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Are You Ready for $5 A Gallon?

It is coming whether or not you are ready for it. In amazement and utter disgust, I watch the price of oil product change several times a day. Of late it has generally been increases.

I ask myself how do they get away with this? The oil companies have us exactly where they want us, but then haven’t they had us there since the seventies? I recall the gas lines as a child in California. Sitting in line for hours sometimes and then on alternating odd/even license plate number days.  They made us wait in very uncomfortable circumstances for the privilege of “robbing and raping” us at the pump. Here we are all over again. I mean at least back, then they did try to explain themselves. Today we get no satisfaction, no explanations, and no respect. The prices change from one hour to the next and what do we do, we have to buy that gasoline. We have to get to work, go to school, etc.

I caution you to brace yourselves. The oil companies aggravate us to a point of exhaustion and then we are too tired to fight. We give in and become resentfully submissive. They actually gave us a reprieve during this holiday weekend but, I am confident they will reach the projected number before this autumn. This is a tactic to get us off guard. We take a deep breath or a sigh of relief, we think to ourselves, “It has finally leveled off” and then they start all over again with a vengeance.

What can we really do? Well you can limit unnecessary travel; don’t make extra trips to the store, pleasure rides,  road trips or vacations using the car are a thing of the past. From now on when you think of your car and fueling up think of it as a necessary EVIL. You can buy smaller amounts of gas when you do need fuel, this will cause you to make more trips to the  gas station, take up more of your valuable time, thus it will serve as a reminder of how taxing the process is. All we can do as consumers is to express our dissatisfaction in a way to get the oil companies attention and that is hitting them in the pocket, no matter how deep those pockets are. Don’t give in to the thought process that makes you think your participation will not count. It is that same line of thinking that keeps people from voting. Your voice does count, it does matter, and it can make a difference.  Write your Congressman or State Representative. Perhaps if enough little voices express dissatisfaction, the combined outcry may get the needed attention. We have to realize that we may not get immediate results either, but if something is accomplished, if it is just  media coverage saying, “Small Angry Group Voices Disdain”, it may be enough to attract more angry little voices or two or three BIG LOUD angry voices.

For the moment ride the teaser $3.59 per gallon gasoline. Forgive me here, but they are getting ready to give it to us without lubrication. When it comes, when it reaches $5.00 per gallon we will look back and tell our grandchildren, “I remember when gas was only…. “with tears in our eyes.

Self Service or No Service

Well what is the difference? We went shopping for a few grocery items, it was about 7:30 p.m. on a Saturday evening. There were two lines open attended by human beings,  one was 15 items or less, and four self-service lanes.

Now people, this is not nuclear physics here, I am a big fan of getting in and out of a place. I utilize  the self-service machines as often as possible. They are generally efficient and lack attitude. However, I do believe the idea behind them is supposed to be speed and efficiency.  What was  the manager of this store thinking when he set-up a schedule that allowed him to close the only other lane in the store capable of handling customers with 16 items or more? I think most of us can hold our own with a couple of items to check out and bag, but when the numbers increase the time does too. Here is the scenario; you have one lane that can take care of any sized order, one lane that takes care of small orders and four machines that will help customers delay other customers and make the shopping experience a dreaded event. That makes sense? Do self service machines give the humans an excuse not to be of service?

Workers complain about cut hours, yet in a situation like this rarely do you see the checker step back, make eye contact, or do anything that resembles customer service. How many times have you encountered an employee, made an inquiry, and actually got what you needed or at the very least you felt like they were truly trying to help you. I found myself feeling the need to explain to an individual who was supposed to be providing me with service.

I do not want to become one of those people with a “perpetual chip-on- my-shoulder. Always aware of the wrongs others are guilty of but not of my own. Perhaps that is why I did bother saying something to the young woman whose line I “invaded”. I felt justified, yet if someone with 15 items or less said something to me, what would my response be? The truth is I wanted to get my order taken care of a fast as possible so I could go about my business. I could have gone to customer service, asked for the manager and lodged my complaint. In turn he ( I know the manager) would have apologized, corrected the situation or both. At any rate it would have taken longer to do that than to just go to the line and get checked out.

Entitlement comes to use in a variety of disguises, but eventually it will reveal itself. Although I felt justified in what I did, I was still in the wrong line. We expect customer service and when we don’t get it we become a bit out of line. I had three choices and I did none of them. I have to tell you if someone would have come up behind me and said,” What’s going on here; this is the 15 item or less line, can’t you read?” I would have been embarrassed and probably angry. Who knows what that would have led to.

The right thing to do would not have solved my problem immediately, but it may have had a better long term effect. I suppose if I walk into that store again and the same conditions exist, I will have to accept some responsibility for things being that way. Furthermore, what will I do this time?

