The Diet Coke of Evil

That DOES Sound Reasonable...

10:22, Wed 30 Jan 2008 .. 2 comments .. Link

Waterlollies

09:13, Sat 17 Nov 2007 .. 2 comments .. Link

The new Brackenwood video, long in production, is finally out. Go check it out, it's pretty great.

Waterlollies

For those of you who don't know, Brackenwood is a series of flash movies by former Disney effects animator Adam Phillips. They are really well done, and I recommend you watch the entire series.

The Auld Sage sings "Life is for Living" by Coldplay. This one isn't part of the storyline, just a one off Adam Phillips did for some kind of practice or something. Still pretty cool.

Bingbong of Brackenwood

Bitey of Brackenwood

Prowlies at the River

Little Foot pt. I

Little Foot pt. II The Yuyu

Waterlollies

Work

09:57, Fri 16 Nov 2007 .. 3 comments .. Link

So, my family is kind of spread out, and certain parts don't really mix, so the holidays are always kind of weird. Well, to alleviate some of that, my sister decided to have a second thanksgiving dinner on Friday with some of my dads family, freeing her up to go have dinner with her boyfriends family, and she and I both to spend some time with my aunt and uncle on my mom's side. All well and good. So yesterday, I called work to try to arrange an early afternoon on Friday. First I kinda got the runaround from the store manager, who apparently doesn't like to tell people "no" so he passed the buck to the department manager. Asshat. Anyway, the deptartment manager told me it's the busiest day of the year and he needed me on the counter. I explained to him I wasn't really looking for time off, or at least very little. It would have been alright if I came in for the morning shift, and if I could even come in a little early that would be cool, and if I could split out an hour early at the end of the day, that would be helpful too. You know, just whatever could be done to get me out of there a little earlier in the day without totally screwing the store over on the busiest shopping day of the year. He said he would see what he could do.
I went in today (early, because the department manager called in sick) and they had posted the schedule. Not only did they not give me the morning shift (they gave me noon to eight. Thanks guys.) But the department manager got an 8 o'clock shift (two hours earlier than we usually open) and leaves at 4:30, an hour and a half before the first shift usually ends. Apparently they're doing extended hours or something. What the fuck. If he had already planned to have the afternoon off, he coudn't have told me that?
So I feel very jilted right now. I've never missed a day of work. I've filled in for people, changed my schedule at the last minute, and worked extra hours every single time I've been asked without complaint, including today, except one occasion when I couldn't because I had to be at my sister's house to let contractors in, and they didn't let me know far enough in advance for her to make other plans. I've been scheduled to work several weekends when it turned out that my dad was coming down from Sacramento and never complained or tried to trade shifts or anything. The one time I DID have to call in because I had a minor medical thing, I came in straight away after my appointment and still worked a full day. I'm a capable framer, I've gone out of my way to organize the shop and to try to train the less experienced guys when I have the chance, because nobody else seems to be fucking doing it. I've never asked about a raise, even though my living situation kind of demands it. One should be forthcoming, now that I'm "certified" (which is total bullshit, btw.)

So I'm going to make myself feel better by pointing out the flaws of others in this here anonymous forum. HA.

the Manager: doesn't seem to have any idea that his employees are actual people who might have lives outside work that are affected by his retarded decisions. Has no problem at all wasting his peoples' time. He called in one of our framers to pick up an extra shift the next day, and when the guy showed up, he immediately sent him home. What a dick. He also screws up the schedule regularly and then blames other people for it. He doesn't schedule any time when we work with our inexperienced framers, so they never get trained much, which means they just try and figure it out, and nobody is there to correct them, so their bad habits get good and dug in. Great. Then he blames our inexperienced framers for making dumb mistakes. Apparently the department manager asked him about it, and his response was that he didn't think we should be spending our time training anybody. We should just hire people who already know what they're doing. Good luck with that, sparky. No experienced framer who isn't desperate is going to take your shitty 12 hours a week at the rate you're going to pay them, AND endure your scheduling bullshit. You know who will take it? High School and college kids and guys looking to add a little something to their income from their other job. They need to be trained.

