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My last day of 2008 was not spent in vain. I’m usually not one to immerse myself into the drunken crowds of new year’s eve. The streets are packed. The clubs are packed. And what’s worse is they jack up the cover charges and prices of drinks for no good reason. And I often feel I’m far too cynical to be caught up in a collective joyous occasion.

But I would be proven wrong.

Mishap of the Day

I started off my day by going to work at 9 in the morning. The wet snow and below freezing temperature had resulted in a very slippery sidewalk. I slipped and fell on my ass not one block away from home. Yes, people saw. Yes, it was embarrassing. And yes, I made a yelping noise. But what’s important is that I got up, and walked the rest of the way with thrice the caution and dignity. I finally succeeded in arriving at work without touching grounds with my ass.

I had a whole shift on cash, which I was not thrilled about. I was surprised at how busy we still were. Psychiatric patient escape count was 2 during my shift. Both suffered from the case of over self-importance, loneliness, and sad or non-existent life.

1st Crazy Customer

The first escaped psychiatric patient came up to the counter with a bottle of soap that had soap on it (probably from a leaking bottle within the shipment). She comes to me and asks, “is there soap on the bottle?”

I say, “it seems like there is. Was this the last bottle?”

“No, but all the other ones were worse.”

“It looks like it’s soap from another bottle, because this bottle doesn’t seem like it’s leaking. Did you still want it?”

“No.”

“Alright.” I put away the soapy bottle, and rings up her remaining purchases.

“Do I have to go get another bottle?”

Slightly confused, I say “sure, if you wanted another bottle.”

She sighs exasperatedly, turns around and goes to get another bottle. She then returns with another soapy bottle.

I say to her, “if you wanted to get it, I could check with a manager to see if we could give you any sort of damage discount.”

She gives no response.

I talk to my manager and she says we could give her a 10% discount. 

Patient then proceeds to tell us how we shouldn’t put out products that are damaged, or otherwise wipe down the bottles before we put them on display. And she went on about how it’s unprofessional, and so on.

I smile at her, and she says, “I don’t see how this is funny, I’m glad you find it humourous though.”

“Oh thanks,” I say to her. I thought to myself, dealing with people like you makes me feel grateful that my life is about more than spilt soap.

2nd Crazy Customer

The second escaped psychiatric patient was much more theatrical and made a much more elaborate scene. She marches to the counter and demands that more cashiers are needed because there’s a long line up. We had 4 cashiers as 1 just went on break.

Just to entertain her, we paged for any available cashier to come to the front cash desk. About five minutes later, one shows up. At which point the patient was already at the counter being served.

So she starts screaming at one of my co-workers about how we weren’t being pro-active, and we didn’t call for another cashier until she demanded.

Lady, we didn’t call for someone because we’re in a 3-floor bookstore. Other staff is busy helping other customers. Having worked through Christmas Eve and Boxing Day, we are able to gauge our cash line, and 4 cashiers were sufficient since you only had to wait for at most 5 minutes.

She demanded to speak to a manager, and screamed at her for about 10 minutes.

Dear unhappy soul, I truly feel sorry for you.

But 2008 was slipping away, and I had no time for losers.

My night begins, or so I though…

I chased after the bus that would take me home so that I could get home earlier for a cat nap before my evening festivities. I got to the front of my apartment building only to find out I had forgotten my keys at home.

No worries, I thought, my parents would be home. I call home and after the third ring, trepidation was rising up in my stomach. It seems that their evening festivities had already started. I call their cell phone, and nobody answers. I finally had to call my cousin to get through to them. My aunt was kind enough to drive over and bring me the keys. However, plans of cat nap was no longer.

So my day, so far, had not been a pleasant or easy one. But I just absolutely refused to let that get me down.

I took a shower and jazzed myself up for the Crystal Ball Masquerade at the Majestic.

Ready to Countdown

My chariot came in the form of my lovely friend’s car. I advised against driving, but Pixie had her reasons to drive and I obliged.

We were lucky to find parking at a very central location. We got our tickets to the Masquerade and headed over to Blenz to mull over our hopes and dreams for the upcoming year.

We headed over to the Majestic at around 11pm and started our drinks and dancing, where one of my co-workers also was there. We were having an awesome time and before we knew it, it was midnight!

We hugged and kissed.

The night did not end there though. Pixie and I were dying for some top 40’s goodness, so we headed over to Odyssey and busted it out there.

What a way to start the new year. Pixie, you momentarily suffocated the cynic in me, and I truly had an amazing time. Thank you.