A Nudn of These Rambling Blog Entries

I have been remiss in thanking Colin, the kind gent who gave me the info that corrected my template. He has a great blog that I have been meaning to add a link to over there -------> And I am not just saying that because he was so helpful either. You should check him out. Go on. But come right back.

Now. On to the bidness of the day. American Idol tonight, woohoo. I have to go pick up my new dishwasher after work then hurry home to watch it. Yep, $100 for 2 service calls, it would have been $265 more to fix it, and I bought a new one for $235 tax and all. Granted it doesn't have quite all of the features my other one had, but considering I'm pretty distrustful of a dishwasher's ability to actually clean most dishes and thus I practically wash them by hand before loading them in the dishwasher, I don't think a couple fewer features really matters. "Wash-in-very-very-hot-water-to-get-all-possible-rat-germs-off" and "rinse" are really the only 2 settings it needs at this point. Damn, Fucking rats are expensive, but at least tomorrow night I will get to hear the hum of a dishwasher again.

Is it kind of pathetic that I am looking forward to hearing a dishwasher, or is it just me? Hmm, that's what I was afraid of.

Ok, what else. We had a good visit with Phillip on Sunday, at least what there was of the visit. But I'll save that bitchfest for a subsequent entry. It's gonna be a long one.

On the way back from Louisiana we made a slight detour to pick up a dog. No, now stop it, you sound just like my dad, it wasn't yet another dog for me. I picked it up, boarded it overnight, and dropped it off somewhere else the next morning. Just one small step in a series, carried out by several folks in order to unite this dog with his grandma. It is a very sad story really and I'll elaborate on this more in a subsequent entry too.

I actually have kind of a lot of stuff to talk about from this weekend, can you believe it?

Well, ok, those are basically the only 2 things left to talk about.

Unless I want to get into all of the reasons why many of the customers who come into my parents' store irritate me.

I know, I know, they are kind enough to patronize our humble establishment and we should be (and mostly, are) grateful for that. We know about "the customer is always right" and all of that.

Bullshit. The customer is generally an idiot in one way or another.

You will probably think most of what I'm about to say is petty and unreasonable, but if you tally them up on a continual, repeated basis, you'd get pretty fed up too. Here we go:

1. What the hell is a "solid quarter"? As in, "can I get a solid quarter for these 25 pennies?" Nope, sorry, all we have today are those pesky hollow quarters, can't help you.

2. Stinky people. I understand if it is summertime in Texas and you work outside all day and you are coming in to get a cold one after work. I can understand and handle that, unpleasant as it may be. It is reasonable. What I can't handle is the guy who comes in every single day smelling of cat piss. It's my understanding that he has about 30 cats and, from the smell of his clothes, no litter boxes. No washing machine either, as he commented one day that he needed to go to the laundrymat. I don't believe he ever did. Too busy drinking all that booze, I guess. He came in on Saturday and this time it was combo cat piss and cat shit, and I seriously thought I was going to barf. Naturally he is always slow to pay and leave, being guilty of #5 below, but finally I was able to grab the Glade spray. Of course, then it just smelled like cinnamon cat piss and shit. Look, I am not completely heartless, the guy obviously has a problem and I feel sorry for him. But I feel sorry for my sniffer, too. Ugh.

3. People who think that lottery tickets must always be a separate purchase from everything else. Which is almost everyone who buys lottery tickets.

4. People who, after watching me put their stuff into a bag, then take it out of the bag and put it in their pocket or carry it out bagless, etc. You could have just told me you didn't want a bag, they aren't required you know.

5. People who, when I tell them their total, i.e. $6.24, hand me a twenty and then when I am ready to hand them their change, say, "oh, wait, I have the .24". Note this generally happens when there is a long line. Most of the time I don't mind them digging out change, but when their total is $12.98 and they say, "oh, I have the .98," I just want to say "no you f-ing don't, you'll take your 2 pennies and move the line along."

6. Speaking of change... people who pay in change. Nothing but change. Never rolled, and usually not enough to cover what they want to buy. Then they ask if they can "bring the rest to you later." Um, I'm sorry that your last paycheck didn't stretch until your next one because you buy beer every day, but do you go to Wal Mart with not enough money and ask them if you can bring it later? Then why you pullin' that shit here? If you were buying bread or milk or something, I would sympathize, but you want beer.

7. People who come up to the counter with their stuff, then after I've started ringing them up, say "oh, I forgot, I need a something-or-other" that is clear across the store, and they take off to go get it. It especially pisses me off if there is a line, because I can't clear the register until they come back and pay. Argh.

8. People who try to pull the door off the hinges after we've locked it at closing time. State law says we have to close at 9:00 p.m. sharp and if we let anybody in after that, we could lose our license. So in the words of Carole King (and I'm dating myself here), "well, it's too late, baby, now it's too late, though you really did try to make it." Or... "I hear you knockin..... but you can't come in..." For some reason there are several songs that go through my head at various times when people are wanting to come in after closing... I guess I'm evil that way. "You can't. always get. what you waaaaant."

9. Ok, this one doesn't piss me off--it cracks me up. People who run in the door just as I am about to lock it and are so very grateful they got in before we closed, but then they just buy beer, something that they could have bought at 7-11 or any other convenience or grocery store after we closed. Psst... beer guy... there's a dude in the parking lot who we can't let in now who'd pay extra for a bottle, since you made it in and are just buying beer...

There are some advantages to working there, though. I constantly learn new vocabulary. Why, just Saturday I learned a new word. Nudn. As in, "can I cash in this scratch ticket and get a nudn?" Absolutely.