Tea Partiers or the Scary Extremist Party, you decide.

There is just too much to list but hopefully I can hit on the scariest subjects for me, as a lower income mom. 

Cutting social services.... brilliant.  The candidates would say it is up to people to take care of people but as a society and people in general we no longer can or will afford to take care of our own.  Personally, I don't have $5 to spare to go get my neighbor a gallon of milk.  We have a lower income class getting lower by the minute.  When was the last time a wealthy upper class American donated their money to the church, went to the Salvation Army and volunteered as an Angel to a child, went and shopped for a family not their own, donated to a hospital to cover uninsured bills, my guess is not in a very long time.  Its all well and good to say people should care for people and once upon a time they did, now, if this were to be put into practice, I fear thousands of people would die before anyone could or would lift a finger.  Inevitably those who would want to help would be incapable due to their own circumstances and those able wouldn't, something from the movie "Scrooged" starring Bill Murray comes to mind when Claire is sitting at an expensive restaurant and the poor orphan children come to the window.  That is our future with no social services.

Social Security, it may need some tweaks to ensure viability but its far from completely un-savable.  All the GOP members bark like dogs over this scheme until they hit 65, then they are all too willing to jump on the "gravy train" as it were.  I say to those, put your money where your mouth is and stop collecting your checks, if you're about to turn 65, don't file to receive it.  How many elderly people do and will rely on those earnings to survive?  Countless, and with no social services in place they will die quickly.  What makes this an entitlement program is citizens pay into it, therefore you are entitled to get your money.  It's not a dirty word, the GOP just make it sound that way.

Medicare/Medicaid, again citizens pay into this program so it is available when they need it.  Socialized medicine... not so much though, not when you pay your entire working life to get it.  And at this point we could bring up socialized health care, we're the only civilized nation that does not provide routine health care to our citizens, we should all be disgusted with that fact.  I recently viewed a news clip of a representative explaining the Republican health care bill, simply, don't get sick and if you do get sick die quickly.  This reinforced the audience and Ron Paul at the FL debate, when Ron Paul was asked if a man in a coma had no health insurance, what should we tell him or his family or should we just let him die.  The audience cheered to let the man die.  These are the same people that are supposed to help each other in lieu of social services, I don't know about anyone else but that is about as frightening as it gets.

Less Government regulation.  Wouldn't that be fabulous!  There's just the small problem with people not being able to collectively do the right thing.  That's how we got here in the first place.  Without laws and regulations you could have a porn shop right next to an elementary school, you think discrimination is bad now try it without labor laws, the system of regulations simply because people as a whole do not do the right thing all of the time, especially when you have a couple of thousand forming a large corporation.  Without regulations in every aspect of our lives people would just not do the right thing and still they fight doing the right thing.  Do you think for one second BP would have done squat to help in the Gulf if there was no regulation to do so and they could walk away and say oh well. 

And while we're on the subject of less regulation, the same people deregulating everything under sun, they want to regulate everything in your personal life.  No birth control, you better be Christian, no abortions, no plan b, the LGBT community would be pushed back into the closet, gay marriage would be illegal, apparently those regulations they want to get rid of only do good by the corporations lining their pockets.  They're pro life but how many people were executed on Perry's watch?  Something like 234, that's crazy.  For being so pro life why are they so open to arming every US citizen, some people should simply not be allowed a gun.

These are just some of the reasons the Tea Part is the monster we all feared was under our beds when we were kids.  They won't be happy until class warfare turns to civil uprising and a complete civil war, then they'll just blame the Democrats and their constituents for believe EVERYONE should be treated fairly, not just the Christians, the rich and powerful, and corporations.

Kids are back to school!

Hoping to get a little more blogging done now that the kids are back at school.  It's funny how toward the end of the school year you can't wait for them to be out for the summer, it's just like "please God stop all this homework, projects, meetings, etc. I need a break".  By the end of the summer you can't wait to shove your little darlings onto the bus as fast as you can.  For me, three kids by the end of summer are just at each other's throats non-stop and still it will takes weeks of not seeing each other day in and day out to stop all the fighting.

Bad Drivers... more of a rant than a blog.

