Dollars and Nonsense

Sometimes I wish I could perform a Jedi Mind Trick on people in check out lines.  With a gentle hand swipe, I would say, "You don't need to argue.  You need to pay and go home to enjoy your afternoon."

As much as I have a very Dutch notion of finding a good deal, I utterly despise people who are cheap.  To further qualify and specify this, I'm speaking about people with a cheap state of mind, who perpetually teetotal through their lives.

While I was out today picking up a few things, I found myself in a small line at a Zellers.  A lady and her son were paying for something and there was some sort of confusion about how many Zellers Points were being deducted from their account.  Fine, whatever.  I know that it sucks to be ripped off by a big box store, and it sucks even more when it takes two employees and an assistant manager to figure out the calculus equation it takes to fix the problem.  This is not even the issue; it's what happened after this initial problem which really stuck into my craw.

You see, stores are charging 5 cents for plastic bags now, and I am totally in support of this initiative.  When this lady was told this, she very politely and reservedly announced an objection, then asked the poor check out person why they're doing this now...and then finally after the brief explanation that "people are carrying bags around with them now to save on plastic" and the like, she said that she wished she was told up front.

And to myself, I wondered...WHY?!

Lady, you obviously have the time to waste standing in front of the cashier arguing over $5 accumulated on a plastic swipe card.  If you were told about the whole 5 cents added to your bill up front, you would have just had the same argument at a different time.  People like you are what is wrong with capitalism because you insist on paying bottom dollar for everything and you have no concept of the value of anything.

It took a lot for me not to say something to this cheap lady in front of her son, who himself under his own 11 year old breath said, "so complicated."  Good for you kid.  You get something that your Mom won't ever understand.  Time is way more valuable than stuff; you have to choose your battles.

And this is the reason I said nothing in the moment and dumped it onto this blog.  I could conceivably still be arguing with this lady right now and not enjoying my purchase at home.  In case you're wondering, I paid about $25 and got a pack of soda flavored freeze pops and a copy of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (which saved about $10 from other prices I've seen around these days).  A good deal even considering the 10 minutes I wasted buying it!

Red Dead Redemption: A Short Chronicle

In the last couple of weeks, I've been exploring the vast landscape contained in the game Red Dead Redemption and there have been moments which have affected me in ways I did not expect.

On one play through, where I decided to roam the outskirts of the countryside, my encounters included two full on wars with entire gangs of cattle thieves, kidnappers and ne'er do wells.  After one of the battles, the snakes and vultures started their approach to the wasted campground.

Later, as I was returning to one of my home bases, I encountered someone who asked me to go to a new town I hadn't yet visited, so I got on my horse and started down the unfamiliar dirt road.  Upon that journey, I encountered another stranger (an old man picking flowers) who asked for my assistance in picking a bouquet for his wife.  My horse and I trotted down by a rickety bridge and a stream, and after a moment of surveying the land my protagonist uttered, "What went on here?"

At this point a group of wild boar charged me and my horse and killed the poor thing...I took out my double barrel, laid them to waste, skinned them for their hides and continued on my way trying to find some flowers for an old man.  Of course, the peril of such a task was not done, as now a pack of wolves attacked me, causing me to use a rifle to scare them off and kill one of them.

The real me gasped a little, heart jogging a little faster than normal, as I paused this moment to reflect on the untamed and random nature of my exhilaration.  I wasn't even following the story; I was just picking flowers for an old man, and the world I explored turned on me.

"Game" isn't even the right word anymore.