My car battery died the other day while I was at work. Although there was nothing to warn me of it, I had asked one of the other managers to walk out with me when I was leaving. I can't really say that I had felt that something was wrong, but I am glad I asked, for whatever reason. You see, we park in a public garage that is about 2 blocks from the theater. On this day, I was parked on the 5th floor and, at the time I was leaving, there were very few cars left on that level. So when we got to my car & it wouldn't start, I was miserable. For one thing, I had been very hot & tired (the a/c at the theater is not very strong in the lobby due to its size - our ceilings are at least 3 stories up and, since the building houses 15 auditoriums, 2 concession stands, a small arcade and a bar, there is a lot of space to cool). As I had been working the bar most of the day, I had been standing under lights that get very warm. My stockings were sticking to my legs, my jacket was sticking to my arms, and I think my makeup was melting. I turned the key and heard, "click ... click ... click ...(silence)." Two more tries and I had the same results. Crap. I called my insurance emergency road service while Victor, the guy who walked out with me, called the other manager on duty to see if he had jumper cables (neither Victor nor I did). Fortunately, he did and pulled up to my car just as the woman from the insurance company told me a tow truck would be out within the hour. I had her stay on the line so we could make sure that was all I needed and, when the car started, she canceled the tow truck request. Thank goodness - I would not have been very happy had I needed to wait an hour in the car for a tow truck. South Florida's heat & humidity in August can get pretty rough.
Anyway, I started calling places the next day to price a new battery. It seemed the best deal was through Advanced Auto Parts because, even though their batteries are the same price as a few other places, they do not charge for installation. I found out why! The next morning, my son came by to jumpstart my car so I could get it repaired. We went into the store and the manager told me it would be just a few minutes as the other guy there was currently putting a battery in another car. He joked that "It must be Battery Day!" (hahaha - a real comedian in our presence). When the other job was finished, the man came back in & decided that first, he needed to test my battery. I told him I was sure the battery needed to be replaced as I have owned the car for 5 years and have never put a new battery in. Also, the past 2 times I had driven it (home from work two days earlier and to their store that day), I needed someone to jump it so it would start. To me (a mere woman who only manages a movie theater), it was pretty much a no-brainer but I guess, to men in the automotive business, it was much more complicated. So, out comes Leslie with his battery testing machine. He hooks it up to the battery, punches in a few numbers and then decides he is missing something so he goes back inside. After a few minutes, I also go inside to see what is taking so long. I guess Leslie works on commission because, in spite of the fact that he had been in the middle of testing my battery, he decided to help another customer! I said, "Excuse me, but I need to get to work. I had been told this entire process would take 10 - 15 minutes and I have already been here for almost a half-hour. I need to leave here within the next 30 minutes. Can we please get back to my car?" Dave, the manager who originally told Leslie to help me, looks at Leslie ringing up the other customer's items and, in what seemed to be shocked disbelief, said, "Leslie! Finish helping this lady! I will ring up that customer ... she needs to get to work!" Well, Leslie seemed to have his own agenda and continued ringing up the customer. As he finally saunters back out to my car, Dave follows us. At this point, Leslie turns his machine back on, pushes some buttons again and then proudly states, "Your battery is dead. You need a new one." My son and I just looked at each other in amazement ... where do they get these people? Dave said, "Okay, it's dead - let's get you a new one." Having called several places the day before to get information on batteries, I told him, as we were walking back into the store, which type battery I wanted. He gives the battery to my son, who has just brought in the old battery that Leslie had removed, so they could start installing it while I paid for it. When I went outside, I noticed that Leslie had somehow split one of the terminal connectors. I thought that didn't look right but what do I know about cars? Perhaps that was necessary in order to connect it. Leslie completed the installation, smiled at me and told me, "Go ahead and start your car." I turned the key and heard ... nothing! No clicking, no humming, NOTHING! Leslie looked baffled. He looks at it again and reaches to the battery with a pliers and tells me to try it again. This time, although the motor does not start or even click, sparks start to shoot out from the battery connection. My son jumps back and starts laughing. Leslie looks, moves the pliers and said, "Go ahead. Try it again." More sparks! At this point, I am getting very frustrated and am looking at my watch to see if I will make it to work on time. Leslie said to me, "See? This connector is split (DUH! I saw you split that when you were removing the battery, Ace!) so you just need to replace that." I asked him how long it would take him to do that, to which he responded, "Oh, I can't do that ... I'm not a mechanic!" HOLY COW - what is wrong with this picture? When I reiterated that I had to get to work, he said, "Well, you know ... sometimes things happen that can't be helped. You can be late." Obviously, this man is an extremely conscientious and responsible employee. When I told him that was not an option, he said, "Well, all you need to do is ... until you can get the car to a mechanic, whenever you