June 2026 Entry:
This was a packed month.
MISC=========================
- Got my haircut in the morning (06.01). It's been a long time. I gave my stylist one of my last bags of Turtle Chips and she was delighted as those are some of her favorite snacks (I didn't know that). We caught up as usual. We talked about my rapid hair loss as it's definitely more than when she last saw it. I mentioned I was going to start using Hims and she approved. She did recommend not to use conditioner to help, but I mentioned that the new shampoo and conditioner I bought were complimentary to preventing hair loss. She said to see if there's a difference and if there isn't to stop using the conditioner. It's always good seeing her and of course having less hair feels so light.
That same day, I matched with someone on a dating app. It was very coincidental as dating was something we talked about while getting a haircut. My stylist said they would pray for me. I texted her letting her know that I matched with a girl and sent her a screenshot. KKS was nice and actually talked like an actual human being. Then they eventually wanted to talk off the app and onto something else. I redownloaded it and we continued talking. They were only in town until the following day as they were going back out of state to where they live. But they said they would be back in July for at least two months. The main topic was what we did for work. That was fine until they asked how much I made. I replied like I do with others that I don't feel comfortable talking about that as I've had catfishes ask about money. They replied with "guess you're not confident" and "I won't ask you anything like that anymore." But that seemed to mean they weren't going to ask anything at all as they never replied to my follow up comments of "thanks for understanding" and "I'm heading off to work." I want to say the entire conversation was probably less than 100 messages back and forth within 2 hours at best.
- Went to pick up Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (06.03). I was going to pick it up earlier in the day around 2PM, but it was raining. It was still raining by the time I actually went out around 3:30PM, but it wasn't as heavy. Easy pick up with no wait time and I preordered Rhythm Heaven Groove.
I went to 16 Handles afterwards. It was about 5 minutes away from the GameStop. It wasn't on a main road or anything so it didn't stand out, but I found it. This was a larger venue than I thought. They also had a patio area in the back (didn't get to check it out since it was raining). The manager (I assume) was very welcoming and highly encouraged me to try flavors. I did mention that I had ice cream not too long ago so I wanted to see their smoothie and milkshake options. She did point them out on the menu screens, but still insisted that I try a few flavors. She pumped out a bit of Caramel Cowboy, Strawberry oat milk, and Mango sorbet. All were very strong in flavor and that's what convinced me to get ice cream instead. She pointed out that you can do a single flavor, double, or triple. I went with the triple and chose the flavors I tried. The name 16 Handles is because there are 16 handles to pull for 16 different flavors. Not only that, but they rotate some flavors every 16th of the month. Then it was to the toppings station, which was plentiful. I got three different boba options to compliment what I already had. In the end, the weight of your creation is what determines the price. She was kind enough to give me their grand opening sale of 25% off. Part of me thought I would need to ask to take it to go, but I ended up finishing everything. As I was leaving, she was putting out some Smucker's flavor bottles and asked me to take one. I saw the sign on the table she put them on and they were giving them for free. The reason for that was because they accidentally ordered too many and that they were going to expire in a couple of weeks so they were going to give them to customers that wanted them. I thanked her and left letting her know I'd let others know about the place. And that I did, which I normally don't do outside of posting photos online. I'm down to go back anytime if anyone I know goes. She sold me well on the place.
- I was having stomach issues for a while (06.01-06.10). Not only would my stomach be upset from the morning until the latter end of the day like 4PM or later, but I would need to use the restroom multiple times. And what was coming out was always similar, but not normal. I was wondering if food being made had been prepared differently like with a new ingredient or something. Nothing I could think of. Then I thought if there was something new I was eating and there was. I had been eating the Milka chocolates I got for Christmas. There were nine different flavors and I was working through one bar each month by eating one piece a day. This last one was called Happy Cows and it did taste very good. But it was also the only new thing I introduced into my system. I looked online to see if it was a diarrhetic...it wasn't. Then I checked the back for the expiration date...and it was. Darn. I put it to the test and I did feel bad when I tried it on the 8th day. On the 9th day I didn't eat it and I felt better, but still would get stomach issues, just not as bad. The 10th day confirmed it as everything wasn't as bad. I unfortunately had to throw out the rest of that chocolate, which had half of it left. At least I realized what was going on.
- HeXagon meetup (06.11). The reason was because PC and KC were going on their Asia trip the next day. They chose to go to Liuyishou Hot Pot. My first time there. We (KC, PC, NRM, NE, and myself) had to get a table with one pot to share and an extra chair. Food was good all around and we all agreed that their mild was spicy, ha. At least we know for next time.
The next stop was Mochinut. It was my suggestion. It's been on my to try list for a while especially since there was one close to work, but they voted on this one we were close to. CL and BC joined us there for the snacking. Haven't seen BC since the TWICE concert. There was definitely more than their online menu showed. I ended up getting a churro donut and a passion fruit tea and those were great and safe. I should have tried their bingsu or the tanghulu. Thanks to NRM for sharing the rest of his ice cream he didn't finish. It was good catching up with everyone. We all left around 9PM.
Afterwards I briefly met up with another friend I had not seen in months. Good times.
- My copy of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie was delivered (06.17). Finally watched it on 06.25. Fun times. Very fast paced. I definitely enjoyed all the references to things like Mario Maker and Paper Mario. And of course all the audio and visual references.
- Went to my first AEW live event (06.17). It was myself, Rannchan, G, NE, and MG. Rannchan and MG had met when we went to NXT. We decided to eat at Pop Top Burgers & Gyros at 4PM. None of us had been there before, but we all liked the menu. And they did not disappoint. Everyone met, we exchanged pleasantries, enjoyed good food, and talked wrestling. At 5PM we all went to 85 Bakery to drop our cars off and chill before going to the venue. From there, Rannchan drove us all. When we got there, the line was long, but it was moving so we weren't out in the sun too long. We went to the merchandise line to see what was available. As we got closer, I saw they had a Mini Mone puppet. The price was fair (I would have taken it for less) and that was what I was going to buy. Once it was my turn, I asked for it (they had quite a few left in a box) and I asked if they had any Rebel wristbands. They unfortunately did not. Since I bought a Mini Mone, they did pull out some Harley Cameron wristbands (a pack of two; one being her name and the other saying Feel The Wrath). Sold. NE bought some shirts as well. Then it was off to our seats to settle in.
Show started at 6:30PM. We got to see two matches for ROH (one including Sting's son) for half an hour. Then it was Dynamite for two hours. So good. Never thought I'd see Kenny Omega wrestle live. There were also a couple times that some of the wrestlers left or escaped down the aisle we were sitting at so we got to see them up close. After that, it was a short intermission before another two hours of Collision tapings. But Collision was really good. Another thing I never thought I'd get to do was sing Judas in a crowd and we did. The match of the entire night was Athena VS Maya World. The match was so dang good with many surprises.
A negative was seeing people leave after Dynamite. Not only that, but more people trickled out throughout the Collision taping. I don't blame them though as the night went long with the last match ending close to 11:30PM. We were so tired that we abandoned the post show dessert plans. Other than that, it was a solid night of wrestling and we got to see so many favorites. Definitely down for going to another AEW show in the future.
