Beware - They're Out There!

I'm so proud of myself! I've had my blogs for a while now and I've posted about many, many topics but THIS is my very first post about people who can not drive!

There are those who like to say that I have road rage - you know who you are. However, I disagree with that assessment. I do not have road rage. Not once have I ever pulled up beside someone, rolled my window down and cursed them out. Not once have I ever sped around someone who cut me off and slamed on my brakes. Not once have I ever driven up beside someone, who I felt had wronged me, and swerved over to try to make them run off the road. Not once have I ever pulled out a gun and pointed it at or shot at another driver.

I am; however, a vocal driver - I will give you a piece of my mind in a minute, and loudly. I am always so impressed whenever I ride with someone who doesn't talk at, scream at, or cuss at other drivers when they do something stupid.

I am striving for improvement in this area; however, I come from a long line of vocal drivers - so I get it honest - and it's not easy to overcome those family genes, they're deeply imbedded. I have definitely made improvements but sometimes I fall of the wagon; like today...

I must have had my invisible cloak on as I drove home from work tonight because I had not one, not two, but three people pull out in front of me as if I wasn't there at all.

There were several traffic lights out around town today and, as you can imagine, traffic lights out during rush hour equals traffic backups. So, the North bound lanes were backed up and I was driving south, in the left lane. There were no other cars behind me, when this B-R-I-L-L-I-A-N-T driver, in a big ol' SUV with tinted windows, pulls out of a neighborhood to turn left - INTO THE LINE OF BACKED UP TRAFFIC!! Of course there was no where for him to go so he had his big ol' bohunkus stuck in my lane. I had to swerve into the right lane to miss him - what an idiot!

Now I ask you, WHAT could have possibly been so important that he couldn't have waited until I had passed to pull out and get stuck?

Next I was sitting at a red light. Our light turned green but we couldn't go because another genius driver (in an SUV) ran the red light. This caused the guy trying to turn left to have to wait. Once the coast was clear I started to go when this, oh so bright, woman - in yet another SUV - decided to turn left in front of me. HELLOOOO?!?!? (Well, at least she acknowledged her stupidity...she threw her hand up in an apologetic wave)

A few miles down the road, I was getting ready to turn left into a neighborhood. I put my blinker on and slowed down to turn, when this nitwit at the stop sign decided he could beat me - again, there was no traffic behind me. **sigh** What is it about me today that everyone seems to think they have to go BEFORE me??

I think the SUV's had it out for me today; they were definitely testing my awareness, as well as my reflexes. The good news is that, despite the multiple attempts at my annihilation, I made it home safely; and I only lost my temper with one of these morons.

Practically Impracticable

Do you remember the movie “What Women Want” with Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt?

Do you remember the part where he was walking in the park and a woman jogged past him with her mind going ninety to nothing??

Yeah?

Well, that was me today!

If there ever were such a power, and I was the one whose mind he heard, he prolly woulda went insane!

I’m not sure what happened, but it was almost like someone flipped on the switch and it got stuck and then it short circuited. (circuited, is that a word? hmm?? **goes over to dictionary** Yep, it is!)
I’ll spare you the details of all the different directions my mind went - mostly because I can’t remember them – but let’s just suffice it to say that I was all over the map!

Normally, I will get a thought in my head and I’ll think about that one thing to completion, almost to the point of obsession; sometimes I have to force my self to stop thinking about whatever it is so I can do other things – like sleep. Today, I couldn’t even hold a thought long enough to think about what it was that I thinking about before my mind was off in another direction, thinking about something else. (Try to follow THAT logic!)

Throughout my life, I’ve had many a few people tell me, "you're so crazy!", but today was the first time that I’ve felt like it could be true (No Comments necessary, from the peanut gallery!!)

By the time I got to work, I felt like I had drunk a whole pot of French Vanilla Cappuccino – it felt like I was going to jump out of my skin!

My entire day seemed off kilter - hmmm??? I wonder if it's a full moon?? I'll have to check that out - I had several quirky computer problems and things seemed to get worse as the day went on.... I finally just gave up and called it a day.

THEN, I got home and turned on the news only to learn that our Mayor was nominated as one of 50 finalist for the annual "World Mayor" award - ARE. YOU. KIDDING. ME?!?!?

**Scratches head** I must have heard that wrong...They must nominate themselves; yes, that MUST be it, that's the only logical explanation!

**Rewinds TV**

NO!?!?! (they don't nominate themselves)

Really?? Are you S-U-R-E??

YEP! It MUST be a full moon outside!!

WHAT A JOKE!!!

The good news is…I made it through the day with all my skin still in tact. Although it wouldn’t have been SO BAD if some of the fat cells fell off; I could have lived with that! Note to self: Your medicine really IS working! In the future, try not to forget to take it two days in a row.

