On 11/01/2013 5:56 PM, Farm1 wrote:
> "Dave Smith" > wrote in message
>
> I remember my first day
>> working in an allow plant, a summer job I had while at university.
>
> What's an 'allow plant'?
>
>
It's a type .. alloy plant.

On 1/11/2013 8:56 AM, Pete C. wrote:
>
> Julie Bove wrote:
>>
>> "Pete C." > wrote in message
>> ...
>>> What carrier and plan are you on? Get a real plan on a real carrier,
>>> none of the big ones plans are like that. Even when I'm physically
>>> roaming internationally my costs are low. I've used my cell in Mexico,
>>> Egypt and the UK and non of those bills were more than $20 extra.
>>
>> Sprint.
>
> That's your problem...
>
This is silly. You just assume everyone has the same carriers and plans
available no matter where they live. It's like when people say "get it
at Costco" or "go to Whole Foods". Yeah, I could do that... if I want
to drive 150 miles to the store. Not gonna happen.

At any rate, there is no point in not handing Ed (or any customer) his
change before replying to what was probably a stupid text message.
Maybe you use this technology all the time at work. Good for you! It's
not required for a job at a drive-thru window. And I'll bet if you're
doing something important and job related (maybe with a customer?) you
glance at, then ignore, that vibrating thing in your pants. LOL

Jill

On 1/11/2013 5:47 PM, Damaeus wrote:
>
> Yeah, for an extended conversation, I prefer talking. But if you're in
> the middle of something and can't talk, sending texts back and forth when
> you have the time is more convenient than having to hold the phone under
> your ear while you're trying not to cook your pasta past al dente, trying
> to make sure your pizza isn't going to burn on the brick, trying to drain
> the pasta, trying to make sure your chicken isn't being cooked too much in
> the skillet, all while trying to avoid tripping over the cat.
>
> Damaeus
>
That's a good reason not to be talking on the phone while in the kitchen
That's one of my rules. When I'm cooking, sorry I'm busy, I can't
talk right now. Same thing when I'm eating. Nope, sorry. I'm not
going to let the food get cold because the phone rang.

Jill

On 1/11/2013 9:16 AM, Farm1 wrote:
> "jmcquown" > wrote in message
>
> (snip)
>> This place isn't exactly a top of the line Exxon station. I went to put
>> gas in my car yesterday and they didn't have any!
>
> ??? Weird???? I've never heard of such a thing except when there has been a
> major union problems and the last of those would be decades ago now. Was
> there any reason why they wouldn't have fuel?
>
>
Demand beat out supply. Happens often here in our gas-guzzler world.

On 1/11/2013 5:44 PM, Farm1 wrote:
> "jmcquown" > wrote in message
> ...
>> On 1/11/2013 9:16 AM, Farm1 wrote:
>>> "jmcquown" > wrote in message
>>>
>>> (snip)
>>>> This place isn't exactly a top of the line Exxon station. I went to put
>>>> gas in my car yesterday and they didn't have any!
>>>
>>> ??? Weird???? I've never heard of such a thing except when there has
>>> been a
>>> major union problems and the last of those would be decades ago now. Was
>>> there any reason why they wouldn't have fuel?
>>>
>>>
>> Obviously the clerks didn't know. Someone ventured a guess about
>> Hurricane Sandy but that doesn't explain why other gas stations a few
>> miles away had fuel and they didn't. I suspect this is a poorly managed
>> franchize or possibly a single owner with rights to use the Exxon
>> name/logo. I really can't explain it.
>
> When you started out by saying 'obviously the clerks didn't know'. I
> wondered what was obvious and that I'd missed.
>
> I reread your previous post and it seems that there is nothing at all about
> the lack of fuel was the least bit obvious to either you or the clerks.

I don't know how to explain this. Have you ever been to the US? They
put bags over the fuel pump handles when they are out of fuel. So when
you drive in you immediately know they don't have gasoline for sale.
Odd but true.

> They should have had some information, or even some excuse. to tell you who
> are a customer.
>
The clerks just sort of shrugged and said they didn't know why they
didn't have any gasoline.

> But it seems that from your comment that it's not a top of the line place
> that you've unconsciously noted something about the place that is not quite
> right. The one thing a customer such as yourself should be able to expect
> to be able to buy at such a place would be fuel for your vehicle.
>
True. It's a gas station. They didn't have any gasoline.

