How can I help you?

Hello friends and family,
My grandson came down on Saturday to visit. He is three and a half now. Really getting to be the fun age. Last week his mom and dad and new little brother and I went to the fair to see papa working as a blacksmith. M.J. has never been to a fair when he was old enough to remember what is was. The knight we were there they had the tractor parade. Keep in mind that this is a small county 4-H fair. He was duly impressed with all of the old tractors. Papa has an Alis Chalmers, 1952 I think, so when M.J. came down Saturday it was on the schedule to take Alis for a ride on Sunday. He was very excited, and of course so was papa. For those of you who may be a little worried by the photo, the tractor was not running and I was close at hand as was papa. More later on farm related injuries to children.
M.J. makes the noises like a tractor and shifts gears and gives orders to fill it up with gas. He is a riot. When he is in his make believe mode he refers to either papa or me as "boy".
Boy, full up the gas as he points to one of us. What a hoot!

So now for my title. May I help you?
Is it only me and my spouse that have noticed that in this service oriented society that the only thing missing is SERVICE! I am only 58. At one time I considered that to be old. Now it is only skimming the edge of old. I was brought up to say please and thank you, respect your elders, (I had issues with that at times) and just use the Golden Rule when dealing with people. You know; Do unto others and you would have them do unto you. So which generation forgot to teach these important things to their offspring? If it was the Boomers,[1946-1964] then shame on us. Bad Boomers.

The event that caused this post was a visit to a large electronics store. Hubby and I are looking for a new computer. I walked in and the sound of some kind of new age music, if you can call it music, was at a decibel that would make Helen Keller wonder what was going on. I found my way to the section where the computers were located, which to my dismay was close to the sound room. To my right was an entire wall of flat screen televisions. All on the same station. There had to be at least a zillion of them. Enough to cause a person become somewhat mesmerized by watching them. I stood in the isle looking at the different computers offered by the store and started to have some questions. A young man at the end of the isle was helping another customer but noticed I looked puzzled. He ask if I needed any help to which I replied, yes. kudos to him. In a few minutes a lovely young, early 20's, woman with lots of hair and bangs came and ask again, do you need some help? I said yes and proceeded to explain to her what I was looking for. In the mean time the music kept getting louder and louder. The computer I was looking at was on sale but they did not have one on display. It comes with the following; monitor, keyboard, tower and printer for a reasonable price. That being said, I would like to see the thing prior to buying it. I ask the young lady through her bangs if I could see one, to which she replied, we don't have one on display. Well if it is on sale then why don't you have one on display damn it. That was my thought but I did not say it. I then said that the music was so loud I was about to have a seizure. She did not even blink. I really don't know if she did or not because I could not see past her bangs. I do know that if someone said that to me I would have to ask if they were in distress or kidding. I then said thank you for your help and left. Enough was enough. I don't believe that I should have to shout at someone to be heard over music while trying to make a substantial purchase in a store. I truly believed I was boring her.

Do you remember the commercial with Clara Peller, "WHERE'S THE BEEF?" Well that is how I feel these days. Where is the service? My husband works hard for his money and I try not to spend it foolishly. I also do not want to spend it at a store that is inconsiderate to its customers. I also know that fast food drive up windows should not be considered in this equation. But come on, why do I have to ask for a napkin when you don't know enough to wipe off the drink after you spilled the contents of all over the outside of the glass. Have a nice day my foot. Perhaps I should ask, do you have the time to wipe the glass off so I do not get soda on my blouse? I believe that is what is expected of anyone under the age of 28.

In the Chicago Tribune Business section on Monday 7/21/08 there is a great article. Closing the gaps between the ages: by Ann Meyer. I recommend looking it up and reading if you can relate to what I have said. In the article it talks about how the different age groups relate to what is said. If a person was to say, I need to get this job done, a Boomer would know that you meant now. An Exer sees it as an observation not a command, an may not do it immediately. The article also observes that Gen Yers [1981 - 2000] do not even like rules and become offended when given a deadline. They seem to prefer to be ask when they think they might be able to get the job done.
I for one think that classifies as, dumbing down. Someone in the press just got in trouble for saying that Americans are a bunch of whiners. So much for free speech. Well if they are not now they soon will be with this kind notion about work habits. I would love to put a link to this article but I have not figured that out yet. I really do encourage you to look it up.

Well I do not write often but I do write much.

Take it One Day at a Time.