Not the solution.
"I am just absolutely convinced that the best formula for giving us peace and preserving the American way of life is freedom, limited government, and minding our own business overseas."
– Ron Paul
July 31, 2011
Government is the problem
"I am just absolutely convinced that the best formula for giving us peace and preserving the American way of life is freedom, limited government, and minding our own business overseas."
– Ron Paul
gazump
gazump \guh-ZUHMP\,verb:
1. To cheat (a house buyer) by raising the price, at the time a contract is to be signed, over the amount originally agreed upon.
2. To swindle or overcharge
noun:
1. The act or an instance of gazumping
Wasn't familiar with this word, but I certainly am familiar with the definition. I've been gazumped many, many times, but don't think I've ever gazumped anyone...not unless you count the times when I worked nights at a convenience store and would sell the old burritos and corn dogs to the drunks who came in after the bars closed. I wouldn't even do that unless they were being asshats and rude to me.
These days I sometimes make the clerks angry when I insist upon them not doing it to me. I always tell them I don't want a corn dog that could drive a nail into an oak plank.
I had a service station when I was a kid and had a man ask me to check under the hood. He watched me like a hawk as I checked the fluids and belts. "You act like you don't trust me." I told him. "I don't trust any service station attendants, son." he replied. He then went on to tell me several dirty tricks he used to do when he worked at a station; one was "short" sticking - meaning to pull the dipstick out, wipe it off, then inserting it back in the tube but not all the way to the bottom. He'd then show it to the customer, saying the engine needed a quart of oil. He'd go inside the station and get the can, but it would be empty. (a collection of one of each kind ready for the scam) No one would question him bringing out a can with the spigot in it.
The man told me another "trick" would be to take a small knife or razor blade and cut partly through a belt, then warn the customer it wasn't far from breaking.
He told me several other tricks, all of which horrified me. I'm not the most moral person, but I do know one cannot survive long in business that way; if you're discovered cheating someone, you'll lose that customer, everyone he/she tells and most likely most of the rest of your clientele once the word gets out.
Anyway...I got through checking under the hood, topped off his gas tank, wiped his windows, etc. He gave me a gas company credit card, but before I "swiped" it in the imprinter (remember those?) I took out the warning pamphlet the company sent out once/month - the numbers list of cards that had been cancelled or were stolen - and checked his card against them This annoyed the man and he had the gall to ask me:
"Don't you trust me?"
1. To cheat (a house buyer) by raising the price, at the time a contract is to be signed, over the amount originally agreed upon.
2. To swindle or overcharge
noun:
1. The act or an instance of gazumping
Wasn't familiar with this word, but I certainly am familiar with the definition. I've been gazumped many, many times, but don't think I've ever gazumped anyone...not unless you count the times when I worked nights at a convenience store and would sell the old burritos and corn dogs to the drunks who came in after the bars closed. I wouldn't even do that unless they were being asshats and rude to me.
These days I sometimes make the clerks angry when I insist upon them not doing it to me. I always tell them I don't want a corn dog that could drive a nail into an oak plank.
I had a service station when I was a kid and had a man ask me to check under the hood. He watched me like a hawk as I checked the fluids and belts. "You act like you don't trust me." I told him. "I don't trust any service station attendants, son." he replied. He then went on to tell me several dirty tricks he used to do when he worked at a station; one was "short" sticking - meaning to pull the dipstick out, wipe it off, then inserting it back in the tube but not all the way to the bottom. He'd then show it to the customer, saying the engine needed a quart of oil. He'd go inside the station and get the can, but it would be empty. (a collection of one of each kind ready for the scam) No one would question him bringing out a can with the spigot in it.
The man told me another "trick" would be to take a small knife or razor blade and cut partly through a belt, then warn the customer it wasn't far from breaking.
He told me several other tricks, all of which horrified me. I'm not the most moral person, but I do know one cannot survive long in business that way; if you're discovered cheating someone, you'll lose that customer, everyone he/she tells and most likely most of the rest of your clientele once the word gets out.
Anyway...I got through checking under the hood, topped off his gas tank, wiped his windows, etc. He gave me a gas company credit card, but before I "swiped" it in the imprinter (remember those?) I took out the warning pamphlet the company sent out once/month - the numbers list of cards that had been cancelled or were stolen - and checked his card against them This annoyed the man and he had the gall to ask me:
"Don't you trust me?"
July 27, 2011
It Don't Mean Jack
I haven't been doing a lot in this blog; even though my computer is near my air conditioner, the heat wave has sapped my inspiration. As a result of fewer posts, the blog has been getting fewer visitors. It usually gets an average of 75 hits per day on the counter, but this last month the number has dropped to 50. To be honest, I enjoy having the "larger" amount of visitors, but it doesn't mean anything other than a fluctuating interest in this blog...and since I don't have any paying ads, it means even less than nothing. IOW, no jack means it don't mean jack. -grin-
Clicking on the graphic a couple of days ago, I noticed a fairly significant spike in visitors over the weekend.
It was too late to see exactly what the visitors were coming to see on the other counter, but I had a suspicion. Sure enough, checking through the TV listings for last weekend, I found that Cast Away had been shown several times over a couple of days. In fact, while waiting on another movie to start, I had watched the last fifteen minutes of Cast Away and that's when I noticed something strange.
After doing a cursory search, I found that others had noticed the same thing. When Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks) visits his ex-fiancee Kelly Frears (Helen Hunt)and is driving away, Hunt runs down the driveway of her house after him, yelling - what it sounds like to me and others - "Jack....JACK!"
Since the Hanks character's name is "Chuck", I guess Hunt didn't mean Jack either.
hoary
hoary \HAWR-ee\ , adjective;
1. Tedious from familiarity; stale.
2. Gray or white with age.
3. Ancient or venerable.
The first time I remember hearing this word was in a spelling contest in the 6th grade. We were each given a word and having to stand up and spell it. We let out a few giggles when the word was said; the teacher immediately admonished us to be mature and that the word meant nothing like it sounded and that it wasn't even spelled like that. Then the girl given the word spelled it "like that":
"W-h-o-r-e-y"
That's when our giggles turned into out-and-out laughter.
That memory never gets hoary, even though I am.
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