Young people today – were we all this bad?

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Maybe I’m just getting old, but when I was in my twenties and working I always listened to my supervisor and tried to play by the rules.  I was very attentive and dedicated to doing a good job.  Today I really wonder what has become of all the young people.  No one really cares anymore.  It blows me away.  They think they know everything about everything and there’s no point in telling them the company rules, or how to do something.  Not only that, I think common sense is lacking.

Young people just don’t seem to have the same attitude or work ethic as us older folks.  This gal in question has done many crazy things at work.  She won’t listen to any of us and I do wonder why she still has a job.  But this latest thing is simply beyond me.  A group of us were working last Saturday and she was heating up soup and serving that to the shoppers.  Somewhere in the course of the day she decided to take off her shoes because her feet hurt.  How she had time to even do this is beyond me because we get super busy on the weekends.  On top of that it’s winter here.  How can you work on concrete without foot protection?

The next thing you know this girl is working barefoot.  Eeeww.  What?  You don’t serve food, or work around food barefoot unless it’s in your own house.  All of us know we’re supposed to wear closed in shoes and socks.  The only other place this gal has worked is McDonalds and it now makes me wonder if they walk around the kitchen there in their bare feet.  If the boss was there that day and had seen this I’m sure the girl wouldn’t be working there now.  We all know the dress code.

I still can’t figure out why the young people think the rules include everyone but them.  Is our society really becoming that lax where no one cares anymore?  I know all the customers care about at our work is getting free food so maybe no one noticed the workers bare feet.

But this isn’t the only young person who is above all the company rules.  Maybe some other time I’ll go into more stories.

Does a Santa hat change anyone’s attitude?

Okay, guys, I guess I do way more thinking than I should about some things.  And heaven knows I’m way past my prime, but the last two weeks before Christmas we were allowed to wear a Santa hat instead of our usual food demo hat.  Naturally, wanting to get in the holiday spirit, a few of us took them up on this offer. 

Now we all know people get more ornery around the holidays simply because there are lines in all the stores, lots of traffic and a lot of the time they’re already sold out of what you went to the store to get.  Some people are just stinkers all the time, but I think this happens more during the holidays.  I decided I would evaluate the situation while wearing the Santa hat

I really think seeing this hat reminds people that it is Christmas and it’s supposed to be a time of cheer and goodwill toward all.  The hat seems to have an effect on people because I found I had a lot of more mellow customers and none of the ones who spew garbage on a normal day if things aren’t going their way.  This is such a positive thing when we have to serve the public for hours at a time, smiling, engaging them in conversation, and standing on our feet the whole time, not to mention cleaning up all the messes people make that they seem to be oblivious to.

The holidays seem to bring out the worst in mankind as well as the best.  And we certainly see some odd things, such as dumpster diving in Costco.  In this case I’m referring to the trashcans we have everywhere in the store.  It amazes me the things that people will do for a free sample of anything.  I would never pick through a trash can, but it happens.  We have to throw away samples that end up on the floor because, of course, we can’t serve that to anyone.  My coworker had to throw away a piece of chocolate and two young fellows wanted it so bad that they actually fished it out of the trashcan and then split it.  So not only was the candy on the floor, but also in the trashcan.  Now I don’t want to tell you what also ends up in the trashcans, so I’ll let you use your imaginations.  With this sort of behavior I’m surprised more people aren’t sick around here.

Sadly Christmas is over now and we’re back to the normal attire, but I’ve decided I would kill people with kindness for a while and see what effect that has on their attitude.  Sometimes you can’t help change anyone, but sometimes there a few you can.  That’s what I’m striving for because rude people get old very fast.

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas holiday and all of you are enjoying the last week of 2016.

Dodging curveballs can be a full time job

I know each of us has run into this situation at times, enough going on in life to make your head swim. 

