adventures in wallyworld

so, today we went to wally world to do our weekly grocery run. (the idea that this is going to be the ONE day we buy groceries will, of course, be the subject of yet another rant.) we should have realized it would be wally world hell because it took a while to find a parking space. why? because of RUDE, INCONSIDERATE ppl yakking on their cell phones while they drive down the middle of what should be two lanes and people who have a need to walk in the center of the lanes and don't hang on to their small children who think it's funny to step in front of your car and watch you brake and swear. and u gotta love MN drivers who need to park centered ON the line so no one will ding their paint jobs.

but we got a space, and grabbed a cart on the way to the entrance because RUDE, LAZY ppl don't have the time or energy to push their carts TWO spaces over to the cart corral. no. instead they leave em pushed up against other cars, or tangled halfway across a lane. and we walked toward the entrance, dodging LAZY INCONSIDERATE ppl who pull up and park in front of the store to wait for their person inside.

so we start trying to walk through the aisles, dodging small children pushing carts and playing bumper cars while their parents block the rest of the aisle yakking on their cell phones; pushy soccer moms who are pissed off and bitching with other soccer moms that their kids aren't playing soccer (oh HELLO there's still snowbanks out there???), and delivery ppl who are pushing huge racks of product and swerving to try to avoid the teenagers jumping in front of the racks just to freak them out.

we find things like product that has been opened and played with (did we mention that ppl seem to think it's okay for their kids to do things like open frosting and write their names with it???) and partially consumed beverages. we forge on. we maneuver around the four families with carts and assorted kids, who think there's nothing wrong with blocking the employee access doors and the entire aisle because it's important to tell each other a few jokes. they glare at us and swear when we end up saying very loudly (they ignored us the first three times), "EXCUSE ME. WE ALL WOULD LIKE TO GET PAST YOUR BLOCKADE." yeah. we did.

and we finally make it to the self serve check out. where we wait. not because the computers weren't working. not because there wasn't an available scanner. no. because there is a person raising holy hannah at the wally world employee because that person's sweet little angel has jammed something or other and somehow it's the employee's fault.

i think i can count on one hand the number of employees there that i think are as rude, inconsiderate, lazy, and dishonest as a great many of the ppl we encountered today. i take the time to say please and thank you to the employees i interact with -- it doesn't cost me anthing to use the good manners i was raised with, and it's got to be pretty damned difficult to deal with customers who act like some of the ppl i described.

here we go again ?????

thinking about this thing we call american politics. here in neverneverland (edge of nowhere, population 14 and a cow or two <-- okay maybe i'm exaggerating a tad ... i counted the cow twice) it's a sort of odd thing.

according to people here, the president raised their health insurance rates -- "noooo it's not the fault of insurance companies -- business has to make a profit -- it was the president -- he also cut what's covered -- no, extending family planning, preventive care such as annual physicals -- that's just a trick because the democrats want to control our lives. and more people having access to health insurance of some kind or another? good lord, next he's going to want universal health care."" i worry about that person who said that.

my health insurance currently covers nothing i need. my annual check-up doesn't count as a physical. why? they draw extra blood which i'm charged for and demand to see me at least twice which i'm charged for, it doesn't count as a physical because i won't let them do extra testing. i sort of like having enough blood in my system to be able to stand up and walk. i know ... silly me ... my medication isn't covered either because it's not synthetic ... the doc doesn't even read my chart because it's not computerized but she tells me that a life threatening allergy to synthetic just means we haven't tried the right one yet. i beg to differ and it isn't only because i don't like getting stabbed with needles to treat anaphylaxis ... it's because i don't agree that a new drug on the market means that we all need to change to it ... i don't agree that synthetic anything is better than natural.

so i don't have a problem with the idea of universal health care. i don't have a burning need or desire for elective surgery. i just want to see people get access to basic health care.

so i am terribly saddened by senator tim johnson declining to run for another term. i understand why he's decided this. i totally agree with his stated reasons. i just am terribly saddened that the edge of nowhere will be represented by thune (remember his big expensive poster of dollar bills to the moon??), noem (apparently tea party stands for pushing for the pipeline through farm land whose owners are on record saying NO), and i hear the other person will be a former governor who saw nothing wrong with cutting education while promoting a whole line of statues of governors -- which is wonderful to see if u happen to be able to afford taking time off from work and life to go to the capital and walk around. which i unfortunately can't do.