- Watched Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always (06.21). This was full of nostalgia. I didn't realize it was a tribute to Trini. Almost any time they showed footage of her or mentioned her, I teared up.
Later in the day I met DW. We were planning to meet up to talk and catch up and went to the Sugar Land Town Center. While we were there, we stopped into Morelia Gourmet Paletas. They had been on my to-try list for a while. Second time ever having a paleta and it did not disappoint. Whatever DW had made him feel better as he was having stomach issues when I arrived. You could tell how his energy went from low to normal to excited within minutes. It was good catching up.
We also stopped by the new work location. It's not owned by the ladies, but by other owners. We went in as if I didn't work for the company. The outside was nice and inside was impressive. We asked questions to the staff member and they were very kind and informative. I asked if it was okay to "take video to show to friends" and she said yes. When we left, I sent the video to Agent Ocean and the ladies. Shortly after, DW and I split as he needed to take care of more things to get ready for work the following day. I went to my car in the parking garage and texted back and forth with Agent Ocean and the ladies. I went back to the location one more time to ask about corporate bookings and parties. The same worker pointed out where it was and said I could take a look. When I went in to take another video, I heard customers outside saying "isn't he our guy from the ??? location." I looked back at them and playfully shushed them. When I was done with the video, I greeted them and sat down to talk. I said I was scouting and that it was "a coincidence to see friends here." I mentioned that I saw them and thought they were familiar. They said they were equidistant from all these locations (minus Waco) so they were just in the area and wanted to play. Soon after it was actually their time and we left. I thanked the worker again before leaving. Sent the video of the party room to Agent Ocean and the ladies and finally went home.
- Went to Boba Smoothies after work (06.23). I knew I wanted to stop by a new boba/dessert place after work, but I was going back and forth as I wasn't sure if I was going to leave work early or not. This one was close-ish to Biff's. Ended up getting a green apple and passion fruit milk tea with boba (asked if they could mix the flavors). The boba was the first thing I had in terms of food since eating fried rice at 10AM (it was around 7:30PM).
Met up with a friend who I had not seen for a month around 8PM. It's always good catching up...but something happened. Out of nowhere, I got a very bad headache. I basically stopped in my tracks and she was very concerned. She got me to lie down to relax and asked about my day and if I had eaten. She basically figured I was dehydrated in general and said that the boba was too sweet to have had to tide me over. I ended up not finishing that and she went to get a rice ball she had saved for dinner. I ate part of it as she got a bottle of water. The pain definitely subsided as I finally was eating something. She kept talking about making sure to take better care of myself. Multiple times I said how embarrassed I was about it because I never had an episode like this in front of her. But at the same time I was incredibly thankful for her for immediately assessing the situation and figuring out what to do. She made sure I was able to walk around properly before deciding to call it a night for both of us. Left shortly after 9PM and texted her when I got home so she could be assured I made it back safely. I ate pizza that was available for dinner, let my mom know what happened, lay down with a cold bottle of water next to my head as I watched YouTube videos, and eventually fell asleep.
The next day I was better, not 100%. I texted my friend and let her know that, but she advised me to rest for the day (she knew I wasn't working). I definitely was low on energy throughout the day and I did take Tylenol when the headache slowly came back later on in the day. Just going to take it easy until things feel normal again.
- Watched season one of Rurouni Kenshin on Netflix (06.01-06.24). The original is one of my favorite anime series of all time. This one is good too. Very faithful to the original. It seems better streamlined, but I might be recalling the original incorrectly. But it was cool seeing characters show up, especially Saito (my favorite). I'll be watching the second season next month.
- I'm not one to do trends, but I saw one for a Kpop Bias Grid (06.24). Upload photos and arrange them. I shared it in the HeXagon Discord because I figured they'd be all over it and they were. It took a long time for mine as I spent a lot of time hunting for photos. I almost gave up on it as the size of the photos didn't fit properly. But HD mentioned that you can resize them and I tried again. I like what I came up with. Coming up with the 9 didn't take too long. The only person I went back and forth on was Kahi. It was between her and Hyomin. And of course there were so many others I left out such as Eugene, LeeJin, Bora, Ailee, etc.
- Went to try Blendz & Bites (06.25). It's minutes away from my GameStop and they had a good number of items I was interested in. This time I only went for a drink. It was either going to be an Island Breeze, an Oreo milkshake, or a Biscoff caramel milkshake. The worker said I was the 4th or 5th Island Breeze he made today, ha. It was quite tasty. I sat in the venue for a bit swiping on dating apps since it was very hot outside and left around 3PM. Definitely interested in the food options for next time.
- Finally bought a seat cushion for home (06.29). It was a thing I've meant to buy for a long time, but would always forget. Ever since I got rid of my gaming chair and used a normal office chair, I've been using a pillow as a cushion and that has flattened so much. While I had a seat cushion in the car, that was for my mom. With the constant reminders to get one, I just never did. Then it became available as part of the latest Prime Day sales. Thanks to NRM for allowing me to use their account to get it for $20. So far so good.
- Went to the dentist in the morning (06.30). Just a routine cleaning. I was in 10 minutes early, got seated 5 minutes early, and was out in less than half an hour. Fastest cleaning. That may be thanks to the previous deep cleaning and now doing 3 cleanings a year instead of 2. Next appointment is in November.
- Something new I've hopped on is Instants and Instant Recaps for Instagram. I don't know too many people using this, but I put my spin on it by taking one unique photo a day. So you get a ping everyday, ha. Then I post the weekly recap every week with the final week having a few extra days. It's not popular with those following me based on the lack of reactions, but I like it.
https://www.instagram.com/wingedvox/
GAMES=========================
- Demo Showcase Shorts continues. 18 this month. 7 ups, 8 sideways, 3 downs. Standouts include MARVEL Cosmic Invasion and 70s-style Robot Anime Geppy-X.
8 demos left on deck to try.
- Completed Neva: Prologue (06.01). One year ago I played and 100% completed Neva proper. I did really like that one so I was ready for extra content in the form of this DLC. Was it worth $3? I'm leaning towards no. It's not bad, but I don't think it added anything to my overall experience. It was short clocking in at under 2 hours and that includes finding the 5 hidden flowers. I would have preferred if this was free along with the main game to begin with rather than a paid DLC.
- STARSEEKER: Astroneer Expeditions [Network Test] popped up (06.05). It was only going to be for two days so I decided to try it in the middle of playing SHINOBI. It wasn't perfect, but it was okay. There was a pop-up that wouldn't go away in the tutorial area, I get booted back to the title screen after being on the Switch menu screen for too long (had to go help with something), and the hub suffered from stuttering. But a game based on collecting resources is not my usual thing.
- I didn't get to watch Summer Games Fest live since I was at work (06.05). I did catch clips while the latter end of the work day was slow with the last team in. My standouts include Resident Evil: Veronica, Tifa in Street Fighter 6, and Final Fantasy VII Revelation.
- SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance completed (06.02-06.04-06.05-06.06). Originally ordered on 05.30.25, played the demo 08.12.25, shipped out 08.27.25, copy only received 09.03.25, and the large case with extras finally showed up on 03.17.26. I really liked the demo so I was looking forward to playing this and it did not disappoint. Everything was so good. Moving around felt fluid, combat was fun, the map was good on marking spots you haven't been to, collectible tracking was nice and simple, etc. A few stages in, I knew I was going to attempt to do everything in the game.
