July 2026 Entry:
What a month, wow.
MISC=========================
- Went to Piccolo Snowman after work (07.03). Purely went because of the name, ha. And of course they had multiple things I was interested in. This unfortunately took an hour to get to because of the traffic around 6PM and there being a wreck that added 10-15 minutes. It was a nice small place with lots of plushes and stuff on the walls. Had a nice talk with the worker who was very good at explaining what they had. I ended up getting a medium Coolismo, which is Italian Ice and Soft Serve together. I chose vanilla for the soft serve and bada bing cherry and strawberry lemonade for the Italian ice. It was very flavorful. The medium was on the small side, but it felt just enough. I also like the little shovel they give you to eat it with (kept mine). The worker also gave me a discount since it was my first time there and a coupon for a free small Italian ice. I wouldn't mind going back, but I wish it were a little closer.
I also had deja vu writing this paragraph. Crazy accurate.
- No big plans for July 4th since I was only going to see a friend after work (07.04). But I decided to leave home early to hit up a dessert place for some cookies. They were closed early due to the holiday. So were the other backup dessert places in that same strip. I knew there was a chance that would have happened, but I was okay with that considering I just had something the day before. But I'll keep them on my to-try list.
Hung out with a friend. We talked about how I felt after the last time with the bad headache. Outside of having an upset stomach (ate dinner beforehand that didn't sit well right away), nothing bad happened and we got to enjoy some fireworks. Boo to almost hitting a car on the way back. Yay for buying some Fanta at the nearby gas station.
- For the first time in many years (maybe decades) I had to replace the light bulb in my closet (07.05). With a new light bulb in, it's even darker, ha.
- Went to get my yearly CT scan (07.08). Nothing out of the ordinary, but I waited maybe the longest I ever have and saw the most people in the lobby ever. It was only 10-15 minutes before I got the scan and then I was out in less than 5 minutes.
Decided to try a new dessert place on the way back with Sweets By Belen. Lots of good options and I had some in mind to possibly go for. It was a very small venue with only one small table and one chair to sit down at. Definitely more of a pick up and go place. I asked the worker what they would recommend and one of the things they pointed out was a Passion Fruit Cheesecake. I like both of those things, but never had them together so I went with that. I also got a marciano (ice pop). She recommended the lúcuma flavor, but that the flavor isn't for everyone. The flavor was strong and I really liked it. The owner/manager came out to talk to me and I mentioned it was my first time there. She gave me a history on the store and how they are proud Peruvians. I gave them my compliments and said I'd let others know about the place. I took a bit of the cheesecake and packed it up (they gave me some Peruvian candy too) and I took my ice pop to eat while I drove home.
- I was putting away some recently cleaned clothes and decided to finally remove a lot of clothes I don't wear regularly (07.09). The majority were formal clothes that I haven't worn in years. I can't even remember the last time I wore most of them. They took up a good chunk of hanger space so it felt refreshing not having to smoosh a bunch of shirts together. I moved them to Inay's closet, which had plenty of space left despite being full of jackets.
- Met up with Agent PQ and Agent Majordomo for the first time since September (07.12). They had asked some of us if anyone was able to help out with their panel at an upcoming convention. I put in my time off request and got it approved (Friday and Saturday). It's been even longer since I last was at their place. Got to meet all the cats, ha. They got me some food and we ate and caught up for a bit before going over a rehearsal of their panel. My job would be assisting with picking contestants, giving and taking props used to answer questions, and with giving out prizes. I did volunteer to help with taking any photos because they don't have much in terms of showing what they provide (no social media etc). After that, it was more catching up (life, work, etc) before heading out around 6:30PM. It was nice being around them after so long.
- Went to hang out with a friend during the World Cup Finals (07.19). The original place we met wasn't vibing with us. While they did advertise having the game on, the quality of customer service took a big hit as the staff were very focused on the game. It was cool when something actually happened, but to get ignored multiple times when not much game play was happening wasn't good. We put up with an hour of that before heading off to 85 Bakery to get cake and talk.
- Before going to work, I could tell our a/c wasn't working well (07.22). I did go out to the fan outside and pushed the button as the fan was off (I remembered, dad). While it cooled things off for a while, it didn't last long. I pushed it a couple of times before leaving and telling my dad to keep an eye on it. When I came home later that night, it was down. The house was way warmer than normal as this was one of the hottest days in a while topping out at 108. Walking up the stairs, you could feel the instant difference in temperature. I changed clothes, ate, watched a few videos, and caught up on social media before ultimately staying downstairs for the night. It was a rough night because of the heat and the hard couches. I woke up incredibly sore.
- Finished watching Rurouni Kenshin -Kyoto Disturbance- (07.01-07.23). It was great reliving classic scenes updated. However, I thought this was going to be the end as I knew there wasn't a third season and the controversy surrounding the series. So I was fully expecting the last few fights to play out, but as I got closer and closer to the final episodes, I questioned what they were going to do. Turns out a season three is in the works. Whenever that comes out, I'll dive back into it. Overall, I did enjoy watching Kyoto Disturbance.
- HeXagon members met at Pho Dien (07.23). Three were back from their travels and this was the first time we had gotten together. We all traveled through Tropical Storm Bertha and ate some really good Pho. Gifts were given out (thanks), talk was had, and then we went to Chicha for drinks and more talk (some did photoisms). Very soon future plans were made before we split around 9PM.
- Went to help Agent PQ and Agent Majordomo with their Genshin Impact panel at 10:30AM (07.24). I met them at their place for us to carpool to the convention that wasn't far away. They had a friend who we called Rocket also help. There was a last minute change to the ballroom, which thankfully was the next one down, but the things they requested were not set up. Eventually a tech came to help set up the LED screen to link a laptop to (powerpoint presentation for the quiz). They also helped with making sure the mics and audio worked. And finally they got two tables that we helped arrange with chairs. Things went smoothly overall, but there was unfortunately a low turnout (the lowest they've ever had). But at least those that were there enjoyed themselves. We talked for a bit and got some feedback while waiting for PQ's dad to come by to load up their car to take PQ back to unload and drop her back off.
At that time, the three of us walked around the convention floor looking at almost everything. Rocket bought a cool artwork piece of Gambit. We went to the food vendors, but nothing was available. Speaking with some of them, the fire marshall had not shown up yet to allow them to turn on any fires so that they could cook food. One mentioned that because of that, they were all screwed the day before as they couldn't serve anything. The only thing available from one vendor was Spam Musubi since it was easy to put together so Rocket and I both got that. Agent PQ rejoined us and Rocket parted ways. We walked around the vendor area completely before splitting to eat. PQ and Majordomo went to their car to eat the food they packed (also to put up a play mat Majordomo bought) and I went to the food vendors.
