An interesting thing happened at the Hot Spot convenience store today (yesterday)
I was on my way home from work; I was hungry and thirsty. So I stopped in for my general standby - a bottle of Mello Yellow and a king size snickers. I was about to pay for it with my debit card, but saw I had some cash in my wallet.
I handed a $5 bill to the clerk and he gave me back my change, which included three quarters. As I start to walk away, I flip the quarters over to see what's on the back of them -- Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Missouri. I've been trying to find an Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah quarter since they came out this year. So I'm about to walk out the door when the clerk yells "Hold up, which states are you looking for?"
Huh?
His question piqued my interest. So I turned around and told him.
"I think I've got a Wyoming in here. Someone gave me one earlier," he says. He had noticed me looking at my quarters. Normally, I would find that kind of creepy -- and I still do, but his interest in the quarters had me interested.
He opens his register drawer, pulls out all the quarters, puts them on the counter, takes a roll out and breaks that over the counter, and we start going through them all.
No Wyoming, Idaho, or Utah quarters. So we struck up a brief conversation about coin collecting. He and I have both been working on the States of the Union quarter collection since it came out. Of course, I learned he's a lot more into coins than I am.
Neither one of us realized though as we were going through all these quarters that a lady with a little kid, who I'm assuming was her 5 or 6 year old son, had walked up behind me at some point with a couple drinks and a bag of Doritos in hand.
Suddenly her son says, "If you guys don't want all those quarters, can I have them?"
The clerk and I both raised our heads, looked at the little kid, and we and his mother all started laughing. The kid didn't find it very funny. "I could buy a whole bunch of candy with all those quarters," he said, now scowling at us.
His mother made some quip about him not eating the Halloween candy he didn't like, I thanked the clerk quickly, and left. I laughed about the whole thing as I got into the car.
14 November 2007
Just Paint Me Green And Give Me A Dog Named Max
I used to get so excited when I was little when all the Christmas stuff came out -- the commercials, the music, the toys...everything. Now, as a grown adult, I can't stand it.
Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas. It's my favorite holiday of the year. I love celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ and the spirit of giving. I enjoy giving gifts to those I love.
I just hate everything that modern society has done to dumb this beautiful holiday down to a Christmas rap being sung by a battery operated stuffed penguin with shades on and grillz on his teeth.
It is supposed to be a joyous holiday. It's not supposed to enrage people with incessant holiday commercials that guilt you about the crap you can't afford to buy or Mariah Carey on the radio two weeks before Thanksgiving singing "All I Want for Christmas Is You."
My wife thinks I'm a grinch. I bitch about the commercialization of Christmas every year. I bitch about buying gifts (I love giving them, just not buying them) I bitch about alot of stuff related to Christmas that is all due to the degredation of modern society's morals and character.
So to kick off the Christmas season, I'm going to make a list -- no, it's not my list of presents I want for Christmas (although an actual house would be at the top of the list) --- it's a list of the Top 10 reasons why I hate the Christmas season.
10. Holiday parties at work -- I'm not a social butterfly anyway. I especially don't enjoy having to put on a smile when I've spent the last several weeks just being annoyed at all the Christmas craziness. I have better things to do in the evening than come smile at people who I spend all day looking at. There are a few parties I look forward to each year, only two of those happen during the Christmas season, and neither are work related.
9. Lame-ass Christmas bonuses (or lack thereof) - Last year I got a bag of candy and a travel mug. The year before, at my previous employer, I got a freaking Home Depot gift card. WTF? My first two employers post-college gave us some real money. I don't mean to be greedy, but if your employees are doing a good job, reward them with something they deserve and can use.
8. Christmas commercials - for many reasons: first, they come on the TV or radio in October. Please wait until after Turkey day. They guilt you about what you're planning to buy or not planning to buy for other people. They're generally pretty damn stupid. And they're annoying to boot.
7. Decorating -- the house, the tree, pretty much anything. Never been a fan. We always end up with a strand of lights that doesn't work and I have to track down the one freaking bulb in it that is burned out.
6. Christmas decorations going up early -- in stores, in downtowns, on people's cars (of all things, when did this start? I've seen three people this week with wreath decals on their rear window. WTF?) Please wait until after Turkey day
5. Wal-Mart -- I despise Wal-Mart anyway. They're nasty, they're just... at least they're not K-Mart... but I hate having to battle 500 people in the aisles just because I want to get cat litter at a cheap price. Even at 1 am, which is my usual Wal-Mart shopping time, the lines are still a mile long -- although that could be because they ONLY HAVE TWO FREAKING CASH REGISTERS OPEN.
