Haven’t been here for a couple of weeks, therefore an update is necessary.

Death has been faced.

I got a dispatch from a correspondent which corrected the cause of death of my friend, Rob. He died of colon cancer. Gives me more to be thankful for.

We had a nice send-off for the stepdaughter’s fiance, with a viewing, a funeral and a military burial service. I was present for all three, a fact noted by one of the stepdaughter’s friends.

I had the camera with me for all three events. One photo at the viewing, several at the gathering after the funeral service, and several taken at the DFW National Cemetery during and after the ceremony. I spent part of Saturday cropping and printing the photos I took. I posted a few of the new grandchild taken at the funeral, but decided that most of the other photos I took were not appropriate for sharing on Facebook.

The invention of the digital camera along with some of the simple editing tools on the computer have been a godsend for amateurs like me. No film to waste, meaning that if I muff a shot, a do-over, or several do-overs are easily and inexpensively done. I learned to take photos and develop film back in the day (over 50 years ago). In retrospect, I should have stuck with it, becoming a professional photographer like one of my classmates. Lesson learned a bit too late.

Instead, I worked for a living in a variety of occupations… learning a thing or two about people along the way.

We are living in what is developing to be an interesting time.

Because of the Covid pandemic, much of our economy has been going topsy-turvey, with shortages due to breaks in the supply chain. Part of that chain has been the people making sure that we have the goods we desire available at the right place at the right time. That part of the chain is broken and there are some wondering why.

As I explained to my better half Sunday afternoon, there are people along the supply chain who are fed up with the way they are being treated by management and customers. So, they quit.

Been there, done that, have the T-Shirt.

On at least three different occasions, I walked off of a job without looking back.

The first time was when I worked at a radio station. I had had a couple of lousy nights with one of my listeners being very insistant on my playing one song in particular at least twice an hour. When I didn’t, the listener became verbally abusive to the point that I simply ignored the phone for a while. Later that day, I went into the office to let my boss know where I would be on the week I was going to be out of the office. He decided to lay into me about several things unrelated to the earned vacation in addition to telling me that I was not going to have the vacation (starting the next day) after all.

Adios, muchacho! I simply walked out of the guy’s office. He called later to tell me that I had been replaced… I told him that I hadn’t planned on going back anyway. Six months later, I went to the radio station to recover my FCC license and the same guy begged me to come back. Apparently, his tenure was about to be cut short because he had a hard time retaining employees.

The other two times I was working for nationally known chain stores. Management again.

I can recall having an immense sense of satisfaction on the way out the door in each of those situations. I can imagine that the people walking off the job in record numbers last month felt much the same way as I did then.

While there are those who declare that the quitters are lazy, I see that the quitters are simply fed-up with whatever situation they have to contend with. Low wages. Few benefits. Lousy working conditions. “Entitled” customers. And the list goes on. There are plenty of “Help Wanted” signs out there, and there are plenty of businesses willing to hire… if the people being hired are willing and able to put up with the same crap they have been putting up with all the time.

What started out as a quick review of what has happened in the past fortnight has turned into a rant, of sorts. For that I apologize.

Be Seeing You!