Holiday __eers (Ch or J as the case may be)

Patch wrote:

James.k.Polk wrote:

I simply can't believe that you have to TELL PEOPLE it isn't OK to bring your fucking Marijuana to work with you.

People are stupid. I had a two vendors on site, both competing for 15000 installs. This was back in the 90's before the market got saturated with GPS units, so the install price was hovering around $400 per install. $5 million+ in billing on the line and I find the group from California on the back lot smoking weed, with the owner. I threw them off site.

On a side note, the other vendor on site was hired by me. Then the company I worked for folded and I have been working for that vendor for the last 15 years.  

Here's my angry old man moment. I see a lot of crap on websites like imgur and even Facebook blaming the baby boomers and generation x for the perceived woes of the younger generation. Lots of "you guys did xxxx and now there's no good jobs for us slackers."

As if kids are just owed high paying jobs and that the rampant use of recreational pharmaceuticals has nothing to do with people's reluctance to trust this generation with the keys to the store.

I kno this is a generalization. I know my generation did a lot of the same things.

James.k.Polk wrote:

I simply can't believe that you have to TELL PEOPLE it isn't OK to bring your fucking Marijuana to work with you.

People are stupid. I had a two vendors on site, both competing for 15000 installs. This was back in the 90's before the market got saturated with GPS units, so the install price was hovering around $400 per install. $5 million+ in billing on the line and I find the group from California on the back lot smoking weed, with the owner. I threw them off site.

On a side note, the other vendor on site was hired by me. Then the company I worked for folded and I have been working for that vendor for the last 15 years.

If you lived in Japan, they would not only deliver McDonald's but KFC! At least in the bigger cities, almost every restaurant has some kind of delivery service. Its too bad that all the costs (insurance, paying the delivery driver, etc.) has killed that kind of business in America.

I wish there were more delivery places that did hamburgers. The only place, at least out here, that is an option is one of those services that run around to multiple restaurants and will deliver for them, like Pony Express. The extra charge, and variance in hours is kind of a pain in the ass. I'd like to be able to call up a burger king or mcdonalds and have them send a driver with a big bag or two full of burgers. Is this too much to ask from the world?

James.k.Polk wrote:Mini Polk Tale.

Sunday in the Cell Phone Mines.  I was working because it was Black Friday Weekend and if you are a manager and you are not in your store it is because you aren't really serious about your job.

My core crew opened with me at 10.  About three extra (newbies) came in at twelve.  About 12:30 I started noticing a dead skunk smell in the back room.  Over the next hour or so the skunk smell developed to headache-inducing levels.  It became obvious to me that one of the three newbs had brought weed into my store.

Two of the three I asked straight up about the weed.  These were the two who tend to hang around in the back room. Both denied it.

Turns out the little innocent-looking 20 year old girl brought apparently a pound of fucking weed into the store in her purse. The smell was noticeable by customers when they came in the front door even.  She admitted it to my core staff who let me know the next morning who had been responsible.

I simply can't believe that you have to TELL PEOPLE it isn't OK to bring your fucking Marijuana to work with you. I mean seriously, if she had admitted it to me I would have probably fired her on the spot. I'm also very upset with myself for not suspecting the third kid.  She was working harder on the sales floor, trying to close sales and I did not believe it could be the one with a modicum of ambition.  Bad on me.

That's why she's ambitious. She's making good sales and also obviously selling weed at the same time. She's being an entrepeneur. Also, as a person who works hard, we're the person to watch the most. There's a good chance that any of us are getting on the bosses good side so that we get an emotional pass from the boss so they look the other way while we steal or make money behind the boss' back. Or outside of the standard pay grade.

James.k.Polk wrote:Mini Polk Tale.

Sunday in the Cell Phone Mines.  I was working because it was Black Friday Weekend and if you are a manager and you are not in your store it is because you aren't really serious about your job.