If any of you keep up with my blog, you’ll know there’s always some crisis when hubby is out of town.  The last time it was the water heater.  I really thought this time it would be the washer because it’s been giving us shots across the bough for over a year now.  But I was wrong, at least for now (knock on wood).  This time it’s my car, which is refusing to start a lot of the time.  Now this issue has been going on awhile too, but you must understand we’re like most people and never fix anything until it’s on its last legs and there’s no other choice.  The car decides to misbehave a while, then it behaves itself again, and there’s no issue for months.

This is the car in question

Yesterday I had some errands to run and had to make about nine stops.  It decided not to start at a few places, but eventually did because I was patient.

I don’t know how many others out there have been married as long as I have, but I wonder if your husbands also think you can’t manage the situation without their expertise as if you have no mind for such matters and couldn’t decide what to do about it yourself.  At these times, I feel as if he thinks I don’t have a clue about life predicaments.  Somehow, it’s hard for some men (all men?) to believe you weren’t born yesterday.  Last night it was impossible to carry on a conversation with my husband who thinks I’m a six-year-old in these situations.  He was sure it was the battery and wanted me to have that checked before I left for work today.  I had already decided I’d do that, although I had a sneaky suspicion it was the starter and not the battery, but best to rule the battery out first anyway. 

Because of this whole mess, I only got four hours of sleep last night and had to stand on my feet all day to sell and demo products.  I’m wiped out tonight.  I set the alarm for before daybreak and was up, showered and dressed, so I could I make my phone calls, get in for the car check and get to work.  I couldn’t fall asleep for the life of me.

I ended up calling the garage before it was even open and was lucky the guy answered, but he has his calls transferred to his cell for work.  He told me to bring it in and he would be there shortly.  Now my car’s battery is under the backseat so that had to be taken out to get to it. Who ever heard of such a thing?  They determined it was my starter, which I wasn’t surprised about because the car is sixteen-years-old.

In the meantime, last night, I spoke with my neighbor who will lend me a car to use until mine is repaired.  So I had that base covered.  I felt good about that.  She offered, even though our conversation started out about other things.

This morning I called and added roadside service to our car insurance policy in case either of us needs it.  I felt I was ready to face the day, tired or not.  I also have my ducks lined up for what is coming later in the car saga.

I took the car from the shop to work and it started fine for the drive home.  It may well go on like that, but it’s probably wise to have it repaired.  My hubby went about calling around to get the best price for that starter job today.  Most likely, I’ll be taking it in on my next day off.

I took my chances and the car didn’t leave me stranded in the parking lot at work.  I suspect I’ll continue to press my luck until I have a day off during the week so I can take my car in and leave it at the shop.  I also have to coordinate this with my neighbor’s schedule.  Meanwhile, I have a positive attitude about it because what else can anyone do really?  It does no good to add more stress to your life by worrying over whether the car will start or not.  Things will be the way they’re going to be.  Of course it’s hard for hubby who doesn’t understand my attitude or philosophy much of the time.

This repair isn’t cheap, so I’m hoping the washer holds on a bit longer.

Does anyone else have experiences like this to share?  Can you make adequate decisions in a crisis?

Official old age slammed me on the head!

In a couple of days, I’ll reach a milestone birthday.  I look at the calendar with wonderment that I would live this long.  When did that happen?  How did all this time go by?  I don’t feel old.

I try to push things out of my mind that I don’t particularly want to think about, but it’s hard to ignore this because I’ve received a trashcan full of Medicare brochures over the last two--three months.  Suddenly everyone has my name and address.  I hate to deal with things like this where I have to make a big decision because if I don’t do it, it will be made for me.  It seems no one is exempt from Medicare.  There is no opting out.

I made an appointment with a counselor at the senior center here to discuss my options and have the whole program explained to me.  He wasn’t selling anything, so I figured I was safe.  It was all about as clear as mud when I left his office an hour later, but I read up on some things (boring) and met with another person to sign up the next day.

