I'm going to indulge in some venting here, folks. Sympathize with me, condemn me, ignore me, ignore my ranting... I don't care, but I have to put this out someplace.

I work retail (in addition to my owning an advertising agency, a graphic design firm and as a musician). So with Thanksgiving week, holiday sales has brought out not just the bigger spenders (and lots of 'em), but the cranks, the thieves, the con artists, the bad check writers, and the idiots in far greater numbers. My youngest (daughter, sophomore at UCLA, who I help promote her participation in the Dance Marathon) is in the middle of finals week, and planning to drive home for the holidays before winter quarter which starts in January.

To combine the two, after a hard week at the store, I was looking forward to sleeping in last Saturday... Sunday was the California International Marathon, where my band plays outdoors from 7:30 to 10:30 am (31 degrees with 7-10 mph winds). At 6 am Saturday, she calls, waiting in line at World of Disney in Downtown Disney (Disneyland) for the sale. Then our cat wakes us, wanting to be fed. Then daughter calls us again from her trip to Kohl's, then a call from my drummer about reception on his tv... all before 7 am. So much for sleeping in.

Sunday evening, we get a call from daughter, while studying for finals, she feels bad, has a temperature higher than 104. Monday, she aces her Spanish final. Tuesday she turns in a paper, and takes another final. Today she tweets that she's got a sore throat, and still higher than 103. So she's going to the Ashe center to get out of today and tomorrow's finals. A diagnosis of strep throat gets her out of her finals until after she returns from break. Can her mom fly down tomorrow to drive her back to Sacramento (home)?

So I'm dealing with a couple big spenders, a number of thieves, and a couple women who want a laptop computer and a Boost phone. We are out of laptops, so a netbook will do. I activate the Boost phone, and start to ring up everything, including accessories. The woman who's paying for everything (not the one who activated the phone) wants the sale in her husband's name (different last name). I have to get a name and address on every wireless phone sale. She has trouble with her address and her home phone number. After ringing everything up, including the airtime on the pay as you go phone, she starts writing a check. I cannot take a check for phone time. So I void the airtime. She then writes a check ... the check has the "husband's" name, a different address and no phone number. She writes "his" drivers license number and expiration date on it and signs it with a scrall both in the memo part and where it ought to be signed. I have to get her DL number and her birthdate from it to ring up a check. Even though I know I cannot take this bad check, I ask for her DL. Different address than on the check and the one she gave me. I get her birthday, but the number is hard to read (the middle digits).  She takes it from me and "reads" it to me. I run it, knowing it will be rejected. Birthdate error. Turns out, she left out one number from her DL, and the last digit is completely wrong. I know the third time I run it, it will be rejected automaticaly. It is declined. They leave to "find alternative funding." They won't be back. I email other stores in the chain with their names, addresses (all four), decriptions, and the check name as well as the scam they are pulling.

While I'm dealing with this, daughter texts me "Swine Flu."

Then while I'm doing the day's banking she calls, wanting her mom to fly down tonight to get her.

Life is... not good.

Thanks for reading. Sorry.

Quoting Ace_of_Sevens:

Quote:
... paper masks all around.

Good idea. Thank you.

Sense. Logic. Move away from the emotional rollercoaster... I might be able to do this.

Okay!

Look at it this way, Cliff.

Things have to get better from here! 

Hope everything is sorted out in time to really enjoy Christmas.

I'm so sorry to hear about the terrible run of bad luck you and your family has had. I hope that things will be much better from now on. I send you good thoughts and hope you take time to care for yourself and your loved ones.

The nurse in me compels me to remind everyone the most effective way, outside of the vaccine, in preventing illness:

Wash your hands - frequently. Sing the Happy Birthday song  - that is how long you should be washing them. Use lotion, especially in the winter, so that your hands do not dry out.

Keep your hands away from your face.

Cough or sneeze into the crook of your elbow or your shoulder.

It can only get better from here.

Speaking of scams and theives, I was in FYE Tuesday and they already had a used copy of Public Enemies. Now this is 11am, so the disc had been out for 11 hours tops. I asked why they had one, and how much it was. Well being FYE, it was more expensive used than the first week sale and mail-in rebate on a new one. Then the guy mentions he's pretty sure it was stolen. I ask why he'd buy something he thinks is stolen and he just shrugs it off. This just promotes crime around here. It was bad enough that all Gamestops would have dvds in library cases. The local library color copies the covers, but squeezes em vertically to add a library logo below, just the most easy to spot stolen stuff possible as they don't give away or sell dvds, and on the rare, rare occasion they do they are back with orginal covers. Gamestop quit carrying dvds recently so maybe the libaray will be safe.

Then at Big Lots I see a couple dvds I might want. Opps, no shrinkwrap but title stripe is in place. Open the bottom half and see empty cases.
Further proof to my theory that most people suck!

Thanks for listening and allowing me to vent as well.

Quoting kdh1949:

Quote:


Your troubles remind me of the line from one of the songs from Hee Haw which went something like "if it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all."

'Gloom, despair and agony on me'...

Sorry, just had to finish the verse. 

Quoting kdh1949:

Quote:
Cliff,

Your troubles remind me of the line from one of the songs from Hee Haw which went something like "if it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all."

All I can say is keep the faith.  God willing, it will be all uphill from here on.

Ah, my dear old friend Albert King singing "Born Under a Bad Sign"

I once got slugged for suggesting of my (former) workplace "if it weren't for bad taste, it'd have no taste at all"... the artists there were not pleased.