Some Blog Site

I started a protest and signed a petition this morning. I didn’t intend to do anything, and wasn’t even thinking about it until the situation arose.

I am no longer claiming responsibility for unsolicited pay-at-the-pump receipts. If you print out something and try to hand it to me, I will just not take it anymore. It is your receipt, you keep it.

Here’s the story: I just stopped by the usual on-the-way-to-work gas station this morning. I swiped my credit card at the pump and had to answer a couple of questions (Debit card? Y/N, Car wash? Y/N) before I could pump the gas.

While I was watching the gallons and dollars numbers increase, my attention was drawn to the receipt that was blowin’ in the wind. The two previous customers had not taken their receipts, so a strand of paper was sticking out of the gas pump. On this particular type of receipt-printing pump, the receipt does not normally protrude very much, so if you’re not expecting a receipt to print, it is easy to miss it because it is small.

My thoughts while observing this receipt and waiting for the gas to fill my vehicle were akin to these:
“Huh, two receipts still in the pump…”
“I bet the first guy didn’t even know he left his receipt in there.”
“I wonder if the second guy just left his on purpose.”
“I wish this gas station gave me an option to decline the receipt.”
“I wish I could leave my receipt here on purpose.”
“Hey, why don’t I?”

So I checked the receipts to make sure they did not show the whole credit card number. Then I empowered myself to just leave the receipt in the machine. I don’t want the receipt, why should I waste my time pulling it out of the printer and walking it over to the trash can? At some point, someone, whether it is the gas station attendant whose job is to clean and maintain the pumps or it is the customer who really does want his receipt, will tear all the receipts off the pump.

How much time and expense goes into replacing the receipt paper in the pumps and emptying the trash cans? All that could be money saved by that business with one simple change. The pumps already ask about debit cards and car washes, so I know they have the capability of asking about receipts too.

If you’re reading this, Mr. Valero, why don’t you have your gas pumps ask people if they want receipts? Because most of them don’t want them. And if you see me frequenting the Meijer gas station across the street more, and yours less, it is because Meijer lets me decline the receipt.

Consider all the names on receipts left in pumps as signatures on the petition to stop automatically printing receipts.

“We will sing for joy over your victory,And in the name of our God we will set up our banners May the LORD fulfill all your petitions.”
– Psalm 20:5

Chapter 1: Off to the Store

The kitchen lady at the local home-improvement store insulted me. I won’t say the name of the store, but the lady was wearing an orange apron.

This last weekend, I went to the store for some cabinets to put in the new laundry room. Kitchen cabinets work well above the washer and dryer, for storing bathroom, laundry, and even some kitchen supplies. We were ready to put them in, so I just needed to buy them.

I found the cabinets. We had already decided on 12″ deep and 30″ tall and 60″ wide. They don’t sell 60″-wide cabinets, but they did have some that were 30″ wide. There were three of them on a shelf, and the shelf was about as high as my waist.

The first cabinet was upside-down. The “This end up” wording was upside-down and the arrow was pointing down. Not trusting that one, I decided I wanted the two cabinets behind it. So I took the first one off the shelf and put it on my flatbed cart. Because of their size, cabinets are a little awkward to carry, but it’s not really a problem. They weigh around 40-50 lbs – about the same as the 5-year-old I had with me at the store and am used to carrying.

Chapter 2: The Plot Begins

I moved the unwanted cabinet to the end of the cart and put the first good one at the front of the cart. As I was getting ready to put the last cabinet on the cart, the lady who patrols the kitchen center stopped by.

“Do you need any help?” she asked.
“No thanks,” I replied.
“We can get someone to lift those for you.” she continued.
I responded with something like “it’s just this last one; it’s no problem.” but she would not give up.
“Well then, I will hold the cart while you put the cabinet on it.”

What was going on? I don’t like to be bothered at stores. I like to get my merchandise, buy it, and leave. And I don’t want to wait for help.

So I grabbed the cabinet and put it on the cart while she held the cart. It’s not like the cart was prone to rolling. It hadn’t budged while I put the other two cabinets on it. If the store had a policy about customers handling large items, she should have said so. And if that were the case, then why would the store put large items in the aisles for customers to take?

But she didn’t say anything about store policies, so my only other explanation is that she had lived through a really bad cart-rolling accident and has vowed that she would never let that happen again.

I wanted to show her that I knew how to lift things properly (so that she wouldn’t worry so much about me), so I used my legs and not my back when lowering the cabinet. I didn’t want to have to deal with explaining that I didn’t want the one cabinet and would be putting it back on the shelf, so I said “Okay” and waited for her to leave.

