Right now I work for Toys R Us, though, and that place rocks! So good.
Oh, I have a feeling they are going to clean up this year around the holidays... I've seen them and their competition, and they look like they're the best prepared...
Dude! Dale Earnhardt, Sr. lives!
Yay for being a kid at heart.
I just submitted a job app to a game store I love, I'm hoping to get hired for a part time position. I could seriously spend my entire life savings there and be happy, but I need the money so I can't.
But that store is awesome. I can go in and buy $60 worth of video games and only spend $30.
Gamestop's awesome, too. Since I'm PC rather than console (except for the DS, which is cool, but not a console), I usually raid the PC bin. But hey, it's still got cool stuff...
Oh yeah, forgot to put my story...
I used to work for a company that also cleaned, however they cleaned condensers, such as those in power plants...
The company had a few branches in the US, but I worked at the main HQ, which consisted of an office and a machine shop. When not busy, office workers sometimes went to the machine shop to help with "cleaner" assembly (simpler than assembling a water pump or spray gun, I guess...). Think water-pressure driven bullet - with blades - dull blades though. Still sort of cool... Oh yeah, one cleaner we assembled did have glass cutter wheels, to cut through calcium coatings inside tubing. Those sucked - tape up, or have your fingers cut to ribbons... Anyhow, on to my story...
During one particularly slow week at the office, I was sent to do some work at the shop. I was told the day before, because the shop starts earlier than the office - 7:30 AM vs. 8:00 AM - but it's cool because then I got to go home early.
So, I start my 7:30 AM shift at the shop the next day, and nothing unusual until someone asked around 9:30 AM if anyone wants to do a driving errand. A
driving errand? Why yes, I'll go for that...
All I need to do is drive a 1990's Dodge Neon to a Power Plant in northern WV. There, two work crewmembers will drive it to to St. Marys, WV for next power plant job, while I can nap in the back. Then, well rested, I drive it back. It sounded simple...
Error #1: I goofed and brought a microwave lunch instead of sandwich that day. How am I going to keep this thing cold until I get there? Will plant personnel allow me access to a microwave, or will it be left to rot? I hoped for the best, jammed the lunch bag up against a vent and set the A/C on freezing, hoping for the best.
That was the only issue, however, and I got to the plant safe and sound. However, things begin to go sour from here. No, not my microwave lunch, but everything else.
I need to each lunch quick, so we can get going. Luckily, the plant had a microwave near the vending machine, but it had numbers (1-10 - probably minutes). I heat up my microwave meal, and gulp it down, but I get to an ice chunk in the middle. Bleh...
OK, time to go, two crewmembers throw their OVERSIZED duffel bags in the back seat, since the trunk has other equipment. Wait, OVERSIZED?. So much for sleeping...
The driver drives too fast, and even barely "threads the needle" along the way (it's one of those old two-lane cross-the-center-to-pass highways). Now I wish I was asleep then... OK, they get to St. Marys by mid evening, hop out, and now I've got to drive back.
However, I'm exhausted from being up since 7:30 AM. I drive back, seriously considering pulling over and staying at a hotel, but thinking that they wouldn't want to pay an extra day's rental. Sucks...
What's more, this Neon had to be like 90 horsepower or something, because it couldn't make it past 55 MPH. Not fun, considering I needed to travel one 65 MPH highway. The drivers on there were running up on my bumper, and then passing me like I was standing still...
I get back to the shop in my own state 9:30 PM at night (yeah, drove about 12 hours). The shops closed, but I need to drop off some money in the mail slot (I think it was change from the rental fee). I get clumsy and drop a dime somewhere under the Neon, but it's late and it's too dark around the shop to find anything, so I just put the rest of the money in the mail slot, leave a message about the dime (probably just under the Neon), and leave.
Now at the time, I had a 1988 Oldsmobile Delta 88 with a 3.8L 165HP Sequential-port-injected V-6 and 15" AL wheels with touring tires. This car could easily go faster than 55 MPH, and after the harrowing adventures in that underpowered Neon, I jumped in my car and rifled out of there (I'm surprised I didn't spin tire). It usually took me an hour to get home. I think it only took me slightly more than a half hour that night... It was almost as if the car knew its way home, because I don't remember much. Oh, did I mention that I still needed to show up again at 7:30 AM the next morning?
I eventually left when they started training me for their condenser tube testing group (they use computers-sensors to find leaks/breaks/holes, and I worked with computers). You know they even test condensers in nuclear reactors and nuclear ships/submarines? Sound like fun? What's more, I am of average height, and most crewmembers were tall, so I would probably be sent into the most confined of spaces... I'm not claustrophobic, but not for me...
I went on to concentrate on my field of expertise... A very relaxing job field... I.T. and Software Development...
