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It has been almost a week since I quit smoking. I'm feeling pretty good overall. I do still have the urge to light up and sometimes the urge almost overwhelms me. So far I have been able to kill the urges with a combination of resolve and support from the few people I have not shut out during this time. I also gain a great amount of support from the people on YouTube who have posted comments and given me positive feedback. It really means a lot during all of this to see response like I have. Thank you all who have taken the time to comment.
You can see the latest video here: Day 5 (I Quit)Labels: Bicycling, Home Depot, Smoking, Video |
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| 9:04 AM | Posted by Dave |
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| Looks Of A Serial Killer... |
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Yes! My latest addition to the Home Depot Nobody Collection..
One of my friends told me that the original picture, which happens to be my face, yes, your friend Dave's face, looked like a serial killer! WTF?? I do?? I just don't see it... I'm a good lookin' guy.. no?
Well - inspired once again.. add a touch of my twisted sense of humor... and I present to you: HOME CREEPO NOBODY!
NOW I look like a fucking serial killer...Labels: Home Depot, Humor, Swag |
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| 9:04 PM | Posted by Dave |
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These were still on the wall at Home Depot today....I had more but they got lost in the shuffle I guess *sigh*
I had a shit load of pins & patches as well but on the way out, as I was being escorted, I threw them all across the counter at the Pro Desk where they went scattering everywhere.. guess maybe I should have saved them...Labels: Home Depot |
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| 11:57 PM | Posted by Dave |
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Last night while I was finishing up TL32 I was told that there's a lot of changes going on at Home Depot since I left. The manager who "let" me purchase the wood that ultimately got me fired will be leaving.. Rumor is that he found another job.. interesting timing. Another old timer who used to be a supervisor until stepping down for SSI purposes was fired, reason: Unknown...
I didn't mention it in the podcast but the Store Manager has been "relocated" as well. That just leaves Angie.. of whom I spoke in the podcast.. Last Man (er..woman) Standing.
It's a slaughterhouse.. This new district manager is a real piece of work. I've dealt with his type before at SBC when I was a manager there. These self-serving assholes crawl out from under a rock and try to make a name for themselves. Shit hits the fan for awhile and then they move on to greatness in upper management nirvana, leaving a wake of carnage behind.
I don't know how this will all play out in the end game but I have a feeling that what's happening now is just the tip of the iceberg.. Time will tell..Labels: Home Depot |
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| 9:13 PM | Posted by Dave |
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Well I fucked up again. It cost me my job at Home Depot.
Essentially, the upper management has been cleaning house lately. There is a policy that states we may not 'mark down' any merchandise for our own purchase. Makes sense. Otherwise it would be rampant.
In a nutshell, I had someone mark down four pieces of redwood 2x4 from $8 to $4 a stick. I found semi-damaged ones and purchased them. Due to the fact that there is currently several people in the store under 'investigation' for serious theft, my name came up apparently. I was called in and grilled. I told the truth and made a statement. Not good enough. They sent me home last night pending...
Today I received the call and was told they will be letting me go and I need to come in at some point to sign some documents. I will be leaving shortly.
Interesting side note on all of this shit: Today is Friday the 13th... Not only that, yesterday when I arrived at work one of my co-workers was telling me that he had a dream the previous night about me getting fired... I laughed it off...Labels: Dreams, Home Depot |
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| 2:42 PM | Posted by Dave |
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| Thursday, February 21, 2008 |
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| I Woke Up Twice This Morning.. |
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It's been a busy day, rain and work, what more could I ask for? I woke up to my alarm at 5:30 AM and had planned on riding my bike in at 6:00 AM to put me at HD around 6:30 AM - 6:45 AM but the next thing I know it's 7:00 AM and I'm waking up for the second time.. not only am I late but it's now pouring rain outside..
The weather report said showers expected around 8 AM, guess they were wrong. I threw on my clothes and asked the landlady if she could help me out with a ride. She made no effort to conceal her irritation as she drove me into town. I punched in at 7:27 AM and will accrue 1 or 2 points against my attendance for this. My first order of business was to change my availability so that I am no longer scheduled before 9 AM from here on. This way if I need a ride due to rain I might be able to get some help without having to wake someone up at 5 AM.. I try to ride my bike unless it is raining and once the season is over I can change my availability back again.
Home Depot was busy ALL day today. I was working in the electrical department and spent most of the shift stocking shelves between helping customers. It was non-stop though and I'm worn out tonight. Our district manager came by for a walk through of the store today as well. I always laugh at the way the managers pop to attention and do things they NEVER do otherwise. Things like facing the merchandise as they walk past an aisle.. Even better is the sappy sweet disposition they all seem to have while the district manager is in the store. They're ever so accomodating for the duration.. then after he leaves they all dissappear again. Reminds me of what an ass I must have looked like when I was a manager at the phone company.. I recall doing the same sort of thing.
