My dad earned his Accounting degree through International Correspondence Schools (his tuition was paid via the G.I. Bill) and he did all right for himself. Pretty sure he didn't apply via a comic book ad, though.

Cei-U!
I summon the success story!

Bah!!!

I want to be a Grit paperboy! You get cool prizes, too!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all who partake.

-M

"Walter O'Reilly, of Ottumwa, IA says, 'I worked my way through the Korea selling these shoes; now I have my own farm and job at the feed store.'"

Ever had your day ruined, in an instant?

Today started fine. I slept in, because it's my day off and I had no alerts that the store needed anything or someone couldn't show up. I goofed around here a little bit and then decided to go pick up a fast burger for lunch. As I was leaving, I thought, you know, I haven't had a nice chocolate chip cookie in a while. I could go for one. So, I stopped at the grocery store, along the way to Hardees. No chocolate chip cookies in the bakery. Guess everyone else had the same idea. Looked around....yeah, not to keen on any of this. Went to the cookie aisle...not a fan of packaged cookies, these days....taste like artificial sludge and go nuts with the salt and sugar...ended up with some Keebler Fudge Stripes. Those are decent.

Compromise choice. Not a good start; but, nothing earth-shattering.

Go to Hardees. Not the best food in the world, not the worst food in the genre....it at least tastes somewhat like beef, unlike McDonalds. Pull up to the drive-thru order speaker....and...nothing. I wait. Nothing. I sigh heavily but decide to be patient. Nothing. Gee, are they closed due to staff issues again (happened before)? Nope, vehicle at the window, so someone's inside, they just can't be bothered to acknowledge me and let me know they will be with me in a moment. Not gonna reward bad service, so I move on.

Okay, we'll just hit Burger King. Burgers are still better than McDonald's and the fries taste like actual potatoes. No wait. Guy takes my order. Then repeats it back wrong. I correct hit, loudly and deliberately, to prevent misunderstanding. And he gets it wrong. Then he asks the drink order, again. And I know it's the same guy I have had trouble with before, including flat out yelling at him because he kept cutting me off, when I tried to give my order and told him to listen for a change. And its the same problem that his ears are stuffed with excrement and he's not listening. No one at that restaurant exercises common courtesy, like please and thank you; but, I chalk it up to modern society, usually. Today, I am not dealing with it. I drive on.

I decide to hell with this, lets go somewhere where I can at least get better food, even if I have to wait a bit and head to Portillos. And there is a line. Well, they usually handle it well...except every car between me and the menu board has their little post-it tags, with numbers, meaning that everyone has ordered and are stacked this far back. This is going to take all day. A girl comes up, gives me the welcome spiel, including that they are card-only, in the drive-thru. I know that and say as much. Then, she just stands there like a deer in the headlights. No "What can I get for you? What would you like?" Just silence. I look at the unmoving line of cars ahead of me, that I know then turns 90 degrees and extends all the way down the building and back at the silent girl, who can't be bothered to converse politely and say, "Forget it and pull the post-it number off and drive off.

Now, I'm hot. Turn into the next center, where there is Dairy Queen...a family legacy, as my grandparents opened the first DQ franchise, in Bloomington, where I live (though they sold it before I was born and it is long gone). And their line is long and not moving and their service isn't great, usually, and their standards have fallen way off, since my childhood, and I cross the street. I actually pull into McDonald's, because I am so frustrated by bad service and long waits, for bad food. I pull to the drive thru-lane and see it backed up and take a second to realize I thoroughly loathe McDonalds, as it tastes horribl and hasn't resembled food since I was in high school and ask myself what the hell I am doing? I drive home and thaw out a turkey burger pattie and grill it, like I should have done in the first place, except the only buns I have are stale and hard, because I haven't cooked any burgers in a while.

Now, I know all of this frustration and exasperation is over-sensitivity, after two long, stressful weeks covering the management of the store, having to stay longer than scheduled because we we ridiculously busy or because the closer is too weak to manage things and no one will manage them out the door or to improve (and I have tried, but got no support from the store manager). I worked a 10 hour day yesterday, because the closer had an emergency in the family and had no one to care for his son and I had no one who could cover, so I was it. However, that is why I wanted a quick burger, instead of fixing better, cheaper food at home. I just wanted a lazy day and not have to cook food and clean up after. I just wanted a bit of service, for myself.

I've been in retail for over 30 years and I know that the clerks and staff in restaurants are paid lousy wages and crappy benefits, if any. I know they are far too often poorly led, by people who failed upward, due to longevity, or have corporate overlords who squeeze every ounce of blood out of them, vending a cheap product or service, at an inflated price, with no thought to anything except their profit. I know that certain places are going to have crap service because the employees are treated like crap.

I'm just tired of it. I shouldn't have to make allowances and put up with it, either in my own workplace or somewhere else. My parents instilled a work ethic in me and taught me proper manners. I fail to deliver them, sometimes, but I at least try to. I do my best to help people, in my professional capacity, even when they are being a condescending a-hole, looking down their nose at me because I don't make 6 figures or have not inherited a fortune. I thank customers, I acknowledge them, I use words like "please" and "thank you," wish them a good day....the basics. Some I genuinely have pleasant conversations with....more than the jerks. I am just sick of a society that thinks its okay to treat people like crap, at any level and even in basic interactions. I'm sick of people who won't take pride in doing a job right, even if they don't like the job. If you hate it that badly, quit; but, if you sign on to do the job, then do it. If you are being abused, stand up, organize...but stop half-assing it. Go find your joy in life....just stop sucking it out of mine.

However, I am not going to let it kill my entire day. I lost enough of it to such nonsense. I am going to make fun of a 40+ year-old comic, rant about inaccuracies and enjoy a nice pepperoni pizza, for dinner, before I have to go back to work, tomorrow and tell my boss that I need a vacation, after dealing with his vacation.

Hey Everyone , I posted a new video on my you tube channel
of the rest of my collection i found . I thought i only had one missing lol