Poppin' caps and no not mushrooms...

A big dope slap goes out to some of the heels of the year. First some praise:

Mr. Jim Letten aka The Mustache. You rock! Get 'um boy, sick'em.
Mitch Landrieu current da Mayor. You are everywhere, stick around for 2 turns?
Rouse's Market for makin groceries. Way to invest locally!! You got my business.

Now for some slappin:

NOPD can't collectively operate as a police department. It's nice to see y'all solved a couple of dem murders to the satisfaction uh da courts...
Courts, as in Criminal caint even figger how to ack, I mean y'all gone have me up in there in January sitting in da jury room judging you... guilty. Yep, guilty of theft, malfeasance, conspiracy, piracy, complaisance, sloth, and two other deadly sins to be mentioned later. I will convict, I will acquit, I won't put to death. There, said it, no! Don't ax.

Na. Happy Day.

Some are gone, Summer forgotten.

Taking role of those who have disappeared in the last few months is fair. I don't easily forget one person in particular. The youtube evangelical from Buff-alo. His collage of guidos on the loft ceiling in the shop is nearing the end of its tenure. The negative internet comments on his less than stellar service remain, however. The knots he tied are almost straightened and the other remnants will fade too.

We take in our first clean breeze of Fall into our lungs as dry air with the promise of lower power bills sweeps through the swamp. Summer was long and tortured, but not as bad as some I can place. Feelings that each year my output is waning have been put to rest as I sense a shift in my accomplishments away from physical labors to delegation and conservation through technology. It seems common to most that when you visit a retail business, there is a smoothness in transactions and order. Not magic, it's hard work to create and maintain systems of information for this fluidity. Still without constant prodding, we will wander backwards into the chaotic, frenzied habits of rough, weak transactions that require much effort.

The day is mine. A rare Friday to wander. An extra day off is a tease. A run away from the taunts of work and persistent interjections of others work being fawned onto me without prejudice as the customer waits. A polite seize of nothing in particular on the way to tomorrow.

Crime and Motivation

We elect politicians, who make laws and hire police to enforce them.

What is the motivation of the police, aside from a paycheck, to actually prevent crime? Sure, they can show up after the fact, clean up, take notes, and track the perpetrators. But by then there are victims and survivors and witnesses who all find their lives changed or ended and their attitudes toward the police diminished. Well, at least, that's what I've observed.

So what will it take to change the culture of the police. They are part of our community but we often view them as the last resort or kind of a buffer from those who would harm us. Moreover, they are a different class of citizen. We have high expectations of them but offer them relatively low pay and poor working conditions.

My first idea is to re-integrate the police into the whole community. In New Orleans, there are about 300,000 residents and close to 2,000 N.O.P.D. officers. That's one for every 1,500 residents. If we could streamline the amount of time they need to write reports through technology and other automation and move them from within cars to a more interactive role, then more of us would know more of them. Waiting until the crime has occurred is too late to build a trust bond between resident and officer of the law. Having a previous relationship is key in law enforcement. How many of us hesitate to involve police for not wanting to get involved and just hoping the prblem will go away. Having police officers that you trust with information that can save a life or protect property and prevent crime is a great resource for both the individual and our city.

Less laws, more enforcement of current laws, less division between police and residents, more individual involvement in reporting and witnessing and above all a District Attorney's office who will prosecute offenders instead of demoralizing police and communities by releasing criminals without trial. Make reporting easier for police, provide bonuses and pay increases for performance, and allow and require them to get to know the people they serve and protect.

Piffed Off and Po.

One week's work = one week's pay. I work for a small business and sometimes money gets tight. The boss and payroll check writer is not communicative when we get into these places. Not getting paid on time is a real bummer. It causes stress, anger, anxiety, and generally makes me feel insecure about my job of fifteen years.
Don't get me wrong, I love where I work. My clients are some of the best people you will ever meet. The color, flavor, and diversity of their wishes are always refreshing. I am happy with them most of the time. It is our internal management that is unpredictable. It is seemingly impossible to plan very far into the future, both within the shop and consequently, in my personal life. Who would keep a job that left you without money for the weekend? I don't live check to check, but all of the pay I receive has been budgeted and any disruption brings my short term plans to a halt. It follows that upon returning to work after my "weekend", I have a hard time motivating to the point of excellence I expect of myself.
So, not being paid leads to a sort of depression. Even if my pay is provided three to five days late, it is demotivating. My time is all I have to sell and I feel like my time is being discounted. Feeling the need to search for a new job is a weird type in job insecurity. I don't want a different job, it's a knee-jerk reaction to this situation. I wish it would stop. The other employees ask me what they should do. We are all in it together and allowing the unknown to control your decisions is madness. And so the cycle continues until pay becomes regular again.
Sadness I define as love for something or someone that is not healthy for us or working out as promised. I consider pay the promise of work. Right now, this promise is being broken.

12 1/2 hours t' Wapner

That's a big snowball pawpaw. The first quick squall moved through at about 7:15 pm. Maybe 1/3" rain and 25 mph gusts and a really dark rolling cloud that brought night with it. I don't regret the choice to stay and I appreciate everyone that left so that no mistaken identities will occur with regard to the protection of property. My neighbors across the street are staying. I wish I'd known when the stores were going to close as I would have bought some Cheerios to toast. The red dog is fine. He seems curious about the absence of usual activity. He won't be getting an evening walk for a while.

