Rant #3,947: Shopping From A-Z

I have been covering the shopping industry--both here and abroad--for the past 30 years or so, and whether writing or editing stories about the military retail industry or the overall shopping industry, I think I have a pretty good read at what is right and what is wrong with this industry, encompassing supermarkets, convenience stores, and the like. 

So when I get involved in something that irks me at the local supermarket ...

Well, it irks me.

Yesterday morning, we had a couple of bags of empty water bottles in our pantry, so to keep moving--that is the way I am recovering from my recent surgery--I decided to go to my local supermarket to cash the bottles in.

So that is where I was at 9 a.m. yesterday morning, putting the bottles in the recycling machines--something I have been doing religiously since this was instituted more than 40 years ago in New ¥ork State--and when done, I got my receipts and looked to cash them.

I went to the customer service area, and it was closed.

I saw the woman who usually mans the area, who was sitting near the bathroom talking and using her phone, and she told me, "You have to wait on line to cash those receipts. We are open until 10 p.m."

There was one line open with a cashier, and there were about five people ahead of me, all with large amounts of groceries in their shopping baskets.

I went to the woman again, and she reiterated, "You have to wait on line to cash those receipts," as she was talking on her phone.

"Look at the line," I said. "I am not going to wait on such a line to just cash these things."

"Well, I am sorry, the reason I am not at the customer service desk is that we don't have enough people working this morning."

(What she should have done is go to the one cashier, and tell her, "When you are done with this order, cash these receipts," which would be the common sense thing to do, and by the way, you cannot use the receipts on any of the self-checkouts, areas which are plentiful in the store.)

"Let me speak to the manager," I replied.

Once I said that, it pretty much has the same, exact response as when I tell people over the phone "I will get a lawyer and sue you," which appear to be the magic words to get some action and get people moving to do what they are supposed to do.

She went into the back, and I know she didn't speak with anyone, and then she came back out.

"There is no one here ... give me the receipts."

I handed her the receipts, she took them from me, grumbling the entire time.

She went to a register, and proceeded to give me my money, all of about $6.

"This is very bad customer service," I told her amidst her grumbling. "You don't turn a customer away for something like this. This store has the worst customer service I have ever seen."

This woman has an attitude. I am in this store with my wife a couple of times a month, and I have complained to her several times about various things, including people abusing their rights at the bottle return, where New York State law prohibits people from cashing in hundreds of bottles in one visit.

She replied, "Sir, we don't have people working here today."

"That is no excuse," I said. "All I wanted to do was to cash in two bottle receipts. That should have been done very easily by you. That is very poor customer service."

She replied, "Sir, I have been working in this business for 23 years--"

I cut her right off.

"Look, I have been covering this business for 30 years, and this is not the way to run a supermarket."

After I got my big $6 for my troubles, I decided to do some shopping ...

Minor things like seltzer and a bag of chips.

I got my stuff, went on the line again--it was not as bad now, just a few people ahead of me with only a few items in their carts--and she called me over.

"Go to line three," she said, which I did, and I came across a cashier who was about as happy as I was about the situation at hand.

Evidently, he had wanted to wipe down the scanning area as he began hus duties for the day, and this same woman who was giving me an argument about cashing in two bottle return receipts was giving him trouble by initially not allowing hime to wipe down that area.

She finally acquiesced to his request, but he was none too happy.

"This is the worst supermarket I have ever worked for," he said.

"Yes, the customer service here is really bad," I replied.

"All I wanted was some paper towel to wipe this area down ... and you are right, the customer service here is terrible--

"And it seems to be only the women who work here who have an attitude."

I didn't pursue that line of thinking, but if the woman I dealt with represented how other women who work there act to customers, maybe he was on to something.

Anyway, I checked out, wished him a good day, and I left the supermarket.

I won't tell you the name of the supermarket--only that it has three words in its name and is the biggest supermarket on Long Island related to the number of stores under its banner--but I have had some problems with it before, as a customer--

And now one of its employees is backing up what I said!

