What I Learned on Vacation This Summer

In July I learned that if your suitcase seems a lot lighter when you repack it to go home, you may have left clothes at the hotel. A lot of clothes. Including your clothes, not just the kids’.

It just might happen.

Why, Hello There!

I haven’t posted in so long! It’s been a combination of things, but what’s most surprising is how much I have missed it. I have definitely felt an absence and a disappointment in myself for not keeping my commitment. I still have the rest of 2011, however, to post furiously and make up for lost time.

I mentioned in one of my first posts that I was trying to figure out the lines between public and private, what I felt comfortable about sharing and what I should keep to myself. Of course I have to respect my family as well. Some of the things I could really write and write about these days have to do with my kids, but they are getting older and deserve their privacy as well. I can’t blurt out their problems and expect them to go merrily on their ways.

So! Today I am going to have a little rant on an unrelated topic. Actually two little rants on two unrelated topics.

First, I am sick of being asked to fill out online or telephone surveys to rank the customer service of whatever transaction I just completed! Good night, people, it’s out of hand! Jamba Juice, Kohl’s, Jason’s Deli . . . I keep wanting to fill out the form and say that everything was perfectly fine UNTIL I was asked to say if it was fine or not.

And those poor service people who come out to do anything at the house. They have to keep reminding me to give them the highest ranking possible, and then I feel guilty if I don’t go online and fill out some dumb survey.

These surveys turn me into a conspiracy theorist. I secretly believe that none of these companies care at all about finding out my experience on such-and-such date at such-and-such location with So-and-So Clerk. I think that they all want my email address and whatever other personal information they can glean off my little unsuspecting self. They want to send me marketing emails and jam up my inbox.

It’s just dishonest to pretend that they care about my “experience” with their company.

Rant #2: People who arrive late to exercise class at the gym and act clueless. By “act clueless,” I mean they disrupt other people trying to stake out a place in the room and get the appropriate equipment. More than once I have had latecomers show up and squeeze into my personal space and even ask if they can use my equipment! I don’t understand why people who arrive late feel they should just elbow in, no problem.

On Saturday, I watched a few women arrive late to a water exercise class in an outdoor pool. An early bird had staked out a nice place in the shade and had a whole lane to herself. As the latecomers arrived, they moved back and forth all around the early bird, disrupting her as they tried to get equipment and put on sunscreen. The class progressed, the shade got smaller, and two of the late women apparently felt entitled to a perfect spot in the shade. They forced the early bird into a smaller and smaller corner, one of them eventually even standing behind the early bird in the lane. If I were the early bird, I would have whipped out my dagger eyes, but this woman was amazingly calm. Wow. I hate having my personal space invaded like that when I get there early.

That’s all I have for now, but I plan to return soon with something more meaningful.