Today In "It's Not That I've Lost My Faith In Humanity, I Just Feel That YOUR Faith In Humanity Might Be Slightly Misplaced":


Guy I Haven't Seen In Several Years: "Do I know you?"

Me: "Yea, I--"

GIHSISY: "You're the poetry guy, right?"

Me: "Sure."

GIHSISY: "I think I saw you and your boyfriend at a play slam once."

I scan back through my memories. And, though he wasn't my boyfriend, I know who he's talking about.

Me: "Yea, he was in one that I went to, and we went together once to watch one of his other friends."

GIHSISY: "Short Asian dude, right?"

Me: "Yes."

GIHSISY: "Did you two ever have communication problems?"

Well, he would get angry with me without actually mentioning what he was angry about, and sometimes I would annoy him by not instantly calling him back when he wanted to talk to me but....

Me: "How do you mean?"

GIHSISY: "The language barrier. Do you speak Japanese?"

Me: "No. And that wouldn't have been helpful. His parents were Korean but he was from Wisconsin."

GIHSISY: "So he spoke some English."

Me: "He spoke All English. He's from Wisconsin. Not Korea. Not Japan. Wisconsin. Where English is the primary language."

GIHSISY: "I thought Koreans mostly spoke French."

Me: "No. Are you thinking of Vietnam, or Cambodia which were colonized by France? I don't think most people from either of those countries spoke primarily French, either, but I suppose it was more common there than in Korea."

GIHSISY: "But don't they also have a large French community in Wisconsin?"

Me: "In the 1600s, I guess. But now I'm pretty sure a good chunk of people from Wisconsin speak English."

GIHSISY: "Do you still see him?"

Me: "No. Last I heard he was living in New York."

If you even mention anything about him speaking Dutch, I'm going to brain you with this tape dispenser.

GIHSISY: "That makes sense. There are probably more people there who speak his language."

Me: "Sure. There are a lot more English speakers in New York than there are in Cambridge."

GIHSISY: "I wonder why that is."

​Me: "Population."

Dude: I don't know. I feel like it's too hot outside. Want to hang out and watch anime?

​Me: Depends on the anime, I guess.

Dude: Naruto?

Me: No.

Dude: You don't like me enough to hang out and watch ONE episode of Naruto?

Me: I don't like ANYONE enough to watch a single episode of Naruto.

Dude: ...

Me: Again.

Dude: Ohhhhhhhhhh.

Today's Successful Navigating Crazy Moment:


An entitled Harvard Professor left her bag in the middle of the staircase that leads to our business, the print shop, and the bathrooms.

One of the angry copy guys went out to take a smoke break and flung her bag on to the floor, growling "What is wrong with people?"

Entitled Harvard Professor, coming out of the print shop asks "What's wrong with you?"

Angry Copy Guy says "Don't leave your bag in the middle of the fucken staircase. Someone's going to trip."

Entitled Harvard Professor: "Don't throw peoples' bags into the middle of the floor where they could still trip over it."

​I do not stick my head out the door and say "Shut up. You're both assholes, and you're both wrong. Go about your shitty lives."

Guy At Bus Stop: "Are you the guy who does poetry at The Lizard Lounge?"

Me: "Not in a really long time, but, yes, I have been the guy who does poetry at The Lizard Lounge."

Random small talk.

GABS: "I'm a writer, too."

This never goes anywhere pleasant.

Me: "Oh, what d--" NEVER ASK THIS QUESTION "--o you write?"

GABS: "Do you know what slash is?"

I do. But it's more fun to ask, "The guitarist from Guns'N'Roses?"

GABS: "No, it's--"

Me: "I was kidding. Yes. I know what slash is."

GABS: "I write Dora The Explorer slash. I have a website."

Random Loiterer,Who Also Happens To Be Physically My Type: "Do you need to check my butt?"

Me: "...what...?"

RL: "My butt. Do you need to check it?"

He smacks the mannequin torso he's carrying with him.

Me: "Oh." "No."

