Justin's Life... October 23-31, 1995

My life... October 23 - 31, 1995

October 23, 1995

1:10AM Technically October 24, 1995

I spent most of my pseudo-weekend (Sunday & Monday) finishing up The Nostalgia Factory's site. It's now being approved by the owners and should be online soon.

In other Net news, I've gotten several responses from people looking for someone to design their web sites. I'm amazed at how they've all come at once. Hopefully, I'll be able to quit Copy Cop and devote full time to those.

As far as the videos go, I've gotten four letters. One saying that I'd only pick out something like Snow White, two others saying that I needed a gay Siskel to counter-balance my decisions, and one saying that I'd do a good job but needed to make sure I was using a secure server. To those, I respond: 1) Yes, my art galleries and tastes do reside closer to the Snow White end of the scale than the hard core. 2) I'm unsure if I can find a Siskel. I'm not sure I want to rely on Rob for any online business. (Somehow I managed to not write here that Rob has decided that the RJ venture is off. I should have seen it coming, but I didn't. I let him have it for totally screwing with my life, but all is fine personally between us now.) 3) A secure server is a most definite... if I in fact do the video thing which I'm starting to doubt.

Also today, I ordered business cards through the WWW. I'll let you know how they turn out.

October 24, 1995

11:15AM

Well, last night, I thought some more about everything. I've pretty much come to the following conclusions.
Off to work I must go...

10:38PM

I left thirty minutes earlier than normal this morning so that I could talk with the human resources department about my quitting, but as I neared the store, I kept walking slower. Once I'd gotten to the intersection of Boylston and Mass Ave (a few thousand feet away from the store), I decided that I'd take a longer route and think more. Out of the blue, it hit me. If I didn't quit, I'd spend all my time thinking about quitting and be miserable... and thus, I headed through the door and upstairs to the human resources office.

I peered around the corner to see the women at a table talking. Lidia, one of the teachers in the orientation classes I went through last week, got up and came towards me. I told her that I was quitting and Saturday would be my last day. She responded with the customary, "Awwww." and asked why I was leaving. I told her that I was starting a business online and would be desiging web pages... then the phone rang. When she went to get it, Patti, another orientation teacher, walked in from the front room and said, "What did I hear?" I explained everything to her and she told me that I needed to talk with Peter, my supervisor. I said okay, goodbye, and left to go downstairs and find Peter.

He was no where to be found. I asked Greg, the receptionist, if he knew where Peter was, but he didn't. He then casually asked why I was looking for him. I once again explained my plans and he relayed to me that he, too, would be quitting in three weeks to work for the City of Cambridge.

Deciding that I might not find Peter for a while, I clocked in and then told Ben, another customer service rep., that I was quitting. He said congratulations and news of my leaving quickly spread through the store. A while later, I told Peter that I would be leaving and why. He didn't quite seem to understand. Apparently, Copy Cop is an actual career move for him. Nevertheless, I told him that Saturday would be my last day... and for the rest of the day, I was the center of attention.

And the rest of the day confirmed my reasons for wanting to quit. Most notably, I got a "but-you-did-it-before" customer (as they're so non-affectionately known around Copy Cop.) She had a pile half an inch thick of cover letters and resumes and apparenly her printer wasn't working correctly 100% of the time and thus left a light area in the middle of the page. For five minutes, she asked, "Do you notice that?" as she showed me each and every cover letter. I don't know how in the world she was applying for that many jobs: Literally, there were over 30 different ones.

She asked my opinion and ignored it each time. Once she'd gotten through the pile, she asked what I thought she should do, and I told her that since it was only a problem with some of them, I would reprint the ones that didn't come out nicely. It was a resume after all. Eventually, and I do mean eventually, she decided that I should copy the cover letters and resumes over and try to make the lighter area miraculously disappear... and so I began.

