Mrs. Man sounds off

Opinion

November 8, 2012

Mrs. Man sounds off

Jan Wells Cordele Dispatch The Cordele Dispatch Thu Nov 08, 2012, 08:30 AM EST

Cordele — I’m not one to stir trouble, but Americans are complacent. Terrorists blow up an embassy, and we shrug our shoulders. The government’s hand is deep inside our pockets, and we hardly notice…we have simply learned to live with less.

In the late afternoon of Halloween, as I stagnated in the checkout line at the Big Store for 30 minutes, I had time to dwell. Okay, maybe it wasn’t 30 minutes, but you get the picture. I was there so long that I had to prop first one foot then the other on the bottom of my cart to rest…not very lady-like, but I couldn’t stop myself.

While waiting, I watched the clerk and wondered two things…what genius hired her…and why had she not since been fired? But as I pondered those topics, I answered my own questions. Either the store management doesn’t care about service, or that was the best they could do.

The quality and level of retail service has dropped like a rock in the last 50 years, and I wish some brilliant analyst would tell me why. Remember when the service station attendant came out to your car wearing a nice uniform and matching cap, pumped your gas, checked the air in your tires, AND washed your windshield?

What happened to those guys? I won’t be happy until someone gets to the bottom of it…but, back to the checkout line at the Big Store on Halloween.

My wait was long, I noticed, for several reasons. The clerk was slow…this chick would never make it on a production line of any sort. If she had been packing candy in boxes on an assembly line, let’s just say that when the boxes reached the end of the line, they’d be half-empty.

Not only was she slow, she had a flaming desire to form a close personal relationship with the customer, a woman of about my age whose buggy was overflowing, and in that 15 minutes (seemed like 30 to me) they developed a bond much like a mother-daughter bond, and came close to kissing goodbye when the customer finally left the store.

But the biggest delay had to do with the food-stamp card. Each time I am unfortunate enough to stand in line behind a customer with a food-stamp card, there is always trouble.

I’ve found that these delays due to problems with the food- stamp card give me too much time to think. I think about the days as a single mom when I had to bust into my kid’s meager piggy bank stash in order to buy a box of grits to feed said kid…breakfast, lunch and supper…for a week. And I wonder where MY food stamp card was. Maybe it was lost in the mail.

But, back to the woman with the food- stamp card. Before you jump down my throat and call me a cold, selfish, unfeeling scrooge who wants poor women and children to starve, remember I told you that her buggy was overflowing…but not with meat, milk, fruits and vegetables. Her buggy was crammed slap full of soft drinks, chips, and big bags of Halloween candy.

In broad daylight, in front of dozens of onlookers, she paid for the sugary drinks and junk food with a food- stamp card, a card paid for with tax money that came from the sweat of my brow. Perfectly legal and nobody batted an eyelash…

Now try convincing me that Americans are not complacent.

Text Only

Opinion

Seizure of AP records insult to independent press
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.

May 18, 2013
Eyewitness gives account of Boston Marathon bombings
BOSTON, MA — Rushing to the streets to help runners, my eyes stared vacantly in disbelief. Is this actually happening today at The Boston Marathon?

April 27, 2013
Letter to the editor:
Dear Editor
I recently learned that an employee working for the Dooly County School System was discharged from the military because of a “personality disorder.”

April 22, 2013
Life, liberty, and…..abuse?
April is Child Abuse Awareness Month, which is a heavy burden to put on April, which is already working to promote awareness for cancer, severe weather, autism, parkinson’s disease, sexual assault, stress, sexually transmitted diseases, alcohol, and includes a ‘special’ week for volunteers.

April 18, 2013
What should have happened in the legislature during 2013
(Editor’s Note: David Pennington’s synopsis of the recent legislative session appeared in the Thursday, April 11 Cordele Dispatch. What follows is his opinion about what should have happened while the Georgia representatives and senators were in Atlanta).

April 13, 2013
The view from inside the schools
(Editor’s note: In light of recent events and accusations surrounding Wilcox County and segregated proms here is an excerpt from a posting on the home page for Wilcox County Schools).

April 8, 2013
Life, liberty, and…..the west coast?
Thankfully, just when most humor writers are looking around for material, somebody on the west coast does something stupid for us. How patriotic!

April 4, 2013
Death not a 'dead end'
This past week, a former local minister pointed out the irony of this road sign at the intersection of 8th Ave. and 1st St. in Cordele.

March 30, 2013 1 Photo
Life, liberty, and…..nudity?
A couple of weeks ago, just before the two week series of “Dancing with the Post Office Stars,” a man approached me in the bank parking lot and offered a suggestion for a column.

March 27, 2013
Life, liberty and correspondence
A couple of letters to the editor in the Cordele Dispatch caught my attention lately.

March 21, 2013
More Opinion Headlines

Opinion

Search Results

Mrs. Man sounds off

Site Map

Contact Us