They hit the Eject button for me / Viva Lost Wages
typed for your pleasure on 12 January 2010, at 3.27 amSdtrk: ‘Notre Prof d’Anglais’ by Chantal Kelly
Ah-hem. Some news in brief!
Last Tuesday, I was unceremoniously fired from my mentally and morally offensive job, after three years of sterling service. ‘Consistently rude and terse to customers’, was their cowardly excuse for letting me go. Frankly, I’m surprised that it took as long as it did. I’m in the midst of rejoining the dole queue, but I’m trying not to let it get me down. As much as I hated that job — and believe me, I fucking loathed that job — I enjoyed receiving money from it. I’m viewing this event as the much-needed arse-kicking I… err, needed… in order to get something that isn’t as hideous and/or pays more. Since the past year and a half, I’d been looking into changing employment, but this should really get me motivated. I’m just not entirely keen on jumping without a parachute, but I’m hoping it turns out for the better real soon…
Just after that, iDollators Euchre, CJD, Mahtek and I attended the AVN expo in Las Vegas, from the 07th to the 11th of this month. It’s safe to say that we had a hell of a time! I managed to compile notes, in between walking up and down Vegas’ main drag and fondling Doll jubbleys, so expect a couple of posts describing the meetup, in protracted detail, relatively soon! Technically, I’ve really no excuse for dragging my heels! It’s not like I have a job to report to or anything!
Sneak preview: one of the many, many highlights of those four and a half days was meeting sexpot photographer of sexpot Dolls, Stacy Leigh! Her sassy firecracker attitude makes me think that meeting her is about as close as I’m gonna get to meeting one of Warhol’s Silver Dream Factory superstars.
photo by Mrs ARDO, who is a star in her own right as well
And would you believe I was interviewed for an article for the Las Vegas Weekly whilst out there? It’s true.
So as I have a bollockload of notes and photos, I’ll attempt to sort the lot out this week and get it all finished!…
Now, let’s see about this godforsaken ‘jetlag’ that I keep hearing so much about. Personally, I don’t believe it really exisZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz
EDIT (13 Jan): Just got a date confirmation: the episode of National Geographic’s ‘Taboo’ series that we’re in, ‘Strange love‘, will be aired on Wednesday, 10 February, at 10pm. Which will undoubtedly be spread all over the Intersnet about a week later, but there you have it
Random similar posts, for more timewasting:
more Real Life Work Stories on July 24th, 2006
Please pass the suicide on January 3rd, 2005
January 12th, 2010 at 5.36 pm
This blog entry brought a little tear to my eyes. I’m honored you used the photo I took of you and Stacy!!! Loved meeting you both!
Meeting you was a highlight of our trip. I loved standing near the “Rock Star” Davecat as people from all over the world came to get their photos taken with you..Warmed my heart.
I know you will get a new job soon. Screw that old job..well not literally..eww they’d suck in bed..hehehe (I’m such a perv)
Again, wish we had more time together in Vegas..there was so much to do and so little time. I knew you would be a great guy! I’m happy to know now first hand you are an amazing man! Fun to be around, great conversations! I can’t say enough!
Big big hugs! Like the ones we had in person.. *smiles*
Mrs. ARDO
January 12th, 2010 at 8.59 pm
Hey! With no structure of your nine to five, I suggest a e-quaintance road trip! Like the one MontiLee did a few years back. Hers was South and East, might I suggest North and West?
Guess I should have started with a ‘sorry you’re on the dole’.
January 15th, 2010 at 12.30 am
When one door closes another one opens, and etc… Hopefully that old chestnut will roast well! Suckish jobs should only be short-term anyway, am I right?
Now is the time and opportunity for some fun!
Meanwhile, I’m trying like hell to not be jealous of your embrace with Stacy, and failing miserably. Oh well, still enjoying the pic, and hoping that Stacy is feeling as well as she looks 🙂
And you too! You’ll be back on your feet in no time, I’m sure 😉
Kindest regards from PBS, Lily and the girls!
January 15th, 2010 at 8.48 am
I would say something like, “Gee, I’m sorry you lost your shitty job in such a shitty economy”, but you know I’d have my fingers crossed. I wish you the best of luck finding something new, something better. Things are tough out there, but you of all people can do it.
Glad you had fun in Vegas! And I’m looking forward to watching the show! Since I’m stuck here in Nippon I’ll have to see if I can make it magically appear on my hard drive. Hey, it happens.
Keep us updated!
