Pushy & Weekend Sales Calls Don’t Work

No matter WHAT the boss says!

Recently I was introduced to a service that I "MIGHT"  be interested in and could possibly explore further - I gave the salesman my contact information and stressed to him that the afternoons after school are BAD timing around here and weekends are ultra busy!

What times has he chosen to call the whole TWO times he’s called thus far?  You guessed it!

Once was when I was getting the kids out the door, gathered into the car and I even told him we were just leaving and told the kids to be quiet for a few so I know he heard me!

Furthermore, I wrote down the best time to reach me on a paper - has he tried during that time?  Umm NO!

Here it is Saturday morning and my cell rings - it’s him! 

What interest I may have had in his product before has totally flown out the window.

Am I being too harsh do you think?

What is it with some salesmen?  Do they not realize there are some people who don’t give in to the pushy sales tactics and that by being pushy and not sticking to the times when a person requests they’re only setting themselves up for destruction?

Written by...Babe Gayla -- @ Unhinged | Comments (2)

Addendum.

 

Apparently I bring out the weirdness in people, too. I swear, people who seem completely normal when commenting to other people suddenly begin to have head spins and spew guacamole when I get in on the conversation.  You are just gonna have to trust me on this…

I seriously was in a conversation on a blog that I will not mention here…and one of the posters began sounding like Linda Blair ..out of nowhere..all of a sudden..

Geez, no wonder people cross to the other side of the street when I walk by…. it is the zombie people walking behind me.  I am going to make a garlic necklace, first thing tomorrow.

Written by...Babe Marye -- @ Unhinged | Comments (3)

And How May I Offend You, Today?

I am really, honestly, and truly a low key person. Come on. I have 8 kids. I have to be.  I have a few major areas I won’t compromise on; my spiritual beliefs, my ethics, the fact that all the red m &ms are mine…but mostly I am pretty easy going.

So why do I end up offending people right and left?  I wrote an article on Black Memorabilia. Now, if you don’t care for it, great…I don;t go out of my way to collect it either. BUT some people do…and some of those people are African American. Like Oprah Winfrey and Bill Cosby.

I figure that if anyone should be offended by Black Americana then an African- American  should, not some blond from Tennessee whose Double-Great- grand-daddy had a plantation.  So I am now now staying out of the comments on that article.. There comes a point where you have to stop bantering. I learned that in boot camp. It only took about 500 push ups.

So let me say, that I am not prejudice against any race, religion, culture, or college affinity.  I personally don’t like anyone.

So let me just do a random rant of all the crap that has been flung lately and I will give the retorts that have been in my head for days…

1. Nobody cares

2. Your kid is a brat. Deal with it.

3.  Because I think you are a jerk, that’s why.

4. A brain is a terrible thing to waste, why don’t you donate yours to someone who could use it?

5. Get that boy a chainsaw and let him watch nascar.

6.  Get a job, then talk to me.

7. Your kid is a brat. Deal with it.

8. If you change 85% of the ingredients don’t gripe when the result is different from mine.

9. My kids is risking his life so you can call him a  violent war monger. What is your kid doing?

1o. Trying to understand how his long hair makes him unspiritual and ungodly when he spends 2 hours a day reading his Bible and in prayer.

I could top it off and say I don’t like ………..

Nahhh.

Written by...Babe Marye -- @ Unhinged | Comments (10)

The Pen is Mightier than the Sword

At least I think so…and if it doesn’t work you can pull out your ..never mind…I was going to make a weapons joke but it is too easy to get hauled off to the slammer that way.

So here is the deal. Somethings have happened in my neck of the woods and since I have absolutely no legal recourse what-so -ever I am going to deal with my frustrations in a peaceful manner. Besides..plastic explosives are hard to find. (serious, guys, kidding)

Last June my husband, who is a very cool, very awesome Marine, medically retired…woke up in an incredible amount of pain. He spent a week in the hospital on morphine and came home in a wheel chair/using crutches and on heavy pain medications.  We are still fighting for the disability pay, they have him at 10%. He is in a wheel chair. Go figure.

Since his boss does not believe in sick days his vacation was used up.  Never mind that he had been working at this place for 5 years…did I mention the part about no raise for 5 years? No? How about the part about the boss’s refusal to pay overtime to Marc because he was salaried.  I am not going to say the guy is cheap but I really think he reuses the toilet paper. Several times.