​RL: "You can give it a smack, too, if you'd like."

​SHUT. UP.

I had Tuesday through Saturday mostly off this week, thanks to an unfortunate subway shutdown on Wednesday. Apart from running errands, I have mostly stayed at the house working on comic related things.

Today, I went back to work where most of the customers were awesome, and the loiterers were few. I did make the mistake of allowing a couple to come in at 9:58 (we close at ten) because they seemed desperate for gift ideas, and I was happy to help them. However, they left at 10:40 without spending a penny.

If they buy any of the books I suggested online, I hope the delivery is delayed, and shows up ripped to shreds and covered in parakeet shit. And I hope the "favorite niece and nephew" are so disappointed that they ask their parents not to let Aunty and Uncle Timewaster show up for their birthday parties.
It was 11:30 before I finished enough work to leave the store, and the travel app said it was twenty minutes before the next bus. But, you know, sometimes, late at night especially, it lies.

I decided to walk down to the spot between the train and the bus platforms and wait. If I heard a "The Alewife train arrives in FIVE minutes." or "The Alewife train is NOW approaching.", I would go catch the train. Otherwise, I'd wait out the bus.

Well, there were no announcements. The train just sort of showed up and left with no audio announcements or visual announcements. At last they committed to fucking over their visually impaired, hearing impaired, and non-impaired customers equally. Viva the subway's consistency.

So I walked up to the bus platform, which was mostly full. The bus showed up precisely when the app said it would, and I got on.

The woman behind me paid in dimes and was having a frantic conversation with the driver that I couldn't hear, even though I was not wearing headphones. But she appeared to be trying to scam her way in with a Charlie Card that didn't have enough change and wanted the driver to know that she was a bad person for not just letting her on.

Of course she came to sit next to me. Of course. But before she sat down, she took out used paper napkins to put down on the seat.

I understand that some people are germaphobic and need to cover the seats of public transportation, but I assure you: that napkin was far nastier than any of the invisible creatures living on the plastic seat.

I made a face, and then turned to look out the window.

She then tried to make eye contact with me in the window.

I did not engage.

At the second stop a group of non-White people got on the bus. And if you, dear Facebook readers, had been on that bus (and you're so glad you weren't), I would have turned to you and said "Bet you twenty dollars the insane woman sitting on the dirty napkin next to me says something racist."

You, wisely, would not have taken that bet.

She didn't drop the N word. She didn't say anything Absolutely Horrible, she just ranted to herself (again, I was not engaging) about Some People. Making it pretty clear to me that Some People were not mousey white ladies in their fifties voluntarily plopping their butts down on marinara sauce covered napkins.

I didn't turn around and make a face. I didn't make a face into the window. I didn't loudly sigh. I thought about doing ALL Of these things. But I sat quietly, writing this Facebook post in my head. Then she sort of shouldered me, very lightly, and said "Do you believe Those People."

And that's when I was ready. Now was my time to...

"Nah, Ronda Rousey looks like a man, (censored). I mean, I'd stick my dick in it, but then I'd have to go to confession because that's fag right there. Total fag." said one of the people I was about to defend.

I clicked the Let Me Off This Fucken Bus button. I headed to the front of the bus, and I walked the rest of the way home.

I hope they ended up in a screaming match, and all their variously bigoted asses had to walk home to Montana or Saskatchewan. Somewhere far enough away that I never have to see them again.

Last night, after some prebauchery (TM) at Grendel's, I was waiting for the last bus home. A very nice woman was sitting on the bench near where I was standing, and she was very nervous about missing the last bus. I explained that the last bus is usually very very late, as it waits for the last red line train, which waits for the last green line train, which waits for the apocalypse.

After a few minutes of very pleasant conversation, she said that she was still nervous that she had missed the last bus and that her roommate would be nervous because her phone was dead.

Because I'm not a piece of human filth, I let her use my phone, and her roommate looked up online and confirmed that the last bus was coming. (How she checked, I don't know. All the apps I have to track the T said there were no more buses.)