Chapter 3: The Plot Thickens

She, however, was not done yet: “Now when you check-out, there are people there who can help you load these into your car.”
“You have to be kidding!” I said to myself. Outwardly though, it sounded a lot like “Okay.”
“Just ask at the check-out, and they’ll help.”
“O-kaaay.”
“No sense in having you lifting all these things – have the young guys do the work instead.”
“What!?!” – “Okay, thanks.”

First she insults my physical capabilities and therefore my masculinity by implying that I can’t handle lifting a cabinet. Now she insults my appearance by calling me old? I am in my early 30s, and I am guessing that she was in her late 40s. So she should have known better.

If you are in customer service at all, here are some tips:

1. Don’t imply that a guy can’t do something (especially if he has already done it twice). If you must try to help him, say that it will make the task go quicker, not that it will help him.
2. If a person is old enough to have kids, never make him feel older. Always err on the side of youth. Aim for compliments, not back-handed insults.

Finally, after I started browsing for small cabinet accessories, she left. I glanced around to make sure the coast was clear, then I hoisted the upside-down cabinet back onto its shelf. All by myself. Yes, I flipped it over so it was upside-up.

Chapter 4: Free at Last

I then went over the water-softener salt section and tossed eight 40-lb bags of salt onto the cart.
With my back bent.
So there.
Okay, maybe I didn’t exactly toss them. But I did move them from the pallet to my cart.

We checked out, and I forgot to tell the cashier lady that someone was to help load my stuff in my car. I half expected that the kitchen lady had called the front of the store to have someone waiting for me, but no one said anything so I just left.

I rolled the cart to the minivan, tossed the salt in the back of the van (it actually was more of a toss this time), and put the cabinets in the middle of the van (after making sure the 5-year-old was in his car seat and buckled). No one came running out of the store to say anything, so I was home free.

In case you’re wondering, my arms and back are just fine.

“How long will you torment me And crush me with words? These ten times you have insulted me; You are not ashamed to wrong me.”
– Job 19:2-3

I was going to write a post about how annoying the hot-air hand dryers in public bathrooms are, and how I wish every restroom offered paper towels as an option at least. But, as is often the case with the internet, someone has already written about it.

If you don’t want to leave Some Blog Site, here are my sentiments: hot-air dryers are bad, paper towels are good, and continuous-roll towels are scary.

If a bathroom has only hot-air dryers, how can you wipe up a spill? Especially if the spill is on the edge of the sink and if you lean against the sink it will soak right into your clothes at sink level and make you look incompetent (okay, that’s the right word) at using a bathroom.

If a bathroom does not have paper towels, what are you going to use to grab the door handle and remain clean of hand? Especially with small children who insist on beating you to the door and touching as much of it as they can before you get there and tell them “Do NOT touch the door. Let me open it. Slow down. No… don’t…I will get the door!”

The other option is to stand by the door and wait for someone else to open it as he enters the bathroom so you can slip out before the door closes or at least get your foot in there so you can kick it open the rest of the way.  And hope no one else is watching.

No, I was not this concerned about germs and public places before I got married. I was happily oblivious to the dangers that are out there.

“I shall wash my hands in innocence, And I will go about Your altar, O LORD,”
– Psalm 26:6

Don’t get a pet that you can’t take out by yourself. “Take out” does not mean a nice evening on the town…

Pets, deep down, are wild animals. They may behave nicely most of the time if they are domesticated, but they are still animals. They may decide to do something uncivilized and start harming people. Animals just do that from time to time. The bigger animal you have, the bigger gamble you are taking with your life or someone else’s life.

Growing up on a farm-like setting, I was able to see various animals and pets in all stages of life. I got to see day-old kittens – very precious. And I saw kitten parts scattered over the lawn after some predator (maybe a hawk, maybe a grouchy tomcat) found the kittens too. All that was good, because it made me realize what exactly animals are and what they do.

If you don’t have a well-rounded view of animals, then you run the risk of ignoring the problems. If all you’ve ever had are cute housecats, you might not realize that it is not a good idea to take a cute baby raccoon into your house.

If you do want an animal as a pet, consider what would happen if the animal decides to be undomesticated one day. Would you be able to control it? Would you be able to win if you had to fight for your life (or a friend’s life, as the lady with the chimp had to do)? That’s why cats and parakeets make good pets. And fish and turtles too. But not chimps or lions or panthers or elephants.

