Well I finally have the time for updates! “Why?”  Because BLOCKBUSTER let me go, as they have done to so many valuable Managers.

No – my store did not close down (I’ve turned profits in every store I’ve operated) Unfortunately, I was fired due to politics.  I apparently did not kiss my District Manager’s ass enough.  Call me crazy, but when I can “fix” their broken stores and they send me from one store to fix to the next; I don’t feel I should be kissing his ass. (In my mind, HE should be kissing MY ass, but you know how life really goes)

Anyway, (on my day off) I was called and asked to come in a little early the next morning to assist my District Manager in finding some paperwork he was going to be auditing.  I agreed and met him at my store the next morning.

The next morning he came in and brought a Corporate person along with, and let me know that I was being terminated.  He said I had broken policies (even though he had directed me to do the things that broke policy) and that my “Mistake was going to cost you your job.”

Which brings me to my point.  FUCK BLOCKBUSTER! I gave my blood, sweat, and many tears to that company for nearly 8 years.  I had worked there during the “Glory days” to the “Doomsday days”, loyally and always defending BLOCKBUSTER’s stupid decisions..  Towards the end of my days, all Store Manager’s were being threatened weekly about how we had better get all these customers to buy a $3 Coke,Candy,Popcorn and $5 Coke(2),Candy(2),Popcorn bundles, with a 40%/60% mix of $3/$5 bundles — even though the customer’s do not want them, and it makes BLOCKBUSTER little revenue.  (The reason SM’s were being terminated for not getting enough of these bundles sold with a 40%/60% mix is that BLOCKBUSTER apparently counts on receiving “kick-backs” from Coke, Nestle, Hershey’s and Orville.)

I will never spend even a penny at a BLOCKBUSTER store, kiosk, Online or anything BLOCKBUSTER ever again – you shouldn’t either!

On November 23rd, I finally got promoted to the position I had been trying for so long to reach. I’m now the Store Manager of a ‘Rock the Block’ BLOCKBUSTER Media store. (A goal I had been trying to reach for at least 5 years!) And coincidentally enough, my store is located in the city where I grew up. Also, while I’m blabbing about my store – I will even say that my store looks better than most BLOCKBUSTER stores–even the new ones! The previous Store Manager at my store ran a very organized, clean and trained staff and store. (I love her! Our management techniques are so similar that the transition was very smooth)  So needless to say; that will occupy a lot of my time..

Sliding in second for taking my time is my Internet Relay Chat (IRC) network, IRC4Fun.  I’m still actively using it and maintaining it.  There have been a few improvements and wins for the network lately; such as new features, a Win in the Spam Fight for our network, a Win in the Drone Fight for our network, etc.  I have updated Defender (our network protection/abuse prevention service) to handle many more situations and battles for our staff/network.  I will continue to update Defender to combat network annoyances as I just fucking LOVE it.  I am still a nerd at heart – I love to code.

I hope everyone likes the updates to this site!  I’m still making tweaks here and there and fixing things that were broken during the update.  If you see any bugs/etc that linger for a while (as if I am just not noticing them) please contact me.  You can also contact me if you have any ideas for the site (or just want to).  :)

~Austin~