January 17th, 2010 at 4.40 am
Mrs Ardeaux –
I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: it was truly fun meeting you and Mr ARDO in person finally. And at such a fab venue! Situations like that are best shared with cool people, and you both fit the bill nicely. 🙂
The general consensus is that we’re doing it again next year, so you’ve been duly forewarned. 🙂
(Ps.Personally, between the buffet at the Rio and the one at Treasure Island, my vote goes with the latter. Another thing to look forward to next time!…)
veach –
A cross-country trip, eh? Honestly, the only thing stopping me from doing that is a complete lack of funds. And hitchhiking isn’t an option. Well, not a good one, anyway. But I’ve always wanted to go on a world tour, so that’s something to consider…
PBS, Lily, Eden, Pennie, Donner, Blitzen –
I’d really like to put my in-between job time to good / fun use, like getting back to A Certain Forum and littering it with posts, or finally watching all of Turn A Gundam and Kamen rider 555, or etc. More than a couple of people have suggested that I write a book! I AM PARALYSED BY INDECISION
And meeting Stacy Leigh was brief, but fun! Meeting fellow iDollators is always fab, but she took it to an Olympic level. 🙂 Now we have to find some way to get you out to Vas Legas for the 2011 AVN, so you can get in on it as well! 🙂
WG –
O, I’m sure some enterprising young Internet pirate will upload the Nat.Geo episode to the Series of Tubes in some fashion, much like how ‘Guys and Dolls’ showed up on it so many years ago. It’s funny; you’d think National Geographic would show it in Japan, as, on a baseline level, it’s a global publication. *shrugs* But still!
And thanks to all of you for your work-related well-wishes! 🙂
January 17th, 2010 at 11.57 am
Screw em.
It’s hard to be happy when you hate your job. It shows up in other people.
I had a similar “problem” but the truth was I was working in a toxic environment. All my “complaints” went away once I changed. Sometimes it’s not you.
Good luck on the interview/etc. Someday I would like to speak out the way you do.
Cheers, Z
January 18th, 2010 at 2.59 pm
from a funding point of view, sounds like a bummer that you’ve lost your job. but from a personal opportunity and happiness point of view, i’m thinking it will turn out to be for the best, and i’m sending all possible positive vibes your way to that effect!
i’m excited to see and hear more about your trip to avn, too!
hugs,
claire
January 18th, 2010 at 3.40 pm
Hey DC!
I’m looking forward to watching the NatGeo Documentary! You’re a great spokesperson for the Doll community and I love reading your blog.
January 18th, 2010 at 11.28 pm
Zarnon –
‘t’s hard to be happy when you hate your job. It shows up in other people.’
And that’s exactly what it was. That job made me fucking miserable practically every day that I was there. It wasn’t like I was toting barges or lifting bales or any sort of manual labour, but it was a case of me constantly fighting five days a week against an ever-growing tide of liars, idiots, and people that really should know better. And it honestly was poisoning my well-being. It’s well-documented that I’m simply not a ‘people person’, and a job like that for me was like having a severe allergy to cashews, and working in a cashew processing plant. Ugh.
I understand that most jobs aren’t something that a person wants to do, as opposed to something a person has to do, but the more oppressive the atmosphere, the less likely I am to feel better about what I do. That goes for everyone.
And seeing / reading you speaking publically about being an iDollator would be fantastic! More of us need to come out of the iDollator closet, as it were, and show the general populace that what we are is nothing to be ashamed of! Besides, Shi-chan and I can only be in so many places at once! 😉
Ms Worthy –
Thanks very much for the positive, sexy, and positively sexy vibes! 🙂 I have to stop procrastinating, and begin carving out the Vegas post(s) this week. Lots of things to cover, as you’d expect!
Hope your lad’s treating you right, and Sidore-chan sends multiple sloppy air kisses in your direction!
SilverMite –
Like you, we’re vibrating with antici
pation (heh, lil’ ‘Rocky Horror’ joke, there) as to that Nat.Geo documentary. We’re still waiting on our DVD copies, so when it airs, we’ll be as surprised / astonished / shocked / enthralled / confused / enthused as you are! It should be good, though!
And thank you for the compliment! I can’t say that I speak for every iDollator, but Sidore and I are just trying to open peoples’ minds up to something that they may well be interested in. We do our best! 🙂
January 19th, 2010 at 11.38 am
Hey, thanks for the reply DC.
I enjoy watching the “Taboo” program. I think your story is safe in their hands because they don’t seem to over inflate the issues at hand. Of course, there is a little showmanship to what they do. However, I don’t think that they ever try to show anyone in a negative light. On Sunday, they aired the episode about the prostitutes. If they didn’t twist that to make the girls look bad, they’re not going to mistreat your story either.
As for your job, I know how you feel about working that sort of job. I used to sell cars. I’m really good with people but, I’m not a people person. Like you, I was surrounded by liars and snakes. Even though I practiced honest selling, I was always the enemy to everyone, my boss, the customers… Finally, I couldn’t do it anymore and I left the biz. Now, I’m in IT! It’s not that much better however, the income is more stable.
Anyway, best of luck to you on your new job search.
