Have you seen these?
A Year in Books - 2009-12-27
Skip Tracer, Loan Detective - 2009-11-22
New Job - 2009-11-03
The coleslaw got served. - 2009-10-21
Probably a new job. But maybe not. - 2009-10-08

I saw my baby wearing Santa's beard.
2005-12-13 11:17 p.m.

I had a performance review today. Starting next pay period, I will be making an extra 24 cents an hour. So, woot. It's now going to get even harder to find an entry level position that can support me in the style to which I am accustomed.

During the review, Head Boss Lady asked me if I was basically satisfied with my job, and what else she could do to make me happier. I was stunned to hear myself saying I really did enjoy my job, most of the time, and knowing that I meant it.

I think the biggest factor was the music.

Most of the time, we are forced to listen to the special Fazuul station, which features about ten different "Italian" music classics, repeated all day, every day, forever.

The Sunday after Thanksgiving, the dining room person working that day told me he really didn't think he could handle the music that day, and couldn't I please turn it to anything else. I told him that since it was Christmas Shopping Season now, we could listen to one of the corporate-approved Christmas stations instead.

That was great, till about Wednesday. By Wednesday, those of us who had been working since Sunday were ready to start stabbing people in the eye with breadsticks if we heard "Little Drummer Boy" even one more time.

That was three weeks ago. We all heard "Little Drummer Boy" about 5000 times. There were several discussions about how Christmas musak sucks even worse than the Italian Favorites. It takes about a month of constant dining room for the average person to even notice that it's been the same damn songs every day forever. However, since we already know the Christmas songs, it was obvious that they were repeating much much faster. I started frantically applying for new jobs.

Last night though, someone sane was finally working, and the station got changed, and now the dining room is all better. It's still Christmas music, of course. But it's a much broader definition.

I heard the "Peanuts" theme song. It made me very happy. I heard TMBG's "Santa's Beard." I was thrilled. (I was less thrilled when I went to the one associate who I thought might understand my joy about this, and he had no clue what I was talking about. I hate the young.)

"Gee," I thought. "All I need now to make today's music ideal would be The Kinks 'Father Christmas'." Instead, I got a kind of disco-esque remix of "Dance of the SugarPlum Fairy." You'd have to hear it to believe such a thing was even possible, but trust me, it was a Christmas miracle.

Of course, in January, we'll have to go back to the Italian station. More importantly, business will drop like a rock, and my hours will suffer. But I think I can enjoy going to work again, at least for the rest of the month.

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