Giving Em The Business

Expectations of professionalism and quality are my first thoughts. Dropped like a hot potato; one of my oldest reliable clients told me that my services were going to be cancelled. She said immediately,” It was nothing we did, that they(she and her husband) were trying to cut expenses.”‘ She went on to say that she/they would like to periodically use us and how would she go about doing this. I explained the procedure, but I was still in the beginning of the conversation. No matter what she said my mind asked over and over “What just happened here?”, because I did not see this coming. I did not have an opportunity to suggest an alternative plan, because it seemed to me her mind was made up. I did not want to be invasive, but I would be lying if I said I took her entirely at “face value”.

Losing this client brought to light that I had violated something I vowed I would not do in my business practices, I got personally involved.  I felt like I lost a friend along with that revenue. I was damaged, hurt, and insulted. Observing what I believed to be a very southern practice; over and over I witnessed individuals insinuating themselves into the lives of people who they wanted to do work,  people they wanted to work for, and/or people they wanted provide services to or obtain services from. It seemed to me that in their minds, if you were friends “we” could conduct business and if “I” need to do something outside the realm of business (such as hold a check for payment repeatedly) it was somehow more acceptable. No matter this was a ploy or disingenuous.

I never really thought much of the two week notice practice. I felt like an employer asks for what they are unwilling to provide circumstances reversed. After all they do not tell you they are letting you go in two weeks when they terminate you. I also had seen the way employees were treated when they gave that required expected notification. Now I am forced to rethink that position. I  suppose it may have been better if my former client gave me an advanced notification such as; after the next visit we are cancelling in opposed to I am cancelling service. Realistically, speaking she treated me like I was just someone who worked for her. News Flash, that is exactly who I am!

Questions arose; did I do or not do something right, are they really having financial issues. Honestly, the only real concern I should have had was, if our work performance and work ethic were stable and intact . If I could give an affirmative response to those questions, I would have done what is required and expected of me as a business owner and service  provider. Truth is clients/customers/business contacts enter and depart from you and your business. They are as any other individual because at the root they are just people: here for a reason or for a season.

However, it is just business, and I must bounce back and recover. For future references though, I will keep the thought of NOT getting personally involved with my customers/clients in the forefront. I must continue to try to do what I would tell you I currently do; Treat people/clients/customers the way I want to be treated.

What You’re Sayin With Your Drivin

Living in the Metro Atlanta area when I drive my mind is strictly on driving. Where I am going, what time I need to be there, and most importantly, what the other drivers around me are doing. When we first moved to Atlanta over 17 years ago I was amazed at how TERRIBLY people drove, and I am sad to say things have only gotten worse.

Behind the wheel of a car, it seems people are busy doing everything but the task at hand. Young people playing their music far too loud, older people driving in a semi-conscious state.. then out of the blue we return to the place we should be in behind the wheel of a car. Our consciousness hasn’t had time to catch up with our physical being. As we travel along we encounter several road hazards; none of them identified, none of them give you forewarning, but out there with you just the same. How do you hope to get where you are going much less survive, when you have a driver so close on your bumper, that you can have a conversation with them, or the one who speeds past you only to pull right in front of you when the lane they are in is clear. How about that sensitive driver who is so busy being nice that they obstruct traffic. I could go on and on however, I must pay homage to the ones who are the most dangerous of all and the ones who inspired me to once again talk to and about. They are the multi-taskers.

Let me say this there are somethings that require our undivided attention; driving down the highway or navigating the busy city streets just happen to “fit that bill”.

The child safety industry has recognized this, thus the rear facing car seats that require you to stop, pull over, etc. if you must attend to your child while they are restrained in the unit. The cell phone industry with the invention of the bluetooth said to us, you cannot hold the phone, talk, and drive.They could have gone just a little farther with this concept and said it is difficult to truly give driving your undivided attention if you are talking PERIOD.

I know this tugs at a multitude of you but let’s be real/ examine yourselves; do you use your hands when you talk, are gestures a part of your communication? If you answered “yes” then you have to accept the following; no matter how long you have driven, no matter how good you think you are at driving and doing other things, YOU ARE AN ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN AND YOUR SCHEDULE IS TIGHT!

The article I wrote several years ago for the Atlanta Journal Constitution was from a first person driver standpoint, now I am a passenger more often than not. I am a daily critic of someone else’s driving and interacting behind the wheel. I witness a very skilled arrogant aggressive driver who has in turn made me a more aware motorist. I am not viewed as a very good driver by this same individual; I can point out things like I was professionally trained and required to take annual refresher courses in defensive driving, but that still would not change the way my husband views my driving.

Therefore, as always these pieces are subjective. I hope they entertain the reader and make you think. As an observer I see that we are using numerous excuses for a series of bad practices. Today’s drivers say and demonstrate the following:  My overly sensitive motorist helping another get into traffic is saying, ” I am so afraid to drive, if I let enough folks go by maybe I’ll get the road to myself”. My arrogant-aggressive driver says, ” Get out of my way I have some place to go/something to do even if you don’t!” My multi-tasker ” There aren’t enough hours in the day for me to do what I need to do, so I will have to catch up on the road.” My dancing partying teen is saying ,” OOOH LOOK AT ME!! NO HANDS!”

What are you saying and what are you doing when you are behind the wheel?