Just call me Mike

Around 5:30 p.m. last night I arrived at Solera to meet Julie for her work party.  It was a private party on the roof, and you were allowed to bring one guest, hence my appearance.  The sun was out, the breeze was cool, and the drinks were free; I don't think Captain Ahab himself would have complained on this voyage, and feeling a need to treat my scurvy I settled down with a Salty Dog. 

At these get-togethers, I usually remain quiet or try to strike up a conversation with a non-employee.  After a small talk with one named Jay about his metal bands from the 90's and his neon green flying V bass, I took my place on the outside of conversations of reality TV stars that Julie and her co-workers were discussing. 

Close to 8 p.m., Julie and some of her co-workers were to go to this convention at Epic to do some networking amongst other constituents of the Minneapolis advertising industry.  Her company paid $35 a piece for them to go, and I had just planned on walking her over to Epic, when I got the idea of sneaking my way into the event.  I told Julie to go in first, and when she was signing in to look for some guy's name on registry and then text it to me outside and I would come in as that guy.  Then I got the text to just come inside.  I walked in and waved towards some guys as if I knew them and started walking over to them, which confused Julie as well because she thought I knew them.  Later I went up to the table to grab my name tag, and after looking for a guy's name, I became Michael...  

The Spanish phrase I had learned earlier in the day was  ¡Eres un chorizo!  which translates you're a crook!
Also, here's a tidbit about the real Captain Ahab:
http://www.thirdage.com/news/whaling-shipwreck-captain-ahab%E2%80%99s-sunken-ship-found_2-12-2011

Rang up and Rung out

I raised a big stink in Coffman Union today when I bought a bag of chips that had 99¢ on the bag, and when the lady rang me up it was $1.17, so as I was looking at the receipt, she said that’s with tax, and I pointed out that it rang up as $1.09 with 8¢ tax, and then she just said, well that’s how it rings up in the system, and I went to walk away, but then I decided I couldn’t let that go considering how I’m getting screwed from every other direction already.  I walked back in and started to looking around for a manager, when the cashier came up and asked for my ticket and proceeded to go find a manager, not before explaining to me that no matter what the product price from the distributor says, they are allowed to charge whatever they want.

A minute later a manager came out and then a second, and the blue shirt manager said, that he was unaware of this error on their behalf, and that he was grateful that I brought it to his attention, and that he was going to correct it in their system right away.  I then followed the cashier and red shirt manager back to the cash register, and I was refunded 10¢ on my card; it might sound like a waste of time, but it was the principle.  It reminds me of this time when I was in Rainbow Foods with my son, and he likes to run around and wreck havoc on my patience while I’m trying to just get in and out.  Anyway, when I was checking out my bill came to $49+ and I noticed I didn’t really buy that much stuff, but I was in a hurry to get him out of there and into a place I can contain him—my apartment.  After he settled down to Benji The Hunted—a remarkable film by Joe Camp, I settled down to read the City Pages when I went to the kitchen for a drink and for some reason decided to look at the check again, and upon reviewing the produce section of the bill, I noticed that I had been charged for 19 green peppers, which came to a total of $19.  I knew I had to act quick, so I grab my boy and we rushed back to the grocery store where I could explain to them that even if I care about my prostate health, I think buying 19 green peppers at one visit is a little overkill, so I got my refund. 

So be warned, most cashiers don’t care or pay attention, hell they are just doing their job and could care less if something is over charged because they get paid the same any.  As far as Coffman goes, I will check back in on these weasels and see if the “error on their behalf” has been adjusted.  I’ll keep you posted.