monku monku monku

here it is, years later and i'm still dealing with ppl who don't seem to understand that i just want to do my work. don't want to get pulled into their head games, don't care what their issues are with other workers, so long as they're doing their job. just let me do my work. leave me alone. wow. that sounds bitter. but here's what it's like on a normal shift: U doesn't even say hello, just says "well schitt, here we are. i wonder if R is going to show up. L will probably have all kinds of excuses about why that section isn't getting done. personaly, i think it's all bullshit and i think you should say something." from my perspective, i'm thinking if U has such a huge issue, U should say something. don't try to get me involved. J comes in and starts bitching about the ppl wandering around. L just sits there, screwing with a cellphone and reading all the crude jokes that we're supposed to find funny. R comes in, grabs stuff and heads off to work. doesn't talk. my kind of person. so i grab stuff, and head off to work. 15 minutes into the shift, i'm mentally reworking my schedule because i've run into issues that are going to slow things down -- 5 minutes mentally bitching about idiots who can't put things back, while i hunt for stuff. L comes in and follows me around bitching about how much work there is to do. i say, then L should get back to it. L leaves to find U to complain that i am not being a team player. U follows L and they spend time walking around looking at all the work that needs to be done. 50 minutes later and i've managed to get back on schedule and this is a good thing because i hit another delay (gotta love meetings) but i can work around that. U comes over to follow me around telling me that L is not working fast enough, and that R is not doing things the way the boss said, and that K really shouldn't be working because K can't handle the pace, and that S is an idiot and shouldn't be here, and i should do things the way U does because it's more efficient. what ever. after U finally leaves, S comes over to tell me that something was done. which is fine but why tell me since it's not my work -- it's U's work. S also tells me that A helped to do U's work. L comes over to tell me it's break time and asks where U is. i keep on working until i'm at a good stopping point (10 minutes later) then head out to take a quick 15 minute break. i go back to work after taking 10, because there's stuff i really want to get to and i won't miss the 5 minutes. 35 minutes later as i'm hitting the halfway mark in my tasks, i hear U and L coming back from break ... which means they took a 45 minute break on top of spending most of the work time walking around ??? what ever. i know that i'm the only one who sticks to the 15, but as long as their work is getting done, it isn't my concern. i get most of my work done (only three things left), and take a mental moment as i work, to smile over the compliments and thank you's miscellaneous ppl have said today. even if my coworkers have nothing good to say about me or to me, it's still nice to know someone noticed what i do :) lunch time. i know everyone else went to lunch 10 minutes ago, but i had to finish a tricky task. only 2 things left on my to do list. yay! i leave for lunch (it's only 30 minutes, but i leave so i won't have to listen to bitching lol) back at work, i finish up the two remaining tasks. i hear U and L come back from lunch (they sit around for 10 until time, punch out for lunch, punch back in on time, then sit for another 15 or so). i have been told to NOT finish their tasks for them -- that they need to get their own work done. which is fine with me. i start on the "group" work only to find that U did the "easy" stuff while K, S and A did U's work. hmm. this leaves the "grunt" work ... the stuff U avoids with U's idea of ingenious excuses like "R needs help" (R says this means U walks around checking R's work) or "L needs help" (which means the two of them walk around bitching about what needs to be done) or "I'll be right back" (it takes U about 65 minutes to do a 20 minute security check). whatever. suddenly it's break time and U and L don't understand why i don't want to go on break with them. (i cherish my quiet down time!!!) 10 minutes later (i don't generally take the whole break ever) i'm finishing up the grunt work and mentally bitching about ppl who don't seem to grasp the concept of putting stuff where it belongs. at 10 minutes to end of shift i'm supposed to sit down and write a summary report -- what's done, not done, what needs attention. this is a problem because everybody else had something that didn't get done, but they don't want it written down because i got my stuff done and they think it will make them look bad. what ever.