Geezer Day...

Nothing to do with Old Faithful - that would be Geyser Day.

The first Wednesday of each month is (actually) "Senior Day" at Fry's grocery store.  Senior citizens get 10% their entire order on that day.  I expected it to be as busy as the Sunday morning of Super Bowl.  It wasn't, but it was still plenty busy.

I have to say I really like this particular store.  Their prices aren't as cheap as Walmart on most items, but they have a great selection of goods, the store is always well-stocked and clean, and the help there seem well-trained and friendly.  Plus, it is only about 2 miles from our RV park.  Handy.

We stocked up on the staples we needed (no, not actual staples that go in a stapler), bought some meat to take of the 4 of us for a while (great meat department, by the way), and got everything that Joan had on her list.

As usual, they have most of their check-outs open, so there weren't long lines.  The lady who was checking us out was pleasant and friendly.  Midway through checking us out, a young manager came up behind us in line and told this checker that "Your numbers are down - you need to pick up the pace.  We've talked about this before..."  Yes, he said that in front of us (customers).  Pretty sure he could tell that I was less than pleased with seeing an employee dressed down in front of us, and then added, "I know you can do better..."

He darted out of there before I could say anything to him.  Obviously, the checker was embarrassed, and we were embarrassed for her.  She tried to make small talk as she finished scanning our stuff.

We stopped at Steph's to put some stuff in her freezer, then went out for lunch.  The more I thought about it, the more I felt someone should speak up regarding this situation.  I called the store and asked to speak to a manager - the person answering the phone transferred me to a guy who, after I asked, identified himself as "the front end manager."

It didn't take but a couple moments talking to this guy to tell that he was the one.  I don't want to use his name, so I'll just call him "Asshole."

He justified what he said by saying, "We give our employees 'pep talks' as necessary."

I said, "Have you ever heard of the concept: 'Praise in public, critique in private'?  If it is your company policy to criticize a staff member in public, I'd like to know so I can take my business elsewhere.  Oh, and unless you own the company, she is not your employee."  I asked to speak to the store manager.

I was quickly transferred to a gentleman who identified himself as the store manager.  I explained the situation to him and he said, "No, it is not our policy to critique any staff member in public - I can fix this right away.  I'm sorry this happened, and especially sorry that it happened in front of a customer."

Really, I'm not an old curmudgeon just looking for things to be irate about (or to end a sentence with a preposition).  As far as I am concerned, situation resolved.  Perhaps young Asshole will have learned something important today?

I also got a phone call while in the store.  A teacher we know (yeah, it was Steph) learned that I gave guitar lessons when I was in college (first time around) to Junior High School students.  I believe I may have said to her, "If things get really tough, I can take my guitar to a street corner or give lessons again for 25¢ per student."  You know, one of those "back in my day, you could go to a movie for 15¢..." kinda thoughts.

She asked me if I would be willing to give lessons after school to some of her students.  It caught me by surprise.  I try to not tell my little girl "No," but I was hesitant to commit until I had more information.  Like: how many days per week, how many students, and do they have their own guitars?

A few years ago, I did a song-writing lesson for her class.  I figured we'd have a couple class periods over a week or so to get them started on writing a song... nope... 45 minutes total.  I work good under pressure - I gave her "2 chords" for the 3 guitar players in her class to learn (a week ahead of time) and planned to write a simple rock song.  No, none of the 3 actually learned the chords.  So, I showed them (quickly) how to play those chords, gave the rest of the class the rhythm and a "starter" melody.  I wrote the first couple lines to give them an idea... and we went after it.  Less than 40 minutes later, we videoed the song (with the words written on the blackboard, because who has time to memorize a song in that short timeframe??).

So, I committed to two days per week for 6 weeks.  We negotiated the pay down to... nuthin.'  Not sure how that all happened so fast?

Before she hung up, she said, "Thanks, Dad - I love you.  And I would still love you even if you said 'No'."  She didn't tell me that before I committed, however.

We'll see how it plays out.  When she first said, "Her class was excited by the idea," I had the unpleasant thought of trying to work with a whole room full of kids... we capped it at "5"... I can live with that.  Right after school.  And she stays in the room for the lesson.  (Not sure if that last one was for her or me?)  She is going to send home permission slips, so we'll see if there is truly any interest.

I may have to learn a song or two that was written in this decade (at least 35 years after "the good music").

;-)