My core crew opened with me at 10.  About three extra (newbies) came in at twelve.  About 12:30 I started noticing a dead skunk smell in the back room.  Over the next hour or so the skunk smell developed to headache-inducing levels.  It became obvious to me that one of the three newbs had brought weed into my store.

Two of the three I asked straight up about the weed.  These were the two who tend to hang around in the back room. Both denied it.

Turns out the little innocent-looking 20 year old girl brought apparently a pound of fucking weed into the store in her purse. The smell was noticeable by customers when they came in the front door even.  She admitted it to my core staff who let me know the next morning who had been responsible.

I simply can't believe that you have to TELL PEOPLE it isn't OK to bring your fucking Marijuana to work with you. I mean seriously, if she had admitted it to me I would have probably fired her on the spot. I'm also very upset with myself for not suspecting the third kid.  She was working harder on the sales floor, trying to close sales and I did not believe it could be the one with a modicum of ambition.  Bad on me.

That's the kind of stupidity that would get someone fired even here in green friendly Eugene. When you do fire her, if she gives you any grief, just tell her to be glad she's only getting fired and that she didn't get arrested.

Sleverin wrote:The Muppets were never for me...I saw an episode o two as a kid but I missed that train.

Since I don't see you post on the TRV group Jack, I'm guessing you didn't see the music discussion I started a couple weeks back.  Have you heard of Orange Pekoe?  They're a great Jazz/Pop group out of Japan.  

I forgot that there is a TRV group, I might look it up. I'll also look into Orange Pekoe.

Mini Polk Tale.

Sunday in the Cell Phone Mines. I was working because it was Black Friday Weekend and if you are a manager and you are not in your store it is because you aren't really serious about your job.

My core crew opened with me at 10. About three extra (newbies) came in at twelve. About 12:30 I started noticing a dead skunk smell in the back room. Over the next hour or so the skunk smell developed to headache-inducing levels. It became obvious to me that one of the three newbs had brought weed into my store.

Two of the three I asked straight up about the weed. These were the two who tend to hang around in the back room. Both denied it.

Turns out the little innocent-looking 20 year old girl brought apparently a pound of fucking weed into the store in her purse. The smell was noticeable by customers when they came in the front door even. She admitted it to my core staff who let me know the next morning who had been responsible.

I simply can't believe that you have to TELL PEOPLE it isn't OK to bring your fucking Marijuana to work with you. I mean seriously, if she had admitted it to me I would have probably fired her on the spot. I'm also very upset with myself for not suspecting the third kid. She was working harder on the sales floor, trying to close sales and I did not believe it could be the one with a modicum of ambition. Bad on me.

It's a similar premise-instead of a variety show, it's a talk show with Piggy as the Johnny Carson.  She's a huge bitch, even more than she ever was-she's unlikable in fact, and I never would have said that about original Piggy, and the whole thing is filmed like the Office, with the individual interviews in a chair, and all that, and it's supposed to be a "non-scripted" show.  And it's terrible.  

And I know Polk's favorite is the IT guy-he's a human muppet, and he has giant eyeballs and no lids and his pupils blink.  He is a bit off-putting.[/quote]

Oh I never said the IT guy was my favorite. To be honest, the band's bits are the truest to the original characterizations. They've mainly just "adulted them up" a bit by making them all stoners and/or recovering addicts. Otherwise they act like the Muppet Band which is OK.

I don't mind Piggy being an asshole. It's Kermit being duplicitous and manipulative, Gonzo being un-Gonzo, and the overall wrongness of the tone of the thing.

The Muppets were never for me...I saw an episode o two as a kid but I missed that train.

Since I don't see you post on the TRV group Jack, I'm guessing you didn't see the music discussion I started a couple weeks back. Have you heard of Orange Pekoe? They're a great Jazz/Pop group out of Japan.

NebulaJack wrote:

rkwsuperstar wrote:

James.k.Polk wrote:Patch,

Referencing our conversation about The Muppets...