Jill

On Fri, 11 Jan 2013 18:46:18 -0500, jmcquown >
wrote:

snip
>
>At any rate, there is no point in not handing Ed (or any customer) his
>change before replying to what was probably a stupid text message.
>Maybe you use this technology all the time at work. Good for you! It's
>not required for a job at a drive-thru window. And I'll bet if you're
>doing something important and job related (maybe with a customer?) you
>glance at, then ignore, that vibrating thing in your pants. LOL
>
>Jill

It's just a matter of courtesy -- something that should come naturally
by the time someone is old enough for a job.
Janet US

On 1/11/2013 5:11 PM, Dave Smith wrote:
> I am grateful that I opted to stick it out in my career with the
> government. There were times when I was ready to pack it in and to look
> for something more in line with my education and with more opportunity
> for advancement. Having paid a lot into a pension fund was an incentive
> to stay. And.... along came an opportunity for early retirement.

When I was in my late teens, I worked for the NY State park
Department... summer help at the State Parks on Long Island (mostly at
the beach). Great job... and after I graduated high school, they
offered me the chance to work for the Park Department full time.
Problem was... I wanted to go to college and since most of the State
Parks are upstate and nowhere near the beach, I would have to move and
live in an area where the winters are very cold and snowy. I declined
and went to college.

That was 45 years ago. Sometimes I wonder what kind of career and
benefits I would have had.

George L

On 1/11/2013 5:56 AM, jmcquown wrote:

> I was the senior analyst at one company in TN for 12 years. If a couple
> of people in a relatively small department are constantly slacking off
> everyone else suffered for it, not the least of which were the people
> who called us with software problems. Rather than work on the reported
> issues, one guy would spend his time on a chat program. I guess he
> figured we didn't notice that he'd hit Alt+Tab to switch screens
> whenever someone walked by his desk. Another woman was always having
> some sort of drama which kept her on personal calls all day. I'm sure
> if they'd had cell phones they'd have been texting as well. That's not
> blowing off steam, it's wasting their employers time and money.

And I'll bet you had the ICQ chat interface installed. I remember back
then and the lack of firewalls in organizations.

On 1/11/2013 11:05 AM, Janet wrote:
> In article >,
> says...
>
> Because I was myself perhaps just a step up from
>> a menial worker. I was trained to do things beyond that but... I
>> also learned that those skills didn't carry over to other jobs.
>
> I've always found the opposite. Every menial job I ever had, taught
> employment skills that carried over to the others... and my
> professional career.
>
> Stamina, resilience, flexibility, time management, dealing with all
> kinds of people, workplace stress, difficult situations, budgeting
> income, self reliance.. all skills that can be acquired in even the
> most menial, low paid, repetitive job.
>
>
AGREE!

On 11/01/2013 7:05 PM, George Leppla wrote:

> When I was in my late teens, I worked for the NY State park
> Department... summer help at the State Parks on Long Island (mostly at
> the beach). Great job... and after I graduated high school, they
> offered me the chance to work for the Park Department full time. Problem
> was... I wanted to go to college and since most of the State Parks are
> upstate and nowhere near the beach, I would have to move and live in an
> area where the winters are very cold and snowy. I declined and went to
> college.

Pity. Upstate NY is nice.


> That was 45 years ago. Sometimes I wonder what kind of career and
> benefits I would have had.

Been there, done that. After I gradated I almost joined the army. It was
a long process and I needed to get a job. I wrote the tests, did the
interviews, did the medical, more interviews. Since I had my degree it
would have been direct entry officer. My last interview was on a
Wednesday. On Thursday I had an interview with Canada Manpower on
Thursday, Manpower called me on Friday and told me to report to work on
Monday. The army called me at the Manpower office Monday morning and
said they wanted me to report to Chilliwack BC the next Monday for
officer training. Sometimes I wonder how much different my life would
have been if I had gone.

On 2013-01-11 22:56:47 +0000, Dave Smith said:

> Heaven forbid we return to the topic of the thread, but one might
> expect that if the job is nothing more complicated than filling orders,
> taking money and making change (now calculated by the cash register),
> that one might at least have the attention span that they can treat
> their customer like they matter, instead of stopping in the middle of
> the transaction to send a text.

Hasn't that conclusion been repeated about 8 times by as many people
already? YES it's a terrible terrible thing! Perhaps the local police
should have been called. I don't think a simple firing plus beating is
sufficient.

I don't think it was attention span. I'll assume, in lieu of direct
information, It was a dismissal of the task at hand for something
considered "more important". I think that's fair and not unnecessarily
prejudiced against the "new generation", "young people", minimum wage
earners, burger-bag handlers, smart phone uses, and angry old men.
Certainly the aimpatient customers week was ruined in those 6 seconds
and I think the employee should be informed that this is reprehensible
failure in their jobs as first captain of burger-bag thrusting.

We can only make judgements based on the obviously self-serving initial
story, which ended with the angry old man ratting out the employee to
the manager in the hopes of making this a "better world" or for
appropriate "punishment to be meted out" or some other noble or
vindictive rationale. I don't know which, nor care.