Negatives include long levels (some weren't fun in general) and the challenging Ankou levels, especially the ones that required precise platforming. The game did freeze a few times while booting it up and that had me worried my progress might get wiped (thankfully it didn't).
Any deaths I felt were always my fault whether it was combat or platforming. The DLC levels were okay. I enjoyed the boss fights, but the stages were mainly a straight line so getting to the boss was underwhelming. The dates you see at the beginning of this part of the entry was when I started the game, when I beat the DLC (right before the final stage), when I beat the game proper, and beating the secret boss. I probably could have done the secret boss on the 5th f I didn't play STARSEEKER, but that's okay. Outside of the negatives, this was wonderful to play from beginning to end. Great job to everyone that worked on this game.
- Bleach: Brave Souls was the (officially scheduled) free-to-play game of the month (06.06). I have never watched an episode of Bleach, but I knew what some of the characters looked like. This game...had a lot going on. The main thing is that it is a 3-D beat em up. But you can choose which team of 3 to go with and you can swap between who to use as you play the level. Those are all earned by gacha and in-game currency. The beat em up part was super easy. Each character has a different attack assigned per button and some have a cool down to use again. With a strong character, the stage can take less than a minute. But the balance with the story is way off as there can be many minutes of unvoiced dialogue happening. You can skip all the dialogue and I ended up doing that. I also turned on auto-battle and the game was playing itself. I just had to hit buttons to progress to the next stage/chapter. And even though there was a currency to pay to continue playing, I had 150 to start with. By the end of the episode, I used around 20. There are apparently 300 stages/chapters. Even with using auto-battle and skipping the dialogue, that still took about an hour to do. Even if I wanted to attempt to finish this since it was easy to do, I would have run out of currency to continue playing and would have to wait or earn them somehow. So after finishing the initial first episode, I was done.
- The Revenge of Shinobi was one of two Genesis NC games of the month (06.07). I know I've played it a few times, but never a lot so I didn't know what the rest of the game looked like. It was tough in general, but I did use the infinite shuriken cheat so I wouldn't have to worry about being conservative with my shots. I did have trouble doing the double jump at the beginning, but had to become better at it since it was necessary during the latter portion of the games with the way stages were designed. I also got both endings. The bosses were simple. Once you figure out their pattern you can easily beat them. For example, it took longer for me to beat the final boss while figuring out how to beat them (got the bad ending) and less than 2 minutes during my second attempt since I knew what to do (got the good ending). Not bad, but not great.
- Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master was the second Genesis NC game of the month (06.07). Never played it, but I immediately could tell it was better. Similar to the previous game, mastering the double jump was necessary. And just like the last game, I turned on infinite shurikens. I went one further and turned on invincibility because why not. I still had to work through it and make it passed the platforming sections. It was a nice surprise to see what was referenced in Art of Vengeance. It made the end even better for me. Good stuff.
- A new Nintendo Direct (06.09). It was full of so much stuff. Below are my standouts in order they were presented.
- Rhythm Heaven Groove
- Onimusha: Way of the Sword (09.25.26)
- Orbitals (09.03)
- DK Challenge (06.09-09.01)
- Muramasa: Revenant Blades (2027)
- Nintendo Switch Sports Resort (10.22.26)
- StarFox (demo)
- Final Fantasy Resonance (10.22.26)
- PIkuniku 2 (2027)
- Duskbloods Closed Network Beta (Summer 2026)
- Deltarune Chapter 5 (06.24.26)
- Kingdom Hearts III + Remind (demo)
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (2026)
- Super Ninja Boy was the SNES NC game of the month (06.09). It wasn't great. I think I would have tried more if it weren't so slow. The RPG aspect of an overworld and talking to people in towns was interesting, but I think I would have preferred it if it was only fighting. Even then, the fighting was spotty. After about a good hour, I decided to use a password to get to the last level with everything available. I tried to get to the end, but it seemed like it just kept going. So I used another password to simply walk to the ending and called it a day.
- Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos was an Extra NC game to fit with this month's theme (06.10). The last time I played this was over a decade ago when going through emulators on the Dreamcast. I played all three NES Ninja Gaiden games one after the other. This was a good evolution of the first game, but I definitely enjoy the original more.
- To round out the month of ninja games was NINJA GAIDEN: Ragebound (06.11-06.12-06.13). Off the top, the game looks gorgeous in every way. Shout out to the team that worked on Blasphemous because you can see it. The combat was fast paced. I did think I was mindlessly hitting the attack button outside of doing the specific aura attacks. The talismen were okay, but I never felt like experimenting with them (I found the ones I liked and stuck with them). I wish Challenges weren't a thing. I'd look at them at the beginning of the stage and then try to attempt doing those instead of simply playing the game. Some of Kumori's sections were very tough and added lots of minutes to my play time. The bosses also added time despite having easy to read patterns. I did play through the game one more time on Hard, but with accessibility options. Even with those on, it still took about 2 hours to run through. The reason to do that instead of stopping after the initial credits rolled was to get the extra stage and extra ending dialogue. It wasn't much of a reward, but I felt compelled to do it instead of putting the game away. That and I already knew I wasn't going to 100% the game (you can find what you missed, but still had to finish the stage instead of exiting out). Did I like it, yes. Did I like it as much as I thought I would, no. It's still a thumbs up.
- The sixth game from the Capcom Fighting Collection 2 was Power Stone 2 (06.14). This was the one I was looking the most forward to. Played the Dreamcast game so much with friends back in the day. This version was actually the arcade version, which really only has Arcade and VS modes. Playing through this again wasn't as great as I was anticipating. Part of that was the hype I had for it. The other is because of the lack of modes. One reason I played the Dreamcast version a lot was to get all the collectibles. There was so much to get. The other reason was playing this game solo. It's not as fun by yourself. The chaos of four human players adds to the fun. And the fact that this was for the most part a pushover with each playthrough with each character averaging about 20 minutes made this a one-off. I wasn't planning to take care of it in one sitting, but that's what happened. It's still a good game, but I didn't have as much fun for the reasons I stated.
- Cup Heroes was another free-to-play game for this month (06.17). It may not fit with this month's theme, but there is a samurai and (?) ninja character you could unlock...so yeah. If this wasn't bumped up, this would be played probably a year from now with all the other free-to-play games ahead of it.
This was not what I thought it would be. Basically the character attacks on its own and progresses to the next wave of enemies. After each wave, you drop a cup of balls down a pachinko style layout and try to multiply and get as many balls for currency to spend on your next upgrade. That's the roguelike portion. While I don't like roguelikes, this part wasn't so bad. It's still the luck of the draw with the cards and the layouts. But there's a lot to unlock and upgrade, but the majority come at a high cost of in-game currency or real money.
I played it for a couple hours. It's very simple and addictive. Seeing balls multiply is so satisfying and the most I ever had in one drop was a little over 2000 balls. That in itself couldn't be captured in the 30 second clip I took as it definitely went on for a good minute or two. My goal was to reach level 5 and that took a few tries and a few deaths. But it's pretty good and easy to get into. Try it out for yourself.