By this time, all the food vendors were up and running and they all had lines. I went to the one vendor I was interested in the most and went to the back of the curved line. Someone stood behind me and asked if this was the right line and I confirmed. We spoke back and forth and got to know each other. He was a good talker as he ended up talking to the people behind him as well. As we got closer to the front of the line, we also made friends with the person in front of me. She was cool, but very tired. We all got our food and decided to go sit with each other. By the time I got my food was when Majordomo texted me saying they were done, ha. They went to walk around as I sat with new friends. We exchanged names, enjoyed our food, and just chatted for about a good half hour. Before leaving, we all followed each other on Instagram. Shout out to babyribs who had to leave first. twochhayz walked me back to meet up with PQ and Majordomo before he left. PQ and Majordomo were originally at a panel, but PQ was very tired. We ended up playing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game to wake ourselves up. Even though it was free play, we stopped after losing all our designated lives at the third stage. We decided to leave around 3:30PM.
We returned to their place and chilled. We talked for a bit before one of them suggested playing So Clover. Majordomo explained it and it seemed easy enough to understand. We played one round guessing all our words. It was tough, but enjoyable, ha. After that, KT went upstairs to take a nap while Majordomo and I talked for about an hour about a lot of things. In the end, he did mention something like it felt good to talk about actual adult things. Left around 6PM.
- Day two of helping Agent PQ and Agent Majordomo (07.25). This time it was for New Game +; Anime Music Quiz Show (I totally kept forgetting how to say it, ha). The panel was to start at noon so I had time to relax beforehand. PQ texted me saying their panel got pushed up by an hour and moved to a different ballroom again (the one they used the day before). So we all lost an hour and had to pick things up. Thankfully I was at the point of just relaxing so I could push everything up to head out around 9:30AM. It took me a while to find parking. Originally I was going to park cheap, but far and walk over, but that area was also blocked off. I knew some of the areas were blocked, but didn't realize how much. I ended up happening upon the same parking garage we got the day before. Parked and walked in to meet with PQ and Majordomo and his brother who was called Jimothy (met for the first time) around 10:30AM. The set up for that ballroom was thankfully exactly the same so we didn't have to worry about that. The main thing was making sure convention goers know of the changes. Majordomo and I stood outside and would flag people in letting them know and directing them where to go. We also learned other panels got moved and rescheduled last minute as well...yay. PQ wrote on the board outside so that passersby would know that they were there. As it got closer to 11AM, Majordomo went back in and I handled the direction of traffic to start warming up those in attendance. I definitely directed maybe 15-20 people to the right place (more trickled in over time). But once things started, I joined in and helped. Thankfully the crowd had fun. Shout out to the one cute girl (sorry and I wish I asked for her name).
Lots of feedback afterwards. We talked in the ballroom as we waited for PQ's dad again. I mentioned that the change in schedule times and ballroom locations is a good reason to have social media or a website to post those kinds of updates. I knew it was something they weren't big on doing, but it is vital for instances just like this. We talked about how the venue itself just wasn't a good fit for many reasons known beforehand (they definitely won't come back to this convention). Something else mentioned was the difficulty of the quiz as there were a few that walked out in the middle of things. I appreciated the variety, but I barely knew any of the anime mentioned. So a lot to think about in general for future panels.
We packed up PQ dad's car and they went off like last time. And just like last time, the rest of us walked around the convention. I tried looking for something I mentally bookmarked the day before, but couldn't recall what it was. Eventually PQ rejoined us and we continued walking around. I mentioned how I thought of any characters I would want to buy things for on my way home yesterday. The two characters I thought of were Bayonetta and Shantae. Both days, I only spotted one Shantae item that was a perler bead art of her that I passed on. Everyone bought something before we went back to the car to eat. At that point I pointed out that I was parked on the same floor and a row away, ha. I ate cookies I brought while they ate their meal. Majordomo had us try a video game music quiz of games he was very familiar with. I didn't do as well, but I had not played the majority of the games featured.
We went back in to walk around and buy more stuff. We split up at one point (Majodomo and Jimothy to get cards and PQ and myself for general searches). I kept a lookout for Bayonetta and Shantae, but eventually saw something Jollibee related. It was a shirt of the bee, but in mech form. I found out later that it was called Jollitron (Jollibee x Voltron) and that made sense. I greeted the vendor who apologized for eating. When I paid, I was going to leave a tip, but he insisted I didn't as he was simply thankful that I bought something. Yay, convention item bought. I later looked them up and saw more things I possibly would buy from them. We all met up again, walked around some more, and eventually went upstairs to play games. We were hoping to redeem ourselves with TMNT, but it was occupied. We waited around the machines before people left the X-Men cabinet. We continued where they left off with a team of Cyclops (Jimothy), Colossus (me), Wolverine (PQ), and Storm (Majordomo). They were on the last stage so we beat it...and then continued playing again back to the point where we took over, ha. Walked to the nearby gaming setup where Majordomo and Jimothy played a few rounds of Smash with each other. When they finished, we walked over to the music game area and they encouraged me to play Dance Rush, which I did. I finished up the song that was in progress (Megalovania) and I pulled a small crowd while doing that, ha. I was already tired from that, but played one more song (BOOMBAYAH since it was the first recognizable song that popped up and I didn't want to waste too much time looking at the track list). It's not my favorite BlackPink song and I only knew part of the choreography that I did implement when appropriate. Got some applause as I finished and we walked off. We found a table near the restrooms and relaxed (especially me, I was tired before Dance Rush). Once 6PM rolled around, I left the group as they were sticking around for a panel at 7PM. Went home to eat and rest for the remainder of the night.
It was great hanging out with PQ and Majordomo over the last couple of days. I had a great time at your panels and was glad I could help out.
- HD was in town and HeXagon made plans for a dinner that morphed into a birthday celebration for KT (07.26). What was 7 ended up being 5 members for Sushi Haya. Good stuff as usual. When it came time for the celebration, there was a little miscommunication as we did make plans for dessert after, but the waitress kept hinting about "dessert" to which myself and NRM realized what she meant and said we wanted the one dessert. Last time we celebrated birthdays here, we got the serving robot to sing and dance. This time it was the workers singing, shaking tambourines, and holding a birthday sign. It was unexpected for KT and for us, ha. And they comped his meal just like they did in the past, which is awesome.
We then went to Jeremiah's Italian Ice. It was my suggestion as it was only 5 minutes away. None of us had been there before and only I have had Italian Ice before. Lots of options. I was deciding between two, but ultimately went with an Orange Mango Tango. I should have gotten a medium, but we were there long enough for me to finish the large, ha. We did a lot of 6-degrees of separation from various actors, singers, etc before we left around 10:30PM.