But was the text message perhaps quite important? Would that conflict
with the established logic of this story? "Your positive cancer test
was in error." To which the adle-brained worker felt compelled send
back blessings from God? Think of an average O'Henry short
story--something like that. It's possible, isn't it?

Wage earners do have lives, after all. At least I think they have lives
in the legal sense. Would the content of the text message matter before
sentencing the convicted?

On 2013-01-12 00:03:48 +0000, Janet Bostwick said:

> On Fri, 11 Jan 2013 18:46:18 -0500, jmcquown >
> wrote:
>
> snip
>>
>> At any rate, there is no point in not handing Ed (or any customer) his
>> change before replying to what was probably a stupid text message.
>> Maybe you use this technology all the time at work. Good for you! It's
>> not required for a job at a drive-thru window. And I'll bet if you're
>> doing something important and job related (maybe with a customer?) you
>> glance at, then ignore, that vibrating thing in your pants. LOL
>>
>> Jill
>
> It's just a matter of courtesy -- something that should come naturally
> by the time someone is old enough for a job.

What is considered "courtesy" morphs over time. Always has, always will.

jmcquown wrote:
> On 1/10/2013 7:30 PM, Cheryl wrote:
>> On 1/9/2013 11:06 AM, Dave Smith wrote:
>>
>>> On 09/01/2013 10:04 AM, jmcquown wrote:
>>>> On 1/9/2013 9:58 AM, Sharon wrote:
>>>>> Even if she wasn't busy with a customer, there must have been
>>>>> other
>>>>> jobs that could be done. Cell phones don't belong on the job unless
>>>>> the
>>>>> calls and texts are job related....Sharon in Canada
>>>>
>>>> No kidding! Leave the cell phone in your car or in your purse or your
>>>> locker or whatever. You're there to do a job, not to exchange
>>>> meaningless, unimportant chit-chat with your friends.
>>>>
>>>
>>> I wonder sometimes. The wife of one of my nephews is constantly texting
>>> him from work or posting stuff to FaceBook from work. She works in a
>>> coffee shop and I know they have video surveillance in there. Maybe she
>>> is one of those who is under the impression that it is to watch the
>>> customers. Most of those cameras are to watch the staff.
>>>
>>>
>> The company I work for has very strict firewall rules for sites that
>> aren't allowed to be accessed by work computers, but Facebook is
>> allowed. You even have to click a button on a page loaded on the proxy
>> server that says you recognize you're going to a social networking site
>> and that you'll use the computer responsibly, so they know people are
>> going to use work computers for Facebook. BUT, it is up to us to not
>> overuse it and not to spend all day on it. The company realizes that we
>> need to let off steam or just take a quick break even if it isn't break
>> time. It helps keep you sane. I notice a lot of people who object
>> to texting and facebook at work don't even work, and probably haven't
>> for years.
>>
>>
> Of course people need to blow off steam, but not at the expense of the
> customer. It wouldn't have killed that cashier to hand Ed his change
> before replying to a text.
>
> I was the senior analyst at one company in TN for 12 years. If a
> couple of people in a relatively small department are constantly
> slacking off everyone else suffered for it, not the least of which
> were the people who called us with software problems. Rather than
> work on the reported issues, one guy would spend his time on a chat
> program. I guess he figured we didn't notice that he'd hit Alt+Tab to
> switch screens whenever someone walked by his desk. Another woman was
> always having some sort of drama which kept her on personal calls all
> day. I'm sure if they'd had cell phones they'd have been texting as
> well. That's not blowing off steam, it's wasting their employers time
> and money.
>
> Jill
You had *one* job for 12 years? Really?

Earl McCoy

On Fri, 11 Jan 2013 18:50:17 -0500, jmcquown >
wrote:

> On 1/11/2013 5:47 PM, Damaeus wrote:
> >
> > Yeah, for an extended conversation, I prefer talking. But if you're in
> > the middle of something and can't talk, sending texts back and forth when
> > you have the time is more convenient than having to hold the phone under
> > your ear while you're trying not to cook your pasta past al dente, trying
> > to make sure your pizza isn't going to burn on the brick, trying to drain
> > the pasta, trying to make sure your chicken isn't being cooked too much in
> > the skillet, all while trying to avoid tripping over the cat.
> >
> > Damaeus
> >
> That's a good reason not to be talking on the phone while in the kitchen
> That's one of my rules. When I'm cooking, sorry I'm busy, I can't
> talk right now. Same thing when I'm eating. Nope, sorry. I'm not
> going to let the food get cold because the phone rang.
>
I'm not good at answering my phone. Never have been. Since I was a
role model from the just let it ring school of thought, my grown
children are not phone answerers either... which is frustrating
because I when I call them, want to talk to them NOW - not later.