Ten or so tries later, I found a setting on the copier that produced a copy which was moderately dark but which didn't pick up the ivory color of her original resume. She asked for 20 more and I ran them, but when she was looking through the results, she noticed that most of them had a gray streak at the bottom. I explained that in order to get the text dark, I had to use the dark setting, but the dark setting also started picking up the ivory color in the paper. That was unacceptable to her. She got testy and said that I did it before, so why couldn't I do it again. I responded that the copies varied even though the settings where the same. "But you did it before" she said at least five times and I kept trying to explain that copying is not an exact science. She decided to take two of the twenty copies I'd run and wanted me to make more. My temper getting slightly on the hot side, I said, "Surely you can understand that we can't make 1000 copies for the fifty that come out right." She insisted that I make ten more... "just to see."

10, I typed into the copier... but after it had run a couple at the "correct" contrast setting, I hid my hand and changed it to as dark as it would go. She was being a lazy bitch and I was going to make sure that her copies didn't come out correctly. She should have just reprinted the letters instead of trying to insist that I work miracles.

Anyway, I handed her the darkened copies and she said, "I guess it would be pointless to run any more." I said, "Yes." forcefully and charged on the copies that she kept.

That incident typifies a day a Copy Cop. Nearly ever person coming through the doors wants miracles performed. Don't get me wrong. There are actually a few people who are nice and friendly, like the lady selling cookies the other day. But most of them want the impractical done in five minutes or less... and so, by the end of my shift, I was definitely glad that I went ahead and quit this morning.

October 26, 1995

11:46PM

Well, today was just a boring, Copy Cop work filled day. The one notable exception to the Copy Cop routine occured when a guy asked me to copy the cover of his leather magazine. At first I thought it was just a magazine for people who wore leather, but when I turned it over (to put the cover to the glass) I saw a phone sex ad that would have made my mother blush. At that point, I really didn't want to touch the magazine, but I kept my "professional manner" and copied it just as I would have copied anything else.

That was about it...

October 28, 1995

7:18PM

I'm free... Today was my last day at Copy Cop and boy am I glad. I didn't really do much today. In fact, I was one worthless employee. I spent a lot of the time talking with Lesa, another employee, and just generally sitting around.

Earlier this week, I got a letter from a Canadian guy, Wayne, saying that he'd be in Boston and asking if I would care to meet him. One particular sentence, which now has more relevance than I first thought, was; "And besides, the way you describe Rob, and with his picture, I think he is so darned cute (hope he doesn't hate that phrase) that I just have to meet him :-)" I really didn't think that much about it then... but now it's coming more into play. In fact, I just finished talking with Wayne and agreeing to meet him at 8 o'clock tonight. During our conversation he asked if Rob was around and would he be coming... I'm starting to think I'm being used to get to Rob... oh well

11:44PM

Well, I got ahold of Rob and he agreed to go with me to meet Wayne. We walked through Copley Place towards the Westin Hotel and the waterfall where I'd agreed to meet Wayne. As we went down the escalator, it was nearly eight o'clock and I didn't see anyone who I thought could be Wayne. However, as we got to the bottom, I saw a guy reading a book sitting next to the pool. I looked at him, but then walked outside, so that if it was indeed him, I could talk to Rob for a few seconds and so that if it wasn't him, I could find out who Wayne really was.

I asked Rob if he thought the guy sitting was Wayne and he said, "Of course it's him." but I wasn't convinced. Everytime I go to meet someone that I've met through the Net, I always hope and pray that by some miracle, he's going to be drop dead gorgeous. True, Wayne had already said that he wasn't the greatest looking guy in the world, but I still had my hopes for finding a GQ model. Thinking that Rob had to be correct, we walked back inside and looked in the guy's direction. He looked back and said, "Justin?" and we shook hands. We then agreed to find a place to eat.

As we walked by the Copley T stop, I said, "This is where I met Todd." and a few minutes later mentioned how Wayne was now becoming part of the diary. He said that he'd thought about that beforehand and seemed a little nervous about what I might write. Eventually, we decided to eat at American Joe's Bar and Grille.

