Set the Clock, Lose Power

Say, you know that clock on your microwave? You know, the one many of you probably don't use or don't know how to set - like the one on your VCR (for those who still have a VCR and know what it is)?

Well, mine is fairly easy to set. But there's a reason why I often don't set it.

The apartment complex I live in doesn't have the most reliable power system around. Anytime there is an inkling of foul weather, the power seems to go out - for a few seconds. Everything shuts off, and electronics which may have had settings just lost those settings. This includes my microwave.

Oddly, nearly every single time I take those 10 seconds to set my microwave clock, a day or two later, the power drops, usually when I'm out, and the clock goes bye-bye. Coincidence? Probably. Or maybe those microchips we put in all those electronic gadgets are working against me. Maybe my microwave, after years of faithful service, has decided, "You know what? I work hard at heating up that food, I shouldn't have to work doing anything else." Then it collaborates with its electronic buddies and somehow gets the power to drop.

*Cue Terminator music*

May I help you?

Riddle me this:

Is there such a thing as being TOO helpful?

It's great when you're in need of assistance and someone is there to help you, but what if that someone won't stop helping you - even after you've already been helped?

Take for example my trip to Best Buy (hereafter known as BB).

To me, BB employees have always been overzealous. They're just always out to help you. Here's how my trip went:

(I walk in the door.)
BB "Greeter": Hello sir, how are you today?
Me: Fine, thanks.
(I Walk towards the back, to the PC software section.)
(BB Guy #1 rushes over to me.)
BB Guy #1: Hello sir, how are you? Can I help you find anything?
Me: I'm fine, and no. Thanks for asking though.
(BB Guy #1 moves on.)
(I look in the software section and move into another area.)
(BB Guy #2 spots me)
BB Guy #2: Hello sir, are you looking for anything specific I can help you find?
Me: No thank you. I'm just browsing right now.
BB Guy #2: Okay. My name's BB Guy #2 in case you need something.
(I continue browsing, then move a mere row over and start looking at the IPods.)
(BB Guy #2 walks over and moves directly across from me on the IPod display)
BB Guy#2: Still browsing? Tell me sir do you already own an IPod?
Me: Nope.
(I continue to look, completely ignoring BB Guy #2)
(BB Guy stands there a minute with a big smile on his face, as if desperately wanting me to ask him for help)
(I move on to another section)
(As I'm moving to the TVs, BB Gal spots me)
BB Gal: Hello sir, how are you today?
Me: Just fine thanks.
(I keep moving to the TV section)
BB Guy #3: Hello sir, how are you?
Me: Okay I guess.
(I look around in the TVs. BB Guy #3 moves off.)
(I circle around back to where I started in TVs after a few minutes. BB Guy #3 approaches)
BB Guy #3: Sir, do you have any questions? Can I help you find anything?
Me: No questions right now thanks. I'll let you know.
(BB Guy #3 moves off)
(BB Guy #4 heads my way but I move on.)
(As I'm heading towards the exit, BB Guy #5 spots me)
BB Guy #5: Hello sir -
Me: I'm fine, and I'm just looking.
(Dejected looking BB Guy #5 moves off)
(Moving through the exit)
BB "Greeter": Have a nice day sir!

Now, BB employees supposedly aren't on commission, but there's a fat bonus for people who make the most sales. That "free magazine offer" they try to convince you into taking when you're checking out? The managers push the employees to push those things. I even overheard one such manager do this to an employee. So to me it sounds not like people trying to help, but people trying to be your best friend so you'll let them help you buy something.

I'm all for helping customers when they need it. I'm all for friendly employees. But geez, can't I shop for 5 minutes without someone hovering over my shoulder? Many stores, someone will ask you if you need help, and when you say no, they basically just go "ok, well I'll be around if you need anything." They know people are grown up enough that if they need help, they will seek it. They don't need babysitting.

So, anyone else's thoughts?

Knock Knock

I've long theorized that the wrists of most average adults don't work, or just don't work well. This is evident in the lack of people who can properly use their turn signals, flush toilets, and the like.

My theory also seems to be proven with people who can't knock on doors. You probably have to live in an apartment complex to see this on a regular basis. It might be the wrist problem, it might be simple laziness, or it could be a combination of the two.

The situation goes like this: someone comes to a dwelling to pick another someone up. The person doing the driving has three choices.

Choice #1: call the person in the dwelling on their cell phone. You'd think this would be the most popular choice, what with how much people love talking on their cell phones. But you don't see it all that much.
Choice #2: Park the car, get out, and go knock on the door or ring the doorbell. Civilized people prefer this method. Should the person in the dwelling be running late, or still have some things to do to get ready, then often the driver will be invited inside to wait.
And then there's choice #3, the course of action that seems to be the most popular in this day and age. And that's for the driver to sit in their car and blast their car horn until the person in the dwelling comes out and gets in the car. It, of course, is the choice I find most irritating.

