Let it snow,let it snow,let it snow

[westgrandboulevard]

Do they not greet you as they start the transaction...?

[Jerry Oz]

Barely. When my wife and I moved back to town 20 years ago, we were shocked and surprised that we went to a chain supermarket in one of the suburbs and were treated with respect and smiles by all of the personnel that we met. Sadly, it was something that we were not used to. The best way to retain customers is to make them feel like you're there to serve them and not the other way around.

[westgrandboulevard]

I presume the one you usually visit is the nearest to your home...but is there an alternative, maybe just a little further away?

[Jerry Oz]

We visit several different stores in various areas. We now go to a couple of specialty stores that cost more for the fare [[largely organic and natural foods) but make you feel welcome. In truth, you will sometimes come across a friendly cashier at other places, but seldom will everyone in the store seem to truly appreciate customers. Is it really so hard to suggest "thank you, please come again"?

[westgrandboulevard]

They're probably working only for the money, may or may not enjoy the job [[could be stressed), and will spend much of their working time cursing the management. Since it then becomes an 'us and them' situation, it can easilt become second nature to also see customers as 'them'. It shouldn't be like that but, under pressure, it can easily become that way.

They also don't take an overview, as you do. They are not management and, as they probably don't have the natural aptitude, are unlikely ever to be.

That's it at its worst, as I see it...but I don't experience it as such, very often. Some really nice people work for organisations like supermarkets...it's just getting to know them. It helps if they have their names shown, so I can identify them...

[Jerry Oz]

I used to have that job and I treated everyone with dignity and respect. My lines were typically longer than most others and it dawned on me that people just appreciate being treated like they matter. Smile when you can. Look them in their eyes. Thank them for their patronage.

In my opinion, that reflects that you are grateful to have a job and even if you don't like everything about it, appreciate that fact. Or quit.

[westgrandboulevard]

Shopwork is something I've always done, in various forms, although I have never formally worked in a supermarket.

When I was employed [[as opposed to self-employed) if I didn't like the job, I asked to change it..and always imagined that there was some camera on me, which encouraged me to be consistently interested in the customers, particularly when it wasn't so easy. Also, I kept it in mind that I was going on to something better, but that it would not happen until I nailed that particular role ....

[Jerry Oz]

I never worried about cameras but knew that there was always somebody willing to narc on everybody for the boss. It didn't matter because I never gave them something to talk about. I rather liked that job.

[westgrandboulevard]

In those days, the only cameras I imagined were of the 'film star' type, with me imagining how it would look if it really were all up there on a huge screen - so it had to be right in real life.

These days, there really are cameras. Tiny little cameras, with someone located in a small room somewhere, surrounded by screens....LOL

[Jerry Oz]

That's 'Big Brother' and he's watching you in the store, on the street, on the job, and at home. He sees all and he knows all. I'd be careful to avoid thought crime if I were me.

[westgrandboulevard]

I'm all for CCTV, as long as it works in my favour.....

[Jerry Oz]

Would you agree to have a microchip implanted if it could provide GPS data to law enforcement in the event of a crime against your person? Or if it could reduce crime by eliminating the need for cash or credit cards? Or provide life-saving biometric data to your doctor? Or permitted you to unlock or start your car without a key? Or serve as your identification for any who needed it? Or allowed you quicker and safer access at the airport?

There's no cynical agenda behind these questions, BTW. I just suppose we're headed down this road and wonder if it might be seen as a good idea.

[westgrandboulevard]

Q1. I'm 64. I may in time develop dementia. The answer is 'yes'.
[[I also think it is becoming unwise for anyone to roam at any time without any form of personal ID on them.The days of even riding a bicycle without any tests for road skill/judgement, insurance or any responsibility for other road users, must surely soon be over...so presumably that will in time include pedestrians...)
Q2. It takes away some options for making payments. Answer, no.
Q3. If it's in the interests of my health, answer is yes.
Q4. It takes away a preference, so answer is no.
Q5. My ID is unique and important. Answer is yes.
Q6. My ID could be hacked, so answer is no.

[Jerry Oz]

All interesting responses. My one and only concern is who can have access to my data and what influence that access has over my life. I'm intensely private and I don't want Big Brother to know anything about me that I don't choose to divulge.

[arr&bee]

Do-de-do-de..oh hi gang,just passing through on my way to nowhere..do-de-do-de.

[westgrandboulevard]

[[Did one of those Seven Dwarfs just go by us...on his way to the mine?)

I expect you have the same over there, but we seem to have/ be having a national link-up with medication. Wherever you may be, if you are taken ill, your prescribed medication details can be accessed, maybe even your actual medical history. I'm on no medication apart from a nasal spray, but I think it's good that I could be helped quickly...especially if, for some reason, I was unable to respond.

Like you, I'd also say I was a private person,[[basically introverted, I guess) but not intensely so. I like to be approachable and open with people but....I just like a bit of space to recharge and get on with things at my pwn pace, unhindered, at least some of the time. I'm finding flexibility is also good for me, as it is very often in my own interests.

[arr&bee]

?????what did he just say?????

[Jerry Oz]

He was saying that in the Information Age, there is a fine line between using technology to enhance our lives and using it to control them. There will be no secrets. Even the recipe for this wonderful elixur will be on the interwebs for all to see.

[arr&bee]

w-h-a-t?????!!!@@@#$%%%%^&&^%&**[[)*&^^^%$#@!!!??? No way,i'll eat the paper it's scribbled on before that happens.the secret service..the pinkertons..the mounties..the french forein legion..the kgb..the fbi..the cia..the pta..capt.john smith..the lucky charms leprechan have all tried the get the secret and nobody has or will!!!!

