Saturday, November 29, 2008

Black Friday

My wife came in a moment ago. I had just begun the post that might have turned into that first not invented yet Pulitzer/Nobel prize for excellence in Blogging. It might have answered all the questions all of us have about all there is to question. The one answer that would solve any problem confronting us as individuals or as communities. Yeah, it might have become that. But B came in and tore my attention away from those words. As quickly as the brilliant insight came in, it's instant and overwhelming perception was lost forever when she said, "About that concert tonight....." Words were lost that would have ensured me fame long after I had become food for the wiggly critters that live in the ground. My daughter would have lived out her life the daughter of a famous man. Now I am writing this what mighta been, what coulda been sad excuse for a post. If you are disappointed, blame my wife.

Randal over to L'ENNUI MELODIEUX once again commented on his inability to come up with anything clever. So he offered up his usual. Excellent use of the language to fill space and kill time as his last hours were suffered toiling at work he would soon be taking a four day break from.

I sometimes wonder about the "work place bloggers". I would lay into them for their personal use of company time. But I cannot. I am just jealous I think. I would be more than happy to waste time blogging from my workplace, but my cheap ass employer(me) has not antied up and bought a connection to the Internet. Not even dial up, the cheap bastard. Oh he claims he has good reason. Something to the effect that it costs money he does not have. I believe him, but still he pisses me off when he says shit like this.

A bike shop can be a lonely space to inhabit during the colder months in Maine. Boredom creeps in like a cold draft and hangs in the air sucking any enthusiasm out, leaving the occupants lethargic and listless. The occasional phone call often ends up being a wrong number or another vendor wondering where that last payment is. But as bad as it gets in the Bike Shop, there is no lonelier time than the days right after Thanksgiving.

The Friday after Happy Gluttony Day has become Happy Mall Day, Happy Walmart Day, Happy Big Box Store Day. Millions of Americans get the exercise they need to burn off that turkey dinner they had yesterday by sprints through aisles filled with bargains and deals. Small retailers depending on warm weather and minds turned to fitness often miss out on this gluttonous spending that follows gluttonous eating. Don't get me wrong. I accept this as part of my chosen profession. I understand that on the day after Thanksgiving, Jesus conditioned responses kick in and folks begin the brutal hunt for deals on books, wide screen TVs, games of every kind and description, and clothes from Aunt Betty.

So I sat all alone in my empty store and played Free Cell, read some cycling articles in Dirt Rag and tried to stay warm. (That cheap ass employer of mine won't turn the thermostat up past 55'F) Constant checking of the clock indicated time had slowed down. Damn, it was only 5 minutes later and I was sure an hour has passed by. I am positive the evil entity that forces us to the malls on Black Friday adds seconds to my minutes in the Bike Shop. In order to nurture and develop the necessary urgency to create riotous spending, shoppers have to know they have little time to satisfy their buying Jones. This evil entity steals their time and shortens their day. As they rush through crowd filled and bag filled spaces, they will wonder where the time went. Well, I'll tell you where their time went. Right here to Springvale, Maine. To a time and place that remained empty and waiting for something to fill it up. So my day slowed down as more minutes were crammed into my shop hours. The way I look at it now is all it did was give me more time to waste.

PS - I did not have a clue what I would write today. I had even less of a clue just after I started. My wife did indeed blow my early attempt. Our conversation about the David Bromberg Concert tonight drove out what was probably a more useless post than what you just read. Maybe it did not. Regardless, below find a taste of a very huge but under rated talent. David Bromberg was responsible for much of the music I would embrace through the years I have had so far. It will be a real treat to see him one more time.

7 comments:

Middle Ditch said...

My wife came in a moment ago and blew my post. Oh dear, how well I know that. My husband has a knack of doing just that when I'm in the bath cooking up the next story for MD. Bang, gone forever.

Randal Graves said...

Don't you hate when that magical moment of soon-to-be eternally loved inspiration vanishes through the thoughtlessness of others?

And it's always their fault.

In my defense, a library at 7pm the day before Thanksgiving isn't all that packed. And I'm at work today, so ha ha ha on you. Wait.

55°F? I'm all for donning an extra layer and turning the heat down à la The Peanut President, but I heard a crazy rumor that Maine can get cold now and then.

No tunes though without speakers. Damn you again, work. I'll have to check this out later.

Gary ("Old Dude") said...

with your vocabulary and word usage skills, you can razzle dazzle em til you get back to the main thought. Me I can lose my train of thought before I finish the sentence, and then-----and then???---(see what I mean?) (lol)

Carlita said...

How was the concert? I wish I'd known about it--I would have traveled south to see David Bromberg again.

Tom Harper said...

I'm retired now (although I prefer the term "self-employed"), but I can't imagine getting a chance to blog at work, at any of the jobs I had. I'd surf the net during break periods, but outside of that, there there was just too much work that couldn't be left undone.

About 2 and a half years ago, a rightwing blogger bragged (in a post) about getting a comment from a "moonbat," tracing this commenter's IP and finding out that it was a workplace, and e-mailing that company's office to inform them that one of their employees was blogging on company time.

BBC said...

It's okay, if you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.

Does your wife read your blog? Or is that someone that she doesn't know?

Does your wife have a blog?

The sign outside of my parts house said, FREE COFFEE AND BS. It helped past the time in a small town. And I had a free candy jar on the counter.

I loved selling parts, buy a part, sell it, buy another part, sell it. Spend the rest of the day bullshitting with customers.

Grew more every year until I left. It was a very small town with high unemployment but it treated me okay.

Didn't make me rich, but that wasn't my objective anyway. Owned the property in town, owned the 60 acres we lived on, had a 24 foot pontoon boat to do some camping on, it was good all in all.

MRMacrum said...

Middle Ditch - It seems my grip on anything is tentative. It does not take much to make take my eye off the ball.

Randal - My life is definitely someone slse's fault. Working the Friday after Turkey Day? Well I guess I can't feel as sorry for myself now can I? Thanks. I actually like a cold house and/or work space. It's the drafts at the shop that drive me whacko. Old building that leaks air like there is a pump somewhere sucking it in.

Old Dude - Word usage skills? Geez, I just try to write like I talk. Or would talk if i could resist my temptation to mumble.

Carlita - The concert was absolutely great. See my post on it.

Tom - Well, you need to own a bike shop in Maine in the winter. Plenty of time to contemplate pretty much anything under the Sun.

BBC - I know for sure she has read one post. Her comment was chilly to say the least.