[hot_pastrami]

Sorry for the long post, but it was a long weekend....

The strangeness started last Thursday... The company I work for suddenly decided that they were going to shut down for the Christmas season to save a few bucks, so all employees had to take whatever paid vacation they have, and borrow against the next year's vacation time if necessary to cover the two weeks. Strange, and unexpected.

The strangeness continued on Saturday... I'm a calm, reasonable, friendly person who is not known as a trouble maker... But one way to push my buttons is to call me a liar, to question my integrity. On Saturday, I was waiting in line for the Return of the King with my wife, my sister, my and sister's boyfriend, when I stepped out of line to grab us some snacks. When I tried to return to the line, I was stopped by a theater manager who told me that nobody could go past that point, even if they had friends in line beyond there, and that I would have to wait at the end. I asked to at least go inform my friends of the situation, and he refused. He said "Why don't you just go to the end of the line like I told you to?"

"Why don't you exhibit some good customer service and let me go tell my party what's going on?" Again, he refused.

I told him that my wife was up there, and to the two pimply teenagers taking tickets beside him, he said "Well, his story just gets better and better, doesn't it?"

At this insinuation that I was lying, I bristled, and pushed past him. "Come, let me introduce you to my wife, you son of a bitch," I suggested helpfully.

He followed me, and when we arrived, he asked my wife, "Do you know this man?" When she responded that I was her husband, he said "Fine." He turned to me and said "You need to learn to behave yourself in public, sir," and turned to walk away. He stopped however, and seemed upset, when I suggested that he kiss my ass. "Ok," he said, "Let's go. Refund."

I looked him in the eye and said "If you want me to leave, you'll have to force me." As the line finally started moving into the theater, he scurried off to fetch the "police." We all sat in the theater for a few minutes, waiting for the movie to start, before he showed up again with two mall security guards in tow. He walked down my aisle, and stood next to me, and asked if I wanted to apologize for my remarks, as the security gaurds stood with their hands on their hips nearby. I told him he'd have my apology if I had his for insinuating that I was a liar. He claimed that he implied no such thing, and I laughed out loud.

"We're both adults here, and you know you insinuated that I was lying. If you want to apologize, I'll do the same." Everyone around us in the theater at this point was yelling at the manager for him to lay off. It was funny. So he finally apologized, I did the same, and I wished him a delightful, merry Christmas. What a shit eater. My wife had never seen me tell someone off so... colorfully.

But that wasn't all that happened this weekend... Also on Saturday my cellphone rings, and it is my mother. She warns that she does not have good news. Firstly, one of my aunts (her brother's wife) has died because of a brain tumor. Her passing was not entirely unexpected, but unhappy nonetheless... and it was her birthday. My mom then told me that on top of that, police and paramedics responded to a call at another aun't house (this one my dad's sister), when she dialled 911 but didn't speak into the phone. Police found her unconscious, not breathing. Her heart had stopped after a massive heart attack, but the paramedics defibrillated her, and got hear breathing again. She's been in intensive care, and has not regained consciousness at all since then, despite a couple attempts to awaken her. They're going to try again today.

Ugh. At least I don't have to be at work.


Edit:Fixed a couple grammar errors