Smörgåsbord

Thank you Wikipedia for the spelling of this post's title.  I try to be a one topic per post kind of guy, but I am going into this one accepting the fact that it is going to shift from one idea to the next and hopefully I will include a couple things on my mind that I want to share.  I often have this urge to share things, but I am weary of posting every thought to facebook and in some instances, I realize the person that the thought is about could actually see it on facebook despite not even being friends.

I have three deliveries today, being that it is a Saturday that is not really a good thing.  I am in charge of everything though, I take the calls, get the e-mails, make the deliveries, I am the one person all customers must go through.  Therefore, if it is slow, it is easy to blame myself; well I could hope it is the economy, of course, that is always there to be used as a crutch if one must make excuses.  Last week was decent, but it was mostly a strong weekday and a mediocre weekend and the weeks before that have been fairly weak.  However, we recently moved a guy, that has done a little bit of work for us in the past, into the house I am staying in and he is sending customers e-mails and giving them calls to "pay" for his board.  We have already scheduled three repeat customers from his efforts, but we rewarded them with fairly decent loyalty discounts, larger than if they had called back on their own.  They may have called back anyway, you never really know.  I am hoping that this will give things a little bit of a kick.  Sales are down 9% from last year, hopefully I we can get that back up again, there is still a little bit of year left!

Back to this new roommate:  he whines about everything.  Not to be rude, but I am a fairly empathetic person and I just do not feel everything he has to complain about is justified.  Our major problem was that we had no A/C.  It is of little concern to me, because I spend most of my time at my brother's home because I am close to the jumpers and close to the computer with all the client information on it.  I tend to leave early before the sun gets too high (on MWF I am up before the sun to go play basketball, unless I sleep in) and I do not return until the sun has set.  Yes it is still warm to sleep in a home with no A/C, but it is easily survivable.  My roommate was constantly complaining though about how it was too hot and he refused to turn his computer on between like noon and nine at night.  He was afraid it would overheat.  That problem is now fixed though, I bought him a small one room window unit.  I did it hoping he would do more work, I think he is, but I do not really know that.  There are no checks and balances.  The thought process is, that if he does get us more work, then I do more work that I actually get paid for and therefore indirectly get paid back.  Plus my roommate was complaining about not being able to take on other jobs since he cannot work all-day.  Therefore I thought, he could take on more jobs and have more money and I would have to help him buy things less often.  You see, I may be too much of a nice guy and I tend to buy things for people.  Things like fast food, soda, alcohol, cigarettes, and necessities (deodorant comes to mind); especially when that person cannot afford these things.  Ergo, if he can be comfortable turning his computer on longer and getting more jobs, he will have more money and I will not be tempted to offer him handouts.  With all this in mind, I thought for sure it would be win-win.  I did not take into consideration the emotional consequences.  It made me think about how I do not spend money on myself like that, let's be honest I waste money on myself like crazy easily $15-30 on fast food a day (I do not go to the grocery store often at all).  I got cable internet for my roommate before he moved in, but even that was sort of for me until my computer crashed right after he moved in.  So on top of this A/C unit that I just bought him, I am paying for his internet.  It got me a little bummed out.  On top of that, he used to spend his time in the downstairs dining room area, but the floor plan of the house is fairly open so it is almost like being in the same room when you come through the front door.  Instead, now he keeps his door closed, to keep it cool (duh!); besides today, I knocked to ask if he wanted to help me on a delivery (he could not help), I have seen him one other time since I got him the A/C four days ago!  The other time was when he happened to come out of his room at 5 am and I was on my way out the door to play basketball.  I was actually kind of pissed when I saw him then, because I have no time in the morning between when I wake up and when I have to be at basketball.  Mostly because I do not want to wake up at 4 am.  Just to wrap up my thoughts on my roommate: he complains about not dumpster diving enough (how he gets food), he complains about eating too much (reason he is not dumpster diving), he complains about not getting enough exercise (well he is not walking to the dumpsters), when he gets money he then spends it on food or beer (well and sometimes gambling).  He also has bad B.O.  My brother does not want him helping on deliveries for several reasons, that being one.  For every reason my brother has, this guy has an excuse or reason.  Despite all my complaining about his complaining, he seems to be a decent guy albeit a little peculiar.

Since we are talking about my co-workers (sort of) then we might as well bring up my brother's 14 year old nephew.  He constantly annoys, angers, and baffles me (I am sure there are some emotions I am missing too; however, none are positive).  I joke a lot and I am sarcastic a lot.  It helps me tell him I hate him and I would like to kill him, without him taking me too seriously.  Even as I sit here typing that, I know it is a bit extreme and it is not realistic for me to even suggest.  However, I do not know how to describe the way he makes me feel after a long day of dealing with all his little nuances and quirks.  I am certain he does some things just to irritate me, but other things I wonder if he even has any thought before the action.  I started typing up a lot of the little things he does or has done in a list on my old computer before it crashed (I was going to give it to my brother), unfortunately, I do not remember that list.  It is not hard to make up a new list though.  I will keep in short.  This first one is partially just a communication problem on my part: even when he knows we have to do something he will sit on the computer all day.  He will watch me walk out the door and will not join me unless I actually say, "hey, let's go."  I do not want your "help" if you do not want to work.  Last week he did the same thing, he came home from church while I was doing work outside, he was helping in the evening on pickups.  He did not come out to help me, instead the big Boss lady told me about 30 minutes before I left after I had started feeling like I wanted to leave his butt at the house and find someone else to help me with the pickups to tell her and him when it was time to go on the pickups.  Next little quirk is he must keep his hands occupied, it does not bother him not to work, but he cannot allow himself to actually sit and think quietly.  This often results with him playing with things he ought to just leave alone; because one he could inadvertently lose these things or two he has a tendency to damage what he is playing with in an attempt to entertain himself.  I cannot fathom what it is like to be so destructive; that is a trait I lack and despise in others.  When I do, unintentionally, destroy an item, I feel remorse for my actions immediately (because you can always blame your lack or abundance of effort; sometimes I break things because I do not realize they cannot take the force I apply).  He is disgusting: from throwing food in the fish bowl, farting constantly, not showering, not changing his socks for weeks, his hygiene habits are almost as bad as my roommate's!

For lack of time, I will cut this short.  Did not quite talk about everything that was on my mind.  Got into a little more than I was thinking about when I sat down and I got both pickups calling me telling me they are finished, already took care of one by myself.  Now I need help with the other and I have no idea if the 14 year old is on his way home or if I should be going to pick him up.  He went to the water park, mostly because of the 26 year old daughter of his aunt's friend was going with my brother's wife and kids (he has a major crush on her; of course he has a crush on anyone that is remotely attractive and old enough to have breasts).

Update from phone (fixed on my brother's computer; blogger is terrible on my phone when I already have a long post typed out, I cannot just go to the end of it and add it in, I clicked on the screen and it put it somewhere in the middle, I could not even see where when I was typing and I was typing blind too):  the 14 year old threw a shoe or something at the truck tonight; that set me off, that behavior is unacceptable, and he was forced to run away.  I was livid and was going to hurt him if I got a hold of him.  My roommate on the other hand, was arriving home right after I got there.  So we had the chance to speak for a while.  He gave me $25 for utilities and suggested he was going to pay me back for the A/C.  Very nice!