I think I need to bathe in that seltzer I bought to completely wipe off the stench of this experience.

Hubble bubble, toil and trouble!

Rant #3,946: I'm a Believer

I chose the title of this Rant not for the reasons you might think--

But more about that later.

I am feeling OK today, and each day I feel a little better, but honestly, after surgery, it is going to take a few more days to get back to myself.

That arduous task I had to do as part of my healing regimen is something that I do not have to do anymore, as I heard from the doctor yesterday, whose representative told me that I didn't have to do it anymore.

As long as I was regularly doing the final part of that task, I didn't have to do the majority of the task anymore, which made me feel better right then and there.

Yes, I'm a believer that I will eventually conquer all of these things that ail me, but it is going to take some time.

Now onto other things ...

Amidst all of the health concerns I have had over the past couple of years, I have continued to work, without any stoppage.

I have slowed down on what I can do, but I have continued to work, because, as I have said before, I am currently working for my retirement pension, so any stoppage would derail that goal--

Even though I dearly wish I didn't have to do this, and could just simply flat out retire.

But that being said, the work I do generally isn't constant, as rather than work at least an eight-hour day--usually more than that--when I worked full time, I now work anywhere from an hour to sometimes as much as eight or 10 hours a day in my remote editing/writing job.

Lately, it has been a few hours a day, and I am done. 

I don't think I could do much more with all this health stuff swirling around me, so I have cut it down quite a bit.

Anyway, what do I do when I am not working?

I don't like to sit in front of the television all day, although that is tempting.

So rather than do that, I try to keep busy.

I am all over the Internet, on Facebook, and that keeps me going.

But I just love to digitize my records, as putting them in MP3 format allows me to listen to my 10,000 records in my car as I drive from one spot--yes, including doctors' visits--to another.

I have digitized so many records over the years that my head spins even thinking about it, but it is a fun activity.

I have digitized records by acts from the (A)ssociation to the (Z)ombies, and everything in between.

Looking to digitize something in my collection, I came across this one album that I hadn't even thought about in decades, which means I hadn't played this LP on my turntable in probably about 40 years, if not more.

You might remember the LP, because you couldn't turn on the TV in the early 1970s without seeing a commercial for it.

"No. 1 Hits of the 60's" was a 52-song, four-disk set of chart-toppers from mainly the 1960s, featuring tunes from such acts as Otis Redding, Dion, The Archies and Lulu.

(No Beatles. No Rolling Stones. But lots of other really great stuff by a gaggle of the most popular 1960s pop, rock and soul acts.)

There is "all killer, no filler" in this collection, all number-one hits of that golden era of music.

It was also one of the first--and most successful--records that were marketed on television, and it sold millions of copies after it came out in 1973.

(It was so successful that it was re-released in 1975 with a slightly different cover.)

Before the Internet, this is how such records were marketed to the public, with TV ads that played day and night.

You remember that K-Tel records were sold in this way, and they sold millions of copies of records like "20 Power Hits" and "Super Bad" and "Out of Sight" during the 1970s.

"No. 1 Hits of the 60's" was not a K-Tel product, as there were scads of K-Tel imitators out there at the time.

This one was on the Tele House label, which was an arm of Roulette Records, the infamous mob-run record label whose biggest act was Tommy James and the Shondells (yes, the are on this set too).

The album sold for $8.98 in 1973, the equivalent of $56.12 in 2026 money, so I guess it was pretty pricey in terms of 53 years ago, but you got a lot of bang for your buck.

(And the 8-track tapes edition cost a bit more.)

And who starred in the fabled TV ad for this LP?

None other than Micky Dolenz, just about three years separated from the dissolution of The Monkees--who rose to the top of the charts through a similar TV marketing tool, this time using a popular NBC-TV show to market the act's music to the masses.

(And Dolenz says in the comercial that he is still one of the Monkees, which is interesting in itself.)

There is Monkees music on this set--yes, "I'm a Believer" is on there--and the commercial is kind of annoying, but you couldn't help seeing it whenever you watched TV, morning, noon or night.

