So it's been 11 months since I've posted on this thing. Ii'm surprised they didn't just cancel my account.

...anyways...since I'm always broke, I decided to get another second job. I am valet for a special events company called Z Valet. They do mostly special events. I've been working at the Esquire House (which is actually Keyshawn Johnson's house, but Esquire Magazine is renting it from him while he plays football in Dallas) for the last two nights. It's in this gated community up in Beverly Hills.

I haven't driven any REALLY nice cars yet, but there's been a few Jaguars and Mercedes SLKs. The managers get to park the nicest cars most of the time. They call them "VIPs" and therefore, only the managers may park their cars. But I was most surprised about the Lincoln Navigators. They drive really well and have the turning radius of a regular car, which i was not expecting at all.

There's some things about valet work that I never would have anticipated though. Most notably are the rivalries, politics, and power struggles. First of all, there is a hierarchy in the valet world. At the top are the latinos, followed by whites and blacks, then come the asians, and lastly are the armenians and guys of mideastern decent. This heirarchy is determined by the latino guys because they profession (if you can deem it a profession) is dominated by them. So far I've been playing the Swiss in this game of valet world domination. I try to stay as neutral as possible. So far everyone likes me and I hope to keep it that way.

There's also a lot of shit-talking that goes on. Apparently Raul had said that Mikey and Peter were "wannabe managers" because they only get to manage at the Glendale Galleria as opposed to managing at the special events parties. Now, I'm not sure why Raul is saying this, because as far is I can tell he was parking cars with the peon valets just like me. He is no manager, so I'm assuming he has some deep-seeded resentment towards Mikey and Peter. Mikey spent the rest of the night saying that fighting Raul would be a waste of his time, and that he'd rather go toe-to-toe with Oscar de la Hoya "for 15 rounds", who happened to be the host of the party last night. Later in the night, Peter peeled out in one of the cars on his way back to the house from the lot where we were parking the cars. So Raul radioed the managers up at the house and told on him, but said to tell Peter that the security guards at the front gate heard it and radioed it in instead of Raul. It's petty rivalries of that nature that keep valet work exciting I guess. Peter went home after that because he "would rather go home, than go to jail" because he was having trouble not punching Raul in the face. He said he'd settle it away from work, because he's a professional.

There's a few more quick things I want to mention:
- Women are THE worst tippers hands down.
- Just because they are rich or drive a nice car doesn't mean they tip well. The best tip I got last night was from a heavyset hispanic man driving a Honda Accord with a baby seat in the back of his car.
- I'm starting to know what kind of person owns a car just by listening to the music that's playing on the stereo.
- Saabs are the weirdest cars ever. The ignition is next to the parking brake in the middle console, and if it's a stick-shift you can't remove the key without putting the car in reverse. These stupid cars have caused me more than my fair share of embarrassment the last few nights. You feel stupid when you can't even find the keys to turn the vehicle off.
- I've already been asked to do a special small party tonight at the esquire house. Usually there are about 20 valet parkers, tonight there's going to be five of us.

Anyways, that's the newest thing going on right now. Who knows, maybe I'll update this thing on a more normal basis...but I make no promises.