January 19th, 2010 at 7.28 pm
Looking back to my recent 8 months of unemployment, I really miss leaping from bed at the crack of noon, fixing a huge breakfast of bacon and eggs with all the trimmings then crawling back into bed for a cuddle with the girls. If life could always be so sweet!
But this is a new day for you, as it was for me. My new job is still a job, but I now look forward to starting my day. My old job was rife with politics, pointless busy work and the certainty of no professional growth. I was too valuable to move, but they had to let me go to save their worthless buddies’ jobs. Here’s your opportunity to make the next job the one that you want!
And you are a people person, you just can’t suffer fools gladly.
January 20th, 2010 at 8.40 pm
I appreciate the Las Vegas weekly article. It seems to not mind admitting that the usual asshat assumptions about idollators could actually be false. It debunks other stuff too.
🙂
January 22nd, 2010 at 6.06 pm
Davecat sorry about your job, although something better is on it’s way I’m sure ! Glad you had a good time in Vegas, I’m jealous wish I was there.
Excellent article…Its so true that Dolls are sometimes the only thing that can offer true comfort. I’m watching my Dad die a slow death to cancer and if I didn’t have Angel to hold on to, once in a while, I would loose it !
January 24th, 2010 at 11.39 pm
SilverMite –
When they offered us the opportunity, we figured out of all the places we could’ve been showcased on, National Geographic would be even-handed with the treatment of its subject matter, so we figured Why not. It’ll definitely be worth viewing!
And it’s very, very, very rare to find employment that isn’t stifling, or doesn’t deaden your soul, especially these days. But staying at a miserable job will bring a person that much closer to some sort of breaking point every day that they’re there. It’s like that quote I love to trot out periodically: ‘Work, what a concept: Ruin your life by having a job; ruin your life by not having a job’. It’s a hideous state of affairs…
O, and if you don’t mind me asking, do you have a Doll of your own? I might have seen her pictures. Not only am I a Doll husband, but I’m also an archivist. 🙂
Mahtek –
During those eight months of being on the dole, you were living the life of a landed gentleman! That’s something we all should aspire to! 🙂
My options may not be as numerous as yours, but I’m still remaining hopeful…
‘You are a people person, you just can’t suffer fools gladly.’
Yeah, you’ve got a point there. I simply need to find something with less fools per square inch (packaged by weight, not volume)!
Kat-chan –
That interview was completely spur-of-the-moment, yet it not only turned out very satisfactorily, but I managed to not sound like a rambling tosspot, so full points all round! More interviews — not just with me, but with any willing subject — should go that smoothly! Shame she spelt ‘iDollator’ wrong, though. 😐 Nevertheless!
Cat –
Sorry to hear about your dad. 🙁
One of the greatest things about Dolls that non-iDollators fail to consider is that they always provide comfort for those willing to recognise it. They’re wonderful for that sort of thing, as you, Mahtek, Zarnon, Claire’s lad, PB Shelley, and I, as well as numerous others, can attest to…
Take care! And tell Angel we said Hallo. 🙂
January 26th, 2010 at 11.52 am
You may have my name confused with someone else with a similar name. I don’t own a doll of my own. Like some people, I just have an interest in the scene. More so than the “static” Dolls, I find the “Droids” more fascinating. I like to watch the scene to see how far and how fast robotic technology is growing. I think today’s general AI is probably far enough along for a synthetic companion however, I think motion technology is still a long ways away from nice, visually appealing, fluid motion.
In other news, I browsed your blog from start to finish and discovered all kinds of interesting things. I love your posts about modern architecture. I ended up doing a lot of research on some of those buildings. Also, I ended up purchasing an “Eye Test” watch!
Keep up the good blogging!
February 11th, 2010 at 1.32 am
So, Dave.
I used to know you. I met your beautiful wife as well. I used to work with your old roommate, and I was kind of the non-roommate roommate who spent a lot of time on the futon.
Ring any bells?
Large framed, super busty mixed girl who walked on the extremely wild side of the wild side. Ha!
I just saw your episode and I googled you. You both look the same, with few minor changes.
My mom wants me to write a book about my life or go on TV and tell my story – but I am not as brave as you are.
Anyways I’m glad to see you’re still around. I’m in Dearborn. No more OC for me!
February 11th, 2010 at 12.45 pm
*snaps fingers* O, hey, yeah! I remember you now! It took me several hours, cos I knew a couple of people who believed in the sanctity of crashing on couches or futons!
Yes, you were friends with what’s-‘er-name, back when she and I had that house! Was 2003 really that long ago? I suppose mathematics says that it is…
Yeah, Shi-chan and I are pretty much the same. We’re not keen on too many unnecessary changes with things, y’know. Besides, if we kept switching things up, how would you have recognised us? 🙂
Why not write a book? Unless you’ve got time restraints or similar. I’d read it!
Good to hear from you! Tell Dearborn we said Hi. 🙂