My throat scratches with every breath. I woke with a raw maw, somewhere behind my mouth. Cold mornings bring golden thought, sometimes, and I'm listening to something farther out than where I am.
VAGUE, I KNOW. THAT'S POETRY BOOM.
Listening to Crosses, that new album by Deftones lead singer and a couple other guys. Great project. I love the album so far. I like it so much I'm going to go buy it as soon as next friday comes.
The past few days have been a chore. Angry people, hard installs, customers being customers. Lots of cats, too. Cats are apparently a staple with customers who purchase my brand of cable/internet. Cold weather. Water. Rain ice sleet snow. All frozen over today. Icy faces. I haven't come to any deep conclusions, except people are good.
Yesterday I worked with a woman who was once rich, like old-money rich, but no longer. As if she recently got a divorce and all her money was cut off. Older, 70's. She kept saying how yesterday was the worst day of her life. She talked about how she was up until three trying to figure out where "all the furniture goes." She was flustered because she left her coffeepot on at her old house. She kept making comments like, "I'm lucky I didn't kill myself with all these decisions!" as if deciding where her expensive, 180 year old furniture went was a suicidal commitment. She kept talking to people on the phone, saying how traumatizing it was she had to go driving in the ice and sleet, and then in the same breath how it took me So Long to finally arrive for the install. Double-standard.
She wanted everything her way, wanted all the wires invisible, wanted a thousand things hooked up, and for no extra charge because "I am not paying a single penny. I shouldn't have to. This is your job." "Yes. It is. I will gladly hook everything up. But it comes with a connect charge of fifty-five bucks." "That's ridiculous. I can't believe that. How am I supposed to get my DVD player to work without you? They told me you would do it!" "And I will. For a fee." "This is how you treat your customers?"
...What? I bent over backward for this woman, and all she could do and say is how I'm putting her at a disadvantage. No lines in a finished house. Two TVs only (because she WON'T add seven bucks to her monthly charge), DVR HAD to be in her bedroom. And she wasn't sure where the TV would go in the cavernous family room. She wanted me to move the tv stand to different parts of the room so she could see how it looked.
I had to put my foot down. Seven hours later, I finished the install with her and I on much better terms. She apologized, offered me lunch, food, water. She had no fridge, see, and no cabinets, and she had pulled her back moving things the day before, and had to get things done so she could be, just, done. I get it.
Spoiled rich people frustrate me. Spoiled poor people frustrate me. Ignorance frustrates me. This job is endlessly frustrating. I want to move on.
Time for another day. I have to deposit money in my savings accounts. I have to continue paying bills overdue. Fun.
And I have the honor of helping Aspen write her memoir. I'm very excited about that. In fact, I'm excited about everything to do with Aspen. I need more plans to look forward to.
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