LIKE, NO PROBLEM, YOU GUYS!

First off I want everyone under the age of 55 to say collectively to me, “Get a life!” If you have said that, you can now proceed to read what my curmudgeonly self has to say.

I would like to know what, if anything, parents of teenagers today have taught their kids about what is and what isn’t the polite thing to say in the workplace. I also would like to know what kind of expectations and/or training bosses give to those same teenagers.

Case in point: the Jer and I went to lunch yesterday and were referred to as “You guys” from the moment our cute little hostess led us to the table (Is this ok for you guys?) to the receiving of the bill at the end of the meal (Here’s the bill, you guys. Thanks for coming.)

I’m not asking for “May I’s” and “Ma’am’s” here. And I’m not concerned that “You guys” sounds disrespectful. What does concern me is that no one apparently has told these kids in the service industries that there is a nice, polite way to interact with customers, and referring to them as “you guys” isn’t it.

The manager of that restaurant probably did not think to give his kids a crash course in appropriate language usage. But I'd like everyone reading this who employs teenagers to stop a second and think about how they want their customers to be spoken to.

Second, I would like to lodge a protest at the loss of the phrase, “You’re welcome” which for eons past has been the appropriate response to “Thank you.” Frankly, I would rather get NO response than to have said to me, “No problem.” This last expression has insidiously crept into our language and one can hardly eat out anymore without hearing it. I understand if I have asked the waitperson for something out of the ordinary, a response of “No problem” is, well, no problem. But it grates on me that when I thank a person, any other response than “You’re welcome” feels like the thanks has been rejected as not significant enough for a decent acknowledgment.

Ah, now I hear you saying it – “Get a life!” But wait, I have one more – this final one not being so much a misuse of specific language but misdirection of it.

Here’s the third scenario. I go into a grocery store, step to the check-out counter with $150 worth of groceries, and while I stand there watching the clerk ring up my purchases – no insignificant amount – I am totally ignored, while I have to listen to a running commentary between the cashier and the box person over their love life or lack thereof. Where is the ethic that the customer is important, or comes first, or even should be coddled so as to generate repeat business? It is obvious that the person holding $150 or $200 in their hands is not very important to these two employees. And I wonder if management ever has taken the time to see how pervasive this behavior is and has tried to get these people back on track. I know of few other jobs where two people can stand around while they are working and carry on such a private conversation in front of customers.

Those of us over 55, who – believe it or not – do already have a life, mostly do not feel it is our job to tell parents and tell employers what they should do to prepare their kids and their employees for the real adult world. So we mainly fuss among ourselves, knowing that we are not so relevant anymore and are shaking our head at the direction things seem to be going.

For the few of us who have the opportunity to put our thoughts onto paper, we implore the multitude of parents, teachers and employers who have an opportunity to hone and mold these young people – mostly good kids to begin with – to turn them into first class young adults, setting standards for interacting properly with their elders and with customers of any age.

 

It would be wonderful to think someone is listening to my curmudgeonly self.   But alas....

SEPTEMBER THIS 'N' THAT

 

THIS WILL GO DOWN in history!  September 2013 is when I re-joined the real world.  After putting a “hearing device” (high-falutin’ word for hearing aids) into each of my ears, I had to laugh at how much I have been missing!  I quickly discovered that the turn indicators in my car actually kept up a running click in addition to a green flash when I set them to turn a corner or change lanes.  Jerry will now lose the privilege of reminding me that my turn indicator is still on. 

 

I always explained to Jerry that the green flashing lights on the dash were out of my line of vision, being directly behind my steering wheel on both sides.  I did not know they also made a sound; Jerry should have said to me “Well then, listen for the click, stupid!”  But he was, and always has been, kind. I'll never leave my turn indicators flashing again! 
 

And the poor guy was practically spending all his time with me acting as my interpreter.  I thought I was just missing words from bank tellers, cashiers, waiters and waitresses – especially from anyone like my littlest granddaughters who had a high-pitched voice.   I was missing a lot more sounds, though:  the left and right click of my computer mouse.  Water running from a faucet in the next room.  The sound of my scanner doing its thing....you know, little sounds that are not particularly important, but that I just didn’t ever hear.
 

