Free Parking?

I traveled to Springfield yesterday to find more Looking For Lincoln signs. I had some early success at the Illinois National Guard Military museum.

But when I traveled to the Great Western Depot, I found tons of UHaul trucks. I couldn't videotape signs with these beheamoths in the way. It runied any chance for me to videotape signs. So if someone knows how to park near the military museum, I would be very grateful. Thanks.

Pray and it all goes away.

I often scoff at preachers who say this. What do they know? Obviously they don't know the inner workings of God and Jesus. It's not the praying part that I disagree with. Obviously I pray to God just as much as the next Christian. But I'm not a fool. Uttering a prayer won't magically fix your car. Uttering a prayer won't miraculously pay your grocery bill. And uttering prayers certainly didn't stop the Romans from invading Jerusalem in 70 A. D.

God is not a normal 24 hour a day customer support line. It's this simple. If you know nothing about auto mechanics, God is not going to help you land an auto mechanics job. End of story. If you can't cook your own meals, why would you think God would land you a culinary occupation? God is not going to let you pursue a truck driving job when you have poor eyesight. And you're not going to acquire a corporate managerial position if you've never graduated high school.

And the same is true when it comes to bullyism. Just because you pray doesn't mean that your bully is going to magically disappear before your eyes. It doesn't happen like that. Some people waste their entire lives bullying others. And sometimes God permits this to happen. Why? Because there are things we can do to put an end to this kind of bullying, but we refuse to do so.

Studying God's Holy Bible is a very good habit to get into. It corrects your attitude towards the things you experience in life. It's a great thing to have in a time of trouble. But the Bible doesn't teach you how to fix a car. Nor does it teach you how to prepare fine culinary dishes. The Bible teaches you how to turn a house into a God respecting home, but it doesn't tell you how to build the house in the first place. The Bible should be the center of your education, but it shouldn't be the only thing you learn from. God doesn't forbid you to read a mathematics book. God doesn't forbid you to learn a second language. God doesn't forbid you to build a computer. And God doesn't mind if you study Accounting.

So open your academic books and study them carefully. And watch my videos if you start having problems learing the material in the books.

Reading is for primitives.

I hear it all the time. Reading is so outdated. Give me a video instead. Who has time to read anyway. Well, if you become infirmed or ill in any way, you will have plenty of time to read. I assure you of this.

It's people who don't read that often get the short end of the stick. After all, Illinois just raised their income taxes and now are trying to force employers to raise the minimum wage. If you don't read, you probably won't know any of this. And this can drastically affect your pocketbook.

If you don't read your instruction manuals, you will probably destroy the nice merchandise you own. I could go on and on, but I have to say reading is important.

So if you know how to read, do it often. You only hurt yourself if you don't.

Real Music Please....

Years ago I enjoyed watching the Grammy Awards. Who in their right mind wouldn't have enjoyed it. Elton John, Billy Joel, Pat Benetar, and Arithra Franklin made timeless hits and were all recognized for their achievements. Back then Rock and Roll was a sound to remember.

But not today. When the highlight of an awards show is when they roll the deceased credits, I begin to wonder what happened to the awards show. In fact, I wonder what happened to Rock and Roll.

I think American Idol and MTV killed real rock and roll. I will miss it terribly. Good thing someone invented the MP3 player. Now I can return to the good days of Rock and Roll.

Who was Jack?

Jack was an insecure guy. He needed professional help. Whenever people taunted him, he had to show off just to show how manly he was. The crowd taunted him by saying, "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick. Jack jump over the candlestick." So Jack, being as insecure as he always was, took the dare.

So what happened to Jack? Well, Jack was nimble and Jack was quick. He did indeed jump over that candlestick. Unfortunately he didn't know that the wax had melted all over the floor. So he slipped on the wax and broke his hip.

Jack was rushed to the hospital where all the king's horses and all the king's men with great difficulty put Jack back together again. Thus, Jack was no longer nimble and was no longer quick. But he was still handsome. And this got him into more trouble.