- Watched WWE: Unreal Season 3 (07.26-07.27). I didn't binge watch all of them in one day like I had with the first two seasons. This was great. Showcasing others is exactly what I wanted this series to be about and they continue to do so. I'll take more seasons if they continue to make them.
- A friend from high school and I reconnected online. We're both into Kpop and were actually at the Wendy concert (they were a row in front of me). I posted on my stories that I got the regular flavored BTS cookies and she asked me to save the wrapper for scrapbooking. The original plan was to go to a boba place we've never been to, but I remembered that HeXagon wanted to go to Popfancy Dessert Bar for their girl group week. So we pivoted the plans to meet there instead (07.27).
As I pulled into park, I accidentally scraped against a pole...yeah. It was on the passenger side on the front. I quickly pulled away and repositioned myself to properly park and check the damage. It's mainly superficial with paint scrapes. Only a few parts were kind of pushed up. I texted my dad just so he knew about it sooner rather than later. He thought it was something worse, but it wasn't. The next day, he was able to buff out most of the scrapes so it doesn't look that bad. The parts that were dented are still there though.
I got to the restaurant first and looked around briefly at the decorations. Lots of boy group stuff still up, Kpop Demon Hunters, etc. EY showed up not long after and we hugged. It had been maybe over a decade since we last saw each other. We chatted a bit before I got up to order a drink (HUNTR/X Golden) and food (Iron-Pressed Grilled Kimchi Sando). I would have gotten the TWICE drink, but I literally had something with mango the day before. I also bought EY a drink too. The drink was delicious, very strong in flavor. The food was fine. It was pretty much what you would expect, but a good size that lasted a while. But we spent the majority of the time talking about Kpop (how deep or not we were into it), work stuff, and anything that came to mind during our two hour conversation. We probably would have kept talking had the staff not asked us to leave. They were being kind to not interrupt our conversation, but it was 15 after they closed. We asked them to take photos of us (we both said we sucked at selfies, ha) and we headed off to our cars before leaving around 10:30PM. It was so good catching up with you, EY. It was like no time had past and we were talking as we did back in high school.
- Ended up taking a rare nap (07.28). Going out 5 days in a row caught up to me and I felt it during the day before. It wasn't only being tired, but aches and pains as well (left foot from all the walking, back from bad posture, etc). Nothing was planned other than possibly playing a one-off game, but the tiredness hit around noon and I decided to surrender to it. That nap lasted about 2 hours. I also took time to type out the majority of this blog entry.
GAMES=========================
- Demo Showcase Shorts continues. 25 this month. 5 ups, 14 sideways, 6 downs. Standouts include Granblue Fantasy: Relink - Endless Ragnarok (I like the network test version I played so I knew what I was getting into), Rhythm Heaven Groove (already pre-ordered beforehand, playing next month), ChainStaff (interesting run-n-gun), and Truxton Extreme (fun shoot 'em up). This is the most demos in one month to my recollection (not bothering to look back, ha). I was surprised it was that many despite almost not playing any demos for a week.
1 demo left on deck to try.
- Picked up my copy of Rhythm Heaven Groove and the King Dedede & Star Tank amiibo (07.03). Pre-ordered the Chef Kawasawki amiibo while I was there. The worker pointed out the amiibo that were sold to them recently and wanted to make sure I saw them in case I was missing any. I did remind him that I have all of them, but appreciated that he kept me in mind. I like that I'm known as the amiibo guy at that store, ha.
One negative thing; I can't register the new amiibo. It won't read on either NFC reader. I tried multiple times, I removed the tread just in case, I twisted and moved it to hit any surface. Nothing. And I haven't seen anything online about anyone having the same issue. Only thing that pops up is general NFC reader problems, not specifically for that amiibo. Hopefully I'll find something to help, but it's not the worst thing in the world.
- I started playing FINAL FANTASY VII Rebirth at the end of last month (06.29-07.12). I knew it was long so I figured why not start earlier. And it's a good thing I did. There is so much to do in this game that it was overwhelming. If I had nothing else to play for 1-2 months, I would have put in the effort to do more. I had to force myself to not do too many sidequests. I would try to go for anything along the path to the next main story point and still ignore certain ones that I wasn't a fan of. Finding towers and Chocobo related things were the ones I really went for and anything else that would be short like places that required a scan. I completely skipped on Queen's Blood stuff after a few rounds of it and it not really connecting with me.
I also turned on a lot of the Streamlined Progression options. At first it was only max Gil like I did for INTERmission. But shortly after, I realized that regular fights were taking a long time meaning I would need to spend extra time leveling up. So I turned on max HP, max MP, max Synergy, and Max Limit. That meant I still had to do the fights. Even with all those turned on, fights still took time. Again, if I had nothing else to play for a few months, I'd make the effort. I was surprised that I ended up hitting a little over 50 hours. And yes, I looked up a few things online especially when there was multi-step progression sequences that needed to be done.
Other than that, I did enjoy seeing the story play out after years of watching the cutscenes online. I forgot some of it, but the majority was familiar. It was nice hearing the Japanese voices for them too. I am ready for Revelation.
- Snooker Blitz was the free-to-play game of the month (07.13). Same developers of Pool Blitz (played last year). I knew it looked familiar and that was why. It's fine for what it is. Most of my positives were the same for Pool Blitz minus the pacing being slower because it's Snooker. I've only played Snooker a handful of times in real life. Not for me, but that doesn't mean this game was bad.
- Golf was one of two VB NC games of the month (07.14). Not much to say about it. It has all the golf mechanics you'd expect from a golf game at that time. But it's not a must play.
- Teleroboxer was the second of two VB NC games of the month (07.15). I was looking forward to this one as I've heard it's a must play for the Virtual Boy. That's why I was more disappointed when I ended up not liking it. It was mainly because I couldn't grasp the controls. It was one of the rare times I actually rearranged the button layout. I thought it would help, but it didn't. The fact that I couldn't beat the second boxer after about half an hour was more than enough for me to retire from the game early instead of wasting any more time.
- Super Mario Strikers was the GC NC game of the month (07.16-07.19). Planned to play it because of the World Cup, but didn't plan to finish it after the final game. Had I not skipped a day, I would have been done faster. It's so fun. Played this a lot with friends back in the day and it was always a good time. Since I was playing through all the cups solo, I set the timer to 2 minutes to make things go faster. It still was challenging at parts as the CPU gradually got better leading to a few restarts. Played through with every character and every team mate roster (twice) except for the Super Team.
The only thing I didn't do was finish all the milestones. That would have just taken more time to reach those numbers. Is it actually completed? Not really, but I'm sure I've done that for other games where the only point of completion was doing more of the same thing over and over for the sake of a number count. If it was something easier to pull off, sure, but I was satisfied playing through all the cups.
