This is a price screen from Kinko’s. You know, the outfit I used to work for, what, sixteen years ago. The important figure is the lower right hand, second from the bottom, where you pay $15 per hour to use a computer. I know, weren’t computers supposed to knock down the price of labor? If you aren’t making $30 during that hour, you aren’t breaking even. I was there for a while and did not notice anyone using the units. Sounds like the Nigerian whiskey tax debacle.
While I would not pay that kind of money, I still prefer to work with the computer than most people. Broken computers can be fixed. Somebody removed the Vonage manual clearly marked “Do Not Remove” so the whole office got a demo of what I am like when I have to go chasing around after some goof has made a mess of things. I don’t like it because it is not progress. An hour later, it turns out the password had been changed to “wc164tn” and nobody knew why. My conclusion is the usual, that the logic of a stupid person was at work doing what was clear to them, which in turn is usually the exact wrong thing.Yet, locking down the computers and systems will prevent them from getting anything done. It is strange how they still make a computer that a dummy can poke around with and wreck things worse than a deliberate genius attack. The sound on both computers is also going to be a major repair. That’s a prime example of stupidity. Follow the logic till it breaks down here.
The sound is on because the computers are used for watching the dog videos. This means the speakers are on and later, when the operator makes any errors, the computer emits that “ka-tung” sound. What do smart people do? They reach over and turn off the speakers. What did somebody else do? Well, as near as I can figure, they seem to have randomly clicked around on various options until the on-board sound driver itself was deleted. This becomes a major repair, I have to open the cases and read the serial numbers off the motherboard and search the Internet for firmware. If there is a simpler way, I can’t find it.
Sure, some might say this was done by an extremely clever clerk who knows how to permanently disable a speaker, but trust me, there is nobody like that around here. These people don’t know how to send an email attachment without calling me at home.
I’m reminded of the last project I worked on with a “team”. I used to hand out the paychecks and the workers each had to sign a release form. I quickly designed an overlay that pre-printed their name and employee number, cutting the time from over an hour to around twenty minutes on payday. The head office wanted it for all the sites, but also wanted me to work with Kathy. Since I did not want or need any help, it was clear that Kathy was accommodating somebody from upstairs.
I spent a couple of weeks ignoring her referrals to “our project”. Sure enough, because all the sites were using the form, supplies ran low. When I called purchasing for more, they told me that was being handled by, guess who, Kathy. I had to go through her to order 5,000 forms but I begged her not to change anything. When time came to print the forms, every tenth one jammed the printer. To save $1 per carton of paper, she had changed it from 18 lb to 16 lb weight, which curled from the heat of the laser printer drum. She did this so she could say she had contributed something. Top the end, she swears she did not change anything, “except the paper”.
The doggie web page is slowly evolving into an expensive project. I see that I should have overseen it from the start but others knew so much more about it than I did. Now there is a web site that kind of just sits there and looks pretty plain compared to the animated pro pages out there. Worse, there is a stunning piece of news.
Another web page is advertising dog wigs, or actually pet wigs. It is a blatant rip-off of the idea so I dug out the address. Zooming in [from the satellite] shows it is a small house in suburban San Diego. A phone call playing customer indicates it is two ladies who seem to have “lots of inventory”. How they managed this is beyond me unless they were somehow in contact with our factory. But only three of use know where that factory exists. I advised ordering a few of the wigs to compare the design to what we’ve got. There are two choices, it is a copy, or it is a bad design.
I can understand getting the idea from the Letterman show, but to design, order and begin bulk sales in four or five months is astounding. I mean, their web site is up and working, they have only three designs, but they are open for business. Another phone call reveals they may be attending the same upcoming trade shows. Yes, we’ve had several month long delays, but so would they have.
Trust me, you do not just call up a factory and say build me 10,000 dog wigs, and be selling them for $14.99 a few months later. Something is funny about the whole thing because that is less than our cost. It will be most curious to find out how all this came about.
Take a break and ponder this thought, which someone sent me by email. “In a democracy it’s your vote that counts. In Feudalism, it’s your Count that votes.” Ouch, so it is 7:30 p.m. and I’m going to go play some bass guitar for a while.
Five hours later, I had a good time but have to report that my act is wearing thin. This does not surprise me, it probably should have happened sooner except I kept changing nights. Jimbo’s has a different crowd of regulars so the repetition aspects of my show were staved off a bit. The show is still quite novel, but I notice the tip jar is dwindling. There are three choices when this occurs. Change your act, change your location or take a long break from playing there. I can only introduce new tunes so fast meaning I’m at a loss for what I could change to make a difference tomorrow.
The above does not mean that my act is not evolving, for it certainly is. I’ve noticed a variety of tunes that get the audience singing along and realize I have to incorporate tunes like “Happy Birthday”. I know audiences sing, but I had not set out or thought to do any of these things until I had my stage show in operation. As far as other people playing at least part of the evening, I’ve got some ideas. What is the worst part about open mics? The wait for your turn, while they expect you to sit there and play customer. Actually, that is the second worst part, behind musicians who take advantage of that scene.
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