- EA SPORTS FC CLUB 26 was this month's free Game Trial (06.19). Most likely this was chosen because of the World Cup. Much like when I played 24 and 25, I played one game as the Dynamos and all I wanted to do was win. And I did. It's a great game and easy to pick up and deep enough if you want to get into detailed mechanics.
- Played the VALIS: The Fantasm Soldier Collection III (06.20-06.25). This was not a great collection. Some negatives all around included input lag, bad subtitles (grammar errors, positioning, and timing), and not a great rewind. The first game was a pain to look at. The second game was hard to navigate. The third was sluggish. All three of those had relentless enemies. The fourth game was fine. The fifth game was one I've played before on NSO, but felt way shorter. I only beat the last three games. I got to the final boss of the first game, but even with rewinds and cheats, I couldn't beat them. And I was doing okay with the second game by following video guides, but for some reason multiple videos didn't show how to acquire items needed to progress. So I would make it far into the game, but miss that one item needed and didn't know where it was and I was not interested in backtracking. Quite disappointing. My least favorite of the three Valis collections.
- Picked up my copy of Star Fox (06.25). Easy transaction and got to pre-order Coffee Talk Tokyo. No shout out to the two workers (I assume since they were talking work stuff and at least one was behind the counter) who only stared at me when I entered and didn't acknowledge me.
Star Fox is currently slated to be played in September. It'll fit with the theme of that month.
WORK=========================
- 4PM shift on a Monday (06.01). It was slow. Thankfully the staff did some cleaning before I showed up. I was able to take care of the inventory, alcohol inventory, fixed an issue with a TV for one of the rooms, and maybe a few other small things here and there. The last group of the night was a group I booked over the phone. They mentioned they were choir teachers and I kept talking to them as they were checking in. After a few things were said, CS came out and greeted them as they knew who they were. That amped her up to actually GM for them. I clocked out early, but stuck around to help CS close solo for their first time. While she was GMing the team, I reached out to a wrestler via Instagram to see if they'd be able to come by since the promotion would be around later this month. Once the choir teachers left, CS did the rest of the closing details and got to use their alarm password for the first time (minus the time we tested it earlier in the day). Left a little after 10PM.
- 4:30PM shift on a Tuesday (06.02). It rained a lot. It was a good time to talk to the trainees about what to do if the power goes out. I had CP and CS leave early. AB was in since 1PM since they wanted to be there when CS' choir group was there. YB was called off since we had low bookings. And because of that, I asked the trainees if they had family/friends that could come in (discounted) to give opportunities to train. AB's family showed up thankfully.
Other things to mention were a nice Filipino team, fixing the laser mechanism for one room (again, didn't properly fix it unfortunately), and the really high team at the end of the night. AB took their initial phone call which was an ordeal itself (they were paranoid to give their credit card information over the phone). We worried they wouldn't show up, but they actually did...and as stated earlier, they were high. We've had high customers and I've been around people that were high. The smell was incredibly strong. Each trainee mentioned it too. Once they were in their room playing, I had AB spray Ozium everywhere they were before he left for the day. HP asked if she could stick around to see how the game turned out, but I needed her to clock out for her shift. VO was the GM and he did fine, but the team was just so high. That was good and bad as they didn't understand what to do the majority of the time (we were always surprised when they didn't need help) and that we could trigger things and they wouldn't know. Once they were done, HP left. VO and I took care of them, and then we sprayed the room. After letting it air out for a minute, we reset the room and left for the day around 9:50PM.
- 4:30PM shift on a Thursday (06.04). I had an interview at 5PM so I gave CP and ZM instructions about what to do with the trainees. The interview was good. She very much reminded me of Agent Coda. Not only did she have the same name, but the way she spoke was almost 1:1 like her. The only downside is that their schedule post-summer is not what we're looking for. I mentioned multiple things in my notes to Agent Ocean. One being the Agent Coda resemblance. Another being their schedule. And the last being I think they would be someone that would shift the balance of the current staff that are overly negative.
Afterwards, I sent CP and ZM home early. YB went home early too around 7PM. For the trainees, they got a good amount of GM time and altogether too. It was nice seeing a completely different crew take care of things. Shout out to the UK guy and his girlfriend (cheers, mate).
The only bad thing of the day was unclogging a toilet at the end of the night. I asked HW to stick around for a bit longer while I took care of that since 2-3 trainees were going to leave at their time. Thankfully it was only stuffed with toilet paper. But that did mean I had to stick my hands in there as I was scooping water out with a cup to collect all the eventual loose shredded toilet paper. This whole thing took about 20 minutes with the majority of the time spent on scooping water. Once that was done and the final team was out, the three of us left at 10:10PM
- 4:30PM shift on Friday (06.05). Agent Ocean asked myself or HL to pick up an order from Sam's. I said I'd get it on the way. Pick up was between 4PM-5PM. I was there shortly after 4PM. I texted Agent Ocean so that he can confirm I was there on the app...and he didn't verify it for 20 minutes. I waited a long time for our order and arrived at work a little after 5PM. That wasn't fun.
AB was training solo for the first time. At one point I ordered pizzas for the parties the following day and showed him how that's done. This was also a good time to talk to him about tasks for when there is a party (cleaning, photos, organization, etc).
There was one point where four of the staff members were in the control room while I was on the phone. Customers walked in and no one came out to help. I yelled for HW and he didn't hear me. I motioned to the customers to ring the bell and thankfully they understood. They rang it, HW came out, he apologized. When I was done with the call, I mentioned to the others in the control room not to be so loud that you can't hear the door chime.
Other than that, I worked on a social media post for hiring. The ladies contacted me about a few things like watching the staff hours and sending staff home early. The other thing was an update on the trainees. They were glad to hear of their progress, but disappointed that only one would be able to work post-summer. Later that day, I made a new social media post scheduled to go up the following week. It was similar to our old hiring post, but with an emphasis on looking for year-round employees. More details were in the caption. Hopefully someone bites on that as we will be losing a chunk of employees once the summer is over.
Towards the end of the night, I sent more staff home early with YB being last. We had a nice talk about social things that only we (and Agent Ocean) could relate about among the staff. We did that as we were closing things down. Once it hit 10PM, I sent him off early. There was one more team left that arrived 10 minutes after YB was gone. Thankfully they were cool. 4-5 of them left me a review, yay. Everything else was taken care of so the only thing left for the night was to reset that last room. But...the same toilet was clogged again...with the same issue as the day before. I couldn't believe it. At least it didn't take long to fix and thankfully I didn't have to scoop the water this time. I left at 11:45PM and had a new record of returning home. The new record is 33 minutes.
- 4:30PM shift on a Saturday (06.06). I almost called off because I was having stomach issues. When I came in, HL told me that she sent PH home (stayed up late and was sleepy, kept getting up and wasn't watching his games, etc) and CA sent a message that she couldn't make it due to a family emergency. Not only that, but she had to help remote GM for the third location since they were understaffed and ZH was sick. So we were down two people on what ended up being the busiest Saturday in a long time with 32 bookings. Thankfully HL and RB stayed longer to get us through the busy section. I was busy almost the entire time. Did I have a few pockets of time to stand up and breathe, yes. But I literally didn't sit down until the end of the night around 11PM during the last two teams. Not only that, I had to unclog the same toilet for the same issue for the third night in a row. I almost broke down doing that because I was already low on energy from the busy day and this was ridiculous. I helped CS with getting used to closing and we left at 11:30PM.