UGH!  What is it with people and not knowing how to drive anymore or is it they just don't believe the rules apply to them?  Every time I leave the house its a new lesson in driving stupidity.  As a woman, I can safely say, women are by far some of the worst drivers I have ever seen.  Yes, men speed but rarely do you see them fiddling in their purses, checking their makeup or just generally looking off in every direction other than in front of them.  Its as if it is their mission to single handedly prove men correct in thinking we are the inferior sex.

The only thing worse than women drivers is the elderly.  Oh my f*bleep* Gawd!  Seriously, just go to the DMV and turn in your license, you have no business driving anymore.  And where are your family members?  Do they know you drive like that?  If so and they don't stop you, they're as bad as the designated driver letting the drunk guy drive.  There are other people on the road with you, just because you are old does not mean you "earned" the right to drive like Magoo.  You don't own the road, if I have the right of way, and you're old, I still have the right of way.  Those red lights up there, they mean stop, as do the big red signs, they do not have an elderly exemption.  Furthermore, please drive on the road, not so that the yellow line is perfectly in the center of your vehicle, same for the white line but I find it amusing when you go off in a ditch.

Generally speaking if people would just follow standard rules of the road, it would be a lot less frustrating.  Drive the speed limit (at least) and speeders are less irritating than the idiots driving 10-15mph below the speed limit, drive in your lane, stop for red lights, obey the right of way, don't text and drive, don't talk on your cell and drive, there are headsets people, and don't do drugs or drink and drive.  If I had an indestructible vehicle and no children in the car, I wouldn't bother stopping to avoid the accident you're about to cause.

So you want to work in retail, you might want to think twice.

*Disclaimer: these are my own personal observations and opinions and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of all or some retail employees or management.  Yes, I am covering myself just in case the powers that be get slightly disgruntled.

The customer is always right has gone straight to some peoples' heads and taken on a whole new meaning.  Everything I wanted to say but smiled through while working in retail.

Since I was 16 I've pretty much worked retail on and off, I've worked for Stop & Shop, Kmart, Big Y, Edwards and most recently Target.  First, anyone working in retail should absolutely be earning twice as much as they do simply for having to deal with the general public, its not as nearly easy as it appears.  People as a collective whole are just not nice to store employees, I'm not sure why that is, we're simply doing our jobs as dictated by corporate policy, or maybe it's because as employees expected to deal with the public, people just assume we can take it.

What the consumer does not seem to understand is your lovely cashier is human, as such he or she has feelings, yelling at him or her will upset her and they are just doing their jobs.  If something rings incorrectly, its not their fault, blame that on technology, everything is computerized now.  An amazing fact is that the cashier doesn't have every single price memorized in the entire store and in addition sale prices.  If they did, we wouldn't need computers in the first place.  There are hundreds of thousands of products and the expectation is the cashier must know because they work there.  Not too mention pricing is outside of the cashiers job area, so she will call for a price check, no matter how irritating this is to you, they can't randomly select a price and go with it.  Sure, if you challenge the price at some places, and it sounds reasonable, they will change that price but in general, you are going to have to wait a few minutes if you really want that item and that price.  If the cashier makes a mistake, do keep in mind that the cashier is human, so long as they apologize you really do not need to scream at them.  I'm sure you made at least one mistake in the past week.

Laziness, pure laziness is yet another problem you will deal with.  You walk into a store, directly in front of you is lets say, accessories, purses, jewelery, etc.  Rather than look right in front of you, walk to the nearest employee and ask where are the purses.... really?  Ok... so sometimes the department isn't so close and it is your first time there, you're really still just being lazy but in at least a somewhat acceptable range.  My favorite were always the people who came with an entire shopping list and wanted to know the exact location of each item.  Now, working on the front end, I had "general" knowledge, but by all means, use me for a GPS.  Some people are lazier still, you tell them where to find the item(s) only to have them say its too far can someone go get it for them.  That is about the granddaddy of all lazy statements accept for the customers who get into line, forgot something and call for a supervisor to go get it for them.  Apparently on my name badge it says "personal servant".

