back day after day. Heh. And.. Wow. That’s all I have going on right now. Mmm, tea is ready… I do have a work story I could share. You see, I was at work the other day (duh) and there was this woman I was helping with some question about underwear. Her kids (all three of them) were in an uproar behind me as we spoke. She was getting visibly irritated and finally said to me “Will you please tell my kids to stop running around?!” It was spoken like a demand. Like it was my job. “Excuse me?” I said, “I am not the parent in the situation. I will not be disciplining your children!” I mean can you even? She went on how she was the parent, “I just need you to...” I cut her off, still declining. So then she turns to her brats and shouts “See? He said you have to stop that right now!” Now I was annoyed. I turned to the kids and said “I did NOT!” Srsly. What is wrong with parents nowadays?? *sips tea dramatically*

Okay. Happy weekend.

tagged: work laundry tea story customers party boy

daniel · late evening · 2 comments · ping it

I just read a phrase that made me want to gouge out my own eyes and set myself on fire. A phrase that made my stomach turn. I can’t. Even. Think. About. It.

*shudder*

June 24th. It’s exactly halfway to Christmas Eve.

Noooooooooooooo! Stop. Stop it! Don’t SAY that! Dammit!

(Keep in mind people, I work in the retail industry.)

tagged: work holiday christmas omg

daniel · the wee hours · 6 comments · ping it