- 11:30AM shift on a Monday (06.08). Originally CP was supposed to open and I close, but the schedule changed to me working all day. SP was supposed to be the midshift, but I switched her to on-call since there were only 3 bookings that were spread throughout the day. That changed and later became 7 in total. There were a few times having her be there would have made things easier, but I was able to manage. I just couldn't get to all my normal tasks. I did put away the alcohol delivery that showed up and updated the alcohol inventory as well as the wristband inventory and merch inventory.
There was one kid team that unfortunately were rambunctious, but the moms told me to be harsh if I needed to. I didn't have to be, but I had to reiterate not doing things (they reached behind multiple monitors and TVs and messed with some wires). At one point the mom asked me if I could hand them a clue after they were done because they were doing a scavenger hunt (they were going to go place to place all day long). That made me remember that I spoke with her over the phone about this. Once their team photo was taken and I gave their wristbands, I called for the birthday boy and handed him his next clue, which was for them to go get drinks at Sonic.
The last team of the night was a group of two older couples that had never played an escape room before. I gave them my normal speeches and carried on like normal. I was starting to do the larger inventory count when I noticed they weren't progressing well even with clues. 20 minutes in, I joined them and was an in-room facilitator. They definitely understood what to do better when I was delegating tasks and giving them direction. They went from feeling "too dumb" and "too old" to really enjoying it (thanks for the tip).
I thought to give myself a reward with boba to end the night. It was busy and I felt accomplished. But I decided to hold it off until another day. I left at 8:35PM.
- 4:30PM shift on a Tuesday (06.09). I got my reward of going to Bad Ass of Hawaii and ordering a lemonade. It was fine, it's lemonade and the only thing I could get there. At least the size of the cup for the prize was nice.
Earlier in the day, CA texted me about her shift for the day seeing as we didn't have a lot of bookings. That and she might not be able to make it due to lack of transportation. I texted Agent Ocean to move her to tomorrow to help the team with the big party that was coming through. Funny thing was that she was originally scheduled for that day, but swapped with YB.
I got in to work and ZM and HW showed me what they did with the tip tracker. In the end, it's for the better as the calculations are more automated and will be more accurate. Shortly after, ZM mentioned that there were a lot of emails about cancellations. I checked on it and it was from the same big party for tomorrow. I checked and saw that there was no payment yet and no updates since the original booking was made in March. I called DQ and asked her about it. She admitted that she dropped the ball on that one since there was a shift in focus for the third location. She reached out to them to hopefully reschedule for next month. That was unfortunate as it is a school we always did stuff with and we missed out on a big payment. Plus I had asked ZM and HW to make sure to clean all the rooms in preparation for them. Yay that cleaning that got done, but it could have been at a different pace instead.
Other than that, I did more inventory and sent the guys home early at 6PM. And much like the day before, more bookings happened after they left. They handled two before I was there and in the end we had seven in total. Some notable things was one kid asking about certain mistakes in the room (box wasn't locked and a document had marker writing on it). He wanted to be sure they were doing things right and not simply pointing out that we made mistakes. In a different room were two teenagers on a date. The guy did not have a good time as he didn't perform well in front of his date. "It was fun until it wasn't." I did ask his date if he was okay and she said he will be. That couple was a walk-in at the same time another group came in as well. I put them in a room that was already set up to make things go as soon as possible instead of having them wait. They had a good time. But yeah, more walk-ins when I was working solo. It was only frantic when the last two teams were walk-ins at the same time while I was watching another team and resetting other rooms. I left at 10:25PM.
- 4PM shift on a Wednesday (06.10). Been a while since I worked on a Wednesday. I noticed that one of the monitors we use in our lobby wasn't on so I checked the cables. The issue was that the plug for the power strip was not plugged in all the way, puzzle solved. During that time, a small video crew came in to get a tour with HL. After they left, she mentioned that they were from Ryan's World. I knew of him, but never watched his stuff. They reached out to us and asked if they could vlog their time with us, which we obviously agreed to. That's so cool that someone that big reached out to us. Excited for it next week.
Today marked CA's last day until the holidays. Due to unfortunate events, she couldn't stay the whole summer like she wanted to and will be moving away for college early. She took care of the last team of the day and we spoke a little bit about her time with the company. She did mention why things were happening and I'm glad she felt comfortable sharing that with me. I shared that she reminded me of Agent Ca$h from HER and saw a lot of her in her. I asked if there were things I could improve on and she said no. Then I said that she was a great worker and wished her well before she left.
The stuff that ZM did with the tip tracker the day before, I asked him to do that for the other two locations. As he did those, I messaged both teams. ZH at the third location wasn't too sure about it so he asked to do a call later on in the night to be sure. By that time, we were wrapping up since there were no more bookings. ZM left at the same time CA left and I stuck around to do a few smaller tasks before getting the call from ZH. It was a short call to confirm how the formula worked and he was very pleased by it. By the time that was done, I left at 9:15PM.
- 4:30PM shift on a Friday (06.12). And there were not many bookings. In the end there were 11.But before the latter end when it got busy there wasn't much to do. I had YB mop, I replied to reviews, emailed applicants, emailed a quote to the site we ordered cups from. HL left her shift a tiny bit early and I also sent CP and YB home early by at least an hour. And for the third night this week when I was working solo, we had a walk-in, ha. Juggled three teams for a bit there, but it's not like I haven't had to before. And unfortunately because I accepted that last team (they were outside when I had locked the door, but there was time for them to book), I didn't leave until 12:35AM. I was tired. When I got in my car, I did let out a scream. I just could not believe that for the three times I was solo at work, there were walk-ins and I stayed later than expected. It's good for business, but I was tired. And it was a reminder of how I had to unclog the toilet last week three nights in a row. Oh well.
- 4:30PM shift on a Saturday (06.13). This was AB and HP's first weekend and first time when there were birthday parties so I guided them on what needed to be done. The birthday party had someone come in to set up a photo booth (simple and reliable). When speaking with the mother, she mentioned how she wanted to do more for her daughter, but that she needed to save money for bills. I ended up offering her a free drink to which she gladly took. In return, she gave me a $5 tip and offered slices of cake for the staff (five of us at the time, first time AB and HP got free food from a customer).
Only bad thing that happened was that we lost a black light (figured a team walked out with it). I clocked out at 10:30PM and stuck around as CS handled the closing duties. There was one walk-in after locking the doors. We set up the booking, but she was still waiting for her date. I mentioned how there were no refunds so we waited for him. She went back to her car and left about 10 minutes later. I called her and she said her date wasn't going to show up. But yeah, I had a feeling something bad was going to happen and that's why I kept pushing not to take payment until he showed up. CS and I had a discussion about whether to accept a walk-in like that and I ultimately said if it was just them there, it is their call on what to do for multiple reasons (safety, can't handle another team, etc) while stating why I would and have accepted that late a walk-in even when it's just me. CS and I left around 11:30PM.
