Wednesday, December 5, 2012

A bad experience and a tough situation...


I have been relatively good lately, (save the little gripe on the Ravens), so maybe I deserve an out and out rant.. Nothing food related, just about humanity, and then a personally troubling subject…

 
First the Rant…

I don’t know about you, but I occasionally get random emails forwarded from people about WalMart employees and customers, and they are generally not favorable. One tends to take these with a grain of (sea) salt, figuring they are exaggerations.

Well guess what… here’s a true story.  Last night, MFO needed to get some oil and a filter to get maintenance performed on MOMSTER II prior to our annual holiday journey to St. Louis.  Sometimes we go to the Mart because of the propinquity to the digs, and also favorable pricing of the stuff.  We also were interested in printing an old photo of MFO’s Mom and Dad she found to distribute to various cousins and shirt tail relations for Christmas. I had a memory stick with the JPEG file on it, and after we did the oil and filter we found a sign for the “Photo Department” that directed us toward the back of the store, so we hiked back there.  Sure enough, there were various terminals where you could insert different memory devices to print your pictures.  The instructions on the machines were not clear (at least to us) as to the procedure, so we decided to ask the person behind the desk in the “Photo Department” (presumably the place to get photos). Well, guess what?.  At the counter was some lady with a shopping cart full of random items like bacon (approximately half a mile from the grocery department), clothes, soaps, etc., anything but photo related stuff.  She was just casually “checking out”, obviously avoiding lines at the normal checkout lanes in the front of the store.  And the “photo” person was just plodding through the shopping basket, scanning everything, beep, beep, beep.  A glance in our direction resulted in a “I’ll be right with you” an obvious fabrication given the amount of crap in the cart.  And then the cart lady’s son appeared and she said “Oh go get a memory stick”; Minutes passed and finally son appeared with a package and discussion ensued about the correctness of the device.

About this time, another couple appeared and looked at the printing devices and the lady suddenly loudly blurted out:  “How does this stuff work?"  Not waiting her turn, just shouting out.  There was then a five minute discussion with the clerk on how to use the device, what the pricing was, with no consideration of anybody else (including the now idle cart lady).  Just ME!  Finally without any resolution, they left muttering to each other and the photo expert went back to beeping items in the cart.  At this point we decided that between the cart lady in the “photo department”  not doing anything remotely related to photography, and the rude people blurting questions, we left.  No civility, just ME FIRST .. I don’t want to check out at the front of the store, I’ll just use the idiot at the “Photo Section” who’s too dumb to refuse her.    I’m sorry, I have to admit the postings are mostly correct.  Leave humanity at the greeter station.  We won’t go back soon.  If ever.

A conundrum …(also nothing to do with food)

Each football season, I have a standing bet with a friend on the Notre Dame/Michigan State football game.  We sometimes don’t collect the six pack or lunch, but we do enjoy the associated banter.  He is a very devout fan of the “Domers”, and I of course root for my alma mater, “Sparty”.  Readers will easily recall that I usually have not much good to say about the school from South Bend.  And for the past few years, my friend has stuck with his team which has gone through somes pretty tough times.  Well, as we all know the stars aligned this year, and they stand alone undefeated at the top of the rankings, waiting to play Alabama for the mythical National Championship.  I am happy for my friend, who is now asking me to “show some love”, or actually root for his team.  Frankly, this is very hard for me.  I will admit they are a very good team, and deserving of playing in the final game.  They have beaten every team they have played, and we’ll not quibble about “strength of schedule” (they are actually above Alabama in this statistic) so good for them.  And as I have occasionally said, it’s not so much the team itself that drives me nuts it’s the media hype..  So here’s what I think.  Congratulations to the Irish on their accomplisments this year, and as I said I am happy for my friend, he deserves to be proud of his team.  As to the game, roll out the football, and we’ll see what happens.  I really am not a fan of Alabama; Mr. Sabin kind of “did” MSU so he’s not my favorite coach, albeit obviously a good one.  While it would really be hypocritical of me to shout “Go Irish”, I will say I wouldn’t be unhappy if the highly touted SEC team loses the game.  Fair Enough..
 
and despite no foodie stuff, please remember this holiday season to
 
DFD

 

 

 

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