Assistant store manager: Wants to be the hero. Wants to be everybody's friend. Tells my customer we should have taken care of her during the Buy One Get One event, and if she brings in another piece of equal or lesser value, we'll frame it for free. Doesn't bother to look and see that we already gave her a 50% discount to make up for the fact that she didn't have two pictures and therefore couldn't get the BOGO discount. Fuck her for ASSUMING we screwed our customer. Fuck her for sending that lady home to get her art. She also likes to send the younger employees home. Oh, you have the sniffles? Better go home and rest then. Especially the cute girls. I don't think it's a lesbian thing, I'm pretty sure it's a maternal thing, but jesus christ, this is a business. You can't just send people home when they haven't even asked you to because you want them to think you're such a hero. She also bitches all the time. I don't think she's ever walked into the shop where I work without bitching about asinine shit for at least 10 minutes. I actually walked away from her last week. I went to drop some paperwork off in the front office, and she just got started. I stood there politely until she ran out of breath, and then acted like I thought she was done and took off, even though I could hear her strident whiny voice still bitching about nothing as I walked away. I don't have time for that shit, I have deadlines. Everybody acts like they have to do everything in such a hurry, and they kind of do, but the fact of the matter is, if they don't get their stuff done, the only person who's going to be upset is the district manager, because the store looks sloppy and all the stock isn't out. If we don't get our shit done, there's a good chance we lose a customer, because we look unprofessional and apathetic. The guy down the street at Aaron Brothers is a perfect example. We've got THOUSANDS of dollars in business from him in the last few weeks, because of customers who have come to us complaining that he gave them the runaround and didn't care whether he had their business or not (which he doesn't... I used to work there, and I know the guy. He used to live in a halfway house. He had some sort of a drug problem, I don't know if he's been to prison or not... he's clean and sober now, but I'm pretty sure Aaron Brothers gets some sort of a subsidy or a tax break because he's employed there. He's a nice enough guy, he just doesn't give a shit.)

Department manager: Kind of sleazy. Thinks he's much funnier than he is. I get more done by myself when he's not there than the two of us get done together, especially if I have one of the two inexperienced guys coming in after me in the evening. He has no idea how to give them clear direction and make sure they have work they are trained and capable of doing. He has no idea how to use an efficient workflow. He also can't train anybody. He loses his temper. He's a very good framer, but he likes to cut corners, and a very good framer is only really useful if he makes your other framers better. In his defense on that point, the store manager never schedules him with the other two guys much either. He also seems to think the customers owe him something. It's like he thinks they have a lot of gall expecting him to do his job, so he looks for any opportunity to tack on extra charges. A labor charge here, an unnecessary mount charge, for a type of mount we actually aren't going to do. He thinks the fact that we know more than the customer is an opportunity to take advantage of them rather than the REASON THEY COME TO SEE US IN THE FIRST FUCKING PLACE. The fact that they have disposable income to spend on something as frivolous and useless as picture framing is the reason you got to eat yesterday, dickhead. And the fact that you know more about it than they do and can help them make good (and occasionally economical) decisions is the only reason they're going to hand you money to do your stupid cushy job. Quit acting like they owe you anything. Treat them with a little respect and tell them their options when they ask. I don't care how much Masterpiece glass the district manager says you're supposed to sell.

the other framers: Guys, I cut you some slack because we can't train you, but come on. Help me out here. I'm trying to go to bat for you, don't do dumb shit. PLEASE don't do the SAME dumb shit twice. Just because you left the manager a note doesn't mean you actually got the day off you wanted. And the computer really isn't that hard to use. It's a little weird, it's a really poorly written program, but you've both been there longer than I have, and I've pretty much got it figured out already. Really. Just try not to punch the dept. manager in the face when he loses his temper over some stupid shit and we'll get the shop running smoothly eventually.

I think Clerks had it wrong... This job would be great if it wasn't for the fucking managers.