- 11:30AM shift on a Monday (06.15). After closing every shift for the last few weeks, I finally have an opening shift. There weren't a lot of bookings at first, but it slowly built to more (3 to 15). While I originally was going to leave early and send others home early, we all needed to stay. I did a few small things before things picked up. Even then, I set up two interviews for Friday and one for later in the day. That interview went longer than I wanted, but that included me having to excuse myself a couple of times to help staff. They ended up being a thumbs sideways so we'll see.
After sending the notes to Agent Ocean, I emailed 6 other applicants that one of the ladies sent my way. Coincidentally she texted me about these as I was getting the other applicants ready. Basically we need to staff up and find 1-2 to possibly be management material.
I ended up leaving at 6PM, which is the first time in a long time I actually stayed for my full shift. And by that I mean I didn't leave early or stay later than normal for whatever reason.
- 11:30AM shift on a Tuesday (06.16). It was raining and that was something we knew to keep an eye on as that can hinder customers or staff coming in. Off the bat, YB was late. This was the second time within a month that he had no excuse other than sleeping in late and being an hour late. I screenshot the message and sent it to Agent Ocean so he knows. His reply was for me to give the speech I gave him at HER all those years ago. I felt like I already have since being late in general was always a thing whether it be by 5-10 minutes. When he finally showed up, I pulled him aside for a talk. And I was stern without being mad. No jokes, nothing but serious. I mentioned how on a normal day it sucks because we all have tasks and it's planned to have X amount of staff during certain times. The other thing no one else knew was that I HL couldn't make it so I was working a double meaning we were down one staff member for the day. But on a day like this when something special was going on it was worse as things needed special attention and priority and I couldn't get to any of them since he wasn't there. He mentioned some changes in medication and I advised that he talk to his doctor and check the bottle/box to see if drowsiness is a thing and for his dosage. In terms of being late, I recommend setting up multiple alarms and proceeded to show him all of mine. One of the last things I let him know is that he's basically on strike two and that he needed to shape up. Not just for a week, not just for a month, but for good because this can't keep happening. He can do his job, he has fun talking with the staff, and customers like him. I can't drive him to work so it's all on him.
One thing I eventually got to was setting up future interviews. The other was ordering more cups for all three venues. The big extra task I was given was from one of the ladies in regards to the second location. The rain has caused a flood and no one could make it there. I called the two immediate customers to ask about rescheduling. Coincidentally they both couldn't reschedule for later in the day due to having plans and one was from out of town and the other was going out of town the next day. LO and I spoke over the phone about how to handle it. I know she was trying to find a way to have the customers still come through, but I kept reiterating that it's highly not possible. Even if they were able to reschedule for later in the day, who knows when the rain would let up. Even if the rain did let up, the roads being flooded was another X factor. In the end, I refunded one and moved another off the grid to reschedule when they're back in town. They only had 3 bookings when the rain was heavy and by the end of the day when the weather was completely fine, they had 14, crazy.
The big thing of the day was the YouTube channel Ryan's World was coming to play one of our escape rooms. This was scheduled a week beforehand by the production team. Part of me thought that having me open this day was on purpose to help take care of things. I let CP and YB know that I would handle the team from beginning to end while they took care of everything else going on. I triple checked the room beforehand to make sure everything ran properly. The production team (two people) showed up first. Met the cameraman and reintroduced myself to the lead production person. She was excited even though she wasn't going to be in the room or stick around. Before the family showed up, I walked them through what the normal customer experience was (checking in, lock wall, briefing, etc). I asked them if they wanted to know of reveals in the room to look out for and they agreed to it. I walked them through the puzzle path with minimal details while pointing out "they do this to get this to open this" throughout the whole room. They thanked me for doing that as they would know what to look out for, which I thought was odd since HL showed them the room beforehand (maybe she didn't do a walkthrough). But while we were wrapping up, the family showed up. They all checked in properly, the room was ready, and I did my thing. Watching them play the room was interesting. They were actually pretty good and maybe needed 5-10 nudges (they technically asked for only one hint, but they needed the nudges). The main thing was that they were editing themselves while playing. "Let's shoot the intro." "Let's do this again, but at a different angle." "Show the camera and describe what you found." There were many times that they spoke to the camera too. Part of me was figuring out the editing process and it made sense for them to do what they did. When they were done, they asked if they could take a few extra photos for thumbnails. I had to make sure nothing spoilery was in the background. They also took extra photos in the lobby for other possible thumbnails. Once everything was done, I actually spoke to the mom and dad a bit to let them know what I normally tell customers (birthday parties, corporate events, etc) as they had actual questions about them. I also showed them what we see on our end and they asked if they could get the footage. I mentioned that it's possible, but it could take a while if they wanted everything (1 hour from 5 different camera angles while the system is continually recording). They understood that and I mentioned I'll at least send them a different minute from each camera angle. They could tell during that discussion that I used to edit videos by how I was explaining things, ha. Once they were gone, the rest of the day was normal. I did spend the majority of the time figuring out how to export video from our camera system (it has been a while). The main issue I had was not being able to adjust the clip end point as the cursor I could move was not doing what tutorial videos said it would. I still took the time to figure out what timestamps to look for while in case I wouldn't be able to do it. But I eventually did and was able to cut the clips needed.
YB left at his normal time. I asked CP to stay longer by an hour to help with teams (10 total) before she left around 8PM. We had one more booking to show up at 8:40PM, but they didn't. I called, left a voicemail checking on their status, and they called back. One of the participants had an allergic reaction and were meaning to call us, but I beat them to it. I felt bad for them, but offered to reschedule them and waive the reschedule fee. They were very thankful for that and rescheduled for the next day. After that, I started to run around and shut everything else off. Things were left on going with the anticipation of that last team. No one else booked and I wrapped up things and left at 9:10PM. I remembered I wanted to go to CVS afterwards to use a $5 coupon. I only remembered when I was a few streets away from home and thankfully the closest one was open until 11PM.
- 4PM shift on a Thursday (06.18). Called off CP as we were low on bookings. HL did the same, but I don't know which one of us did it first. AH left shortly after I arrived and right when HW came in for their shift. HL left some time after.
I had two interviews scheduled. It wasn't so busy that HW couldn't handle it, but we did leave rooms un-reset as none of the upcoming bookings collided. Once I was done and he was done, we tackled all of those one at a time.
The big thing of the night was a 2 star review left by a repeat customer that was there before I was. It was their fourth time coming through and they were disappointed for many reasons. The ladies sent me their review and asked me to look in on it. AH was their Game Master. I called the customer even though it was late in the day and it was their birthday (mentioned in their review). I wanted to hear her side of the story and she was very detailed with her frustrations. I let her know I was typing things out so I could match it up with the staff's story. But the ladies also wanted me to find a way to resolve it with the customer and I offered for her to come back for free. I even mentioned that I would be their host and master, but if they can't come in when I'm there that I'd leave notes for whoever is. She was very thankful for that and for the fact that I apologized on behalf of the company as no one on duty did. I left the ladies a voice message so they knew what was up, mentioned how I was going to find time the next day to watch their game, and left it at that. HW and I left at 10:10PM.