--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

On Fri, 11 Jan 2013 18:11:25 -0500, Dave Smith
> wrote:



>
>I made a deal with myself when I retired. I promised myself that if I
>ever found myself watching Jerry Springer on daytime TV I would have to
>go out and get a job. That was 8 years ago. I can tell you that,other
>than the news, I rarely watch daytime TV.
>

Reminds me of a conversation I overheard.

Hey Joe, I though you were retired.

I was, but one morning at 10AM I made myself a martini and sat down to
watch Jerry Springer. Then it hit me! Next day I went looking for a
job.

On Fri, 11 Jan 2013 16:42:41 -0800, gtr > wrote:



>>
>> It's just a matter of courtesy -- something that should come naturally
>> by the time someone is old enough for a job.
>
>What is considered "courtesy" morphs over time. Always has, always will.

True, but the past few years it has taken a bad turn. Many of the
younger generation accept second rate as they have never seen proper
manners.

On Fri, 11 Jan 2013 18:11:46 -0500, Dave Smith
> wrote:

>On 11/01/2013 5:56 PM, Farm1 wrote:
>> "Dave Smith" > wrote in message
>>
>> I remember my first day
>>> working in an allow plant, a summer job I had while at university.
>>
>> What's an 'allow plant'?
>>
>>
>It's a type .. alloy plant.

My guess was tallow plant. When I worked in a grocery store in high
school, the meat fat from the butcher was collected once a week and
sent to the plant for processing. Nasty work.

On Fri, 11 Jan 2013 16:31:08 -0800, gtr > wrote:


>
>We can only make judgements based on the obviously self-serving initial
>story, which ended with the angry old man ratting out the employee to
>the manager in the hopes of making this a "better world" or for
>appropriate "punishment to be meted out" or some other noble or
>vindictive rationale. I don't know which, nor care.
>

I'm getting old, but I was not angry. Shocked at abysmal behavior
would be a better narration..

Where we differ, you would have accepted the bad manners as being OK
and done nothing about it. Chances are, she has been doing this for
some time and would continue to do so and even more since no one ever
complained. Meantime, business could have fallen off as customers
went elsewhere in search of better service.

What is that old saying about "when good men do nothing"?


>But was the text message perhaps quite important? Would that conflict
>with the established logic of this story? "Your positive cancer test
>was in error." To which the adle-brained worker felt compelled send
>back blessings from God? Think of an average O'Henry short
>story--something like that. It's possible, isn't it?

Sure, but very unlikely at 6:25 AM. More likely was: wut time u off
wrk wanna chill

>
>Wage earners do have lives, after all. At least I think they have lives
>in the legal sense. Would the content of the text message matter before
>sentencing the convicted?

No, she should have not had the phone out to begin with or have looked
at it while completing a customer transaction. No way can it be
justified.

If the clerk gave me the change and went to the phone, I would not
care as long as no one was inconvenienced.

People try to justify al sorts of bad and even illegal behavior
because they are in a menial job. I knew a guy once that thought it
was OK for his daughter to steal cosmetics from the chain drugstore
she worked at because it was a big corporation and she made minimum
wage.

Ed Pawlowski > wrote:
> On Fri, 11 Jan 2013 18:11:25 -0500, Dave Smith
> > wrote:
>
>
>
>>
>> I made a deal with myself when I retired. I promised myself that if I
>> ever found myself watching Jerry Springer on daytime TV I would have to
>> go out and get a job. That was 8 years ago. I can tell you that,other
>> than the news, I rarely watch daytime TV.
>>
>
> Reminds me of a conversation I overheard.
>
> Hey Joe, I though you were retired.
>
> I was, but one morning at 10AM I made myself a martini and sat down to
> watch Jerry Springer. Then it hit me! Next day I went looking for a
> job.

Jerry springer- rec.food.cooking

Jerry springer- rec.food.cooking

Jerry springer- rec.food.cooking

What's the difference ?

Greg

On Sat, 12 Jan 2013 01:16:45 +1100, "Farm1" >
wrote:

>"jmcquown" > wrote in message
>
>(snip)
>> This place isn't exactly a top of the line Exxon station. I went to put
>> gas in my car yesterday and they didn't have any!
>
>??? Weird???? I've never heard of such a thing except when there has been a
>major union problems and the last of those would be decades ago now. Was
>there any reason why they wouldn't have fuel?
>

Sure, the sold everything they had. I've seen it happen a few times
at various stations. Someone has to check the level every once in a
while and estimate sales.

On 2013-01-12 04:45:15 +0000, Ed Pawlowski said:

> On Fri, 11 Jan 2013 16:42:41 -0800, gtr > wrote:
>
>>> It's just a matter of courtesy -- something that should come naturally
>>> by the time someone is old enough for a job.
>>
>> What is considered "courtesy" morphs over time. Always has, always will.
>
> True, but the past few years it has taken a bad turn. Many of the
> younger generation accept second rate as they have never seen proper
> manners.

