75

October has been on hell of a month. The last two weeks of September were just a sample of things to come. I got asked out, and a week later I was told that it wasn't a good idea. The entire month has been filled with awkwardness and lots of bitterness. Everyone around seemed to experience the same drama. Something was definitely in the water, because October didn't want anymore to be dating. The only person left unscathed is Jess; she actually got a boyfriend. What the hell! He's a cute Bulgarian named Rosen, extremely jealous! He gets really possessive if we joke around with Jess saying that she's our boo, or if one of the guys tries to give her a hug. At the Halloween party, David almost got punched in the face when he kept telling Jess to touch his "junk"; he was a '70s porn star and he stuffed his shirt in his pants to make a boner. October couldn't have ended without a bang. I was summoned to a mandatory store meeting at 9 AM Halloween morning. Sandra told me that in the history of the store, there has never been a mandatory meeting. It was either you show up or you get fired. All of us sucked it up and showed up. John gave us the low down about where we all stand; the store is in trouble. He gave his spiel about the mix ins, and the cost of everything. The franchise doesn't own the store, he does. So every penny that is wasted comes from his pocket. He addressed our 50% discounts, and reassured us that he's not going to take it away. He did tell us to stop using it on friends and family when they come in. He told us that he has no loyalty to them, and doesn't owe them anything. He's not rewarding them for making the decision to come in a buy ice cream. If we want to come in on our own time and use it, that's fine. But don't give it out anymore. After that he proceeded to talk about how economically, we could close. If we can manage to make it to the first warm day in Spring, we'll be alright. That's when he dropped the bomb; Dianna was quitting. She's the general manager and co-owner of the store. He explained that they've been discussing this over the past few months, and they both feel like it's best for the store. That day was her last day, and she tried to play it off in typical Dianna fashion by going "YES!!!" All of us were floored! John explained how last year hit the store hard, and she willingly took a huge pay cut. It still didn't help anything, and it only hurt her financially. They both said that they didn't want to fire any of us, especially since we're all family. Kristen and Alyssa started crying; I know Kristen's quitting because of Dianna's departure. Alyssa is still undecided. Basically all of us have it in good authority to start looking for a second job. The meeting was supposed to last an hour, but after John told us about Dianna, he had to pause for a moment; you could tell he was about to cry. It's his sister in law, too, and it's twice as hard on him. He said that he could go on about costs for doubling on cups, because the ice cream is too messy, mix ins, etc, but the bottom line is that Dianna's leaving. The meeting ended a half hour early. I worked the next day with Alex and Leon, and it was the most depressing shift ever. Alex expressed how pissed off she is at John and Dianna; we both agreed that the store could have just fired some people. Leon said that it still wouldn't help, since Dianna is the only one making salary. Alex also said that she cried as soon as she got to her car. Before I left work that night, Leon gave me a note that Dianna left; she wrote one for everyone. It was a short explanation of why she felt she needed to leave, and not to worry about her. She wrote small personal messages on the sides. I almost cried when I started reading in as I was walking out the door. The only moments of joy I had were during the last two weeks of October, there was Hanson and things just got better from there. So far November's been good. I had an amazing day yesterday hanging out with people; I was so tired, but so so hyper. Paul and I are clearly on better terms now. I had two epic leaf fights with everyone yesterday while I was taking pictures for photography. I hung out with Carla and we had a heart to heart after world ensemble. Isaac and I cleared the tension; I decided to be the bigger person and make contact. But leave it to Jose to bring me back down. On our way to the party at Gaby's, Jose kept calling Megan and I to see where we were at, as in he kept checking in on us. Naturally both of us were getting annoyed, and we had to pick up Daniela and we also invited Julian along. We knew that Julian coming with us, or just coming at all was going to start drama. There's tension between Jose and Julian, and frankly it's stupid. Megan and I invited Julian out of pity, because he said that he didn't want to go to any of the parties he was invited to, and wanted to sit at home and mope. He lives up the road from Gaby, so it wasn't like it was a problem. Jose called us again just as we were leaving Daniela's to get Julian, saying that he's already in College Park, where the hell are we? Megan was stunned; he wasn't supposed to get off of work until 11:00 PM, and the time he called, it was 10:30 PM. He made a deal with his friend at work that if he let him off early, he would come to work earlier. Jose claimed that he was only going to stop by for a few minutes, because he had another party to go to. When we finally got there, he wasn't too thrilled to see that Julian was with us. He ended up staying for two hours. The party wasn't as great in the beginning, and all of us congregated outside because it was getting hot. I was having a good time catching up with people and talking, until I looked up. I saw Megan and Jose in the driveway, clearly arguing. I kept muttering "oh shit...", debating whether or not I should go over there. I decided not to, and waited to see what would happen. Jose storms past us, and Turtle knew that something was up, as well. Megan follows shortly after, and stands outside the door. Jose comes back out with his jacket, and walks past Megan. He walks to his car, and speeds off. Turtle and I go running after him and tell him to slow down and stop. He backs the car up and we tell him to chill. I couldn't believe that he had to bring drama to the party. I have nothing to say to him. Events following that were fun, Megan had a great time, so that was good. We took over the basement and had a dance party. This creeper tried grinding up on me and kept grabbing my butt. No mas, no mas. After the party we took Julian home, and Jenny, Daniela, Megan, and I got some food. We sat around and told Megan that it's best for her to break up with Jose. He's become so needy and psychotic, that it's not healthy for either one of them. I would tell Jose the same thing over and over; he needs to stop smothering her. When he told me the amount of money he's spent on her, I told him it was unnecessary. He asked me that I wouldn't want a guy to spend all this money on me, and I told him yes and no. We're both simple girls, and we don't need $1600 necklaces and earrings. To us it feels like you're buying our love and affection, and he doesn't see it that way. He says he wants her dating him to be a memorable experience. Oh it's memorable, alright. On top of that, he can't handle a break. He's been threatening to kill himself, has tried on how many occasions, and self mutilated, did drugs, gotten so trashed, thinking that Megan will come to the rescue. I yelled at him on several occasions, telling him that this WILL NOT bring her back, but only push her away. And frankly he's doing a damn good job at it! Now that I'm getting pissed off at him, he's threatening me with him returning to his old, asshole self. He says that he won't see me or care anymore. Last night, I had enough. I told him to do what he thinks he should do. If he wants to be an asshole to me, I can be twice the bitch. I said that no one can tell him how he should feel or should act, that only he can determine that himself. He told me that he doesn't understand why I'm so angry with him, because Megan's not even pissed at him. I told him that it has nothing to do with Megan's emotions; they're her own. I told him that he didn't have to bring drama to the party. He said that he didn't, and I just happened to be there. I don't know what that means, but he told me that Megan flat out said that she didn't want him there. He asked me how I think he should feel after being told that. I didn't want to get into this. I've told him several times that he's smothering her, especially when it comes to situations like this. He wants to be possessive when there's nothing there at the moment. He's messing with her head, so she'll take him back out of fear and guilt. He wasn't invited to the party, and played the pity card, because he unfriended Gaby on facebook. I told him that it was his fault, and don't bitch and complain, because he's working anyways. I told him that it still wasn't an excuse to start shit, and then make a scene by speeding off in your car. The entire party was wondering what the hell that was about. He tried pulling the guilt and pity card on me after he said that he guess' that he did look like an ass and douche to everyone. I told him that I have no pity what so ever, and go ahead if he wants to be an asshole. I've already told him before where we stand if that's the road he wants to take. He knows that I'm not afraid of him, either. So that's the short synopsis of Buzz Killington there. Until all that drama happened last night, I was having a great day.