A lot can happen on a slow day. Damion dropped off a kid’s record player (turntable) that plays scratchy trebly only. I got the whole Thrift crowd bopping along to such classics as Frank Yankovic polka hits, Sing Along with Mitch and an untranslatable set of Russian folk music. A few people came in for a look and found a chair to sit down a while. It was during all this that I met Melissa, recently broken up with her boyfriend from Albania. The attraction was so mutual, I gave her my cell number, something I don’t do on sheer speculation. She’s not like other girls; she understand things I say.
I threw in some ads for the pepper mills. It is too early to say much more, but it is worth a try from any angle. The doggie wig place called with some advance instructions for Friday. I was wanted today, but I believe that is only because not everyone understands how far advanced our database is – we just don’t require long hours to keep ahead of the people we deal with. Friday is plenty soon enough, even if I desperately want to see the wigs. It’s been a year of battling those unspoken barriers to starting up that English people who inherit money swear do not exist.
Brother printers get another black eye from me. I have to report that there is a mode in which their 4420C can pass all tests and still not work. Shame on any printer manufacturer who, at this late stage of the game, designs a printer where that is even possible. Boo, Brother.
On the happy side, my best student band has discovered a singer, whom from here on I will call Jesse. She is 15 and a Dixie Chick fan. We ran over “Traveling Soldier” and it worked. This gets the extra credit, because a band trained from nothing by me was able to fake a totally unfamiliar tune in less than three months. Normally it takes years and talented people to try something like that. Even the so-called professionals I knew who tried this were not really winging it, they were at least familiar with the tunes.
Jesse is still hampered by harmony notes from her formal lessons, but a lot of the bad influence was removed tonight. We ran through “Country Roads” and “These Boots” as well, getting very close to putting on an amateur show if we are asked. Later, Jimbo’s did not fly. The place was empty and Sam agreed that if nobody showed, I was not going to set up 250 pounds of equipment. Pudding, the cat, got an extra back rub tonight, I had the time.
Dickens’ dad called from Cape Cod and a few other people were in today expecting he would be back. It is also hard to keep track of all the exposed jewelry on the front counter as Damion comes in and moves things around quite a bit when nobody is there.
Here’s something bordering on an outright rip-off. MasterCard, or is it American Express, is offering a cash card called a “NetCash” or something like that. (I walked away from the counter after learning what I’m about to tell you, so forgive my poor memory.) Anyway, like a cash card, you charge it up with a minimum $10.00 and you spend it like a credit card. Except it isn’t a credit card because you advance the cash. The scam is the hidden interest rate. You have to pay $2.00 each time you “charge up” the card, and $1.00 for every transaction. So, charge and spend $10.00 and it costs you $3.00, an annual interest rate of 1,095%.
Wait, it gets worse. It is only good for around ten days, during which time the credit card company issues you a regular credit card and you have to show two pieces of ID. If you were raised on a farm, you probably have detected a familiar old smell surrounding the whole concept. So it is neither a cash card nor a credit card. Just a rip-off. Somehow you just know that in the credit company headquarters, there exists a team of the same people back in high school who kept coming up with original ideas like, “Let’s have a car wash”, or “Let’s hold a bake sale”.
Summer is here in full force but I’ve still decided not to replace the air conditioner, since this place will be gone in 11 months. This is not to be confused with being cheap, I can buy one any time. I’ll tell you what is cheap, it is the people who have an air conditioner but won’t use it. My point is the difference between not quite cool enough and comfortable is probably less than $5.00 per month but I know people who just will not spend the $5.00. It works the same for people who shiver inside their houses up north instead of set the thermostat two degrees warmer. Oh yes, I know all about that.
