Waiters on Wheels

Okay, so I know that using Waiter's on Wheels is probably the most horrible, lazy thing that anyone could do... knowing that and admitting it I will also admit that we use them on a pretty regular basis. Tonight, I have an extra special excuse. I am car-less. Mini had to stay overnight at the dealer to fix his window.
Anyhow... I ordered from Kam's tonight. I was a little bit wary as I called because my favorite thing to order there was not on the menu. I was pleased when I mentioned it to the order taker and she said she'd call the restaurant to see if they could get me what I wanted. YES. Very, very pleased at this point. so an hour and a half later my doorbell rings. the order came to 29 something (that included the delivery fee of eight freakin' dollars). I handed the guy 2 twenties and asked for 5 back. I was giving him a 5 dollar tip. not bad. the guy looks at me and tells me he doesn't have change.
"Well, I'm not giving you a $10.00 tip."
"What am I supposed to do?"
"Get me change"
"Where?"
"I don't know. You figure that out. I'll give you this money, you go and get change and you bring it back to me."
"I can't"
"WHY NOT?"
"I have a two dollar bill, but I'm saving that"
"Look, I told you i'm not giving you a 10 dollar tip. You have to figure this out. Get me change."
"I can't."
"Look, what do you mean you can't get me change? Go to the 7/11 on 15th & Geary, break one of the 20s and bring me back the change. It's that simple. I've figured it out for you. Now go do it."
"I can't."
"You mean, you WON'T. What's your name?"
"Roman"
"Here's the 40 bucks. If you don't ring my bell with 5 dollars in 5 minutes, I'm calling and complaining."
It's been an hour and I just got off the phone with WOW for the second time. The first person who answered told me that I had to call back tomorrow between 9 and 4 to talk to a manager. I called back 10 minutes later and the person who answered listened to my complaint, and then offered to send me a 20 dollar gift certificate. Sheesh.
I'll use the gift certificate, but that will be the last time I ever call Waiters on Wheels.

Hang in there....

The Blog Muse has been skippin' past mi casa, i guess.
some random thoughts
why do the owners of car dealerships insist on being in their own commercials? and why don't they at LEAST get some coaching for their "acting"?
who is this Dr. Jang of Jang and associates? who told him he should do his own commercials? and why has no one EVER told him that it's pronounced "say" and not "see" when he so admirably says, "se habla espanol" at the end of his commercial?????? it drives me crazy. completely insane.
is anyone else watching "so you think you can dance?" if you saw the first few episodes, please, PLEASE tune in again. it started out painfully slow but it has turned into a GORGEOUS showcase of dance.

The Shoppping List 8/15/05

Okay... so this one is a bad one...
It seems the stress of the conference along with the relief of getting it done sent me into a bit of a shopping frenzy. So here goes...

1 MORE U-Boat Watch from Saks (brown face with a camo band!!!!)
1 MORE Jack Spade Flat Messenger Bag but this time in Black Bridle Leather from Kate Spade
1 birthday present for Mike from Lava 9

Total: WAY more than I have EVER spent in the course of 20 minutes. I bought the watch at Saks then went around the corner and picked up the Jack Spade bag. Like i said, I was in a frenzy. I was having a bit of 'buyers remorse' until I decided that when you've worked so hard you should give yourself a little treat (or TWO). So I'll eat at home til my next paycheck... I'll live.

You've seen the pics...

