Far corners

The neighbors were quiet last night when I went to bed at 7, but I had a horrible time falling asleep.  Then I had a horrible time staying asleep.  Ron woke me up laughing at something Baby Girl did, but says he didn't remember it.  As I lay in bed, I kept thinking, "It's too late... I think I have a problem with the alarm.  It's too late.  I have been in bed for too long". 

Sure enough, I checked my alarm at 3:20.  I had meant to get up at 2. 

Needless to say I scurried around trying to get everything done.  I was "acceptable" when I left the house but that's about it. 

At least I didn't have a headache. 

The other vendor's employee was on the bus and we had a straight trip to work.  It was interesting riding with him.  He has 3 cats.  I told him today his one cat is probably a Japanese Bobtail.  He was impressed.  He has one of those households where new cats just show up periodically.  I'm surprised he's kept it to 3 cats. 

We got to work and I stocked.  It needed stocking.  I made an inventory list for my Sam's run tomorrow.  I helped Ron, who, for a change, didn't yell at me today. 

It is especially embarrassing when he yells at me in front of other people.  Worse when they smile or laugh, hearing him yell at me.  It's like getting kicked, twice.  It happens. 

Only one time ever did someone tell Ron to cut it out.  I wanted to hug that man. 

Eventually our delivery arrived.  It was short a case, they had a mishap going up the ramp.  They hit a bump and a case of soda went flying.  Oh, well. 

They didn't charge us for it. 

They even put it away, I love that guy.  I really didn't want to stack up 47 cases of soda if I didn't have to.  And I didn't. 

Ron was a little upset it came in cases of 24, instead of his 12 packs.  He will manage. 

After that I did what I could but things were pretty dead for a while.  I did remind the other vendor's wife about the coin mech. 

I noticed she had a new coin mech on her cart.  If you plug in a coin mech when the machine is on, you will fry the mech, and that is $200-$300.  You have to turn off the power in the machine before you put in the new unit.  She was happy to hear it and told her "new" guy about it, too. 

Good.  I'd hate to know I could have helped prevent equipment getting fried.  I don't care if we have a little rivalry going, that's natural when we are competing, but I don't have to be ugly. 

I took the money out of the machines and Ron counted it (we do this on different days so we don't have a schedule).  We went to the bank - we had the rules and regulations driver again. 

We changed the money into $20 bills and met Chuck.  Ron had it in his head he HAD to go to Denny's.  I would have been just as happy with $1.49 chicken nuggets from Burger King.

We went.  I decided to get the hamburger with the fried egg on top. They put hashbrowns in it, and some nasty spicy cheese, even though I asked for cheddar.  I was not impressed.  I ate it anyway because we had to pay for it, but next time I will just get sausage and eggs ala carte. 

Ron got his cheesesteak omlette, and Chuck got a club sandwich.  They both enjoyed their food.  Our waitress was nice, I liked her. 

We paid and left, toting Ron's leftovers.  Next up, we went to a local grocery store to get more Paratransit tickets. 

If we want to go out to our favorite BBQ restaurant, we need four tickets round trip.  It is in the "premium fare" area - the nice part of town, and requires commensurate fare, apparently.  Ron was almost out of tickets. 

If we go anywhere on paratransit, we have to stay there for an hour, even if it's just a 10 minute trip.  So we had Chuck take us. 

I got stuck waiting in line behind a lady who was showing her passport for ID on a transaction, and it wasn't an American one.  I wondered what country she called home.  I wondered what she was doing.  At the end of it all, she also bought a gift card too. 

When I got up there she told me, if I wanted more than one sheet of tickets, they would have to open the safe, and it was on a 5 minute delay.  She got a manager to do it. 

They kept looking at me, probably because I don't appear disabled, and I wanted several sheets of tickets (each sheet has 11 tickets).  She made me get out of line and wait. 

The line grew very long.  I got worried I would have to wait behind all these other people, and their complicated transactions.  They called me to come up front, jumping the line. 

I'm sure the other customers loved that.  She presented the sheets of tickets and I paid for them. 

I left the store and called Ron to come get me.  Chuck, when waiting, likes to park at the far corners of the parking lot.  They came and got me. 

We went home. 

I put the leftovers in the fridge and immediately went to bed.  Sleep deprived, two nights in a row, is asking for trouble. 

I laid down.  Torbie joined me.  I took a little while falling asleep but when I did I went under pretty far.  I slept well and woke up, thinking it was several hours later.  Frankly, I was surprised it was still light out. 

Imagine my surprise when I found out it wasn't even 3 PM.  I got up and did my God Time. 

I talked to Ron for a while.  He is reading one of those "Vigilante Justice"  novels.  You just know someone's going to die and probably at the hand of the protagonists' child. 

He drank.  Then he ate a TV dinner.  He treated the cats and went back to bed. 

I plan to follow suit pretty soon.  I'm still tired and I have to get up at 4 tomorrow morning.