Retail Heck, Free Book, and Coloring Opportunity

Zestful Blog Post #134

My first retail job was in a produce market that was only open during the summer. Great for kids needing summer jobs, which we all were, except for the head cashier, who was a hardbitten, chain-smoking redhead who had a crush on the owner, who, she regularly and mournfully informed us, didn’t even know she existed.

Which was bullshit, because without her the place would have collapsed. But we knew what she meant.

I have many fascinating stories about unloading watermelons (human chain; if you drop one you have to cram the pieces down the sewer as fast as possible before Ronnie sees); grading peaches (a job to be foisted off to a rookie employee after the peaches are four days old, because yuck); and more.

Later I spent ten years selling books, a year-round job where I learned all about Black Friday and the Christmas rush (as it used to be called). A butt-busting time of year, but fun too, because everybody on staff got into the spirit of the season while being able to justifiably whine about how hard it all was. Boy, did we sell books.

Every year around this time I think of retail, and give thanks that I don’t work it anymore. I give thanks to you, my friends, my readers, and to and all three of my family groups (birth, law, and chosen).

In the spirit of giving, thought I should give away some e-books in honor of Black Friday, just for the hell of it, you know. Somehow Holy Hell presented itself in my mind, dunno why. So yeah, the first in the Lillian Byrd series is free on Amazon through the weekend. Tell your friends, because the more downloads, the happier I am. As I write this, twelve hours after zeroing out the price, it's already #2 in Amazon's GLBT Mystery & Detective category. Happy.

Also, here is a fun page you can print out and color to make look like a turkey, just as we all did once in the past, at least those of us who attended kindergarten in the United States in the 1960s. Do children still do this?

You can enjoy coloring it and maybe even upload and share your work here. (You can email it to me and I'll post it next time, because I don't think you can attach anything to a comment.) Remember, there is no such thing as a poorly colored Thanksgiving turkey hand.

With warm wishes and love,

Elizabeth

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