Showing posts with label Economy. Show all posts

Well, for those of you who don't know, I work as a retail clerk in a liquor/cigarette store, that features a drive-up window. This is a kind of step down for me, career-wise, but right now, I'll take any job that comes along.

I am good at clerking, in a previous life, I was probably a general store owner in the old west, and I probably wore sleeve garters.



Just because one is talented at something, doesn't mean he wants to do it for a living, though. But I cannot choose my job right now, so I'll be satisfied with the idea that doing the job brings me money which allows me to live my life in a way that will bring me the satisfaction I don't get in a career.

As I spend my day selling my wares, I am practicing the habit of writing down notes so that later I can have something to blog about. As I've mention previously, this is not always productive...

My Manager/Owner prefers to listen to pop-country music on the overhead music system, and he chooses to play a popular radio station. I, personally, have not listened to the radio since I was about 12 years old, when I discovered that the 14 other tracks on an album (Or cassette tape, or 8-track) were often much more interesting to listen to than the one hit off the album that got played on every radio station ten or twelve times per day.

But I can usually stomach Pop music, it's the country part of the music that is driving me to throw myself under the next train that passes. The thing about country music is not the twang to it, or the fact that one can usually understand every single word uttered. It is the sentiment of the lyric. In the olden days, country music was of the 'cry-in-your-beer' type, where a man sung about a girl whose left him, or a woman sings about how hard life is without the man she just left. Little has changed in the Country Music theme, although I will admit that it has been modernized somewhat, and the girls who sing the songs these days look just as much like bar sluts as pop music girls do. Not that the Bar Slut look is bad. Seriously, it is hot and sexy, and I would guess that a girl on stage, or in a video wearing her laundry-day sweatpants (The ones with 'Juicy' on the butt, but with some of the letters missing) and the stained t-shirt, the only comfortable, but unflattering, bra she owns, and dirty flip-flops, well, that girl would not be a super-star in the music world. All I'm saying is, that the country girls dress up just as well, whereas in the old days they dressed like the Pennsylvania dutch. Much improvement.

The songs on Pop Country stations get as much over-play as those on regular pop stations, and I swear, during an 8 hour shift, I hear the same song about ten times. That, for you non-mathematical types, is more than once per hour. The current popular song in high-rotation is a Carrie Underwood piece telling us all a terribly sad story about a young 18 year old girl whose man has gone off to war, and is not coming home. It's catchy, in the same way that Measles is, and if you want to torture yourself, here is where you can listen, http://www.last.fm/music/Carrie+Underwood/Carnival+Ride/Just+A+Dream, and here are the lyrics, http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/carrieunderwood/justadream.html.

In order to provide you, the generous reader, with this information, I had to listen to this song again, right here at home, and it was torture. I hope you appreciate it.



My point in all of this is this; All day long I have to listen to country music, and I try to hum my own tunes, more often than not, the old familiar ones which are hard to get out of your head. Bon Jovi's 'Livin' on a Prayer', Journey's 'Faithfully', Pearl Jam's 'Jeremy'. Songs you know the words to, that have the potential of drowning out the drawl. The thing about country music is that is it all about the emotion, but that can be said about any music, really, just look at the songs I posted. Maybe it is the fact that I associate the songs with people I know, or used to know, and don't want to think about.

Other than listening to country music all day, I do get to deal with a wide assortment of creepy people, which is always fun. People pulling up to the drive-thru window at 9 a.m. To buy a pint of vodka on their way to work, a nice couple with the litter of kidlets in the back seat arguing about which cheap cigarettes they will buy, because if they get the 1.7 liter of generic bourbon, they can only afford one pack. I can't say they are all degenerates, because I don't think they are. I have just never worked in a bar, or even spent much time in bars, and seeing so many drunks in the daylight is just new to me.

When I get to work at night, it is even more fun. Drunks driving up to the window, barely able to focus their attention on me waiting for their order, but buying a thirty pack of cheap beer, and a fifth of crème de menthe, talking on their cell, and texting on it at the same time. Makes me glad I am inside the building, and not out on the roads.

When I worked at Starbucks, my clientèle happened to be a little higher class, simply because we sold a luxury item, where as the stuff I sell now is definitely a necessity, but at my job now, the class is more in the line of the toothless, and poor. Of course mixed in with the hardworking construction guys, the farmers, and the female bank executives buying their Virginia Slims, and $20 lottery scratcher. It is a strange world.

We also sell wine, and in our little town, I think we are one of the best wine store around, both for price and varied selection. Selling the wine is my arena of excellence, and if I can steer enough of the patrons away from the gallon box of White Zinfandel, I feel like I've accomplished something.

