Feeling Blue

As was mentioned a few weeks ago I used to work for a retail chain. I worked at Best Buy. I was one of five computer techs in the store. In fact I was also the only traveling tech in the store, making house calls for customers. This was long before Best Buy came up with the 'Geek Squad' and I can at least be very thankful for that.

Because of my position I wasn’t required to wear the Best Buy polo shirt on traveling days. I hated my polo. First off it cost me ten dollars, because although I was required to wear one, it wasn’t provided with employment. In addition to that it fit me like a wet suit. I was constantly at war with it, tugging, stretching and pulling. Days that I did not have to wear it found me a much more pleasant person.

When traveling I wore a nice shirt tucked into my khakis and my happy yellow name badge with the 'Intel Inside' sticker I’d salvaged from some dying computer. Back in those days we got a lot of vendor toys and we all liked to dress up our badges to show appreciation. I have lots of geekware from Iomega, Sony and the like. Additionally I have an unused ‘Pentium II Bunny Suit’ keychain if anyone wants to trade.

Patricia and I are living in our first apartment in town. For the nostalgic among you we were paying $595 a month for rent. It seems almost unreal now. So I step out onto our porch in my khakis and smart black button up dress shirt.

I slid across the porch and onto my rump. I now had a thick blue racing stripe from my heel to my shoulder. It seems someone decided to paint the apartment porch and not warn the occupants. The painter was leaning on his long handled rolling brush looking horrified. I was mortified and in trying to stand up, I slipped and fell on to my knees to complete my stunning attire.

The painter apologized then started knocking on doors and warning the rest of our neighbors. This of course brought new onlookers to my plight. I managed to get up, and get back inside. I had no option but to wear the pants, I didn’t have another pair. I was able to get them mostly clean, and the blue was pretty faint. The shirt was a bust. I had to wear my polo. I believe my mantra for the day was “don’t ask.”

11 comments:

J Crew said...

You need to just have an embarassment blog. You could help millions overcome there problems.

Ando said...

Of course the paint had to be blue. If I ever get inspired to write a screenplay, can I use some of your stories?

jbau said...

My husband kept laughing aloud, so I had to see what it was all about.
Oh Peter, your embarrassing moments makes me feel better about my bad days. Never stop reliving those painful moments; never stop writing!

Stephanie said...

This was quite amusing - Jen is so right - it does make my bad days seem better - I love reading this blog!

Peter Brown said...

J Crew-

Isn't this this blog an embarassment enought?

Peter Brown said...

Ando-

For a sizable cut of the profit, I might be willing...

Peter Brown said...

Jen and Sj-

Glad to be of help.

Joshua P. Allem said...

That's something! I can't believe the guy didn't have signs all over the place. I think everyone has embarrassing stories like that. At my last job, I worked in an office that was mostly women. On casual Friday, I wore the bottoms to one of my favorite joggingsuits. But I just happened to forget that it was the pair that I only wore at home! There was a huge hole between the legs. I kept getting looks from people, some of them grinning. I never understood what was going on until I got home! I threw that pair away to prevent that accident from ever happening again.

Peter Brown said...

Joshua-

That is hilarious! It's always fun to see that other people can do just as many embarrasing things as I can!

Paul Theodoropoulos said...

this just seemed....appropriate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utkkXCF8ZVc

Peter Brown said...

Paul-

How you can elude my site meter amazes me.

I loved the video! I can say for sure that our managers would been very worried if they had come into our store.

Maybe not 'call the cops' worried, but certianly on edge.