I believe that my family ordered this record via the TV ad, and I think my mother must have gotten it for us, but I can't be sure.

The sleeve of the collection is a bit beat up, kept together by some tape, but incredibly, so far at least, the records play pretty well, I am happy to say.

I am sure that back in 1973, this was a real find, as it had music that we couldn't have had in totality in whatever record collection my family had, and these songs were still pretty fresh in our minds.

So that is what I am filling in the time with now, and I hope to have this entire collection digitized in due time ...

And then move on to something else to digitize.

It is nice to hear these songs again as they are presented here, and like I said, there really is no filler at all on the four disks.

It was a fun find in my collection, one that I had completely forgotten about, but once I started playing the collection, all of it came back to me--

Even that chintzy commercial.

https://youtu.be/BPHvjFAWu8k?si=k5NVfTrjFFSiOioX

Rant #3,945: I Don't Know

Having surgery isn't fun. 

I have now had a couple of surgeries related to what ails me, and while these procedures benefit me in the long run, in the short term, their aftermath is annoying and yes, a bit depressing.

Take my latest surgery, which took place on Friday.

I did it, I got through it, but the anxiety with it continues.

I pushed myself this past weekend, and even though I was not myself--and still aren't, to be honest with you--I think I did the right thing.

Sitting around is not my thing, and I didn't, to a certain extent.

This "pushing myself" is wrapped around what is continuing to ail me, and I won't get into it too deep, because it is nothing I really feel the need to talk about to anyone but my immediate family.

But the aftermath--the "afterglow" of all of this--upsets me to no end.

I have to do this procedure once a day for a few days, to flush out whatever is ailing me naturally.

I have to drink pretty much an entire bottle of water at one sitting.

Then I have to wait a half an hour.

After that half an hour is over, I have to curl up on my bed, with my legs raised up way over my body.

I do this using a succession of pillows.

I have to lay on my right side for an additional half hour in this position, which is not only annoying, but it is uncomfortable.

I pretty much am in this position with my eyes closed, and the television on, but I cannot really watch the TV because I am in such an awkward position.

After a half hour of doing this, I then have to drink what amounts to another bottle of water--

And then see what happens.

I know it is part of the procedure, but boy, is it annoying!

But I am doing it, and I don't know if it is working or not.

Otherwise, especially after drinking all of that water, I feel bloated for a good part of the day, and since I am not 100 percent anyway, it is making me feel a bit sluggish, and certainly not myself.

But like I said in the past, I will do whatever I have to do to get better, and if this is part of it, then so be it.

It is temporary, anyway, so I just have to grin and bear it for now.

It is just another brick in my load, I guess.

I still have at least one more procedure, which I believe soon will take place after I get another catscan, and then, perhaps, we will have a better read on what is ailing me.

I already know one of things that is ailing me, which I will keep to myself right now, but I am sure that I, and my doctors, will find out more as we go along this path to get me to good health.

It is a process, a kind of a long process, but I guess things could be worse ...

I guess.

2026 has been a very rough year for myself and my family, and although the first nearly half of the year has been horrid, I am hoping the second part of the year is better.

I have so much I want to do, and I can only do it with good health.

Rant #3,944: Lazy Sunday (On Friday)

I got through my latest medical procedure, or should I say, my latest operation.

I was nervous as all heck on Friday morning, but even though I might have sounded like I was nuts, I kept on singing this one, particular song out loud and in my head to help relax me.

"Lazy Sunday" by The Small Faces.

Part of the song's refrain served to calm me down.

"Close my eyes and drift away."

Here are the lyrics to the song, which was never a hit in America, but was huge in Europe nearly 60 years ago.

This came from Songfacts (https://www.songfacts.com/lyrics/small-faces/lazy-sunday).

