Shhhh, it’s a secret… was one of the first Baltimore blogs I stumbled onto. Well written but rarely updated, it didn’t make the jump from Crablogs to Blogtimore, and now it seems Jamie is about ready to call it quits.

I think that’s very sad, a unique voice silenced, but I understand her motivation for it. You’ll be missed, hon, but not forgotten.

A. called me earlier in the evening — light the candles! The tea boxes are being thrown into the water.

The subject of the call was an open letter written to Greg about Ogre’s rehiring and promotion, citing his inability to perform the job, and the displeasure many employees are feeling. I balked at first before agreeing to sign it, but Greg’s already pissed at me, and even Ross, who generally doesn’t voice an opinion on anything, signed it.

Tomorrow night, working with Greg and Ogre, should be … interesting.

Ogre took an order and I pulled out the sticker to slap onto a box. The sticker contains a variety of information about the order — carryout or delivery status, address if a delivery, time placed, the size and toppings of the pizza. This pizza was labeled simply “SL”, so I made a casual inquiry of Ogre, “Dude, what size box is this?”

“What does it say?”

“SL.”

“Put it on an SL box, then, duh.”

The three sizes of pizza are M for Medium, L for Large, and XL for Extra Large.

There is no SL.

I pointed this out. He ignored me. I pointed this out a second, third, and fourth time, and finally he snapped at me to ask Greg about it because clearly I couldn’t follow instructions and just put it on an SL sized box.

So I wandered back and asked Greg if “SL” stood for “super large”, “…and if so, should I just put it on the Extra Large box?”

Greg got confused and I showed him the ticket. Greg got angry. Turns out there is an SL – it stands for “school lunch”, and Ogre for one reason or another, gave that rarely-used and highly-discounted promotion to some random customer looking for an expensive specialty pizza. In short, the customer probably wound up getting a 50% break on the price.

**

Later in the evening, Greg and I got into a fight about Ogre. I am very confused about two things — one, why he rehired the guy. Two, why he promoted the guy. When Ogre left, Greg was very frustrated by his inability to do the job he was hired to do, and his lack of motivation at either insider or delivery positions. So Greg hauled me into his office after he overheard me making a “disparing” comment aimed at Ogre — namely, why wasn’t the makeline broken down?

Greg believes that Ogre’s “attitude” is essential to the success of the store and that I was failing to work as a member of a team. Of course I took offense to this — I answer phones, I help out on the makeline, and I don’t usually ask for assistance to complete my assigned chores. But when working with Ogre, one of the first things you understand is that you’re going to be drafted to “help” him with his work, because even though he’s been working with this company for nearly a year, he still doesn’t know how to run a closing shift.

To me, this is incompotence.

To Greg, this is wonderful, because Ogre is enthusiastic and wonderful! Except when you ask Ogre a question that requires a management decision and he refuses to answer or refers you to another manager, that is.

So I’ll smile and put up with him and one day he’ll quit again and I’ll have a month or so of sanity before he comes back to work.

Joy.

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to watch the first three episodes of HBO’s “Rome” courtesy of an assortment of premium-channel and on-demand promotions. I have to say the first episode, from a story perspective, didn’t overly impress me much, but the second and third grabbed me and sucked me in. I won’t be ordering HBO, so I guess I’ll be on an edge until its released on DVD, but I’m very impressed by the show, which seems off to a great start.

On the other hand, the Sopranos was off to a great start when it premiered and, well, who was in charge of their fifth season? Blech!

$3.05 regular unleaded at Enroy/Royal Farms, intersection of Jarrettsville Pike & Hess Road, just over the Baltimore County line in Hazzard. Cheapest I’ve seen it anywhere.

It turns out my internet issues were, as the “account executive” told me as he choked back laughter, most likely due to the fact that my cable modem was super old and had been labeled obsolete.

So. I have a new cable modem, courtesy of an early morning trip to Comcast’s White Marsh HQ, and my internet connectivity seems to be working better than it has in recent memory.

Woot.