- Project Justice was the next game completed from Capcom Fighting Collection 2 (07.20-07.22). I have played a lot of Rival Schools back on the Dreamcast. I had never played Project Justice even though I knew it existed. It was very familiar. I really enjoyed seeing the partner and team up attacks. Doing all the achievements did require multiple playthroughs of the same team while doing one thing different to make the story branch off in a different way. There were only a few characters that didn't click with me and that made some run throughs longer than the rest. Otherwise doing everything was fairly simple and didn't take much time. Great fighting game.
- My Splatoon Raiders amiibo arrived in the mail (05.17.26, 07.20.26, 07.24.26). The dates you see are from when I ordered them, when they shipped, and finally when they arrived. Great quality as usual.
- Virtual Bowling was an Extra VB NC game (07.29). I had something else on deck, but decided to continue with this month's sports theme. It's fine. There are better bowling games out there, but this isn't bad. Just bland. Plus once you figure out which points to hit (strength, throw, etc), you can easily always get a spare or strike every time. The last few games of the Tournament Mode, I was getting perfect games, which was necessary as the CPU (who you don't see play) were getting fairly high scores. Once you finish a solo game or the tournament, that's all there is to it. Play it again or move on to something else.
- Fortified Zone was an Extra GB NC game (07.30). This was recently added to the library and it did catch my eye when a trailer for it came out. Reversed had reached out earlier in the month talking about it since they played it and that's what pushed me to want to play it earlier. Being listed as only an hour to play, I was at least good with playing something short. It sure was short with only 4 levels. It's simple in mechanics like a top-down shooter. The music was pretty good. I did wonder why there were two characters (male/female). In my head I kept thinking why they weren't just one character. I realized shortly after that it may be the lack of buttons on a Game Boy. The main actions are shoot, secondary weapon (male), and jump (female). If the Select button was used to swap weapons, they could have made it as one character. As I played, I only switched to the female character when I had to jump over spikes and to upgrade her health when those pick-ups were found. And thanks to online maps (more needed for the last two levels), my time clocked in at 56 minutes. Not bad, not great, but I liked it.
- Received my Resident Evil Requiem amiibo (07.31). Pre-ordered them on the 27th. I waited a couple days for a day I wasn't spending a lot while worrying it would sell out before then. But they were still available at the Nintendo site so I locked them in.
WORK=========================
- 4:30PM shift on a Wednesday (07.01). Had a lot of nice customers throughout the day. Throughout the day, I messaged Agent Ocean back and forth about the latest applicants. Two of them were hired, but he wanted to know if there were others. I gave a few examples with at least 1 of 3 being a possible definite hire.
At some point, one set of customers accidentally walked out with a lock. We had a spare, but I called them at the end of the night and left a voicemail (they returned it the next day). When it wasn't busy, HW and I replaced some paper props and tried out some new versions of a prop. Those new versions had been sitting for a while (months) and unfortunately they actually didn't work. We tried multiple times and it was a no-go. Left a note for those that need to check on them. One other task I made sure to do was create and schedule a social media post involving a crank.
The last team of the day had called the previous day. They mentioned they had a BOGO coupon and it wouldn't work online. There were notes in their blocked booking saying they would bring it in for us to try. They called saying they would be late and asked to be moved to the last game of the night. It was because of that, I asked if they could email a photo of it so I could see why they couldn't use it. They sent it in and it had a QR code on it. It was for Dallas. I knew we didn't have a BOGO code so I knew there was a high chance it was for another location. They did miss the text saying it only works for that specific location. I got approval from the ladies to honor it. When the customers arrived, I explained why it wouldn't work and they thanked us for honoring it (they would have gladly paid). They told me that where they got it from said it would work for any location. I mentioned that to the ladies because that was obviously wrong. They said this was the fourth time something like this happened so they were going to contact the owners of that location to make sure their staff relay the correct information.
Sent HW home half an hour early as I wrapped up the rest of the night leaving at 9:15PM. Thus ended 6 days or working in a row.
- 11:30AM shift on a Friday (07.03). AB was there for the opening shift and thank goodness because it was busy. He questioned if we'd be okay because this has happened before, but I reassured him that we were fine last time and we would be again. I even asked if he felt things were actually out of control during a busy shift with just me and him and he said no. It just happened to be that the bookings were non-stop one after the other, but we kept with the plan and were fine until more staff came in.
Other things that happened included getting three replays and me contacting the three new hires. Had to end the day on a low note as there was a rude customer. YB typed a message on his phone about feeling uncomfortable and I told him he wouldn't have to interact with him. On my way out, I caught up with him and we talked about it and I understood. The guy had an attitude about him, but the fact that he eyeballed YB was not acceptable. I let him vent a bit, gave him words of encouragement, and left half an hour early at 6PM.
- Called off on Saturday (07.04). Traditionally we don't get many customers on July 4th so we already were going to close early. I was still ready to go for my 2PM-8PM shift. HL texted me about not having to go in if I didn't want to. I double checked the bookings and contemplated going in for a shorter shift since I was going to see a friend after. But she also offered to stay an extra hour to close. I was okay with that. If you want an idea of how many bookings we had, half the team was called off.
- 4PM shift on a Monday (07.06). I received texts ahead of time letting me know about what to do and expect when I got there. These were on top of starting two out of three of our new trainees. I greeted CF and SL and started to give them the tour. When we were down the hallway, CP came by and mentioned the fire marshal was here. It was a surprise appearance. I told the trainees to follow me as I went to talk to him. He asked a few questions about the business and venue. The last question he asked was if these guys (trainees) were my body guards since they were standing stoically behind me. I messaged the ladies about what he wanted to be sure of since he was asking me to sign something. I ended up calling one of them to speak with him since they would know more. In the end, I didn't have to sign anything. After he left, I was sent an image about a previous meeting they had with another fire marshall. I had to run out to show him and he mentioned what to do for the future so that way there was no miscommunication (it was mainly on their end).
Other than getting back to training, I replied to another applicant, texted DQ about a party happening in a few day, talking and messaging about the floors being done by one of the ladies' brothers (met him some time ago), prepping an order for more wristbands (didn't finish it because we needed shirts and gift cards, but they weren't available), etc. One cool thing the ladies did was finally upgrade one of our props in a room making the reset process smoother and faster and for it being easier to start that puzzle path for the customers.
