Status Quo

I was never one to be in the height of fashion. Or have the desire to own any designer item. Yesterday, as I was driving to work, a beautiful car passed me. It was such a sleek looking car. Usually, I do not notice cars. If my car starts in the morning and gets me to where I have to go, I am happy. But this car was really nice. I looked at the logo and saw that it was Hyundai. If I did not know better, I would have thought it was a Mercedes. When people choose their cars or handbags or shoes, are they really looking at the item, or the brand name. If labels and logo's were removed from every item we buy, and our decision making was only based on how the item looked or performed, would designer labels be a thing of the past? I have a friend who mainly purchases her clothes from a designer brand shop. She has been known to spend over $50 on a cotton tee shirt. One day I walked into work and had on the identical 100% cotton tee shirt, except mine was purchased in Target for less than $10. The only difference was that I had $40 extra in my pocket. My father was right when he used to say, "the masses are the a**es".

Counting On It

Evens are easier. Odds are harder. I realized that the other day on the checkout line. The person ahead of me had the nerve to use cash. Not only did he pay in cash, but he threw a $50 bill into the mix. I knew it was downhill from there. The cashier was a college student and seemed bright enough, but that 50 really threw him off. He could not count in odd numbers. First he counted 20, 40 , 60 ....and then he saw the 50. So unexpected. What was he to do . He started counting again. This time he was bold. He started with the 50, but after counting 50, 70....... it got to be too much. His next plan of action was to separate the evens from the odds and then add the sums together. Hmm... this might work. Four twenty's equals eighty. Eighty plus fifty (long pause) one hundred and thirty. He got it. Finally. I almost said, "good job". I held myself back. He breathed a sigh of relief when I paid with Visa. 

Is It OK?

Every time I use my charge card in a supermarket or large retail store, the card machine asks me the same stupid question. After I slide my card and I choose the Credit option, the annoying question appears. "Is this amount OK"? I can press green for yes or red for no. I always press green, but that is not the problem. I do not like the question. While the total of my purchase is correct, it is not OK. There is a difference. A box of cereal for $4.99 isn't OK with me, but if I want to eat it, I have no choice. Prices are over inflated and product sizes are shrinking. I remember when a can of tuna fish fed 2 people. It was a 7ounce can. While the size of the can is the same, now it only contains a bit over 5 ounces. Barely enough to fill a cavity. So I must make 2 cans for my son, doubling the price of lunch. I am spending more and getting less. I used to think that my appetite had increased, when I was still hungry after having a sandwich. Then I realized why. Bumble Bee has decided to covertly ration what I eat. I now stock up on every sale item and have a pantry that is so full someone else can do their weekly shopping in my basement. Is that OK?

Hurri-Came?

I woke up this morning expecting to see devastation. I expected to have no lights and a yard filled with tree branches. Although the storm is not yet over, the impact is not as severe as everyone had thought. At least in my neighborhood. I am usually not a TV watcher but I have been glued to the weather channel. Watching the same graphics replay every ten minutes. For some reason it is riveting and I cannot pull myself away. I put earplugs in my ears last night because I did not want to heard the wind. I wanted to sleep through the storm. And I did. I was expecting this to be a pioneer type family day.  A day that we would have no electronic devices to focus on. A day where we would sit in the same room and just talk. Or maybe be like a family in the 1950's and play games. Interact. I guess it was not meant to be. Maybe we didn't have that much to say, anyway.

It's the Big One, Elizabeth

Fred Sanford used to say "it's the big one, Elizabeth". We are gearing up for what might be the big one. He was referring to a heart attack. I am referring to a hurricane. Since yesterday, most people have been wandering around like a scene out of "Night of the Living Dead". The mantra that is being repeated is "C's or D's"? We have been reduced to a civilization of battery seekers. I felt ashamed when I terrorized the ladies in the dollar store yesterday. I made them reserve 4 packs of the coveted C batteries, when the shipment would arrive, within the hour. I prepaid and told them I was prepared to forfeit the money if the shipment never got there. Just like a drug deal, when the batteries arrived, I was called and I hovered at the side of the counter while the women whispered that the batteries were in the bag behind the counter. I had become a battery bully. I rationalized that I was providing for my family.That made it OK. Only time will tell if the storm will be a devastating one. Until then, I have done my laundry, hard boiled eggs, made a tub of mac and cheese and popped popcorn. I hope my Girl Scout training serves me well.

No Good Deed

No good deed goes unpunished. Good deeds and punishments should not be used in the same sentence, but unfortunately, they are. In my case the good deeds that are punished are the ones when I try to go out of my way to assist someone and it backfires in my face. I am lucky that these incidents are only work related. My friends and family are too considerate to pull this nonsense on me. Let me explain. I work in a busy office and appointments are made weeks in advance. We wish we could see patients sooner than that but there are time constraints. Every so often, someone calls and they are distraught. I listen to their sad story and hear them plead with me to do something, to get them in immediately. Years ago I fell for their sob stories. I would call the doctors and beg them to come in early or stay late. What could be more important than patient care? Every time I did this, the person either never showed up or cancelled an hour before. Maybe there is no place for good deeds at work.

Blue Teeth

Years ago, if someone was walking down the street alone, talking to themselves, they were labeled "psycho". The term was later changed to EDP. Emotionally disturbed person. More politically correct, I guess. These people are lucky that the blue tooth was invented. Now, they blend in with the rest of society. The masses of people walking alone, talking to no one. Moving their hands frantically, sometimes shouting, occasionally crying. No one blinks an eye. This is now the norm. I have no idea how the blue tooth got it's name. It isn't blue and it has no relation to our teeth. Someone joined two totally unrelated words together and no one seemed to question it. I would not be surprised to see it in Websters Dictionary, in the next few years. I am probably one of the last hold outs, not to have a blue tooth. If I want to act crazy, I will do it without something hanging from my ear.