I find I am less inclined to accept this show as it is. They're just rewriting too much of the characters'backstories for my taste. In last night's episode, they set up a "shoot Gonzo out of a cannon" stunt. Very classic muppet show storyline. But they ruin it by making Gonzo afraid to do the stunt. Gonzo was always up for anything, including blowing himself up with dynamite. Why is he suddenly afraid of a circus stunt?

They are doing some a,aging puppetry though. These was a scene with Gonzo dangling from  backstage rigging where he's trying to free himself. It's a wide shot and there is no place for a puppeteer to hide. Animal's drum battle with Dave Grohl is believable and it ended with both of them conceding that the other won.

Honestly, I could not get into it.  It's too different, and not in a good way.  Even in movies, the characteristics of each muppet are the same, regardless of place or time or situation.  Maybe if I'd never seen any Muppet stuff before, it'd be different.  It'd just be puppets of animals and whatevers doing stuff and making sex references.  

I do need to catch the drum battle, though.  

I've only seen the 5 minute preview ABC put on the tubes of you a few months back. My guess is that the previous stuff would be stated as "This is the Muppets when they're 'on' for the audience" while the new show is meant to show "what the muppets are like when they're not playing to the crowd". I'd call bullshit on that, since The Muppet Show was all about the backstage shenanigans. This just seems like the most obvious difference in direction since Disney bought them from the Henson kids. The new movie with "Fan Insert Muppet" and the sequel with "Bizarro Kermit" felt a little off kilter, and the clip I saw looks like it's further off kilter in the same direction.

It's a similar premise-instead of a variety show, it's a talk show with Piggy as the Johnny Carson. She's a huge bitch, even more than she ever was-she's unlikable in fact, and I never would have said that about original Piggy, and the whole thing is filmed like the Office, with the individual interviews in a chair, and all that, and it's supposed to be a "non-scripted" show. And it's terrible.

And I know Polk's favorite is the IT guy-he's a human muppet, and he has giant eyeballs and no lids and his pupils blink. He is a bit off-putting.

rkwsuperstar wrote:

James.k.Polk wrote:Patch,

Referencing our conversation about The Muppets...

I find I am less inclined to accept this show as it is. They're just rewriting too much of the characters'backstories for my taste. In last night's episode, they set up a "shoot Gonzo out of a cannon" stunt. Very classic muppet show storyline. But they ruin it by making Gonzo afraid to do the stunt. Gonzo was always up for anything, including blowing himself up with dynamite. Why is he suddenly afraid of a circus stunt?

They are doing some a,aging puppetry though. These was a scene with Gonzo dangling from  backstage rigging where he's trying to free himself. It's a wide shot and there is no place for a puppeteer to hide. Animal's drum battle with Dave Grohl is believable and it ended with both of them conceding that the other won.

Honestly, I could not get into it.  It's too different, and not in a good way.  Even in movies, the characteristics of each muppet are the same, regardless of place or time or situation.  Maybe if I'd never seen any Muppet stuff before, it'd be different.  It'd just be puppets of animals and whatevers doing stuff and making sex references.  

I do need to catch the drum battle, though.  

I've only seen the 5 minute preview ABC put on the tubes of you a few months back. My guess is that the previous stuff would be stated as "This is the Muppets when they're 'on' for the audience" while the new show is meant to show "what the muppets are like when they're not playing to the crowd". I'd call bullshit on that, since The Muppet Show was all about the backstage shenanigans. This just seems like the most obvious difference in direction since Disney bought them from the Henson kids. The new movie with "Fan Insert Muppet" and the sequel with "Bizarro Kermit" felt a little off kilter, and the clip I saw looks like it's further off kilter in the same direction.

James.k.Polk wrote:Patch,

Referencing our conversation about The Muppets...