ATTENTION: Trackbacks Need To Be Disabled.

12:14, Fri 9 Nov 2007 .. 0 comments .. Link

Attention Blog User: There has been a recent outbreak of spam that is sneaking past our spam filters and using the Post Trackback feature. This feature, if enabled on your posts, will allow spam to get in and post comments - those of which no one wants. Since Keith is currently offline and not available, us Community Leaders have taken it upon us to find a temporary solution until Keith can do something. Here's The Fix: You need to go here: http://www.efx2blogs.com/manager/tra...ttings.php and make sure "Trackback Default for New Entries" is set to 'Trackbacks Disabled' in the drop-down menu and also, "Autodetect Trackbacks?" is set to 'Autodetect Disabled' in the drop-down menu. This will disable trackback on all new posts you make. *** If you are apart of multiple blogs, you will need to select specific blog in which the problem is first in the blog control panel.... and then click that link for the settings to appear. *** For previous posts that have been attacked you must Edit that post and just below the Post Edit Box you should see a link "Advanced Post Options" - click that and you should see an option for "Allow Trackbacks?" and make sure it is set to 'No.' -------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you for your participation in this matter and helping us alleviate the problem. - The Community Leaders (leaders.efx2blogs.com) THIS POST CAN BE DELETED.

It Goes To Show You Never Can Tell

11:07, Wed 31 Oct 2007 .. 2 comments .. Link

I heard from an old friend today :) A girl I knew since junior high. We were in the trombone section of the school band for 6 years, and a season of Spirit of Sunnyvale too. She and I and another girl, who was a flute player before we dragged her over to the low-brass dark side were pretty much inseperable for quite a few years, but she moved away in high school, and then came back, but things just weren't quite the same, and then I left school, and then I left California, and I hadn't heard from or really even about her since.
Then, about a week ago, I got an email. One of those ones I get all the time, and half the time, just ignore it. It was notifying me that someone had signed my guestbook, so I went and checked it out. There were a few familiar names, a lot of unfamiliar ones, but nobody I really wanted to talk to, until the last one. For old time's sake, let's call her "Nm". Anyway, I of course immediately dashed off a quick email, and today I got a response. :D

I've been home six months, and in that time, I've found a lot more things that have changed than have stayed the same. A lot of people have moved away, and I've lost touch with so many people who might still be here, but I have no way of knowing... it was just really nice to hear that somebody from the old days is nearby and remembers me fondly.

Now check THIS spooky shit out...
while I was gone, she joined the navy for four years, and travelled, has continued musically, but changed her instrument (she's now a singer in her church choir) got out of the military and came home, where she's now living with her sister, and is going back to school (very near the house I'm moving into) to earn a computer related degree.

CRAZY right? It's seriously been over ten years, and we've done nearly all the same stuff, just in different places. She did go and get married for a year. I didn't do that. (though I did have an occasionally rocky live-in relationship that lasted about the same amount of time... hmmmm) But apart from that, the broad strokes are pretty similar. I just found it interesting.

For the record, by way of celebration of old friends found again and a bit of nostalgia, I will only be responding to the following names for the rest of the day:

Sid
Copernicus
Babaloo

good night. :)

Crazy guy on public transportation

06:35, Tue 30 Oct 2007 .. 3 comments .. Link

So... I'm not a morning person, that's no secret, and I've had my share of days where I was just TOTALLY out of it, but today definitely takes the cake. I don't know HOW I did what I did today.

