Front Page News???!! Seriously?

Today's front page of The Vancouver Sun featured a large photo displaying the marriage of Mats Sundin and Josephine Johansson. While I like wedding photos as much as any regular viewer of 'Say Yes to the Dress,*' I found having this photo on the front page to be misplaced and glaringly out-of-context.

Mats Sundin was a Vancouver Canuck for what?...five, maybe six months? His marital status is of little consequence to me and truthfully I'm not sure it's even deserving of short blurb in the sports section.

I am fully aware this type of irrelevant tabloid newspaper journalism is common fare with The Vancouver Province but I expect the level of noteworthy news to be a bit more professional at The Vancouver Sun.

What can we expect next?
John and Kate and the lastest minutiae of their lives?

However I will admit that part of me is shocked that Mats Sundin was able to say 'I do' .... it seems it is a phrase that he needs a lot of time to consider before he can actually commit to expressing it............

*For info about the show click here.

So NOT Cool!

Anyone else still upset about the Archie/Betty/Veronica fiasco????? Because I am. Shocked actually.

When I was a kid comics were part of childhood. Every corner store* stocked them and they could be purchased for 11 cents (25 cents for a double issue). Nowadays you generally have to frequent a speciality store and be prepared to fork over a healthy lump sum for even a single issue.

I read superhero issues (Hawkman was my favorite), Little Lulu, Richie, Archie, and pretty much any other kind I could get my hands on.

I preferred Betty over Veronica. I usually root for the brunette since invariably she is the maligned one but in this case it was impossible not to like Betty. She was sweet, kind, helpful and all without being cloying or annoying. Veronica was manipulative, sneaky, ungracious and basically a bit of a back-stabbing bitch.

I was shocked this past May when Archie not only finally proposed marriage but to Veronica????? VERONICA???? She was destined to be with Reggie, the equally duplicitous and egomaniac character. This August Veronica accepted Archie's proposal leaving the wide-eyed Betty devastated.

It simply is all too much; rather than providing gentle mindless entertainment, Archie has moved into the spectrum of hideous reality-type scripting ..... I fully expect Kate or John to invite the newlyweds over for a playground with the kiddies, nannies, and inevitable paparazzi.

As for Betty? If I could only find a way to introduce her to Hawkman...............

*Every neighborhood had a 'corner' store that was conveniently located, yes, on a corner and was a Mom & Pop business. It was usually owned by an Asian family who got to you know you by name. Pop bottles were glass and were stored in a large electrical cooler filled with cold water -- towel nearby for easy drying -- that had a built-in opener on the side.

Penny candy was a basic ware in all corner stores and it was common for kids to make the corner store an outing. A dime was all that was needed to fill a little paper bag of candy. Candy strawberries and bananas, caramels, licorice whips, bubble gum were standards.

Glazed doughnuts and eclairs were also stocked on the counter. This I knew too well; once when buying a Columbian paper for my parents when The Vancouver Sun was on strike, I accidentally knocked the entire carton of doughnuts down and was aghast. The owner however merely frowned and waved me on my way.

Nowadays 'the corner store' has been replaced by 7 11's and Macs and other chain stores. Similar convenience but I wonder today if kids have the same sense of wonder that we had when clutching a whole quarter in our hands and trying to decide all the things we could purchase. Those days it was okay for a group of kids to walk down the corner store and maybe then to wander over to the playground.

An afternoon with penny candy, a comic book, the monkey bars, all shared with a friend.

Simple times. Good times.

Summer Hell

***Delayed Blog on account of energy reserves being overcome by heatwave and unable to publish until cooler weather prevailed and prompted energy reserves to return to normal.

Okay first of all let me qualify this by saying that all through our past winter (which some, although definitely not me, would say was far too long) I did not once complain. Not once. Not about the cold, (invigorating) the snow, (magical) more snow, (still magical) nor the freezing temperatures (pretty icicles). I did not complain when the rains came, grey skies, and damp days. I love it all. I am a West Coast Gal and love the weather, evergreen trees, and skies that are part of that package.
Yes.
Really.
So now, I feel that I can quite rightfully complain about this mind-numbing energy-zapping sweat-inducing heat wave we have been currently experienced. Ugh! Ugh! And still Ugh!
I am not a fan of sweating (is anyone????) and to feel rivulets dripping off of me in the shade standing still makes me feel grungy, icky, and gross.

I feel true empathy for anyone having to ride transit and forced in close proximity to all those raised sopping reeking underarms.
I also feel unsurpassed sympathy for wee babies, pregnant women, the elderly, roofers, road construction crews, anyone working in a kitchen, bridal parties, mascots, and berry pickers. Daily chores seem like major projects and unfortunately some tasks do not disappear simply because 'it is too hot.' .....ie, laundry, grocery shopping, meals, appointments, etc.
The heat defeats me, zapping all my energy reserves (which are usually on the endangered list at the best of times) and leaves me a dripping whining puddle of irritability and lethargy.

