Paying attention to EVERYTHING has become QUITE the second job.
Soooo…. I went into the cafeteria where I normally get my lunch at work, and I was paying for my food when the cashier realized she didn’t have the change in her drawer to give to me. First she asked me if I had .36 so that she could just give me a whole dollar. Well, I didn’t, so then she started talking to the cashier behind her about needing change, trying to figure out how to get her change quickly. Finally, she asked the cashier to give her quarters for her roll. When she turned back to me she counted out 1.85 and handed that to me. I took it, stared it at for a long moment (trying to figure out in my head, why it didn’t look right). Then it dawned on me, I GAVE HER A $20 bill, she hadn’t given me the correct change. So, I said, “Oh, I gave you twenty dollars”. She said, “No, you gave me $10.” I said “Nooooo, I gave you a Twenty.” She said again, with her strong Ethiopian accent , “I’m SURE you gave me a $10, I said (with a stern face and without flinching, looking her directly in the eyes), “No, as a matter of fact, without a doubt, I most definitely gave you a TWENTY.”
Her drawer was still open, so she started shuffling through her 10s and 20s as if that would give her some revelation about what happened, but obviously she couldn’t remember. I however, did remember, because I had in fact, just taken $30 out of the ATM machine and had handed her the twenty in order to get change. I still had the Ten in my hand. She said, “I will need to count the drawer.” So, I just stood there. She started counting, realized how long it would take, looked up at me, and finally said “Ok” and handed me my CORRECT change, while she kept mumbling about counting her drawer. She started counting the drawer again, so I just stood there. I then asked her, "well, did you need for me to stay?" and she said no. So, I left.
As I was walking away though, I thought about that incident. I pondered how we have to be sooooooooo careful these days about EeeeVerrrrYTHING…..I mean Everything! (you hear what I'm sayin'??)
-First, of all, when you go to McDonalds (or any fast food restaurant), you have to be sure (no matter how long the line is behind you), to check your order BEFORE you leave….otherwise, you will most assuredly get far away from where you purchased your food and find SOMETHING was either left off the order, prepared incorrectly, or you were given the incorrect change….then you are faced with a decision---drive allllllll the way back (God forbid you have gone really far before you realize the error, or now you might be late for work or an appointment, and your fast food decision now doesn’t seem so fast if you have to do all that work of going back)----OR don’t drive back and just be mad that you have to eat something you didn’t want or worse yet something you really wanted isn’t even in the bag (urgh)….and then of course, it isn’t like the fast food joint is going to pay you back your time and gas money if you do go back….smh.
-Or just like when you go through the grocery store line (just like in the cafeteria), you Have TO pay attention, and Definitely check your change, check your groceries, make sure everything is there, make sure the clerk did not forget to put something in the bag (because it rolled down too far and she forgot to put it in the bag) etc etc Nowadays, I just avoid the cashier, WHENEVER possible, and use the self-checkout.
-And YOU KNOW you have to check your bank statements and credit card statements to make sure some “international unknown company” hasn’t been secretly debiting a few cents out of your account each month (which could amount to millions if taken from enough people unnoticed over a period of time)…if they have, then you have to file a dispute and get it put back, after pouring through your account to make sure nothing else suspicious is going on.
-By the same token, you have to check your bank statements and credit card statements REGULARLY to make sure someone hasn’t somehow grabbed hold of your numbers and started charging a little bit of everything, until you notice ‘Hey, I didn’t buy that…what is THAT?” Then you have to go through the work of calling and cancelling the card, and then being WITHOUT YOUR CARD for 7 to 10 business days until you get a new one (which could then make you have to borrow money or live very skim for a few days until it comes)…hopefully, you don’t get stuck with some major purchase (or even some small purchase with bad timing) that causes your bank account to actually go negative due to fees, and then although the banks will most likely investigate it and return your money, you still have the whole inconvenience of it all….
That is just to name A FEW. There are in fact many, many more instances where you MUST pay attention on a daily basis, even on a moment-by-moment basis and you can’t go off the job for a second….
The world is just getting crazier and crazier…..
People are moving places where they don’t speak the same language and they make mistakes, some people just can’t count, aLOT of people are just increasingly deceitful and are trying to get your hard earned money into their filthy little hands, and then for the most part the rest of people quite frankly just aren’t paying attention (and really don't even care) and they make mistakes regularly because that’s just how they are, and you simply have to pay the price for their carelessness.
So, that’s why I guess we all just have to take on this second job of paying attention up front to try to save ourselves at little bit of the hassle if we can avoid taking some of these mistakes home with us and having to fix it later or worse yet, just having to live with the error…….
So, all I can say is….”Alright everybody, along with everything else you’re doing on a daily basis, when it comes to paying attention, for your own sake, don’t forget to CLOCK IN!”
