Back to work, slave!

You all know already that I was laid off from my job at the pet store behind my place last week, and I collected my severance and cashed out and all that crap. Now I have to state my case to get more hours at the one place where they still pay me, an uphill battle so steep that I'm actually thinking of just accepting my fate behind less-skilled employees who have been there two years less than I have, yet not only have more hours, but also my fucking key.

I already mentioned this two days ago, but it grinds my gears. I'm sure you already know where I work, but let me tell you this: if you've ever had a burning desire to work at your local "big-name game store," I highly encourage you to find other work, especially if you think that it would be an awesome job on the basis that you get to talk about games all day. In fact, you get nowhere unless your boss favors you, your pay will stay at minimum wage forever and the clientele are mouth-breathing, hydroencephalic jokes. There are people that can only be described as (and this is the scientific, technical term) "motherfucking irritating" that you will only come to find out actually exist because of this job. It will make you hate people on a level not yet experienced. Your co-workers will constantly try to back-stab you for more hours because outside of the two that work full-time, the rest get absolutely nothing. Oh, and full-time is just impossible to secure. I'm living proof of that, and I worked my damn ass off in my attempt. All this and you are fired if you play games at work.

Not to mention, the people you will interact with will, 99% of the time, not share your particular taste in games, and will ignore your suggestions at the same level. In fact, when they say they don't know what to buy, they usually end up with some carbon copy of whatever they have been playing already. Oh, but make sure you don't call that Medal of Honor game that came out on PS3 a piece of shit compared to Call of Duty, or you're written up. Basically, you have to lie. You have to tell people bold-faced lies to get them to buy whatever is in their hand. At this place, telling the truth is not considered moral fiber. It's considered grounds for termination.

Old School or NOTHING. 

There is one thing that I want to talk about that is only slightly related to this. My wife got a new job investigating fraud for a big-name office supply company. There are people on her team that are into video gaming, just as she is. In an depressing twist though, they don't consider what she plays "real" gaming. And this sort of pisses me off. Since when did playing a Turbografx-16 ever mean you weren't a gamer? If anything, playing older games makes you an epic gamer, since there's nothing to them than the game itself. No achievements or trophies, no online multiplayer or leaderboards, no social networking integration... just the game. There's this one guy in particular that dismisses all of my wife's gaming exploits while brazenly admitting that he plays nothing but NHL 20whateverthefuck and Call of Duty: Gunporncashgrab. The same guy that believes that E3 is better than TGS, despite TGS actually being open to the public, while E3 is  a media-and-vendor-centric only. Hell, he doesn't even know what PAX is (the answer: bigger, more accessible and more fun than E3.)

The point I'm trying to get at here is that there is a relatively new breed of gamer out there, that you may or may not be aware of. And this gamer is called the "Game Jock". Surely that's an oxymoron, right? Well, hear me out. The Game Jock is recognizable by a few traits, the most notable being the fact that they are actual jocks that gravitate exclusively towards sport, military-themed or hyperviolent games. They will declare everything else "Gay". They prioritize graphics over game play. They literally look like every meat head douchebag you can remember from high school, mainly because they are the very same people that harassed and insulted gaming culture and the people who enjoyed it, only to double back and declare it "cool", albeit only within a very slim niche of the overall game types available.

Believe it or not, these perverse representations of gamers now make up the majority which is pretty disheartening, especially since they still manage to maintain the attitude that make jocks a pain in the ass to begin with. It's kind of a giant slap to the face.

Anyways, what I'm trying to get at here is that this guy my wife works with is a fucking game jock. He's the phony. In 2010, there were seven first-person-shooting games that were being released and literally every single one was indistinguishable from the last. They all had the same guns, the same drab color scheme and the exact same perspective. With so many carbon copies and so many stupid idiot game jocks buying that shit every single year, it's no surprise that the industry feels like fucking garbage these days.