It was a busy day in general. So much that I forgot to call a customer I put on hold. I called them the next day and left a voicemail to make things right, but I don't think they ever called back. At one point during the busy time frame was a walk in of four girls. I was having the trainees take their split payments and all of a sudden the Clover device crapped out. It's happened before, but it happened seconds after taking the second payment and it didn't show up in the booking system. I had them try again, but the original card didn't work. She used another one and it went through. It was then I checked to see the previous transactions and it did show her first payment went through. I apologized and refunded her. She was very understanding since it was a technical issue. They had a good time in the end and asked if they could see the video footage. Since they were one of the last two teams and it wasn't as busy, I pulled up the footage and the particular thing they wanted to see and they were laughing it up, ha. They obviously left reviews.
During their game, they were able to access the final area early due to an issue with the maglock. I tried fixing it and got it to work for a bit and then it crapped out again. I texted the manager group and Agent Ocean mentioned checking the Push To Exit button and that was the trick.
One thing I'll mention for this day was that I allowed the new trainees to shadow me when I had to watch two games. I had them sit down and watch as I explained the GM screen and what I was doing, but didn't have them push anything. I've done that with previous trainees, but I never marked it in the training passport. I decided to do it this time as I wanted it to count at the same time letting them know that they wouldn't be doing more than that until they were fully a host. In hindsight, I could have given them something else to do that didn't involve needing me to be up with them practicing and doing things.
I had the trainees leave at 10PM, but I was still around for about another hour because of the maglock issue and having to reset all the other rooms that they didn't not play or practice in. I also made sure to double check marking the training and a few other small things (like putting in certain notes in the shift report etc) that I put aside to focus more on their training. Ended up leaving around 11:25PM.
- 4PM shift on a Tuesday (07.07). First time working with HL after her week off. She had a lot of complaints about many things and many people...
I continued training the new staff, which now included DG who couldn't work the previous day. She picked up on things faster since she had escape room experience at different companies. At one point she mentioned how organized things were and how some systems we used make things easier compared to what other companies she worked for used. The last thing I did with the trainees was sit them all down to talk about their current progression like I've done for the trainees after their first few days.
Other things that happened were putting in the wristband order despite not being able to get shirts or gift cards, talking and helping with the floors (removing props and giving some direction etc), fixing one of the screens in a room (why did no one notice this), and again had issues with the previous night's maglock. For that, I figured out a temporary solution and let the staff know what to do when resetting that. I left at 10:15PM.
- 4PM shift on a Wednesday (07.08). More training. They actually got to experience their first birthday party. Normally trainees don't get one of those until at least a month and this group gets one in their first week, ha. Glad they got that experience early. The party also gave us a lot of their leftovers which included a pizza, some of their cake (hit or miss, I gave some to other customers), and fruit (these were really good).
Other than training, I also replied to some reviews and helped out with the floors again. The highlight of the night was a couple of ladies. They were tall. Definitely had to look up when speaking with them and they had to lean down to talk to me. As I was doing part of my normal speeches, I reached the one part where I mentioned "up high out of reach" and they both gave me a look and we laughed. That's when I asked how tall they were. The shorter one was 6'5" and the taller one was 6'10", wow. And they were a couple. Some of the staff later looked them up and learned that one was a volleyball player and the other was a basketball player. I sent a photo of them to the management group chat asking them to guess their heights. They were all surprised. Cheers to them for coming back the next day and the day after. I left around 10:20PM after leaving a voice message for Agent Ocean about the trainees and their progression.
- 4:30PM shift on a Friday (07.10). There weren't a lot of bookings so some of the staff were called off. Later in the day I receive a message from Agent Ocean in regards to me not following protocol when training the new employees. It was followed up by a voice message asking me to make sense of it and that he was on vacation, which I did know. This ruined my day. I knew who may have complained and I knew what the reason may have been. Remember earlier in the week that I allowed two of the trainees to shadow me as I ran two games? That was my main suspicion. I didn't put that it was only for one game, but decided to mark it down and I have done that with other trainees in the past. The other thing it could have been were the assessment quizzes that they are supposed to take and this would be more in regards to the last crop of trainees. One hasn't been to work in a long time that they rarely have done any GMing while the other two have been GMing for more than two weeks with little to no issue. So I sent those two different voice mails in response just in case it was one or the other. Either way, I felt I stated my case and still apologized.
That ruined my day as my energy was sapped out of me. I mentioned it to YB when it was just the two of us and he asked questions and even related similar frustrations about a certain staff member. I reinforced with him that he needs to just do his work and not worry about the others, but that I understand how frustrating it is.
Other things to note were a couple coming back after two years (got them to book a replay for the next day), and some recent return customers that were there for their last two games and their light up wrist bands, and two first time teams that were walk-ins. YB had asked if he could leave early and I set up the scenario of when and why (we had 5 games to end the night). He left at 11PM. I stayed for a long time to reset four of the rooms, do other closing duties, and finally throw away the garbage...but one of the bags was leaking, That was on me as I used one large trash bin to help with cleaning the ice machine as the mop bucket was being used at the time. I had to add two extra bags after two attempts of realizing it was leaking and clean the mess on the floor. That really got to me. What a cruddy way to end the night. I clocked out at 12:55AM, left at 1:05AM because of the leaky trash bags, and got home at 1:40AM. This was one of the handful of moments my parents called to see where I was.
- 4PM shift on a Saturday (07.13). You know it's not great when we're low on bookings and calling/sending staff home early on a Saturday. It was busy enough and by the end of the night we had 30 bookings. They were spread out throughout the day so there was maybe only one or two hours of the day it was full packed.
Unfortunately the night ended on an extremely bad note. Not to get into all the details (no initials this time), but one employee was Face Timing another employee at the second location. I let that employee know that once I finished resetting two rooms they could leave. I ended up doing three and cleaned pizza plates. Once I was done, I let them know they could go. As soon as they were out of the building, the last employee with me immediately said "something happened." I assumed it was something with the customers. They said that the other staff member from the second location said something very discriminatory about them not realizing they were in control and could hear them. Discriminated employee asked other first location employee if the second location employee said something and they immediately disregarded it. I returned a couple minutes after all that happened. They were angry, cussed up a storm, had very harsh words for them and for others because at that point they had had it. I did have to calm them down as they were very loud for customers to hear. We talked things out as they kept getting angry. I asked if they wanted me to inform Agent Ocean about it and they agreed. I sent a text to him letting him know that they were very pissed and was discriminated against and wanted to talk to him. Then I made a plan with them, which was to reset the room they last GM'd, take a minute to gather their thoughts, leave for the night, and send a voice message to Agent Ocean to let him know everything (what was said, how he felt, and what he wants to happen). The reason to leave a voice message is so if need be, he can send it to the ladies. They asked if he needed to be professional and I said he doesn't have to be. The anger and emotion will help drive things home. They apologized to me and I said they did not have to. I didn't stop them from venting, I gave them words of encouragement, and gave them a hug. I mentioned how I was on the verge of tears to see someone feel this way after such a horrible thing was said about them. After exchanging a few more words, we hugged again, and they left. I went to continue with the last two groups. I could tell I was off my game as I stumbled in my speeches and was low on energy. This incident really drained me and I just had to power through. At some point I texted Agent Ocean saying he could call me if he wanted to get more details about the situation and that I'd be at the venue until at least midnight. He eventually did call when there was only one team left so I could easily concentrate on both things. He basically said that I probably couldn't add anything that would make it better or worse and that wasn't my goal. I knew the voice message was enough. But I did want to know what he was planning to do and the course of actions that might happen (letting go of that one staff member or more). I also let him know that we all know some staff members talk behind our backs all the time, but something like discrimination can only happen to a handful of us. So if they said something like that, who knows what they're saying about the rest of us. And this incident could be an easy reason for me to choose to leave. While it didn't happen to me directly, it could have. In both situations, I don't want to be around employees thinking that saying stuff like that is acceptable while possibly having others defend them in the wrong. I ended by saying I'm loyal to Agent Ocean and the ladies, but something needs to happen.
