Aside from the “blow off” from the previous month and Anthony’s very unsettling conniption fit over my lack of follow-up (or groveling) for a position at his Finer’s store during the course of May 2014 I had two interviews. Both at banks one for my mother’s locally-owned institution another for a branch of a national company in a nearby suburb.
I’ve discussed the interview with my mother’s bank. I had to go across the city – just like with Finer’s and both had outposts on the northwest side of the city. Of course the bank interview was easier to get to than the Finer’s interview though it definitely took more time to get there. However, what kept me from the job was the hiring manager just took issue with my lateness.
I was late for the interview it was another long commute and this wasn’t something that I was very enthusiastic about. A lot of the Streak Era was me looking for a job to leave The Show that’s what this exercise was about. For me, the hype was in this situation my mother worked for this company and hopefully it would count for something. Not with this lady. Also I tried to respect her time letting her know that I was running late.
I’ve discussed this before. She was a talker and I had difficulty keeping up. She talked a lot about God’s will and all that. However, as she found a way to make it clear (without at first saying so directly) she had an issue with me not being on time for the interview. I told her that I had to change trains downtown and then getting to the airport there was a lot of construction on the train line and was slowed down as a result. She didn’t want to hear that, the damage was done with her cutting me off to say “I thought you said the red line“.
Allow me to reiterate, I changed trains downtown and made sure to call her to respect her time. During the interview I talked about one day getting into mgmt and her response should let me know not to bring that up again in an interview – as I haven’t at all gotten that close to that goal:
“You came into this interview almost 20 mins late, I’m not impressed”
She later had me take a quick skills test, and kept me waiting in the lobby of the branch. She never said I’d have to take a test anyway, but then what was the point it seemed she’d made up her mind. She told me I passed the test, however, as we parted way she let me know we’ll be in touch and noted that she’s evaluating other candidates. My mother and I kept up our optimism, however, it was clear she wasn’t going to call me back.
I have to tell you years before Anthony sort of speculated aloud because he can be opinionated that he never understood why my mother hadn’t tried to get me to work at that bank. Now his point might have been what are you doing here, you belong with your mother. It’s as if my mother can wave a magic wand and I work for a bank.
Nepotism may be a real thing, however, in this instance it didn’t work out for me. It’s not like my mother could hire me and that’s that. It’s not like the company would let her and even then was that what I wanted? Perhaps it’s another thing if she owned the company which she didn’t. Either way the reason I never did before 2014 was because it was important for me to get a job on my own merits. In 2014, my goal was to change my then current situation in this instance I relented.
Regardless, the count now goes to 0 for 8. One reason why I never heard from this manager again was that some time after this she was let go. The bank was undergoing some changes and she was one of them. When I tell this story usually people laugh as it’s ironic. She kept me from a job and later she lost hers. My mother had me apply again after that, however, by that point I had already found another job.
This next interview was 0 for 9 and yet it was a better interview. I had to admit I was late to this one also though not by much and it wasn’t as far away as the previous interview. All I had to do was take a bus to a nearby suburb. It wasn’t my ideal posting and the hiring manager was very nice. She didn’t hit me on my timeliness other than asking if I had difficulty finding the branch.
She was nice enough to let me know upon a later follow-up that she tendered a job offer to someone else. The other interviewer never responded to any follow-ups.
When I was done with the interview, the next order of business was to go into the nearby mall and catch the latest X-Men movie. To date that was the last time I watched a picture there, this was a nice May day and being in an air-conditioned cinema was a great treat.
Oh allow me to add, that I didn’t entirely get away from my theater roots in that interview. We talked cash handling she used a term – selling my money and I compared it to a drain. She had to ask me what’s a drain and I explained that a drain is when mgmt would take excess cash out of my till. She got it and in my brief banking career later on, “selling money” had become a point of contention because I was not always mindful of my attention to details.
A lesson to be learned from both interviews is to be on-time for the interview. You never know the mindset of a hiring manager. As you see in one interview, the hiring mgr had trouble relating to someone who took public transportation and was delayed by some unforeseen circumstances. Perhaps I could’ve left earlier to ensure being on-time, however, what can one do with someone who proved to be a stickler for time.
Oh and next month one more interview. Allow me to explain that my saying on this next interview is 0 for 3 and he (The Fiend) failed three times. This sounds like something he’d say – at least in my head – however when I talk about the coming interview this is a concept worth explaining. Can’t wait!
I had promised to write something about my failed attempt for another interview with Finer Foods in spring 2014. My goal just wasn’t to write yet another rehash of something that had been written on this blog before. The idea is to more or less just further analyze what happened during this period of time.
The primary goal of the Streak Era to put it in concrete terms was to leave The Show and that’s it. I didn’t exactly have very high standards. If the Streak Era had ended on my terms, I would’ve been a manager especially at a cinema. Well I haven’t become a manager anywhere, so that goal has yet to be achieved and not sure if it ever will.
However, the point of this post is to discuss why my old ex-friend and ex-coworker Anthony (the Fiend) just seemed all over this aspect of the job hunt. Though between February 2014 to about May 2014 he had a seemingly laser focus on getting yours truly to work at a particular outpost at this grocery store chain referred to on this blog as Finer Foods aka Finer’s.
In reality as of 2024, it’s really too long ago and really far away for me to adequately analyze this. When I think about it now it doesn’t seem like he gave a $h!t about whether or not I left The Show let alone work for Finer Foods. In my head, this situation enabled his tendencies towards being a disappointed father. Yeah that term has been used a lot but it fits.
What helps me come to this conclusion is him making an issue of Finer’s three years later, his campaign of “if you come to Finer Foods, you’d make more money”. In that case I feel as if that was a diversion. Mainly, I was already working for a grocer – Fresh Foods – and things seemed to have gone well. Which even he would acknowledge based on what I had been telling him, however, his message became now here’s a reason for you to jump ship. Perhaps when thinking about it, he really didn’t want to hear my good news although let’s say the last time we ever talked he has no idea what the second half of 2017 became for yours truly.
However, in 2014 Jack V was trying to leave The Show and by April 2014 I had made a phone call to Anthony because I was hoping he had some job leads. For me, nothing seemed to have been working out. My previous interview was for a Finer’s store that hopefully would’ve been a better commute didn’t work out. I discussed this it was not a great interview.
Meanwhile Anthony was already sniffing around with a very narrow focus. He was trying to make a call and was sending text with one main question “What’s going on with Finer’s?”
What happened was that he had already had allegedly made some arrangements for his story on the northwest side of Chicago to have them call me. However, this other store had called me first and knowing that it was a bit closer than where Ant had seemed to have wanted me to consider I chose them. I’m guessing Anthony realized I hadn’t followed up, and for me I hadn’t updated him. If things had worked out likely I’d have told him.
So anyway we talked for a bit, more like ranted and then he swung it right back to Finer’s. And his response to when telling him about the earlier interview was that I put all my eggs in one basket.
Now let me say, I don’t intend to rehash that whole episode. It has already been done numerous times. We already know that this didn’t work out. My story was that for unforeseen reasons I was kept waiting – due to a district manager visit – I had no interview. I was hungry, sleepy, and cold on a bright sunny day. Getting nothing for getting up early for a long commute and being on an unfamiliar part of the city just made me more grump about this situation.
This is what I got for Anthony’s persistent attempts at follow-up. And Ant’s phone call where he immediately asks me an interview question. And for him having me make the necessary arrangements by calling his store director and scheduling the interview which also coincided (unless it was unexpected) a visit by his own district manager. For all this I got nothing and got yelled at for now further following-up – or grovelling – for a job.
So his level of emotion – and thus his unwillingness to allow me to answer the question and listening – just made very little sense to me. Still does and to this day it’s really unknown to myself why he intended to be all over this.
Also I may add his quick flash of anger when things seemed to have fallen apart and his further insistence that I called them after being there and essentially getting blown off dampened any interest in this opportunity. And just keep in mind this wasn’t my most favored opportunity because of the commute and how far away from home it was. How bad did I want this, and yet my former coworker seemed to have wanted this badly? And was OK with acting like a disappointed father over it!
And strangely enough it was on his mind still with more attempts at phone calls and texts – this time asking me to call his store again (to grovel for an interview or a job). I avoided his calls and by the time I starting talking to him again this was still on his mind. And it was on his mind months later when we were talking and he asked me again to call his Finer Foods contact. All I did at that point was to write down a name and phone number and filed it away somewhere – don’t know where it is now. 😛
And as it turned out it was still on his mind by 2016 when he decided to ask out of nowhere – and we were talking about Finer’s anyway: “Whatever happened with that?” And I knew what he was tlaking about when he did and when I answered his question he gave quick nods acknowledging my responses, but essentially didn’t seem too interested. He just wanted for whatever reason to open a door.
So again I really don’t know why this was on his mind or why never never fully let it go. Or even why he seemed to start talking about leaving Fresh for Finer’s in 2016-17.
I could say he looks at it as a failure on my end, however, it was half-baked anyway. I didn’t even have an idea what I was really interviewing for. My only answer was this was for a customer service/cashier position, however, there was no answer from me on this. Anthony’s plan was for me to work with some customer service manager, though lets remember what makes this half-baked is that he wasn’t mgmt anyway. He was just in a position to put in a good word for me and he tried to make himself a lot more in this situation than he really was. Or perhaps I thought his role was bigger than it really was.
Finally since he left The Show in late 2013 it seemed he never really stayed on a job for too long. As often stated he’s often showed that he’s easily dissatisfied usually saying he never got paid much at a job when he decides to take off. My conclusion is that he’s generally unsettled in his life and unfortunately he likes to spread that mentality around.
Meanwhile as he seemed very fixated on this – whether or not it mattered whether or not it worked out – I was starting to get more interviews. He also provided me with another opportunity, hopefully you’ll see more discussion of these situations as we continue with the Streak Era.
I learned a I lost a coworker recently and sometimes he could be a great sounding board. He was a very nice older man who seemed very wise though I wouldn’t want to face his angry side.
One thing to note about him is that he doesn’t always engage in gossip. I’ve had to learn that and sadly it’s very easy for me to fall into that trap. Sometimes the gossip isn’t always correct.
