Who’s the Boss ?

This story is truer than I wish it were…

The setting is in Albany, NY…On a street in the center of Albany,…. Madison Avenue to be exact.

The story begins in the late fall/ early winter of 1996.

I was set to graduate from SUNY Albany in December of 1996 and then move out of my apartment in Albany NY,….. move in to my fiancé’s (now husband- Steve) apartment in Kingston, NY,…… then get married on January 11, 1997 (3 weeks later).

It was a whirl wind of trying to plan the final stages of a wedding, studying for final exams, getting set to march in the winter graduation ceremony, move out from my old Albany apartment and into my new Kingston apartment .. All within 3 weeks time. It was crazy.

I had a roommate, named Kristen, who shared the  Albany apartment with me. Kristen was originally my dorm roommate when we first moved to Albany. We got along so well, that we continued to be roommates when we eventually moved into this apartment together.

Since, I was moving out in December, and Kristen could not find a replacement for me to continue helping with paying rent at the apartment,….. She decided to start looking for a part time job so she can keep the apartment afloat for 6 more months until she graduated in June.

That made sense…

Now, I need to back this story up, again,  to late fall, 1996…. When the final stages of college and me living in Albany were still happening….

I decided I wanted to look tan on my wedding day. I figured since it was a winter wedding, I needed some “color” so I didn’t look too pasty in my wedding gown.

This is where the setting of the story comes in to play…. Madison Ave., Albany…

I decided to purchase a few months worth of tanning packages at an indoor tanning salon that was situated on Madison Avenue in Albany. It was just 2 blocks from my apartment.

Kristen decided to do the same. She saw my nice tan, and thought … “Ehh, why not”…

Well, we both got our beautiful tans because we made sure we went and laid in those tanning beds about 4 times per week…

We both became familiar with the main person who looked to be in charge of tanning salon.. She was an attractive woman,.. had long and fancy nails, and she had long wavy blonde hair… Kind of rough around the edges,… but seemed nice enough. She was always busy .. cleaning the tanning beds and setting the timers so no one over cooked themselves, informing those people who were waiting their turn when they could go in to their special room to tan …

“Colleen, you can go into bed number 3 now.. the bed’s all clean for you and I’ll set your timer for 20 minutes” … That’s basically what that job entailed.. .

And before you all lecture me… I admit…It was stupid and I don’t do that anymore… The older I get, the more I realize “natural is better” ….

So,,, back to the Madison Ave. tanning salon.

All was going as planned, I was all tan and fancy, and all set to graduate and move out of my apartment that I shared with Kristen. All set to look tanned and glowing while I walked down the isle.

Right around the time I moved out, Kristen lucked out by finding a part time job to help offset that rent she was needing to cover while I was no longer living there.

It turns out that the Madison Ave. tanning salon had a sign in the window one day. “HELP WANTED”.

Kristen approached that lady that was always there, applied for the job.. and in due time she got the job.

Well, ..Kristen and I continued to keep in touch after I moved out. Obviously, she attended our wedding. She and I got along well .. And we knew we would always remain friends.

So, about a month after Steve and I were married, I decided to call Kristen to say hello and check in on her.

I asked her how the job at the tanning salon was going.

She went on to tell me this story…………..

Kristen said that she trained with the woman I spoke of earlier for about a week. She learned the ropes. She learned just what she needed to do to keep the salon going smoothly.

Once the main woman felt comfortable with Kristen’s training, she decided to leave early and let Kristen “run the show” so to speak.

The woman was about to leave the salon for the night. She was about to walk out the door for the night and leave Kristen as the only employee there .. , She turned to Kristen and said .. “Oh , one more thing… My husband is the real owner of this place.. He will be calling you tonight to see how things are going and he will give you some jobs to do.. You know, cleaning and ordering supplies and such”… Then, the woman says… “You will know it’s him calling on the phone because when you answer, it will have a recording asking to accept his “collect call”. Go ahead and accept it”

Kristen thought that was odd, but shook her head yes that she would be conscious of that phone call from the real “BOSS”…

Sure enough, the phone rang that night…And sure enough there was a operator recording asking to accept a collect call…

The recording went something like this….

“You have a collect phone call from a prisoner at The State Correctional Facility, if you are willing to accept this call, please press 1″…

I kid you not !!!!!

Kristen had to take orders from a man sitting in prison. He was running his business from jail.

So, each night Kristen worked, the phone would ring, Kristen would accept the collect call,  and the “BOSS” would instruct her as to what rooms to vacuum and what beds to clean., what tanning lotion products to order from the supplier, and so on …..

Kristen started getting a little more unsettled… As if it wasn’t unsettling enough… When the “BOSS” started calling and demanding Kristen tell him if there were any men coming in to talk to his wife… He was asking specific times the wife was leaving for the night.. and questions such as that…

The “Boss” was getting agitated and he was starting to raise his voice from prison at Kristen…

That is when Kristen decided to put in her “notice” and leave that job..

I felt so bad that she had to deal with that… If you all knew Kristen… She is/was NOT rough around the edges… She is a born again Christian and a very innocent personality .

So, that’s my story…

“Who’s the BOSS”??…

Some dude sitting in jail at a State Correctional Facility…. That’s who….