That's what older folk have said for a few thousand years: That's my
basic point.

On 2013-01-12 04:40:13 +0000, Ed Pawlowski said:

> On Fri, 11 Jan 2013 18:11:25 -0500, Dave Smith
> > wrote:
>
>> I made a deal with myself when I retired. I promised myself that if I
>> ever found myself watching Jerry Springer on daytime TV I would have to
>> go out and get a job. That was 8 years ago. I can tell you that,other
>> than the news, I rarely watch daytime TV.
>
> Reminds me of a conversation I overheard.
>
> Hey Joe, I though you were retired.
>
> I was, but one morning at 10AM I made myself a martini and sat down to
> watch Jerry Springer. Then it hit me! Next day I went looking for a
> job.

I don't care for Jerry Springer, but on the other hand I don't really
know what you'res saying. Are you saying that when you have nothing
better to do than watch "whatever is on the TV", you need to re-order
your life? If so, I agree.

On 2013-01-12 05:16:31 +0000, gregz said:

> Ed Pawlowski > wrote:
>> On Fri, 11 Jan 2013 18:11:25 -0500, Dave Smith
>> > wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>>
>>> I made a deal with myself when I retired. I promised myself that if I
>>> ever found myself watching Jerry Springer on daytime TV I would have to
>>> go out and get a job. That was 8 years ago. I can tell you that,other
>>> than the news, I rarely watch daytime TV.
>>>
>>
>> Reminds me of a conversation I overheard.
>>
>> Hey Joe, I though you were retired.
>>
>> I was, but one morning at 10AM I made myself a martini and sat down to
>> watch Jerry Springer. Then it hit me! Next day I went looking for a
>> job.
>
> Jerry springer- rec.food.cooking
>
> Jerry springer- rec.food.cooking
>
> Jerry springer- rec.food.cooking
>
> What's the difference ?

One is participatory, the other is not.

On 2013-01-12 05:13:03 +0000, Ed Pawlowski said:

> On Fri, 11 Jan 2013 16:31:08 -0800, gtr > wrote:
>
>> We can only make judgements based on the obviously self-serving initial
>> story, which ended with the angry old man ratting out the employee to
>> the manager in the hopes of making this a "better world" or for
>> appropriate "punishment to be meted out" or some other noble or
>> vindictive rationale. I don't know which, nor care.
>
> I'm getting old, but I was not angry. Shocked at abysmal behavior
> would be a better narration..

Okay shocked. Then you went about your business "fixing" things, right?

> Where we differ, you would have accepted the bad manners as being OK
> and done nothing about it.

Probably not. I probobly would have said, "Hey--I'm waiting for my
change over here. I've got things to do." I would have said it with a
smile. And if it was greeted with that dead lifeless "oh dad" look, I
would have said some more without a smile. But that's just me.

> Chances are, she has been doing this for some time and would continue...

Here you go with your bullshit mind reading. You don't know a ****ing
thing about her or her life or her text, and you're projecting your own
angst in a vast sweeping generalizaiton on another human being..
Understand your petty failings and move on.

> ...to do so and even more since no one ever complained. Meantime,
> business could have fallen off as customers went elsewhere in search of
> better service.

Like you give a **** about the poor customers at the Burger Hole.
You're belly-aching about YOU, and your irritable-bowel symptoms, don't
make it some kind of "save the world" horse shit.

> What is that old saying about "when good men do nothing"?

You ratted her out over the phone. What do they say about when "pussies
rat people folks over the phone"?

>> Wage earners do have lives, after all. At least I think they have lives
>> in the legal sense. Would the content of the text message matter before
>> sentencing the convicted?
>
> No, she should have not had the phone out to begin with or have looked
> at it while completing a customer transaction. No way can it be
> justified.

You should be a cop in a small town with a large low-income population
in order to reach your full potential.

> I knew a guy once...

And this point I think even that is the start of more self-serving horse shit.

"Dave Smith" > wrote in message
> On 11/01/2013 5:54 PM, Farm1 wrote:
>
>>> One of the problems with some of these jobs is that many of the people
>>> holding the position don't NEED to work.
>> Well that certainly applied to the menial jobs I did after retirement.
>
> I am grateful that I opted to stick it out in my career with the
> government. There were times when I was ready to pack it in and to look
> for something more in line with my education and with more opportunity for
> advancement. Having paid a lot into a pension fund was an incentive to
> stay. And.... along came an opportunity for early retirement.

Yeah, I know all about that. I took early retirement twice. I went back
after the first retirement after and offer froma former boss was too good to
refuse.

