Happy Easter, Sears Employees

A fews days ago, with list in hand, I attempted to do my bi-annual (or tri-annual) clothes shopping.  I would have put it off another year, but some articles of clothing probably would not have made it another year.


I went to the Mall, to Sears, because the last time I bought shorts, maybe six years or so ago, they had shorts, in my size, and reasonably priced.  And unmentionables.


As I walked in, I was astonished to see a sign indicating that Sears was going to be open on Easter Sunday.  I nearly turned around and left at that point, but I am glad I did not.   l learned that:


On the Tuesday afternoon before Easter, Sears was the place to go if you needed peace and quiet. Customers were scarce, and so were employees.


There are no shorts for sale at Sears.  And there is no longer underwear at Sears in large sizes.  In Charleston, that means they are missing out on a very large demographic, no pun intended.


And there were absolutely no salespeople in sight on my first go-round, and on the second disbelieving go-round, the salesperson who looked like she was either taking inventory or trying to hide behind the rack of clothes, had no idea if they had shorts or large sizes.


So now I'm thinking, if Sears is a ghost town on a Tuesday, and they obviously don't spend a whole lot on employing "customer service" personnel during the week before the big dress-up holiday, why on earth would they want to be open on Easter Sunday?  Must be for those last minute going-to-church clothing emergencies?  Or maybe a lot of grills fail on Easter Sunday?


I am not a religious person, but I am a family person. It is outrageous that Sears or any big corporation would require employees to work on an important family holiday.  And if they think they are doing it for profit, the CEO ought to take a walk around the store during the week -- in fact, he could take a riding mower around the store with no fear of injuring a customer, or even finding one.


So, shame on you, Sears, and Happy Easter.

Are You Feeling Safer Now?

I noticed yesterday that the printout of the water analysis of my pool had the name of the young woman who helped me -- first and last name -- at the bottom.  This is a tiny shop that probably only has two employees serving customers.


And you can rest easy now, because your local library, which has long required it's employees to wear name tags, is now requiring them to wear photo name tags.  Doesn't appear to cost much, it looks like it was done in house (on the other hand, this means there are people that work up there in administration that actually have the time to take on this project).


No, this time it is not a "your tax dollars at work" issue. The issue is just how much do you need to know about me to feel safe having me check out your books?  Nikki Haley did not start the bandwagon, she merely jumped on it.  Basically, it goes, why don't employees at such-and-such have photo name tags?  That's it.


I'm thinking it must be that people are concerned that some shady character might slip into the library, steal my non-photo name tag, and pretend to be me when I'm not there.  And maybe recommend a book to you while they check you out.


It's not just a matter of how stupid are we, although that is a very large consideration.  It is a matter of how blindly are we willing to let ourselves be invaded?


Voter ID's, proof of US citizenship, a picture to go with your name because the fraud and criminality in this country would obviously be fixed if everybody was identified all the time.  Except it wouldn't.  All this obsession with ID's is a diversion from the corporate voter fraud and the criminal acts by Wall Street and BP and the lies by people like Jon Kyl (the "not intended to be a factual statement" Jon Kyl) that go on unstopped.


Look around.  How many of us are forced to walk around with  our names displayed on our chests for absolutely no good reason?  And how safe does it make an employee, knowing that any jackass can know your first and last name without your consent or even awareness.  Maybe no one will call the young lady at the pool store at home, but it's possible.  And why on earth do we all have to have that personal information?


I suppose when we have come to blindly accept the need for full body scans in order to get on a plane, and a search of our purses when we attend a concert, telling you who we are so you don't have to ask before you complain to management about our attitude is a small price to pay for security.