- 11:30AM shift on a Friday (06.19). The server room computer was restarted over night and didn't go through the whole cycle. I realized that beforehand as some command buttons weren't working when I was performing opening duties. Once I got that taken care of, I was setting up for the 3 interviews for the day. CG text asking for remote assistance as it was just him and there were a lot of bookings to start the day. I explained that I was doing interviews soon, AB would be here soon and could watch some of their games that are the same at our location, and for him to call someone in early (they were arriving in half an hour earlier). And to help on our side, I would also watch one of our games as we had 2-3 going at the same time. Thankfully it didn't end up being too busy for CG and the first interview went fast and smooth. I came back to take over the remote duties, but SS arrived shortly and they were fine at that point.
The day was rainy so YB was very late (CP and RB arrived shortly before the rain) as well as customers throughout the day. As far as the interviews went, only 2 out of 3 happened. The ones that did show up were very good with only their schedules being rough to work with. I emailed the person that didn't show up and they apologized and ask to reschedule, which we did. Cheers to recent customers for returning with a new friend to enjoy the games. Got them to do a replay after offering a larger discount (they were grateful and had a fun time). We also had a birthday party. The rain was still a factor so a lot of us and the customers kept checking outside. Some water leaked in from the side doors, but we were prepared for it already.
The remainder of my tasks was watching the game from the 2 star customer. I watched from beginning to end and made notes again. The customer was definitely over-exaggerating. They weren't lying, but they made it sound worse. A lot of her frustrations was compounded by her not understanding some of the puzzles. In the end her story matched, just not exactly as she said. I was a little frustrated by the staff during this time as they could see what I was doing, but also didn't jump to their feet to take care of customers that arrived simply because I was in the lobby. But I took my notes, sent another voice message to the ladies, mentioned I'd talk to AH the next day during our shift. That 2 star customer also called about rescheduling the next day, but it was during a time I wouldn't be there. I left notes on the booking.
Once I finished up, I left at 6:40PM.
- 4:30PM shift on a Saturday (06.20). First time in a couple weeks that VO had a shift (had been awayh for important soccer opportunities). He seemed to remember a lot of his duties. There was only one incident where HL said that he didn't tell a team they could use their phones during his briefing, but he immediately defended himself saying he did and I believed him. He and I also cleaned the party room. I got there at 4:30PM and the party ended at 1PM meaning no one touched it for three hours. Ridiculous. Not even a "thank you" or "my bad" for it. Other things I did included replying to a lot of reviews and setting up 3 interviews for the next week.
Towards the end of the night when it was myself, VO, and AH, I took this time to have that talk with AH. She already knew it was about the 2 star review and wanted to give her side of the story, which is what I wanted. First I read the review and talked about the phone call I had with the customer. Then I listened to her side of things. The one new piece of information was that she was not the GM for the last 20 minutes, HL was. After that, she felt this was the right time to bring up her frustrations with work. She felt she was treated by one one person unfairly and with extreme bias pointing out that she and CS could tell how different they are treated. She also felt that person is trying to find every mistake she makes to point them out. Earlier in the day, that employee sent a message out to the whole team about staying on task because of that 2 star review ultimately saying no one should be on their phones while they Game Master, yet didn't enforce it on others that exact same day. Because of that employee, she has considered quitting a few times. AH broke down in tears as she was voicing herself. I grabbed a tissue and thanked her for sharing and being open. I mentioned my side of things and mentioned that I would bring this up with Agent Ocean and if he feels the need he will bring it up with the ladies. AH had been holding onto this because she didn't want to cause trouble, but she also didn't know who she could talk to about this issue. I assured her that she could always come to me. In terms of work, I mentioned a few ways she could better lock in. This might not have been the best way to end her night, but she felt way better geting that off her chest. I let her leave early when her boyfriend and friends were done with their room (about half an hour later).
I had VO stay a little longer to help with closing duties before letting him leave about half an hour early as I closed upw ith the final time. I left at 12:30AM. And because of leaving so late, I decided to send the planned voice messages for the ladies and Agent Ocean for the next morning.
- 2PM shift on a Monday (06.22). We opened later as there weren't that many staff members available. Myself and AB opened and I got to walk him through more of the opening processess. There were some issues that happened that I never got to show him so I'm glad they happened. Called Agent Ocean with a monitor issue. I always forget about checking the PC sticks we have so I'm glad he pointed that out.
I had two interviews scheduled. Both were very good with both giving conside answers. The first one asked the most questions than anyone else. Both do have schedules that wouldn't work properly with us, but I would have considered them as guaranteed Thumbs Up if it weren't for that.
AH came in for her shift. Team AAA holding down the fort. I showed her how to make party bags, her and AB took care of the bookings (went from 2-10), and I did the main inventory as well as the alcohol inventory. AB left at 7PM and I had AH leave about half an hour early as I took care of the final team as everything part of closing duties were taken care of. I left at 10PM.
- 11:30AM shift on a Tuesday (06.23). The last interview I had lined up cancelled due to a family emergency. I said we could reschedule once things are okay. Thankfully later on in the day I was sent two more resumes and I reached out to them.
ZH called me when I was supposed to have the interview for some help. Once it cancelled I let him know and he called asking for photos of one of our rooms he was building out at the third location. I got those knocked out fast while.
The day itself was very slow with not too many bookings. I switched HW to on-call. YB spent most of his time cleaning. Agent Ocean arrived and I was glad to see him. It has been a while. We immediately got to work on things (helped assist him with room fixes). We also discussed the latest interviews I did and gave him my top four candidates. It's unfortunate that each has a reason not to hire them and it looks like we most likely won't even though we're in need of more staff. We are holding out on one more I had set up for Friday since they have worked at previous escape rooms.
I clocked out at 6PM, but stuck around for this one girl group. They were playing our scariest room and they sure got scared. HP was locked in on it and was having a blast. When it was over, I told her that's most likely the team she tells others about, ha. Ended up leaving at 7PM to go meet a friend after work (and you've already read what happened with that earlier in this entry).
- 11:30AM shift on a Friday (06.26). The morning was busy. I had an interview while AB took care of teams. Last interview of the week and it was a Thumbs Up. Throughout the day, a lot of the teams were late. But the most left big tips. One negative was me dropping a bottle of beer as I was restocking. YB was able to help clean things up with me.
Towards the end of my shift, I went to pick up an order from Sam's. The staff was excited to get snacks again. Thanks to the guys for helping bring stuff in. As we were bringing stuff in, I realized we were missing water. I double checked and texted Agent Ocean who placed the order. He double checked and it was supposed to be included. I went to HEB nearby to buy 3 packs of water and brought those back. I intially would have left half an hour early if the Sam's order was correct. I ended up leaving half an hour later at 6:55PM.
- 2PM shift on a Saturday (06.27). To save on hours, I clocked in at 3PM even though I was in at 2PM. I still did things because...well...others didn't. Agent Ocean asked us to help remote for the second location all day since we had less than 20 and they had 50+...and others still complained. This was getting to be too much. There was one point where they kept calling out for some of us to do get a team and I raised my voice saying "we know." I then sternly mentioned to them to knock it off because I was trying not to get stressed out. That didn't stop further complaints. Not only that, things I asked to be done weren't done despite having time to do so...so I was not high on the team this day. In the end, everyone was asked to go home early due to the lack of bookings. They either left half an hour early or 2 hours early depending.
