DREAM: It’s understood that I’m Bill, the vampire from True Blood. I’m outside on the front porch of this club/venue. Earlier, something bad happened and somebody was killed because of me. Wesley is across the street closing the trunk of his car in attempt to leave. I’m rummaging through a brown cardboard box of various guns. I pull out a strange looking shotgun and aim it at Wesley’s car, “I told you to leave!” Wesley is frantic and scared now. He’s yelling at me, “I told you my tire is broke! I’m trying to fix it!” Neighbors who live in an apartment right in front of him are opening their door to check out all the commotion. One of them walks over to me trying to get insight into what’s going on, something about violence not being the way to solve this. I yell out loud, “This is a movie! It’s a fuckin movie!” This means nothing is real. It’s all fake. But in my head I knew this wasn’t true. I had actually killed somebody. And this gun in my hand is real. But I hoped this would calm everybody down and in a sense it calmed me down too—I didn’t take everything so seriously after that. Later, we really do start shooting for a film. Inside the club now discussing with a female actress on where we’re going to meet for the first time…which stool…standing on either end of the bar.
2 p.m. I get out of bed.
Breakfast: Toasted English Muffin with Butter and Blackberry Jam. Banana. Orange Juice. Zinc, Alfalfa Grain.
Searching for a replacement power supply for my laptop.
Doing yoga in the living room.
Lunch: Grilled Cheese with Tomato. Salt N Vinegar Chips. Vanilla Yogurt with Raspberries. Mango Oolong Tea.
Work at China Wok.
I’m going to start keeping a log of all the non-tippers to better understand them and why they exist. This is how it will look…
Number of Non-Tippers for this shift: 2
First Non-Tipper
Race/Description: African American Male in his late 50’s
General Location: Coach House Road (next to Lynnhaven Mall)
Type of Residence: Medium Sized House
Quality of Residence (5-Star Rating): * * *
Amount of Order: Over $25
Friendly/Non-Friendly: Neutral
Second Non-Tipper
Race/Description: Caucasian Female in her 40’s, heavyset
General Location: Bancroft Hall Apartments, Essex Court.
Type of Residence: Medium sized Apartment
Quality of Residence (5-Star Rating): * *
Amount of Order: Under $20
Friendly/Non-Friendly: Friendly
Reading The History of Love while I wait for orders—hearing the high-pitched frequency of the sound of the woks heating. If I were a dog, I would imagine it sounding like a dog whistle.
Getting frustrated with my boss because she keeps delivering orders herself, which she’ll do sometimes if we get busy because I’m the only driver when I work. It’s normal for her to take one or two during a shift, but this time she over-does it by taking almost 5 orders. Those are all potential tips for me and I lose money when she does that. Because of the language barrier, it’s hard for me to express any kind of irritations to her. But have some common sense. I’m the driver. You hired me to deliver your food. Let me work!
Dinner: Penne Pasta with Sauce, Green Peppers, Onions, and Chicken. Garlic Naan Bread.
Finishing Cry-Baby [1990].
Recording acoustic guitars for “Amputate” at the storage unit.
Taking a break—eating Chocolate Chip Cookies with Milk.
Dumpster Dive at Trader Joe’s: Bananas, Peppers, Peaches, Pluots, Clementines, Apples, Tomato, Papaya, Strawberries, Muffins, English Muffins, various loaves of Bread, Cookies, Yogurt, and Crisp Rice Cereal.
Back to the unit—recording.
Eating Papaya.
Sleep around 7:15 a.m.
2 comments:
Hi James, Just want to leave you a small comment about your log of all the non-tippers. The word 'TIP' already says it. It is something extra on the side. I saw this American movie called Reservior Dogs about tipping. And tipping seems to be compulsory in American society. I am Chinese/American living in the Netherlands, and the system here in Europe is much better. Normally nobody tips, and if a waiter puts the effort in it, you give something extra. On American menus I sometimes saw that there is a compulsory 10% tipping on top of your charge and I find this misleading, because they might as well add 10% to the meals. And besides that, meals over here cost a lot more than in America so you won't have much money to go tipping around, and you tip wisely. Come to Europe or Asia (or the Middle East), where tipping is not the norm...you'll love it!
oh yeah, the system is pretty screwed up here in america. the fact that people expect or depend on tips is disastrous to our economy. it's not even ethical. my delivery job is dependent on tips. if i didn't receive tips, i would have to find another job. i have been to japan and some other parts of the eastern hemisphere and have experienced the no-tip expected philosophy. tips are initially, like you said, meant to be given when something extra is done or something is exceptional. i wish our country was different in that sense.
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