A-wouldn't it be nice to get on with me neighbours?
But they make it very clear, they've got no room for ravers
They stop me from groovin', they bang on me wall
They doing me crust in, it's no good at all, ah
Lazy Sunday afternoon
I've got no mind to worry
I close my eyes and drift away-a
Here we all are sittin' in a rainbow
Gor blimey, hello Mrs. Jones, how's old Bert's lumbago? (he mustn't grumble)
(Tweedle-dee) I'll sing you a song with no words and no tune (twiddly-dee)
To sing in your party while you souse at the moon (oh yeah)
Lazy Sunday afternoon, I've got no mind to worry
Close my eyes and drift away-a

Root-de-doo-de-doo, a-root-de-doot-de-doy-di
A-root-de-doot-de-dum, a-ree-de-dee-de-doo-dee (doo-doo, doo-doo)
There's no one to hear me, there's nothing to say
And no one can stop me from feeling this way, yeah
Lazy Sunday afternoon
I've got no mind to worry
Close my eyes and drift away
Lazy Sunday afternoon

I've got no mind to worry 

I don't really know how this song came to mind, but I guess the refrain did it.

I was super nervous, but the anesthesiologist put me out, and I came to after about 45 minutes with apple juice and Famous Amos cookies, the latter of which I have always loved.

I was pretty woozy for the remainder of Friday into early Saturday, but I was OK, but still a bit off, by Saturday afternoon into Sunday and today.

My "Week of Hell" is over, but I have at least one more procedure to go through, probably next month.

And then, maybe my worries will be fully diagnosed, and then made better.

I think it has come down to maintenance; like you would service a car, I am going to happen to regularly service myself, to ensure that these things do not come back.

But let's not put the cart before the horse.

There is still plenty to take care of before I can claim good health.

And that is my goal.

Nothing less..

I think I am going to be OK, but let's see. 

https://youtu.be/BKJXtTLmy_s?si=85yOPzZsOZBMX-xP

Rant #3,943: Telephone Line

Yesterday ended up being a kind of strange day in my "Week of Hell."

I was to have what I thought was a one-on-one in-person meeting with the doctor who did the procedure where I had six polyps removed, but I found out at about 7:30 a.m. that the meeting was actually a televisit, where I would meet with the doctor over the phone.

This was not told to me when I initially made the appointment, and the only reason that I found out is that right after I woke up on Wednesday, took a shower and got dressed, I received a text about payment for the visit--

And it clearly said that it was a televisit.

First off, why I was contacted so early in the morning for payment is one thing--

But why wasn't I told that this was a televisit when the appointment was initially made?

Actually, it was good that it was a televisit, because if I had to come to the doctor's office and physically be there, since the appointment was at 5 p.m., I would have had to leave at about 3:30 p.m., since the office is quite a ways away from me, and I probably would not be home until 7 p.m. or so--

So while I was happy that this appointment was a televisit, I wish that I would have been told about this right when I made the appointment.

But let me tell you more about the televisit.

The doctor's office literally told me on Wednesday morning that I would get a link sent to me to connect with the doctor, and by about 4:30 p.m., I had not received anything.

My brain told me to look around, and I decided to go into the electronic invoice that was generated when I paid so early that morning--

And the invoice contained the link!

So at about 4:45 p.m., I connected, and I was in the "waiting room."

It soon became 5 p.m., and nothing.

Then it became 5:15 p.m., and I was still in the waiting room.

I called the doctor's answering service, and it took me a good 15 minutes to connect with them.

And then, miraculously, I saw the doctor on my phone's screen.

This was at about 5:45 p.m. or so--

Or 45 minutes after I was to meet with him electronically.

A new problem arose--

I could see and hear him, but he could not hear or see me.

He decided to call me directly on my phone, and finally, we did connect--

But then I lost him again!

He promptly called me back, and apologized for being so late.

Couldn't one of his staff perhaps have called me and told me he was going to be late?

No, I can't expect that, I guess, but I was none too happy about this whole thing.

Finally, we connected over the phone for good, and--

NONE OF THE SIX POLYPS THAT HE REMOVED WAS CANCEROUS!!!!!!!

Just to cut a very long story short, one of the six was near cancerous, but it has been removed and I don't have to go the next step, which would have been surgery.