There is definitely not as much flirting from the female customers as there was at Starbucks. I don't know if it is the Clients who don't see me there as someone to flirt with, or if it is that they are too in need of feeding their addiction to think of anything else.

Whatever the situation is there, it is not hard work, even if it is not rewarding. It brings me in touch with a lot of strange people, which is interesting. And it pays fairly well, which is a good kind of reward. I'll hold off on judgment of the place until my first robbery, now that the economy is crashing, that likelihood is rising fast.

So I'm having a hard time at work. My new job is retail, still stuck in retail. I yearn for another office job. I would rather deal with the idiots in cubes, than the ones across the counter. I know both jobs entail sacrificing your soul, and everything you believe in to someone with the I.Q. Of a mango, but somehow I feel that being taken advantage of by someone you don't know, and never have to see again is just dis-heartening.

Also, the people I work for, well, it is an old story, but a good one. I am the lowest on the totem pole here, and the three co-owners, and manager are always around, giving me different directions, and lists of things to do. It's like being married to triplets. In addition, they all take smoke breaks, lunch breaks, any kind of break they want, and I work 9 hours straight, with not even a potty break.

It's better than being unemployed, but not by much.

The real problem is that I have some moments during my day when I think of things to blog about, and forget them quickly.

The store I work in has a drive-thru, and I honestly wonder sometimes if I am not inconveniencing the people who pull up tot he window in their car. Somehow they make me feel like I am in some way interrupting their phone-call-while-eating-and-having-a-conversation-with-the-person-in-the-backseat time.

In addition, since I work at a liquor store, I get to see people buying half-pints of terrible vodka at 9 am, breathing their alcohol breath at me. And since I work and live in a very backwards part of the world on the fringe of the Ozark mountains and the great plains of Kansas, I get to see some of the worst dental hygiene on the planet, outside of England.

Also, I get to hear complaints of the increase in a twelve pack of Keystone Light by $.10, and how if Obama gets elected, we'll all be living in a socialist country, and won't even be able to buy beer anymore.

It is soul wrenching.

Night before last, I had a very very drunk customer come on and purchase five Power-ball lottery tickets. After I punched the right keys, five random computer generated tickets popped out, and he looked at them, complained that I was 'Fucked', and could 'stick the tickets up my ass'. He threw the tickets at me, and walked out. I observed that out of the five individual tickets, there were three power-balls numbered 10, and two numbered 11. He wanted to get five different power balls, and was pissed off that the computer didn't randomly give him what he wanted. Of course this was my fault.

So far these are random observations ranting about work. Pretty boring stuff.

I came home the other day, and found my landlord and her husband emptying the apartment below me. Turns out the previous occupants had not paid their rent for three months, and when she came by to check on them found they had turned off the utilities a month ago, and were no where to be found. The two guys had lived there for years, and suddenly disappeared, leaving everything behind. The landlord said the apartment was pretty clean, except for the fridge, which had two weeks of spoiled food, and a dirty carpet, but no stains. They left everything behind, bed, TV, furniture, computer. The landlord was incredibly nice to me.

I say that only because out of the over 18 months I've lived here I have paid my rent on-time, or early exactly three times. Right now, I am two months behind. My apartment is pretty messy, I am not a good housekeeper, and I know that sometimes they come by and knock, and if I am not here, they open the door and come in, so I know they've seen the dirty apartment I live in. Yet they are incredibly nice to me, joking around, and commenting, and asking about my family.

It baffles my mind.

One comment that I didn't understand at all was when the landlord asked me how old I was. Her husband then replied that my age is 'when the women really start to chase you,' and I had no idea how to reply. Was he saying it generally? Or was he chased a lot when he was my age? How uncomfortable.

I think what gets me is that people that really don't know anything about me tend to like me. It is hard to understand because I guess I don't like myself too awfully much. But I know myself pretty well. Maybe I fear that I will just disappoint them when they really get to know me. Like I have disappointed myself so often.

I wonder sometimes if I behave the way I wish I was, and when I am who I actually am, I turn out to be nothing like the person I 'pretend' to be. Is it dishonest? Does everyone do it? I am not trying to put on airs, or intentionally deceive people. In the workplace, one has to behave a certain way, right? Behave professionally? Do people behave professionally at home? In bed? While Jogging?

Maybe it is the fact that my entire social life comes from work. And therefore, everyone I know 'socially' only sees me as I behave at work. If I had more of a social life outside of work or home, I could behave more like myself. But this would require me finding people to socialize with that don't work with me, or patronize my workplace. And to find these people, I would have to know people who would introduce me to these new potential friends. But I know no one. At least here, I know no one.

