Subway update...

I received 4 certificates today for 6" subs. This is equal to what I purchased the day of the encounter with the brusque little clerk.

Things have certainly changed since my days in retail management. I was taught to go above and beyond to satisfy an unhappy customer. I guess those days are gone.

It reminds me of what a manager of mine related to me one day. A couple had walked into the store we worked for and was furious over an appliance she'd purchased. Nothing was right about it. She'd been misled before the purchase and was not happy at all after the installation.

He listened carefully and although he did nothing at all to change her mind, she left the store in a somewhat better mood than she entered it. Once they were outside the store, I was shaking my head and smiling. I asked him how he could just stand there and take it like that.

"You see that door?" he pointed to the store entrance.
"Sure."
"That's a happy door. Some folks make you happy when they come in, with some you're happy when they leave."

I'm giving the certificates to friends tomorrow. I hope it made the rude bitch happy when I left. I hear Quiznos makes a good sub. I'll be going to them from now on.

There's friends and then there's old friends...

It seems that lately a lot of reality has been smacking me right in the face.

This morning after I sat down to my first cup of coffee an old friend sat down at the counter beside me. I've known Jimmy for over 20 years. We go back at least to 3 or 4 other coffee counters that have long since faded into the horizon. We've talked and laughed about everything in our lives. From ex-wives to raising our kids... nothing was ever off limits.

After the hello's and how are ya's, I asked about his partner Patty. He said she was at work. He then said that he hadn't worked in 3 weeks. Well, Jim has had some heart problems in the past and I immediately thought that he'd had another. He then dropped the C word on me (in so many words). It seems that he'd had some chest pain and breathing problems and had made a trip to the hospital. The x-rays (and later camera tests) had verified that he had a 4 inch tumor in his lung.

Just as I was about to ask about treatment, he dropped the O word on me (not that one ladies)... Inoperable. As I was sitting there dumbfounded, he talked right along. It shocked me more when he pulled a paper out with the lung/tumor picture on it. He showed it as proudly as a woman pointing to a sonogram of her baby. I was in shock and he was acting like it was acne.

How should one react when faced with someone else's mortality? I said the obligatory "Sorry to hear this Jim" but I think it went in one ear and out the other. All while he was talking I became very self conscious that I was smoking. Then as it always does, age comes up. I was thinking what the difference was in our ages but really I was mentally subtracting mine from his. It's something that all of us do all the time. It's like we're wanting to know how long we have left. If that's the case, I'd better make the most of the next 12 years.

As I write this, I'm smoking another cigarette. This is seriously making me think about quitting. I have had two other people I loved that died of cancer. While I thought about quitting after both their deaths, I rationalized it because of their ages. My step-dad was 80 and my buddy Paul was in his late 70's. I mentally told myself that they were old enough to die anyway so the cigarettes didn't really contribute to an early departure.

Jim is only 61. While he's no spring chicken, it's certainly below the average for male deaths in the U.S. And it's too close to my age for me to rationalize it. I certainly came to the conclusion four years ago that I was no longer bulletproof. The odd thing now is that it was Patty that convinced me to go to the doctor then. I found out later that I'd only been walking around with a ruptured appendix for over two weeks.

Maybe now it's time for Jim to make his impression on my life.

Friends...

I did the best thing today that a man can do. I spent the day with a friend visiting a friend.

I've been lucky enough to call Chrissy a friend for several years now. She's like the little sister I never had. Ooooo K... in age she's more like the daughter I never had. She's the same age as my son. Sometimes I have to remind myself that she's that young. She seems more mature sometimes and yet at others she seems like a babe in the woods.

I've seen her through job changes, boyfriend breakups and assorted other problems a young lady has. I hope I've offered her the 'wisdom' of a friend. Sometimes she listens, others not. She has confessed that even though she didn't always listen that later she realized I'd been right. All of us have had those days. I know my step-dad seemed a lot more intelligent when I was 30 than he did when I was 16.

The joy of seeing Chrissy now is that she's pregnant. Almost 6 months now and she's looking it. To me there's nothing as sexy as a woman with child. I know to them it doesn't seem all that sexy most days but I can have the fantasy... lol... It's amazing to me to see the changes in her almost daily.

BTW, she's having a girl. Her name is Aliya Marie. She's going to be a beautiful child if for no other reason, she has a beautiful mother.

Chrissy and I drove to a nearby city today to visit another friend of ours. Rita is someone I've known and loved for several years. We migrated to each other in a way because we're so much alike. Neither of us take anything off of anyone. She is probably the female version of me as much as I would be the male version of her.

Rita was the manager of the local coffee hangout of mine until she was ambushed by a backstabbing little bitch. This too shall pass. Rita has more class in a fingernail than the replacement will ever hope to have. Being a firm believer in karma lets me smile every time I see her.