She gave me my phone back, and I realized I had to use a bathroom, so I told her I would be back and I RAN back to the store (the MBTA bathroom was coned off), used the facilities and ran back.

She smiled and told me that I had just missed the announcement that the next train to Alewife was coming in five minutes. Awesome.

As we talked some more a couple of very very white young lesbians with amazing hair walked over, and one of them sat between me and the girl I was talking to and said "Step off, SKETCHBALL. She doesn't want to go home with you."

I was about to start laughing when my new friend said "Excuse me. You're the one being sketchy, sitting practically in my lap and trying to tell someone who I can and can't talk to."

"Just look at this guy, though." and then to me, "I see the way you're looking at me."

"I'm looking at you like you are too drunk to be in public and/or you are a super judgemental asshole."

So now my new friend is laughing, and the girlfriend who hasn't spoken yet grabs the other one's arm.

"FINE." she said. "I'm trying to help you, girl. Get raped, then."

There was some prolonged eye contact between me and my new friend and then the bus showed up.

As we got on the bus, the girl who had just called me a rapist for, I don't know, existing and not being attractive, decided to apologize. "I'm sorry. It's just. I mean, look at you. I teach a self-defense class."

"Fuck you." Seemed really appropriate. "I hope when you sober up someone tells you how awful you were to a stranger." And I got in the bus and sat way in the back, and my new friend came and sat not next to me but very close.

WISELY, the quiet girlfriend kept her obnoxious partner at the front of the bus, where she proceeded to antagonize the driver about where her stop was. As in, at EVERY stop she would ask "Is this Walden Street? Because I took this bus before and they didn't tell me where Walden Street was and I missed my stop. And that's BULLSHIT. If I miss my stop, you are paying for my cab."

I was kind of hoping the driver was going to throw her off, but he did not. Though when she did get off, everyone on the bus let out an audible exhale.

This morning I had a text from a number I didn't recognize thanking me for the use of my phone and hoping I had a better day than the night I had last night.

So far, yes, but it's a low bar.

Random Loiterer, standing behind bookcase: “Could you tell me how much this book costs?”

Me: “I can’t see it. What book is it?”

RL: “It says $12.95.”

Me: “Then it’s probably $12.95.”

RL: “Why? It’s kind of small, you know?”

Me: “I don’t. I have no idea what book you’re talking about. I can’t see you.”

RL carries book up to counter, puts it down, raises eyebrows. “$12.95? Seriously?”

Me: “Seriously, $12.95.”

RL: “Why?”

Me: “Because that’s how much it costs.”

RL: “Why?”

Me: “Because that’s how much it costs.”

RL: “You already said that.”

Me: “Well, you asked me the same question twice, so I gave you the same answer twice. I’m consistent.”

RL: “But why does it cost so much?”

Me: “Because that’s how much it costs.”

RL: “Why?”

I turn to the store computer and start typing in info for tomorrow’s shift.

RL: “Why?”

I continue typing, not making eye contact.

RL: “Why won’t you answer me? I’m asking you a question.”

Me: “If you’d like to buy the book, I’d be happy to sell it to you. If you’re bored and are trying to engage me in a debate, I’m not interested.”

RL (smiling): “Why?”

Type type type.

RL: “Why?”

I turn the sound system up as loud as it will go, which is even louder than I imagined.

RL: “WHAT THE HELL?????” 

More typing.

Another woman comes down the stairs. “Emily, what are you doing in here?”

Emily: “It’s expensive and this guy is SO RUDE.”

AW: “You are waaaaaaaay too drunk to be shopping right now. Let’s go.”

Emily: “But I need to find out why this book is so expensive and this asshole won’t—”

AW: “Emily, I”m calling your mother.”

Emily: “The fuck, Jennifer?”

Jennifer heads up the stairs, Emily follows. Peace returns to the universe, or at least the comic book store.

Guys, if I’m in my forties, and you feel the need to threaten to call my mom in order to get me to stop behaving like a jackass in public, please, please, please sign me up for rehab. That is no way to be alive.