Yesterday was my seventy-fourth birthday. It was a low key celebration as it should be. I got out of bed at 6:30AM, let the toy poodle out and made breakfast for my wife and I. Each morning, Gerry and I have our cereal, juice and coffee in our bedroom and share newspaper sections while the television news offers background sounds.
At 8:00 AM, I did some shopping. At Wal Mart, I noted that only three of 26 checkout lanes were open to customers and one of those lanes was for 20 or fewer items, another for tobacco products; leaving ONE open lane for anyone not wanting cigars or holding more than 20 items. However, I did notice that there were eight other stations called 'self-service' lanes. You have seen them! You, the customer, scan each item, bag all items and then pay electronically. This self-service gimmick is successful and profitable for the major oil companies around the corner from your home where you buy gasoline for your automobile.
I do not need my university degrees or acquired senior-wisdom from seventy-four years to connect the bogus dots of the late President Reagan's wonderful 'trickle-down' economic theory. I believe it goes something like this: If our government gives more corporate tax breaks and holds tight to escalating workers minimum wages and workers' benefits, i.e. Wal Mart, then those business folks (corporations) will use these profits and create more employment opportunities for America's Mr. & Mrs. Joe Average. If one does not see this for the bull crap it is then one is either brain dead or in a state of denial!
This Wednesday, my wife and I will go to our family doctor's office for a six-months' med-check. My wife will use the automated electronic patients' self-service check-in devise; I WILL NOT! Instead, I shall walk to the service desk and allow or if you wish, require the receptionist to check me in. I will be doing my small part to insure that the receptionist keep her job and paycheck. I know damn good and well that my family doctor, whom I truly like, is a tight-ass...the only thing that is going to trickle down from the good doctor is the same stuff that trickles down from seventy-four year old men, however we will not discuss that just now.
My birthday supper/dinner was terrific. I tried my hand at making a 'Cola Pot Roast.' It consisted of a chuck roast, potatoes, carrots, and onions with a mixture of Coke, French onion soup and mushroom soup poured over the concoction and cooked for six hours in a crock pot. Good vittles.
I thank all who sent birthday wishes and especially, Anna Barton-Dunlap, who as a young Edwardsville high school student served as our 1975-76, basketball-team statistician. My wife says that Anna was the sweetest kid from our many basketball families over thirty-seven years. I'll second that 'emotion!'
No comments:
Post a Comment