I started work at ten. I actually felt pretty good. I wasn't groggy or anything. Got up at about 8, 8:15, thereabouts. Had a nice hot bath, got dressed and went to catch the bus at 9, early enough to stop at Starbucks in the grocery store and get a nice cup of coffee and a muffin before work. I ate my muffin and drank my coffee in the break room, and chatted with Sandy and Rhonda a bit while waiting for my shift to start.
Finally 10:00 rolled around and I got to work. I did all the morning paperwork, explained the odd discrepancies to the manager, and went about my business pulling the next days workload to begin prepping, and I did that merrily and productively for about 2 hours, before I was asked to go help with a man-job that required "lots of muscles" that basically amounted to cutting some metal grids with bolt cutters, which would then be used to make display shelf units. No problem. I did that, and actually enjoyed the opportunity to do something physical that basically involved the simple application of brute force for about a half hour.
Anyway, it was at that point (two hours plus into the work day, mind) that I noticed what I had done. I had come to work wearing two different shoes. What the fuck? I'm seriously concerned here that I suffered some kind of brain damage when I was a kid or something. How the hell do you put on two different shoes accidentally? They weren't even similar. There was no way I could convince mysef that I had gotten a black pair of shoes and a similar dark brown pair of shoes confused in the dark. No way. On my left foot, I had put on one dark brown leather low-top boot style shoe on, while my right foot was wearing a medium grey suede Converse All Star high top sneaker with orange accents along the edge of the sole.
So I sat there and stared at it for a second, uncomprehending. Thinking maybe my eyes were playing a trick on me, or I was hallucinating or something. It was really a very surreal moment. I was totally more prepared to believe I was suffering hallucinations than it was to believe that I had actually put on two different shoes WITHOUT REALIZING IT, and worse, HADN'T NOTICED UNTIL SEVERAL HOURS LATER. I'd been dealing with the public. I'd been at the train station. I have a big shaggy beard, and I sometimes like to sing quietly to myself when I think no one is listening, which leads me to the only possible conclusion:

I AM THE CRAZY PERSON WITH THE UNKEMPT BEARD AND UNMATCHED SHOES WHO SINGS TO HIMSELF THAT MAKES PEOPLE VAGUELY UNCOMFORTABLE ABOUT RIDING PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION!!!!

I'm still coping with this revelation, and trying to find some way to be proud of it. So far, unsuccessfully. I can't even claim it was rebellion or non-conformity, because I was completely unaware I'd done it, and probably wouldn't have had the balls to follow through with it if I'd thought of it in that context. I do find it amusing that NOBODY called me on it all day, though. One lady, Sandy, kind of a spiky grandma with an attitude type who works there (she's one of my favorites) said "Oh, were buying shoes are we?" as I walked in the door with my new boxes of Airwalks, but that's probably what she would have said whether she had noticed or not, so I don't know if she was giving me a little ribbing or not.

Anyway, I spent the rest of the day until my lunch at 3:00 trying to hide in my frame shop, or at least behind the counter. Of course today of ALL days was the day every customer wanted to come behind the counter to look at their art from a different angle, or to see the frames up close. They were all too polite to say, but I know what they were thinking, "THIS FUCKIN' ASSHOLE IS WEARING TWO DIFFERENT FUCKIN' SHOES!" I just hope they assumed I was being artsy or making some kind of a statement about the duality of working in retail and having a professional face and a non-professional face. Don't anybody tell me different. I know I'm deluding myself, but please, just let me have this.

Finally my lunch break came, and I went over to PayLess and bought myself some Airwalks (which turned out to be serendipitous, because there were on sale. I got a couple not-bad looking casual shoes for like 40 bucks.) and the sneaking around hiding behind whatever I could find of at least approximately knee-height was over. I also had the added bonus of impressing the HELL out of a ten year old as I walked out for the night with my pair of shoeboxes tucked under my arm. "You got AIRWALKS???" I was sort of stoked that, in spite of my newly discovered crazy-train-rider status, at least in junior high terms, I'm still cool.

(dramatic reenactment. Do not attempt)

in other news, as I'm typing this... HOLY SHIT!! EARTHQUAKE!!! Now THAT'S something I haven't felt in a while. Now I know why all you transplanted midwesterners used to lose your fucking minds everytime that happened while I was growing up. It wasn't even that big, and it was over like five minutes ago, and I'm still all wired from it. They never used to bother me much.