have to drive it, have somebody hold onto this clip with pliers and the car should start." Oh, yeah - I am going to ask a friend, co-worker or maybe a total stranger to come with me and touch a pair of pliers to my battery terminal while I hit the ignition. I don't think so! Leslie starts back into the store with me following. He gets the part that I need for the car and then starts to tell Dave what the problem is. Another customer in the store tells me that he is a mechanic, and he can put the part on. Dave says, "Yeah - he can do it for you - he won't charge very much." At this point, I don't even care about the cost. I have now been at Advanced Auto for approximately 40 minutes and I really need to get to work. MechanicMan came out to my car and said, "See? This is split (while pointing at the connector) and that's why it won't start." Obviously, these gentlemen think I have absolutely no brain whatsoever! Well, MechanicMan tries to unscrew the old connector but is having problems. As I stated earlier, I've had the car for 5 years and have never replaced the battery. The terminal is corroded. Leslie sprays something on it (I am assuming it was some sort of rust remover) and MechanicMan continues to try to unscrew the nut that is holding the connector so tight, to no avail. Leslie goes inside and, just as he is coming out the door with a hacksaw (I kid you not ... he had a HACKSAW!), MechanicMan managed to loosen the connector. Leslie looked devastated; he really seemed to want to use that hacksaw! MechanicMan finally gets the piece off, replaces it, gets it tightened around the battery terminal and tells me to try starting my car. It worked! I was so relieved! I asked MechanicMan how much I owed him and he said, "Whatever you want to give me." And, although I was thinking I didn't really want to give him much at all, I gave him $10. So, between the money I paid MechanicMan and the money I had to pay for the part, I ended up saving a whole dollar and eighteen cents over what I would have had to pay at one of the places that charged for installation. And, in spite of the fact that I have no way of knowing this for sure, I have a funny feeling that if I had splurged on that extra $1.18, I would have been out of the shop and on my way to work much earlier.
Maybe I would have even had time to stop for a cup of coffee to jumpstart ME!
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Discipline
I am embarrassed that as excited as I had been about blogging, I have not written anything since my first entry. Granted, there have been a lot of things going on in my life but I realize that discipline is needed ... especially if I want to make something of this (not that I am sure what would or could be made of it, but just the same, I need to discipline myself better).
So, while I am speaking of disciplining myself to write more, I will make this next entry about disciplining children. I am not one of those "Spare the rod, spoil the child" types who feels that it is necessary to place a fear in children in order to get them to listen but I do feel it is important to discipline a child so they can learn right from wrong. Also, it is important for the child to realize that the entire world does not revolve around them so they learn to respect others and also learn to respect the property of others.
I remember when I was pregnant (many years ago), my husband and I were shopping in a large toy store. We were waiting in line to make our purchase behind a woman with a child about the age of 2 years. The store had all sorts of goodies next to the registers for those people in line to suddenly realize they wanted or needed a few last-minute items. Well, the child in front of us, with all the willpower any toddler has, decided he wanted something. He picked it up and gave it to Mommy. Mommy looked at it and said, "Isn't that nice." She then put it back on the shelf, much to the chagrin of the little boy. He again picked it up and this time put it onto the conveyor belt of the register. His mother again put it back on the shelf, this time with a slight, "No, honey, not now." Well, that ended the child's patience. He started screaming and kicking and crying, "Mommy, mommy, mommy. I want, I want, I want." His mother, by this time, was trying to pay for the items she had purchased and decided that picking up the child would help. It didn't. Instead, he was now hitting his mother while he was screaming. This is when things really took a turn for the worse. I guess Mom had forgotten she was dealing with a child and, for some reason, thought the wild thing in her arms had a great sense of reasoning. She told him, "We will come back tomorrow and buy it for you." Parenting Rule #1 ~ Don't lie to your child ... he knows it's a lie! The little boy continued to hit his mother, screaming even louder now that he wanted the item (and he wanted it NOW). Well, the mom decided that she should explain to the toddler why he was not going to get it. "Honey, the lady already rang up my credit card and we can't add it. See? Mommy already signed the credit card slip." Parenting Rule #2 ~ Don't overestimate your child's knowledge or capacity to reason. Now, I'm not saying this child was not a genius but, come on! He is only 2 or 3 years old ... I seriously doubt that he 1) knows what a credit card is; 2) understands the entire economic concept of buying; or 3) really cares what Mommy is talking about at this point. He wanted the item and that was that! Well, guess what? Mom purchased the item for the little boy and, just as suddenly as he had started crying, he stopped. Now, as I mentioned, I was pregnant at that time, so all I could think was, "Oh, my ... please don't let this little kicker in my stomach hear this and think this is what babies are supposed to do!" I have to admit that I wasn't really sure at that time how the mother could have calmed her child down but I did know that I would not have purchased that item, nor would I have tried the whole credit card explanation.
