Aug. 12th, 2005

remindmeofthe: (fantasy pint)
So I'm running register at work when my coworker, Rachel, leans over and mutters to me, "There's a guy in a yellow shirt coming. Don't sell him the beer."

Uh oh.

Right away, I know what she means: I'm not sure if the law is federal or state, but it is illegal here to sell alcohol to someone who's already drunk. Since she knows that I know to check IDs, and the guy is at least in his forties anyway, that's the only reason for her to tell me to deny someone an alcohol sale.

So in a minute, I'm gonna get a drunk customer and have to tell him no.

For all the training and warnings I've gotten on this, I've never had to do it before. Either people buy sober, or I don't realize until after the fact that maybe I should not have let them have that six pack.

He comes up to my counter. I take the six pack, put it down on the floor next to me (this is one of the things they hammer into you; when you have to deny an alcohol sale for whatever reason, make sure the alcohol is out of the customer's reach), and smilesmilesmile. "I'm sorry, sir, I can't sell you that."

To add to my anxiety, at this point, all I have is Rachel's warning; since I didn't see the guy enter the store, I have no evidence of my own to offer as explanation.

Until he opens his mouth. "But I'm a regular customer." I'm not going to try to reproduce it in spelling, but the guy was slurring bigtime. So I say,

"Yes. A regular inebriated customer."

And he says proudly, "Yes, I am."

Well. There you go. My nerves vanish in an instant and I explain cheerfully that it is illegal to sell to him in his current state. He tries to argue a bit and fails, possibly because he can't decide which of me to argue with, and then leaves without making a fuss.

Thank god he was a happy drunk.

Rachel was very impressed with how I handled it - turns out she's never had to deny a sale either. And we were both very relieved that he didn't turn nasty; I've had a coworker get shit thrown at her.

Unfortunately, it didn't occur to either of us to watch him go and make sure he wasn't driving. Fortunately, I seriously doubt he'd have made it to the store if he was.

Also on the subject of work: I mentioned that I am working at a different location this week. Not so coincidentally, this week I have also been pretty happy during my shifts.

This store is so much better. It's more laidback (I can wear my Red Sox and Tigers hats!), we don't have corporate breathing down our necks and upsetting our manager, the morale is infinitely higher, my fellow coworkers seem happier, and this might just be because I am calmer, but I swear even the customers are more polite. The fact that it's a much busier store is a more than fair enough trade. After all, since I'm not spending every second hating being there, I'm less stressed and customer traffic is easier to handle.

And I get to work there next week too! If Terri tries to steal me from Lori, I think I will let her. =D
remindmeofthe: (Pudge!)
Pudge's suspension was completed yesterday. And yet Pudge is not in the lineup tonight. According to Tram, he "missed his flight."

Uh huh. I haven't really gotten into it, but there have been issues with Pudge. Rumors that he is unhappy about The Trade and wants out of Detroit. The curious fact that he asked for and received permission not to travel to Toronto during his suspension. And now, by golly, he has missed his flight. After a desperate race to get there in time, I am so sure.

Now I love Pudge and he is one of my favorite Tigers, but at the moment I am disinclined to acquiesce give any of the Tigers any leeway whatsoever. The not travelling to Detroit, and the missing his flight, are both things that under normal circumstances could be overlooked. If, oh, Jason Varitek or Morgan Ensberg did them, I wouldn't even blink.

But the Tigers, as I have discussed, are a mess, and it's sounding more and more like Pudge is in the thick of that mess. In this situation, these things are offputting indeed.

And. Okay. There is also the mess of the steroids issue. I have not yet addressed that, because while I'm still not bothered one way or the other about steroid use, the potential consequences for the game itself if even half the rumors are true terrify me, and really it's worth a whole post of its own once I'm feeling brave and organized enough. But the timing of this issue coming up and Pudge's behavior . . . that's interesting. The kind of interesting that makes me want to throw up, but interesting nonetheless.

I'm afraid my cocoon of fervent denial is beginning to crack. When the entirety of the evidence against Pudge was Jose Canseco's word, I wasn't buying. Why would I? A painful divorce explains drastic weight loss. Broken hand bones explain lower numbers. And a comparison between photos of Pudge eleven years ago and photos of him last year don't show the kind of significant body structure changes associated with steroid use. What did I give a shit about Jose freaking Canseco?

I still find those arguments plausible. Problem is, the opposing side's starting to look like it doesn't consist entirely of Canseco anymore.

Okay, that wasn't really where I was going when I started writing, but, yeah. There you have it.

Now off to see if the rain delay is over yet. And say hi to Vance Wilson if it is.

Edited because the game has been postponed. Yes please, let's have another day to marinate in yesterday's loss. How fabulous.

Also, I think this might mean that I will miss Bondo's start against the Sox due to scheduling issues. Why does life want me to miss all of Bondo's starts lately?

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remindmeofthe: (Default)
Cathryn (formerly catslash)

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