*The two baby pictures are of the newest addition to the family, Caleb Zachary Romick, born July 27, 2010 at 6:39 a.m.
Now, something is on my mind, something that I have to share in hopes others feel the same way I do. I’ve diligently tried as I’ve matured through my 20’s to be more constructive, more positive, and to shy away from profanity laced rants. Look, I’m not the poster boy for maturity since I still find humor in a good fart, but I feel if all I do is openly complain about problems I see and offer no solution then I am not helping anything. It’s easy to point of shortcomings and deficiencies without offering advice; it’s part of the elitist attitude many people have in today’s society – pass blame, defer to somebody else to fix the problem, and wash your hands clean of the problem.
What I’m about to complain about are not global problems, yet, and to the best of my knowledge there is nothing I can do to fix the problem. There are three issues I’m going to discuss and they are prioritized by my level of frustration upon witnessing each - Least frustrated to “Oh my cow I feel my hair falling out”.
(Jadon says “Oh My Cow” as opposed to “Oh My God”.)
Coming in at third place is grocery store or convenient store employees who listen to their iPod while on the clock. The two aforementioned places are the places I see this with the greatest frequency. Another very prominent place is in food services. I think the reason this annoys me is because I’m getting older and the most typical offenders are teenagers. To me it says, “I don’t care about what I’m doing, I just care about looking cool.”
Ok fine, you can look cool. However comma, when you are hopelessly lost in your fantasy world, as the Black Eyed Peas serve as the soundtrack to your life, just remember that you are on the clock and getting paid to perform a service. Furthermore, it should go without saying that if you need to remove an earpiece and ask “I’m sorry could you say that again?” that you are clearly wrong.
Even more so, the second being cool interferes with your ability to perform said service is the moment being cool may need to wait until the end of your 4-hour shift. Finally, what rant would be complete without a real world story?
Yesterday Jadon and I went into the Commissary to get some steak and shrimp for dinner (top 5 dinner of all time if anybody was curious) and were at the checkout line. As we grabbed our bags we waited for the grocery carts to disperse since there were a lot of people present at that particular time of day. One of the employees, who was responsible for moving the carts, nearly knocked Jadon over as he swung the cart around, paying no mind to his surrounding. As I asked Jadon if he was ok I said to the kid, trying not to sound like a prick, “Can you be a little more careful next time?” The kid had long hair, brushed it over to the side, removed his headphones and asked, “What?”
Like I said, I think my age is what bothers me about that.
Moving on to the second piece of everyday life that bothers me. On my daily commute to or from work, depending on the time of day, I encounter heavy, slow moving traffic. This doesn’t bother me because it is a part of life. Everyday though I find myself sitting at a red light or idling along at 10 kph on the Autobahn and see motorcyclists’ operating under the assumption that traffic laws and waiting apply to everybody on the road, except for them.
I do not own a motorcycle nor have I ever ridden one, but let me see if I got this straight. Since a motorcycle is not as wide as a car and can therefore maneuver in and out of traffic much easier, being allowed to cut to the front of a 30-minute traffic jam is authorized? Since every other occupant on the road has to wait his or her turn to advance one car length at a time, a motorcycle is the exception to the rule?
Is that a new unwritten rule of the road I am blind to? If I apply for a motorcycle license will I be pulled aside at the DMV and be told, “Dude. You don’t have to wait in line anymore on the road. This here bro, is your universal ‘move to the front of the line’ pass.”
Let’s forget for one second the poor etiquettes of these individuals and instead focus on the hazard they present to everybody else on the road. In slow moving traffic I see motorcyclists’ driving down the middle of the road like Marty McFly about to travel through time. I have, and I’m sure others have too, nearly been hit by a motorcycle driving down the middle of the road – Which I’m told is the unwritten “3rd lane of traffic.”
The worst part to this problem is when a motorcyclist is hit in traffic, automobile users are always told to be “vigilant” and to be “cautious” of motorcyclists’. I love asking rhetorical questions so let me ask this, “How does one remain vigilant of stupidity and ignorance?”
I could write a 3,000 word blog alone on this topic but I won’t, instead I’ll move on to the final piece of human stupidity which makes me think now, more than ever, controlling reproduction of select groups of people is a must. I’m of course referring the self-checkout isle at the grocery store.
How often do you see somebody at the self-check out isle with a grocery cart halfway filled or more? Maybe I frequent the grocery store during the peak moronic hours, but I witness it first hand ALL THE TIME. Yes, it deserved capital letters!
I fully get it, we all are extremely busy and our time is sensitive. But come on people! Let’s suppose that you, the person reading this, have a cart full of groceries, and there are only three checkout lines available, including the express lane. You are disqualified from the express lane since you have more than 20 items, which leaves two isles. Both isles have two people waiting in line with one person paying for their groceries. However, at the end of the store you spot a self-checkout lane that just opened up. You deem this to be the best option since; of course, you are far more capable of checking yourself out faster than a cashier with knowledge of the computer system and a designated bagger.
This infuriates me to no end. Mainly because I’m the shmuck standing in the self-checkout line with a bag of charcoal and a $10 bill and could be out the door in less than 2 minutes. Instead, I stand witness to four self-checkout isles of incompetence, as each person fumbles their way through weighing fruits and vegetables, and then fails to find correct produce item on the touch screen.
Occasionally I’ll get fed up and ask the people waiting in front of me, with a cart full of groceries (try and figure that one out), if I can go ahead. Most of the time my request is granted, and sometimes, the attendant overseeing the self-checkout will move me to the front of the line.
Something I should have said at the beginning is I’m not a fan of the self-checkout simply because it does nothing more than eliminate jobs. Am I a hypocrite for using the self-checkout once in a while? Perhaps. I never said I was perfect though.
My last piece about the grocery store is how inconsiderate and blind of others are the people who proceed to the express checkout isle with a cart full of groceries. The most masterful part to this omission of common sense is when the groceries are placed on the express lane, and the cashier says something along the lines of, “This lane is reserved for customers with 20 or fewer items.” The shopper in question gets this real confused look on their face and responds with, “Oh really. I didn’t know.” Whatever!
Well friends, that is the life of a 28 year old that now drives a minivan (Yup, you read that right).
Posts