So..Marc got out of the hospital but he had to have several follow-ups. The boss took this time out of his days off.. Fine.

The boss whined and complained about the wheelchair bumping the not-handicapped accessible counters and scratching them. He began writing Marc up for things that he had never bothered with before. Silly things. Like the fact that they were suppose to put gloves on when setting out jewelry (Marc has been in jewelry business for 25 years and is a talented designer as well as having an incredible knowledge of the product.) and Marc’s hands broke through the small gloves. (Marc is 6 ft 6″ so his hands don’t fit well in the gloves).

Other things. Picky stuff.

Finally the company was investigated for not paying salaried employees overtime. The boss got a slap on the hand…and had to pay Marc a settlement for 2 years of overtime. Much less than the 5 years over overtime he had not paid.

The boss was mad but he can’t retaliate right? So he changes Marc from salary to hourly wage, three weeks before Christmas and the pay cut is about 150 a week…To give you an idea we are one income, and make less than 25,000 yearly anyway. Merry Christmas.

Last week Marc was let go. No reason. The boss says that he was negative. You would not understand how funny that is until you; a. talked to Marc for 10 minutes, and b. Talked to the other employees.

And because it is a small company we cannot file a discrimination suit.

How amazingly irritating is that?

The temptation is to write an article for a local paper…

Local Jeweler Fires Disabled Vet with 6 kids at Home, A Week After Christmas. For No Reason. 

I really want to give the boss some kind of award but I can’t figure out a suitable one…

Written by...Babe Marye -- @ Unhinged | Comments (5)

Dad Never Told Me There’d Be Twist Ties

 

 

 

So the presents are wrapped. The cookies are baked. The tree is decorated and The Boy is in bed. Notice I didn’t say asleep? That’s because sleep probably won’t come for a while for a eager five year old. There’s nothing left to do but put together all the “Santa” toys.

My Dad once told me about all the late nights he spent putting together bicycles and doll houses. It can take a while for one child; I can’t imagine how Dad did it for six. Things were so much different then too. For the most part toys came in a box. Contents were either taped down or left loose. Nowadays we’re not so lucky.

Putting together toys is no longer the most time-consuming Christmas task. It’s getting the toys out of their packages. Today’s toys are stapled in or lashed down with heavy duty twist ties. In order to open boxes one must have the following supplies handy: wire cutters, screw drivers, scissors, a claw hammer and a trash bag. Oh and booze. Lots of it.

I’ve come to the realization that the people who are packaging children’s toys don’t have any kids. All they have to do is spend one Christmas Eve struggling to disengage a Transformer from its box and they’d put and end to this practice right away. What happened to good old fashion tape, anyway?

As soon as The Boy is asleep I’m going to start bringing up the gifts and disengaging them from the boxes. Hopefully I’ll still have some holiday cheer left in me when I’m done.

Written by...Babe Deborah -- @ Family & Friends, Unhinged | Comments (5)

An eBay Beef - No, not beef on eBay…

My good friend Char has created a monster in me. I’m completely addicted to NICE handbags now and LOVE playing around on eBay to see what prizes I can snatch up for the best price.

Psst, Char, if you’re reading this… I’m really feeling like a million bucks lately, thanks to you!

A couple of weeks ago, I won an AWESOME Dooney and Bourke handbag. It’s so darned CUTE! Don’t you think?

Anyway, I waited and waited on my bag to arrive - no notice, nothing. I finally broke down and sent the seller an email on a Thursday. She stated she’d send it out Priority Mail the following Tuesday which she did. From payment to arrival, it was 19 days.

Now, I do love the handbag so I gave her positive feedback with a “slow to ship but worth the wait” notation as my comment.

She responded back with feedback for me with this notation: “Quick payment…Cannot help P.O. SLOWNESS !!!”

Now why would someone purposely lie like that? And on the feedback of someone who knows the truth?

I know people lie, but gosh darnit, don’t lie and attach the deception to me!

Did I ever tell you how much I hate liars? I know I shouldn’t take such things so darned personal, but dangit, if someone can tell a white lie so easily, doesn’t it make you wonder what else they could lie about?

I’d much rather someone slap my face as to tell me a lie.

Ok, I’m done now. I feel SOOOOOOO much better!

