He Let Me Pet Him!!!

Well...we had a major accomplishment today. Rio let me pet him. I did end up getting bit, but not until he let me scratch him down for a good half hour. When he got tired of it, he turned around and scraped the top of my hand hard with the point of his beak. But...the important part is that he was confident and comfortable enough to let me (the predator) put my hands on him (the prey).

It was awesome. Yesterday, he stepped up for both of my older boys. I didn't let them hold him long, but I coached them on what to do, how to handle it, and quietly talked to him and told him what we were doing. Both boys said "Step up!" and up he went.

I want that bird home TODAY. When I walked in to the pet store today, this lady was sticking her fingers in his cage and taunting him. He's screaming at the top of his lungs his warning cry, flapping his wings begging for her to go away. I marched right over and said "Just what do you think you're doing?" She said "I'm playing with this bird." I said "By playing you mean, scaring-the-hell-out-of, right?" She shot me a look that said I was a moron. She goes "Do you work here or something?" I said "Or something. That's my bird that you're terrorizing. Don't EVER just go stick your fingers in a cage like that when you don't know the bird. Unless of course you're not partial to them and you think of them as expendable. He could take your finger off if he got scared enough of you or felt intimidated enough." She said "I'm telling the owner you're mean." I said "Go for it. The owner will tell you that I'm dropping about three thousand dollars total in her store, and that if I want you to not poke my bird, that's my right." She walked away in a huff.

No wonder he was such a little prick when I first started working with him!

Dave, the awesome bartender that I've been working with turned out to be a psycho. Last night, I went in at 8:00 pm, taking over from his shift, which was from 12-8. He sat there for an "afterwork drink" (which...that concept I've never understood. You serve alcohol to people all day or night long. It reeks. Why the hell would you want to ingest it after you've watched people get drunk all day? I go HOME after work. I come read blogs after work. I come wrestle with my dog after work. I come kiss my kids after work...sleeping or not. I don't have a drink before doing any of those things.)

Anyway...One drink turns into five drinks which turns into shots of Grand Marnier and Zambvca to accompany the said drinks. He starts saying shitty things to customers, he starts calling Lauren (our male DJ) a "Nigger" (NOT cool.), he starts telling me how to do my job...and all of a sudden, I was intimidated. I let it get out of control. I should have cut him off and tossed him, and I'm not sure why I didn't. I think it was just the fact that he works there. Every word that comes out of his mouth is about how the bar is such a hole, that Chris, our boss, is such a bitch...and worse yet...he's saying this TO the customers. This is only about an 1/8th of what he did that night, but I was so pissed by the end of the night, he made drunk vampire girl from Friday night look like a Girlscout. He didn't hit me, but it was right around the corner.

I think it's more disappointing to find someone you thought was cool to be an asshole, than a regular run of the mill asshole. I'm going to say something to him on Wednesday night when I take over for the night. I'm just going to tell him that he gets his one after work drink and then I won't serve him after that because he's a prick. I'll try to approach it diplomatically, but...I'm not dealing with him again.

Chris (my boss) drove me home last night. The transmission went out in my car last week, and I don't like leaving Jas without a car with the boys here at night. So, he drives me, and usually either Chris or Lauren will bring me home. Otherwise...a cab is a phone call away. Anyway...she and I sat in my driveway for three hours. We talked about the violence. We talked about the problems of the bar, we talked about how to bring in new and more calm clientele...it was good. And, from now on, on Friday and Saturday nights, my neighbor Heather is going to watch the boys, and Mr. DK is going to come up and hang out from the time I go in, until it's time for me to go home. That's the agreement. She says I'm good at bartending and that the customers seem to really like me, and that I'm helping to keep the better patrons coming back. I told her, that while I do actually like it, I don't feel safe. So...now I get to bring my 6'7" bodyguard with me.

Oh! And, we finally rented out the apartment next door. Heather and Charlie are our new neighbors. They are both 25, have a 3 month old little girl named Alyssa, and thankfully, have jobs and are very normal. We've become fast friends, and we love having them as our new neighbors!

sdk

Edited to ad a PS:

PS...You. Yes...YOU. The new front page of your site looks AWESOME. By far my favorite. The only gripe I have is that you need to add more pictures of YOU on your site. And comments. Turn your comments on. I won't use it, but others will.