Disco lives!

Was called in today.

I swear, I singlehandedly raised morale.

I remember once feeling that closing was depressing, as opposed to my “usual” morning shift. Something’s changed, since then. Maybe it’s Cliff in the back. Maybe it’s knowing I’ll kick ass and close bakery faster than anybody else. Maybe it’s kicking ass and still having time to relax and goof off. Trying to put on the facade that I’m not doing much, when I’m really doing a lot, just at a very diligent pace.

Brandon was so happy that I was around, because he’s not good at closing bakery. He’s good cashier partner, but honestly, I’d prefer closing with Erica. Angie had him running random errands.

It was a power-close. Rene, Barbara, and Erik on line, Cliff in the back, Brandon doing cafe, me doing bakery, and a n00b on floor. I’ve seen a lot of n00bs and I respect Marissa simply for keeping her feet moving. She meshed well with the rest of us when we were dancing in the back of the store.

Yes, I said dancing. Remember that disco mix I said I’d burn for G? I put that in when we were close to closing. Everybody was a little more upbeat. I imagined if Mike had a hidden camera so he could watch us at home. He’d shit himself at Brandon dancing. Or Erik dancing. Barbara said she hadn’t seen me so happy. Rene? He was outnumbered by white boys. Cliff was doing a hilarious white boy hustle.

I know my music, what can I say? Erik said he hadn’t had such a good time at Panera in a long time.

I love my morning crew most days, but damn, you simply can’t that kind of fun in the morning. Mornings are always filled with Scott-watch. It shouldn’t be like that. As much as we were enjoying ourselves tonight, we were actually doing our jobs. As I said, we all clocked out together at 10:30 PM. That’s far better than the way some evening people like to take until 11 PM.

I wonder if Mike will keep me on weekend evenings. I’d love to work weekend mornings and rock out in the back while prepping. We’ll see.

I love making people happy. One thing that stuck out last night was Mike saying that we should enjoy ourselves. Customers sensing that we enjoy ourselves will go a long way. Mornings are so different from evenings. Mornings feel almost businesslike. There’s so much that’s asked of us. But as I say a lot, I see how much the morning people goof off. It’s just in a different way. With how many people we have on now, there’s no excuse for fruit cups not being done. I considered doing them tonight, but eh, Brandon and I were the only cashiers out. Not worth it. Instead, I pulled the bread rack forward, and pushed the bagels back so I could sweep and mop.

I have the midday tomorrow, and I open Wednesday. Again, Wednesday is the premier of the souffles. I’m still thinking we’re going to need a second 7 AM person. We don’t need five people for lunch. We’re fine with four cashiers (and a floor person, which always seems to be missing). *thinks* 5 AM, 7 AM, 7 AM, 9 AM, and 11 AM. When I open, I take my break around 9:30 or ten. If Mike wanted to watch his hours, the openner could leave at 12:30. We’ll get waves after that, but the worst is exactly at noon.

Whatever. I’ve been playing NHL 2002 lately. Shotty AI annoys me, but I try to work with it. I can not score on the power play. I actually score far more shorthanded goals than powerplay goals. If I’m on the power play, the computer is SO aggressive, I usually can’t do much with the puck. But if I’m shorthanded, I can usually throw my two forwards into their zone and mess with their morale. Har har! Hell, I’ll have all four in their zone and keep the puck in longer than if I was on the power play! WTF.

This tread goes across every last hockey game I’ve ever played. I swear. I will always score more shorthanded goals. I don’t get it! What’s my motivation to avoid penalties? Dude, last two games, Scott Stevens has gotten a game misconduct in the first couple minutes. So I moved John Madden down to left defense and double-shifted Patrik Elias. I love hockey. I need to buy that .. I forget the name of that game. Should have bought it when I saw it in Babbages. Management aspects of games intrigue me, what can I say?

For my current season, my team actually has a losing record. I got sick of winning constantly, so I must have turned up the difficulty last time I played. AI is weird. The goalie will constantly make insane saves off one-timers, yet will wiff on a weak wrist shot. wtf? To my disadvantage, I haven’t figured out how to swipe on rebounds. On my last NHL game, the only way I could score was off one-timer rebounds. It was insane, yet I could pull it off. I’d win 1-0 or 2-0. As a rule, Brodeur has to be god. My defense amounts to hammering the opposing team at the blue-line. Which tends to raise morale. Which is why I do it.

Erik said I was being dragged along to Revenge of the Sith on Friday morning. Cool. Maybe we’ll GOTO Panera afterwards and order 500 hot chocolates.