Daily Archives: April 12th, 2006

Do as we say, not as we do

Milwaukee is near-fanatical about it’s recycling program. So much so that a few years ago when I dumped some cans and bottles in a normal trash can, I found a “warning ticket” on my door from the garbage man. If I did it again, I would be fined.

Well…OK. I guess if it’s that important, I can play along. (I won’t get into how useless most recycling is in this post)

Imagine my surprise this morning when I saw the garbage truck dumping all the garbage and recycling into the same truck. No separation, no sorting, just all in the same hopper.

WTF? I mean, we’re told near endlessly by the city about how serious this is and how much we’re helping the city, the state and the planet by sorting our garbage. They’ve spent millions on education campaigns and ads, made it unit-learning in the schools…Hell, they’ll ticket the homeless and scrap dealers for taking material that they feel belongs to them…and then you see something like this.

Odd things I can’t tolerate #256

I’m interviewing for another counter position at the shop. This is not a “big time” position by any stretch of the imagination, it’s a simple retail service position that can fill a young person’s time up nicely.

I’d interviewed a few kids for it thus far and gotten much the same reaction from most of them. (”You gotta work at a game shop?!?”)

I talked to a nice young woman that I could have seen hiring. She was pretty bright, personable and seemed to have some good product knowledge.

But her face was full of piercings. I’m not talking about two or three, I’m talking about a few dozen…the kind that set of metal detectors.

Her choice. She has the right to wear stuff like that in her face or wherever else. But there’s no way I could hire her in on a shift where she would be the public face of the shop.

Now I’m sure that a music store or a coffee shop would have no problem with her appearance, but we’re a “family” shop…I dunno…the thought of it made me uneasy. I’d have no problem hiring her to work in the warehouse or something like that…or even a support position in the shop.

Again, her choice. But I’m curious to know…when she was getting a face full of metal, did she considered such things?

I’ve got a few tattoos that are pretty discrete. I can cover them all easily to present a more “normal” appearance. It was actually part of the consideration as to their placement. If I had a tattoo on my face, I could see where it would make someone uneasy or a bit hesitant to hire me on for some sort of public relation type position. (Some of the ink I’ve considered as of late would be a bit harder to hide, but that’s an entry for another time)

Now of course, I feel like a fucking tool, because I know if this same young woman had come to me with, say, a large unpleasant birthmark or something like that…I’d probably have no problem hiring her.

Fuck and bugger

I fell off the wagon…I had a Coke.

Jo’s gone for the week, and Ben and I don’t eat…well during these times. It’s like living with a little frat boy.

Anyway, he’s been good for me, and as a reward he asked to go to McDonald’s. I got myself a double cheeseburger and a Coke…

It didn’t make me sick as it did before (perhaps because it was a fountain drink?) but it still made me feel dirty.