It’s Sparrow, an average man passing an average life…
Sunday, February 5
There have been problems with that new restaurant audit we’ve been doing lately and we have some zero clue if these have anything to do with the fact there have been problems with the restaurant…Recall earlier this week one of their boilers broke and while Assistant Front Desk Manager Brandon was able to effect a somewhat satisfactory repair, it wasn’t permanent and apparently the restaurant spent some time closed while we were off.
The problem is there haven’t been any transactions in the four house accounts we adjust off every nite…They’re for free drink and breakfast coupons and the like, and there have been coupons in the nite’s paperwork, but no entries in the accounts…It happened last nite and we shrugged it off and it happened again tonite, which got us wondering…Ultimately, tho, we shrugged this off, too, because there was nothing we could do about it…If there aren’t any transactions, there aren’t any transactions…If it’s a screw-up, as it certainly appears to be, then it is someone else’s lookout.
Recall yesterday we noted that Gina advised that $350 was the lowest possible rate we could offer…We said all right and chalked it up as a one-time deal but tonite there was a sign on the back office whiteboard (BOWB) advising that $300 was the lowest rate we could offer tonite…So this appears to be an exciting, new policy (ENP) now…Longtime readers of this crap know that ol’ Sparrow used to have a lot of flexibility regarding rates he offered, on the theory that better we take their money than someplace else, and we never heard word one about whatever discount we offered…The new policy probably cost me a sale, and a chance to do some good for someone, tonite.
About 0100 a guy called and said his car broke down and he needed a place to stay and that he didn’t have an awful lot of money to spend…Implicit was he had a family, too, tho this was presumed by me and not stated by him…My hands were tied…There was a time when ol’ Sparrow could’ve swung a deal, but, as noted, that time appears to’ve passed…We would’ve offered him $200 and if that wasn’t acceptable, we would’ve gone as low as $150 (this with a couple of $600 rates in-house) but as it was, $300, plus tax, was as low as I could go and it was not the Upset of the Year when he said no.
Gas leak at The Shire!!!…Gas leak at The Shire!!!
I am not making that up…At around 1900 the cat and I are sitting at/on the desk when there’s a knock at the kitchen door…The cat sprang to immediate attention and ol’ Sparrow was curious, too, because no one ever knocks on our door and fortunately we were up (see Sleep Log below).
It was two firemen and a police officer from the small town and this wasn’t really a bulletin because a patrol car and fire engine had been in the weed store parking lot for a little bit…Fireman A advised there was a gas leak and asked if we’ve smelled anything and if they could they snoop around because they strongly suspected it was coming from The Shire…Sure, of course you can…In fact, the gas meter and the gas line’s entry into the cabin is nearby tho, of course, it’s under several feet of snow…Some digging, tho, and the meter appeared and you could really smell it then and Fireman B brought out his gas meter and the thing went bonkers, beeping like crazy…Apparently, some falling snow and ice from had caused the leak and some potheads at the weed store had smelled it and still had the presence of mind to alert the authorities.
What’s really funny is the two firemen and the officer ended up moving three feet of snow off the carport roof…I am not making that up, either…They’d called the gas company and who knew when he’d show up and they couldn’t leave in case there was an explosion and they really weren’t the type to stand around and wait…Plus, Fireman B noticed a 2×4 supporting the roof was starting to crack and you don’t have to edit Construction Digest to know that wasn’t good…So, using my roof snow remover (RSR), he dove in and before long all three were at it…In fact, there was so much snow on the ground after a while they were able to use it to get on the roof itself and before long all three were up there and the carport’s entire roof was cleared of three feet of snow…Good gravy…You don’t want to be too effusive with your thanks here because that can be annoying, but they knew ol’ Sparrow was suitably appreciative and grateful.
Firemen move snow off the carport roof.
(For a while it wasn’t known if a repair would be able to be made tonite and if ol’ Sparrow would make it to the hotel on time, if at all…So we 1) got an electric heater going inside and, 2) we called Front Desk Manager Brandon to let him know what was going on.)
As it was, the gas company guy – a guy a bit older than me who’s probably been doing this for decades – came by in fairly short order and he was able to fix everything, including relighting the pilot light on the heater, by 2100…Neighbor Zach and his dog Greg came by, too, to see what the deal was, too, and Zach seemed relieved to note the entire goddamned neighborhood wasn’t going to go up in flames.
Sparrow’s Sleep Log: 0900 Sunday until 1530 Sunday…6.5 hours for the day, an OK start to the sleep week.
We were surprised we fell asleep so quickly, but we are still sickies and, apparently, still exhausted from Saturday’s marathon 12-hour sleep session.
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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.
Coming soon! Gaylon’s books in actual book form!