I guess that puts it all into perspective then... I should quit and find something entirely different. I don't like the people I serve, they don't like me, and my coworkers hate me enough to back-stab me out of existence. So really, I have nothing to stay for, thank whatever god might be listening. For $160 every two weeks, it's not worth the frustration, really.

On the subject of the super-annoying, I had to go into town yesterday to replace my stupid modem. It had been cutting in and out for a few days and enough was enough. So I brought the stupid thing back to my ISP, and they gave me a new one. This thing is pretty huge. It apparently has a wireless router built right in, but I'd have to pay $2.99 a month for that privilege. While I was there, I quickly did the math and came to the conclusion that if a wireless router lasts me five to six years as my last one did and it costs roundabout $75 after taxes, then at three bucks a month for that same time frame, it would cost me $180 to $216 - and thus $105 to $141 more (plus tax) - for the same shit I've already got. I can't believe the guy tried to up-sell me on it, knowing that I already had an n-band router. One that works really well, no less.

But that's not the point of this story. The point is, one of the most irritating people I know of on this planet - who I discovered the existence of, surprise, surprise, through my work - Got on the bus shortly after I did. I discreetly observed him throughout my short jaunt into Bedford and its not just my store that he irritates but, in fact, everyone around him as well.

Parfait shows how I felt best. 

Maybe a little background info is in order. This guy - man, this is one negative blog. BUT - this guy makes it his life's mission to call the store and ask an endless torrent of questions. Often times, even repeats of repeat questions. When he calls in, he will start by asking for a specific item. Then He'll ask if there's a special edition of that specific item. Then he'll ask if there's a book in the special edition of that specific item. If we say we don't have it, as is the case frequently, he will then come back with something like, his friend was in and he said that we had a special edition with a book in the case at out location. Well, we can;t sell you something we just don't have you fucking idiot, can we? It's not on the god damned shelf. There is nothing for us to give you. It's like he thinks he's the only person on the planet, like there's no one else that would come in and buy whatever game he's looking for.

If it was a quick call, sure, whatever, but he will drag them on for a half an hour. And then he'll call again! And again. And again... And again. It has gotten to the point that we have been ignoring his caller ID, lest our work be waylaid until the end of time.

Anyways, I get of the bus, thankful that I wont need to deal with that yahoo for the rest of the day. I got my router replaced, I went to the candy store and bought some sweets and a cute novelty that you'll see later, and got back on the bus home. And fuck me with a nailed bat, who should be on the bus? The same fucking guy! I also noticed that, once again, everyone around him was either looking blatantly away or nodding and or shaking their heads nervously. It wasn't a great trip.

But that's not to say yesterday was a total bust. I found this awesome thing called a Love Rat. It's basically a small rubber rat that squeaks when you squeeze it, but it's red and has a bunch of white hearts on it. With my wife and I being a relatively new rat fans (we love the little buggers), I just had to pick one up for my lady. I also got some star candies and "discos" (small, round chocolates with rainbow sprinkles) for her and some cow tails for myself, 'cause I love me some cow tails.

I was also able to 1cc the game I'm playing for Bullet Heaven episode 60 on "Waku Waku" (Normal) difficulty. I'll be making an attempt to at least finish "Doki Doki" (Hard) Difficulty sometime soon. It's pretty good, but I'm not going to get into the specifics here because that would obviously defeat the purpose of the new Bullet Heaven episode.

Finally, I've made an appointment to have Eclair cremated. I've never understood how someone could just throw a deceased pet into the garbage, especially one that has been a part of their life for a decade. It's about as undignified a farewell as I can think of. Burial isn't really an option here either, since there's so much development in these parts these days, she might end up under some fucking condo. So cremation is the best way to go. We get an urn and everything, fitting for the member of the family that she was to us.

Well, time to get things done before I get the whip cracked on my ass. Also, I'm hungry. Peace out, y'all. I'll leave you today with a picture of Millie snuggling. Caution: may induce the need to snuggle with the closest animal. Beware of teeth and claws.