The guy at the senior center told me I had to act ASAP because I’d be without insurance for another month if I wasn’t signed up by the fourteenth.  What he didn’t know was that I wasn’t very worried because I haven’t had insurance for thirty years.  What difference would another month make?  I guess if I was always ill this would be a concern, but I only see the doctor once a year.

So folks, I’m going to be official old and inundated with paperwork from now on.  When thinking about all this stuff, I remember the two old guys who used to work for me back in the 1980’s and all their problems with Medicare.  I’ve even seen all the issues with my husband’s claims finally being paid after a lot of time, phone calls and frustration.  Of course, anytime the government is involved in anything, look out.  I’m not looking forward to it one bit.  I wonder how many trees they chop down to accommodate all the paperwork.

At least I’m still healthy and thankful for that.  I intend to go on with an optimistic attitude like usual.  That’s all we can do, right.  Eat healthy, exercise and keep a positive outlook.  

Growing Old and Staying Alive with Joyfulness

A close friend sent me a slide show of gorgeous photos with a nice message about age from childhood to senior citizen.  I know many of us have heard some of this before, but as we go through our busy lives, it never hurts to have a reminder.

Life has its moments of joy, disappointment, sorrow and trials.  We’ve all been through enduring the bad moments and celebrating the good ones.  There is no way to avoid all the unpleasant stuff because everything coming our way is a learning experience in one way or another.  A positive attitude will get you so much further in life than dwelling on the unavoidable negative things and being a grumpy person making everyone in your life miserable.

I want to share this well-done slide show with all of you.  Please watch to the end for a nice message on how to stay young all your life, no matter how long or short it may be.

Plugging away at life

Look at the fabulous desert sunset

I’m busy working on my NaNo project and not much else.  Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month) holds this competition every November.  We have a week to go and I still need 6,345 words.  Of course winning is only for my own satisfaction and I get a neat badge to display on my blog and website.  But I also get a sense of satisfaction that I did it and that’s important to me, even though I know I can do it because this is my third competition.

Some days the words are stuck and some days they flow easily and my imagination is in overdrive.  I cranked out 5,000 words yesterday.  Maybe that’s why I had a headache when I went to bed.  I overworked my brain.  That helped a lot on my word count though, so it was worth it.

 Raven sleeping in my chair

The cats (Koki and Raven) keep me company and are always up here (my office is upstairs) napping on my reading chair if they aren’t running like crazy little fur babies chasing each other from one end of the house to the other.  The old gal, Tootie, stays downstairs and sleeps all day so she can wander the halls at night.  I don’t know what’s gotten into her the last month, but she meows a lot during the night and wakes us up.  The vet said it’s an attitude problem.  Oh great, so now we have an old cat with an attitude.

Speaking of vets, I was shocked to open the paper late last week and find my vets obituary staring back at me.  “Wow!  How can this be,” I asked myself.  The guy was younger than me.  He helped a lot of animals at PAWS and various other animal sanctuaries where abandoned animals wait to be adopted.  So I contacted the gal I got Raven from and found out he choked to death on something stuck in his throat that his wife couldn’t dislodge.  That’s just awful to die by choking.  The paramedics arrived too late.  So now I’m waiting to see if the wife will close his practice or give it to another vet who helped him out part-time.

My husband made a cherry pie.  check this out:

On the weather front, it’s been livable so far.  We’ve had some cold mornings and, while it never really gets warm, it does warm up to the 50’s during the day.  It’s supposed to be in the 60’s on Thanksgiving, so we’ll see if that really happens.  I’m not holding my breath.

 Tootie and Raven on the bed

 

The bed’s getting pretty crowded at night because the cats snuggle into the covers to get warm.  They don’t like the cold anymore than I do.  Maybe I was a cat in a former life.  Hee-hee.  Raven’s still getting cat slobber in my hair when he wakes me up every morning.  But I love him so much and just want to mish his little face.  He purrs loudly all the time.  Even my old ears can hear it.