I am SO delighted with my new very-usable toys!  I am also happy that they are very visually "understated," although I would not have objected to anything, even an earhorn, I think!  Just gotta' figure out now how to pay for them!

 

***

 

 



MY DAUGHTER FROM ALASKA is coming down for a visit next week.  This is good news, as it’s hard to not be able to see her as often as I’d like.  Her visits are few and far between.  Her sister has planned a big family picnic in the park for Saturday the 21^st, and if the 100+ temps don’t come back, we should have a great time.  We’ll still go, even if they return, but then perhaps we can sweet-talk the Park Staff to turn the sprinklers on so we can run through them. 

 

Remember when we were kids and that was what we did on a hot summer day?  Picture above with my little sis and me dates to about 1943.

***

 

 

 

 

 

I HEARD SUSAN DUNN, author of a fascinating new and well-researched book titled “1940,” give a talk on BookTV a couple of weeks ago.  Through an Interlibrary Loan I was able to get a copy of it to read.  Those of you old enough may remember that 1940 was the year Franklin Roosevelt ran for a third term, and the year before we became physically involved in WWII, although our nation was well aware of what the Nazis were doing in Europe.  Our country was divided on whether we should look beyond the isolation position and begin looking at ways we could come to the aid of Great Britain as the bombing of that country went on.  The setting of the paragraph below deals with the Republican and Democratic National Conventions of 1940 as they struggle with this issue:

  “While Senators Wheeler, Walsh and McCarran as well as former war secretary Woodring wanted the platform to state unequivocally that the party stood for “nonintervention in the political and military affairs of the Old World,” German agents were working behind the scenes for a similar pledge.  It was later revealed that the German charge’ d’affaires, Hans Thomsen, who had subsidized the attendance of isolationist congressmen at the GOP Convention in Philadelphia, did the same at the Chicago convention.  In his memo of July 19, 1940 to the German Foreign Ministry, Thomsen credited embassy staff with sending “several reliable isolationist Congressmen” to Chicago “in order to exert influence on the delegates with the purpose of including . . . in the Democratic platform . . . a pledge of nonparticipation in a European War.”  Thomsen hastened to reassure his superiors in Berlin that no one was aware of his behind-the-scenes machinations.”

 

To say I was dumbfounded is an understatement.

 

What I remember about WWII, being only a 5 year old in 1940, is the obvious later stuff: relatives in uniform, victory gardens, War Bonds, and V-mail letters.  As I am reading Dunn’s fascinating book, I am surprised over and over again at all that I failed to pick up as I grew in knowledge while moving into adulthood. 

 I can't put this book down!

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JURUPA VALLEY, our newly incorporated city – of which Mira Loma (where we live) is a part – is on the verge of disincorporating after two years of existence.  Now it is no secret that I thought incorporating in the first place was a stupid thing to do.  There is NOTHING in Jurupa Valley that was worth incorporating, as far as I am concerned.  However, since we are not property owners and our lives wouldn’t change in any way if it incorporated, I chose not to vote either way but to let those whom incorporation would affect make the decision.  And incorporation went forward, with the “aye’s winning.
 

 Without going into great detail, for many years the State of California had been providing all newly incorporated cities with a loan that was to carry them through the process and fund them for two years of cityhood.  Every newly incorporated city in California had been provided this help.  The monies came from some revenue collected by the DMV, as I recall.  Anyway, because of the financial problems the State of California was having, right after Jurupa Valley incorporated the Assembly decided not to fund new cities any longer.  That offer of financial help was withdrawn.  The city has been operating on a borrowed shoestring for these two years.  A newly elected State Assemblyman has been working hard to get “us” some money, but two weeks ago the news came that if no money was voted for us by the time the Assembly adjourned on 9/12 for the year, disincorporation proceedings would begin.
   

You guessed it.  9/12 has come and gone, as have the Assemblymen.  Apparently we are now caput and will once again (after all the i’s have been dotted in the legal papers) become simply a corner of Riverside again.
 

It doesn’t matter to me now, either.  The only difference is that I had finally gotten around to putting Jurupa Valley on my little return address labels.  Luckily, the zip code remained 91752 throughout these changes, so any mail sent to the now-defunct city will still get to us as long as the correct zip is used.

