02/12/06 Characters

Today is the 2 year anniversary of my starting to work at Seattle Mystery Bookshop, and I was kinda looking around yesterday and today. Not so much at the shop, although I might post some pictures of it, but at the folks in the area. You get to know some folks in the neighborhood, and it's pretty cool.

Jason, the owner of Bakeman's Restaurant across the street from the shop, makes food to die for, really inexpensive and absolutely fabulous, and he can be amazingly rude. I've seen him send people away white-faced and shaking, but the food's really good, and if you get to know him, you learn not to take it personally. He's also incredibly sweet at times, but don't tell him I said that.

Matthew at the UPS store takes amazingly good care of me, and Isis loves one of his colognes, and Sarah, our UPS pick-up lady is a hoot. I call her "Sarabelle" and she laughs, and really does her absolute best not to call me Frannie to my face.

Don and Pam at the post office are great fun to talk to, and Pam makes sure that I hear all the latest news on looking after the dogs. JB, my boss, said that the other day when he went to the post office for me that they missed me and I had to go let them know I was okay.

There's a guy who has a sign like the homeless do, but his sign says "Smile" and if I'm not paying attention, he makes sure that I see him and grin. He always succeeds. And there's a saxophonist whose music echoes up and down the streets, and a drummer who uses plastic buckets, and he can stop you in your tracks with his talent.

One of the ladies at the hair salon down the street, Nicole, had a troublesome pregnancy last year and she's still not back to work. The baby's home and he's fine, but her co-workers have been known to haul me in while I'm on my way to the post office to update me on how she's doing.

The girls at the coffee shop, the ladies in the deli, the lovely couple in the copying shop, the tattooed chick at the pizza place, the tour guide from the Underground Tour, all of these folks have become my neighbors at work. There are lots of odd things that happen downtown, no question, but the people can be just wonderful and amazing. They always make me smile and that's not something I take for granted.