The last time I saw him was one morning at Flagship 3 where I work, he was just visiting. Little did I know that he had passed at a nearby hospital close to where I work. This was last year and expressed that perhaps Jack V will go by to the old Streets store and visit. Well before his passing I never did… 😦
He did let out that he had some health issues and was rarely without a mask during the pandemic. Whatever health issues he actually has are his business, I don’t need to delve too much into that. Besides it’s better to think of someone alive and vibrant than very ill as has been my current experience with my own mother.
He was a lot more encouraging as a coworker, supportive, and of course a great sounding board. He probably saw some things more clearly than I had. He had at one point lamented that our former boss Norman shafted him on hours referring to him as an @sshole. While I reserved that severe criticism, I could see his point in some respects. And worse still in my mind Norman wasn’t exactly one of my more favored bosses since beginning my working life in the past decade-plus.
I’m just sorry that he’s no longer with us. If you want to know how I found out, well it was through Fresh Foods’ social network where one can see what’s what at any store in the company. In this case, I saw his name as “estate of John Doe”, well his name isn’t John Doe though hopefully you get the point. This caused me to google his name and found a funeral notice.
There was an older picture up and it looked a lot like him though with much longer hair and much younger. Now my thought process has been was it meant for me to see him one last time at my new assignment. Who knows?
One thing that was necessary for me upon finding his funeral notice was to write a brief comment. I had referred to him as a friend as opposed to a coworker. A great listener and very considerate – and lets just saying judging by some of the things noted on this blog was probably not something he needed to hear which is a testament to his consideration. He might tune out something he doesn’t want to know.
You know this month marks a bit of a milestone. It’s safe to say that’s a term that’s been heavily overused or misused on this blog, but it fits in this case.
As you may have seen over & over on this blog in October 2017 I had experience the event referred to as the Climax of the Reign of Error. What happened was that my @sshole boss (Rog) decided to sneak up on me and usher me to the store leadership office (and walk right back out) so that his boss who I call Morley told me the bad news.
Now, I’ve spent way too much time over the years dwelling on that event though these days it’s important to keep things in perspective. Tardies were a problem long before Rog came around. Some screwy $h!t kept happening with my schedules and what not, however, the year before I did incur two finals due to tardies. I’d say the downfall happened when Rog became by dept mgr, previous leadership took care of me. It’s important to note that yours truly probably took some things for granted and that’s my fault. It led me to an abyss where I just fell in….
With that said, I did attempt to return to the Hole in March 2018. Rog I learned earlier had left the scene and allow me to emphasize that he didn’t even last six months. And I found that funny at the time and in my head this was my attempt to get my lick back. In my mind, Morley, Rog (actually I’ve decided I’d never work for him again), etc. weren’t going to get rid of me that easily. 🖕🖕
Well, I ran into the store mgr I like to call Kenny whom we can also refer to as Liggy. My interview with Liggy proved to be problematic. And it seemed like I was just another job seeker and wrongly I thought I had a good chance of getting through with him. Perhaps my mindset was not that great at the time, though I tried to put on my game face. It seemed he had no interest in bringing me back there and evidently no one else did. At the end of it, I just said to myself just taken aback: bull$h!t @ss interview. I had no idea what happened.
Now with that said Liggy was in the office at the time of the climax and to give him credit he was slightly more helpful than Morley. If I asked for a copy of the write-up, Morley’s first answer is NO and at least Liggy gave a better answer – make a written request. Fine so I can get a copy of my write-ups and my file in general. Morley isn’t the first one to answer no, but who knows he just wanted me to go, I’m done it’s over….
And interestingly enough during this interview Liggy still had to hit me on the attendance issue. He asked a question about how I was going to avoid being in that same situation where I was let go based on attendance? To me that’s a tell, how does one answer that question? Did the best I could, however, the answer wouldn’t change the outcome most likely. Working on being more timely is relatively easy and besides life happens, however, if that was something of a sticking point as I’ve learned it could be then what can you say.
After that no interest, one word answers and a generally cold stare like I don’t want to be bothered with you. Perhaps it was a good thing me returning to the Hole with him around never happened back then.
And it leads me to the month of April where I finally get my interview with the store I now refer to as Streets. Norman seemed like an OK boss although I later seen that change up quick. He nor his boss – Street’s store mgr – really cared seemingly that I had lost my position at the Hole based on attendance. I tried to take responsibility for that through my statements although my mindset still wasn’t that great. However in spite of who our relationships overtime had turned out, that’s the credit I’ll give to both of them, they didn’t ask that dreaded question which there seemingly is no right answer or the answer never mattered.
One thing I will say for Norman is that he checked me out and he gave me an opportunity to return to the company. I felt as if I had something to prove when getting rehired, not sure if I have proven anything. If nothing else, I have as of last year reached that milestone – and surpassing this year – of lasting at Fresh Foods about as long as I had at The Show. At this point it has been six years and have made it through almost two years of a global pandemic and have used my position to stock the home (thanks to a generous discount) especially since my mother isn’t as able to do some of the things she used to.
I got quite a few interesting accolades reaching a tenure milestone where I got a certificate, was even an associate of the week and that’s in spite of some of the negativity. Though I find myself itching to get out of my comfort zone now.
