Observations

While out today running errands and picking up supper at McDonalds, I made a few observations. This will be a three-parter, so buckle up, sit back, and get ready for the ride!

Observation #1:

First of all, let me apologize in advance for this one. I'm sure it will offend a few people out there, but I can't help what I see. If you fall into this observation, and feel my opinion is wrong, feel free to leave me a comment. We'll hash it out right here and now, on this blog. I'm up for a good debate.

Here goes....

We visit our local Walmart Supercenter regularly, at least twice a week. There is an older woman greeting people at the door when they come in and leave. She has longish dark hair that is gray at the roots. She wears glasses, and most times has a sweater on in addition to her Walmart smock. She's always there, as are we. I'll wager a bet that she's there 95% of the time that we are.

In my mind, people greeters should be cheerful people. They should smile when they welcome you into the store, and they should tell you to have a nice day when you leave. To be good at being a people greeter, these simple criteria should be met.

This woman never, ever smiles.

She actually frowns as she says, "Welcome to Walmart". There is absolutely no emotion in her voice. She stands with her arms crossed and never makes eye contact. She is a poor people greeter. I wonder why she's still working there.

When we leave, she has the same scowl on her face and says, "Bye". That's it.

I always smile at her when she says welcome or bye, and say, "Thank you" or "Have a good day", hoping that it might be contagious. But, it isn't. She never smiles back. She never says thank you. She is a poor people greeter.

Now, here's where my opinion comes in.

How hard can this job be? How is it that you stand there, doing nothing but greeting people as they enter and leave the store, AND GET PAID FOR IT, not cause for a smile once in a while? Seriously, in this day and age, shouldn't she be thankful that she has a job that is so easy?

OK, OK. I realize that this is sounding harsh, and I do agree. I'm just a little ticked off at the rudeness of this woman, and the fact that her job requires just the opposite. It just doesn't make sense to me.

Observation #2:

McDonalds goes into full panic mode when more than 6 nuggets are ordered at a time.

Seriously.

We went to McDonalds to pick up supper tonight to take home. We ordered two six piece Chicken Mcnuggets. This was no big deal. The guys behind us ordered 60 nuggets, and one of them was contemplating ordering another 20 just to be sure they had enough.

It instantly became a shout-fest behind the counter. The girl taking the order yelled back, "We need nuggets down now! Need 60 nuggets and possibly more, STAT!" (She didn't really say stat, but it kind of fit here.)

The manager-on-duty yelled to the workers in the back (because they are so far away and didn't hear the first brain-rattling bellow), "Start dropping nuggets! We need nuggets now! Lots and lots of nuggets!"

The food preparers (is this what they are called?) started moving, around in circles it seemed. Everyone was busy doing something, but no one was sure what they should be doing. No one had ever ordered that many nuggets at one time before. Do we have enough? Oh my god! What if we don't have enough?! I don't think our fryers can handle that many nuggets at one time! What do we do? What do we do? What do we dooooooo????

They start yelling to one another, "Get more nuggets from the freezer!"

"How many?"

"I don't know, just grab a bunch! It's a big order! A thousand or so!"

Mike and I are standing there watching all of this while we wait for our food. It was comical to see them scrambling around as if they hadn't a clue what to do with an order that big.

I'm surprised to say, though, that we got our food in a timely fashion, despite the McNugget rush. I was somewhat disappointed by this, though, because I wanted to stay and see what 80 Chicken McNuggets looks like.

Observation #3

Throwback cans of Mountain Dew. When and where did these white cans exist?

Bought a limited edition 12-pack of Mountain Dew tonight at Walmart. The box is white, as are the cans. They say throwback cans. They are ugly and generic, if you ask me. I've never seen them before.

They must be throwback from a long, long time ago.