My friends are all people I have worked with in the past, or served as customers in the past. I guess that is pretty normal. The whole thing about you can pick your friends but you can't pick your family comes into play here, since I have little way of picking friends here. There is no way to meet people int his small town, nor any way to socialize. There are probably people here who I would get along with, and have fun with, but there is not way to find them.

I guess I'll have to find a way. At least until I can get back home to Cali, and get back with my real friends.

"Notable Quotations from George Santayana
'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.'
Life of Reason, Reason in Common Sense, Scribner's, 1905, page 284"


The current fiscal crap that is going on might blow over. We might bail out some big and small, national and international banks, and it might work, and nothing bad may happen. The doom-sayers might have their day in the sun, and everything bad might come true.

You should try though, at least, to understand history, and specifically the history of what has happened to the United States Financial system. Things are starting to look familiar to me, and I assume to many others. It may not be avoidable, but if history is going to repeat it self or not, I refuse to be condemned to repeat it.

Here are just a few sources of easy to understand information. I would love to see some conservatives post some video's or sources as well, because what I am posting is mostly liberal, and somewhat conspiracy-theory driven. I have yet to find much information from the opposition explaining what has happened in the past from their point of view (Except for "You're all crazy..." and "This is just liberal media crap that doesn't deserve my attention")

I have an open mind, and want to hear what they have to say on the other side of the aisle.

Here are some links to some video regarding the history of Money, and finances in the US.

http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/
(Particularly "Part Three: Don't mind the men behind the curtain")

http://www.freedomtofascism.com/

http://www.youtube.com/user/tyrannyofsoulz
(Particularly the videos, "The Corrupt Banking System")

From my point of view, the collapse of the banks, and the subsequent bailout by the US Government could be a preemptive move, or it could be coincidence. Either way, your generation will be dealing with it for the next ten years much like we have been dealing with the Iraq war since 2003 (Or 2001, if you choose to view it that way). We were told things then that affected our opinions, and decisions that later turned out to be completely untrue, and had we known the right questions to ask, we might have avoided it. These documentaries might give us a few questions to ask, both our leadership, as well as ourselves.

CNN Article, Bush: 'We must act now'

According to the above article, President Bush says that we must act quickly to solve the financial problems in the United States.

"We must act now to protect our nation's economic health from serious risk," Bush said at a White House press conference. "There will be ample opportunity to discuss the origins of this problems. Now is the time to solve it." (sic)

Here is where I have my doubts, The 'Ample opportunity' he speaks of will be about 6 weeks, or so. After wards, he will be a lame duck to whomever wins the election. During his Lame Duck period of time, it is so very very unlikely that either candidate will consider beating up the current administration with blame.

Bush further explains, "For every dollar invested in an insured fund, you'll be able to take a dollar out,"

This interest me, especially if he is actually talking about ME, when he says 'YOU'.

'Funds', that he refers to here, are 'investments', right? And any kind of investment has an inherent speculative risk. So is he guaranteeing something here that he really cannot, in anyway, guarantee? And how exactly does 'You' take a dollar 'out?'

It sounds like so much Bush hogwash that uneducated people continue to believe, because if W. says it, it must be true.

In the bigger picture, that of the idea of saving private institutions with Federal Tax money, I think this is the kind of idea that requires a case by case study, and also requires the Congress, and Executive to 'win' us, the voting public, over, if they deem it wise to bail out some private organization.

If presented well, we could easily jump on board, but right now it feels more like our government is just running things without any consideration for how we feel about it. For the educated among us, we just want to understand why it happened, so that it won't happen again.

Some of us, more passionate types, want someone to blame. But most of these types are also very very cynical, and honestly believe that the deserved blame will never be adequately placed. It doesn't seem like enough punishment, even for the Enron boys, just to be convicted, and prosecuted. But I doubt that even that will happen properly.

Pushing this kind of legislature through the system, "...as quickly as possible without adding controversial provisions that could delay action." sounds more like, "Quick, pass this before the American citizens figure it out!" And I don't honestly think that 10 years ago, or even 25 years ago, our collective minds would jump to such a conclusion, that is, before the current administration set the bar for secrecy, and lies, so low.

I guess I understand most of what has happened, and I too fear what could happen all over the globe, if we don't try to solve this problem. My beef is that no where in the reported statement are we assured that the 'opportunity' will be taken, only that it will be there. That opportunity I speak of, is the opportunity to figure out who is to blame, and how we are going to prevent this from ever happening again.

The risk if we don't deal with this, and very very harshly, is that the high-up muckity-mucks will take the next opportunity to make quick money in a global high-stakes pyramid scheme again, and know full well that the US government will be forced, again, to be the last one standing without a chair when the music stops.