 

 

 And that’s that!



A BUG IS A BUG IS A BUG

Every once in a while I find an interesting bug.  I guess technically I wouldn't call a dragonfly a "bug" - but you know what I mean.  Any kind of a creepy-crawlie, flying or otherwise, I'll put in that category.  But I have to admit that I no longer have an eye that sees those kinds of things.  I blame it on global warming, but I think it has more to do with a) bad eyesight, b) age, or c) lack of interest.  I don't think the bugs have gone anywhere; I'm just not seeing them because I'm not looking for them.

I did, however, find and photograph the dragonfly.  Once I also found and photographed an interesting fly that was using my plumbago plant, but that photo is buried somewhere on my hard drive and I cannot find it for love nor money.

I have a cousin in North Carolina who has a scientific mind and a scientific eye, and she is always sending me interesting pictures of bugs -- sometimes to help her identify them and other times just because they are so darn peculiar or strange.

Here's a few of her photos:

These are wood lice.  There were hundreds of these bugs in the picture she sent; I cropped it to be able to see their markings better.  But are these not the most amazing bugs you've ever seen? 

 

She referred to this as a ballet bug.  I don't think that is its scientific nomenclature, but she thought the lower orange-ish leg looked like a ballerina-on-toe leg, and I'll go with that! 

 

She asked me what I thought this bug in full armor might be.  I didn't have a clue, but Google said it was a dung beetle.  Now I for one didn't know that we had dung beetles here in the US, but obviously we do.  He lives in North Carolina!

 

Again, you can't exactly call this a bug, because it is really a goldenrod spider, my cousin says, wearing a pretty fuschia hat.  

I think this is one of the most interesting photo of bugs she's sent me.  They are newly-born praying mantises.  She said they didn't stay long....just long enough for her to grab her camera and snap!

 

This is a walking stick on the outside of one of her windows.  When she saw it, she closed up the curtain and then went outside to get the closeup of the bug.  I think this is a great bug!  I'd probably call it a green-legged cigar bug.

I don't take pictures of bugs because I don't see them.  However, many years ago when we lived in Orange County we went to a Halloween Costume Party at a local veterinarian's office and I did see this bug, which I do believe fits in this category.  It is a cute but not particularly happy bug.  Enjoy.

A LAUGH FOR THE TIMES!

I am not a poetry aficionado.  I mostly don't care for it and mostly don't understand it.  But every so often I come across a poem too good to pass up. 

Yesterday was one of those times.  I'll give it to you in link form, trusting that everything works as it is supposed to.  Reading it should make your day.

A VOTER'S PRAYER (an Ode to Anthony Weiner and associates)

Enjoy.

IF WE MUST, WE MUST

I am always delighted when I find something to read that is light and fluffy and funny.  Of course, funny is in the mind of the beholder – what I find funny is not necessarily what everyone finds funny. 

And sometimes it may just be my mind that is aberrating….. but

Here’s how my latest funny goes:

Seems that some middle school girls back east decided to heighten awareness of a very serious health issue for women, that of breast cancer, by purchasing and wearing some rubber bracelets stamped with the following:

When these girls wore the bracelets to school, they were suspended.  The parents of the girls sued.  This case arrived at the appellate court, which found that the girls were wrongly punished, citing a 1969 Supreme Court case.  Without going into details (since most newspapers have been carrying the story that seems to move from the front page to the op-ed page and back with some regularity), the issue seems to be: Were the girls denied their freedom of speech?

 I wonder, can boys wear these bracelets and would it mean the same thing?  Does the meaning of “lewd” (as related to the term “boobie”) fit into anyone’s opinion?  Is “boobie” lewd, cute, or clever? Or is it now part of our vernacular and not worth cogitating about? And is there a difference between women wearing a similar bracelet and middle school girls wearing it?  Ah, there are all kinds of things to think about.   

And laugh about. 

My own reaction is this:  OH, FOR GOODNESS SAKES!  We all know junior high school (the old familiar term for us old folks) kids are busting at the seams to grow up and out of childhood.  Don’t make anything more of this than it is. It too shall pass.