Updated to show tonight's moon phase:

Moon Phase

Courtesy U.S. Naval Observatory

Hey! Who Turned the Lights Out?

I HATE using public restrooms! I have always hated using them. When I was young, I would try to hold it until I got home and sometimes, if the urge was too bad, I would convince my mom to take me home.

However, it is not possible to NEVER use a public restroom. Sometimes, you just gotta go and the other day was one such day...

I had eaten something that didn't agree with me.

I had no choice, I was going to have to go use the restroom (dum du dum dummm).

So, I was sitting in the stall - praying that no one would come in - flushing frequently and spraying often.

Soon another person is in there, then another and now I'm having to play the "wait them out" game.

I sit in the stall, as still and quiet as possible so as not to give myself away.

One lady does what she has to do and gets out in a timely manner, but the other one wants to linger.

She takes her sweet time.

Finally she finishes and goes to the sink where she lingers a little longer.

MY GOODNESS! Does she just LIKE hanging out in public restrooms?

I am still sitting there, still have to use the restroom, and my legs are going to fall asleep waiting on this person to leave.

Obviously she doesn't know the "Bathroom Courtesy 101" rules:

Rule #1 - If you have to use the restroom but there is already someone in there with obvious issues, you should come back later.

Rule #2 - If you absolutely MUST use the restroom at that time, do what you've got to do and get out - quickly!!

She's already washed her hands AND dried them yet she continues to hang out in there and fiddle with her clothing - or whatever it is she was doing that was taking her so long.

FINALLY she's about to leave.

She turns off the light and walks out.

Um, Hellllllooooo?!?!
Who turned out the lights??

Now what??

Do I just sit here and wait for the next person to come in and turn the lights on? Oh what a laugh THEY would have...

I'm NOT going to call out!! THAT would be WAY too embarrassing. (I already don't want anyone to know I'm in there).

She must have gotten about half way down the hall when she suddenly realized what she had done because she finally came back in and turned them back on, then walks back out - she was probably trying to hurry up and leave so she wouldn't bust out laughing at the hilarity of it all.

WHEW!!! Let me hurry up and get out of here before anyone else comes in.

One more reason for me to hate public restrooms.

Where's the Privacy?

Today, as I walked into the restroom at work, I heard someone in one of the stalls talking on the phone and she continued to talk even as she flushed. the. toilet.

Sadly, this is not the first time I have experienced this - and one of the ladies sounded like she was discussing a business matter (it was definitely not a personal phone call). Can you imagine what the person on the other end thought as they listened to this person and discovered they were in the restroom? And they may not have realized it at first, but the realization had to hit when she flushed - that's a pretty distinctive sound.

Now I ask you.....Can you please tell me what it is, that you have to talk about, that could possibly be so important that you must talk on the phone while you are in a public restroom?? Seriously, can someone please help me understand that??

I have a hard enough time using the restroom while other people are in there; I certainly don't need you complicating matters further by bringing your boyfriend, husband, lover, WHATEVER into the restroom with you so that they can hear every little thing that's going on too.

And on top of all that, these people like to hang out in there to continue their conversation, even after they've finished using it. Sometimes I just want to say, "UH-HUM, COULD YOU LEAVE NOW?? It's bad enough you're in here on the phone in the first place - must you hang out here too? Could you not finish your conversation in the hall or the break room? What's the fascination with the bathroom?? I mean really.....what if someone had gas or something?!?!?"

This is just some whack booty!

I may be off base here, but I feel certain that the person you are talking to would understand if you were to tell them that you had to use the restroom and you would call them right back.....I know I would! Have you ever heard the term TMI?? This is kind of the same concept.

Give a person some privacy will ya? CRAP!

If anyone knows the answer as to why some people feel it necessary to talk on the phone in public restooms......I would love to hear it!!!

Paper or Plastic?

The family and I took our weekly trip to the grocery yesterday evening and as the cashier asked if I preferred Paper or Plastic, I was reminded of a recent conversation that Mom and I had about an article she read on Paper vs. Plastic. Did you know that it takes a paper bag many, many years to disintegrate and that plastic does not compost and will stay in tact for thousands of years?!?!? Did you also know that a paper bag, if packed properly, can hold the same amount of items as four plastic bags?!?!?

Now, I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I am “pro-paper” or “pro-plastic” because there are many sides to this debate and both sides have some valid points. This is a family blog, not a debate forum for paper vs. plastic, and I made what I considered to be the most echo friendly choice with the facts I had at the time.

So, I think about the question and our conversation, then I quietly respond (as if there is a wrong answer) “paper please”. I guess they are not used to that response, because I had to repeat myself twice – then she had to repeat it again to the sacker. Maybe there really was a wrong answer and I lost points for saying paper?!?!? Do you loose cool points if you want paper instead of plastic?? Hmm….something for me to check into…would hate to be loosing cool points. Ha!