I find I am less inclined to accept this show as it is. They're just rewriting too much of the characters'backstories for my taste. In last night's episode, they set up a "shoot Gonzo out of a cannon" stunt. Very classic muppet show storyline. But they ruin it by making Gonzo afraid to do the stunt. Gonzo was always up for anything, including blowing himself up with dynamite. Why is he suddenly afraid of a circus stunt?

They are doing some a,aging puppetry though. These was a scene with Gonzo dangling from  backstage rigging where he's trying to free himself. It's a wide shot and there is no place for a puppeteer to hide. Animal's drum battle with Dave Grohl is believable and it ended with both of them conceding that the other won.

Honestly, I could not get into it. It's too different, and not in a good way. Even in movies, the characteristics of each muppet are the same, regardless of place or time or situation. Maybe if I'd never seen any Muppet stuff before, it'd be different. It'd just be puppets of animals and whatevers doing stuff and making sex references.

I do need to catch the drum battle, though.

Patch,

Referencing our conversation about The Muppets...

I find I am less inclined to accept this show as it is. They're just rewriting too much of the characters'backstories for my taste. In last night's episode, they set up a "shoot Gonzo out of a cannon" stunt. Very classic muppet show storyline. But they ruin it by making Gonzo afraid to do the stunt. Gonzo was always up for anything, including blowing himself up with dynamite. Why is he suddenly afraid of a circus stunt?

They are doing some a,aging puppetry though. These was a scene with Gonzo dangling from backstage rigging where he's trying to free himself. It's a wide shot and there is no place for a puppeteer to hide. Animal's drum battle with Dave Grohl is believable and it ended with both of them conceding that the other won.

Holiday "B"eers works for me.

NebulaJack wrote:

I'll be sending some "Not So Secret" Santa Stuff to Polk later this month, and since Arkay and Patch live nearby, I could include a thing or two for you guys as well.

Glad you had a great Thanksgiving Jack. Isn't Fallout 4 awesome? I don't play a lot of games these days, but Fallout 3 was probably my favorite game ever, so I had to give this one a try. I haven't gotten far in the main story because there are so many interesting places and side missions. I hate that it show the hours played, when the game loads. I know at some point I'll load it and be amazed and ashamed that I spent so much time playing. Now it's not much, but I could see that changing.

I didn't see that you missed the Secret Santa until yesterday. I'll be happy to send you a little something. I think we exchanged email addresses in the past. If you still have mine, shoot me your address.

A few quick thoughts:

Thanksgiving was great this year. My dear friends Dan and Charlotte came down from Corvallis, and scooped me up to go to Lebanon for Dinner with Dan's parents. At the end of the night, we went back to their place and Dan gave me a ride home in the morning.

Black Friday is a sucky pile of smashed assholes, and I was glad to not be a part of it this year beyond witnessing slightly shittier than usual driving at the Delta Oaks 4-way turn where I work. My Friday included coming home in the morning and being awake way earlier than usual, playing Fallout 4 on the computer in my room mate's room (since she's cool with me doing that when she's not here), going to work, coming home, playing more Fallout 4 and going to sleep.

Got my 3rd Math Exam back today. Got 57% which equals F, but my grades are good enough that it only dragged me down to a C overall. I'll have to knuckle down for the Final, but I think I can pull it off.

For X-Mas this year, I'll be going out to Missouri to spend a week with my Dad. The week before that I'm looking at hosting a White Elephant Party as a fund raiser for helping a friend move down to Corvallis where he'll be moving in with his girlfriend and (I think) going to OSU. I might also roll into it a Marathon for Star Wars Episodes I-VI as a primer for Episode VII.

I'll be sending some "Not So Secret" Santa Stuff to Polk later this month, and since Arkay and Patch live nearby, I could include a thing or two for you guys as well.

I continue to find it weird that most of the music I listen to these days is from singers with an L in their name, usually at the beginning.

Since there's been talk in the past couple months about Holiday Creep (i.e. X-Mas stuff going up in October) I think it's best that Thanks giving not linger too long.

So let's talk X-Mas and other winter holidays!