You guessed it. He met and married Jill. They bought a plantation and built a nice ranch house. And yes, they had a well where they could collect water. Now the ranch did indeed have indoor plumbing and both of them took advantage of this. But when it came time to care for their livestock, they fetched the water from the well on top of the hill. But Jack was still as careless as he always was. Yes, he fell down the hill and broke his crown. And Jill, being as careless as Jack, fell off the hill too.

Since this incident occurred, their medical insurance rates have skyrocketed. Neither of them climb up the hill anymore. They almost had to sell thier plantation due to their medical co-pays. And now you know what happened to poor Jack.

Not open 24 hours a day.

I'm telling everyone this to improve the shopping experince for not only my customers but for all customers in general.

It may surprise some people when they find out that not all stores are open 24 hours a day. But the truth is that not every company is owned by Wal-Mart. And if you look long and hard, you may still find some Wal-Marts that aren't open 24 hours a day. That would indeed be a tough find, but if you really looked hard, I bet you would find one or two.

But does that stop people from trying to shop when a store is about to close for the night? Heck no. I hear it all the time. "I just have to get one little thing before you close." Then you find the customer still strolling through your store long after you've locked the doors.

I hate to burst your bubble, but some stores do close before midnight. If you don't understand the concept of a store closing for the evening, just work in retail for a few weeks. Then you will understand. You wouldn't expect a factory worker to continue working after an eight hour shift, would you?

Retail workers fully understand the concept of customer service. And we do our best to provide it when we are working. I personally enjoy the company of my customers and I eagerly look for them to walk through my store. But as far as I'm concerned, there is a limit to good customer service. I know there is a clock to beat and I try my best to help you beat that clock. But there is only so much I can do. And will blaming me for your short lunch break or your lack of time to accomplish a task improve your situaiton? I think not.

Take pity on your store clerks. They may not look like they are working hard, but they really are. Don't assume that when an item is out on the shelf that it's in the stockroom and we are just too lazy to put it out. The recent shifts in the economy have left our stockrooms a little more bare. Sometimes the item you're looking for is indeed in the stockroom, but sometimes it isn't. And making us feel bad because it's not in the stockroom won't get you the item any faster.

Remember, store clerks usually aren't the ones ordering the merchandise. That job is usually left to the managers. So if you are upset about not finding an item, tell the manager. You will make more progress doing this than ranting to a store clerk.

And when a store clerk does go the extra mile for you, don't take it for granted. Do take a moment and tell their manager about your good customer service. If you don't, they may not go the extra mile for you again. And that's the last thing you want. Managers often do reward employees for good customer service. And when you don't tell anyone about the good experience you had with the store clerk, the store clerk doesn't get his reward.

I always look forward to seeing the bright, smiling faces of my customers and I do miss them when they don't walk through the doors. And I want to make their shopping experience as pleasant as possible. And remember, I'm your basic mischevious clown. I tend to do silly things to help put a smile on the faces of all my customers. Maybe I will get a chance one day to put a smile on your face. I look forward to trying.

The Pricing Gun.

I'm sure that anyone near or over my age will remember the old pricing guns. Some retail shops still use pricing guns. But UPC's have made pricing guns nearly obsolete. Yet there are people in the world that still examine products to see where the price sticker is.

I hate to say it, but those days are for the most part long behind us. Just as lead has disappeared from gasoline and checks have virtually disappered from our pocketbooks, pricing stickers are slowly disappearing from our store shelves. Fighting the change is an effort in futility. This change will happen whether we like it or not.

I deal with people everyday who insist that 35mm film will be around forever. They used to say the same thing of 110mm film, wide roll film, and polaroid instant pictures. Where are they now? Well....

The days of pricing guns is for the most part over. As I said before, fighting it is just a futile effort. So before you give in to your desire to complain to the manager for lack of pricing stickers, just remember that technology has taken over and it's not going to change back anytime soon. In other words, like it or no, get used to it.