[Jerry Oz]

Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully will find you and expose the formula in the next 'X-Files' movie. You should upload it to the cloud, where it'll be safe in case something happens to you.

[arr&bee]

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaa,hey jerry newsflash,where do you think planted those[x-files]???hmmmmm??

[westgrandboulevard]

Heavy rain is forecast in all areas, any time soon.....

[Jerry Oz]

It's muggy in these parts. The rain left yesterday with some of the clouds. Speaking of clouds, did you-know-who upload the hooch formula yet? I have interested parties willing to pay a fortune cookie for it.

[westgrandboulevard]

If I fired a shotgun at the clouds, would that help with obtaining of the hooch formula?

[arr&bee]

No,but it would piss off king zuse.

[144man]

King Zeus has lightning reactions to things like that.

[arr&bee]

Everybody wants the formula,ok,ok here it is.........!!

[westgrandboulevard]

I see nothing.

So, is the formula as invisible as the hooch?

[144man]

I don't know how you did that, R&B. Cheers!

[westgrandboulevard]

Oh well, I suppose a virtual hangover, which is also invisible, does indeed have its virtues.

[Jerry Oz]

It's anybody else experiencing buffering problems? I've been waiting for nearly 20 hours and the hooch formula has yet to download...

[arr&bee]

Ok here we go...1-00+8x4400&p-m to the millienium minus prehistory +1...got all that??

[westgrandboulevard]

I got it!

Only, it doesn't look much like hooch..... but I still got a very nice banana pudding.....

[Jerry Oz]

Ummm... I am not sure I did that just right. I used that formula and the substance created jumped out of my pot, crawled outside, and ate my neighbor's cat. It's that normal? If that's the usual result, I'm not sure that I should be drinking it, but I'll do so for sake of our fellowship.

[westgrandboulevard]

Even if not for the sake of your marriage....

[Jerry Oz]

I just don't tell her I've had a nip. I don't get to say much in our conversations, anyway...

[arr&bee]

That's it jerry,the cat will wake up in about 16yrs and won't remember a thing.

[westgrandboulevard]

Especially as it will have been six feet under, for 16 years....

[Jerry Oz]

That's not good... My cat's already lost eight lives.

[westgrandboulevard]

That will surely give it pawse for thought.

[Jerry Oz]

I agree. With him, is always something mew.

[westgrandboulevard]

Just to keep him amewsed, of course.

So does the Oz household really have a cat?

[Jerry Oz]

Nope. Made all of that up. LOL.

I had a cat 30 years ago [[named "Cat"; not the most imaginative name in the world) and he was my buddy. I'm still grieving over his passing and I don't think I'm cut out for pet ownership.

[westgrandboulevard]

Oh yes, I do now remember you told me about that. It was a long time ago.

Maybe a special personality, but who happens to be an animal, will come along. Pets have a habit of inspiring their owners to learn more about themselves than they previously knew - and more than they would learn from other people.

[Jerry Oz]

Do I recall you saying that you have a couple of cats? If so, how did that come about? Did you rescue them, purchase them, or did they adopt you?

[westgrandboulevard]

Just one. Female, with tabby and white markings. Domestic shorthair, i.e. 'moggie'. Registered when a kitten with the name of 'Snowboots', but later renamed as 'Belle'.

We live in a big, redbrick town house which was converted into flats/apartments in the late 50s, and we moved here in December 1987. In the main part of the house, there are three flats on the ground floor, and three more on the first floor landing. We are in the middle, on the first floor. There is a separate entrance at the rear of the house, with stairs which lead to a further two flats.

The young lady resident of the flat next door to ours arrived with Belle about 8 years ago. She later attempted to introduce a male kitten into her home. Belle, who spent much of the time outside in the large garden we have here, and being senior, would resent being greeted by a growing male cat, and would loudly and decisively assert herself. [[the female cats are the dominant gender). This stressed our female neighbour, especially if Belle, when indoors at night, would often want to go out again in the middle of the night, which would involve escorting her down to the front door.

The entrance to our flat has leaded lights. Belle took to settling down on the landing outside our door, and we could see her there. At that time, I had keys to next door, to look after both cats when our neighbour was away on holiday, so had to keep letting Belle back into her home...or lifting her up, taking her downstairs, to the garden. I knew I could not start feeding Belle in our own flat, as she would see it as part of her very own territory.

However....it was suggested to me by our neighbour [[my partner very much enjoys cats, but remained adamantly neutral on the subject) that maybe, just maybe, Belle could come in and rest sometimes, for peace and quiet, and to keep the two cats apart. That way, she could remain as registered keeper of both cats.

Before I agreed, I had to really think everything through. By that point , I had decided that, had I actually gone out with the express intention to rescue/choose/purchase a cat, I would not have found a better companion..and therefore, if Belle were to join us, she would then be staying.

So...in effect, Belle, while wishing to extend her territory did, when viewed in terms of human thought and emotion, choose us. She could be said to have adopted us, and I very much took her to my heart, but only after much initial resistance and soul searching.

Belle has been with us since September 1st 2008 , six years this very week, and she is due to reach 10 years of age in December. It has been the most remarkable, revelatory and therapeutic experience. I would not be sat here, typing this for the attention of you or anyone else, if another personality, in the simple form of a cat called Belle, had not quietly joined us, and begun to share our lives.

[arr&bee]

Now ain't dat cute.

[Jerry Oz]

Great testament to a good friend, WGB. And arr&bee: We can't all afford Hooch Hounds like yours. Heck, we can't all afford hooch...

[144man]

My cousin named her cat "Pussy". If you think that has led to a lot of double entendres , you'd be quite right.

[westgrandboulevard]

If I were the cat, I'd sue for defamation of character.

However, I do have Roger as my first name so, in urban dictionary terms, I am hardly in a position to comment...