I left around 12:25AM. It's been a very long time since I felt this horrible leaving work.
- 4PM shift on a Monday (07.13). Very low bookings for the day, but it allowed the trainees to concentrate on things they were learning. It's always a double-edged sword because having no customers means less face-to-face time with them, but having none means there aren't interruptions on new things they're learning. While they were playing in a new room, I took care of a lot of things. I unclogged a toilet (apparently the staff couldn't unclog it the day before so it was sitting there getting extra gross, it took me less then 3 minutes to unclog, but it was the same one I unclogged three days in a row), I made gift cards for DQ, I replied to emails, and I organized the new order of cups that were finally delivered (put 1000 away for us and split the last thousand for the second and third location). Other than getting a lot of training done, the last extra task I did was replace an HDMI cable for one of the screens as it had been going to a black screen more frequently. Thanks to one of the trainees for helping lend an extra hand for that. And despite being a slow day, the trainees got a lot done and we all left around 10PM.
- 4PM shift on a Tuesday (07.14). It was busy-ish with 14 bookings in total (one staff member called off, one sent home early at the end of the night). But this was a good day for the trainees. Other than adding another room to their repertoire, they did a lot of things without me having to be next to them. We did come up with the plan the night before that maybe for the last few sessions that they could help each other with their hosting duties and they did pretty good. They still asked a few questions and needed some direction, but that was okay. They got things done and I let them know I was proud of their progression.
Other things that happened included an interview (maybe they can work with us in August), rejecting an applicant (the emails...geez...how do you expect to start training the next day and we haven't even interviewed you yet), DQ coming in to pick up the gift cards (we caught up for a bit while the trainees took care of things), and we got surprise cookies from a company that wants to partner with us. We left around 10PM (trainees left a few minutes early as I stayed for a few extra minutes to do a couple of things) and I got gas on the way home.
- 4PM shift on a Tuesday (07.15). As the trainees were playing another room, I took time to update the wristband inventory and started on the wine order to order next week. I also had an interview that was a little last minute that went well.
At the end of the night, I spoke with AB about his assessment tests. I noticed that he was doing them, but did see that the responses didn't collect like it normally would. So I had him copy and paste his answers, which took a while. Afterwards we went over his answers. It was getting past his shift, but he said he was okay with knocking them all out. We finished up about half an hour after, I walked him to his car, and apologized and thanked him.
Cheers to the new trainees for being able to do things without being directed to. We still left a little later than normal as I wanted to double check with their progress and update their tracking reports. Left around 10:55PM.
- Received a text on my day off (07.16). I'm paraphrasing as I highly dislike looking at the text sent. I was told that I should never keep a staff member an hour and a half after for any reason. I failed to administer the tests and I should not have had them retake the test. Someone else was asked by one of the ladies to do it because I was lacking and if I had a problem with it to talk to them (the person, not the ladies). Words like "YOU" were all in caps for emphasis.
This ruined my day. I had to stop everything I was doing and all my energy was drained. Could I have handled the assessment tests with AB better, yes. I should have asked more details from him before doing anything. Was I upset that there was dissatisfaction about how I had been training (the main issue being that I didn't administer the assessment tests in a timely fashion), yes. I just wish this was brought to my attention directly so I could have apologized and course corrected things. Was I bothered that the person I don't like at work that's been trying to get me fired was the one asked to do that part instead, absolutely. And that's the biggest thing because now this is more ammunition for them to state that I'm not a good manager. I'm basically tired knowing someone is still actively trying to get rid of me and is finding any possible reason to get others to side with them. I'm tired of it all.
I sent texts and voice messages back and forth with Agent Ocean. I also talked to my mom, which I normally don't talk to her about work things, but I needed to talk to someone in person. I also talked to NRM about it and filled them in on the other work issues I've had to deal with for a while. Thank you to all 3 of them for listening to me and giving me some guidance. All advised to say my peace to the ladies and that in the end I need to do what is best for me.
I tried my best the rest of the day to stop the negative thoughts. I did occupy myself with coming up with points to talk about with the ladies the following day, finishing some miscellaneous things I did have planned for the day, but it was difficult to not think about it all. I never recovered the energy I had and felt horrible all day. Thank goodness I still had some ZzzQuil to help me fall asleep.
I hated typing all of this out.
- 2PM shift on a Friday (07.17). I was not looking forward to this day and felt so anxious and low energy all day. When I got in, I immediately apologized to AB about keeping him longer at all. He accepted my apology. However, I did feel the staff was definitely ignoring me. Felt very unwanted. All I was waiting for was for the ladies to show up. 5PM ended up being closer to 6PM as there was heavy traffic.
When they arrived, meetings commenced. I was asked to join for the incident that happened on Saturday. I listened on as they asked questions and chimed in here and there. After that first meeting, it was my portion of the meeting after they let the other staff member go back to work. We went over in detail my perspective of the incident. This went on for close to an hour. We talked about the assessment tests, my lacking in the training department, me explaining how I felt about things, them clarifying that no one did anything devious, etc. After that was settled and there was a better understanding, the next thing I wanted to talk about was a certain staff member. I basically said that they are a horrible person. I gave examples, referenced how others feel about them, and mentioned how I was basically at my wits end. I gave them props for how good they are at their job (not perfect). I mentioned how I now have staff telling me specifics of what they say about me and that it really does hurt knowing that staff are saying bad things about me and not defending me. I brought up how the only ones that defend me are Agent Ocean and the ladies. I mentioned a couple of times how this person is affecting company culture. If they are allowed to openly complain and say horrible things about customers and the staff without repercussions, they'll continue to do it and make it seem acceptable for the other young impressionable staff that either do agree or will not stand up and disagree for themselves or others. I cried a couple of times throughout this. They did say they aren't planning to fire that employee so they wanted to know what I wanted to do. I mentioned that no matter what they need to keep that employee in check. They offered the possibility of moving me to the second location. Sure, it's a longer drive, but I was okay with removing myself from someone in that way. However, they also brought up that my position there is already filled so they would need to think about what to do with that situation. The other option is to go to another location that is way closer, but under different owners meaning I'd leave them. They said they would check if they needed a manager. And the last option is me quitting. In the end, I need to remove myself from not only that person but from others that don't want me there whether they personally believe it or were influenced that way. I don't have a lot going on in my life outside of friends and work and it sucks that work gives me anxiety now. I thanked them for their time as we ended our meeting. Updates on this as they happen.