> I jumped at the opportunity. I was tired of working with a sword hanging
> over my head. I retired at the age of 53, and I set myself a goal. I
> wanted to lose 5 pounds a year through exercise, a goal that I was
> meeting.
>
> I made a deal with myself when I retired. I promised myself that if I ever
> found myself watching Jerry Springer on daytime TV I would have to go out
> and get a job. That was 8 years ago. I can tell you that,other than the
> news, I rarely watch daytime TV.

We watch the cricket when the weather is really hot and going outside is
risking dehydration and sometimes Himself watches the tennis which I find
quite boring. Other than that, I've never been able to understand why
anyone would have the TV on during the day.

> Meanwhile, my brother, who does not like wine, is taking a wine course at
> a local university because he wants to get a job in the tasting rooms > at
> one of the local universities.

LOL. I do like that. I don't like wine either but I have bought Himself
wine that he said was very good base on how it smelled to me.

>>> When you can't afford to lose a job, you work harder at keeping it.
>>
>> True to some extent but not always applicable.

> Yep. There are a lot of people who are constantly losing their jobs.

I've always done the leaving so losing a job is not something I really
understand.

> One aspect of having a menial labour position is that the boss is going to
> be an asshole, and, since there are minimal requirements for the position,
> you are easily replaced.
>
>
>
> I had one of the best paying jobs in the bargaining unit with our
> government. I had to deal with a a half dozen statute laws and the
> associated regulations and a policy and several procedures and procedures
> manuals. It was challenging and interesting, and the money was good.
>
> I suppose that post retirement employment could give me some extra cash.

I found out that it was more illusory than anything. It's more about
meeting people that I normally would never have had the chance to meet in
RL.

> It would give me something to fill my days, which I don't really need. I
> might be tempted to get a job somewhere just so that, if I got an idiot
> boss who gave me a hard time, I could just say "screw you" and walk out in
> the middle of a shift.

:-)) A friend from my last job did just that one day in my hearing. It was
most satisfying. Like me she didn't need to money and the surprised
reaction was quite funny.

"Dave Smith" > wrote in message
...
> On 11/01/2013 5:56 PM, Farm1 wrote:
>> "Dave Smith" > wrote in message
>>
>> I remember my first day
>>> working in an allow plant, a summer job I had while at university.
>>
>> What's an 'allow plant'?
>>
>>
> It's a type .. alloy plant.

Ah! Thanks.

"Cheryl" > wrote in message
b.com...
> On 1/11/2013 9:16 AM, Farm1 wrote:
>> "jmcquown" > wrote in message
>>
>> (snip)
>>> This place isn't exactly a top of the line Exxon station. I went to put
>>> gas in my car yesterday and they didn't have any!
>>
>> ??? Weird???? I've never heard of such a thing except when there has
>> been a
>> major union problems and the last of those would be decades ago now. Was
>> there any reason why they wouldn't have fuel?
>>
>>
> Demand beat out supply. Happens often here in our gas-guzzler world.

Now that is interesting. I've not known that to happen here. I guess it'll
come here too though.

"jmcquown" > wrote in message
...
> On 1/11/2013 5:44 PM, Farm1 wrote:
>> "jmcquown" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>> On 1/11/2013 9:16 AM, Farm1 wrote:
>>>> "jmcquown" > wrote in message
>>>>
>>>> (snip)
>>>>> This place isn't exactly a top of the line Exxon station. I went to
>>>>> put
>>>>> gas in my car yesterday and they didn't have any!
>>>>
>>>> ??? Weird???? I've never heard of such a thing except when there has
>>>> been a
>>>> major union problems and the last of those would be decades ago now.
>>>> Was
>>>> there any reason why they wouldn't have fuel?
>>>>
>>>>
>>> Obviously the clerks didn't know. Someone ventured a guess about
>>> Hurricane Sandy but that doesn't explain why other gas stations a few
>>> miles away had fuel and they didn't. I suspect this is a poorly managed
>>> franchize or possibly a single owner with rights to use the Exxon
>>> name/logo. I really can't explain it.
>>
>> When you started out by saying 'obviously the clerks didn't know'. I
>> wondered what was obvious and that I'd missed.
>>
>> I reread your previous post and it seems that there is nothing at all
>> about
>> the lack of fuel was the least bit obvious to either you or the clerks.
>
> I don't know how to explain this.

I do understand that they were out of fuel. It was your use of the word
'obviously' in your response in that position that caught my eye. I suspect
that you don't understand the reason why would have caught my eye, but its
not important.

"Cheryl" > wrote in message

> And I'll bet you had the ICQ chat interface installed.

OMG! Now those 3 letters sure are a blast from the past!

"gtr" > wrote in message

> Wage earners do have lives, after all. At least I think they have lives in
> the legal sense. Would the content of the text message matter before
> sentencing the convicted?

And a text message is so important that it can't wait for 10 seconds?

It might be important if the person was sending a text that said "NO, do not
sent out a Nuclear Warhead!" I didn't think the US President did that
sort of work.

