12:08 p.m. - 2006-01-06
Bud's First Day
Yesterday morning I woke up with a sinus headache. I don't have to be at the bookstore until 1:00, so I fooled around and waited to see if maybe I would feel better: I vacuumed and did some laundry and got on the Internet where I discovered an e-mail from Cora warning me again about the Glade Plug-in incendiary threat.
After a couple of hours I wasn't feeling any better, so I decided to call in sick. The phone at the bookstore was busy, so I watched TV for a while and called again, and the phone was still busy. This went on for over an hour. I started getting ready for work, stopping every few minutes to call the store--and still the phone was busy. I ended up going to work because I couldn't call in sick and didn't want to be a no-call, no-show.
When I got to the bookstore Cora asked me if I had read her Glade Plug-in e-mail. Then once we got that important issue out of the way she asked me if I would take over the training of a new employee named Bud. According to Cora Bud was stupid and she had about had it with training him and trying to run the store at the same time, which was pretty much impossible and unfair as well.
Bud is a semi-scruffy looking guy in his fifties: sandy hair that could use a good combing and maybe some gel, droopy moustache, droopy eyes with pouches under them. He tends to mumble--which might be a disadvantage when dealing with customers--but contrary to Cora's opinion is actually quite intelligent. He reads a lot, which can't hurt with a bookstore job. Technically he conforms to the store dress code, but there is that previously mentioned scruffiness, a suggestion that he might have slept in his clothes.
Bud told me that he was glad I was taking over his orientation because Cora had been on the phone all day, warning her friends about some fire hazard or other.
I decided to have Bud job shadow me for the first day, and when things were slow I encouraged him to just wander around the store and get an idea of how the books were organized on the shelves. Birdall's is kind of a rabbit warren, with lots of small rooms and little hallways that don't really go anywhere, so just learning the physical layout is a big part of the job.
Bud seems to be an okay person. His past job history is something he's not eager to talk about, but that's not something I need to know anyway, as long as he does his work.

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