The doctor said that I "was a challenge," but none of the polyps are cancerous--

I just have to go for another procedure in six months to make sure that they don't come back!

Yes, I did breathe a big sigh of relief, but to have to go through all this to hear that I probably dodged a bullet ...

Why do these things always happen to me?

Moving onto today ...

I have another work meeting, and then tomorrow, I have my next procedure to fix whatever is wrong with me.

At this writing, I still don't have the slightest idea when that will be, as they have yet to call me with a time.

I am hoping it is in the morning, which will give me time to get it done and heal over the rest of Friday and throughout the weekend.

I guess that as I have said before, these are just mountains that I have to scale, and I will do it because I want good health, and nothing less.

This procedure on Friday will force me to not have a Friday Rant this week, and hopefully by Monday, I will be able to get back in the saddle and begin the week with a brand new entry.

It might take me a few days to fully recover, or it might take me a few hours, I really don't know at this point.

So I am going to make today's Rant a particularly short one, and just say that I hope that everything goes OK, and that I am well on the road to recovery.

Full recovery is my goal, and like I just said, I have a few mountains in front of me to scale--

And I fully believe that I will do it, and put all of this stuff behind me.

So have a great weekend, and yes, barring anything unforeseen, I will speak to you again on Monday--

Knowing a little bit more about my condition, and hopefully, on the right road to good health.

Wish me luck.

(And let me wish my daughter a happy birthday. I am having the procedure tomorrow, which is her birthday--I seem to have these things on important family days--and I did not want to miss out on her special occasion. Happy birthday!)

Rant #3,942: Head Games

Well, yesterday was Day Two of my personal Week From Hell, and even though I had just a work meeting to attend, as well as some work-related things to do, it pooped me out.

Like I have been saying for weeks, I simply do not have the stamina I once had, and even things like this take my breath away.

And right in the middle of some work I had to do, I received a call from the place that I am having my Friday procedure at, and they went over the usual stuff, like my prep for this, what medicine I am currently taking, etc.--

But they still did not have a time for this procedure.

I won't know until they call me on Thursday afternoon.

Hopefully, it will be done in the morning, so I have plenty of time to rest up and heal afterward.

But not knowing at what time I am going to have this makes me even more irritated, and more upset and frustrated.

If you remember, when I had my surgery in March, I was never told what time the surgery would be held, I called up my doctor, and they proceeded to give me the wrong time, and finally, I called the hospital myself to find out when the surgery would be.

I was not supposed to be doing this, but the situation called on me to jump over some hoops to find out this important information.

I never received an explanation--nor an apology--from anyone, not the doctor nor the hospital.

Totally ridiculous, but true.

I hope the same thing does not happen this time.

And today, I have to visit with the doctor who did my latest procedure--remember the one where they found six polyps?--to further discuss what i had done.

I have to go to this office in late afternoon, won't get home until early evening, and i am not looking forward to this at all--

But it will present a clearer picture of one of the things I have to take care of healthwise.

Wish me luck.

Onto other things ...

World Cup fever is hitting our country, and it is hitting it particularly hard in the New York Metropolitan Area, as some of the matches are going to be held in New Jersey, or as they like to call it, "New York/New Jersey Stadium."

Me, I don't care one bit ...

It is baseball season, you know.

Here is what I had to say about it on Facebook, and a lot of people did not take very kindly to my observations.

"The further Third Worlding of America ...

The U.S. needs "soccer" like we collectively need a hemorrhoid. Once again, this ultra-political sport is being foisted on us, and we really could live without it. And only the rich can afford it, anyway, based on the prices for tickets and transportation. So I am not arguing about the concept of being outside; this is nothing but a political-based money grab that most people could care less about."

Somebody actually had the audacity to not know that soccer matches are often more politics than sports in Europe and elsewhere around the world.

How someone cannot know this is beyond my comprehension, but I guess there are people who are just so ignorant about such things that this needs to be explained to them.

Here is what I said about this.

