Salute to The Gang @ FedEx Office Store Mira Mesa!!

They're located between the CVS and Albertsons in that shopping center @ Westview Prkwy. & Mira Mesa Blvd. (formerly Kinko's). What in the world does a hobo use or need from a Fed Ex Office store, you may ask?

Well, as I digress here, prior to me starting my blog project (Popular Hobo News & Entertainment), I had discovered that the Fed Ex Office store's dumpster has all sorts of useful trash/scraps for creating nice and sturdy hobo panhandling signs (ie."Homeless Please Help" etc.). Nice clean smooth white slabs of foam board are left over  scraps from their sign printing/cutting service they offer and this stuff is ideal for making effective hobo signs as well. They also offer laminating for signs/posters  they print and so there are scraps pieces of sturdy thick PVC laminate film in their dumpster as well.
Some of the film is wide enough and long enough to craft/fabricate stuff with. I've used this laminate film to make fast and useful protective covers for my suitcase and back pack when it rains, for example. I'm also collecting/saving up the big wide sheets to build something very cool and quite ambitious one day.

Jeez...now I'm gonna get far off topic...I'm gonna use it to build myself a little house to live in. :p
Its gonna have two bedrooms, one office, one door and a garage for my shopping cart. No kitchen, no bathrooms, no wood burning fireplaces nor a heated jacuzzi. It'll have 110V AC power in each room. I'll be cooking via microwave oven and crock pot, coffee maker. Of course, a refrigerator/freezer, electric cooling fans/heaters, ceiling and desk lights as well as outdoor security lighting /surveillance cameras, boogieman-alert sirens, and lots of advanced innovative security/protection technologies that use mid-evil strategies along with space age tech. to thwart and repel boogiemen, intruders and rodents (such as Chris White). Since its clear plastic, I wont need any windows, just some vent holes. The only problem I anticipate is not how to design/build it but rather where to put my little house.
Once its built, its not going to be portable or collapsible so its gotta be in a splot whewre no one will mess with it...no dogs chewing on it, no gang of brown landscapers shredding it with their 6 AM gas powered weed wackers, no kids playing inside it etc.etc.

Its really improbable that my little house will last for more than a day once I build it. So I'm thinking of just building the damn thing and taking some photos if it before Chris White runs over it on his wanna-be Harley bicycle or before the other hobos steal it.

Okay. Back on topic...
When I first started my blog, I'd post up in front of the CVS or behind the Fed Ex Office store where there's both a strong WiFi signal and a 110v AC outlet.I'd sit on the ground or on a storage crate and write and edit content for hours.  Btw, take a good look at the photo I'm using as my background image for this blog. That's me busy at work at 1AM sitting on a wooden crate beside the Fed Ex Office dumpster pen. My "news desk" is two storage crates and a piece of cardboard as my desktop. As you can see, I've got my Macbook plugged into a long extension cord and I have ample office lighting. What more could I possibly need!!?? :)

Well I suspect after seeing me working there a few times, the Fed Ex employees decided that maybe I'd be more safe and comfy if I worked inside at one of their computer stations. So one night, Shay the Assistant Mgr saw me working outside next to the CVS and she came over and invited me come inside the store and work. I was surprised by her invitation. It was very cold that night as I recall but I politely declined her offer because I didn't want to impose upon them (dragging my hand truck with my suitcase and all my hobo crap inside there.)

A couple days later however I did go inside and I spoke with Shay and she said she'd heard that I was a nice and respectable hobo!! How could that be, I wondered? Must be somebody starting a rumor...hmmmmm.

Well, I'd met her co-worker, Issac, a few days before when he saw me working behind the store.I'd also  seen a couple of the female employees as they were putting trash in the dumpster late at night on a few occasions.  As you can imagine, when a lone female steps outside the back door of her workplace into the dark lonely ally carrying a huge bag of trash to the dumpster, the last thing she expects to encounter is the Popular Hobo sitting there beside the dumpster busy at work at his
news desk!! I'm sure these females were terrified... well maybe not, but at least concerned. So rather than just sit there working and projecting a scary boogieman /stalker profile, I greeted each one with a friendly Hello and then I grabbed my flashlight and held the doors open for them to dispose of the trash. They thanked me each time and chatted with me for a moment  before going back inside which indicated to me that their fears/worries were  probably dissolved.
One night Issac came out while I was working and handed me a big hot steak sandwich he bought from the sandwich shop and I thought that was very cool! 

So when I spoke with Shay, she invited me again to work inside the store at their computer station and so I did. Its nice to feel welcomed in any store/shop whether you're a hobo or a Fortune 500 exec**.

After my Macbook was stolen Shay let me use one of their PC's to get online for awhile.
That's the sort of excellent service that stands out above most other retail shops/services.
All in all, the employees at this store are as nice and helpful as can be and they take pride in their work. I notice how they work with their customers to give them the best service possible and that's vital to their success and they know that.

 Thank you Shay, Issac and the rest of the crew!


**I've been a Fortune 500 exec. as well as a small business owner/contract engineer. With over 20 yrs of prof. experience in 
Quality, I know a few things about the topic of customer service. Just wanted to put that out there so folks don't discount my 
praise of this place out of hand simply because of my hobo situation.