Although my logic isn’t the same as others in the question of paper vs. plastic, this grocery trip has given me a few more reasons to feel good about my decision for requesting paper:

The paper bags were much easier to fit in the trunk of the car, they don’t slide all over the place and items don’t fall out whenever you turn a corner (as a side note, I will admit that the paper bags aren’t as easy to bring into the house as the plastic ones), and last but not least Drake and Spice had so much fun playing with the empty bags - and it’s actually safe for them to play with the paper bags.

Drake ran in the kitchen, grabbed a bag and took off to tear it up, just incase someone may have wanted to stop him. Maybe I should have stopped him but my thinking is this: If a paper bag keeps him from chewing on my furniture, our shoes, their toys, our clothes, or our arms and legs then let him chew the bag… Go for it! It’s not hurting anything and the mess can be picked up.

Spice found two small sized paper bags and created herself some boots. She’s so entertaining!

So there you have yet another side to this ongoing debate…

What decision will you make the next time you’re asked the inevitable question? Will it be an informed choice? Will it be the best ecological choice? OR Will it be a choice based on family entertainment?

Do you believe??

It's late, and I really should be in the bed; but the strangest thing just happened and I just HAD to share it with someone...

Earlier tonight I was walking out of my bedroom and tripped on my babies shoes. My husband laughed b/c he had done the same thing - why he didn't pick them up when he did it is beyond me - I digress... I picked the shoes up and put them on a bench in my hallway, then I came back in the den and watched Haunted Evidence while playing on the computer.

* Note that I sit in a chair that faces the hallway and I can clearly see if anyone walks past.

It's now time to go to bed so I turn all the lights off and head towards the bedroom. When I get to the hallway I look down to see the very shoes that I had put on the bench are now place neatly in the middle of the floor - several feet away from the bench.

Everyone in the house is asleep and no one has gotten up....so I ask you, how did those shoes get from the bench to the middle of the floor???

A little history: I have lived in this house for about 9 years and I've never had any experiences. That is UNTIL my baby girl (now three) was born. Every since she was born she's been sleeping in my bedroom (I know, I know, BAD habit!) and occasionally I see something - kind of like a shadow - that looks like a girl darting from the kitchen door into the hallway. One night I saw it so clearly that I actually called out to my oldest daughter (now ten) but when she didn't answer I got up to see what she was doing - upset that she was ignoring me when I just saw her run past - to my surprise, she didn't answer because she was in the tub and couldn't hear me.....
I'm getting ready to go to bed now (It's really going to freak me out if those shoes have moved again) but that was just too weird not to share...I would love to hear your thoughts...

Customer Service Tips

Mom and I went shopping this weekend and the customer service left something to be desired - which brings me to today's topic - Customer Service.

Having worked for years in the customer service industry AND being a customer myself, I have a few opinions on this subject.

First let me start off by saying that I believe it should be mandatory for everyone to work in customer service for a minimum of 1 year. Maybe then people would learn how to be more respectful of each other.

We live in a society where no one seems to care about anyone else, other than themselves. People have what I refer to as a "Me First" attitude. Unfortunately, this isn't a requirement so let me give you a few guidelines to make your experience more pleasant.


Customer Tips:

1. Put the cell phone down!


2. If you don't know them, they don't know you! When a clerk asks for your identification it's for YOUR protection..If you've ever had your identity stolen you would be more gracious towards people who care enough to check.


3. Wait your turn! You can't be in THAT big of a hurry and if you are, then you should have left the house earlier.


4. They can't read your mind. If you would like something a specific way, you have to open your mouth and let them know.


5. Keep your personal beliefs and opinions to yourself. Just because someone is the same as you does not mean they share your views.


6. If a clerk has to tell you no, it's because of a guideline that they have been instructed to follow. (It's not personal)


7. Treat your clerk with respect - it's not easy dealing with people's attitudes all day long.


8. If you're sick, STAY HOME! We don't want your germs.


9. Don't lie! Just because someone isn't able to do what you want them to does NOT mean they were rude or that they were discriminating against you.


10. Contrary to popular belief, you are NOT always right!


Customer Service Tips:

1. Put the customer first, if it weren't for them you wouldn't have a job!


2. Leave your personal problems at home.


3. Treat each customer with respect.


4. Wait on your customers in the order they arrived. There is nothing more frustrating than waiting patiently to be waited on, only for someone to jump in front of you. There is a polite way to let that "rude" customer know that someone else was there first.


5. SMILE - it isn't going to kill you.


6. If you don't want to be there - QUIT!


7. Give the customer your undivided attention. You can talk to your co-workers later.


8. Don't eat, drink, or smack your gum in front of customers.


9. Act like you care (even if you don't) - It's not going to kill you to be sociable for 5 minutes.


10. Don't apply for the job if you don't like people (ALL PEOPLE!)