Odds, Ends & More
Points I’m pondering…
We’ve had more 100-degree days around these parts recently, and our Valley’s favorite TV weatherman, Kevin Musso of Channel 30, promises more will be on the way.
As of this past Thursday, we had racked up 49 days of 100-or-higher temperatures. Last summer, we had 36.
Of course, we can’t possibly compare with what happened in Phoenix last year, when residents there had to endure 111 days of 100-plus temperatures. So we should not complain.
But we do, because it’s something to talk about and commiserate over when we encounter someone on a walking path, or in a restaurant, or at work. “Hot enough for you?” is always a great conversation-starter.
I look at it a bit differently. Our Valley’s hot weather is simply the tax we have to pay to live in this lovely state. Here in the Valley, we live right up against the Sierra foothills. Yosemite is an hour away. The Pacific Ocean is three hours away. LA and SF are easily accessible.
And no tornadoes or hurricanes or blizzards or earthquakes (not around here, anyway). And even the wildfires don’t come close to us (knock on wood).
**
Christmas shopping…
One sure way to avoid the heat is to go into a nice, cool store and do your Christmas shopping. So Sharon and I did just that a few days ago — at Hobby Lobby. And why not?
After all, we were almost at the end of August. Labor Day is just around the corner, and everyone knows that Halloween and Thanksgiving are only a calendar page or two away.
We actually hoped we weren’t too late. You see, we had gone to Hobby Lobby last October or so, thinking it might have a few early Christmas items for sale.
Turns out, we were late. Those items had come in months earlier, and many were already gone.
So we vowed we wouldn’t be left out this year. And there we were, walking into the store this last week of August. We saw Halloween items up front and asked a store employee if any Christmas things had come in.
She smirked (or so it seemed), pointed to the back, and said, “They’ve been here since July.”
Properly chastened, we walked to the back and there they were — aisle after aisle of Christmasy stuff. Trees — dozens of different sizes and colors. Wreaths. Bows. Christmas ornaments.
You name it — Hobby Lobby had it.
So we bought a few tasteful items for our place. Some will go inside. We’ll exhibit others outside.
All in all, we walked away satisfied that we’d accomplished our mission.
I wonder when Hobby Lobby will get their Easter decorations?
**
No Service — Anywhere…
This is not a new observation on my part. But it seems to have come to the forefront for me in recent days and weeks.
Namely — it’s hard — really hard — to find anyone to serve you, no matter where you go or what kind of store or other location you’re in.
This was brought home to me in spades the other day, when I drove down to one of my doctors’ offices (I’ve got a bunch of them) — and tried to get a routine blood test.
I knew I was heading into trouble when I saw at least a dozen people, sitting in chairs in the hallway outside the lab. And there were 10 more inside the lab itself.
I walked up to the harried woman who was at the front desk and said, not in an unkind way, that it looked as if she was a bit busy.
She replied — again, not in an unkind way — that yes, she was. Not only did she have all these people waiting for blood tests — she was the only person on staff that morning to give those tests.
And, again, she was also the receptionist.
So — having other places to go — I walked out and drove to a nearby restaurant for breakfast. After all, I had fasted that morning for a blood test.
And what did I find at that fast-food restaurant (whose name I will withhold, except to tell you it begins with “W”)?
One person at the front counter and one in the cooking area.
That’s right — two employees, total.
I ordered a breakfast burrito. And when I went to pick up some utensils and napkins — lo and behold, there were no napkins. And the front-counter person was way too busy for me to ask for napkins.
So I ate my food without benefit of anything to wipe my hands with.
You’d think the “W” chain would have a bit more sense than to skimp on staff when people are actually coming in to eat — say, at breakfast.
But that chain is not alone. In recent weeks, I’ve had occasion to visit Lowe’s for something or other having to do with our house — and discovered that worthy chain has done away with almost all check-out people.
You have to do it yourself. And as anyone who knows me can attest, I’m not a “do it yourself” person.
Further — try to find a Lowe’s employee, walking among the aisles. I’ve tried — and failed.
As for Target — I’ve gone there in recent days, as well, and been unable to find any staff member walking the aisles to help customers.
Yes, almost every business has decided less is more when it comes to hiring enough people who can help when you need it.
I hope I’m not sounding like An Old Man Yelling at Clouds. I realize there’s nothing to be done about this, but I thought I’d write about it, anyway, and then we can both forget it.
**
TV Stations’ Security…
I also had occasion a few days ago (I know, I know — I seem to have had numerous “occasions” recently, huh?) to drop by our city’s television stations.
I had a press packet I wanted their news departments to have, and I thought it would make a better impression if I showed up in person to drop it off.
Silly, silly me.
The first station I stopped at had a small, completely enclosed room you walked into from the front entrance. That room had bullet-proof glass surrounding it, and one person sat at the reception desk behind that glass.
She pointed to the telephone on a desk inside this little bullet-proof room. I picked up the receiver and told her I had a packet of information for the news assignment manager.
She said to leave it in the little drop-box beside the phone. She would not come out to pick it up until after I left.
Okay. The next station was just down McKinley Avenue from the first one.
That station’s front door was locked, though it was 10:30 in the morning and the sign said it opened at 10.
But there was a phone beside that locked door, so I dialed whatever number I was supposed to dial to reach the newsroom.
I told someone I had a press packet. That someone said someone else would come out to pick it up.
The person who came out — representing this TV station’s news department, remember — was wearing scruffy shorts and a T-shirt. He had not shaved in several days, and he looked as if he was in high school.
He promised he’d give my packet to the appropriate person. I have hope that he knew who that person was.
My next stop was at a TV station downtown. When I walked up to the front door, an armed guard came out to meet me. I quickly showed her the press packet and said I’d like to have it delivered to the newsroom.
This worthy told me the newsroom did not accept packages delivered in-person — only mailed. As in, the U.S. Post Office.
So I said — trying to be helpful, of course — “If you’re worried about security, why don’t you X-ray the package right now? Or open it and see what’s inside?”
No can do, said the security guard.
Okay, said I. And I proceeded to drive around the block to the U.S. Post Office, which is directly behind the TV station.
That’s correct. Right behind it.
And when I told the postal worker I wanted to send my package by media mail, he looked at the station’s address and helpfully pointed out that the destination — the station I had just left — was right in back of the post office building.
Yes, I told him. I know. But the station needs me to mail it to them, I said. It would not accept this package in person.
And when I asked him how long he thought it would take to get my package from the post office to the building right in back of the post office — the TV station — he said he thought it might arrive in a couple of days.
So what does this — my TV travails — mean, kind readers? Simply that TV stations have had to take extraordinary measures to keep themselves and their workers safe.
There are, as anyone who is sane knows, many crazies out there. And some of them would like nothing more than to walk into the lobby of a TV station, try to shoot their way into a newsroom, and really show those TV guys “who the boss is.”
Sad. Oh, so sad.
But true. Oh, so true.
So what the stations have done is work hard — very hard — to separate themselves from the general public — at least as far as in-person visitations go. And they’ve had to.
Yes, it was a whole lot different when I was in the TV biz and anyone who wanted to, could walk into the front lobby and leave a package or ask to see someone.
But everything’s a “whole lot different” now, isn’t it?