Now back to the bag… cute huh? And I snagged that baby for a cool $65

Written by...Babe Gayla -- @ All About Me, Shopping, Unhinged | Comments (6)

Here-Take My Brain While You Are At It

You know, I like being free. I like having the freedom to make decisions, to choose, within certain parameters how to raise my children and live my life. One thing I really, REALLY like about Texas is that there is a large amount of personal freedom here. I think the Governor is askeered of the rednecks. And who could blame him?

We need to send a diplomatic committee of good Texas rednecks to Massachusetts. Them boys up there have lost their minds.

Seriously now. I know the Texas Redneck Diplomatic Committee would have to check their rifles at the state line and all but I think, in this case, it is worth it.

The Massachusetts House debated the introduction of a bill that would make spanking a child illegal in Mass. If signed into law, parents would be prohibited from forcefully laying a hand on any child under age 18 unless it was to wrest them from danger, lest they be charged with abuse or neglect.

But you can slap the crap out of your 18 year old.

I don’t care what side of the spanking issue you are on. Parental rights are being removed so fast we can’t keep up, and all in the name of protecting the child. But I want to know why our brilliant government is so interested in protecting children from their parents as opposed to protecting them from others. In Maryland parents were taken to court for choosing not to vaccinate their children (yet another debate..I will be glad to discuss at another time). Some idiot judge in New Jersey called homeschooling akin to child abuse…

And it goes on. So my guess is that, similar to Hitler’s program with children in Nazi Germany, our government would like to come to the place where it is the parent and we are but drone worker bees. Feeding and caring for the young but having no real authority over them.

The argument is that the “spanking boundary is often overstepped. ” Well, yes it is. And we think outlawing spanking is going to change that because?????

Look, you can outlaw anything you want but when you do ONLY THE PEOPLE NOT BREAKING THE LAW are going to abide by it. If you have a law that states a parent can not spank their child then parents who are self disciplined and not freakishly mental are going to abide by that law. But those are all ready the ones that are not beating the crap our of their kids anyway! The people that are abusing their children are going to lose it and beat them regardless of what Big Brother says.

Taking it further. Removing a child from a loving and supportive home because he got a couple of swats for running into the 4 lane highway is more abusive by far than the swats. I don’t know how it is where you are but there seems to be rash of reports about abuse in Foster Homes here. So, I spank my kid, three swats on the backside. The child is forcibly removed from my home and placed in a home where he knows noone..and is then subject to abuse. Brilliant plan, Skippy.

So, in keeping with that child protective idea here are some suggestions I have for bills to be introduced regarding children:

1.Dressing little girls to look like hookers should be illegal, punishable by the mom’s being forced to wear clothes in the style of Huggie Bear ( or whatever his name was) in Starsky and Hutch.. An addendum to that would be that little girls who were dressed in yoga pants with words like “sweet” plastered across the butt would be given a pair of levi’s and a flannel shirt. Please people, where do you think the perverts are going to look?

2. Children must be fed 3 hot meals a day that are nutritionally balanced, low in fat and refined sugars, and organic. Furthermore they mist be given organic, whole grain, low fat snacks at regular intervals.

3. Bedtimes for all children under the age of 10 must be 8 :30, and ages 10-18 9:00. Sleep deprivation you know.

4. Sesame Street, especially the old shows, will be outlawed. Seriously, did you read that the old shows of Sesame Street have been given a teen rating because they “can be too disturbing for small children”? O.k..I do find Elmo disturbing..but not as disturbing as Telletubbies.

5. No tree climbing, bike riding, or contact sports. Children go to ER’s every day from doing these things.

6. No INTERNET. Can you believe that when I googled no spanking in Mass. One of the first things to come up on my screen was one of those shots where you are amazed that the camera can get THAT close when people are doing that? What if I had assigned my 15 year old a research paper on this subject? Hmmm?

7. Public and Private schools should be illegal. Too many shootings and violence. Plus too many teachers sleeping with their students. Those places are obviously dens of inequity.
There, I think those are good places for the Massachusetts Legislature to start. Hopefully that will keep them busy enough that they don’t invite the Gov. of Texas to Starbucks and let him in on the idea. He has enough odd ideas of his own…and Bubba Joe, Bubba Tom, Billy-Joe, and Waylon are busy enough right now.

Written by...Babe Marye -- @ Unhinged | Comment (1)