After my son was born, I learned that it is possible to discipline your child gently and to teach him or her right from wrong. My son knew by looking at me whether he could touch or have something. Even if we were at someone else's home and that person offered him something, he would look to me first to see if he could accept it. Yet, he was never intimidated by me and did not fear me. Of course, as with almost any child, there were times he would test his boundaries. But he somehow knew that I would not allow anything to hurt him so, if I said "no" to something, there must be a good reason. I think the biggest thing to remember when disciplining a child is that love can teach more than yelling, hitting or screaming. I don't think my son ever doubted that I love him (although I am pretty sure he has no idea how much I love him) and I think, even though a child may not understand why a parent may say "no," if the child is shown he is loved, he will know that the parent is making a good decision somehow, even though it is probably not the decision the child wants.
In my line of work as a theater manager, I often see children come in completely undisciplined. The parents are there physically but mentally, they seem to be off somewhere else, completely unaware that their child is there and in need of some attention. I have seen children running around, jumping on chairs, hitting the arcade games and knocking over standees. They "skate" through the lobby and out into the parking lot and if I say something to them, they stare at me blankly as if there is no reason for them to listen to me. I usually say something like, "Please don't skate in the lobby" or "No, no, sweetie - please don't knock that over" and keep my voice calm but the defiance in the eyes of some of these children is just amazing. What really strikes me is when the theater is busy with people wandering around, looking for their auditorium, going to the bar or concession stand, there are still children running around ALONE, with no parental guidance at all! I would be scared to death to let my child out of my sight when there are so many others milling about. Yet, I see it done often.
Ultimately, I guess this blog has shown me that my problem is that I can be very good at disciplining others but, when it comes down to disciplining myself to write ... well, that's another story. (sigh)
So, while I am speaking of disciplining myself to write more, I will make this next entry about disciplining children. I am not one of those "Spare the rod, spoil the child" types who feels that it is necessary to place a fear in children in order to get them to listen but I do feel it is important to discipline a child so they can learn right from wrong. Also, it is important for the child to realize that the entire world does not revolve around them so they learn to respect others and also learn to respect the property of others.
I remember when I was pregnant (many years ago), my husband and I were shopping in a large toy store. We were waiting in line to make our purchase behind a woman with a child about the age of 2 years. The store had all sorts of goodies next to the registers for those people in line to suddenly realize they wanted or needed a few last-minute items. Well, the child in front of us, with all the willpower any toddler has, decided he wanted something. He picked it up and gave it to Mommy. Mommy looked at it and said, "Isn't that nice." She then put it back on the shelf, much to the chagrin of the little boy. He again picked it up and this time put it onto the conveyor belt of the register. His mother again put it back on the shelf, this time with a slight, "No, honey, not now." Well, that ended the child's patience. He started screaming and kicking and crying, "Mommy, mommy, mommy. I want, I want, I want." His mother, by this time, was trying to pay for the items she had purchased and decided that picking up the child would help. It didn't. Instead, he was now hitting his mother while he was screaming. This is when things really took a turn for the worse. I guess Mom had forgotten she was dealing with a child and, for some reason, thought the wild thing in her arms had a great sense of reasoning. She told him, "We will come back tomorrow and buy it for you." Parenting Rule #1 ~ Don't lie to your child ... he knows it's a lie! The little boy continued to hit his mother, screaming even louder now that he wanted the item (and he wanted it NOW). Well, the mom decided that she should explain to the toddler why he was not going to get it. "Honey, the lady already rang up my credit card and we can't add it. See? Mommy already signed the credit card slip." Parenting Rule #2 ~ Don't overestimate your child's knowledge or capacity to reason. Now, I'm not saying this child was not a genius but, come on! He is only 2 or 3 years old ... I seriously doubt that he 1) knows what a credit card is; 2) understands the entire economic concept of buying; or 3) really cares what Mommy is talking about at this point. He wanted the item and that was that! Well, guess what? Mom purchased the item for the little boy and, just as suddenly as he had started crying, he stopped. Now, as I mentioned, I was pregnant at that time, so all I could think was, "Oh, my ... please don't let this little kicker in my stomach hear this and think this is what babies are supposed to do!" I have to admit that I wasn't really sure at that time how the mother could have calmed her child down but I did know that I would not have purchased that item, nor would I have tried the whole credit card explanation.
