Hammered

Mercury must be retrograde or some such nonsense for all the little irritations that fill life this week, including Sunday brunch at Denny’s. Yeah, I know: living la vida loco!

Jorge hastily seated us and took our order, then disappeared. Yes, disappeared. He walked out through the kitchen with the till drawer and we never saw him again. There were 3 other employees working the floor, refilling the condiments, cleaning the ice machine, mopping the floors, and talking to the cook, but no one came back to our table. Finally, I called to one of the busy-busy employees and asked her to bring my friend’s salad, but it was "not ready" after a full 25 minutes of prep time. At that point, I was glad I had ordered coffee, for which I receive $1 off as a senior citizen and all that. My friend was steamed, but shoveled her salad when it was finally delivered to the table. We never did get a bill, so had to spend the time at the register while the cashier fumbled through the automated system to find our bill, rather than the other 3 she was going to charge us.

I called the toll-free number at the bottom of the receipt to complain and was connected to Kahleel Hasmi’s (my phonetic spelling) voice mail. Nope, I don’t know who Kahleel is or where he lives or why his number is printed at the bottom of the receipt, but I followed up by going to Denny’s website and submitting a complaint. Really? Bad service at Denny’s? I'm sure that will be a shocker to the schmuck who has to read the email comments at Dennys.com.

This past weekend was also the motorcycle weekend in downtown, an event much anticipated by some businesses and dreaded by others, but I cannot find the reason for the thinking. Bringing business to town for one event brings business to town for many businesses: why would downtown business owners be upset to experience an increase in business? Oh, that’s right: it’s the loud, dirty motorcycles and their loud, dirty riders spending money. I forgot that it makes a difference whose money it is: some money does spend better, right? Maybe that’s why Denny’s has become a vast wasteland. After all, it’s on the highway, at an overpass, and lord only knows the riff-raff, senior citizens demanding their dollar off on a cup of coffe, and bikers who walk in the door bring with them their riff-raff, senior citizen and biker money!

I am also being bombarded by solicitations: charities, political organizations/ candidates, and former schools I attended are not just sending out the annual donation letters, but calling, calling, calling. Enough already! I cannot afford to donate numerous times to numerous charities, so I donate once each. I swear the organization receiving the donation uses it up by doing follow-up mailings and cold calls. How about putting my donation toward the cause, rather than the on-going solicitation campaign? You aren’t going to get more money out of me and it surely cannot be cost effective to send me a donation package every single month throughout the year.

Ditto to all the pseudo medical organizations that have lined up to sign me up for their MediCare package. All I have to do is sign on the dotted line and voila! I am someone special to another organization whose senior patients stand on-line for hours to receive routine medical care. I already spent 6 months reading all that crap and made my decision, so it’s yet another waste of money to prepare all the brochures and host all the social gatherings to pressure me into changing my designated medical services plan.

And, dear God, why are the colleges I attended so very long ago still playing on my “former student” status and begging for a donation? I would gladly send each of them a check once a year if they would then ignore me for the next 11 months! I’ve actually sent back letters saying, “If you promise NOT to spend this donation on asking for more money, I’ll send you this amount annually, but if you persist in sending me monthly requests for donations, I won’t send another penny.” I keep getting the Dear Former Student letters, so I’ve stopped sending donations.

And, saving the best for last, the political campaigns. OH, my God!! Millions of dollars spent over far too many months for what? Both sides tell lies, shade the truth, slant the coverage, slander the opponent, and pray that their side wins, but what is the prize? A political office? No, the benefit of being elected to a political office is the set-for-life retirement income, as well as the life-time premier benefits’ packages. I was sick of the TV ads last June, but they continue unabated. I am tired of the “personal” calls from the candidates, the recorded tracks that are automated into my phone. I have never given permission to anyone to put me on an automated call list and I resent the hell out of paying for phone service that is taken over by companies who create automated call lists and sell the numbers to … political campaigns and charitable organizations. I bought that phone number, so it should be at my discretion who has free access to it!

I’m done hammering the world into submission this fine morning. The dogs are upset because this is a workday, not a walk day. I’m packing up my gear and heading out, counting down the weeks until the semester ends and the torn meniscus will be repaired. Life without a bulky knee brace is a goal worth pursuing.