I got off at 4:30 PM after staying an extra half hour to make up the time I missed this morning and then caught a ride home from a lady who lives not too far from me. I have a headache and it's cold here. I'm cranking up the heater and going to bed early tonight.
Tomorrow I have my DUI class at noon and then from there will go to work until 10 PM. I guess I'll drag out the rain gear and just pedal my way there and back rather than bug people for rides.Labels: Home Depot, Weather |
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| 6:10 PM | Posted by Dave |
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| Monday, February 11, 2008 |
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I miss Bree.
I haven't posted to the blog in the last week because I've been spending most of my time working on podcasts. Home Depot now has me working in different departments as a fill in for people who are sick or absent. It's good for me because my hours are picking up but it's an insane way to run a business.
If someone quits or is fired, they don't usually replace that person. Instead they just make everyone else pick up the slack. That way the managers get bigger bonuses for keeping the labor cost down. They don't pay me enough to be running ragged constantly like this. Not only that, they just installed these boxes in each department, you may have seen them. They have a button you can push for assistance.
Seems innocent enough right? Wrong.. Here's what really happens when you push that button.. An announcement comes over the PA system as well as the radios we wear on our aprons. It says, "Customer needs assistance at the paint counter (or whatever area it's located)".. Then in about 20 seconds it repeats but also says, "Second request...".. Then in another 20 seconds it repeats again but now adds, "Extended wait time..."
Well that's all fine and good.. makes the customer feel important and all.. but behind the scenes each time that button is pressed it's recorded, as well as how long it took for an associate to respond and shut it off. The corporate think tank has determined that 60 seconds is enough time to respond. If it goes into extended wait time that goes against the stores numbers. It's ALL about the numbers.
This is exactly how SBC used to monitor things when I was a manager at the phone company. So now the store manager is responsible for making sure his numbers are in the acceptable range or he gets reprimanded. In theory it sounds reasonable...
So why in the fuck is there only 1 associate for every 3 departments at any given time? Because if the management can intimidate the associates into running themselves ragged to cover 3 departments as well as cover 3 phones and at the same time constantly assist customers while stocking shelves then the labor cost is down and the management looks good when the numbers are reviewed.
This is exactly why I despise corporate management. I was forced to do and say things as a manager at the phone company that made people, who used to be my friends, despise me as well. Fuck that shit. Never again.
It would be another story if Home Depot paid us a wage appropriate to the expectation they have of us. Minimum wage just doesn't instill that kind of loyalty or morale. Sorry, but I give them what they pay me and that's it. If they want the extra loyalty and effort then they need to compensate for it. The bottom line is that they don't and won't compensate us for it, yet they try to force us to do this crazy juggling act and run us ragged so that when the numbers are tallied the store looks good and the management gets praise and bonuses for our efforts. Fuck that.
The sad thing is that there isn't anything else in this area to compete with them. Also with my current situation not having a CDL I have no other options.
Anyway......
If you haven't checked lately there are several new podcasts out and I'm working on the next one.Labels: Home Depot, Podcasts |
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| 8:43 PM | Posted by Dave |
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About a month ago, a friend of mine at work told me to check out this video online. He said it was both funny and so true at the same time. The video is about twenty minutes long and is done in flash. The subject is an overview of the materials economy. The video deals with where we get material to create products we use daily and where these items go when we're done with them. More than that Annie Leonard, who hosts the video, breaks it all down from extraction, production, distribution, consumption and finally disposal.
Feed The Arrow is the name that evolved as my friend was walking past me at Home Depot one day and saw a customer eyeballing some tool that was on sale. The tool in question was an item that Home Depot got in a transaction known as a host buy. Host buy means that the producer of the item wants Home Depot to market it and is willing to either give, at no cost, a quantity of the item or sell the item on the condition that any unsold units will be bought back. Home Depot has nothing to lose.
So in the video Annie talks in depth about 'The Golden Arrow' which is the heart of the system. She explains how the arrow is the one thing that has to keep moving so that money can be made. As a society we symbolically pay homage to the Golden Arrow as we go about our daily lives, not even aware how embedded the Arrow has become in our lives.
My friend dubbed this blind faith to consumerism 'Feed The Arrow' and it stuck with us as a running joke every time we saw the system in action at Home Depot. The system is real folks and it works with or without your knowledge or consent. Watch this fabulous video and you will understand more what I'm babbling about here.
This topic and the associated running joke of a title was the subject of my next podcast. It still will be a podcast but the amount of time it's taking to do research and compile information as well as produce the creative content I want to use is taking far longer than I had hoped. I had listed this podcast as 'In The Studio' on the podcast page of this site. It's titled Podcast 5 but is now being pushed out as I have other things I want to podcast about in the meantime.