I suppose it says something about how jaded californians are that only one of the networks interrupted their programming to discuss it. Ha ha

Okay, a few minutes later, they're all doing it. It was apparently a 5.6, which is pretty good, but not really life threatening under normal circumstances. They say to expect a lot of things falling of of shelves, but not much damage besides. My sister just got home. Everybody is okay. The dogs are mellow and laying on the floor, which suggests to me, at least for the moment, there are no aftershocks coming. Nothing like a little excitement. How was your day?

Finally

09:04, Mon 29 Oct 2007 .. 1 comments .. Link

So I'm finally moving out of my sister's house. Yep. Come Thursday, I will be moving into my new room near downtown, which means my process of getting back to some kind of normalcy is taking one more step forward. I'm going to have a houseful of roommates again, which kind of sucks, but they seem like decent folks, and they're messier than me, so I doubt they're going to bitch too much if I forget to do the dishes. Which for some people might drive them nuts, but for me, it's great. I don't mind cleaning the bathroom or doing the dishes occasionally. I DO mind being hassled about it.
So anyway, there's these two brothers, their parents, and another boarder downstairs. Apparently most of them are never there, the parents in particular. The one brother I've met is an art major, which is cool. He also plays video games, so we've got that in common, so even if he turns out to be a total dick, I can satisfy myself whipping his ass at HALO or something.
The rent is not bad. 600 a month, including utilities and DSL (internet connection is a must) so essentially, all I have to pay for extra is my phone. It's a pretty big room. Apparently it was originally a sort of a family room. I can play my guitar any time, day or night, since my room is right at the front of the house, apart from everyone else, and I can have guests over, as long as it's not too rowdy after 11. They suggest only one person over after that time. That shouldn't be a problem.

Anyway, this means I've got a steady place to live, where I don't have to be looking for a place to stay, I've got a steady full time job now, and with the raise I have coming my way, I SHOULD be at that lofty goal of POSITIVE CASH FLOW. Thank god for that. My savings are dwindling. I'm down to about a third of what I started with, and I've only still got that much because I've been working for a couple months now.

Anyway, those three things (place to stay, steady job, positive cash flow) means that the last obstacle to me going to school and being able to focus on it has been removed, so next semester, I should be once again engaged in scholarly pursuits. mmmm... college girls. j/k

I'm a little irritated that I'm actually SAVING money by moving out of my sister's house though. Don't tell her. She'll take it personally.

Also on the horizon, my aunt and uncle have a house nearby, and a cabin up in Idaho. Turns out they're planning to go spend a year and a half at the cabin in Idaho, and would like me to stay at their house while they're gone. All THAT will cost me is the utilities, and maybe a small stipend for rent. The number that I heard bandied about a few times was 300 a month. That's WAY too good a deal to pass up, so come next May, I may be moving again, into an actual house, albeit temporarily, and not only focusing on school, but also saving a crapload of money every month. I might be able to put a down payment on a tiny little house or something. How fuckin' nutty would that be? Okay, maybe that's the brass ring, given real estate values in this damned state.

In other news, had a nice birthday dinner with my aunt, uncle and cousin (her birthday, not mine.) She's 70 this year. She's actually my great aunt on my mom's side, and my cousin Ed is actually my first cousin once removed. (Yes, I actually understand all that first-cousin second-cousin so many times removed business) Ed sprung for dinner at Original Joe's (a San Jose landmark, and a pretty decent restaurant) but I managed to pay for half a round of drinks, so I didn't feel too bad about it. Ed is an old bachelor, mid 40s I guess. He's a lonely guy, I think. He's really nice though. I remember growing up thinking he was really really cool. Old pictures of Ed remind me of Inigo Montoya. Anyway, you can't go anywhere with him without him buying everything. If he gets the inkling you might be thinking about reaching for your wallet, he'll go to the bathroom and pay for everything on the way there, including another round of drinks. It's just how he does. On the one hand, it's great, because being broke is never an excuse not to go out with Ed, on the other hand, it kinda makes ya feel like a bit of a scab, if you can't get one over on him and pay once in a while, you know?
My Aunt Geneva and Uncle Don (side note... these are the Dons in my family: Him Don, Her Dawn, Farmer Don, Junior Don, Valley Don, and Baby Don. Don is a common name. Anyway, the one I'm refering to here is Him Don) just got back from their most recent trip to Idaho. They seem well and happy. Don is friggin 84. He still kicks everyones ass at golf and racketball. It's ridiculous. I don't know what he's eating, but I expect he could kick Jack Lalane's wrinkled old ass.