now here's the story...
this years conference was probably the turning point of my career at WSI...
I got called out in general assembly (approx. 1150 WSI employees) by the Chief Marketing Officier. y'see, this year he was in the show for the first time. I had him doing "I Love rock and roll" by Joan Jett and the Black Hearts. he worked really hard to be really mediocre, but he put his whole heart and soul into it. i went up to him backstage just before his number and said, "Now, you're gonna rock this, right?" and went to do the old "high 5"... he grabbed my hand and pulled me in and said, "I'm doing this for you, mike".
"Pat! don't do it for me. you're doing it for the GMs!" I was in High Cheer Leader Mode at the time.
"No. I'm doing it for you because you've worked so hard."
"Thanks Pat. Knock 'em dead." gulp.
I went on to the next uber exec who was freaking out...
Well, the show was a hit. It's never as good as I want it to be, but it's always better than anyone expects. I guess I just have a higher, truer theater standard. i worked it out so that the CEO did a number followed by the CMO (Pat), followed by the Chairman of the Board and ending with an "Ode" to the 90 year old founder, Chuck. The final number had everyone in tears as they brought Chuck on stage to sing to him a version of R. Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly" that I had re-written to be "You Believed We Could Fly". Very manipulative, I admit, but whatever. it worked.
so at General asssembly the next day, Pat was giving his much anticipated speech... he's a great speaker. Everyone always looks forward to his presentations at the conference. anyhow, he's giving his speech and he starts talking about the show. then he tells the tech people to "run the footage" and he shows clips of all the execs' numbers. I was thrilled to have him just mention the show, but even more amazed that he had footage to show the entire general asssembly. Next thing you know, I hear him saying my name... "Where's Mike M?". I gasped outloud and grabbed Will's leg (he was sitting next to me). Ohmygod. ohmygod. ohmygod. I raised my hand. I was sitting in the back near the engineers table and i could hear the stage manager saying, "We've got him! He's in Quadrant 4 at the end of the row. white shirt. black hair. he's got his hand up. Jerry? you got him. great." My face appears on the giant screen on either side of the mainstage. "Geez. My hair is HUGE" I thought as i slowly stood up.
Pat went on to say some really nice things about me as I stood and tried desperately to hold my composure (i don't know if it was because I was so exhausted or what, but I was super emotional) then he said, "I was in my bathroom every night since I got here working on my song. I sang it over and over, practicing the moves Mike taught me. I did it because I didn't want to let Mike down." That was it. I started to lose it. Thankfully my image disappeared from the screen at the moment to be replaced by an image of Pat standing onstage. He ended by saying that I was an "outstanding example of great leadership skills'. at that point - to my great shock and amazement - the entire place stood up and applauded for me. I got my first Standing O at a freakin' conference in Arizona. Never got one for dancing my ass off all those years. I end up getting one for putting on a show with a bunch of retail corporate employees. who knew?
For the rest of the conference, i was treated like a freakin' rockstar. It was truly surreal. People I didn't know came up to me to congratulate me, shake my hand, and - get this - to have their picture taken with me. Chuck Williams walked across the crowded hotel lobby to shake my hand and thank me. Totally weird.
I had the strangest reaction to this experience... I got really weirded out about being alone. Totally paranoid. I didn't want to be alone when some stranger came up to me to say congratulations. I don't know why. I got panicky if I was standing by myself and someone approached me. I blushed. I actually blushed. I never do that. But for some reason I spent the rest of the time in Arizona beet red.
One more thing... the CEO showed up for rehersals and pulled me aside to show me the outfit he had brought to wear. Cowboy boots, a groovy t-shirt, a studded belt with a GIANT buckle and a pair of the most beautiful jeans i have ever seen. Gorgeous wash, amazing details, cool flap pockets, and a big TRUE RELIGION patch on the back waistband. True Religion. Geez. I was looking at a pair of $300 jeans. 'Must be nice' I thought to myself.
So anyhow, like i said, the show was a hit and my SVP was pleased as could be. She pulled me up onstage after the show, handed me a gorgeous bouquet of roses and said nice things. Really great. Then, the next day, she tells me to meet her at the break... she takes me outside and points to a car and driver. She tells me that the driver will be taking me to Neiman Marcus at the Scottsdale Galleria where I'll be met by a personal shopper who will take me to pick out the "most expensive" pair of True Religion jeans. Kee-rist! So an hour later, i'm rolling back to the resort in a chaufer driven car with a pair of $300 jeans. I was in hog heaven.
All in all, I had a pretty good time in Arizona this year.

My Tech Guys

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Originally uploaded by shuboy.

Lou did the sound, Jake did everything else. Love these guys!

More rehearsing

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Originally uploaded by shuboy.

Behind the scenes...

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Originally uploaded by shuboy.

Me and KF rehearsing "No More Tears"... I sang the Babs part.

70's Disco Inferno Night

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Originally uploaded by shuboy.

They have these rediculous theme nights where we are forced, FORCED to participate. Whatever... once you get there and you're totally into the whole scene because I'm sure they put something in the coffee... you just go for it. I had on black vinyl dipped denim by Todd Oldham, some hateful silver shirt, platform Fornarina sneakers and was covered in silver glitter. I especially loved Aaron's take on 70s... he went as jack tripper from 3s company. priceless. he also talked a couple of the other girls into going as chrissy and janet. MORE priceless. Gotta love that guy.

What're you lookin' at?

vogue girls
Originally uploaded by shuboy.

This is the "Vogue" number from the show... the two boys I auditioned and hired in AZ. Both excelllent dancers. The women? Well, let's see... there's one president, one senior vice president, one CFO and one VP of stores... who would've thought?

Arizona, there I am.

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Originally uploaded by shuboy.

So... here's a pic from THE CONFERENCE. That's all of us. These are the people I work with. Well... some of the people i work with. Is it my imagination or am I the only Asian in the group?
Much more bloggin' in the works WITH pics.