Why Would I Want Fries With Popcorn?

Ten points if you get the reference.

Just a quick post because I can. I was looking over my comments for my last post, in which I howl and scream that things are going well but yet I hate life, and I'm noting a frustrating trend. The anonycommenters are making it hard to tell if they actually give a hoohoo or if they're just spamming me. One of the other, folks! Either say something interesting or just get your advertising over with so I can delete you! Both confuses me...

Question: In twenty years, will anyone remember Geico for any reason other than those "But I have good news" ads? I almost let one slip here, much to my terror-wibbling... Anyhoo! From the Desk of Ariel Bummermann, the article on Monday has made almost no difference. Monday was semi-busy, but otherwise business continues much the same - not horrendous, but frustratingly mediocre. On the other hand, from the Desk of Halley Golightly, I have found a cook for the evening shift. I finally asked the gal who's been helping out with rush if she was interested, and she said yes. It'll still likely be the end of October before night shift actually starts, as I want to finish out the season at the Farmer's Market (Friday nights and Saturday mornings are not a good combo), but at least it's looking more like an attainable goal. Also on the drawing board are plans for some kind of Guy Fawkes celebration on the 5th of November. Fireworks we can't do, but we could pull off a bonfire in the railroad parking lot out back. The trouble I'm having is how to turn that into fun and/or a boost for my business...

Anyhoo, I still hate life, but it's more of a relaxed sort of hate at the moment. Honestly, I don't think the world and I are ever going to get along... If anyone finds an exit, let me know...

Disjunction Junction

Okay, so it's been a while. I am not in a good mood this week, so here's the good news in quick easy sound bites.

* The newspaper ran an article on me yesterday. It brought in a bit of business, but somewhere a high school english teacher is beating their head on their desk wondering how in heck they failed to teach this reporter how to write a cohesive paragraph. Seriously, I could have done better half-asleep and strung out on kool-aid powder. At least the interview was fun...

* The health inspector finally showed up yesterday. After giving me an entire month to get paranoid over some of the vague warnings he gave me last visit, he breezed through the shop in ten minutes and gave it full marks. Only thing he had to say was to kick the fridge down a couple degrees. Glad it's over, but feh.... Yeah yeah, I'm gonna hear lots of "but it's not his fault you're a paranoid wackadoo, Ron"... Do yourself a favor and save it.

* I got a call last week from the MDA people (the yabbos behind "Jerry's Kids"), apparently they're doing some fundraiser where they take local celebrities and lock them up in a fancy restaurant for an hour in the hopes that their friends will shell out big bucks to 'bail them out'... Some deluded person gave them my name, which means that they didn't do their research. They're assuming that A) I have friends, and B) my friends have money. I agreed, since it could actually be fun and I'll at least get lunch out of it. The packet I got in the mail yesterday assumes that I'm going to go around to everyone I know begging for donations. Yeah right... I may get around to putting out a jar for donations in the shop, but I'm not going to do these people's job for them.

And bottom line, I don't care about Jerry's Kids any more than I do about Jerry himself. Sending them to summer camp is not gonna find a cure for muscular dystrophy, which is what these kids really need. Now, if someone comes up with a program to send intelligent, hard-working normal kids to camp, I'm there. One of the few things I actually learned in grade school was that bad kids get a lot more rewards and attention than the good ones ever will, and that's always turned my crank something fierce. So, if I ever become rich, that's where the charity budget will be going.

Yeah, so things don't seem to be going badly right now. Big deal. I'm still feeling grouchy as heck, and given half a chance I'd blow up the world in hopes of making something better the second time around. Aren't you glad you came?

Action Figuring

Well, the numbers have been run for last month. Bad news is, I miss Kayleen. On the other hand, thanks to decreased expenses (not just from her leaving to get a much better job) and occasionally increased business, we actually turned a profit for the month. We're $35 in the black, ladies and gents! I'm hoping to do better this month, and if the high school business continues steady and other customers keep coming in, I'm pretty sure we'll manage it. Still may have to do a dinner shift to really make headway on the debts, but right now any good sign is welcome. Odd, though, I don't feel elated about this like I should. Either I'm a natural pessimist, or a well-trained one.

In the meantime, I am undergoing Adventures in Cheap Software(TM), in which I buy computer games for $10 and try them out. If I think anyone remotely cares, I might even review a few...

Teeming Hordes of Doom

High school is in, and the flocks are descending. Every day at around 12:50 we get a horde of kids from the school, and they've only got until 1:30 to tank up on fat and sugar, make a lot of noise, and rearrange most of the chairs in my shop. Fortunately, we're getting the system down so that we can get their orders organized and out at a reasonable speed; at least today was pretty successful in that aspect. Still, we're going to be taking on more help for that one hour.

This is not something I want to gloat over exactly, but I think I will file it under "Interesting Ironies". Today I just hired a grad student to come be our drinks runner. She wandered in Tuesday to grab an application, came back yesterday to return it and get interviewed, and today we determined beyond the shadow of a doubt that we need her services. She'll be putting in one hour a day, but according to her what she mainly needs is a reason to leave her apartment and encounter the human race on a regular basis. We're a lot of things at Union Jack's, and human is probably one of them.

Anyway, we're still not quite at the profit line this week, but business is up. The school crowd will most likely keep us running at capacity during that period, and maybe once Labor Day is past then we'll be seeing enough other lunch business to pull us over the line. Don't set ducks on it yet, but I'm also tossing around the idea of a dinner shift three nights a week. It wouldn't raise our costs much, but the question is how popular it would be and whether or not I could take the stress of it. I'd also need to get a cook for that shift, as there's no way Mom could handle night and day both... Anyway, it's something to think about, not to decide on right now... For now, my priorities are to get through the rest of the week, decide whether I want to do the market this week or not, and find something to fill out my Labor Day Weekend that will recharge my soul batteries... I'm feeling kinda low at the moment.