 But it does remind me of when my own daughters were passing through this stage, all very close to the same time.  One day a gaggle of female twerps, led by my oldest daughter, arrived at the house after school and marched out to the garage, “to practice some cheers, Mom” I was told.  I heard the chanting and lots of giggling, so I peeked out the bedroom window to see what they were doing.

Here they all were in a row, arms bent at the elbow and in rhythm forcing both elbows back and forth as they chanted the following:

 We must!

We must!

We must develop our bust!

The bigger the better,

The tighter the sweater,

The boys are depending on us!

 

That was a long time ago.  The daughters are mostly grandmas now.  Kids are kids and middle school kids especially will think up things like this.  We can’t control everything, but we sure can laugh when the occasion calls for it.

SAYING OF THE DAY

And now I read that Bradley Manning no longer wants to be Bradley Manning but will become Chelsea.  And he's hoping that the physical part of this can be accomplished while he is in prison at the prison hospital.

As my darling brother always says when confronted with a "what else can happen" statement...............

AW.....JEEZ!

LET THERE BE CLARITY

One of my favorite parts of the LA Times is the tiny little column on Page 2 called “FOR THE RECORD.”  This is where sharp-eyed readers turn in their corrections to information (or misinformation) on previously printed articles.

 I’ve decided that rather than get irked because SOMEONE isn’t checking the facts before they send a story to print, I’ll just consider the source and get a good cackle over the goofs.  Since it is obvious that we can’t believe much that is offered as “fact” these days – and perhaps never have been, although I did think at one time newspapers employed fact-checkers – cackling is about all we can do.

I’m going to award a few prizes this week for the following goofs.

PRIZE FOR FORGETFULNESS

On August 7, the obituary of long-time NBC News report John Palmer noted that he left NBC in 1990 to anchor the news program “Instant Recall” and there interviewed Anwar Sadat.  The August 14 rebuttal reminded readers that Sadat was assassinated in 1981.

PRIZE FOR MOST SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES

An August 11 article said this weekend the 405 Freeway in Westminster would be shut down completely in the southbound lanes but only partially in the northbound lanes. 

Oops!  An August 15 a retraction corrected that ALL northbound lanes and ALL southbound lanes would be shut down.  Makes you wonder how many people did NOT read the retraction and got detoured off onto a side street of an unfamiliar city?  That’s actually not a cackling matter, but nevertheless it makes you wonder how, when all the TV stations were announcing a full-blown closure of both lanes that our most prestigious newspaper made that kind of goof.

PRIZE FOR  BIGGEST FABLE

On August 11 the business section reported that Google co-founder Sergey Brin stole the show last year at the company’s annual developers conference by sky-diving onto the roof while wear Google Goggles.

On August 15 they changed their tune: He wore the device at the conference but did NOT skydive onto the roof.

Now that’s some mistake!  One wonders whether it was the writer or his source that devised that fable.

PRIZE FOR CREATING THE FUNNIEST CONFUSION

On August 11 the Times featured a wonderful story on Gustavo Dudamel’s presentation of Verdi’s Requiem at the Hollywood Bowl.  Regarding Verdi’s Dies Irae, “With a score marking of quadruple fortissimo – ffff – [my note: let these represent the musical symbol for loud] that is, roughly “as loud as you can plus one” it is some of the most ferocious music in the whole of the classical music canon.”  Now the fun begins

August 14 “FOR THE RECORD” indicates this: “We also got a bit carried away with our Italian suffixes when illustrating a dynamic marking of quadruple fortissimo.  Verdi’s original marking, quadruple forte, was ffff, not ffffffff,

August 15 rebuttal of “FOR THE RECORD” tries to clarify what was printed:  An August 14 FOR THE RECORD item correcting an Aug 11 Arts and Books section…did not properly explain the Italian names and notations for dynamic markings.  Verdi’s original marking is quadruple forte and is notated as ffff.  Quadruple fortissimo, which was incorrectly mentioned in the article, would be notated as ffffffff.

So as not to leave well enough alone, the August 18 (and perhaps the last entry)  states that in fact, the first article of August 11 said that the score contained a double fortissimo, but it did not.  Verdi’s original marking was a quadruple forte.

SO THERE!  (Really?)  Cackle, cackle.

I understand the need for corrections to make sure old Verdi is understood, but it also makes me think of this unanswerable question:  How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?