Both before and during dinner, we talked about various things, such as how Wayne appeared nothing like what I was expecting and he assured me that both Rob and I looked different from the pictures online. Also, during the course of the night, I found out that Wayne was out to no one except Rob and me. It sorta amazed me how he hadn't told anyone that he was gay, but was completely comfortable around us. I would have been shaking if I'd been in his position.

Once dinner was done and we received the check, Wayne volunteered to pay. I said that I'd leave the tip and did so... but then I was ready to go home. I'd spent all day at Copy Cop and although Wayne was a nice guy, he didn't interest me... I mean, I'm sure he was reserved because the experience of being with two gay guys was an utterly new one, but his reservation kept me from becoming interested in who he was. Plus the fact that my shoe was absolutely killing my foot wasn't putting me in the best disposition. Anyway, Wayne wanted the night to continue and we eventually decided to go to Tower Records to hang out for a bit.

By the time we'd finished our stint at Tower, though, I had to pee so badly that I thought I was going to wet my pants. By this time, too, I was tired of hinting that I wanted the night to end and pseudo-flat out said, "I'm ready to call it a night, but if you two really want to do something..." --You know, how you sorta apologize for your opinion: "I think this, but... or I like this, but...:"-- Wayne, however, didn't get the hint and asked if there was anything else (like clubbing) that we could do. I know he was excited about being with Rob and me, but at the time, I was doing all I could to stop myself from saying, "Okay, I'm going home now. Good-bye." So I once again said how I was tired and had to pee, then Rob interjected to say how everything closes early in Boston. Eventually, Wayne agreed that it was time to call it a night and Rob volunteered to take Wayne back to Copley so that he could find his way back to where he was staying. Ddon't get me wrong, Wayne was far from a bad guy... but I didn't have any interest in prolonging the night.

And so, we took him back to Copley, Rob gave Wayne his e-address, and then we said good-bye. Rob and I then came back to my apartment and I started writing this... and now I'm wondering how Wayne will take it.

October 31, 1995

11:59AM

I just finished dealing with BayBank on the phone and I'm pretty frustrated right now... but first, you need to know a few things:
Since lately I've been writing more than 8 checks a month and I knew my annual fee would be coming up, I thought it would be wise to switch to the Classic Value package. I called BayBank earlier this month and told a service respresentitive. She acted as though my request was routine and when I mentioned the annual fee, she said that she would make sure it got credited to me.

It did not.

So this morning, I called the 800 number and aftering being on hold for what I was automatedly told would be approximately six minutes, I spoke to a human being. I explained what had happened and she seemed to understand, but then she said I would have to talk to sales about changing my card from a student mastercard to a classic mastercard. "Okay," I thought to myself, not really understanding what the difference is. They look exactly the same; why would I need to talk to sales? I wasn't asking for a credit line increase. I didn't want anything except to get the annual fee removed like the brochure says and like I was told would happen.

After a couple seconds of waiting, I'm told I'll be transferred to Alan in sales. He answers and then proceeds to ask me question after question... social security number, address, previous address, income, etc. etc. I was then put on hold and when he came back, he said that I had a too high debt to income ratio. DUH!!!! I then started getting angry. I knew I didn't have the requirements to get a new credit card, but I didn't want a new credit card. I was just trying to get the annual fee removed!!!! I explained as much to the man and again he said how I didn't have enough work experience. By this time, I'd raised my voice and was loosing all patience. I said how I couldn't see the point of me reapplying for a credit card, that I wasn't wanting a new credit card, and eventually asked what should I do now. "Are they going to take this credit card away?" is what I was really thinking.

Just keep that card for a while until you get a higher income. What! This was insane. The only difference between the two cards was a checked box in their computer and a $21 annual fee. I gave up and hung up.

If I had the money to pay the card off, I'd slice it in half, write a really nasty letter, and mail it to them right now.

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