Anyway, I guess there really wasn't much point in all of that last bit, it's just kind of some stuff that's happened recently. Oh yeah... work. At work, our department manager quit, and the second in line guy is on vacation, basically leaving me holding the bag. That sounds like a bad thing, but I'm kicking ass. We were a couple days behind when his vacation started, now we're a couple days ahead. Granted, we had a couple days with no orders that kind of helped things along, but still, it makes me look shit hot to have done as much work as I have with essentially half of my workforce missing when we couldn't get caught up to save our lives when we had the whole workforce there. I feckin' rock. Now if I could just get some god damned sales to get the numbers up in the next few days...

Holiday Spirit

07:45, Tue 16 Oct 2007 .. 3 comments .. Link

For the remainder of this post, my internal monologue will be written in text

So, I work in a business that's fairly involved in the whole holiday thing, and as such, they've had the Christmas decorations out for about month now, and recently, they've got all the gadgets that play the old familiar christmas songs, and even though it's only October, and even though it's a little corny, I can't help feeling those old holiday emotions welling up inside.

...by which I mean a seething contempt for my fellow human beings, of course. In what world is it okay to go into a business, open their products, and then leave them on the shelf? I can't think of any other place where people do this sort of thing, but it happens in my store all the time. People rip open the celophane around a ready-made frame, then disassemble the whole thing, put their crappy picture in it, then realize it doesn't fit, or they don't like it or whatever, and just leave the fucking mess laying in the aisle for me to find. I have custom work to finish for people who care enough about their art to do it right, and not try to force it into some pre-fab waste it doesn't fit in. I don't have time for that shit. Grow up and clean up your mess. Or better yet, don't open it in the first place if you haven't bought it. I consider that theft. Before you came into my store, I had a product that I could sell. After, I had a worthless pile of shit that I have to throw away.
But people say, "Well, how am I supposed to know if my picture fits?" To which I answer, "THE SIZE IS WRITTEN IN GIANT PRINT ON THE FRONT, YOU ILLITERATE FUCK." Of course I say it with more tact, but that's a direct quote from my internal monologue. Measure your art, nitwit. If you're really too retarded to figure that shit out on your own, I'll take time away from my actual job to hold your hand for you and reassure you, but don't go tearing into my merchandise.
I had a lady today wanted a poster frame on the cheap. Alright, whatever. I'll show you where they are. But then I had to spend like 15 minutes explaining to her how to assemble it. "You just pull off these sides, then separate the plexi glass from the backing, pull out the printed picture they sell it with, put your art in it's place, remove the protective film from the plexi glass, put the plexi glass back down, and then put the four sides back on. They just slide right over the plexi and backing."

"Wait... will my picture fit in it? It's 24 x 36"

"It says 24 x 36 right here on the printed sheet it's packaged with."

"Okay, But there's a black border on this picture. Is the black border 24x36?

"No, ma'am. The frame is 24x36. The black border is just the manufacturer's decorative accent. It's just what they thought looked good."

"But I should take that part out?"

"Yes, ma'am. It's not going to do you any good."

WHEN YOU BUY A PHOTO FRAME, DO YOU LEAVE THE PICTURES OF THE OTHER PEOPLE IN IT? HOW ABOUT YOUR WALLET? CARRY AROUND PICTURES OF STRANGERS IN THERE? nitwit.

"But don't I want that black border?"

"If you're interested in a mat, we can talk about cutting one for you, but you'll need a larger frame. You should probably go custom, but I think I can squeeze your art into a 27x40, which is the biggest size ready made we carry. I have some over here."

