Fortunately, in the spring of 1993, I got a phone call from one of the managers asking if I'd like to come back full-time. I began working as a cashier again. For a while I had to split shifts as a janitor, after one of the regular ones won the Fantasy Five. I had actually agreed to this. They asked me first. I thought it would be a week or so. It ended up being a month and a half. I remember one particular manager (that I didn't like very much in the first place) giving me a hard time one night when he asked me to mop something up and I didn't know how. I always vacuumed at home! One responsibility was bringing the shopping carts abandoned in the parking lot back inside. It sucked, but it really taught me to be respectful and aware of my actions when I'm anywhere outside. I dutifully return my cart to the holding pens and I understand that the maintenance workers have to deal with a lot of unnecessary crap and deserve respect. Especially because as amazing as it seems considering that their clientele is mostly parents with messy screaming kids, Toys R Us was the cleanest place I've ever worked at. The things that happen at a bookstore, some of the things I have seen and heard, are unbelievable and would never have happened at the toy store. :::shudder::: Anyway, one day I broke down, while trying to empty a garbage can from the front of the store. It was overflowing and heavy and the bag ripped. I sat down and cried and then went home early. Soon after this, they hired a new janitor and I think as a bonus for being such a dedicated good sport, I ended up manning the customer service desk. I helped out with returns, customer orders, cashier problems. I had a key. It was pretty awesome. Eventually I'd end up doing the morning cash reports and deposits and then moving to the "Security" section, which was my favorite part of the job: I was the guy in the video game booth! I got to play my radio (quietly) and take care of receiving and inventory for high-priced stuff like game systems and software, collectible Barbies and the pricier r/c cars. I spent about 1/4 of my time out on the actual sales floor. It. Was. Awesome. I worked at Toys R Us for exactly five years and two weeks.
Anyway, back when I was but a simple cashier, in the spring of 1993, I visited the mall during my lunch breaks and ate in the food court or visited the music store. I remember quite vividly being in Record Bar and flipping through the stacks to buy Belly's Star album and the Safari EP by The Breeders (which Tanya Donelly was a part of at the time). Both "Safari" and Belly's "Feed the tree" were staples of whatever MTV show I watched at the time, maybe "120 Minutes" or something. I fell hard for the Breeders and liked a couple of songs from Star.
Once again, it isn't until Belly's next album, King came out that I became such a huge fan. I couldn't stop listening to them and remember playing "Super-connected" over and over and over again. I went on a mad search for all things Belly, which was a fruitful one as they had some of the best EPs you could imagine. I loved the Moon EP with its remixes of one of my favorite Belly songs, "Full moon, empty heart." Their albums also had the most gorgeous artwork, mostly done by drummer Chris Gorman, whose brother Tom played guitar and actually created my favorite Moon mix.
Once they broke up it would be a few years before lead singer/songwriter Tanya Donelly would release her solo album Lovesongs for Underdogs, which was my favorite album of 1997. I adored "Pretty deep" and "Mysteries of the unexplained." I tagged "Clipped" as the song that would play over the final credits of the movie I was starting to write in my mind at the time, Birdwatching.
I've faithfully followed Donelly's career since then, from Beautysleep to This Hungry Life, her most recent disc. Aside from Lovesongs the one that I wish everyone could listen to and love as much as I do is 2004's Whiskey Tango Ghosts. It is the sort of album I wish I could have written and sang as my own. Beautiful.
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