It's Laminated Dead, Jim

Another Woody story: Thursday he asked if I'd ever lived in NY; I said no. Mike asked Woody if he'd ever been there; Woody says no. Then Woody declares that the "food culture" and the fine dining in this city are better than New York. I could not keep my mouth shut and said, "You've never been there! How can you say that?" According to Woody? He reads up on things, reads lots and lots of reviews, knows who's who and what's what in the fine-dining world, so he can tell. Gotcha.

Prior to getting my hair trimmed the other night, I stopped in to the building where I used to live, and found out that my friend the doorman died in August. (Remember that i was on the list to pull the plug on him if necessary?) Which would explain why he wasn't answering the phone at the front desk during what I thought would be his shifts. He was a sweetheart, especially because he liked me; he never thought the marriage would last, though, and he was right. I won't tell Chuck that, of course, and Chuck will be sad to hear the news. I'd thought to tell Chuck on Monday when we went to file our divorce papers, but it turns out that everything's closed Monday for Columbus Day, so the marriage will exist, at least on paper, a little longer.

Apparently the Cubs lost today and the city is in mourning; I haven't been paying attention. As for the Phillies, well, it's unclear whether their postseason run will last the night. Having dropped the two games at home, they're in front of a loud Colorado crowd tonight, so we might be writing an obituary for their season, too.

No need to write the obituary for my iPod just yet, though. I loaded up the new Bruce the other morning, which always makes the iPod cranky; I think there are some hidden incompatibilities, in part because I have such an old iPod and an old iMac. Relatively speaking, anyway. The new Bruce rocks, and I'm looking forward to the concert at the end of the month.

Speaking of obituaries, Friend's cat is dying. Cat has been with Friend's mom since May, because Cat was Displeased that Friend went back to work last year, and was displaying his displeasure in unfortunate and stressful ways. Cat was happy with Mom, who could provide lots of attention, but Mom called this week and said that Cat is failing--skinny, unsteady on his feet, not eating much, etc. Friend zipped up there yesterday and brought Cat back today, so Cat can, perhaps, die at home. Friend didn't really want to take Cat straight from Mom's to the vet for offing, in part because Cat hates the vet, but also, I think, because he wanted to have some time with Cat, and Cat does not appear to be in pain. Can't really eat, and drinking appears difficult, perhaps from strokes?, but not really in pain. So they're hanging out tonight, and, with any luck, Cat will go peacefully in his sleep in the next day or so, and Friend can put the body in the freezer until he can take it to the spot he's picked out. He'd planned on heading back to that location anyway next weekend, and I suspect a visit to the vet will occur if Cat doesn't die on his own. But they'll have had a chance to say goodbye to each other, which, especially given that Cat is 17 or 18 years old, is important. Friend didn't want me to come over, because he doesn't want anyone to see Cat in his current condition, and, I suspect, because he just wants to be with Cat, which is fitting. Cat predates--and outlived--his last/second marriage, for example, and used to go to work with Friend when he was tiny.

I managed to get most of the proofreading done--some of it tonight, even!--such that some (the part that I didn't know was sitting downstairs in the office for a week) will be a little late, but some (the part that is due next Friday) will be early. I'll be able to ship the whole thing off Monday (so long as FedEx doesn't care about Columbus), and I'll have plenty of time tomorrow and Monday to do the copyediting I have. With any luck, I'll get that done by Monday, too, which will enable me to do the OTHER proofreading and finish the copyediting that goes with the Sunday/Monday copyediting. (Got that? That's why I have a calendar.) I've been extraordinarily lucky lately (in general, actually, but especially lately), in that I've been getting a lot of work, but it's been spaced in ways that enable me to do it relatively easily, which means I can actually accept the work. Yes, I'm still working something like 60 or 70 hours a week, but it could be a lot worse.

One way or another, I have to get out of the bakery, as I keep saying, and the work I've been getting is crucial to one version of that plan. That is, getting some cash in the bank will make it easier to leave. I've decided, at least tentatively, to leave at the end of December, at the latest, though the thought of another season of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "Frosty the Snowman" four times a day may send me right over the edge before that. Even though Lole will be around for the next week while Bossman is cruising in the Caribbean somewhere, I can feel my stress levels beginning to rise again already.

I also have decided that I am not doing anything other than croissants if I can possibly help it. Someone else is going to have to assemble orders for mini pastries. Someone else (or, more likely, no one) is going to have to make the little tarts that I've been making for the store. Someone else will have to make the macaroons that Lole makes, and the pastry cream, and the custard cups, and the bread pudding, and the doughs and fillings and such. I'll still help out Phil, when I can, but that's about it. (Speaking of which, Phil thinks very little of Woody's skills--and I can tell in a second whether Woody or Phil made the dough for the little sourdough rolls we send to the Tart, which amuses Phil no end.) Woody has already appropriated Mike (who was originally hired to help Johnnie decorate cakes, but he sucked at it and, I heard today, Johnnie apparently half-threatened to quit). Bossman had suggested that Mike would help me out, but Woody seems to have taken care of that. It will be interesting to see what Bossman does when it comes down to it.

That is, he was used to me doing what needed to be done, and, with Lole around this summer, even though we were producing nearly 4,000 croissants per week (each one shaped by hand, mind you), I was happy to do other things. So now that the croissants are all back on me, and only me? Nope. Same as the not-going-in tomorrow or Monday to do the orders. I used to be willing to do that, but not getting paid for Labor Day pissed me off. Don't want to pay me for Monday holidays? No problem--but I'm not going in on Monday while you're off somewhere, either, especially not when I can make twice as much per hour for editing, and not have to transport myself on my own dime/time while I'm at it. I'm trying very hard to not get vindictive about this, or bitter, but nevertheless hold the line. It's an interesting balance, but one that's useful for my self-preservation. (Friend noted that my stress levels dropped noticeably once Lole came on board full-time, for example, and I'd rather they not rise again.)

The thing is, I really don't like doing things this way. I like being in a position where I can put forth a full effort and be compensated appropriately for it. The bakery isn't such a position, however. Bossman doesn't want to pay people any more than he has to, and he expects everyone wants to work the hours he works (even though Bossman's Wife is constantly shrieking about how he needs to work less, and he works too much, and so on, but don't even get me started on her), and I can look forward to being exploited, basically, for his personal profit, if I put forth that effort. What he hasn't yet figured out--and may not ever figure out, but it's not my job to educate him--is that if he wants to offer the higher-end stuff we've been doing, and wants to offer it regularly, then he has to have someone around other than/in addition to him who can make it. And someone who has that level of skill is either going to be able to get substantially (for this business) more/better compensation in, say, a hotel restaurant, or is only going to stick around for a year or so, meaning a whole new round of training/learning will have to occur, and he's going to have to do it, especially now that Brad's gone and (though he doesn't know it) I'm leaving.

And here's another thing. I basically run the business for him when he goes away, whether it's for three days or a week or whatever. In addition, even when he's there, he just expects me to check in deliveries and such when they occur (because for awhile I was the only person other than him fluent in English), no matter what I happen to be doing. He has never once thanked me or told me I've done a good job or anything like that. It doesn't exactly increase my motivation, you know? Luckily, I'm an adult, and I like him personally, so I'm doing my best to let it slide off my back, rather than getting all wrapped up in it. Flip side, though, he gets two weeks' notice from me, no more, and if he's lucky, that will occur after Christmas. If I'm lucky, it'll occur before that.