Location: Home.
Received my Economic Stimulus check the other day. Been thinking about what to do with it.
The classic options are: Spend it, save it or pay off debt. To have the best potential for impacting the economy, spending it is the only choice. But not just wanton spending.
If I buy a product that was made overseas, that money goes overseas. Sure, some small amount goes to the retailer, the domestic transportation company, etc., but the majority goes overseas. In a truly global economy (which we don't have here), any spending would help, as the flow would be in all directions at once. If I'm interested in using this money the way our legislators intended, buying a domestically-manufactured product is a better choice than an overseas-made product.
Better still, to retain even more of the financial flow in the United States, the money should be spent on services. That way, a clear majority of the funds go to the person or company providing the service; services are much more completely domestic than products.
I'm willing to bet, though, that this 'economic stimulus' attempt will work just as well as the last time. That is, it will have no discernable effect on the economy. There are too many other, more significant, factors at work.
So my suggestion? Use the extra money however you like. It's extra money. Take it as a lottery winning, a gift from a relative, a found wallet with no identification inside... The money's yours.
As for me, I think I'll buy a gun. A domestically-manufactured gun. A Ruger, Kimber, Smith & Wesson, North American Arms, etc. NOT a Glock, Sig Sauer, Taurus, Beretta, etc. Those are great brands with great products, but in this instance, I'll stick with the American-Made option.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Line Jumpers
Location: Christiansburg, Virginia
I go to lunch at Panera Bread. It's lunchtime and the line is long. I'm four or five deep from the two registers open to place orders. A heavy-set lady with straight brown hair in a medical office tunic is behind me in queue. She stays behind me while we index one closer, then two.
Suddenly, she advances past me to a register just vacated by someone ahead of me who waited nicely in line.
"Ma'am, the line is back here," I say. She ignores me.
"Ma'am." I'm louder now. "The line is back here." She turns and looks at me with disdain.
"I'm picking up a phone order," she says. Then she actually snorts at me. It's not pretty when a human being snorts.
The thing is, that's actually a legitimate reason to bypass the standard line. In fact, there's a whole sign above identifying a location for picking up phone orders. (Fat nurse didn't see that, apparently; she went to a different register.) So really, she's done nothing wrong... Except maybe the attitude.
If you're there to pick up a phone order and therefore legitimately 'correct' to not stand in queue, why stand in queue at all? Why stand in queue and then suddenly decide to not?
And why is it that heavy-set women in medical office positions (not necessarily nurses) have a consistent attitude about them? I've interfaced with dozens in the past few years, and the attitude has been nearly universal. It's a condescending, entitlement aura. I understand they deal with people who are not at their best (who goes to the doctor when they're healthy?), but does that attitude need to become your personality? How sad.
Post-script:
I'm sitting, eating my lunch at an outdoor table. A lady (with her daughter) who was apparently a few spots behind me in queue approaches my table.
"Thank you for speaking up earlier," she says. "I hate it when people do that." Line-jump, she means.
So I'm not totally alone.
I go to lunch at Panera Bread. It's lunchtime and the line is long. I'm four or five deep from the two registers open to place orders. A heavy-set lady with straight brown hair in a medical office tunic is behind me in queue. She stays behind me while we index one closer, then two.
Suddenly, she advances past me to a register just vacated by someone ahead of me who waited nicely in line.
"Ma'am, the line is back here," I say. She ignores me.
"Ma'am." I'm louder now. "The line is back here." She turns and looks at me with disdain.
"I'm picking up a phone order," she says. Then she actually snorts at me. It's not pretty when a human being snorts.
The thing is, that's actually a legitimate reason to bypass the standard line. In fact, there's a whole sign above identifying a location for picking up phone orders. (Fat nurse didn't see that, apparently; she went to a different register.) So really, she's done nothing wrong... Except maybe the attitude.
If you're there to pick up a phone order and therefore legitimately 'correct' to not stand in queue, why stand in queue at all? Why stand in queue and then suddenly decide to not?
And why is it that heavy-set women in medical office positions (not necessarily nurses) have a consistent attitude about them? I've interfaced with dozens in the past few years, and the attitude has been nearly universal. It's a condescending, entitlement aura. I understand they deal with people who are not at their best (who goes to the doctor when they're healthy?), but does that attitude need to become your personality? How sad.
Post-script:
I'm sitting, eating my lunch at an outdoor table. A lady (with her daughter) who was apparently a few spots behind me in queue approaches my table.
"Thank you for speaking up earlier," she says. "I hate it when people do that." Line-jump, she means.
So I'm not totally alone.
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