Oh I really need this vacation.

Oh I need this vacation! I haven't been off since last September. Today I almost lost it with a customer. Next to deli where I work is the kitchen. Essentially they have prepared food, meals, chicken wings, grilled chicken , pizza (actually quite good), sandwiches etc.
Well today I got stuck working there for a bit because of two  (questionable) sick calls It got infuriating when I was making a sandwich for a guy and I asked him what he would like on his sandwich (tomatoes, hot peppers, pickles and so on) and his reply, "I don't want any mayonnaise." I was thinking, 'Hey (pardon my French) shithead,  I asked you what would you like on your sandwich not what you don't want on your sandwich. I tell ya I was ready to go over the counter and punch this guy in the mouth. I am not a violent person but I could feel my anger growing. Now I didn't go over the counter and punch this guy in the mouth but I really wanted to.

After another hideous Wednesday two people short and someone who was an hour late. I won't go into detail, I just told myself to ride it out. No amount of crabbing was going to change anything. It still wasn't an easy day. So I ended up leaving about 10 minutes early, as we finally had some semblance of a crew, tired, hungry and glad to be away from questions like, "Do you have ham, the kind for sandwiches?" WHAT! Here in a deli! Ham for sandwiches! You must be joking!
Or one of my all time favorites that I have mentioned several times in the past and still makes me laugh. I asked a customer what kind of turkey he wanted. Oven roasted, (basically a plain roasted turkey), honey, pepper, smoked, the list of varieties goes on forever. His reply, "Oven proof."

Fast forward 6p.m. I make a call to Arlene to check in. We are both anxious for this getaway as the last time she had a week off was the last time I had a week off, September of 2012. Now it's only a few days away. We will leave on Monday morning and head down to Woods Hole on Cape Cod and grab the ferry to Martha's Vineyard. Same hotel, who's lobby you see in the header picture of this blog. Our sixth time in the last 3 years. Only in the off season though.

Now I have a quick and usual meal of pancakes. I have two longtime friends coming over. The odd thing about this is though I've known both of them 45 and 44 years respectively and they both know of each other and have mutual friends and the fact that I still see both of them regularly, the three of us have never been in the same room alone. Each had a separate group of friends and I hung out with both of them. When Earle arrived Dave greeted him with " Hey Earle! What's it been, only 40 years or so?"
We all share the same sense of humor, musical likes, and so on. We watched a program on PBS about the Marathon Bombings. This program looked at the technology, camera footage from all kinds of sources, sophisticated facial recognition computer programs. A misspelled name of the dead bomber on a tip from the Russians on file in the U.S. and just how events played out. It was as current as last week. Great program.

After the program and a couple of beers. No really just two. We just started talking and joking and laughing and though we all share the same humor, this was the first time this trio was bouncing jokes around. We are of the Monty Python, Saturday Night Live, George Carlin influences. It was easy and a lot of fun.

So hear I sit now at about 12:12 a.m. writing a blog when I should be in bed sleeping. I ended the day on a good note.

Now I really got to sleep.

I'm outta here.