In 2018, I felt as if I had unfinished business which is still unfinished in my mind. I’ve changed departments (due to the pandemic) and changed stores. Still excited to learn new things – recently my bosses have allowed me to work on pizza more. As long as I have that edge nothing can stop me.
Now my mindset is to further get out of my comfort zone. What else can I do from this point forward? And most importantly where else can I go?
I’ve been struggling with writing posts this month. It’s a bit easier to write about what’s going on currently. That’s what I shall do.
I’ve been at my current store Flagship 3 since last January (2023) and have seen so many changes. Change can be good. One of the store mgrs had left the company recently I heard that he found a job with better hours – which I find generic. At the same time if he gets a better or a matching salary that good for him. Perhaps even less responsibilities too…
As far as store mgmt, he’s been around the longest. He was around at my former store which I now call “Streets” as a store mgr and then not long after I had transferred he also transferred over. So a period of about four years about, so basically he was around during the pandemic.
He was around when the former Store Director of “Streets” had gotten let go and now he’s decided to make a change. Again good for him.
* Back at home, I want to discuss my mother’s on going health. I’ve written a few months ago that after our family reunion in our family’s southern hometown she experienced some discomfort in the leg that she needed to get taken care of in 2016. It left her largely in bed and unwilling to really eat anything. She just had no appetite at all.
She had some help from a number of people including one of her sisters who came in from out of town. I could use that support and it seemed for a time she was coming back from the setback of this past fall and winter. She was getting out of bed, eating better, gaining weight, etc.
And then more recently she started experiencing issues with her mouth and throat. She was having issues with swallowing and there was a period where she was just back laying in bed just had no energy and for a bit of time she looked very sickly.
And then they admitted her to the hospital where she was given IVs. She was deficient in potassium, they gave her some medication where she didn’t like taken broken up pieces nor having to swallow relatively large pills. And it seems she was given contradictory instructions.
For example, while she was having issues with weight loss due to her loss of appetite she was starting to gain weight again yet when she started having issues with her mouth and throat she was told not to eat anything. The last time we went to the doctor the scale showed she wasn’t even 90 lbs!
I’m trying hard to believe the inevitable will happen years down the road, however, I never recognized until last summer how ill she really was. The thing that got her almost a decade ago – a compound fracture near her hip – was only thought of as an injury. While I won’t repeat what I heard on some of those doctor’s visits, it was a lot more serious then I recognized. The signs were in front of me and it seems she kept some information from me.
The condition she named just wasn’t memorable it just had a name that was difficult to articulate. Now the underlying causes of her issues with her bones which is a lot more memorable has my attention now. If it wasn’t for the issues she’s experiencing now, I’d likely have no idea. If you’re praying please pray for her healing, I’m doing the best I can.
* Last year there was talk about a reboot. And someone asked a question which I answered, but then feel as if it’s time to further discuss.
I’m looking at say what happened during the second half of next year to now. And some of the themes are now discussed from the past “Streak Era”. My current goal is to elevate myself and am still trying to figure out how to get to that “next level”.
So a decade earlier I really failed in the years since leaving The Show, my progress isn’t really showing anything. Yeah I got some benefits and make better money than I had since graduating college, however, for my efforts there’s very little to show for it.
More so than for this blog, that’s the reboot and there’s no time to lose on this. Under consideration is going back to school even if that means going back to a community college, although my highest academic achievement so far is an undergrad degree. Back in the day, there was no plan and now the plan is to learn something that will be valuable for a job.
Perhaps, there will be time to do graduate studies. However, this is the time to be careful. What’s important is to study something that I really like doing or have a strong interest in. One possibility is law school, and that might get me to the next level. At the same time do I have a strong interest in it.
Either way for a good period of time there is some unhappiness. Some of this is that well the last decade + hadn’t been the best for me. Main thing is that I allowed some negativity overtime to get me down and you’ve seen it a lot on this blog. My goal now is to do much better for myself and thankfully the ones who really were deadweight for getting to that next level, they fell off. Question to ask myself is how to attract the person who will elevate me to the next level and not keep me stuck where I am.
Well it’s not complaining time, it’s solution time!
I didn’t have a real Valentine’s Day story to tell other than the one already written about two years ago. In that story there was some customer who decided to ask about all movies seen on a screen on box office just as I was about to be counted down from box office.
Here’s a story from about two years later and it didn’t take place on Valentine’s Day. It was a weekday and the kids were off from school. It was probably a holiday – such as Pulaski Day and those were the days we got that off in school – or it was spring break. We’re talking March or April in 2014.
The Show opens during the week at about 11:30 or 12:00 usually and we already had a small crowd who came in to watch a picture. Two seemingly temperamental women leave the box office/greeter area and immediately head for concessions at almost the same time. One of those ladies aggressively asserted, “I’m next! I’M NEXT!” The other lady just gets out of her way.
I found out later the other lady was temperamental when I was serving her, but somehow the more aggressive lady missed me. However, with her that wasn’t the end of the story.
Later on she decided to start making some noise at the other end of concession as if she was trying to get our attention. So I went down to see what she wanted and she was going off about salt shakers, they were empty. She announced herself as a secret shopper, and she says they don’t like seeing empty salt shakers.
Well, OK…
I’m not going to dispute whether or not she was a secret shopper. This could be taken at face value and I can recognize that this woman is always on duty.
