Posted by Instagrate to WordPress
November 8, 2012
Manners.
I just went to my formerly favorite Dunkin’ Donuts for an unsweetened iced tea with lemon. As mentioned in a previous post, this DD now has an all new lunchtime staff, and since I’m no longer here on a routine basis, they don’t know me or my usual order. I can handle that.
What I can’t handle is when I’m handed the unsweetened iced tea with lemon and I say “Thank you”, the clerk responds with “No problem.” No problem? I just made a purchase that contributed to your paycheck and you respond with no problem?
If my grandfather or father were alive and that happened in the family store, we’d be scolded to the brink of tears (by my grandfather) or to a very uncomfortable silence of disappointment (by my father).
I have prefaced quite a few Facebook statuses with “I might be getting old…” lately but I am really starting to think that I am one of those old people that talks about the good old days. While I find canned phrases such as “Thank you for shopping at wonderful Hills” to be absolutely ridiculous, I do expect cashiers and the like to say “Thank you” on behalf of the retailer that employs them. The truth of the matter is, I should be happy that they haven’t spit in my tea, but I find it very disheartening when I hear “no problem” in response to someone doing their job. Maybe I’ve watched too much Downton Abbey lately and my head is stuck in the early 20th century, but I am feeling increasingly obsolete with my expectations and ways and quite frankly it disappointing to me.
Earl says I worry about little stuff too much. I think that when you have a million cases of “little stuff” to worry about, you have a whole bunch of big stuff to worry about because all of the little stuff was a symptom of a bigger problem.
Thank you for reading this.
Future.
Earl and I were talking about employment options last night and he mentioned that I’ve gotten to that age where I need to always keep my retirement under serious consideration. He is a wise man and that is a very true statement. One of the best gifts he has ever given me was on my 30th birthday where he insisted that I start a Roth IRA. Luckily, I’ve been saving up for retirement since then through various means. However, last night he mentioned that I need to always keep in my pension in mind.
That’s when I broke it to him that I don’t get a pension with my current job. I think he paled a little. When I reminded him of my 401K, the color returned to his cheeks.
The truth of the matter is that I don’t have wide sweeping plans for retirement. Since it’s probably over 20 years away, it’s not something I give a lot of thought to, but when I do think of my “sunset years”, I tend to go with what I know: rural location, no neighbors, comfortably sized mobile home. Flat terrain would be best. Something like Kansas or Oklahoma. After all, living in a mobile home in the middle of Kansas or Oklahoma would give my life just enough zing to keep it interesting. I might travel once in a while but right now I feel no need to travel the world. I’d rather we do that when we are adequately funded and still young enough to climb a mountain or jump off a waterfall.
Earl really pales with any mention of living in a trailer but I think it’s because it’s way outside of his paradigm. The only time he’s mentioned that it might be acceptable was after we visited my godparents in their retirement village in Florida. I don’t see me living in a retirement village (I’m really not that fond of people) but at least he saw that downsizing to something like that could be an option.
I guess we’ll just have to see what the future brings.
