We have a new vending machine company in the building, who just installed machines last night. Well I look at it today for the first time to check out the selection and spot a recalled item. Tuesday, the FDA recalled the above brand/style of chips for possible salmonella contamination. So, I immediately contacted the manager who is contacting the vendor about it. Considering just how recent the recall is, I doubt the vendor has really learned about it, but he’s about to tonight. I do like this company’s chips, as do a few friends, but there’s no way I’m trying them again until long after I know they’ve been off recall.

UPDATE: The vending machine company immediately pulled these chips from the machine because I notified the manager. I guess he’s now working on finding what other machines he put the chips in to pull them from all his machines.

Some times I wish they’d service our laser printers, especially when printing spreadsheets. Other times I like some of the creepy ghost effects that appear on other pages after the initial printout. Eventually, I’ll break down and clean this printer myself. But might as well get a few creepy prints out of it until then.

You can search their stores online to find the various things you’re looking for, and to see if they’re in stock at your local store. Many times it’ll say they have one or two on hand, only to not have them at all when you get to the store. Other times they’ll claim they are out of stock, yet you find dozens of bottles at the store. So they definitely have an inventory problem, whom I met in person tonight.

I went in, walked directly to the Belgium section like I have many times before. Tonight they were holding some sort of class in something, and the host had to use some sort of PA in the small ~20×20 space in order to explain things to the crowd. Not sure why you need a PA, but I guess he really has a problem being heard. I’d normally shop around and look for exactly what I want, but this guy was annoying and loud, so I hurried and grabbed the one thing I specifically came there for, and a few others and then hurried away.

At the registers I was greeted by two lines, one line much longer than the other. My logic says take the longer line, but for some reason I defied my own logic and chose the shorter line. There was one person in a transaction, one older Asian man waiting behind  him and then me. I really wanted to sit my numerous bottles on the counter, but the Asian man was making sure there was no way I could sit my bottles down. He even looked at me, and the bottles and then looked at his stuff sitting on the counter. Not surprised, he’s pretty typical for an older Asian man really. And to him I’m the Gweilo.

So finally the cashier moves his stuff forward and starts his transaction. That gives me enough room to start setting down my bottles on the counter. What seems to be an easy transaction in front of me suddenly got much much slower when the Asian man pulls out a check book. Since this is the 21st century, and the lady at the register is barely 21, she has to call a manager over. This is where the manager explains the check policy to the man who could really give a shit less since we’re all obviously Gweilo to him, even our Hispanic cashier.

I figured that this long transaction would soon be coming to a close, but that’s when our cashier decided to slow it down a little more by asking the man “Are you a member?”

He obviously was confused by such a question since 1. how dare she talk to him, and 2. the correct question would be “Do you have a BevMo card?” He didn’t know what the fuck she was talking about and responded appropriately with “Uh, no.” This is when she asked him if he had a BevMo card. His response again was “Uh, no.”

This was a perfect opportunity for our gracious cashier to sell the unsuspecting Asian man on the company’s rewards program. She told him all about the many features and benefits to becoming a BevMo member. It’s one thing she seemed excited about so I’m guessing that bonuses are handed out to employees who push the program more than others in a given month. The man said “sure” and he was back to using his trusty pen to fill out an application while she scanned a new card for him. I took this as a signal to throw my BevMo card down next to my bottles.

Meanwhile, I looked over at the other line to see people with carts full of wine getting out of this place faster than me. I should have listened to myself, but I guess I’m really good at convincing myself. He’s finally done filling out the forms, his bottle is bagged, and he’s ready to go. It may actually be my turn. The people behind me had all given up and moved to the other line.

I step forward and start my transaction. One step closer to getting the fuck out of BevMo for at least another year or two. I notice that she doesn’t scan one of the bottles but then scans one of the other bottles twice. I asked her why she did it, and she tells me that they’re all the same price so what does it hurt. That’s when I decided to let her know about something that pisses me off about BevMo, more than their employees not knowing anything. I talked to her about computerized inventory control.

I explained that the biggest issue I have with the store is that their inventory is always wrong. I told her that because BevMo is such a pain in the ass, I, like many, try to search their website first to make sure it’s in stock. This isn’t reliable though, as it could say it’s in stock but not be when you get to the store. If their own clerks can’t even scan the correct barcodes, no amount of money spent on inventory management systems will ever work.

But after a quick rant, she responded with “I just work here.” And instead of responding back with “sure you do” I just said yep. At least I found out why the inventory is screwed up, so next time I even get the idea that I want to go there, I’ll hopefully disuade myself. I know Galco has it, so I guess I’ll have to make a special trip.

I was told how wrong I was.

Apparently what this really means is that you don’t have a bacterial infection, which can be treated with antibiotics. And they don’t want to keep throwing antibiotics at you because eventually this could lead to some antibiotic proof super bacteria that we are defenseless against.

