There are in a way so many hysterical tales about this wacky establishment that I’m too paralyzed to even find the starting point right now. To summarize the basic dynamic, though, the fate of this particular store and the company as a whole — which at its peak ran to…

During a work related trip to NYC, our conference ticket just happened to include — I’m not sure how or why — a paid excursion in the form of a “food tour” of Manhattan. Though my job only tangentially relates to the food industry, and not at all the restaurant…

Though it’s come a long way in the past decade or so, I still maintain that Charlotte, NC is the most boring city of its size that I have ever seen. Now, of course, any time you say something like this, a town’s defenders are going to launch an offensive…

Q&A with Jason McGathey — Author’s note: Online publication The Pro Files recently contacted me for a little discussion about “the writing life.” What follows is an emailed Q&A session by the editor, Ben Human. …

One significant inflection point arrives during Edgar’s next trip up to Lorena. Like many other spark inducing events, this one begins by Don Evans drifting into the equipment room without warning. Even though one potential source of conflict was already inspected and crossed off the list — it’s not a…

As January draws to a close, Edgar receives a card from Rob and the Locke sisters, thanking him for 10 years of service. This is a welcome, unexpected touch, and helps remind him that he can realistically maybe extend his meager clan of supporters outward by a few notches, to…

This mindset is a problem in itself, yet it’s also beginning to have a snowball effect. Once the complainers realize that this is a trending, acceptable go-to, they will also begin piling on you about everything, with full support of management behind them. The complainers themselves become paradoxically bulletproof against…

Failing the price audit up in Lorena, though, now this is Edgar’s responsibility. However, even in this instance, he feels the bosses’ thinking on this is mighty muddled. …

The end of January finds Edgar back at his actual desk — or for that matter, anywhere else but Lorena — for the first time in a couple weeks. It’s a surreal landscape, made even more so in confronting certain characters who have been plugging away right here, same as…