A day at work

I learn that the reason why our regular casual labour dude doesn't have a phone is because he is homeless. He's been staying at Salvation Army. Aside from smoking cigarettes, what does he do with his money? He makes what I made at Rolex, what I wish I were making now. And it's all deduction-free money. Now I don't know if my boss had been planning on posting up the Trespass Signs or not, but he did print out 2 copies of the email, perhaps not realizing the sign came as an attachment. They come from the Liquor Cabinet (now if that isn't ironic, what is?). The subject is Esquimalt Business Association:

For your information,
Attached is a poster for you to post on your exterior walls business. With Downtown Victoria pushing out the homeless, Esquimalt is their best option. The EBA has been communicating with Victoria City Police to address the problem. Some of the homeless are very aggressive c/w extreme health problems. Caution must be applied for both you and your staff.
The reason for the poster is to give VPD the permission on your behalf to deal directly with the person. With out the poster the homeless just say they have permission from the owners and this leaves VPD helpless. Pleas help to send the message to the happy campers in the community.
If you can get a description of the individulas (yes they come in groups) or individula, Chantal Ziegler our community contact with VPD will talk to them and advise them not to come back. With the sign they can be charged with No Trespassing.
You want to be extra careful if you or your self are doing bank deposits. These people can also intimidate staff to stop working for you. Lets work together to stop the problem.
When phoning the Police get a Police Report Number.
If anyone has questions please do not hesitate to contact me for further information.

Cheers,
Brent Patriquin
Canadian Liquor Cabinet
250-361-3530 #3
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I have copied it out exactly as it appears, grammatical errors in tact.
I recycled the 1 copy and took the other home for amusement.
Hopefully, one day, I'll get to see the actual Trespass Sign as well.
And then I can ask my boss how he thinks our casual labour dude would feel seeing that poster if he wants to put it up and avoid politics and ethics.

The other staff member, who takes the casual labour guy out with him, decided to show something to me on his cell phone. He accidentally opened up a photo of two big nude women seated on the beach or something. They were photographed from behind. I laughed and joked that he could be fired for showing me something like that. I was serious. He accidentally opened up the same one again and then found the correct one. A photo of a nude male baby seated on the beach with an enlarged, adult-sized penis. This photo came with audio with an adult voice pretending to be the baby and saying, "#%@! off. what are you looking at?!" etc.
The staff laughing, asked me if I saw the penis. Yeah. Staff guy says he doesn't even know who sent it to him. I tell him I hope that's not the new spam, thinking of my own cell phone. He jokes that it came from Telus and it cost him 50 cents for receiving it. I wanted to tell Staff guy not to ever show me anything like that again, but if Staff guy thinks I'm one of the guys, that's better than being hit on or sexually harassed right? (Staff guy has a girlfriend, who does his laundry for him.) If he goes to show me something else on his cell phone, that's when I will stop him and tell him I have no interest in seeing jokes like that. He will then probably think I have no sense of humour and forget how I made him laugh in the past with my jokes.
The accountant comes back after a call from the boss about the cheque arriving. We've received larger cheques, I don't know why this one is of special interest. Probably because they agreed the next time a big cheque came in (an expected one), he would take some of the money for himself. This was the accountant's idea. Perhaps so he would be much more agreeable to her recent hundred dollar raise for supposedly coming in more often to train me. But the truth is, she hasn't. Dang even our tech does this by deciding to make calls etc and then turns around and charges us for it. Really, tech, charging us 2 hours for a couple of 5-minute calls?
While the accountant and the boss chat, I ask X (the accountant's daughter's best friend) what the accountant is driving that day. He says it's her new sports car. I ask him how it drives. He surprises me by saying it's great and that she's been going fast. I guess it hadn't started raining by then and the roads were dry.
What's funny is that the accountant has complained to me how the boss's relative (the one I'm replacing) ripped her off by charging her for time even though the accountant had to go back and fix all her errors. And yet she's charging us an extra hundred for saying she'll come in and then calling and saying she can't make it?
The boss leaves early, happy about the $9,400 he's going to deposit into his joint account. He's married and lives in a house with their son. It's supposedly the first time he's taken money for himself. He makes more than twice what I make. And he can use the company credit cards to pay for things that I turn a blind eye to.
A man walks in, naturally looking for used furniture. I sigh, this always happens when the boss is not around. I get so many calls and walk-ins and I'm sure I piss people off with my ignorance about costs and product. Miracle-of-miracles, the boss returns. He tells the man the catalogue prices he sees are just "list" costs and that we can do better than that. And lies to the man about having to go do some work and leaves. It's nice because he's going to deliver a cheque to the casual labour dude.
Today I was freezing again. I wear a t-shirt, long-sleeved shirt, sweater and a hoodie. Then I get too warm. Argh! I ran around in the back, hopped, and did exaggerated marching to try and warm up.
A man calls back asking where we are located. He called the other day. I recognize the accent and how he has a hard time listening to me. I have to repeat what I said before about us not having anything in stock. And he tells me what I say costs $900 costs $500 online. "Okay, then!" I answer with cheer, thinking good luck. I search the internet as well and see that he's right but I wouldn't order from them. It would be like ordering a mail-order groom from a popcorn company.
I leave at 4:30 and am just happy to leave at my regular time as opposed to staying 'til 5 (as I already work through an 8.5 hour day getting paid for 8). And after taxes, I hardly make more than I did on EI. I am a loyal employee who knows I need to leave to make more money, even though it will anger them (who currently pay half my wages for 6 months as I'm supposedly getting training during this time). It certainly is educational. I am learning how I would run a business differently for one thing.

The best thing about this day at work is just happening to look up and there was a ridiculously-cute-looking woman looking at me. I looked away, naturally, and realized she was probably in high-school but it was still a happy moment. The happenstance of looking up to find someone looking at you and attaching meaning to it.

Ulp

Last night I went out for a bag of Smart Food.
The air was still and warm, fresh and calm.
I felt safe and floaty.
And wondered if I was about to die.
I looked around as if a car was about to strike, but
I really was safe.
I forgot this feeling, walking into the store.
I could have been shot and killed in a robbery, after all.
Letting my guard down. Or a car could have come crashing through the store.
Oh the puzzling mind.
That I would wonder at Death around the corner in a feeling of lightness out in the dark peace of night.