However, with people like her (at a glance), this seems to be a pattern isn’t it. Got to find a problem got to cause a problem. Unable to really relax, therefore, she doesn’t want anyone to relax around her.
Perhaps it’s a good thing that I never encountered her again!
At the end of 2022 I wrote about how the Holiday season of 2013-14 was one of the worst I had experienced and thankfully was the last holiday season at The Show. I talked of how messed up my holiday schedule was though as mgmt put it, holidays are mandatory. If you work in the cinema business you know the job is often 365 days per year, 7 days per week. Thats the expectation and if you aren’t able to work with anyone to ensure you’re off for holidays or get a good schedule might want to find another job that will accommodate you.
A lot of people whom I started there were leaving. For some it was good riddance, for others it was like a familiar face had moved on. The group that was starting to come in, while there were some who were on it, I think this group was the worst since I’ve been there. Even more stubborn resistant teens, if there were signs around me that it was time to go they were being shown throughout 2014.
I’ve always wanted to tell you the story of this meangirl I refer to as the Flirt. My real encounters with her were later and because of this particular situation I became even more distant from her once she turned her attention to yours truly. There was a young man who worked at The Show who was problematic to say the least. Being a coworker I let him have one of my old uniform caps so that he didn’t have to use whatever cap that was available. Usually promotional caps that wouldn’t normally go to the associates anyway. Beyond that it seems he had it out for one of the thug coworkers who worked with us at the time.
I think one time he was on the floor he didn’t seem to want to usher – that is clean auditoriums. The thug coworker and supervisor tried to confront him and he just had a problem struck them both and ran out of the facility. Even allegedly trying to open an elevator with his hands. All that I can really tell you about that is, one day when I came to work the elevator was broken the doors were stuck open.
Part of this story was that he had attached himself to the Flirt. One time before he just walked off the job, he came to work on his off day to confront a coworker over the Flirt. This chick who was probably about 16 years of age had learned how to play the game. Get a boy jealous over her, or at least that was my conclusion. This is why later on I just tried to ignore her, my goal was to avoid facing this problematic kid. She’s too young for me to even think I can play with. That was my mindset at that point in time.
Though I will be honest she was cute – very petite, high-pitched voice. And young, immature, and low-key problematic. Worst still I’m not one of these teen boys, even if at heart I still am one…
Since Anthony tried to score some money from me – allegedly for his martial arts school via having me go to some bank and wiring him some money – I hadn’t really heard from him I asked Harve about contacting him he suggested e-mail. Ant might have changed his number at the time and we were soon back in touch.
Once or twice he came to The Show just to visit. I said something smart to him (well his interpretation) letting me know “Unbelievable”. Only he knows why he gets offended. Another time he had to play trivia with me trying to remember what other phone I carried around with me at work at one time. He remembered the Blackberry. I corrected him stupidly to say “No Berry-Black“. He quickly ends the convo.
Later on, he texts me one day asking if I was interested in Finer Foods. I say yes, and he makes arrangements with someone there whom he wanted me to call during the past year and just wouldn’t do it. This was a marked change from his attitude after he left The Show in late 2013 indicating that we’re not going to talk jobs anymore. Of course I wonder if the about face was because I showed no effort nor interesting in giving him some more free money – perhaps the money wasn’t free. Perhaps his justification was all the help he was providing me just showing some semblance of motives from his end.
The whole issue with Finer’s will be coming up at a later time as we’re approaching the 10th anniversary of the blow-off when we both followed up on his lead. Not much new to write about of course as it has been written here over the years.
Though I will comment on the one interview I did have with Finer’s. In 2013 I had four interviews and 2012 two interviews and no job offers. Well the Finer’s interview was 0 for seven.
I went to the north side somewhere near Bucktown for an interview for a new store to open in this area called Ukrainian Village. The interview appears to be in an old daycare or beauty salon being now operated by Finer’s. The interviewer in hind sight was just dry towards me, it was like she was going through the motions and didn’t give a $h!t and it probably doesn’t help that she had no interest in hiring me. And I gave her nothing to be interested in. Oh well, this was a better located opportunity than what Anthony wanted me to pursue.
However, in keeping with my narrative about Finer’s both cases it seems was never meant to be. Jack V got neither job and again no interested from them, even as the expectation was to keep groveling for a job. As stated earlier there are other opportunities to pursue than to just chase down a job as a clerk at just another grocery store.
There are a few recurring stories or storylines that I feel as if you might have seen too often. Of course if you’re a longtime reader, you may well have your own votes. However here are somethings I mentioned that perhaps had been overtold. Now the focus could be on this blog, however, we could also include in real life. In that situation, only I would know which anecdotes were overtold.
Allow me to start with the Fiend. My old friend, also a former coworker and as time went on more of a moocher and certainly a user has been a story I’ve overtold here. As often written by yours truly the stories are usually just blending in, the same negativity is often the conclusion. It’s something that worth working on reducing as you likely got the idea about him.
