Recent DJ Posts

12-28-2016 -- Am out doing gas station mystery shops in an area down near Miami that doesn't correspond to any real locations, but that I have dreamt about several other times, in the last few years. This is a sort of blend of the four stations behind each other, and a more spread out area of shops that I have dreamed about. Anyway, I have reached the station (the first of this trip), and am considering what order to do the shop in. For some reason, I am considering doing some of the picture taking before doing the actual mystery shop portion, but I have to remind myself that would be bad.

So I am in the outside portion where they always have tons of signs around, and I am amazed to see that this time they don't have a lot of signs, and I am thinking maybe they will get a good score, this time. But then I notice all the litter on the ground, and am thinking, maybe not. The manager comes around, sweeping things up and glaring at me, and I move inside. The counter is very long, and has an L-bend to it, so that it takes up half the store, and the employee makes a suggestion of a possible purchase, and I say no thanks, which causes the manager to start yelling at me that if the CSR suggests a purchase, I am supposed to accept it, when there is no such requirement.

I move back outside, and am trying to line up my pictures, showing the limited signage and the lots of litter, when I see someone walking out of a tube station, and I glance at them unbelievingly for a minute, then realize I recognize them. The actual image that I am looking at is David Tennant, but who it is supposed to be is Brandon Sanderson. I'm talking to him for a few seconds, and try to let him know how much I continue to enjoy his books, and he is asking what I am doing, so I briefly explain the mystery shopping thing, then he wanders off to whatever it is he is here to do.

I go back to trying to take pictures, but the manager is making an ever larger fuss, and there are a couple of punks hanging around who seem to be trying to steal my equipment. I've had enough of this shop, and am trying to pack my stuff (seemingly several still and video cameras) into my backpack, but in the process I leave my printer sitting there for a few extra seconds, and they try to run off with it, so I have to argue and wrestle a little bit to get it back.

I am just zipping it into my backpack, and planning how to avoid having anything more to do with the punks, when I spot Tennant/Sanderson walking away, and chase after him, down into a bit of a subway station, just to try and talk a little more. I am asking if I am correct in thinking this is a regular area for him, and mentioning that I thought I'd seen him here three months ago when doing the shop, but couldn't believe it. I also mention having read the three books kind of offered on his web site, but not (at the time) published.