Something fun...

I'm not sure why, but this made me smile.


My early support for the War in Iraq has waned somewhat in recent years. The bungling of Rumsfeld and the attempts to police a country with far fewer forces that we brought to Gulf War I caused endless headaches. Yet our soldiers sucked it up and made the best of the situation. I think we've turned the corner, and congressional response to General Petraeus's upcoming report should be interesting. Now doubt both the Republicans adn Democrats will pick it apart each certain that the report 'proves' they were right. Eveyone keep some open ears and listen for yourself.

My brother-in-law is on his 3rd tour...fingers crossed, and hopeful prayers that he'll return safely and not have to redeploy. The thing is, I know he'd go again if asked. He doesn't like it there, but knows there's work to be done. He's a soldier...an American soldier. May we be so lucky as to have thousands more like him...in times of peace and times of turmoil. Let's just see if we can't get a few of those fellows some dance lessons :-) Who knows maybe it's cut down on the PTSD.....check the vid.

Sad but true.....

I was stuck in an airport due to a missed connection....no this isn't the sad part. The airline gave me some courtesy vouchers for food as a token for my inconvenience. (Tip to Northwest, next time just push the gate back to the plane. The time spent dealing with four irate passengers...nearly 10% of the possible load for the CRJ...all even more irritated since the plane was still at the gate...could have been better used to get us and our carry-ons onto the plane.) But I digress again...this isn't the sad part either.

I chose to use part of my courtesy vouchers for a meal at good old Mickey D's in the terminal. Now pay attention...we're getting to the sad part. The tab came to $7.98. The vouchers were in $5.00 denominations. Unsure just how long I might be stuck or whether I could get change, I opted to use one $5.00 voucher, and pay the balance in cash. I handed the cashier one $5.00 voucher and one $20 bill. Now quick...how much change should I have received? Got the answer....good. Took you what...2? 5? 15 seconds to work it out? You now know where this is going...

The SAD Part
The cashier was stumped. First she asked whether I had any smaller bills. I assured her that I didn't. After staring at her register for a few more seconds, time to call in the support. Evidently their register/terminals didn't have a button for the vouchers (which I'm sure they get all the time), so she had to resort to using her elementary arithmetic skills. Yeah right. A quick call to the manager on duty. He too had difficulty with the task. They eventually worked out this complex calculation and dutifully handed me $12.02. I politely pointed out that they still owed me another $5.00. Momentary "deer-in-the-headlights" look, and then a moment of recognition/annoyance by the manager, and I'm handed my other $5.00.

Now, sure I've had those brain-fart moments where even simple math momentarily stumps me. We all have. But two people back to back? I took my order (and my change) and headed to my table silently wondering whether these two slipped through the cracks of their educational institutions, or if they were just plain dumb. But the sad story doesn't end here.

As I'm seated, I notice a pool of water (or some other fluid) leaking from underneath the self-serve soda fountains. There are two other McDonald's employees (presumably on break) sitting at a table a few feet away. One of them also notices the fluid and gets up to put a couple "Wet Floor" warning cones near the fluid....and then sits back down...maybe she told someone on duty to get a mop and I missed it. I don't know. As I'm eating, I'm glance over and notice the puddle has breached the boundaries of the bright yellow cones. A few moments later, the employee who placed the cones sighs, and gets up heading behind the counter. Finally...someone's getting a mop...or is she? No, our intrepid and resourceful employee returns with 2 more yellow "Wet Floor" warning cones. She adds the two new cones and and readjusts the originals, forming a type of barrier surrounding the puddle. You can imagine how much more effective this is than a mop. Content that she has this time stopped the flood, our employee returns to her table to finish her break.

I finish my meal, get up, navigate my way around the cones (and the puddle which is again threatening to breach the invisible barrier established by the cones), dump my tray in the trash, and leave....slightly amused, but also slightly depressed by what I had just seen.

If it weren't so damn pathetic, it would have been really funny. I had just witnessed several common stereotypes for bad service, and uneducated fast-food employees in a single visit to THE epitome of the fast food joints. Thankfully I didn't order anything with Mayonnaise. The way my luck was going, that stereotype/urban legend would have surely come true as well. While someone with some talent and wit might have turned this into an amusing comedy sketch, what I had seen was REAL. Two people (one a manager) had failed to perform some simple math necessary to complete a retail transaction. Another had twice attempted to contain a leak using invisible force-fields between some plastic cones. At least she tried SOMETHING....however ineffective it may have been. Several other on-duty employees witnessed the mini-pond growing near the soda fountains, and did nothing.

Lastly though....I did nothing. I didn't call for help, didn't point out the inconvenient and marginally hazardous situation with the water, nor did I chime in right away with the amount of change I was owed. While I was saddened by the apparent incompetence of these employees and the possible issues with society and/or education that contributed to their incompetence, I've come to realize that I'm probably most saddened that I didn't do or say something. I'm neither incompetent, nor dumb. It didn't have to be mean...it might not have mattered....but I had the potential and opportunity to change things, yet I didn't. What does that say about me?