I made certain decisions with regards to him years ago, and the time wasted I’ll never get back. While perhaps my focus has often been on his behaviors towards me which when thinking about it showed how little he really respected me. The fact of the matter is, some decisions were made on my end which may well have enabled him in his thought process. My own mistake was that not so much I can control it, but that I could change the outcomes that were problems. However, his own blinders can come up and in the long run he’s come to his own conclusions and one result was that one objectionable thing he liked to do was beg for money. A lot of this, I could’ve cut off years ago instead my hope was this would change.
Believe it or not as of last Christmas four years ago was the last communication from him. It seems he got the hint, however, not so fast. The man is a problem and he may never recognize that his own behavior caused me to cut communication or indeed to stop answering his calls or any other attempt at communications through social media especially (he’s very inept at social media he would share his mobile phone number publicly). As I’ve written I heard he talked about me and sadly he’s not exactly rational in his thinking. If I told him straight up in later years about himself there’s no doubt he wouldn’t pay attention and would justify his behavior and it doesn’t result in any changes at all. I just view the Fiend/the Hustler aka Anthony as just a miserable and bitter old man.
And now let’s go to the Reign of Error. I had a very good supervisor in from my old produce team whom I liked to talk about what happened at the Hole. When thinking about it, surely he got tired of me overtelling that situation and I get that. However he worked with my then former boss the man referred to on this blog as Ruthless Roger. At the same time he also let me know he understood how they came to their own decision though he might also point out there was some horrible decisions made by them. And especially some of their decisions were a result of poor leadership.
On my own end, perhaps I wanted to be the jilted hero of that story. Though one thing I do attempt to emphasize in telling this story is that while what happened with the Climax of the Reign of Error was bull$h!t, it was also legit. My comment might be if they wanted to make their decision perhaps I made it easy for them. I gave them the silver bullets and if hadn’t allowed myself to become so complacent (which I believe I probably was at the end not recognizing the changes around me) perhaps I wouldn’t have been in that situation.
What satisfies me more in that situation is that some of the people whom I believed were involved in that debacle didn’t have very satisfying outcomes in their own futures. Rog realized or even had to be told that this wasn’t working out for him. I do believe this was the role he really wanted and was told by someone who worked with him is that it became clear he hated his new position and wouldn’t admit it. It sounds like he did know but then this was what he wanted and he would fight to keep his role anyway.
Another unfavorable outcome is for Morley and the fact that he did what he did shocks me because I was led to believe he had a favorable opinion of me. However, I’ve told about how in one main situation he displayed towards my deli team a very snarky sarcastic attitude when he effectively threatened our jobs with his brief speech towards us. Though ironically I don’t aim as much heat toward Morley as I had towards Rog. However Morley is the captain of the ship and if I took more stock in what he thinks of me than Rog, it’s clear at the end of the day in my humble opinion all he would do for a team member is shrug it off and say next.
As of now I’m surely but slowly trying to let that whole setback go. We’re a long way from that year of calamity of 2017. I want to be in a more positive position to move forward as far as my career & find better jobs and better myself. That reminds me.
When Anthony tried to get me to work for Finer Foods. These events are about two or three years apart. One was during the streak era which it became clear he got exceptionally fixated – more fixated than I had. And especially since my goal was to leave The Show, he got stuck on an outcome perhaps I hardly took that serious. In that era, he became something I had mentioned all too frequently – a disappointed father – because by some of his reactions and statements he’s decided this is what he wanted. If it didn’t work out I could tell him fully, however, his only response is that I failed & he’ll let me know. What happened and perhaps feeling blown off would mean absolutely nothing to him. It’s back onto me.
Now the second period when he got on this was more or less a reaction to perhaps my own feeling as if I finally found the position that I really liked. At a time when I was trying to become elevated at Fresh Foods his thoughts became “if you come to Finer’s you make more money“. It’s as if he didn’t want to hear that this job was working out he wanted me to be restless like him. And chase more money for what? Doing the same entry level thing I had been doing since I started with Fresh Foods? I feel as if this was an answer to my contentment at the time and to be honest if he knew about the Reign of Error he’d not be very understanding. He’d rub it in, I’d never hear the end of it perhaps become another failure in his opinion.
Sadly you might hear about this as I continue discussing the Streak Era. We may well talk about the interview with Finer’s at his behest which never happened. I view this as for reasons beyond my control I was just cast aside with no interview and they never rectified this on their own. And I was just too ticked off to even try to follow-up. Indeed there were other positions I could vie for and this job was way off the beaten path for me.
Though I’ve mentioned this character there is one story I hadn’t told and I’ve told too many about it when I still worked at The Show. This is the saga of a man I refer to as Deranged Barney.
I allude to it here and have never really told the story. His separation from the cinemas came after we got ourselves into an argument at work – which happened too frequently. I believe D.B. is a very troubled and problematic person and in later years I view him the same way I view the Fiend. They had very similar mentalities except I made the mistake of adding fuel to the fire when I try to correct them. The blinders certainly came on D.B. came to his conclusions and logic and reason wasn’t getting through to him. He was more dedicated to harassing me whether or not I responded. Even though we hadn’t seen each other since he got let go in 2012, he would often be happy to see yours truly though often I just ignore him starting with my encounter in 2017. I know what I would be getting if I did respond.