4. Holiday traffic -- it's like everyone on the road was given a temporary pass to be stupid from Halloween to New Year's (not that most of them aren't already doing stupid things) And it's compounded by the increased volume of cars on the road that are being driven to the local shopping/strip malls.
3. Getting the Christmas decorations out -- this always turns into a nightmare of "where did we put this, where did we put that," and then a sea of boxes and packing tissue.
2. Christmas shopping - I hate shopping in general, no matter when or where. I especially can't stand it after Thanksgiving. There are too many people and they all act like they've gone mad. That's why I avoid stores at all costs during the Christmas season.
1. Christmas songs on the radio two weeks before Thanksgiving. .... Again, Turkey day, wait for it.
Stay tuned sometime in the next few weeks for the Top 10 things I enjoy the most about the Christmas season.
Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas. It's my favorite holiday of the year. I love celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ and the spirit of giving. I enjoy giving gifts to those I love.
I just hate everything that modern society has done to dumb this beautiful holiday down to a Christmas rap being sung by a battery operated stuffed penguin with shades on and grillz on his teeth.
It is supposed to be a joyous holiday. It's not supposed to enrage people with incessant holiday commercials that guilt you about the crap you can't afford to buy or Mariah Carey on the radio two weeks before Thanksgiving singing "All I Want for Christmas Is You."
My wife thinks I'm a grinch. I bitch about the commercialization of Christmas every year. I bitch about buying gifts (I love giving them, just not buying them) I bitch about alot of stuff related to Christmas that is all due to the degredation of modern society's morals and character.
So to kick off the Christmas season, I'm going to make a list -- no, it's not my list of presents I want for Christmas (although an actual house would be at the top of the list) --- it's a list of the Top 10 reasons why I hate the Christmas season.
10. Holiday parties at work -- I'm not a social butterfly anyway. I especially don't enjoy having to put on a smile when I've spent the last several weeks just being annoyed at all the Christmas craziness. I have better things to do in the evening than come smile at people who I spend all day looking at. There are a few parties I look forward to each year, only two of those happen during the Christmas season, and neither are work related.
9. Lame-ass Christmas bonuses (or lack thereof) - Last year I got a bag of candy and a travel mug. The year before, at my previous employer, I got a freaking Home Depot gift card. WTF? My first two employers post-college gave us some real money. I don't mean to be greedy, but if your employees are doing a good job, reward them with something they deserve and can use.
8. Christmas commercials - for many reasons: first, they come on the TV or radio in October. Please wait until after Turkey day. They guilt you about what you're planning to buy or not planning to buy for other people. They're generally pretty damn stupid. And they're annoying to boot.
7. Decorating -- the house, the tree, pretty much anything. Never been a fan. We always end up with a strand of lights that doesn't work and I have to track down the one freaking bulb in it that is burned out.
6. Christmas decorations going up early -- in stores, in downtowns, on people's cars (of all things, when did this start? I've seen three people this week with wreath decals on their rear window. WTF?) Please wait until after Turkey day
5. Wal-Mart -- I despise Wal-Mart anyway. They're nasty, they're just... at least they're not K-Mart... but I hate having to battle 500 people in the aisles just because I want to get cat litter at a cheap price. Even at 1 am, which is my usual Wal-Mart shopping time, the lines are still a mile long -- although that could be because they ONLY HAVE TWO FREAKING CASH REGISTERS OPEN.
4. Holiday traffic -- it's like everyone on the road was given a temporary pass to be stupid from Halloween to New Year's (not that most of them aren't already doing stupid things) And it's compounded by the increased volume of cars on the road that are being driven to the local shopping/strip malls.
3. Getting the Christmas decorations out -- this always turns into a nightmare of "where did we put this, where did we put that," and then a sea of boxes and packing tissue.
2. Christmas shopping - I hate shopping in general, no matter when or where. I especially can't stand it after Thanksgiving. There are too many people and they all act like they've gone mad. That's why I avoid stores at all costs during the Christmas season.
1. Christmas songs on the radio two weeks before Thanksgiving. .... Again, Turkey day, wait for it.
Stay tuned sometime in the next few weeks for the Top 10 things I enjoy the most about the Christmas season.
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