“But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed,”
– 2 Peter 2:12

Our church had a work day on Saturday, February 14th. It was just in the morning, and it was for people to help maintain/improve the church – painting, sawing, etc.

One thing I noticed was that just about everyone drove separately. I’m not talking about different families car-pooling – most of the spouses drove separately.

For the work day, most of the wives were in one area and most of the husbands were in another area. Not that our church requires men and women to work separately, but people generally just do that. At the end of the work day, which was lunch time, I noticed that there were a few wives who came to the husband’s area and said something like “Okay, I’m going home now.” To which the husband replied something like “Okay, I’ll see you there.”

I guess I expected more togetherness on Valentine’s Day. And these weren’t young couples either – most of them had grandchildren.

Yes, my wife and I also drove separately to the church. Since our anniversary is in February, we celebrate that and ignore Valentine’s Day. Plus I had to go into my day job for a couple hours before heading over to the church. So we had good reason to drive separately. I’m sure everyone else did too, but I didn’t question them. I just thought it was an interesting observation. At what point do couples trade the joy of togetherness for the practicality of logistics? Probably somewhere around the second child.

“Then Esau said, ‘Let us take our journey and go, and I will go before you.'”
– Genesis 33:12

Since we own a couple of vehicles, we occasionally get mail about those vehicles.  Usually the mail has to do with vehicle maintenance or warranties.  Today I am sharing one of the warranty notifications with you.

The reason for sharing this letter is to show how to tell it’s not a good program. Take a look at the whole letter, above, and then look at this particular excerpt, below.

For those who can’t see the image: it says “Due to the nature of this program, we can only authorize your vehicle for 72 hours from the receipt of this notice.”

One of the reasons to distrust it is that it pretends to be related to a dealership by using the words “Dealer Warranty” prominently.  But it’s not from a dealership at all.  It’s similar to those coin companies that have the words “US” or “Federal” or “Mint” but are not related to the actual US Mint at all.

Anyway, these guys are offering to extend my factory warranty (with their own warranty).  But our vehicle has been out of warranty for about 30,000 miles and 2 years.  Oh, and only my vehicle qualifies, so it must be an exclusive program that I should feel privileged to join.

If you look at the whole letter, you will not find a date anywhere. How do I know when the 72 hours expires? What I forgot exactly which day I received it? How do they know what time my mail arrives?

It’s not 3 days – it’s 72 hours … from when I receive the notice. They can’t know when the offer expires, but I need to “call immediately”. That’s one of the ways to tell a scam – being told that urgent action is required and being pressured for a decision. That’s especially true when the person applying the pressure is the one who will be taking money from you (or getting you to give them your money).

Hey! Isn’t that what’s being done with the president and congress right now? “We need a stimulus package, and we need it right now. We need to take 800 or 900 billion dollars from the taxpayers, but we don’t want to think about it too long. Don’t delay, vote now! Urgent action is required.”

Unfortunately, I can’t just toss the government’s requests in the trash like I do other junk mail.

“For wisdom is protection {just as} money is protection, But the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the lives of its possessors.”
– Ecclesiastes 7:12

I have the driving habit of avoiding bits of paper or plastic that are on the road, especially if they were just kicked up by a vehicle in front of me.

Sometimes a vehicle will drive by a piece of trash sitting in the road.  The wind from the car will swirl around the debris, causing it to tumble or dance along the road.  If it’s near the lane markings, I will swerve slightly in order to avoid it.  If it’s in the middle of the lane, then I just run over it.

Either way, after I have gone by the spot where the thing was, I watch my mirrors carefully to make sure that it didn’t get stuck on my car somehow.  I will keep checking both the side mirrors and the rearview mirror until I see the paper or whatever it was.

I have seen another car with a plastic grocery bag stuck to the bottom of the car.  And the person’s just driving along with no clue that they have it.  And I don’t want that to be me.

If I do see the debris in my mirror, then I can relax and continue with my drive.  If I don’t see it after several seconds, there’s not much I can do.  So I keep driving.  I don’t do anything differently, but I do like knowing that nothing’s stuck to my car.

I had that problem once.  A fast-food sandwich wrapper ended on my antenna, and I did not find it until I stopped at my destination.  So I had been driving down the highway with paper stuck to the middle of my antenna, like a flag on a flagpole.  I wasn’t embarrassed while I was driving, because I didn’t know that was there.  But it was rather embarrassing to see my car once I got out of it.

Oh well.

“Even when the fool walks along the road, his sense is lacking and he demonstrates to everyone {that} he is a fool. ”
– Ecclesiastes 10:3