• The last thing most people need is someone telling them what they need.
• True or False: The higher you place an item on a shelf, the more likely it is to fall.
• I am not a celebrity. Objects do not become more valuable because I have owned them. The only things of mine that will have value to my children when I’m gone are the things that evoke good memories for them. Example: I have saved the golf ball from my only hole-in-one. It is in a box in the storage room. When my children discover it, it will look like any other golf ball to them. As it should.
• Two wrongs don’t make a right. Three lefts do.
• For some reason, it is considered a good sign when people are lined up waiting for a table in a restaurant but not a good sign when those people are seated and waiting for service.
• Graduate this: Dustin Hoffman will be 75 in August; Simon and Garfunkel are already 70.
• True or False: If you see a “Honk If You Love Jesus” sign and you do not honk, it means you do not love Jesus.
• This is the icon that allows you to make a phone call on the Apple iPhone. Most iPhone users have probably never seen a telephone shaped like this except in the movies. (Movies like “The Graduate.”) It is somewhat ironic how 21st-century technology sees fit to recycle symbols from the 20th.
• I have once again picked up “The Autobiography of Mark Twain: Volume One” after a long hiatus. This volume is over two intimidating inches thick and starts off slow and dry, thanks to a 58-page “Introduction” by the editor. Reaching the end of that section, I was ready to put the book down and did. Luckily, Twain’s own words have proven to be far more engaging. He writes with a refreshing, direct, declarative style that reminds me of Kurt Vonnegut without the weight and weariness. I look forward to finishing the book sometime before Game One of the World Series in Pittsburgh.
Last Thanksgiving, according to this article by John W. Cox of the Tampa Bay Times, 73-year-old Jan Sullivan of St. Petersburg, Florida, was fired from her job at Walmart. The reason? An impatient customer wanted to exit the store through the entrance door rather than walk through the checkout area where Ms. Sullivan, a greeter, was stationed. The customer insisted on passing and pushed Ms. Sullivan on her way out. To keep herself from falling, Ms. Sullivan says, she momentarily grabbed the woman’s sweater.
She was suspended that evening for violating a Walmart policy that forbids employees to touch customers. Two days later, she was fired. Walmart stated that Sullivan’s actions created “a bad experience for our customer.”
The incident was recorded by a store security camera. Walmart will not release the tape.
Ms. Sullivan was not able to get a lawyer to plead her case. She was denied unemployment compensation — because her dismissal was based on her own “misconduct” — and she lost her appeal. Since she cannot find work, she has had to sell her house to make ends meet.
Walmart is a $240 billion company by market capitalization and it reported profits of over $15 billion this year. This is how they make their money. They may have low prices but you won’t find good values in their stores.
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Note: Updates to The 100 Billionth Person Blog
You may notice a few changes I have made to the navigation for this blog. In the header, there is now a link that lists all of my posts, which you can sort by title or by date. In the sidebar, I have added links for popular (Top Ten, no less!) search terms. I have eliminated ads and added my current reading list. Finally, I have reduced the number of categories for my posts. It was pointless and silly to list eleven different varieties of “commentary” when it all comes from the same brain.
As always, thanks for reading and responding.