Working Harts

Got a quick start this morning! I woke up at 8, closed my eyes for a second...and opened them a half-hour later. I read Wings of the Falcon and wrote in my journal fast! Ironically, I heard from Karen as I was getting dressed. She had to take a long call and would be slightly late. That gave me just enough time for breakfast before she arrived. 

We talked at the Haddon Township Library again. We did apply for a job at a senior center in Philadelphia. On one hand, it's data entry work and sitting down, and it's not retail. On the other hand, the pay isn't any better than it is at the Acme, and I have a hard enough time dealing with the seniors at work. 

I really don't know where to go next. I want out of the Acme because I'm going crazy and it's getting me nowhere...but if I'm going to buy an apartment or condo, I need to make more money. I'm just brainstorming right now. This is one idea. Trying to go back to college is another, but I'm worried about the time involved there. I really want to go back to being on my own and get all my stuff out of storage, but most decent jobs need more education and experience.

Went online briefly to write when I got home. Gene also mentions at this point that every rancher in town is worried about the outlaws. Brett Somers, who runs the Bar K Ranch on her own, is afraid that she may be next in line to lose cattle after the bandits hit her neighbors. We also learn that she's currently boarding the local school teacher, Charles Nelson Reilly, who boards with his students when school is in session.

Broke for a quick lunch and Match Game '75 around noon. Ed Asner appeared on his first week, joined by singer and actress Julie London. Dorothy's still around, too, and gets help from them on "Better __" in the Audience Match.

Had no problems getting Uber going to work. They picked me up in under five minutes. Getting one home was more of a problem. The original one canceled, and the second one took 11 minutes. He really cheered me up going home, though, so much that I tipped him a little extra. 

Work didn't start out badly...but by 2 PM, the lines were down the aisles again. We just don't have enough help. And of course, twenty minutes from when I was supposed to be finished, I had someone with one of the government cards that give us trouble. I asked the head manager why we don't have any books for them. He told me the books for stores and people were eliminated when everything was moved on cards and online. People are supposed to read an app and know what they can and can't buy, and we aren't supposed to have anything to do with it...but each store has different things that can be bought, and not everyone reads the apps or reads them all the way.

And of course, one of my last customers argued that the large bowls of cut up watermelon were on sale when they weren't. I looked at the shelves of cut-up fruit twice and didn't see the sale. She kept insisting it was there. It must have been on another shelf, because she found it later. I never saw it. She was so upset, and it got me upset when I was already frustrated from the line that built up behind the man with the card. Despite everyone saying I had every right to be upset, I behaved badly and was very unprofessional. And because I had two large orders with no relief in a row, I got out ten minutes late.

At least the weather improved. While it remains gale-force windy, it was also sunny and much warmer, a more typical upper 40's. Not a cloud blew across the pale blue sky. 

I went straight upstairs and into leftovers and Match Game '74 when I got home. With the final two episodes of the previous week currently lost, they skipped ahead to the first appearance of Arte Johnson and the only week for Michelle Lee. This was also the last week before Charles Nelson Reilly left to direct a play on Broadway, and there were quite a few jokes about him, including his wearing a flowered bucket hat to cover his lack of toupee. 

Since Buzzr's still re-running the same episodes at the 7 PM hour that they did last week, I watched Hart to Hart. Prostitutes call on Jennifer, who did an article on prostitution in LA, to help them find out who killed one of them. The police aren't that interested in the case and don't want Jennifer and Johnathan meddling...but they learn it's a "Cop Out" when a vice squad officer is getting a little too close to his work.

Finished the night on Shout Factory TV with some much-needed Mystery Science Theater 3000. This is one of Joel's better early episodes. The Phantom Creeps is the first episode of a serial with Bela Lugosi playing a scientist who intends to become a dictator when his wife dies and his ideas are ignored. Jungle Goddess is a campy adventure with Steve Reeves as one of two hunters who find the white woman of the title (Wanda McKay) being worshipped by natives. He wants to escape with her, but his partner accidentally shot one of the natives, and they want retribution. Dated colonial references and stereotypes abound here. The kitsch value and future Superman Reeves' earnest performance actually gives this one a bit of a lift. And yes, jungle jokes and Superman references abound from the robots here.