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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