"Oh no, that's much too big."

"Well, from what you're telling me, the 24 x 36 is the right size."

"But I won't have a border."

I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE IF YOU ARE TOO RETARDED TO FIGURE OUT THAT PUTTING A BORDER AROUND YOUR PICTURE WILL MAKE IT BIGGER. BUY SOMETHING OR LEAVE.

anyway, eventually she said she'd think about it, though in her case, I'm not sure it's worth the risk of serious injury. Stupid, and too cheap to buy a ten dollar frame. Fucking hell, I hate people.

I also had an older lady call me at about 11 and ask if I could get her art (not due for another three days) done today, because she wouldn't have her car for a week. I checked that I had all the parts, and I did, so I told her I couldn't promise her anything, because I was already a bit behind, but i'd try to get her done today and give her a call sometime in the afternoon.

"Oh, no, that's much too late. He's coming to get my car in about an hour."

Let me get this straight... we TOLD you when you bought the thing that it would take two weeks, but you decided TODAY that you needed it sooner, so you called me, and expected me to bump you ahead of everybody, including the job I'm already working on, and just do your stuff immediately? no. No no no no no. You could have called me last night, or yesterday, but you waited until an HOUR before you thought you'd be able to pick it up. You suck. And you sound WAY too old to be driving anyway.

Another lady asked me if we deliver. We are not fucking Pizza Hut. We are basically only two guys, since the dept. manager left and a couple part timers who don't amount to much, because they work about 12 hours a week each, and only at night. Yeah, let me shut down the counter and not do any framing at all for two hours and spend my (or the company's, I guess) money on gas driving your shit out to wherever the hell you live. No thank you. You drove out here to place the order, it won't kill you to drive out here and pick it up.

I should be fair, there are some really great customers. I had one today who had some nice work that she wanted framed nicely, and didn't hem and haw over minutiae. When she didn't like something, she new why she didn't like it, which is always helpful, and when she wasn't sure, she asked for advice and took it. I don't mind spending my time with those people. They almost always buy something. I can't STAND people who take all day picking out just the right thing (which usually looks like ass) and then they have to "think about it" or they want an estimate. An estimate just means "Can you write down all that shit you just came up with in the last hour and a half so I can take it somewhere else and they can undercut you by ten bucks and be the hero after you did all the work?" The answer is always a resounding "No," sometimes accompanied with a bit of "fuck off" as well.

I also hate couples. Not all couples, just the ones that buy custom frames in my shop. They are forever talking each other out of shit. Just pick your art together, and then ONE of you come and place your framing order, and it will look good. The framer will make sure it doesn't look like total shit. That's what we do. Most of us are good at it. Your partner will be fine with it, especially if you let the girl come in, because in most cases, guys don't really give a shit. They just want to throw it on the wall in the cheapest frame they can find. Or take turns. Whatever. Otherwise, your just going to get into an argument, and piss each other and your framer off. Ladies, spend the money. I mean, don't spend the RENT money, or the dog food money, but you know, if the money is there, spend it. He'll be pissed for a month or so, and he'll probably tell his friends what his crazy bitch wife spent on that god-awful picture her crazy aunt gave her for the wedding, but in a few weeks he'll get over it, and you'll have a nice piece to hang on your wall forever. I suppose it's possible some of the guys out there are dick enough to beat you up over that kind of shit, but if that's the case, you've got bigger problems than picture framing. Bring me in a divorce certificate to frame, and dinner is on me.

This job would be great if it wasn't for the fucking customers.

I had kind of a long day, can you tell?

Back on EFX2

07:39, Thu 20 Sep 2007 .. 5 comments .. Link

After a brief stint on Blogspot (thedietcokeofevil.blogspot.com) I'm returning to the new and possibly improved EFX2. My motivation is simple. I never DID figure out how to work subscriptions on blogspot. I miss my automatic notifications. And the formatting options kinda sucked too.

So anyway, I'm back. Hiya.

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