All this does is tell me that the driver has no regards to anything and anyone. Car horns are typically very loud in a residential area - ESPECIALLY when its 11:00pm and people are trying to sleep. But hey, what does the driver care, they have to be somewhere sometime soon, and oh, their wrist doesn't work. They can't knock on a door. A doorbell would be just as easy to work as a car horn, but why take that chance?

Maybe I should start investing in wrist rests and wrist therapy products.

Thump Thump Thump Thump

"Sit up straight!"
"Wipe your feet!"
"Don't talk with food in your mouth!"

These were common things I, and probably many of my generation, heard from adults while growing up. Likely they were just passing on the information they were force-fed when they were growing up. I'm talking some of the propaganda/short films that were prevalent in the 1950s and 1960s and shown in high school classrooms - stressing proper hygiene, the "proper" way to court a male/female, etc. I don't recall seeing many of those types of films in school, if it all. Granted it was <@@@@@!!!!!KEYBOARD ERROR!!!!!#####> years ago.

No matter how silly some of these demands from adults were, most of them stuck, and I'm much better for them. I just wish more people had been paying attention.

Every day I see people blindly ignoring these "simple" rules I was taught when I was young.

Rules like picking up my feet when I walk, part of the "proper posture" school of thought. When you pick up your feet, it is better for your overall posture, plus, you don't make any unnecessary noise. There must be a lot of people with poor posture out there, because as people walk by my desk at work, many times I can hear them coming from the distinctive THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP. These people make little if any effort to pick up their feet while walking, so you can hear them from several feet away as they drag their feet along the floor.

We've probably all met someone who fell asleep during the "proper hygiene" film. These people are identifiable from unpleasant body odor to dirt or food particles left on everything they touch. Sadly some people cannot even wash their hands after using the bathroom, even after going #2 - this in a place where other people use the same equipment you use! Frankly I'm thankful that at my office all the toilets are self-flush. The ones at the old office weren't, and it was sadly common to go into a stall to find someone else's unfinished business.

If there were a test on proper etiquette people would flunk it. People rarely treat their elders with respect anymore. Heck, they hardly treat people their own age with any respect. I still call people "sir" and "ma'am." I still say good morning, goodnight. A gentleman on my own team and work doesn't even have it in him to talk to anyone when he arrives, or at any part of the day for that matter. Other "rules of etiquette" I learned such as holding the door open for people and throwing trash away in the nearest trash receptacle - have apparently been lost. Many like to just toss trash aside. It disgusts me when I go up to the top floor of the parking garage at work and look down at the ground to see fields of cigarette butts and various garbage.

Do we need to bring those propaganda films back? Do we need to enforce the ideas of proper hygiene and etiquette on the latest generation of kids, so they might pass their "knowledge" to future generations? Is that fair to the kids to subject them to films and ideas like that? Well, seeing how things have been the last few years, I say teaching the kids some good manners might just be a good idea.

Once Again the World is Safe - But for How Long?

Well, I feel like a chump. Here I've been held up in a bunker for a solid month dreading the inevitable doom that is Daylight Savings Time, and I come to find out it was Y2K all over again. There was no apocalypse. Oh, the wasted time I've spent in that bunker, when I could have been blogging, enjoying February sweeps on TV, experiencing the gorgeous weather, dating.. ok, well I probably didn't miss out much on the dating, but the point is, I missed out on a lot!

You see, back in 2005, Congress thought it would be a fun idea to extend Daylight Savings Time by about 4 weeks beginning in 2007. They would be starting it 3 weeks early, and then ending it 1 week later. So we Americans get to experience Daylight Savings from March through early November! Yay! I'm glad Congress did that, rather than figure out a National Health Care Plan, or improving Social Security. 4 more weeks of Daylight Savings is far more important. The problem here is that before this momentous decision, computers were already programmed to change their clocks in early April at the "usual" start of Daylight Savings. So anything programmed/built before 2005 wouldn't be able to automatically change time this morning! The horror! Professional Doomsayers and respected newspapers such as the National Enquirer predicted disaster of biblical proportions, as pre-2005 machines were very likely going to explode or turn on their masters in Terminator-esque fashion.

And so I protected myself, thinking one day I may have to become John Connor. Alas, the day began just as any other day would. And so, I emerge, embarrassed, and in serious need of a tan. Maybe the experts were wrong - in November, Daylight Savings will end 1 week later than normal - and we still may experience Armageddon. So I guess I'd better keep the bunker handy. Coincidentally, I am offering room and board in my bunker until then, must be a non-smoker.