I'll be changing the podcast page to reflect this sometime later today. It would give those of you who download my podcasts a far better insight as to what I'm discussing in Feed The Arrow if you have seen this video by Annie Leonard.Labels: Ecology, Home Depot, News |
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| 12:49 PM | Posted by Dave |
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| Monday, November 26, 2007 |
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Well I'm officially entered into the system at the Right Road Counselling Center for DUI victims. I'm taking the First Offender DUI Class for 90 days. Every Wednesday and Friday from 12-2 pm I go and sit in a stale room with other sad souls to share my thoughts.. whatever. I'll do what they want and just get this over with. I paid the enrollment fee of $61 that I owed but I will still need to make 3 monthly payments of $124 before I can complete this shit.
So I sit there with this other person, a woman who claimed she has never been in trouble ever before in her life and we listen to the counselor whose name was Miles as he went over our orientation. He read all of the rules from a packet which we both received and then we had to fill out documents... it was 1:00 pm before we finished.
Two things that came up though that kinda pissed me off, first I'm sitting in the office as Miles goes over my DMV printout and he comments that I had a prior DUI in 1999. Then he tells me that I need to be taking the 18 month Second Offender DUI program.
Bullshit.
I was convicted of a wet reckless, not a DUI this time. The court order is for a First Offender DUI Class. Well Miles disagrees and tells me that even though the court ordered the First Offender Class that the DMV is not subject to the courts rulings and that he guarantees they will require a Second Offender DUI Class for 18 months.
Is the DMV some kinda Kangaroo Kourt?? Fuckin Bastards. What kinda shit is that?! I asked if we could just go with the First Offender Program and that I would make some calls. If it turned out that he was right then I would transfer into the Second Offender Program (Additional Fees and higher cost naturally). Miles agreed and before we started the orientation I placed a call to my lawyer who was not available. I left a message and he called later when I was at work. According to my lawyer, Miles is full of shit. He called Miles himself and straightened it out. He told me that this is the third time he's had to call Miles to explain how it all works.
Great, so anyway, I'm still at the counselling center and have just left a message for my lawyer. We do the orientation thing and when that 's finished I have to go sit in another office with a counsellor named Susan. I'm not feeling too warm and fuzzy with the whole thing. In the orientation Miles told us that if we make less than $1080 a month we can request a financial review to see if we qualify for extended payments or reduced fees. So I ask Susan for a financial review because at 16 hours a week at Home Depot I can guarantee you I don't bring in $1000 a month.
Susan just says to bring in some check stubs. No explanation of how I can qualify, what I need to do or anything. She's almost indifferent and seemed as though I had distracted her from more important things...
I will be bringing in check stubs.
After the DUI class registration was finished it was 1:00 pm and I pedaled my ass to work. My shift was originally from 9 am to 6 pm so I asked one of the managers if I could work until closing to make it up. Dale approved it and so I didn't lose any hours today. I work tomorrow from 6 pm to 10 pm and then I'm off until Saturday.
I returned my saw and got 3 cans of kerosene and a carton of cigarettes. I still have some cash left to get me through so that went well.
I'm tired, gonna go to bed.Labels: DUI, Home Depot |
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| 10:58 PM | Posted by Dave |
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| Home Depot, Kerosene and my DUI |
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I woke up at 7:20 this morning -- it was 38 degrees outside.. and it was 40 degrees inside. There's a huge draft coming from the floor behind the bed because the paneling has been torn off and there's a hole in the floor there. I'm gonna try to fix it soon but today I'm busy all day.
First I have to get my Ridgid worm-drive circular saw and find the box that it came in. I'm returning it to Home Depot so that I can buy some more kerosene and still have enough money for my DUI class registration at 11:30 am. I love that saw and hate to return it but if I don't keep this heater running I'm gonna freeze to death in here before long.
It kills me how the price of kerosene has gone up in the last 3-4 years. I bought this Toyo Stove in 2002 and at that time you could get a 5 gallon can of kerosene for around $20. To refill it cost around $12 so my electric bill through the winter was consistently about $28 a month. Of course I was buying the kerosene on top of that but still.. I could make a 5 gallon can last about a week so add another $50 to my heating cost and I was still only paying under $100 a month on heating/electricity.
Today the price for a 5 gallon can of kerosene is $35 and to refill it costs $20. I had insulation before in the house I owned so it was way more energy efficient to run the heater. In this trailer I go through about 2 gallons in a day IF it stays off after I go to bed. That makes it REAL hard to get out of bed in the morning when it's 40 degrees inside.
Fuck.
Anyway, I have to register for the DUI thing today and try not to get an attitude with these assholes. They already jacked up the registration fees on me and said they made a mathematical error... wtf? I just wanna be done with this so I'm trying real hard to play their little games. I only have to do it for 90 days.
I'm getting a ride to Home Depot to return the saw and then across the street to fill 2 cans of kerosene. From there I will ride my bike across town to go register for the class and then when I'm done I'll ride back to Home Depot and go to work until 6 pm tonight. Then I ride my bike back to the trailer and call it a day.
Later...Labels: DUI, Home Depot, Winter |
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| 8:03 AM | Posted by Dave |
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