"Look at what happens at matches in Europe; riots, political outbursts, anti-Semitic chanting ... if you know about soccer, or football, at all, it is often politically tinged, and we don't need sports that bring on that type of rhetoric here. And isn't the USA in this tournament? Then why are so many so-called "Americans" rooting for their original countries' teams rather than the USA team? They are here, they are citizens, why are they rooting for non-USA teams? This is the type of nonsense that soccer brings to the fore that I am talking about."

And here is how I summed everything up.

"I am old enough to know that the country has had soccer pushed onto it since at least the late 1950s, probably earlier. Remember the Cosmos, the Generals ... we collectively rejected it then, and it is getting pushed once again because it is a money grab, nothing more. Soccer will always be a niche sport here, and it will continue to be once World Cup fever--clearly pushed by the media--is over and done with."

So if you like soccer, or football, fine with me, but I could care less, to be honest with you.

We have our major team sports--baseball, basketball, football and hockey--and we have other sports--like bowling, tennis and golf, heck, even pickleball--to keep us occupied.

And the very group that this tournament is being most pitched to--recent immigrants, here either legally or illegally-- most can't even possibly afford to go to these games!

We really don't need soccer, but if you like soccer, that is your choice.

It simply isn't mine.

Rant #3,941: Out of Limits

Well, I guess I got through the first day of my personal "Week of Hell" in one piece.

I saw both my dermatologist and my retinologist on Monday morning, and I guess I am OK, for right now, in those regards.

Today begins my further horrors leading up to Friday, when I actually have to get a procedure done, so yes, I am counting the days.

Mother's Day was really just another day for my family and I.

We had some plans for Saturday, they were scuttled, so even though I wanted to go out to a restaurant on Saturday--our son works on Sunday, so I figured we could celebrate as a family a day early--but my wife didn't want to go out, with bad weather about.

So I brought in food that she wanted from the local pizza parlor, and that was pretty much that.

My son and I gave my wife cards for the celebration on Sunday, but my gift to her had not arrived in the mail by Sunday, so I gave it to her when it came on Monday.

So, you can say that I am off and running ...

Hopefully more on than off.

Onto other things ...

I see that the government has released an entire trove of UFO-related files, from the 1950s to the current time.

It really doesn't mean much of anything, but it still engenders a lot of curiosity.

The clips and photos are grainy--even the more recent ones--and who knows whether what is contained in these clips are factual--

Or just fun.

The way you can explain these things are many, including:

1) They are, in fact, UFOs, or, as they are now referred to, "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena" (UAP).

2) They were sighted, but they were weather balloons or there are other reasons for their existence.

3) They were actual flying vessels, but were sent over here by foreign powers--and yes, we probably did the same thing to them, too.

Personally, I do believe that the existence of these photos and images are a combination of all three reasons, and like President Trump said, it is up to us to decide what they represent and "to have fun with it."

I don't believe we are the only beings in the galaxy, I do believe that some of these things were real, but it is probably a mix of the reasons I wrote about above.

Heck, even astronauts have seen some strange things when they are in outer space, so I won't question their logic.

And yes, I have had my own experience with a UFO, or at least what I thought was one.

It must have been sometime in the early to mid 1980s, I was driving home at night--well after midnight--and about a block away from where I lived, I saw something right in front of me in the sky.

It was illuminated, moving in weird directions, many of them side to side.

I got home, got out of my car, and I didn't do anything much about it.

I went to sleep, and that was that.

I don't remember the next day, but in the very next local Newsday newspaper--what amounted to two days after I saw what I saw--there was a story about people seeing the same thing that I did at the same time of night.

Newsday checked around, and it was listed as an errant weather balloon.

I didn't buy that explanation then, and I don't believe it now.

An "errant weather balloon" does not move side to side like this thing did ...

So was it, in fact, an "errant weather balloon" or some type of flying object from a foreign country, or was it really a UFO?

I would like to think that it was a UFO, but who knows?

The one thing I do know is that if it wasn't an (U)nidentified (F)lying (O)bject, it certainly wasn't--

An (U)nidentified (F)igment of My Imagination (O)bject, that's for sure!