They had one more short meeting before leaving. Then it was a normal work day. YB and I left early around 9:30PM.
I went to CVS after work to buy some ZzzQuil since I was almost out. Found what I needed and waited for the person in front of me to finish their purchase. They were there for Pokemon cards. Apparently some of the staff put a certain pack aside to hold for later. The staff on hand asked their group chat and no one said anything so he bought them. He also wanted a clear FIFA bag, but couldn't afford it at the time. When it was my turn, I asked how much the FIFA bag was and said I'd buy it for him. He was shocked and said I didn't have to. I mentioned how I had a bad day so I wanted to spread joy to someone if I could. The staff were shocked about it and the guy graciously accepted. He offered to buy me something as a thanks. He asked if I wanted a drink, but I didn't want to take up anyone's time looking and choosing so I chose candy at the counter (Kit-Kat King Size). The staff said they hope my day gets better as me and the guy walked out. He thanked me again, I asked for his name, I mentioned I had a best friend with that exact name, I said my name, we shook hands, and left. I realized that we also arrived at the store at the same time too, ha. Went home after that and ended my day.
- 2PM shift on a Saturday (07.18). It was the first time one of the new trainees would work on a Saturday and for the first hour of their shift, I wasn't going to be there. I had talked to CF about it beforehand that he knows what to do, but to ask just to be sure. When I got there he said he did well. All throughout the day, he did a great job. He said he did get tired as he was taking teams in and out almost non-stop. The good thing was that he got that experience and did it all with little to no issues.
It was very busy towards the end of the night. By that time it was myself, Agent Ocean, and CF. I asked Agent Ocean if he wanted to leave during his shift and for CF to stay later. He said something to the degree of "you know I'm not leaving you to handle all these games alone" and I did know he wouldn't, but I also wanted to see if he wanted to go home since he just did a 12-hour shift. CF went home when he needed to even though he offered to stay longer. Then it was me and Agent Ocean locking in and doing everything like in the old days. I thanked him for doing what he does and we got to chat a bit after locking up about my situation. He's got my back. We left around 11:45PM.
- 4PM shift on a Monday (07.26). VO picked up a shift after a lengthy absence. I told him prior that he wasn't done with training and that he would need to take assessment tests. I sent all of them and he took one, but I needed him to GM while I was training the others before he left around 6PM.
At the beginning of the day, I had CF finish his online training, which he mistakenly started before his first day. So all that was left was the specific room training. After about an hour, it was SL's turn and he pretty much did everything and that lasted the rest of the shift. During that time, DG was getting experience resetting the last room she played with her boyfriend on an off day while CF was taking care of hosting duties and helped me store our recent alcohol order. We did have 18 bookings total so they got their time in for hosting while I did all the Game Mastering and SL was doing online training. Once everything was done, I sent them off when I could and I ended up leaving around 9:45PM.
This whole day, I was messaging back and forth with the closer location. One of the ladies reached out and I was contacted by that location's manager about setting up an interview. We had settled on the next day before my shift. I let the ladies and Agent Ocean know about it. When I got home, I worked on updating my resume and emailing it to the closer location.
- 4PM shift on a Tuesday (07.21). The rest of the trainees got to meet Agent Ocean before he left for the day. Before then he added ending audio for our scary room. In terms of the trainees, DG spent the day doing online training, while CF and SL got to officially shadow and co-pilot as a Game Master. They picked up on it pretty well and asked questions when needed. I also had them get their first taste of cleaning duties as they tackled one room together.
Miscellaneous things included doing the wine inventory and making an order. I updated the alcohol inventory with our latest order that came in the day before. But that's when I realized two things. One was that I ordered the wrong size for the Shiner we normally get (it was larger). The other was that we got a type of Miller Lite we never ordered before. I didn't even order Miller Lite this order. In the end, we were missing a case of Yuengling Lager. I left a voicemail with our contact there describing the situation. Once everything was done, we all left around 10:15PM.
- 4PM shift on a Wednesday (07.22). The alcohol distributor called almost as soon as I got there (I mentioned when I'd be in on the voicemail I left). They had me redescribe what happened. They said that they will come by to swap the Shiner with the correct one, but we owed them $1.06 for the exchange (I joked I'd pay that out of my own pocket, ha) and that the original driver will be around to pick up the wrong one as some other company was missing it and to bring the correct case that was ordered.
The rest of the day was spent with the three trainees on shadowing and co-piloting. As we were closing, they realized that the ball for Shoot The Moon was missing. They started to look around for it and I mentioned checking under the couches as things do fall under them. Nothing turned up so I mentioned checking between the cushions. Lo and behold I found it under the first one I pulled up. I held up in the air and laughed with pride in finding it, ha. Great way to end the night as we left around 9:45PM.
- 11:30AM shift on a Thursday (07.23). Been a minute since I've worked on a Thursday. First thing that happened was the alcohol vendor came in a little after I arrived to swap out the Shiner and take the less than two dollar payment. He mentioned that the driver would be back for the Miller Lite. When they did arrive a couple hours later, they brought Yuengling...Flight not Lager. I double checked and they double checked and they were told Flight. He took the Miller Lite at least and came back a few hours later to deliver the Lager. Finally, that was squared away.
The majority of the day was me and AB. He took care of bookings while I did other things. One of those things was the venue inventory. Another was ordering staff shirts (made sure it was okay with the ladies). I also tried replying to a good chunk of reviews just to knock them out. I also fixed an issue with one room where a screen would consistently turn black during a game preventing from a clue to pop up. That took a long time as I had to test it, try the new SD card and test that (it wouldn't transition to the clue), uploading a new USB stick with the videos (took a long time because the files were big), and then testing that (did it three times back to back to back and it worked). There was one group in another room where a TV switched inputs out of nowhere. It has happened before, but the normal method would not fix it so we had to give them the answer so I could fix it afterwards (later found out it was a loose cable). And the final issue of the day was another room's final room camera not working at all. No video, no audio. The thing is that it worked earlier in the day as I had to check it. When HL was in, she suggested to check in the ceiling to see if the wires were disconnected. Ended up getting a ladder to go up there and there was only one cable attached to the camera and it seemed fine. The other end of the cable was far into the ceiling for me to reach without crawling into it or guessing which ceiling panel to pop up through. I put a message in Drawbridge and in the shift notes so that someone could take a look at it. After that, I left around 5:05PM.
