It Takes a Village

As First Lady, Hillary Clinton was way ahead of her time in a number of ways. Mostly comedic and occasionally evil, but let's take a look back anyway.

In pushing for health care reform, or "Hillary Care" as many knew it, she once made the comment that "All children have the right to be born healthy". Why is this funny? Simple, she didn't believe children had the right to be born at all, so by adding the "healthy" qualifier she merely pointed out the hypocrisy of the pro-abortion, pro-healthcare-reform political left.

She also famously said that it takes a village to raise a child, irritating many with her anti-parent bias in context. I only bring this up now because of a cartoon I saw earlier.

The gators' image struck a nerve while another blog on tax rates was percolating. See, my wife and I both work to support our household. Our combined total income is well under the $250,000 limit the President campaigned on as a limit below which no taxes would be increased, but we have been very, very blessed with good jobs allowing us to fulfill our goal to pay for the kids' college education.

But, now that the President has recommended a 20% VAT, directed that the Bush tax cuts be allowed to expire, and suggested raising many other taxes (crude oil production, cigarettes, luxuries like new cars, electricity production, food costs, etc) it has become pretty obvious that the campaign promise was nothing but hot air, and that the goal of left wing politicos may actually be to destroy the productive middle class of this nation.

If the direct taxes (VAT, oil, income) are increased or newly created, and the cost-increases-by-decree ("green" power, more expensive cars, expensive food requirements) continue to escalate without limit, more and more of the working middle class will become unable to take care of their own financial needs. If my wife and I can't handle those needs through hard work and cutting expenses, either our standards will have to drop or someone else (namely the government) will need to fill in the gap. Perhaps this is the "it takes a village" mentality Hillary had in mind almost 20 years ago. What a poor excuse for leadership, both then and now.

I believe in the greatness of this Nation. With the euro circling the drain because of the European continent's tendency towards socialism, the United States is truly the world's last, best hope.

November can't get here soon enough!!!

"Here ya go" is not a replacement for "Thank You"

One recent Saturday my wife and I were running errands. Our mission was to pick up a few necessities and a few luxury items along the way. The first stop was a frustrating 1 for 3 event at Sears where the lawn department staff had nothing to offer close to my "line trimmer" specs, and the sporting goods staffer went into excruciating, patronizing detail to tell us how to break down the online drawings to find the part number.

These stops were frustrating because I've used a weed eater for decades and know how to use them. I know what I need, and it's really not the tiller attachment or high-priced quick-change line spools. Frustrating also because the first thing we presented to the sporting goods clerk was the exact part number he spent 4 or 5 minutes showing us how to find.

Seriously, listen to your customer first then find an accurate solution. It's a weed eater not rocket science, and we had already done the part number research for you!

And then while paying way too much for a refrigerator water filter the guy I gave my hard earned money to handed me the receipt and said "here ya go."

Not the normal "Thank you" or "We appreciate your business", or even "Please come back soon"

"Here ya go."

Strange.

Anyway, we scooted down the road to the camera shop to check out a graduated neutral density filter. After a few minutes being introduced to a new model, I made the purchase and the guy handed me the receipt and credit card with today's key phrase "Here ya go".

To paraphrase Yogi Berra, it was Deja vu all over again.

Sure, that's why I shop there, so you can personally hand me the receipt. "Here ya go".

Knock, knock, it's 2010. The real unemployment rate is over 20%. Stores are going out of business literally all the time. And rather than thanking me for delivering them the means to stay in business and remain employed, two consecutive salesman handed me the receipt and said "Here ya go".

And since both purchases were entirely optional, non-emergency and really no more than commodities, next time I'll save the gasoline and not be swayed by the easy instant gratification, and I'll just order them online. Seriously, if you can't distinguish yourself from true commodity service with the slightest awareness of your customers, then what is the value you add to the transaction relationship?

"Here ya go" right back at ya!