The Plan for Now.

Closed on Sunday and Monday for general boredom and in respect of the fearful and maybe wisely evacuated masses. BBQs will go on as planned. Curfews which will hopefully be few will be observed. There will be peace once again in this city. The shame is that we can only have peace during a major violent storm and/or its aftermath. Neat would be finding a new home for the ignorant, the inconsiderate, radio blasting, murderous personified monkey devils that have re-infiltrated our tree lined city. Nice will be the stars if Entergy fails to get most of the power back on within a few days. Great will be the lack of respect our trigger happy politicians receive if Gustav doesn't decimate the remaining populous. Zen is not apologizing to one's self for having patience with the litany of fear zealots on parade today. It took much restraint not to post a censorship decree banishing non-technical discussions of the "Storm". The plan is to follow the plan, until a new plan is needed.

Think?

I don't know why I slip away from Zen from time to time. I'm leaving the shop the other day and see a bar patron outside of the bar, on the cell, and with her drink glass on my truck. To elicit a response, I say, "Get your drink off my bar". She exits her call, turns, and becomes defensive. No sense of humor. I'm met with lots of, "Do you think I'm...". Oh, you want to know what I think. I think you wouldn't be amused if I showed up with my drink on your car. I think you have no respect for anything in the area, like everything around her is part of some alcohol playground. I think you're only here to be able to say where you are to people on the cell who aren't here. I think... crap... I say, "I think you're a pretentious bitch. I think you don't care and should go back to drinking". Not very nice and absent Zen.
LCDTV took a header biking out in Baton Rouge. Blown up wrist and cracked helmet and many impact abrasions. Man down! Warrior is out for a week starting a day before I get back from my second break of the year. I doubt I'll take anymore strings of days off until Winter. Phantom has his helmet cam back in action. I like the videos, very realistic. Red dog got a new collar.
Today a client comes in with her 50 lb. trike loaded down with 60+ lbs. of art type stuff. She has a flat and before exploring common occurrences like punctures, she is convinced that we installed the wrong size tube the last time we changed her tube. There is no vocal reply that would be effective, this is only resolved though demonstration. Funny when I show her the little piece of wire poking through the tire. No slight of hand, and a guarantee that she will be charged if we're not at fault, she is cornered and ought to pay extra for the immediate service. I feel that the flat occurred during a period which within some grace from the original repair and charge her only for the tube. If I had been thinking, I would have weighed the option for ending commerce with this person and saving future drama as is likely to happen with this client. Command performances with great explanation are tiring and unprofitable. The catch-22 of doing business in NOLA. xx% of the people here are poor. You can choose to price them out of your store or slide your scale to provide them with help they really could use. The downside is they open cans of worms on you and return too frequently and take time you could spend on people with money. If only those of little means could have little expectations or maybe some patience? I try to respect everyone as individuals. Reality is different in a business. Most clients are appreciative and respectful. It's hard not to toss out the fringe clients when they abandon their bikes, steal your time without ever intending to buy something, and otherwise assume we're the reason their bikes don't work or that we're rich. I think that everyone is prejudiced about everyone else and in some way, play out their position regardless of reality. Well almost everyone. I guess this is my prejudice. It's just a supposition.

Missing man formation

So as is it to pass that the gypsy, the bird and Zoltan will be absent for some time. The bird is out in a week, gypsy left last month, and Zoltan starts a new job in the fall. This week the boss is out as is the Phantom. The Phantom is the best man for the jobs he takes. Bringing order and good retail sense to an otherwise cluttered hobby den. He has done more to increase profitability and does it with some permanence. He discounts his role to some extent, but we know when he's been somewhere.
With all the missing souls, how do we run a bike shop? I can't see us not burning out a bit before we recover some staff members or hire (and get up to speed) some fresh meat. We always thought it would get easier with more employees and maybe that can be true, though so far that is not the case. This doesn't mean it was easier before, just more controlled and paced for reality. We have no idea how much or how little we can schedule in a day without disappointing someone at the beginning or end of a sale. This shows our inability to effectively communicate our current workload with each other. Instead of knowing ahead of time who has time for what, we drop our pants in front of the customer while we hash out reality and allow undue influence by the money bringers. Thus by inference, we care both too little and too much. And for now, there are less of us to do either.

No space for elitists

We have a small shop. 75' x 23' at the biggest point with 16' ceilings where it is not divided by the upstairs loft. We stuff as much product into our space as a store three times its size. Our mechanics in the main space have about 10 sq ft. in which to turn out profitable labor. Usually there are three wrenches on the floor, an assemble guy upstairs, and on weekdays, our head mechanic has his shop behind the main space. His room is 13' x 13' with a half loft. It's a really neat space with most everything you could want but more room. I really look up to him as he has taught me more than he could possibly think he knows.
Our main complaint you can see is space. It is at a premium. Without additional room, the only solution is consolidation and clearing out junk. Well junk isn't junk, it's stuff we are storing for one reason or another. The main violators are the boss (whose stuff will mostly be ignored) and customers who think we can hold on to their bits and pieces indefinitely. They fall into one category, elitists. A week, a month, no... months and even some years. Some know it is here and feign picking it up regularly and some have no idea it is still here. The time is coming and the stuff will hit the can.