- Finally had my interview rescheduled for Sunday (07.26). It was at 12:30PM. I wore a work shirt, ha. I parked and walked in and waited a few minutes in the lobby since J was on the phone. He eventually came out to greet me and walk me to their second party room for us to have our interview. This went on for about 90 minutes, but funny enough we both carved out 2 hours of our day for it, ha. Learned a lot about him and the team (he's a young man that hasn't been in the industry for a long time, but he could have fooled me with how he presents himself). The main thing was to talk about the positions available and how much I'd be making (I won't go into all those details for now). J's portion was relatively short, but he allowed me time to ask all the questions I had prepared. After it was done, he gave me a short tour. Couldn't see all the rooms in person as they were pretty busy. But I got to see their control room, go behind the lobby desk, and met some of their diverse staff. It was a good interview, but I definitely have a lot to think about. J said that he'll get back to me hopefully within a week with an answer of if they want/need me at all so the ball is in their court.
- 4PM shift on a Wednesday (07.29). First work day back after 5 days off. First thing was that our server system was down. I only knew of that because of an email from corporate asking to access our server to try and fix a problem. That email was sent hours before I got there. However, the team has been able to run things like normal...so I don't know what was going on. I did see that our server room PC was on the log-in screen so it made sense that corporate couldn't access it.
The main thing I had everyone (except 2) do was assesment quizzes. All were still considered trainees and because of the issue that happened earlier this month, I wanted to make sure this was done. VO and HP had been with us for two months so we were able to finally knock those out. For the recent batch of trainees, they only did the ones they were familiar with. It took a while as I did go over every question with everyone individually. Main critiques were to be more specific with explanations.
Outside of that, we had large team of girls from a drill team. HP knew them so she was excited to see them. A lot of them were surprised to see her as they didn't know she worked there. It was great to have them see a familiar face to connect with. This was the first time the new trainees had a big team like this so they saw how hectic and loud it could be and how we as a team need to run things smoothly. No big hiccups with it, but each one had a sigh of relief once all of them were in their rooms and again once they were all gone.
And between everything, I restocked the drinks in our pantries, put away the recently delivered wine, and any other standard duties of the day. When things were winding down, I had VO leave early while the rest of us left around 10PM.
- 4PM shift on a Thursday (07.30). I saw that the recent shirt order I made finally arrived. I made sure to take care of those right away. I also took care of multiple inventory lists with one taking priority as I was informed the day before that we were dangerously low on toilet paper. Once that was done, I sent the list to Agent Ocean to place an order for tomorrow.
This was also AH's last day before going off to college. I'm glad that she got to get a shift in and do things before going. I gave her some advice, gave her a high-five, and saw her off. Shortly after, I made a few phone calls for applicants (got one interview set up, the other found another job). Once those were done, I had AB leave early.
That left me with CF and SL. They did some cleaning with the others before they left. We came up with a game plan for the training and relaxed for a bit before customers started showing up. They were to get more shadowing/co-piloting in and they sure got a lot. We ended up with 15 bookings for the day with 8 being at the end of the night. A few plans did change as I wanted them to have an even number of shots with those respective rooms, but it turned out fine. They also each had their first time watching two games at once. While I was with them, I was doing other things like prepping gift cards, replying to emails, and responding to reviews. The one thing that wasn't great was that the majority of those last teams were late. We were able to make things happen, but to have so many so late was odd.
We left around 10:15PM. There was a wreck on the highway when I was about halfway home. I saw the flashing lights ahead of time and quickly u-turned, pulled up the GPS, and took an alternate route. The route eventually took me back to the same highway where the accident occurred, but by that time it was cleared up. So it was either sit in traffic to wait it out or take that alternate route to keep moving. Both ways took the same amount of time, ha.
- 4PM shift on a Friday (07.31). Picked up a Sam's order on the way. Waited for 20 minutes and was a few minutes late to the venue. After putting that stuff away, it was coming up with a training plan for CF and SL. There weren't too many bookings for the day so two staff members were called off while almost everyone left early (by an hour or more).
The main thing I did was conduct one more interview I had lined up. It turned out very well. One of my longest interviews clocking in at an hour. Neither of us realized it. But they were very straightforward and talktative in general so it was easy to talk to them and veer off topic. I sent my notes to Agent Ocean and doubled down on the previous two interviews as well as all three were thumbs up. So the ball is in his court.
As we got closer to the end of the night, it was just CF staying an extra 1.5 hours to close with me. He got in more training time, which is always good. He got in a good amount of GMing and did very well. As he did that, I did all the closing duties and restocked the alcohol pantry (no one really restocks the pantries...). The only thing left was for his last team to finish and we were out of there by 11:40PM.
The big thing that happened was getting a text from the closer location offering me a job. It was for the wage they mentioned during the interview. I simply replied that I was going to think about it for a bit. But that was mainly to let a few friends (already in the know) know about it and get some feedback. They're being very supportive. I will answer them later in the weekend just in case I have any additional questions to ask before giving an answer.
ETC=========================
- Roundhouse
- WMAC Masters
- aespa - KISS N TELL (MV)
- Update on the life coach. I've had two in-person sessions so far (supposed to have four in total). NR is a cool guy, easy to talk with. We met at the same place, which was a good place to keep in mind overall. The first meeting was 90 minutes (07.12). We went a little overtime, but it was a good way to get introduced with each other. In the end, he had recommended coming up with a mantra, to listen to podcasts, change my way of thinking, and to create a Relationship Vision (the biggest part of discussion). I definitely took those steps. Some were easier than others, but I did something instead of nothing.
The second meeting was 60 minutes (07.19). We talked about how I've implemented tools he gave me (how some were easy and some weren't as easy). But this came close after the meeting at work happened so we also talked about that. The main things he wanted me to do were to do (on top of more podcasts, another mantra, and more SHIFT) were to find a Relationship and Business Mentor. It was hard to come up with anyone for each, but eventually I asked JLW to be my Business Mentor. It made the most sense as he has had his hand in many businesses successful or not. He would have a perspective that I didn't. I texted him about it (07.22) and he excitedly agreed and almost immediately gave plenty of insight. Still no Relationship Mentor as anyone I thought of whether in a relationship or not didn't seem like the best fit.
Two more sessions to happen next month. We shall see how those go.
That's a wrap on July 2026. Thank you for your support. Be cool and be kind.
"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits."
