This Has So Not Been A Good Week

It's been a bad week for me thus far. I was sick with something from Monday afternoon until early this morning. I had an upset stomach with chills and a mild fever so I spent a lot of time in bed sleeping. At one point I spent nineteen straight hours in bed.

This morning I started to feel normal, for which I'm grateful.

Of course, things have gotten even worse on a national basis. The unjustified shooting of Jacob Blake in front of his three sons, a shooting that may leave him paralyzed for life, set off a fresh wave of protests.

At which point, a white seventeen year old male named Kyle Rittenhouse drove across a state line, and wound up shooting three protesters. Two were shot fatally and the third survived. Rittenhouse then attempted to surrender to the Kenosha police officers that were present.

While rushing to investigate, those officers allowed Rittenhouse to leave the scene. He drove twenty miles back to his home. He was arrested by local police the next day on charges of first degree manslaughter.

Rittenhouse, of course, is a Donald Trump supporter, one who attended a Trump rally in January of this year. And to no one's surprise, his actions are being defended and praised by right wing figures such as Ann Coulter and Tucker Carlson.

In response to all this, the Milwaukee Bucks chose to not play their playoff game last night. The other scheduled games were postponed as well. The remainder of the NBA season may be cancelled outright, with no champion crowned or declared. The Milwaukee Brewers baseball team also chose to not play their scheduled game, in protest of the Blake shooting.

The athletes in question may come in for a lot of criticism but I support them 100%. To act as things are perfectly fine, perfectly normal, when they are not, is foolish at best and dangerous at worst.

To take a public stand in defense of ones beliefs is admirable and courageous.

This year has been anything but fine, or normal. It's one thing after another. COVID-19, and economic collapse, and the rapid dismantling of the United States Postal Service, and brutal attacks on innocent civilians and brutal attacks on peaceful protesters, and my god will it ever stop?

If we somehow reelect Donald Trump, it's going to be game over for America. We can not hope to survive four more years of what he's done to us.

Convenience Stores

Let's talk about convenience stores. Once upon a time, just about every gas station sold gas,k and not much more. Most of them would have a soda machine and a small display case for candy and nothing else. These days, most gas stations sell a limited but decent line of groceries. Many offer food of some kind.

The convenience store closest to me is just one block away. It's open from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m. and it never closes for any holiday. I spend, on average, anywhere from $100 to $150 a week there.

But that may be about to change. A few months ago, someone new started working there. This guy is very rude to customers. He berates us if he thinks we're taking too long to remove items from our basket and place them on the counter. He often talks to me like I'm stupid or something. He yells at customers who dare call him on it when he gives incorrect change or charges the wrong price for an item.

God forbid you should ask him to make a sandwich for you. He gets a real attitude if he has to make one. I feel like saying, "You know, it is part of the job.".

Here's what he did tonight that made me so upset that I walked out without buying anything.
He took a winning scratch off ticket that I had bought last night and checked it, then put it in the register drawer. He first complained that I hadn't completely scratched off the UPC code on the ticket.

Doing so took him probably all of five seconds. Then, he said, "You won five dollars, yes?".

To which I replied, "No, it was ten dollars."

Now, here's the thing. When I worked for a convenience store (actually, it was this one but long ago, under different ownership) it was standard procedure to pay out on tickets before putting the ticket in the drawer. That way, no one could claim to be short changed on their payout.

Now this guy, he just had to mess with me. Not once, not twice, but three times, he insisted it was five dollars.

For the record, it really was ten dollars.

Then, after I raised my voice and said "Sir, it was ten dollars.", he sneers at me, hands me a ten dollar bill  out of the register drawer and has the nerve to say "Why are you crying, little baby?".

That's when I put the bill in my wallet, put my wallet in my left pants pocket and walked out of the store. I am going to go back early tomorrow and tell whoever is working there that I have had it with this guy. I will also politely point out how much business I give them and that I have, in almost three and a half years, never complained about anything.

Then I'm going to say that just one more incident with this employee will cause me to never, ever buy so much as a pack of gum there, again.

Because, as the expression goes, they're not the only game in town.

Okay, Maybe I Am A Little Bit Weird

Am I a little bit weird?

I know, it's not exactly the kind of question that's easily answered. But I'm definitely something. Offbeat? Quirky?

Here's one example of the kinds of things I do. Several years ago, my late wife would watch a live telecast of the Grand Ole Opry on the now long defunct Nashville Network. Most weeks, I'd watch it with her.

But one Saturday night, when she asked me to come out into the living room to watch it, I said I didn't need to. I was, I explained, listening to it on the radio.

Now, that got Michelle's attention, for sure. She asked me how I could possibly be doing that?

Which is when I had to give a short explanation of how AM radio signals can bounce around at night time, like crazy. Listening to radio stations, in hopes of picking up signals from far away, is called "DX-ing".

It's something I discovered purely by accident one night. I began doing it every time I had the chance to do so. I kept very detailed logs of what stations I listened to, where they were located, what time I heard them, and how long I was able to listen to them.

I really wish I still had those logs. But all that is decades in the past.

Anyhow, once I explained how I was doing it, Michelle asked why I was doing it. To which I replied, "Because it's authentic."

I don't for one minute think she understood. But to me, sitting at the kitchen table with a radio, listening to the broadcast on radio, as countless listeners had been doing for decades, just seemed authentic to me. Watching it on television just wasn't the same.

Michelle accepted what I had said and was fine with it.

This Week In Review

I'd like to review the week we're close to ending, and what a week it's been.

The Senate continues to fail us, as Senators took a three day weekend this week. Nearly three months after the House of Representatives passed the HEROES Act, the act still has yet to come to a vote in the Senate.

Accounts of increasing delays in mail delivery are becoming more common. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy just fired or reassigned twenty-three senior executives last night. DeJoy and his wife, it appears, have substantial financial interests in businesses that compete with the Postal Service. Also, the Postal Service has announced that mail-in ballots must have first class postage of 55 cents, as opposed to the former rate, which is the bulk  mailing rate of twenty cents. This, of course, will make it more difficult for state governments to send such ballots to voters.

It's worth noting that all this has taken place in just one month, as DeJoy took over in early July. He's wasting no time in destroying the Postal Service, is he?

Of course, Covid-19 cases and deaths continue to mount daily.

On a personal note, my week so far has been good, for the most part. Monday I ran a few quick errands that took about 45 minutes. Tuesday, I went nowhere at all as it rained heavily all day with thunder and lightning. Wednesday, I went to Wal-Mart and got some very nice clothes on clearance.

Thursday was a repeat of Tuesday, with bad weather and my going nowhere. Yesterday and today, I just went one block up to the gas station and convenience store to get a few things.

Wishing you the best, dear reader.