Jack sounds off…

Jack Sounds Off

Something Bugging You

Opinion

2-4-14

     Something bugging you, I’ve got a lot of things bugging me, I just can’t always figure out if it’s something bugging me, or if it’s just me bugging me.  For instance when I go to the super market I pick up my four items and go the 10 items or less Express Line.  Now the guy in front of me fills up the belt with all his stuff, and I seem to always count his or her items to see if they’re over the limit, In my silent mind I always say “Holy Crap!, they have 12 items, they don’t belong in this line,” then I start wondering will the checkout girl tell them “HEY, you have too many items, pick up your crap and get in the right line.”  But we know that’s never gonna happen, nor is the too many items police gonna show up.  Here’s the thing, I’m not sure it bugs me that they have too many items, or if it bugs me, that it bugs me, can I get an Amen out there, does this bug anybody else out there or is it just me?  Talking about bugging me at the supermarket, the guy in front of you has everything in his cart on the belt, and they always say out loud, “oh, I forgot the beans” or whatever, and go taking off and disappear for the next five minutes, yea, that bugs me too, even if it doesn’t hold me up.

Ok, schools canceled, and there’s not a drop of snow on the ground!  School’s canceled because it might snow.  C’mon, when we were kids it took four feet of snow for us to get a half day, Gov. Ed Rendell was right, we live in a nation full of wusses.  For God’s sake, when we were kids it was up hill both ways bla, bla, bla, and it was six feet of snow not four.

Question to myself, does it bug me that kid’s get a day off from school because it might snow, or does it bug me because I was simply born way too early to enjoy the perk of missing a day at school because it might snow?

Talking of snow, let’s talk about shoveling parking spaces.  Man this is a hot topic, especially when it snows.  Let me be clear on this, no exceptions, when you shovel the spot, you own it for 24 hours, and that my friends is the un-written law, Google “Un-written Law’s” go ahead, I’ll wait, right there, the very first un-written law says if you shovel the space, the neighbor’s hard work must be respected for a 24 hour period.  No disrespect to residents who live in apartments, but many of them don’t own a shovel, or feel the need to respect the un-written laws, what’s worse is they don’t even realize the disrespect they show by jumping in a space you spent an hour shoveling 15 minutes ago.  The whole shoveling thing is a double bugging me, the disrespect of jumping in the cleared spot, and not realizing that’s it’s disrespectful.

OK, need I venture here, convenience stores, you know the one’s I’m talking about, I walk in, grab my newspaper, and get in line to pay with a dollar in my hand.  With two customers in front of me this should be a cake walk, but the guy in front of me nine out of ten times two things will happen.  The clerk says to em’, “that’ll be $4.17”, how much, (clerk) “$4.17”, Oh! Like the guy didn’t know he had to pay.  “Let me see here,” he fishes in his pocket, “one-un, two, I’m not gonna have enough there,” then he pushes the money back in his pocket, and goes for his wallet, “let’s seeeeeeeeee” as he fumbles through the bills in his wallet, “no, I’m gonna have to give you a five.” My head explodes, “PAY THE @$*&# GUY”

OK, same thing, I romp into the convenience store, grab the paper, with a dollar in my hand and jump in line to pay. I’m four or five deep in line, the line moves up, the guy in front of me has an 89 cent cup of something and the clerk says “89 cents” customer, “OH” (again he apparently didn’t realize he had to pay) he goes for his wallet, “Noooo, I’m gonna have to debit.”  Out comes the card, now I have to back up so he can get to the machine to swipe his card, I can’t back up because I have some bruiser construction guy breathing down my freshly showered neck and he ain’t happy because he’s getting ready to go work out in the four feet of snow with the temperatures dropping.  The guy that doesn’t have 89 cents to pay for cup of whatever doesn’t say excuse me to me to back up, but now I have to apologize to the pissed off construction guy behind me and he’s looking at me like it’s my fault, “YOU MEAN TO TELL ME YOU DON’T HAVE $#@*&ing 89 CENTS IN YOUR POCKET, JACK#$@%.”  Yea, that bugs the $#@% out of me.

Another thing, when watching the news, when did rain become a storm? “The storm is coming in from the west, it could rain for up to an hour.”  Why, when the weather guys are predicting a dusting of snow, do we need team coverage, showing the screen split into four boxes?  “We have Joe Blow in Center City, we have Joe Blow 2 in the Far Northeast, we have Joe Blow 3 over the Schuylkill Expressway, and we have Joe Blow 4 at our most up to date latest technology weather board, let’s start with Joe Blow 2, Joe It’s all yours.”  DOES THIS BUG ANYONE ELSE, hey it’s their show, they paid for the half hour and I can always change the channel, but it just bugs the $#%! out of me.

I drive a van, a big van, and I come to realize that nobody wants to drive behind a van, so I get cut off a lot with people pulling out in front of me.  Believe it or not but I don’t mind people cutting me off, pulling out in front of me where  I’m often forced to go to my brake.  The part that bugs me is when someone pulls out in front of you cutting you off, “USE THE GAS PEDAL, It’s THE ONE ON THE RIGHT.  I slow down to the point where I almost hit them, because once they pull out in front of you, slow you down, now it’s time to go to the cell phone, or text, or lunch bag.  The pulling out in front of me doesn’t bug me, but driving slow enough that bicycles are passing me bugs the crap out of me, enjoy your lunch.

And by the way, I just love it when a guy cuts me off so he can beat me to the red light, good move jack@$$.

I know this doesn’t just happen to me, when I’m finished eating at a restaurant, and I’m ready to go, all I need is the bill.  The server is nowhere to be found, five minutes, ten minutes, what’s going on here.  I finally see the server, motion for a bill, “I’ll bring that right over,” says the server.  And they do within a minute or two I have the bill, now the second half of the problem, twenty minutes later they still haven’t picked it up yet and I can’t find them, are they on break? Did they leave? Are they watching me on camera from the back room laughing? I don’t know, I’m just trying to pay my bill so I can get the hell out of there.  Many, many times from the time I’m done eating and ready to go, it takes me a half hour to pay the bill, and that my friend really bugs me. Is this standard procedure and it bugs me, or is it just me bugging me?

When is “BREAKING NEWS,” breaking news?  For instance, a truck turns over on the expressway at 7 A. M., the truck is flipped over and removed by noon, while watching the six o’clock evening news the Breaking News Banner shows up at the bottom of my screen and the reporter says, “This just in, that truck that flipped over this morning on the expressway has been removed and traffic is flowing and back to normal.”  Is breaking news a fire that happened two days ago, “BREAKING NEWS, BREAKING NEWS” fireman had to return to the scene of the fire to put out a hot spot.

One more thing about the news that bugs me, if you ever watched the five or six o’clock news, they have a traffic person showing pictures from their most modern up to date exclusive, no other station could possible bring you this traffic cam, telling you traffic is heavy on the major roadways at 5:30 in the afternoon, first of all is there anyone out there surprised by this latest breaking news that traffic is heavy at this time of day, second if you are stuck in the traffic, you’re not likely to be watching this, when they say “you might want to avoid this,” aren’t you already there?

Stayed Tuned for what’s Bugging Me Part Two:

Thank the good Lord I’m Perfect!