If that’s really the reason why, I’m a big boy, you can tell me the fucking truth. Afterall, it’s what me and my insurance company are paying you for. All the ads even tell us to ask more questions. They say that we’re too afraid to ask more questions at the doctor’s office. In reality, many of us are just tired of getting the same bullshit answer which leaves us no better off than if we’d just kept our mouth shut, except that keeping our mouths shut saves us the time wasted listening to your bullshit answer.

It plays out to me that you don’t know what’s wrong with me, but you’ve ruled out bacterial infection. Because you have to keep up your patient volume so that you can make a living in today’s climate, that’s where it’s left. It’s a non-issue because the patient is still living. If it gets worse, come back. If not, problem solved. And if you come back, we’ll run a couple more tests, take your blood pressure again and temperature again, maybe even check your weight. Chances are they won’t find anything more out than they knew the last time, but you’ll be charged again, and sent on  your way with the instructions that “you’re just going to have to wait it out,” or “it’s a viral infection, and it has to run its course.”

How about a case like mine where since July 2009, I’ve been going to the doctor about once a month for the same illness, same symptoms. Sometimes I’m worse off than usual, sometimes I’m not. But I keep going back in with the same symptoms. Twice I’ve been prescribed something, but most of the time I’m told it’s only temporary, probably a viral infection that’ll go away in a few days.

Well that’s great doc, but you still haven’t answered why I’ve been getting it every couple weeks for the past 8 months. I’m on a constant roller coaster, and can’t seem to get off. It’s too financially irresponsible for the doctor to get me healthy as I’m a cash cow. I’m just tired of it.

It’s apparent that doctors don’t know, or don’t want to know, what’s wrong with me. So just admit failure, or give me leads on who might possibly be able to find out. But don’t make silly excuses for it, because you are too afraid that someone might get the fucking idea that you don’t anything more than how to prescribe the latest fucking drug the pill companies are paying you to push.

So to whomever you are that gave me some bullshit excuse for your wife or husband’s inadequacies as a doctor, seriously wake the fuck up. I know their fucking you, so you sorta have to support them, but know that they are also sort of fucking me just so that I can support both of you.

One story that pops into my mind about the day that the bus driver, and elderly man who really had no place behind the wheel of a car let alone driving 50 kids to school, tried to kill my little brother through strangulation. My brother did finally manage to get free and then confetti bombed the bus driver and the bus before escaping out the emergency exit.

Then looking back, a lot of my high school years were spent dealing with the divorce of my parents, my dad’s alcohol problem and subsequent death, and the deaths of a multitude of family members. It also found me in the start of a major battle within the family that’s still not really resolved today. There were also many months of forced counseling, a time that I’m still remember with much resentment.

Yeah, not sure I’d want to go back and repeat that knowing what I know now. But perhaps it would be easier this time around as I’d be colder to it all.

I need a new bed, which could possibly help me finally have a decent night’s sleep. I look online. I go to mattress stores. I lay on beds that hundreds or thousands of people have laid on. I’m not impressed by anything but what turns out to be the most expensive mattresses around. And there’s no way I’d be willing to spend what little I have on them. I’ve yet to find a compromise, so I remain without a new bed or a good night’s rest.

I need to overhaul my apartment. I need better furniture, not necessarily new furniture. I need things that are better for storage, and I need to get rid of some of the mass I’ve accumulated over the years. I just look at everything piling up and think that I need to get rid of some of it, if I could only motivate to go through it all and determine what must go from what should go at some point in the future.

I need to overhaul myself. I need to get back into some sort of shape physically and mentally that doesn’t have me hating myself as much. Many have recommended that the solution is exercise and medication. I’m not sure why I have to prescibe to things that require me to spend money on things and regiments prescribed to me. There has to be a way to do this without a consumerism angle. But even then it still costs time, and I lack the motivation right now to pay that cost.

Okay, so those who ride the Metro in Los Angeles have probably noticed this image plastered around the various trains. There are two things I’d like to point out about it. The first thing is that these are never plastered around the stations where their message would make the most sense. The message that accompanies this image is one telling you to let passengers off the train before you try to board the train. Since these posters are only located on the trains, they really aren’t in the correct place.

The second item is that someone randomly tagged the above image. They put a little effort into it too, by cutting a hat shape out of another copy of this sticker, and putting it backwards on the black man above. So there’s also stereotyping going on. Even though it’d most likely be the white person trying to get off the train that would be wearing a backwards cap, at least in Los Angeles. And yes, that’s me stereotyping.

I like the effort made here. It reminds me of something I’ve been known to do, which is alter existing products slightly so that most people wouldn’t notice the change. The change shouldn’t blatantly call attention to itself, it should be something only those with a critical eye notice. So kudos to whomever created this little correction to the existing art, instead of just putting a gang tag on it.