On Fri, 11 Jan 2013 21:22:00 -0800, gtr > wrote:



>>
>> Reminds me of a conversation I overheard.
>>
>> Hey Joe, I though you were retired.
>>
>> I was, but one morning at 10AM I made myself a martini and sat down to
>> watch Jerry Springer. Then it hit me! Next day I went looking for a
>> job.
>
> I don't care for Jerry Springer, but on the other hand I don't really
>know what you'res saying. Are you saying that when you have nothing
>better to do than watch "whatever is on the TV", you need to re-order
>your life? If so, I agree.

Yes, especially with a martini in the morning.

"gregz" > wrote in message
> Ed Pawlowski > wrote:
>> On Fri, 11 Jan 2013 18:11:25 -0500, Dave Smith
>> > wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>>
>>> I made a deal with myself when I retired. I promised myself that if I
>>> ever found myself watching Jerry Springer on daytime TV I would have to
>>> go out and get a job. That was 8 years ago. I can tell you that,other
>>> than the news, I rarely watch daytime TV.
>>>
>>
>> Reminds me of a conversation I overheard.
>>
>> Hey Joe, I though you were retired.
>>
>> I was, but one morning at 10AM I made myself a martini and sat down to
>> watch Jerry Springer. Then it hit me! Next day I went looking for a
>> job.
>
> Jerry springer- rec.food.cooking
>
> Jerry springer- rec.food.cooking
>
> Jerry springer- rec.food.cooking
>
> What's the difference ?

That's easy. Here at least some of the people are interesting. In the case
of Jerry Springer, none of the people are interesting.

On Fri, 11 Jan 2013 21:31:18 -0800, gtr > wrote:



>
>Probably not. I probobly would have said, "Hey--I'm waiting for my
>change over here. I've got things to do." I would have said it with a
>smile. And if it was greeted with that dead lifeless "oh dad" look, I
>would have said some more without a smile. But that's just me.

With the window closed you are isolated at the time. No so easy to
do.

>
>> Chances are, she has been doing this for some time and would continue...
>
>Here you go with your bullshit mind reading. You don't know a ****ing
>thing about her or her life or her text, and you're projecting your own
>angst in a vast sweeping generalizaiton on another human being..
>Understand your petty failings and move on.

She is a teenage girl. Yes, she would have done it forever and
probably still is. Most all of them do.






>
>You ratted her out over the phone. What do they say about when "pussies
>rat people folks over the phone"?

The number was posted on the window for just that reason. There are
at least two on the drive-through windows and one inside the store. At
the time, it was the most expedient way. There was no address for the
headquarters of the owner of the three locations he owns.


>
>>> Wage earners do have lives, after all. At least I think they have lives
>>> in the legal sense. Would the content of the text message matter before
>>> sentencing the convicted?
>>
>> No, she should have not had the phone out to begin with or have looked
>> at it while completing a customer transaction. No way can it be
>> justified.
>
>You should be a cop in a small town with a large low-income population
>in order to reach your full potential.

Not a cop, but I've run a couple of successful businesses with happy
customers. And happy employees that follow reasonable rules.

>
>> I knew a guy once...
>
>And this point I think even that is the start of more self-serving horse shit.

Maybe you should use your kill file.

On Fri, 11 Jan 2013 23:41:01 -0600, Sqwertz >
wrote:

>On Tue, 8 Jan 2013 15:45:43 -0500, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
>
>> The other day I stopped at a local fast food place for a breakfast sandwich.
>> The drive-up window has two steps, you pay at window #1 and pick up your
>> order at window #2. It was early in the morning and I placed an order and
>> drove to #1. The young girl took my money, made the change from the
>> register, then put it down while she texted on her phone. Once done
>> texting, she gave me my change.
>
>Maybe she was using the phone's calculator to make sure she was giving
>you the correct change. Perhaps she typed in the wrong amount
>tendered into the register and needed to recalculate it. Because
>youngsters don't know how to count with their fingers any more.
>
>-sw

Good point, there were three pennies involved.

Farm1 wrote:
> "Cheryl" > wrote in message
> b.com...
>> On 1/11/2013 9:16 AM, Farm1 wrote:
>>> "jmcquown" > wrote in message
>>>
>>> (snip)
>>>> This place isn't exactly a top of the line Exxon station. I went
>>>> to put gas in my car yesterday and they didn't have any!
>>>
>>> ??? Weird???? I've never heard of such a thing except when there
>>> has been a
>>> major union problems and the last of those would be decades ago
>>> now. Was there any reason why they wouldn't have fuel?
>>>
>>>
>> Demand beat out supply. Happens often here in our gas-guzzler world.
>
> Now that is interesting. I've not known that to happen here. I
> guess it'll come here too though.