It was a great visit though. We caught up on everything that's gone on in our lives since our last visit. Sometimes it's just good to know that there's a hug waiting for you somewhere.

With these two good friends, hugs are plenty. Even though I do have to stand farther away from Chrissy these days... lol.

TV commercials

There are often commercials that we all have to suffer through. Two of the least favorites of mine right now are these....

A 1-800 piece of shit for a product called Urine-gone. As I'm taking a sip of milk or water the last thing I want to be reminded of is cat piss. Sorry cat lovers but this one is disgusting.

Does anyone else find the Lamisil commercials on TV as disgusting as I do? I wish "Digger" would crawl up the ass of the ad boy that came up with this idea.

There are very few ads these days that cause me to either mute the sound or change the channel. This is top of the list. If by some chance I ever came up with whatever infection that this product cures, I'd cut my toe off with a rusty hacksaw before using Lamisil!

Subway, rude associates and phone calls

Let me start this by saying I'm not the greatest of customers sometimes. I have been in the workforce for almost 35 years and most of that time was spent in the retail industry. I have held numerous management positions for several companies.

I was holding off on commenting on this particular incident till I saw how the company reacted. It is very seldom that I bother contacting a company if treated rudely or run into a moron that happens to be drawing a check from Company A.

This past Sunday, I went into a Subway here in My Town to pick up supper for the wife and I. I don't know what it is about my appearance sometimes but I tend to intimidate people with my look. I wear my hair long and have a beard. I normally have my arms folded across my chest when waiting. I am not a smiley faced "come chat with me" kinda guy. I realize that I normally do not invite conversation from strangers. That's fine with me. This however is no reason for some people to be out and out rude. I'm not.

When I walk into a place of business, I'm like the typical American male. I know what I'm there for, I get it, I check out, I go home. I won't go into all the little details of what happened but two things that the young lady (and I use that term loosely) did really pissed me off. First, the greeting I got was "What do you want?" No hello, no what can I get for you today and certainly no "Welcome to Subway." Oooooooo Kay... Nothing like getting off on the right foot.

I ordered the sandwiches I wanted and she proceeded to fix them. Halfway thru (for those of you familiar with their setup, she had the meats on the bread and was just at the cheese stage) another customer came in and she went to him and took his order.
FYI, he was younger (30ish) with short hair. He got 2 sandwiches and she took them to the stage where she put them in the toaster (a blatant attempt on Subways part to imitate Quiznos), she then came back to me and asked, "Whatchawantonem?" The only thing that would have made her more attractive at that point was if she was chewing gum and stuck her pen behind her ear.

At this point, I was furious. I'd been there over 20 minutes and at one time during the visit I can remember being in somewhat of a hurry. Something had to be said, "I thought you'd never ask." was my reply and then told her what I wanted. Watching her closely by the way to make sure NOTHING (read body fluids) extra was added. She finished them up and slammed them into the plastic to go bag and then took my almost $15. For some reason as the change was slapped into my palm I knew a cheery goodbye wasn't in my future.

I then looked her in the eye, smiled and notified her that I'd be chatting with her manager. After I got home, I contemplated calling the next day but instead went to Subway's web site. I filled out the form and in the box for the comment I put my phone number. I told them that I'd never been treated as rudely as I had that day in their restaurant and if anyone was concerned to please call me.

That call came Tuesday morning. I was listened to, promised food certificates and apologized to. More later if anything comes of it.

5:30 pm

"Not Guilty by reason of celebrity" "

This was heard on Court TV shortly after 14 not guilty counts were read today in the case of Michael Jackson. In my opinion, a guilty man walked out of the courtroom today. Was he guilty with this particular child? Not according to the jury that heard the evidence. I'll never believe he's innocent of the charges with every child hes come in contact with. The weight of the payoff's in the 90's weigh heavy on my mind.

I believe he's guilty as sure as I believe that O.J. pulled the knife across Nicole's throat 14 years ago last Saturday. I believe it as sure as I believe that Scott Peterson was ram-rodded with a single hair found in a pair of pliers. I believe that Robert Blake had his wife killed. The fact that he hired and conspired with coke-heads got him off. The accusers were not credible in front of a jury.

What does this mean to us in our daily lives? Not a damn thing. O.J. Is looking for the killer in the sandtraps off the 18th green. I'll be an old (maybe dead) man before Peterson ever tastes the poison. And Blake? No one cared about his old one-hit-TV show ass before any of this happened and we care even less now.

As I write this the SUV's are pulling into Neverland. Tonight Michael will sleep as a free man.

I hope for his sake he sleeps alone.

4pm Monday 6-13-05

It's 4 est and it was announced a few minutes aga that a verdict has been reached on Michael Jackson.

I was a huge MJ fan growing up. The boy and later man had talent. I've often said that the biggest wastes of talent we've witnessed in my lifetime was MJ and Mike Tyson.

Having said that, I think he's going to jail. Moonwalk on that....