The Service Desk is a whole new level of hell, but not the ultimate hell.  If you ever wonder why people who work behind the returns or courtesy desk seems to be bitches sometimes, wonder no more, the abuse you take in eight hours most people will not have to endure in a year.  As a matter of public health, some things are not returnable, like underwear.  Would you even want to buy underwear at a store that allowed you to return them?  I think not.  Clearly posted is that some items are not returnable, you just simply need to read, for the general public this is becoming something of a bothersome nuisance, but honestly, you could be agreeing to give up your first born child and you'd never know because you didn't read a simple statement.  When we became a buy it, try it, I don't like it society I have no clue, what I do know is that people will try and return anything, used makeup, half used candles, half used detergent, we even returned used KY, seriously not kidding.

Second paragraph because this part is that long.  DVDs and electronic media, please, for the love of Pete, understand that it is every stores policy to do an exact item exchange only.  Why?  Ask the Federal Government, it is their regulation, all digital media once opened is owned by you, there is nothing we can do about it.  I had one gentlemen and I use that term loosely, call me a b****, a c***, and drop the f bomb every other word because I could not take back his blu-ray.  I did not make the rules, but apparently I was the one to blame.  Again, just doing my job.  Sure, I called my higher up manager, and I called for security but by the time they got there, which was only a minute or so, the guy had already stormed off.  I have had an epilady thrown at me, as well as other items, but lets first discuss the epilady.  The man returning this item said his wife didn't like it because it rips out the hair, well of course it does, that's what it is supposed to do.  This is one of those nonreturnable items unless its new and unused or defective.  After him yelling at me for several minutes, he threw it at me and stormed off.  This has also happened with a mens' electric razor.  Both items are kind of heavy, getting hit with them would definitely hurt, luckily they missed me and my co-worker.  Again, read the clearly posted return policy which is also conveniently located on the back of your receipt in some stores.  Some stores stipulate a length of time to return, 10 days, 30 days, 90 days, etc.  One customer attempted to return new and unused bras, normally not a problem, however, the bras were purchased a year ago.  Unfortunately the computer no longer recognizes these items even if I could bypass the receipt date.  This is one of the instances where no matter what the employee does, there is not going to be a return, we simply can not make it happen.  And you guessed it, all the bras, thrown at me.  Not to toot my own horn, but I am seriously kick ass at retail, because no matter what the customer says or does, I do not cry, I do not yell, I remain calm and composed, there is no shaking me.  Granted, once that person leaves, I may need to take a walk for a minute or so and I may even complain for hours when I get home, but in that moment, I rock.  One gentlemann attempted a return on a pair of boots that he believed to be waterproof.  They weren't and the store would gladly take them back had he not brought them saturated with liquid and looking as if they had been worn for a year.  Instead of taking no for an answer this gentleman just stood there, staring at me, awkwardly until I felt so uncomfortable I called security.  He proceeded to do the same to him for another, what seemed like, 20 minutes.

What it comes down to is this, if you use a product and don't like it, use a product for months, use it at all, call the manufacturer, its not the stores fault you don't like it.  If you break it, don't try and return it and misrepresent the product as defective, you broke it.  If its been over three, six, or twelve months, chances are even new and unused products can not be returned because its no longer carried.  So what is a customer to do when they lose their receipt?  Sometimes, and I say sometimes, a store can do an exact item exchange, or look it up on a credit card, and in some cases can offer you a store credit but that store credit is going to be at the lowest sale value.  Don't blame the store, you lost your receipt, that's no ones fault but your own.  Chances are you will still get your item returned because you are a miserable, nasty person who will not quit until someone gives in and does whatever they possibly can just do get you out of the store.  On the other hand, someone may just call security.

Being the "supervisor" or person in charge of the front end (cash register area) of the store has got to be the most thankless job of them all.  We're the first line of defense for the managers and the first person everyone calls when a guest is angry.  I have heard it all, right down to a woman having the service desk call me because our store was "volcano mulching" our trees.  Yes, I had a look of what the hell, sometimes you can't hide your confusion.  She was dead serious though, apparently the landscapers were mounding the mulch around the base of the trees and this was going to kill them.  Never mind it hasn't killed them to date, but it was going to kill them.  She wanted names, numbers, she wanted a stop put to it immediately.  Personally, I didn't get paid to go out and dig mulch so it wasn't going to happen.  People complain about products, prices, policies, etc. as if I actually had some sort of influence over any of it.