And again my goal when telling this was to make myself look like a hero. The unexpected result is people begin focus on how he talked a lot of $h!t about me online in a series of videos. That $h!t was dumb however the young people found it entertaining. It also helped them come to some conclusions about me, one of those was I wasn’t to be taken too seriously. Some of my coworkers at the time probably always felt that way towards me.
My answer to all that lets me know I should’ve shut up about it. He needed to be let go and he was and I didn’t have to watch his bull$h!t. Thankfully some showed some concern and it could’ve been scary real quick. Could D.B. have been stalking Jack V? Besides he knew where I worked and I’m glad I never seen him come around before I left. I had no desire to fight that fool, besides he’s troubled what would he do?
These days I look at him as the past. And based on some more recent behavior he seems very proud of it. Our conflict at work was the highlight of his life. Me I’m trying to move forward, I don’t exactly know where he is or what he’s doing today. I don’t know if he’s still bilking people at their children’s birthday parties. I don’t know if he’s even allowed to do as much as “open mic nights” at some comedy club no one’s ever heard of? And does he even clean his Barney or Teletubbie costume? Most importantly does he still tell young people he has underwear older than them?
Yeah for a guy who wants to be disinterested that is a lot of questions. However as far as Mr. Deranged goes, what he does with his life is none of my business. I’d rather he moves on with his.
With that diatribe said. I wish I could give you a solid reason why the climax of our conflict hadn’t really been told on this blog. If I wanted him to be humiliated, perhaps that energy could come back onto me anyway. I consider this another flavor of life at The Show and regardless perhaps on some level there’s no reason to spread this misery. My goal for my life at this moment is to do better for myself as I’ve attempted to do in a decade after leaving The Show. That also means I really shouldn’t denigrate someone as that doesn’t always reflect well on me, D.B. is where he is in his life. I want things to get better for myself, however, does he?
One last one, Mr. Boastful. This really comes out of the Reign of Error. The basic idea here is that he saw a position he coveted and in some respects it might be because he felt as if he could do it better than me. What I had to learn about him is that sometimes he could be very abrasive. One tell is that sometimes he over apologizes which I found obnoxious. I even told him that some situations had nothing to do with him when he apologizes.
He had always found ways to criticize people we worked with. Once we had a supervisor who did catering and she gave up that role to be just a regular supervisor. He characterized that as a bad career move. That’s his opinion, you don’t have to stay in a position if you’re not happy. Perhaps that was a better career move for her. Though perhaps he’s saying he wouldn’t have done it.
My only issue with him was that it seemed he was waiting for me to fail doing buy/receive. Once Rog took over our team, I think for not just him but a lot of people the insecurity often comes right out. I think that’s what happened with him though over a very short period of time he got what he wanted and rubbed it in. I would say he did work at it, however, the relatively easy part of easing himself where I was had been very successful.
I primarily talked about this with my produce supervisor. In his opinion – because I told of his career trajectory – Mr Boastful sucked. He bounced around from place to place once he finally became a buyer. And then at his last assignment which lasted months he was bumped down to a cook and left not long after I learned of this. When seeing this I just thought something went wrong since I doubted being a cook was at all what he wanted.
In telling this story to my produce supervisor before transferring I alluded to it before telling it. It seems for him he had to really catch up to where the story was going. I could’ve done a better job of more concisely telling this story. It was weaved in with some of Roger’s actions. Perhaps a lot of the things that involved Rog could’ve been put to the side and there wouldn’t be a complex series of railroad switches to tell the story.
Well I’ll accept the supervisor was tired of my stories though on the surface he largely saw my side of the story fairly. He could’ve judge me quite quickly otherwise. However, all that could be said about Mr Boastful was that he made his move it worked for a number of years until it didn’t. At this point I’m no longer trying to catch up to him and only he knows where he is today.
I wonder if his own abrasiveness if that kept going let to his departure from the company. Perhaps his abrasiveness might have helped put a damper on his ambitions. Who knows.
As stated some of these stories will be revisited – especially the Finer’s and the Streak Era.
Another story I overtold to the supervisor and some others was Petty. I’m sorry to say I plan to revisit that this year also. Hopefully I can find away to make these repeats more interesting.
I’ve been thinking about Streak Era 2.0 and perhaps it could’ve started in 2017. No not because of the Climax of the Reign of Error, though certainly before that. Well before that.
No, definitely not when Anthony kept mentioning how much more dough I’d make at a competitor grocer possibly doing the same thing.
Although this took place in that period of time, perhaps around the time of the episode “One Final Drop“. I can say this because I mentioned one other to the Fiend visit during this month June 2017 in our final conversation. I visited and ran into a nemesis in the House Manager in the lobby of The Show.
With this said I made another visit and it’s difficult to pinpoint in my memory about when this was. Usually The Show opens during a weekday a bit earlier than 12 Noon. And what I do know is that there is a Container Store nearby the cinemas which were my former employers. On this day I had purchased an office chair from there and got to hand it to the crew who worked there. They set up a bag so that I can carry it on the train, it was a heavy box however I made it home with difficulty.