After my son was born, I learned that it is possible to discipline your child gently and to teach him or her right from wrong. My son knew by looking at me whether he could touch or have something. Even if we were at someone else's home and that person offered him something, he would look to me first to see if he could accept it. Yet, he was never intimidated by me and did not fear me. Of course, as with almost any child, there were times he would test his boundaries. But he somehow knew that I would not allow anything to hurt him so, if I said "no" to something, there must be a good reason. I think the biggest thing to remember when disciplining a child is that love can teach more than yelling, hitting or screaming. I don't think my son ever doubted that I love him (although I am pretty sure he has no idea how much I love him) and I think, even though a child may not understand why a parent may say "no," if the child is shown he is loved, he will know that the parent is making a good decision somehow, even though it is probably not the decision the child wants.
In my line of work as a theater manager, I often see children come in completely undisciplined. The parents are there physically but mentally, they seem to be off somewhere else, completely unaware that their child is there and in need of some attention. I have seen children running around, jumping on chairs, hitting the arcade games and knocking over standees. They "skate" through the lobby and out into the parking lot and if I say something to them, they stare at me blankly as if there is no reason for them to listen to me. I usually say something like, "Please don't skate in the lobby" or "No, no, sweetie - please don't knock that over" and keep my voice calm but the defiance in the eyes of some of these children is just amazing. What really strikes me is when the theater is busy with people wandering around, looking for their auditorium, going to the bar or concession stand, there are still children running around ALONE, with no parental guidance at all! I would be scared to death to let my child out of my sight when there are so many others milling about. Yet, I see it done often.
Ultimately, I guess this blog has shown me that my problem is that I can be very good at disciplining others but, when it comes down to disciplining myself to write ... well, that's another story. (sigh)
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
To blog, or not to blog...
I have always enjoyed writing (perhaps because I love reading, perhaps because I have always known "the pen is mightier than the sword") and have wondered how people become "bloggers." My niece recently sent me an invitation to read her blog and, lo and behold, next thing I knew, I was signed up to also blog. whoo hoo! Not really sure how one thing ran into the next but, regardless, I am here and will now add the title of 'Blogger' to my description of myself.
I suppose that I, as so many people today, have always imagined how great it would be to actually write something that others would read (and hopefully enjoy) so I feel the accessibility of the internet is a great thing. Well, most of the time, anyway. Good things about a blog include the facts that nobody is going to be forced to read it (why does Beowulf come to mind when I think of forced and torturous reading?) and people can instantly comment, so the blogger can hopefully learn what works and what doesn't.
Why do I think I can blog (operative word here is 'think')? Well, for one, I have always had 'stories.' People have told me so many times that I should write a book with all my experiences. Yeah, well, that is certainly easier said than done. Second, I can write. At least, I HOPE I can write. I am a bit of a stickler for good grammar and spelling (thank you, Lynne Truss, for the word, as well as the proof that by being one, I am not alone) so I feel my blogs should be easy to read. Do I have any hopes of what I will accomplish by blogging? Hell, NO! For now, this blog will just be something I can enjoy doing ~ a way to express my feelings, question life, bitch about things, gather my thoughts and share experiences. In the future, who knows? As with so many things in my life, I am going to 'go with the flow' and see what happens. Does that make me an underachiever? I hope not. I would prefer to think I am the type of person who thinks things out before acting upon them. Future blogs will certainly go into further detail to prove that line of thinking.
For now, though, I am going to sit back, relish my new self-imposed title and think about when I am going to post my blog link on my facebook page or give the link to my friends and relatives. Patience, so they say, is a virtue.
I suppose that I, as so many people today, have always imagined how great it would be to actually write something that others would read (and hopefully enjoy) so I feel the accessibility of the internet is a great thing. Well, most of the time, anyway. Good things about a blog include the facts that nobody is going to be forced to read it (why does Beowulf come to mind when I think of forced and torturous reading?) and people can instantly comment, so the blogger can hopefully learn what works and what doesn't.
Why do I think I can blog (operative word here is 'think')? Well, for one, I have always had 'stories.' People have told me so many times that I should write a book with all my experiences. Yeah, well, that is certainly easier said than done. Second, I can write. At least, I HOPE I can write. I am a bit of a stickler for good grammar and spelling (thank you, Lynne Truss, for the word, as well as the proof that by being one, I am not alone) so I feel my blogs should be easy to read. Do I have any hopes of what I will accomplish by blogging? Hell, NO! For now, this blog will just be something I can enjoy doing ~ a way to express my feelings, question life, bitch about things, gather my thoughts and share experiences. In the future, who knows? As with so many things in my life, I am going to 'go with the flow' and see what happens. Does that make me an underachiever? I hope not. I would prefer to think I am the type of person who thinks things out before acting upon them. Future blogs will certainly go into further detail to prove that line of thinking.
For now, though, I am going to sit back, relish my new self-imposed title and think about when I am going to post my blog link on my facebook page or give the link to my friends and relatives. Patience, so they say, is a virtue.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)