04/02/2003 - 4:37 PM

Back in my retail days, I spent six months doing a job referred to as a "secret shopper", and I would travel around NY, VT and part of MA, checking out our stores for customer service, merchandising, staffing, etc. I really enjoyed that job, but the constant travel definitely made a social life more difficult to have. I had my regular hotels I'd stay at, and it was a pretty good life.

As I remember it, it was a Thursday morning, about 10:30 or so, and I walked into the store (Irondequoit Mall...how appropriate), and there were two people working. How bizarre is it that I remember that John was wearing a polka dot tie? The customer service was good, and the store was in decent shape, but the music that was playing stood out. It was Basia "Time and Tide", and the CD was OLD at that point (this would have been 1994...March or April). She actually had a new CD out, but the old one was playing. As I checked out, I asked about it. Big mistake...I also mentioned it on the shop report, and John figured out that I was secret shopper. If I'm not mistaken, he also let the other stores in the area know who I was, blowing my secret identity (I was all into the cloak-and-dagger aspect of my job).

My next contact with John was when I took over his job about six months later. John had been hired at the new music store in the mall, and my boss relocated me to Rochester to fill in the gap. It was weird when we met...I'm not sure that I can completely explain it. I became friendly with one of the other management people in his store, so we now had a mutual friend.

As this was going on, I started seeing a guy that managed a shoe store in another mall, and that is the first specific conversation that I recall with John. He always had a shady tone with me back then...how we became and remained friends was a mystery to me for a long time. Anyway, not anyways, as John broke me of the habit of saying, that conversation consisted of John indirectly slamming me for dating Chris (which turned out to be especially good taste on John's part in hindsight). And yet, there was a sense of flirting from the very start with John.

Long story short, we ended up dating, albeit for a very short amount of time. John was probably one of the two clearest examples of my tragic dating flaw...dating someone that should have only been a very good friend, but trying to make it more than that. (Same for TW when I first moved here to Colorado). I remember sitting up by the resevoir, trying to verbalize something I really didn't have a grasp on, but basically messing up and saying something to the effect of, "maybe we should be dating?" If that wasn't a tip-off that I wasn't all that confident about the decision, I don't know what is.

I have many vivid memories of John, but here are my three clearest and most powerful, in no particular order...

1) The drive to Lake George, when I moved John back home to his family's house, tail between his legs, in order to save money. I actually felt like he had abandoned me, even though he was making a sacrifice in his life that was not easy or convenient. One great thing came out of that trip, though...John introduced me to EBTG's "Baby the Stars Shine Bright".

2) Sitting on the curb of the Blockbuster, across the street from Avenue Pub, making up "three _____ walk into a bar" jokes. One came up about three cows that I'd rather not repeat, but it actually ended up being a coherent joke, and we laughed a bunch at that one.

3) On the couch at John's place later on after the reservoir. I was on my back, John on top of me, and it was one of the most connected, intense moments I've ever shared with another person.

So there you have it...some of John's parties in Rochester are fuzzy to me, and we had a period where we didn't talk much at all, but I'm glad to say that John is, without a doubt, my closest friend. Not to sound corny, but I am truly blessed. And NOW you know why I don't blast him for slamming my suburban living in my guestbook!;-) Speaking of which, I ate at TGI Friday's yesterday as a tribute to John's birthday.

"Come on home...baby, come home...please"

What I'm Listening To: Crazy - Seal

First Word That Comes To Mind: Reminisce

What I'm Currently Reading: