Category: My Two Cents

the world

Visionary Writers of Books and Movies from Decades Ago

Published on by dgkaye53 Comments

Recently, I was chatting in comments with my friend Sue Dreamwalker about one of her posts about the state of the world and what we have to do to help make it a better world. Something she said sparked a famous quote I still use from way back in 1976 from the movie Network, this classic, infamous line: “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore.”

The storyline back then, uncannily was written as fiction, but so fitting for current times. The basis of the story was a fictional news station – UBS Network during the 1970s when terrorism was the new up and coming violence that was high up in the news. The aging news anchor, Howard Beale, played by the iconic, Peter Finch, gets fired as the new dawn of ‘ratings on TV’ determine your worth as a news anchor.

During that era, there was plenty of turmoil going on, not unsimilar to today’s world – pre – our technology driven world where there were no tech devices and we relied on newspapers, radio and TV for world news. TV ratings became tied to profits with advertising being the bread and butter of revenues. This was also a time of no cable news outlets and a limited amount of national news stations.

Howard Beale becomes angry as he sees the writing on the wall, greed is taking over service and loyalty, as plenty of ugliness was going on at the time. Howard ultimately, goes on a tirade On Air, threatening to kill himself live on air, and subsequently, stirs up huge ratings. His famous quote from this tirade: “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore.” Beale goes on to tell the audience how they are being duped with news that are lies and coverups, as sensationalism becomes a good hook for ratings.

Here a few more poignant quotes from some of Beale’s speeches:

“But, man, you’re never going to get any truth from us. We’ll tell you anything you want to hear; we lie like hell…”

“Right now, there is a whole, an entire generation that never knew anything that didn’t come out of this tube. This tube is the gospel, the ultimate revelation; this tube can make or break presidents, popes, prime ministers; this tube is the most awesome goddamn propaganda force in the whole godless world, and woe is us if it ever falls into the hands of the wrong people…”

I rate this movie one of the greatest movies of the times that depicts humanity and greed, and is more than relevant today. Here’s the infamous scene below where Howard goes on a tirade, all the while Faye Dunaway, his boss, starts to get all excited because his wrath is great for their ratings. But he puts out a wake up call and the people respond: (Finch won an Academy Award particularly for this scene)

I find it almost frightening that quite a few books written back in the 70s and 80s in a fictionally created story, have come, and on their way to coming to fruition. 1984 by George Orwell, wrote essentially, about Big Brother. Margaret Atwood’s horrifying tale of the Handmaids is essentially, parallel to what’s happening in the US now with the crushing of Roe v. Wade and women’s rights.

And let’s go back further to Aldous Huxley’s, Brave New World, written in 1932, his most classic masterpiece that was mandatory reading in my high school. A story about world controllers said to be creating the perfect society through brain-washing and genetic engineering.

Not scary enough? How about Sinclair Lewis’s book – It Can’t Happen Here, a cautionary tale about how craftily a government gets taken over by fascism, and turns it into an authoritarian scary country all in the name of power and greed, demonstrating the fragility of democracy – also written back in 1938. Hmm, almost sounds like a scenario that tried to play out in 2020. Then there’s Ray Bradbury’s, Farenheit 451 where a fireman takes on destroying books in fears that people may learn too much and not be able to be controlled. Hmm, again.

Those are just a few books to mention, then referred to as dystopian genre, but if you go read reviews on these books where people who’ve read them decades ago, as well as the younger generation reading now, there is a common thread in comments, and that is the revelation that these stories were written so long ago as fiction and are becoming real life, and all generations are relating the same, collectively.

Did all these writers write about their fears of the future, or for sheer entertainment?

I’m an addict when it comes to reading reviews. I read reviews for everything I buy online, most especially books. Perhaps, that’s why I enjoy writing reviews. If you learn to take the majority of reviews as relevant and honest opinion, and also read the one and two star reviews, we usually find that the majority of the reviews will give a truthful opinion and review. You will also find, on a mostly 5 star rated book that has a few low star reviews, those reviews are usually, nonsensical or irrelevant. Many uneducated reviewers will rate an author’s work or a product with low stars because they are pissed at their untimely or shabby delivery of the product. This has nothing to do with the book or the product, yet seeds doubt in a potential buyer’s thoughts.

But I digress, and wanted to leave you here with some comments people left on the video clip above of Howard Beale’s madness speech:

The comments I’ve chosen to share below are just a few of the over 4400 comments on the video, and most of them all saying the same in personal ways:

“Is it weird that this made my cry? The energy is so contagious”

“God this scene is so relevant in today climate!”

“America in 2020: “I’m apathetic as hell and I’ll take whatever you give me as long as I have my Netflix.”

“This is exactly the problem, people think that just being mad and telling everybody and then going and sitting back down in your armchairs is gonna fix anything. Don’t tell people you’re mad, do something about it”

“One of the greatest movies ever made! So prophetic, so relevent, so true. From 1976. We are living this right now!”

“Tears in my eyes because this is so close to truth. I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.”

“45 years later, still feels relevant, arguably even more so now.”

106REPLYView 4 replies

“If you ask me. I certainly think it’s time we all start getting ‘mad as hell’ and get educated on what is happening in our world.”

“He won the Oscar for this scene alone.”

“I remember when this aired on tv. My kids went to the window without me knowing it and they started yelling that they were as mad as hell and weren’t going to take it anymore. Then, slowly from one neighborhood to the next the chorus was taken up, dogs started barking and you could here the kids laughing from one house to another. Will never forget. Hard to believe it has been 44 years ago that happened.”

“This is with no doubt one of the best speeches in the whole history of cinema. What a goosebumping performance!!!”

“Just one of the greatest movies ever made. Still as relevant today as it ever was. Everyone needs to watch it”

“How did so many of the cautionary tales from the 20th century, end up becoming the instruction manuals for the 21st?”

“One of the greatest movies ever made! So prophetic, so relevent, so true. From 1976. We are living this right now!”

..

Personally, I think we should all, collectively, be mad as hell and take heed to truth, compassion, and be doing good things to make the world and this planet a better place to live in, not just for ourselves, but for the generation(s) that will follow.

©DGKaye2022

WTF

Epic Fail – Dystopia

Published on by dgkaye80 Comments

I lost the whole last Friday. And so did much of Canada. I woke up and began looking through emails – to no avail because once again, no internet. So I turned on the TV to watch the news, only to find blackness on the screen. I thought, not again! Since I moved here I’ve never had so many internet issues since I stupidly left Bell Canada and joined the Rogers network and EVERYTHING – phone, TV, internet is connected by their shit wifi. I tried all my usual unplug, plug in tricks with my devices, which sometimes alleviates the problem. Again – to no avail. At that point, I hadn’t yet checked my mobile phone, which of course always works even when wifi is down because it picks up off the Rogers network cell towers when home wifi is down. But this time I had a dead phone!

At the same moment I began getting curious as to what the hell was going on, my friend Marsha knocked on my door. She came to inform me that Rogers network was down in the whole of Canada! In Canada we have only two giant conglomorate networks that monopolize the country – Rogers with a majority of customers and Bell Canada. And despite the various knock-off carriers that run off these two networks, that’s it. We had no communication to the outside world. Right away I suspected cyber tampering. Plus, I had recently heard on our news that we can expect some cyber attacks, adding that Canada isn’t protected properly with infrastructure to ward them all off. What else could possibly wipe out a whole network in one country?

I asked Marsha how she found out. She told me she knew her neighbor was connected to Bell. She knocked on her door and asked her to call security at our gatehouse and see WTH was going on, and found out. From 5am til wee hours of Saturday morning we were communicationless to the outside world.

I needed to make a few calls Friday to set things ready for my company I had coming Sunday to visit my husband’s grave and come back for lunch. So I got dressed and went up to the 10th floor where I used to live, to knock on a few old neighbor’s doors to see if anyone was on the Bell network. No luck! We were all mystified. I then went down to the convenience store in our building to ask the owner if he had any communications working. He told me his store could only take cash, and even though there was an ATM in his store, the banking system was also shut down, no debit cards, and for many businesses, not even credit cards because of no authorization. Imagine a whole banking system relying on one network!

I decided to go up to the lobby, knowing well there would be people there wondering what was going on. There I saw our building’s cleaners, Simon and Evangeline wiping down the windows. I asked if either of them were on Bell network, and thankfully Evangeline was, and she offered me to use her phone.

During that time, Marsha had gone out searching for wifi, as her daughter calls her every morning and she worried her daughter would worry about her. Marsha heard on the radio that our Starbucks cafes were on the Bell network. I had hoped to get to a Starbucks to send some texts, but one thing led to another as I was cleaning up my place for the weekend. I had the radio on, waiting for reports, as did everyone else, and nothing. Every commercial break announcers could tell us nothing, other than Rogers says they are working on the problem. They also informed that stores could only take cash, some closed, and the chaos at the airport just added to the already madness. People with their boarding passes on phones couldn’t board. All comms were down, and Lord knows how the air traffic controllers were managing. I was grateful to not be on a plane. They also warned not to take any road trips because if a car breaks down, there was no calling for help. AND EVEN 911 emergency line was NO SERVICE. I shuddered at the thought of how many needed an ambulance and died because of this event! It was a dominoe effect of chaos.

After 4pm, I went over to Marsha’s and hung pictures for her, since we were both home and nothing to do. Then she came over to my place and we played Dominoes. We kept checking our phones hoping for them to work, but no dice.

By 8pm, Marsha suggested we drive over to Starbucks to use their wifi to check in with people. Starbucks up the street was a sardine can, full of people, and younger ones hogging all the wifi with their laptops. There were plenty of people, like us, standing outside Starbucks hoping to pick up wifi, to no avail. There were just too many trying to do the same. So we drove to another Starbucks, and again, we couldn’t even get connected.

Finally, I saw a girl walking and texting, I asked her if she could connect and told me it was wonky, but our national pharmacy chain, across the way, Shoppers Drug Mart, was on the Bell Network. By this time it was 10pm, it seemed many didn’t know about this available wifi, and it only took me 10 minutes to connect and I began sending out texts. What a nightmare!

Everyone we’d seen and spoken to that day couldn’t help wondering if this was Russian tampering. How one monopoly network goes totally off the grid was puzzling. I can’t help but wonder if Bell Canada will be next. Were we sabotaged? Was this to show us what they can do? When we STILL have no answers from Rogers and the government has called in the CEO this week for talks, I am suspicious we aren’t being told the truth. Just how fragile are our systems with their vulnerabilites to attack? Not sure we’ll ever get the truth, but two things for sure: Canada better step up our protections, and I am moving back to Bell!

©DGKaye2022

Internet safety

What’s Up With #Scammers who Prey on #SocialMedia

Published on by dgkaye93 Comments

As many of you know, I lost my husband just over a year ago. For me and my grief, it may as well be yesterday because the excrutiating pain of missing the love of your life doesn’t go away. I thought I’d just post this reminder because it’s truly astounding that predators lurk everywhere seeking out vulnerable people.

Since my husband’s passing, and much of it spent in Covid seclusion at the worst time of one’s life, I had turned to joining some online grief groups. I felt it may be a place I can be with like-minded people and those who’ve walked the walk, those who know how painful grief is, and that they may be places of comfortable harbor for me sometimes. But sadly, the amount of men who wangle their way into these groups hoping to seek out the vulnerable, seems to be ever-growing.

Personally speaking, these groups do not help me at all, yet, I continue to pop in for some words of solace. But because I consider myself a great Facebook ‘FBI’ profiler, I always click on the pages of those stalkers who continually message or leave messages in replies to my comments. Almost all of them seem to have lonely pages with barely a post, as though they specifically joined FB to lurk and lure.

I get many requests, compliments, and sweet nothings from plenty of lunatics on FB, but these grief pages top the charts with lurkers. These places are like a magnet for loveless losers to prey. How many times on the news are we warned about scammers, yet, so many still get caught in this web. It’s up to us all to do our due diligence and check out first, who we think we are friending and allowing into our personal circles. And I might add, the people who run these delicate group pages should also be more diligent when screening applicants who join these groups. It only takes me a moment to figure out many profiles are bogus, bots or that they have ill intentions. Why can’t a moderator do the same?

I’m a moderator in four different FB groups, and every time I get a request from someone who wants to join one of my groups, I take the time to visit the applicant’s page and schmooze around to see what they post, what they do, their ‘about’ page, and decide if they fit into my group. If all the prerequisites aren’t met, I don’t admit them.

Fakebook social media
Image by ijmaki from Pixabay

It’s not hard to figure out how these lurkers find us. They join groups with vulnerable people and try to befriend them with sweet words. If you’re like me, and have all your posts on your FB page, only visible to ‘friends only’ (and you should), this is your first barrier of defense. They cannot roam on your page or see personal posts, but they can still message you, and these messages predominantly go to FB spam messages and sit there until we delete or accept if we don’t reply to their scammy comments on a post we left comment on. I think I have hundreds in mine over the years, I don’t even look anymore, other than when someone approaches me on a group page and then checking my spam messages to find them there too.

When people start leaving you messages in comments to a statement you made in a group that have no relevance to the comment you made, be suspicious. When you poured your grieving heart out in a statement and get a reply from a guy telling you how beautiful you are and asking you to please accept his friendship so he can message you privately, that’s just wrong. And just don’t allow these types of lurkers into your private space.

I may be grieving. I may be sentimental. But I’m no dummy. As many writers spend most of their waking life on the internet mingling in social media, we know well about lurkers, losers, hackers and scammers. But for the many who are not internet savvy. Pay attention to how you allow people into your digital life.

©DGKaye2022

Poetry challenge

Colleen Chesebro’s #TankaTuesday Weekly Poetry Challenge No. 272: #Tastetherainbow-Color Poetry ~Senryu

Published on by dgkaye52 Comments

It’s been awhile since I hopped on to one of Colleen Chesebro’s Poetry Challenges, and as one known for not tolerating injustice, I felt compelled to join in this week’s poetry challenge with a Senryu. This week’s challenge we are free to choose any form of syllabic poetry we like, but must include a color.

Black hearts, empty souls
Stealing freedoms, women's rights
Darkness reigns Supreme

If you’d like to join Colleen’s weekly challenge, please visit the original post.

©DGKaye2022

My two cents

Enough with the Self Checkouts! My Two Cents

Published on by 58 Comments

Today I’m talking about my aversion to self-checkout registers in stores. I hate them!

What spurred this post was a meme I’d seen on social media where people are up in arms in the comment section about having to self checkout at Walmart with cart loads of stuff, some leaving their carts and walking out. Below, find a few samplings:

 

“I refuse to self check out. It puts people out of work and contributes nothing to the social security tax base or income tax. It’s Walmart’s way of not paying wages. Plus most folks are part time so Walmart doesn’t have to pay benefits.”

 

“When I’m in line waiting to pay for my groceries, and the nice assistant manager tells me there’s an opening at the self checkout, I look at them and say, “I’m sorry. I don’t work here.”

 

“I think we should get a “ I cashiered myself discount “ since they aren’t paying anyone to ring us up”

 

“Hire the cashiers back!”

 

I can definitely relate and not a big fan of self-checkout for various reasons besides the complaints noted above. Grocery shopping has never been one of my favorite shopping past times. I go with my list, gather my goods and go to checkout. I’m used to bagging my own things in some supermarkets, but, ringing items through on a self-checkout doesn’t necessarily mean you’re getting out faster.

 

I’ll take my local pharmacy, Shopper’s Drug Mart, as an example here. I’ve developed a habit of going there only on Thursdays. Thursdays are Senior Days. Ya, ya, I’d hardly consider myself a senior, but I’ve been getting that discount for years.

 

It began about eight years ago at the Shopper’s near where me and my husband lived for years. I’d pick up his prescriptions and do a shop. I asked one of the pharmacy girls if I could get the discount since my husband was a senior. She told me she’d certainly ring up my things with a 20% discount. That was it! Since that time, any other Shopper’s I’d spend money at on a Thursday, I’d ask for the senior’s discount and got it. At the time, I was further away from being a senior and was puzzled that I wasn’t asked for identification. I asked the clerk if she needed proof. I was told then that clerks weren’t allowed to ask for I.D. for this discount and that if we claimed we’re seniors we’d just get the discount. That worked out well through the years. . . until the self-checkout machines came around.

 

As you can imagine, Thursdays are the busiest days at Shopper’s. The one closest to me is a nightmare to checkout from on Thursdays. With usually only one cashier on (these days) and three self-checkout machines, prepare to spend longer in line. We have Shopper’s points cards where we earn extra points for items we purchase. The cards get scanned at checkout, but Shopper’s has yet to come up with a cure for the missing access to the ‘senior discount’ selection at self-checkout. What currently happens is the ONE cashier on duty has to leave the line of waiting paying customers to go over to the robots and swipe a ‘special’ employee card into the machine to take off the extra 20% for those who braved the robots. So we are in fact waiting on one cashier line and sharing that cashier with all the lost self-checkout customers who can’t get their discounts at the machines. Not to mention, most of the elderly seniors don’t have any concept of digital payment. Sometimes I question if the 20% off is worth my time.

 

This self-checkout business is a nightmare for many. I detest it more in grocery stores. How many times have you been self-checking out and an item doesn’t scan? Yes, we are at the mercy of computerized everything. And no, they aren’t foolproof. When we checkout with an actual cashier, it’s their business to call a stock person and go check the price of the item if it doesn’t scan. At a self-checkout scanning machine, it’s enough to make me leave the whole lot of stuff and walk out. This isn’t my job. I’m wanting to pay for goods and the robot I’m at isn’t complying and there’s no help. Yes, I am going to leave if there is no help around.

 

Now, I know that some stores have ‘helpers’ around to help serve shoppers when glitches occur, but that’s not always the case, especially since I’ve noticed less people working in these stores. It isn’t a secret that North America is recognizing a shortage of employees for many businesses. With the advent of Covid and people working from home or leaving their non-essential jobs, which are in fact, very essential to the average citizen, I’ve noticed plenty of closed checkout aisles in many a store.

 

I’m not sure if all those people ranting over the situation at Walmart aren’t justified in their thinking, but I do feel the same way as many of those commenters. Greed has taken over everywhere with price gauging, giving less and taking more from us from service to pricing, but, I do know it sure would be nice to see people working in stores instead of these damned robots!

 

What’s your take on self-checkout?

 

©DGKaye2021

 

 

Just Sayin'

Time for a #Rant – #Covid #Vaccines in Canada the Disorderly

Published on by 45 Comments

I haven’t been back writing much lately, due to my husband’s recent passing. But that doesn’t mean through my grief that outside influences haven’t been getting my goat, like the way our province of Ontario has become a big joke for the incompetence of our government on the handling of containment and the sorrowful lack of vaccines, and the system of no law and order when it comes to how they are rolling out vaccines at random.

 

When I got my first vaccine in early March, my doctor’s office managed to get me into a local pharmacy that had openings, but not for my lack of trying, I could never get through the line to book, it’s much easier for a doctor’s office to connect. The pharmacist who gave me the jab had told me there is no return date booked for my second vax, but it will be four to 12 weeks. Well, no return date, and our province has decided four months will suffice. Why? When the directives are 4 to 12 weeks by the pharmaceutical suggested dosing, and we don’t have enough vaccine around, Health Canada ‘decided’ four months is sufficient. Do we even have any data of efficacy for that long of a wait gap?

Our province did not begin vaccines with a plan of law and order. In fact, front line workers are only RECENTLY being called on for their turn. I guess they forgot that all the people who work in factories who go to work and bring home the Covid to their families are creating wild hotspots within our city and contributing to the 3000 plus daily cases daily we’re still getting. This is a fire that can’t be extinguished because our borders are a joke, as is our government, and vaccines are being sent to us willy nilly. The general public is lost and speaking out about the joke of a system where they have to look for popup places, often getting shutout because if you didn’t stand in line from the wee hours of the night waiting for them to open, you more than likely lose out. We’re like a bloody third-world country here!

Gratefully, while I was watching the Canadian news the other night, the media announced that @VaxHuntersCan, has taken it upon themselves to establish a responsible group to take over where the government sorely missed, using social media to help Canadians get a heads up on where vaccines will be offered daily, how many spots, how to book, and who is sold out. From VaxHuntersCan, came another branch @VaxHuntersTO, they post specifically to Toronto’s availabilities. Note their slogan under their name on Twitter – “Here to help people navigate the overly complex vaccine rollout and do the Ford government’s job for them.” Yup, thanks to them they are helping Canadians out where our government fails.

Now, here’s the bug up my ass. As I am living in solitude and grief with the passing of my husband, I am ANXIOUSLY awaiting my second dose, where I know not where and if it will come from, so I can get the heck out of here by July/August. But hey, this country is farrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr from even getting close to vaxxing Canada with round one.

Here’s something that niggles at my mind. The only reason my age group was randomly called out of order, which allowed me to get the first vaccine, I found out from the pharmacist, was because at that time, (the age allowances have been changed several times since for those eligible for the Astra Zeneca – just another reason people have no confidence and don’t know what to believe about safety), the pharmacy’s vaccine was soon to expire. That’s how I got in.

Fast forward to a few days ago, when I began following @VaxHuntersTO on Twitter, they announced two pharmacies (close to me) that had lots of spots left for the Astra vaccine, that are supposedly expiring in May. So I called up both those pharmacies and told them I noted there were lots of spots on the website still available. A lot of people don’t want Astra Zeneca for whatever reasons (most of which because the government has changed their mind on age limits), so I asked if I could come in for my second dose and was refused. I didn’t hang up without making a comment, reiterating that they have vaccines, nobody is coming for, they’re about to expire, but they will go in the garbage instead of vaxxing anyone waiting for dose two. Yes apparently, in our Covid capital of Toronto where we can’t get enough vaccines, they will throw them out before giving anyone a second dose.

DO YOU SEE WHY I NEED TO GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE???

So I’ve been DMing on Twitter with one of the persons running this VaxHuntersTO site, sharing about my discoveries and they are as appalled as I am. Apparently, ‘the person’ I’m chatting with runs a clinic downtown Toronto, and they told me that they will have left overs and they will personally DM me to invite me in for round two!

Thank goodness for competent citizens because certainly our government cannot seem to get their shit together!

Note – I’d also like to add that my first dose vaccine came from India. Ironically, when India was doing so well before this next tragic wave hit them, they kindly helped Canada out with Astra Zeneca from their plants. My heart (what’s left of it) goes out to India for the horrific predicament they are in right now. It’s gut-wrenching to watch those poor people in desperation to save their loved ones. I know Canada and the US are sending them equipment, oxygen and ventilators as they so desperately need for this killer next wave that is unrelenting there. I hope other countries will send along some healthcare workers to help ease their under-staffed situation, the same way so many are helping out each other in so many other countries, including my own.

People are dying everywhere, kindness and compassion are essential in these times everywhere and from everyone. We are all one as the world.

 

©DGKaye2021

 

bitmo Kindness Matters

 

light switch

Just Sayin’ – Pushing a Button For Sex? No Thanks!

Published on by 44 Comments

Push a Button for Sex?

 

Seriously! I really saw this on an American entrepreneurial show – Shark Tank. As soon as I saw it, I was appalled, and it seemed the Sharks felt somewhat the same. Is there anything left for us humans that doesn’t require technology?

 

For those not North American, Shark Tank is an interesting show where a panel of wealthy branding business people have entrepeneurs come up to share their new business ideas or inventions where they hope one of the Sharks will like their idea and invest money into it and promote it. Let me tell you, there are some great inventions on that show – but there are some others that make me go hmm?

A couple had invented an app that allows you to alert your partner when you’re ‘in the mood’. Yes! You read that correctly!  Hey there’s nothing more stimulating for me than my partner alerting me he’s in the mood, so ready or not here he comes. Um, not from the world I live in. As far as I’m concerned, romance used to be initiated by contact, words, wooing or whatever means, but certainly just because my partner’s mobile phone buzzes me with a circular green light flashing on my phone to inform me he’s in the mood is an actual real turn off. ‘In the mood’ denotes to me just that – hey, I’m in the mood to get lucky, sure hope my partner can help out. Ya, oh so romantic. Not!

The fact that people actually invent this stuff is sad. Spontaneous sex is the best. If you have to use technology, use a vibrator. That way, you can do your own thing when you feel the urge without disturbing someone who is sleeping beside you. Sheesh, I thought booty calls were bad enough, but sending your own partner in the same bed as you a flashing green light message  that you’re ready for sex sounds a little too robotic for my taste.

Why do people have to keep re-inventing the wheel? There are just some things that a machine cannot do and cannot replace, such as the human touch.

 

Yes or No?

 

There’s a reason it’s called romance. Romancing by way of the heart, mind and touch is what excites and stimulates a person’s senses with desire, which might be old fashioned, but prompts a natural response and is the ultimate enhancer for initiating the process to get in the mood. A buzzer call only tells me someone’s horny and needs someone to relieve them. Not exactly what I’d call a turn on.

Who agrees?

 

©DGKaye2020

bitmo live laugh love

 

 

My two cents

Rant – Twenty Minutes – The ‘Un’ -Kindness of Strangers

Published on by 63 Comments

I went out for a measly twenty minutes. This is what ensued.