The fact is most stores will do whatever they can within reason to assist a customer.  The problem is consumers have become entitled, spoiled and nasty as a collective whole.  If you don't like a store for one reason or another, write to their HQ, its not as if the employees of an individual store can do anything about policy and prices, they're also at the mercy of HQ.  There is no magic wand to help them fix whatever problem you feel is going to end your world.  Most of all, they are there to help service you, not be your maid or servant.  Your cashier is there to ring your items, not to run across the store because you forgot an item, the people on the sales floor are there to put product on the shelves so you have items to buy and assist you find things.  There are other customers besides you, so if another customer got there first, no matter how simple your question is, wait your turn, do not interrupt because you are somehow more important than the person who got there before you.

Above all, remember you are talking to human beings that are doing their jobs, they didn't do anything to you.  America could really use an etiquette class or two.  So if you are looking to work in retail you should know, you will have to smile and be pleasant while people scream and holler at you, potentially calling you every name in the book, you will have to have a high tolerance of ignorance and laziness, and you will have to be willing to work for very little and expected to do a whole lot unless you are upper management or executive level.  As for the Christmas season, I can only warn you the closer to Christmas it gets, the meaner people become with retail employees.

Chicken, its whats for dinner... again and again and again

Not that we were wealthy or living the high life before my unfortunate unemployment occurred, but our grocery budget was a little larger, allowing for just a smidge less than uber frugalness.  Now, however, shopping on the cheap and only cheap is what needs to be done.  So you shop the sales and if beef isn't on sale you don't buy it, same with fish, pork, and what have you. 

Chicken... now that has been on sale in abundance, 1.99 per lb for boneless breasts, .39 for thighs or drumsticks, 40% off all chicken, you name it, I've hit the motherload of chicken sales lately.  Its good for you, low in fat, has protein, and usually tastes good.  Problem is, how many ways can you prepare chicken before you run out of ways to make it new and have some desire to consume it outside of merely the need to eat in order to survive.

Thus far we've had Italian Herbed, Panko Fried (in olive oil), baked, lime-sauced, creamy coriander, marsala, cacciatori and up next is BBQ, and parmesan.  Its gotten so the standard question around our house is not "what's for dinner" its "is chicken for dinner" followed by a grown and a sigh.

The Next Time You Buy Milk

I'd like to tell you a little story that I keep in mind every time I buy milk. A few years back my husband and I owned a farm. We decided not to cull our animals and took in several injured or abandoned farm animals as well. We nursed them back to health and they lived happy, full lives for the most part.

The day came where we adopted a factory farm cow and a three day old calf. The cow was meant for slaughter because of an injury to her hip which was a direct result of over breeding and deplorable living standards. She would be named Fionna, as most animals here did have a name, so did she. The calf, Dawn, was meant for slaughter simply because she was blind in one eye, how this would affect milk production is still beyond us to this day.

Fionna was with us for a few weeks, however she was badly injured. We did all we could for her. Ointments, medications, lifts, exercise and affection. For those who think animals don't feel pain the way we do or that they are stupid, I can't begin to tell you how wrong you really are. Fionna rallied initially but eventually it would become to much. She pushed herself until she could not push anymore. Her last day, she laid her head in my lap and cried. I never knew that cows could cry but cry she did. I pet her head and told her it was ok, she could let go. I left her in my lap, staying with her until she passed.

In her final days Fionna got what a majority of factory farm cows will never have and never have had. She had a home, she had love, she had a name and not merely a number, she was treated with respect and care.

As for Dawn, she grew to be a happy, healthy and handful of a cow. She played, sometimes harder than we could handle, she was happy and other than not being able to see out of that one eye, there was not a single thing wrong with her. She would have been killed if not for the compassion of the person who brought her to us. She now lives at a very large farm, still doing exceptionally well despite that eye.

So the next time you buy a gallon of milk, just stop and think, what is that animal being put through so you can have cream in your coffee or milk with your cereal. Then possibly you'll make the decision to buy fair trade, organic or local.