Well after I was done with Container Store, Harve was just about to unlock the doors to The Show. And decided to speak while there, now there was no idea that he was going to open the doors. There he was however and I took the opportunity immediately
As stated in another post, my instinct causes me to think I’d have a good working relationship with Harve. He got promoted to senior mgr at this point in time, a fact that somehow escaped his so-called buddy Anthony the hustler. He couldn’t say for sure or possibly wouldn’t say if he knew. Just knowing from what he was talking about, he was only speculating on this more than expressing certainty. Through my own connections and especially since he will visit occasionally and even talk to that in his words “liar & hypocrite” H.M. he still never thought to ask about Harve….
Anyway first order of business was congratulate Harve on his promotion, whenever it happened. There is no timeline for it, perhaps it was years in the making. Harve had been a supervisor since about 2012 & took a bit of a break in 2013 when things weren’t going great for him though he came back later that year.
Now when I visited with him he noted especially that I was a movie buff. I forget others things he said but a conclusion I thought went back to The Show itself. Perhaps he wanted me to come back.
I had somethings going on that was more exciting such as doing buy/recieve at the Hole. Which hopefully would lead to other opportunities in the future although as earlier mentioning the Climax episode that wasn’t going to happen. I suppose if he wanted me back the next question is come back for what?
I had no enthusiasm for it at the time, I hoped things would go the right direction at the Hole. I was still in the mode of how angry I had been with my former employer. If there was a time to return that year wasn’t it. My goal was to show them.
I engaged in the conversation though not in the idea of return, however, what if I had engaged in that conversation. At this point in June 2017, I had been gone since the end of October 2014. The people who made life difficult at the time are long gone. They found new jobs, got fired, quit, etc. I’m talking mgmt and/or even regular coworkers.
I don’t mind noting that Bella Donna near the end was a bit of a thorn until she quit. She was nicer once she was leaving although for me that was too little too late. She’s not the type that knows how to stay cool. However, that’s one example of many.
So the events took place a few years in the past. A lot of that group have since moved on to other hopefully better jobs. There were some mgmt who were still there in addition to Harve, the GM and yes of course HM. Also a few supervisors that I knew were still there including the one who saw me a few days or so earlier. So for them a lot of open ended questions about how that would’ve worked out.
While I could work with Harve, could I’ve worked with any of the others that I have mentioned? At this point I don’t know, and the history would’ve been on my mind. Would history had repeated myself if I did return?
Also if I knew how to parlay this into a higher level position especially mgmt it have been worth it. I could help them justify this if the buy/receive deal had worked out. Someone there has to be responsible at least for buying most of the food that the customers will consume.
Either way that was a path never pursued and history went the direction that it did in 2017…
At the beginning of 2013, I was still whining about the job that had gotten away. Reality was that well there were a lot of moving parts that I may never know about. One of those moving parts included what is known and was blasted in the news at the time. The company that I had interviewed with had been evicted from their cinemas.
Well as I stated I had no mgmt experience and yet I got an interview. I thought I was going to get it based on her statement (Neighborhood Cinemas owner) via email regarding next steps which later became she identified candidates with significant mgmt experience. Well I had none, but for me back then this meant I was still going to work at The Show as opposed to that come up that I had really thought was coming.
So anyway Anthony was listening to my ongoing whining at the time about what happened. And eventually he came up with another idea and still with that given company. He suggested that I should consider becoming the assistant general manager for the Neighborhood Cinemas one remaining facility on the west side. And he made sure to note how nervous I was at that.
When thinking back on it, I don’t know where he got this from. Was he really in touch with her? Did he really have the kind of relationship with her that he could suggest people such as his then friend and coworker (or mentee as he wants to term our situationship)?
According to him he went back to the interview of August 2012 and said specifically to her that she had over looked me during the mgmt interviews of that period of time. Of course bear in mind realistically, I had cinemas experience though no mgmt experience. Especially if she later emailed me she had chose candidates with “significant mgmt experience”.
So why would Ant think of me as right for this assistant general mgr job? Was this too much too soon and just for someone who was only thinking in terms of say a supervisor or middle mgmt role?
Here’s my thoughts on the time on this. I saw the Neigborhood Cinemas as a dying company. By the holidays of 2013, the one remaining facility they had would no longer have regular showtimes and only be open for private events. I made a phone call to their showtimes line to confirm this. If I had accepted this position, well sooner or later I’d no longer have a job.
Also I was still a tad upset over the outcome of the interview months earlier. Would she do the same thing to me again? Would yours truly be again “left in the cold”?
Well I hemmed and hawed and at one point making a less than positive response to Ant’s inquiry to me regarding this he made it about himself. Now “you’re putting me on the line”, he said back them. Perhaps Jack V is making him look bad with the indecision. In reality as much as it was tempting for me to immediately be up there with the House Manager at The Show though elsewhere I knew instinctively this wasn’t for me though I wasn’t very vocal about it.
At some point as with other opportunities Anthony had brought up later with the bank or even Fight for 15, he just dropped it. He never mentioned it again, perhaps there was nothing real in this at all. Then again with him who knows he wasn’t entirely a very honest character with yours truly.
If this was a real opportunity, the way things went by my eyes this wouldn’t have been a great career move. It would’ve been very tough for me to lose the job and the title and then have to explain what happened here. Perhaps it would’ve been understandable to a potential employer and of course in my doubting Thomas manner who’s to say it would’ve worked out in the long-term?
Feeling No Love 