I knocked out some remoting, some fixes, the wristband count, replying to reviews and applicants, and more throughout the day. Ended up leaving at 11:20PM. Thankfully the latter portion was more lax, but this was not my favorite day.
- 11:30AM shift on a Sunday at the second location (06.28). Been a while since I've worked on a Sunday and about one year since I worked at the second location. I left when I normally would, but saw that even then I'd be 15 minutes late. As I was getting closer to the destination, the GPS was letting me know of a crash and that I'd be rerouted. I was about half an hour away from the new turn off when I hit the traffic. I updated VV and Agent Ocean that I'd be late. Agent Ocean was worried about VV opening, but thankfully he has and that there were only a few bookings to start the day.
11AM was when I let them know. It didn't take long for me to realize that we were at a stand still. Another hour passed and I had not moved. I updated them again as I heard there were multiple accidents. About half an hour later the ladies text me about not being at work yet. I sent them the previous photos and a new one for them to know. They looked up the news and there was one officer fatality due to a drunk driver. And while that was being taken care of, another officer injured by another driver. And I think there was a hazmat spill...so the reasons for the standstill were valid. They would message me every now and then to see the progress (or lackthereof). In 4 hours, I didn't move one mile. I was thankful that I got gas the night before after work. I was worried about needing to use the restroom so I was sparing the water I had despite it being hot. Others had pulled over and some were walking to get gas and some were fixing their cars due to overheating. I took off my work sweater at one point (hung on my window to block the sun) and even my socks. It wasn't until 3:30PM that I finally got off the freeaway and then arrived at work at 4PM. The whole trip took 5 and a half hours...that was horrible. Agent Ocean felt bad since he asked me to take his shift and the ladies felt bad since they asked me to work there that day (said they'd add a few extra hours to my time). I said I'd work until 9PM; 5 hours of work for 5 hours of traffic.
Thank you to anyone that followed along on my IG stories and checked in on me.
I will take some solace in the fact that I literally got a review with everyone working that day within 10 minutes of arriving at work. Other than mainly hosting, I replied to reviews and emails. I sent Agent Ocean a voice message about one of their staff members. This was the first time I met them and I had at least two customers pull me aside to mention how they were very curt and short with them. I did notice the way they spoke in general and I wasn't a fan of it. So he knows in case he hears of other instances.
Afte work I went to the Milkshake Factory. It had been a long time since I had been on this side of town so I looked for a new dessert place. They were 10 minutes away and had a few items I was intersted in getting. I was glad they were still open. I ended up getting the Cookie Jar. It was so good. The horrible day might have added to it. I finished about half of it before leaving. Before I left, I gave the two workers each $5 in tips. They were shocked. I mentioned how I had a bad day and referenced the traffic issue. Again, they were shocked. I said that the milkshake was the highlight of my night and that the rest would help carry me the rest of my one hour drive back home. They were smiling big and were very thankful for the tip and that they could be a positive way to end my day. Thank you.
I got home at 10:40PM, ate dinner, and turned in sooner rather than later.
- 4PM shift on a Monday (06.29). We had an upset customer that didn't like the hints given. They said their GM told them to do the opposite of what they were doing. When I showed them how to do it, they said that's what they were doing. I offered to give them 50% off their next booking. At first she didn't want it. I mentioned wanting to make things right and then she accepted it. I spoke to AB after since he was their GM to get his side of the story. The thing the customer said about being told to do the opposite was wrong and I knew that ahead of time because there is no way anyone would tell a customer to do something incorrectly. Boiled down to a customer being frustrated that they couldn't get the puzzle right even with help. It's a shame as they were a replay from earlier in the day. AB mentioned they wrote a review, but that has since disappeared.
The day ended up being busy. Went from 4 bookings to 15. CP stayed an extra half hour during the busiest time. I had AB stay 2 hours extra. Initially I wasn't, but the company (not just us) had a global outage for their booking system. We couldn't check who was coming in, check waivers, or sell drinks or merchandise the normal way. LO texted me the upcoming bookings after I asked (she still had access before the outage went out for everyone), I instructed AB to ask customers to see their email notificaiton to verify, and I showed him how to take drink and merchandise orders an alternate way. The outage lasted for an hour. Even without the outage, I would have kept AB around at least for an extra hour to help with the final batches of teams we had that Monday. I did send him off half an hour before I left (one team left and only resets to do) and I left at 10:25PM.
- 4:30PM shift on a Tuesday (06.30). Had an interview scheduled for 5PM...and they didn't show up. This was the third time they rescheduled. No reason the first time, the second reason was for a family emergency, and I heard nothing the third time. I at least tried calling them and they didn't have a voicemail set up to leave a message. Safe to say I'm not going to try reaching out. The only reason I'd reschedule one more time is if there was another family emergency.
Then there were techincal issues with multiple rooms. A lot of them dealt with maglocks. One was bipassed because they obviously had the large item inside. The other wouldn't open and HL needed to go in and force it open. And the last one was easily bipassed as it seemed not to be locked at all. I checked each one after the teams got out. All of them worked fine after...so we don't know what happened. The only thing I can think of is because the server restarted, but that happened an hour after. Even then there were small issues that happened such as the reset button not working and needing to cycle the rooms at least once after. All rooms worked the same after.
Much like Monday, we went from a low number of bookings to a lot. 4 to 14 this time. It seemed busier, but there was enough time between a few bookings for us to stay focused. I was able to knock out the wristband inventory update and the alcohol inventory updated while HL was still around. I prepared gift cards for an auction/charity, My last task was putting out the empty water jugs for pickup and delivery of new ones the following day. HW and I left at 10:10PM.
ETC=========================
- HyoRiSoo - Starry Night (recording)
- I started using a life coach. A message I posted at the beginning of the month resonated with a long time friend JW. He even mentioned that he thought of me during their latest meeting. We talked for a bit and he pointed me to his company and the free consultation to see if it was for me or not. I read up on it, filled in the information and waited for a reply.
Got an email reply from ME on the fifth and we went back and forth about what to do and when. I spoke with ME over the phone for about half an hour on the tenth. I liked what I heard. I also needed to choose which life coach to go with. I could have chosen JW, but I mentioned that being a friend already might make it skewed. I could have gone with ME, but she does specialize with women even though she does take male clients. So I went with NR who ME mentioned was in a very similar situation to me. Still a little skeptical, but as I said when I ended the call, if I don't try everything stays the same. If I do try things could change for the better.
Then it was waiting on the follow-up emails and choosing what plan to do. I paid it on the 24th and then did the Enneagram test (heard of it, but never did one; I'm a Four). Then I filled out another form for NR to know more about me. Now it's about waiting to schedule the first of four sessions with NR. We shall see how this goes.
"EXPECT GOOD THINGS...ALWAYS! AND THEY WILL HAPPEN."
- And I wish this month ended well. 06.23-06.30 was one of the worst weeks in a while. I won't recap it all since I went in depth throughout this entry. But it started with that massive headache when I was with my friend and culminated with the 4-5 hours in traffic on my way to second location. The days after that Sunday were busy work days with quite a few problems that occurred. Thankfully the last day of the month ended on a positive note.
That's a wrap on June 2026. Thank you for your support. Be cool and be kind.
"Reprise the theme song and roll the credits."
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