(no subject)

I think I can finally define the moment when the subconscious takes over the conscious. It is when the people you are thinking about in your head emerge from the depths of your brain wearing duck suits. I was just thinking about two of my friends this morning, and all of a sudden, they came out from a closet dressed as large ducks and preparing to have a wrestling match. Now, if anyone would be likely to do this, I would say my friends are those people, but at the time the sudden weirdness was enough to make me realize I was dreaming.

Something amazing happened yesterday. Here is the part where if you don't want to read about my sex life, you skip to the next paragraph. Alright, for those of you who are fine with it, here goes. Let me begin by saying I lost my virginity five years ago. In the past five years, I have had a lot of sex, with a few different men. I have also had several orgasms, but none actually from sex, just the other stuff. For that matter, Jeremy was the first to regularly elicit orgasms at all, so yay for Jer. But still no orgasms during sex. I generally don't even like sex, but I'll do it to turn on my partner, or give a little something back for whatever reason. Well, yesterday morning I was tickling Jer and I knew he was getting really frustrated, and I didn't want to do that to him, so I suggested a wee romp. I tried some new things, which I will leave at that, and within no time, both of us were really enjoying ourselves. Then, after a good bout, it started...I began to have an orgasm...and so did Jeremy. It felt great physically, but even greater emotionally. I don't feel defective anymore, for one thing. Secondly, that simultaneous feeling, both of us together, just felt like a deep, unbreakable bond between us. Now I understand how girls get really attached to their sexual partners. Before I saw no issues with one night stands. I was perfectly content with Jeremy before, but now I just feel absolutely perfect. Like the big flaw in our union has been welded shut forever. It's been 24 hours, and I'm still high on that feeling. I loved it:)

OK so back to my PG rated life. Work yesterday was good. I threw out some more new ideas to the bosses, to which they seemed receptive, so I'm glad. We had another big day, which is good, because this year's numbers are a far cry from last year's. I don't think that the different sales staff could have made this much of a difference, so I'm not going to blame myself and say it's because I'm not as good as Neil and Rebecca, but I do think about that sometimes. They were great salespeople, but their tactics were the kind that I feel were pushy. Using lines like, "Don't you think she's worth it?" and crap like that. That just pisses me off, personally. And they always try to upsell a customer. Me, I try to find exactly what the customer wants, and that includes the right price tag. So maybe I'm not aggressive enough, but I happen to think that tactics like that would drive a customer away. They may be guilted into buying something right then, but they probably wouldn't be a return customer. Maybe not, though. I still don't think I'll ever sell like that. Maybe it is easier for a customer to hear things like that from older salespeople, too. I know I look a lot less experienced than Neil and Rebecca and Dan, but the fact of the matter is, I'm far better trained than any of them are. I have GIA certificates that they never worked on. I ask questions about the non-sales stuff, like how things are put together and such that they never asked. But I guess until I look 15 years older, the customers will still ask for Neil, Rebecca, and Dan.

That brings me to a funny corollary. People come in all the time and say, "I'm a good friend of Dan (or Neil or Rebecca). Could I speak to them please?" And I'm just like, "Here's their phone number?" "Oh, they have the day off?" "You're a good friend, you say?" "Yes, we go way back." (this is also the point at which the customer mentions that Neil or Rebecca or Dan always gave them the friends and family discount when they were in the store) "Well, I'm surprised he/she didn't tell you, they've been gone from the company since July." "WHAT?" "Yes. What can I help you with?" "Where did they go?" "They left. You're good friends with them, give them a call and find out if you want. What can I help you with?" And so on. Okay, I don't actually say that last part. But I really want to. People just say they're good friends with the sales staff so they get discounts from other salespeople who they can lie to about being friends and family. I always remember to mention though that since Dan left, our markup is a lot lower because he liked to put really high prices on things we got really cheap and those of us still at the company don't like to rip people off. That usually keeps even Dan's "good friends" shopping with us.

Anyhow I'm sweaty and it's Christmas Eve, so I've got to prepare for a day of work and then a day of fun.
Peace.