I've seen it happen a few times. Can't remember what station it was the
first time but we had inclement weather for a while prior. And we were
expecting another storm. So I think there was more of a demand than usual.
Then there was the time that Costco was out! That was horrible. We were
having a heavy wind/rain storm. I stopped at an unfamiliar station and
couldn't escape the rain and wind.

On Jan 11, 12:28*am, "Farm1" > wrote:

> I retired from a very high paying job and then sought out what most people
> would term 'menial jobs'. *I really wanted to try my hand at being a bar
> maid in *a pub but there were no vacancies for that so I did other things.


I do not dispute your claim. I believe you. However, because you
had a well paying job and possibly some cash left over from that, your
experiences with menial jobs cannot possibly carry the same weight as
those who have had nothing but menial jobs all their lives and have
never been able to save enough to get out. Believe me, those people
are not happy. Same with hitch-hiking. Some guy quits his Wall
Street life and decides to spend a year hitch-hiking, it's not going
to be the same as someone without a dime shivering in the rain about
to lose his mind that no one in the whole wide world will stop and
pick him up. And then someone does and his faith in humanity is
momentarily been restored. I've been there. I'm glad I was there. I
have many entertaining and interesting stories based on some hitch-
hiking experiences that surely were not fun when they happened.

TJ

On Jan 11, 12:06*pm, "Pete C." > wrote:

> I sat through a 45
> minute con call recently listening to what was essentially a new group
> trying to justify their existence and explaining how their entire
> function is essentially to duplicate things that already exist and work
> just fine. Sad, very sad...



I believe jobs are artificial and contrived and full of shit. I'm
not saying that about work. Work is something that needs to be done.
Most jobs are phony in my opinion and have nothing to offer anyone but
paychecks. OTOH, as sad and sickening as that is, maybe that is the
best we can do collectively to keep the world from exploding.

TJ

On Jan 11, 6:50*pm, jmcquown > wrote:

> That's a good reason not to be talking on the phone while in the kitchen
> *That's one of my rules. *When I'm cooking, sorry I'm busy, I can't
> talk right now. *Same thing when I'm eating. *Nope, sorry. *I'm not
> going to let the food get cold because the phone rang.


Welcome to Tivo Town where everyone is living behind the times with
lightening speed. There is no such thing as true multi-tasking
without something suffering. A person can chew gum and walk at the
same time, that is not multi-tasking. I'm seeing it more and more,
people with high speed life styles and high speed gadgets doing a
bunch of things at once because they either lack or don't know how to
use the most fundamental and precious of all possessions - time. Look
at all the commercials on tv. Almost all of them revolve around being
able to do things faster. All these high speed gadgets do ultimately
is give people more time to WORK.

TJ

"Tommy Joe" > wrote in message
On Jan 11, 12:28 am, "Farm1" > wrote:

> I retired from a very high paying job and then sought out what most people
> would term 'menial jobs'. I really wanted to try my hand at being a bar
> maid in a pub but there were no vacancies for that so I did other things.


I do not dispute your claim. I believe you. However, because you
had a well paying job and possibly some cash left over from that, your
experiences with menial jobs cannot possibly carry the same weight as
those who have had nothing but menial jobs all their lives and have
never been able to save enough to get out. Believe me, those people
are not happy.
__________________________________________
You live in a very different culture to the one I do. Here even menial jobs
pay far more than the US and there is always a far more generous social
scecurity system to help support such people. If they want to move to help
their employment chances that is also an option. The situation for low paid
workers in the US has always astounded me. I'll stop there because from
here on anything further I'd say would get very political and then I'd be
accused by some ninny of being a communist.

Same with hitch-hiking. Some guy quits his Wall
Street life and decides to spend a year hitch-hiking, it's not going
to be the same as someone without a dime shivering in the rain about
to lose his mind that no one in the whole wide world will stop and
pick him up. And then someone does and his faith in humanity is
momentarily been restored. I've been there. I'm glad I was there. I
have many entertaining and interesting stories based on some hitch-
hiking experiences that surely were not fun when they happened.
_____________________________________
Yeah we've all read those Jack Reacher novels.

"Tommy Joe" > wrote in message
...
On Jan 11, 12:06 pm, "Pete C." > wrote:

> I sat through a 45
> minute con call recently listening to what was essentially a new group
> trying to justify their existence and explaining how their entire
> function is essentially to duplicate things that already exist and work
> just fine. Sad, very sad...



I believe jobs are artificial and contrived and full of shit. I'm
not saying that about work. Work is something that needs to be done.
Most jobs are phony in my opinion and have nothing to offer anyone but
paychecks. OTOH, as sad and sickening as that is, maybe that is the
best we can do collectively to keep the world from exploding.
----------------------------------------------------
Well I don't think that is not such a silly analysis as some might think it
is :-)))