Meet Sparrow, an average man passing an average life…
Wednesday, October 7
Despite the fact we were sold out, it was a very leisurely night, at least until the last half-hour…Everyone was in when I reported for duty and there less than 20 folios to deliver and, of course, yours truly dawdled and I was still done before 0100…Had I not dawdled it could have been done at least a half-hour earlier, but no one was bothering me…Well, there was a phone call from the third-world caller from a website wanting my OK to cancel a prepaid reservation without penalty but, per policy, I told her ol’ Sparrow can’t cost the company money like this and to call back after 0700 our time.
Setting up for breakfast went out with a bang…Christ, it was the busiest half-hour of my life…There were several guys waiting for yours truly to finish setting it up- discreetly, not vulturing – but as soon as everything was ready BOOM off they went…I’m surprised some body checks weren’t issued…And there was another wave after them and, of course, everybody wants coffee, too, and I suspect someone was, again, doing shots of French vanilla creamer because I had to replenish the top row twice.
There was always something to do…As soon as breakfast was set up coffee service needed attending to and then the fruit bowl needed to be filled up and then there’s a guest at the front desk that needed something or other and then both the milk and the yogurt needed replenishment and then I had to go to the cooler in the restaurant for more milk and yogurt and after that, needless to say, the muffins and cereal were running low and then it was time to pay attention to coffee service again…I was tho, able to leave Candace well stocked except for orange juice, which there simply wasn’t time to attend to.
I will miss the opportunities to use the new knife, of course, but otherwise good riddance to setting up breakfast…Long time readers of this crap know I’ve set up a lot of complimentary hotel breakfast over the years and I’ve despised every single one – I’m a night auditor, not a breakfast attendant – to the point where I will no longer eat a complimentary hotel breakfast…Blow me.
I had a walk-in at the Veterans Service Office (VSO)…It was about 1100 and Rick wanders in asking about VA medical…Well, I told him expansively, you’ve come to the right place…He’s a rancher north of town and he has private insurance but that can be a hassle at times and VA medical is a good back up…He got out of the army in good health, which leads to an interesting reaction: my job here is to help veterans get benefits from the VA and some VSOs get downright militant about it, achieving and maintaining states of arousal whenever someone walks in with anything so much as dandruff…I don’t know…If you’re entitled to a VA payment it’s because you were hurt in wounded while in service to your country and while the money is nice, it’s better not to have been hurt in the first place.
Dinner tonight was at the Mexican joint in the next county with my old friend Jeffrey…Before that tho, I got my soak at the hot springs in…It was dead slow, too, only a handful of people in the whole place.
Proof that ol’ Sparrow is turning into a whining old man can be found in the fact I was whining about Mr Sun…It’s still hot, about 80 today, well above normal, and yours truly was a rascal and knocked off early from the VSO and Mr Sun was still pretty high up…Usually when I’m there, around 1630 or so, it’s behind a building and I found myself fretting about getting a sunburn, but they have several springs there and it was easy enuff to avoid being toasted to a crisp.
Jeffrey is moving from Lake Tahoe back to his home state of Wisconsin and the movers have come and he’s taking a very leisurely route to his new homestead…We met in Sin City working at an Internet company around the turn of the century (one of his few jobs because Jeffery is a man of leisure, able to work when it amuses him) and you’ve met him here before, usually the odd times we’ve chatted on the phone at two in the morning when I’m getting up and he’s winding down.
He wanted to go to the Mexican joint, ol’ Sparrow didn’t even have to suggest it…I am not making that up…I blab about it every hour on the hour on Faceplant and he was curious…Yours truly had his usual and Jeffrey rolled with the #14 combo which he utterly raved about…He actually wanted to stay in the next county but its elk season, or moose or something, and they’re sold out with hunters and he ended up staying in town…The Shire is only really suitable for me and the cat right now and was only available as a last resort.
Jeffrey’s pretty thoughtful and he brought me some books and we talked about them and I got the latest on his family, a lot of whom I’ve met: mom and dad (long divorced), brother (deceased), cousin Patty and cousin Beth, who I used to have a crush on and whom I actually had lunch with once…We’ve both managed to avoid reproducing and Jeffrey’s even avoided marriage.
Sparrow’s Sleep Log: As usual for Wednesdays, there was no sleep to report today.
The Diary of a Nobody is a novel. All elements are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Anything else is a coincidence.
It was inspired by the 19th-century British novel of the same name.
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