Today was a busy Saturday…
3 minute read
January 8, 2005, 7:28 PM
Yes, this was a busy day today. Though not nearly as bad as pre-Christmas, mind you. Still, this reinforces the point that I cannot stand the express lanes – the “20 items or less” lanes where every other customer comments about that “rule”, getting on my nerves in the process, and the fact that the customers put their items on the edge of the counter without fail. And the more delicate and breakable they are, the closer they put it to the edge. Then there are the debit reader machines. If you’ve ever paid with a card at Wal-Mart, you’ll know that when you’re finished, the machine displays “ask cashier to press debit key” or “ask cashier to press credit key”. And so I hear a hundred times a day from customers, “Press the credit key” or “You need to press the credit key”. I don’t think that they realize that I can see what method they’ve used without their interaction. I so wish Wal-Mart would change that message to something else, like “Thank you” so that I don’t have to be told by umpteen customers how to do my job like I’m an idiot.
Anyway, end of rant.
Meanwhile, I need to make an appointment with the doctor for a repetitive-stress injury that I got around Christmas that I had hoped would go away on its own. So it hurts in both wrists to scan some items. And unlike some people, I’m not out for blood. I’m just concerned about getting better. That’s all.
Otherwise, life is interesting. I went and bought some pants recently at Casual Male in Charlottesville, since I had worn through those light and fluffy pants that I’d bought back in May or so. They did pretty well, but they were too light as fabric goes, thus I literally wore through them in spots. I love the design, though. Just need better fabric. I ought to figure out how to reverse-engineer the pants and make my own with heavier fabric. Probably would just need to disassemble a pair and measure it all.
Speaking of pants, you know what the problem is? It is difficult to find a pair that fit right in all the key areas. If they fit in the waist, they don’t have the correct “rise”, thus if I wear them at the correct height, it makes the crotch go too high, making for that unflattering “camel-toe” effect.
You know what I need? A photocopier for clothes. When I find something that I like and that fits me perfectly, I need to stick it in there, and run off like a million copies of it. That way I don’t have to try on umpteen different pants to try to find that perfect fit. It’s a bother, don’t you know.
You know what would be perfect? The duplicator machine that Calvin (as in Calvin and Hobbes) made. Presto! Perfect pants doubled with the mere touch of a button. And with the second duplicator story, where he added the “Good/Bad” switch, we could have pants that would never wear out, because I only duplicated the pants’ good side. And then of course if I get tired of the pants, turn the box over, write “Transmogrifier” on the side, and turn the dial to the right setting, and change them into something else.
But I have new pants. That’s a good thing. Unfortunately, they’re jeans, which I’m not really a big fan of because they’re not as nice feeling as other pants, but they are definitely functional.
Also, something about my most recent Washington trip – I was talking to my sister on my cell phone while I was on the train from Vienna to Rosslyn. She asked me, “Where are you?” regarding my location. She knew I was going to Washington already. She said, “I figure you must be somewhere in Washington, since I heard the Metro chimes.” So I responded very specifically. “I am on Track 1 of the K Route, between K07 and K06. Anything else you’d like to know?” Sis’s response was along the lines of sure, now what does that mean? I then explained that what I said meant that I was going into Washington on the Orange Line, and was between Dunn Loring/Merrifield and West Falls Church-VT/UVA. I love using rail terminology sometimes, though.
Web site: About "Ask cashier to press debit key" message
Song: Telegate jingle from one of their 11880 commercials
Quote: "I am on Track 1 of the K Route, between K07 and K06. Anything else you'd like to know?" - Me to Sis