 

Hub and I were just about ready to venture out north to our old neighborhood pharmacy where our prescriptions still remain because of the most helpful pharmacy girls and pharmacist whose advice is invaluable. Anyhoo, I digress. When I was finally ready, hubby wasn’t having a good day physically, so I told him I’ll go north and pick up his pills and do whatever else was on the list. He insisted we’ll go together tomorrow. But in the meantime, I was dressed and masked and ready to go so I thought I’d take the opportunity to run out myself to the fancy supermarket a few blocks away, to pick up some nice steaks I’d noticed on sale when we were there only three days prior, but walked by them because we don’t typically eat a lot of meat. But we were having company on the weekend. And it was a special occasion since our good friends were coming for dinner – the friends we usually always got together with once a month pre-Covid, and now haven’t seen for 8 months.

So, I crossed that stopover off my list of stops for the next day and drove to the fancy supermarket. I didn’t take a shopping cart on the way in, because of course, I only went in for one thing – the steaks. The rest of my grocery shopping would be done the next day at the big grocery chain store.

I headed straight for the meat department and was grateful to find the lovely steaks still on sale. Then I remembered hubby asked for some nectarines, which were located at the complete opposite end to the meat department. This of course meant I was to pass many other aisles on my way to the nectarines. Did I mention I had no cart?

I doubled back when I realized I’d passed, first, a beautiful shrimp ring also on sale and a package of turkey bacon. I picked up one of each and piled them onto the four-pack of steaks.

As I was scrolling over a mental list in my head thinking about my menu for my gathering, I was nearing the butternut squash, just the soup I had in mind to make for an appetizer. So I picked up two boxes of already peeled and cut cubes (yes, I cheat, I hate dealing with whole butternut squash) and placed them on top of the shrimp ring. And while I was at it, right in front of me were some beautiful vine tomatoes. I managed to be able to pick up a cluster of four.

Last, and certainly not least, I made it to the nectarines. By this time, my two forearms were balancing my Jenga pile of food. My right hand cupped, shielding the pile from falling, which left my left hand free to grab a plastic bag, then transfer it to my right hand to hold while I leaned over to pick out some nectarines and placed them in the bag.

I put in however many my two fingers grasping the bag could hold and just as my mission was complete, I turned to leave and my purse hanging over my shoulder, knocked over one lone nectarine onto the floor. I stood there looking at it on the ground for a moment, all the while calculating how I could pick it up and restack my tower of food again. A woman standing barely three feet away from me had been watching me, as though she was waiting for something to fall. I stood there and sighed after the fallen nectarine, locked eyes with the woman looking at me as though I was mentally signaling her to offer a hand, but she made zero effort to offer to pick it up. I glanced again at the fruit on the floor then once more at the woman, shook my head at her and walked away.

The woman called to me as though she was the store warden, “Aren’t you going to pick that up?” .

I turned to her, now two aisles past her and shouted, “I can’t believe you’re such an uncourteous bitch!”

I was stunned. I’m the kind of gal who puts myself in other’s shoes. I could not have stood and watched a woman with her arms overflowing holding a stack of groceries, right beside me dropping a fruit and me not automatically reaching down to grab it for someone as a human kindness. You know, kind of like someone holding a door open for the person immediately behind them?

After checkout, I spotted the lottery booth had no lineup and thought it was a good opportunity to buy a ticket for the big pot. I approached the plexi-glassed desk and stood for about a minute to see how long it would take for the girl to lift her head from her cell phone and acknowledge the presence of a customer. But she didn’t. So I left.

I was pulling out of the small plaza up the last row of a dozen, closest to the exit. I braked to check for cars coming in and out before making my right turn onto the exit, then was about to proceed with my turn when a car booted up the drive , didn’t stop or care that I’d not yet completed my turn yet, but she proceeded to attempt to complete her turn into my lane with nowhere for her to fit her car and blocking me from being able to complete my turn because clearly, there was nowhere for her to go until I turned. That was it for me.

I opened my window and screamed out to the woman and let her know how #$#$@#@ ignorant she was, and told her to back up and let me get out before she could turn in. I also added there were a dozen other rows she could have turned into but had to try and fit in the lane by cutting someone off. I’m tired of these lawless people on the roads and parking lots any and everytime I go somewhere in the car. There are scary drivers on our roads, and I don’t know how many of them ever got their license.

I was going to run a return parcel over to the post office but I’d had enough for one day. One half hour.

I reminded myself just how comfortable I am living in my bubble at home. Maybe too much.

How was your day?

 

©DGKaye2020

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