Random Idle Thoughts Concerning High Temperatures:

***The heat seems to make people crankier and more irritable. Are violent acts and crime rates higher in tropical places? Or perhaps lower due to the fact the required energy to execute any crimes is just too much in the intense heat?
I know that even the required steps in would take me to cover the distance from the couch to the freezer to retrieve a popsicle is just too much effort let alone holding up the local ice-cream truck. (Ha ha ha---wonder if the driver would be confused it you yelled at him to 'Freeze.'...................see this heat has even affected my sense of what amuses me and now I am dangerously teetering into the cornball area).

***Has anyone tried the egg thing? You know where you crack an egg on hot pavement and see if it sizzles? I am dying to try it but again, lack the energy to carry out the steps.

***Applying makeup: Is there some sort of secret tip that I am not aware of about regarding the application of makeup in the heat? After 30 seconds I can feel it melting and coating my face in an image worthy for Halloween. And not wearing any at all would also be an image worthy for Halloween.
What would Gene Simmons do?

***The newspaper reported that eating spicy hot food will actually cause you to cool off more than a cool drink because it will cause you to sweat thereby cooling your body down. Um, did they miss the fact that this heat already has induced the heaviest slickest sweats and yet we are still languishing in discomfort?

Personally I think it would be more proactive to have that cool drink, or a couple, (may I suggest mojitos...so very refreshing) in a air conditioned restaurant, bar, or club.

PART TWO: Saga of the Used Pants.

Some of you were under the impression that I was the owner of the used pants and in a quandary as to what to do with them but this is not the case. No, fair readers, I was not the consumer but rather the sales associate that was subjected to dealing with the customer who bought the pants, wore the pants, and then demanded a refund.

Cyber Print Reenactment (Sort of):

Customer and his wife approach my counter. They proceed to show me two pairs of navy pants, all tags removed, and want a refund. They have a receipt.The pants have been worn. More than once - they have that 'broken in' softness that comes from repeated washings. I ask them their reason for returning them. Apparently the man bought them for a training course for a job (in law enforcement) and then later his employers gave him an uniform so he no longer needs the pants.

Not sure why this is the store's problem. They pants are not defective. They have been worn so they are no longer sellable. I tell him we cannot take them back. There is nothing defective with the pants, they have been worn and we can no longer sell them. He informs me that 'Yes we can because they are like new.'

I respond by asking him if he would like to buy something from this store that someone has worn several times and has been used.
Not surprisingly he doesn't care for this line of questioning and avoids giving me a direct response. He does tell me however that the store should just suck it up and give him a refund because they are a big company.
I'm a little taken back; the guy buys a product, uses it several times, then gets similar product for free and decides that the retailer should take used product back and give him a full refund. Now, I know from all our levels of Loss Prevention Personnel and Security Teams that they despise this type of customer and basically consider such acts as criminal so I am puzzled as to what field of 'law enforcement' this guy could possibly be employed in.

His wife then asks if they could just get a gift card for the full amount but before I can even respond, her husband interrupts to say No, he doesn't want a gift card because he will never shop here again. I try to refrain from clapping and cheering.

He continues to rant becoming increasingly more obnoxious; his tattoo-covered muscle-shirt clad torso twitching angrily; and I volunteer to call a manager for him. He accepts this and while waiting for the on-duty manager (they are scheduled via rotation to have to deal with the customers from hell), I tell the whole sorry tale to another manager (out of earshot) and she says there is NO WAY this guy should get a refund.

The on-duty Manager arrives and explains: "No we cannot give refunds on merchandise that is no longer sellable that has no defects."

Customer explodes: "Yes you can sell the pants. They look fine!"

Manager calmly: "Would you buy something from here that has been worn?"

Customer: "That is not the point."

Manager: "That is exactly the point."

Obnoxious-rude-nasty-jerk-face customer rants on and on and his wife reads aloud the return policy in its entirety from the back of the receipt emphasizing the part about 'customer satisfaction.'

As I start to explain that the customer satisfaction is referring to the product, and as they were happy with the product but wanted the refund simply because they did not need them any more, her hubby points at me, makes a gesture born on a Jerry Springer stage, and orders me 'to stop talking, and that he doesn't want to hear a word out of my mouth anymore, and he is done with me.'
Before I can stop the words from leaving my mouth, I hear myself saying, "And you're in law enforcement?"

This, of course, gives him fuel for his raging fire. He rants anew with fresh indignity about the lack of customer service, the lack of professionalism, etc. I apologize immediately adding that I shouldn't have made that remark but did not care for his remark telling me to stop speaking. This does not phase him at all. He continues on in a berating insulting way and I leave the scene leaving the manager to deal with him and his pit bull mentality.

She does not give him a refund (hahahahahahaha) and later tells me that I should have probably called security since the guy was such a grade A first class JERK.

She also tells me I shouldn't have made the crack about law enforcement but that is was excellent that I apologized immediately.

And that folks, is my tale regarding the navy pants. I was curious as to what others would do in his situation but I think actually I just wanted to vent about this stupid-butt-head of a customer.

..oh and his job in law enforcement? I'm guessing the goons companies hire to intimidate legitimate strikers on their picket lines. Having witnessed some of those guys in action I am just glad they aren't armed with tasers.

Rant over.