Bonus Points

 A steady, drizzling rain began yesterday afternoon, the sort of thing we call a soaker, and it hasn't really stopped.  Temps dropped.  We're now in the mid 50s (F), and the weather forecasters say this is where we're going to hang for the rest of the day.  Good thing I didn't pack my sweatpants and shirts for the summer.  I'd just sit home and wait it out, but I'm running low on milk and bread, so later I'll be heading out to my local Giant supermarket.

Speaking of Giant, they did not bring back the super bonus point deals. That's a shame.  It means buying gas for the car is going to get pricier.  This is corporate greed.  The bonus points could not only be used to buy gas, but to buy groceries as well.  The few bonus points you provide, the more people have to spend.

Retail was slow yesterday as well, for the most part.  They are really pushing us to get leads and measure, for a lead, you sign up a customer to have someone go to their home and try and sell, them doors, or windows, or sign them up for a hot water heater installation.  Measures are when you sign them up to have a measure tech go to their homes and measure for carpet, or doors, windows.  Measures and leads are seen as guaranteed sales. They push measures and leads all the time, but mostly during the slow months of winter.  Not anymore.  If we make plan for the day, it's usually because some customer has purchased an installation.  People just aren't spending the money they used to spend. 

I made an appointment yesterday to have them pick up the dog sofa in 2 weeks.  Waste Management will do it for free, but it does need to be disassembled for them to do so.  This is what it looks like now.  Oh, and I'm also going to be getting rid of those ugly area rugs.  I bought them when they were on clearance, $29 each.  

Stormy testified again yesterday.  That woman is nobody's fool.  She has painted so many terrible pictures I don't want to think about, scared they'd stick in my brain for ever, like Donald Trump in silk pajamas, or even worse, in boxer shorts.  I probably shouldn't have written then, because now you'll think about them too, and those images will be stuck in your head for all of eternity.

Of course, people are also talking about the Orange Anus and his meeting with the CEOs of the Big Oil companies... and the promise he made them, to gut the EPA, all for the price of a measly billion dollars.  Reports say he said the money was to be used by his campaign, well, we know that's a lie.  He has legal bills that ought to be paid and he's already using campaign funding for that purpose.  And I say ought to be paid because he has a bad habit of not paying, if fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't offer them bonus points in lieu of payment.

strapped for cash

 Tomorrow's the end of the week for me.  That makes more sense since specifying days doesn't really, what with working in retail.  Business is slowing down.  A Specialist I work with suggested that maybe people are starting to run out of money.  We have one of the largest Navy supply bases on the East Coast (essential), we are the state capital (essential), we have the University of Pittsburgh medical, Geisinger, and Penn State Medical Colleges (all essential), so lockdown here, except for the whining Republicans, was not bad.  Now, however, financial incentives companies were divvying out to their associates are beginning to dry up, unemployment is stuck in the 'red zone,' and store shelves are filled with non-essential items to hide their holes.  Money is getting tighter.  In my store, our foot traffic is slowing down.  Don't get me wrong, sales are still great, but cracks are starting to show.  Blame the Republicans who want to tell you how to live, but have no clue how to run the country.

I saw where Michele Bachmann was running her mouth again.  She exemplifies the biggest problem with Conservatives, their need to shriek their narrow minded beliefs over the sane voice of reality.  While I agree with going high while "they go low," sometimes we need to tell losers like Bachmann to just shut the hell up.  Remember when she shrilly shouted how war was being declared on Christianity?  That was a lie.  Evangelicals were declaring war on everything they couldn't control.  We need to begin calling these people and their lies out.  We need to just tell them in a very forceful voice to "shut the hell up."

Nineteen years ago 9/11 united the country and almost immediately afterwards the Republicans starting dividing it with lies about 'weapons of mass destruction.'  This election, we need to teach them a lesson.  

And don't you think it's funny that the Idiot Jerk, who likes to claim he's a brilliant businessman, has a campaign with financial difficulties.  Evidently they're cutting back on TV advertising in order to have a workable cash flow during the last 30 days of the campaign.  I don't know about you, but this is a terrible reference to put on a resume if you want to be re-elected.  Don't doubt for a second that he and his party will renege on their debts, especially when he loses.  I can already hear his attorney's saying "why should we pay you, you didn't help us win?"

And, finally, my zinnias are still blooming.  Here's a snap.

Essential

The Devil went down to Georgia...  oh, wait... it was the Idiot Jerk not the Devil.  Hhhm.  Same thing, for all intents and purposes.  It was just a short visit.  No rambling, stream of conscious stump speech.  I didn't see any pictures of him wearing a mask.  I do not doubt for an instant that in his mind wearing a mask makes him look weak.  He wants to be Macho Don.  He has 6 bankruptcies under his belt.  No one said he was smart.

It's Thursday.  Isn't this week just flying by?  In four more days I have another weekend.  I can't wait.  After that I'll be going into two 32 hour weeks, followed by a week of vacation.  I need to use it.  My anniversary date is 9/4 and I'll get another 3 weeks.  Yippee!

Of course, the virus is heading north again - thanks to stupid conservatives down south.  The ones who still believe it's a hoax.  And it's not just those southern crackers who think this.  I was talking to one of my friends last evening who works with an individual who makes that claim daily and then asks "Don't you agree?"  "Don't you think it's a hoax, too."  Stupid people.  And we are still in the first wave.

Walmart's enforcing a mask rule beginning Monday.  I brought it up in the lunchroom yesterday and there was a whiner there who said, "but what about my constitutional rights?"  I said nothing.  I know you might find that unusual.  I am not in management anymore.  Besides, he is in a shrinking minority group.  Those who adapt survive, those who don't?  They may be out of jobs.  There are a lot of people out there who have no problem adapting in order to get an Essential job.

Someone who didn't have an Essential job was Brad Pascale.  He heard the Idiot Jerk sing those magic words... "you're fired."  One thing I wouldn't want on my resume?  Being the Idiot Jerk's campaign manager, especially since that loser in the White House is slipping so far back in the polls.  That's not the kind of bullet point that looks good on your LinkdIn profile.

And finally, I have these purply things growing in my back garden.  

There are white ones, too.  Last year there were four, this year I have at least 12, and they're beginning to crash into my tomato cages.  They're pretty, but have no scent.