Don't dare me

Recently, someone said to me that there was no point going over their head and talking to their boss or anyone else because the answer would still be the same. Well, something that is interesting to know is even if you don’t personally go over a person’s head, you can get things done. Also, when someone says to me don’t you dare, that is them trying to show me that they feel they are superior to me and that isn’t going to sit well with me. It is interesting how some people feel that they are the ones in control of a situation and don’t want to either provide you with the answers you need to resolve something or listen to your questions. This is what happened in this situation and after weeks of asking for some information which I never did receive, I talked to a friend about it. This friend is someone that I trust, and some simple words got things changed. I didn’t go over the person’s head, this friend used their influence to help me resolve the issue.

The simple thing of saying to someone, oh, you can’t make that turn because we should have turned there can result in some funny situations. In my case, we were out for a drive, and I said to the driver, oh, we should have turned left right there, but you can’t make the turn. Well, the driver made the turn and yes it was a sharp turn but my pop which was sitting in a cupholder didn’t make it and I ended up with a shoe full of pop. So yes, I dared someone and ended up wearing my drink. It was funny how it happened and to this day we laugh about this. I got out of the car to walk into a winery and all I felt was one very squishy foot in my shoe.

In some cases, a dare can be a lot of fun, but when it comes to someone trying to show they have overall power, that doesn’t work and should never be done. A dare for fun between friends is something, a dare in a form of a challenge isn’t something that should be done.

So next time someone dares you, remember that fun dares are ok, but when someone is trying to impose power over you, that isn’t something that should be done or accepted.

 

Why you don't get things done

There are so many people that say, “I wish the day was longer so that I could get everything done that I need to do.”

I was listening to people say this one day, and it made me think about why we can’t get the things done that we want to do each day. I have come up with some reasons that I think can contribute to why we wish the days were longer.

1. Social media – how much time do you spend each day checking Facebook, Instagram and all the other social media platforms. It is amazing how much time you can lose in a day by just spending time looking at all the various posts and feeds that appear.
2. Text messages – so many people figure that if they don’t get a quick response to an email, they can text you because then you will see it and immediately answer it. Well, that is another interruption that interferes with what you were trying to do.
3. Emails – the number of emails that we all get each day can be overwhelming, and we need to learn how to manage them. One thing that I have done is get my phone to only buzz with a couple of specific accounts receive email. I do have lots of accounts on my phone, so I need to manage which ones make noise, vibrate, and just want me to look at them.
4. Unorganized schedule – now that so many of us are working at home, having an unplanned or unorganized schedule can lead to not getting things done what we want to do. For me, I have found that I put all the things that I want to accomplish each day in my planner and then mark them off once they are completed. Sure, things can come up that will impact a day but at least I can see what got done and what didn’t get done and that helps a lot.
5. Other distractions – there are so many other things that can be a distraction and that can be music, conversations around you or just things that you can see that also might need to get done.

We all have challenges that we need to handle, and what I have done is set a schedule for myself for some of the key things that I need to get done quickly during a weekday. This has helped me keep on top of the various tasks, and it also gives me the time to do the other things that I enjoy doing. Being able to see all the different things that I have accomplished during a day helps, so everything I accomplish even if it wasn’t planned gets noted in my planner.

Something that I have found that also works is putting my phone on either vibrate only or silence for a bit of time so that I can focus on the task that I need to complete and that helps. Also, closing all the social media apps, websites, etc. can help eliminate the distraction of wanting to click to see what is new.

Being able to focus on the tasks that you need to focus on can make such a difference, and you feel good at the end of the day knowing that you got some of the tasks done. You might not get everything done, but at least you know where your day went, and it wasn’t entirely spent on social media and answering all those text messages.

 

 

Self checkouts

So many stores and implementing these self-checkout stations and part of me likes it for the quick one or two items, but I also don’t like it when 90% of the checkouts are now something I must do myself.

Recently we were shopping in a craft store, and they were pushing everyone to use the self-checkout which yes, I only have two balls of yarn, so I figured it should be relatively easy to do. I had to answer the normal questions, did I have a membership, yes, please scan your membership. Now, please scan your items. I did that and then do you have a coupon. I had to locate the button so that I could then scan the couple. Of course, it immediately says, have you finished scanning all your items. I had, but there was something that I couldn’t do at this self check out, and it was to add my senior's discount to my purchase.

There was a button that you could press to get assistance, so I pushed that and had to wait for a salesperson to come over so that they could give me my discount. Of course, when the person was walking over and the light on the top of the device was flashing, she asked if everything was ok. Why would I have pressed to get assistance button if everything was ok. She finally entered the discount, and I was able to make the purchase and get out of the store. If you give a senior’s discount or any other type of discount, make sure that these discounts are automatically available through the scanning of the membership.

Here is another situation that seems to be happening quite often when you use some of the big box store checkouts, especially when you purchase something from the pharmacy section. Some locations seem to have it set up that once the item is scanned, it deactivates the security tag on the item. Well, the location we were in this time doesn’t do that so, of course, the tag beeps when you are leaving the self-checkout area and then it again deeps when you are leaving the store.

So, maybe the self-checkouts are saving on the number of staff that is needed in a store which is saving the company money, but it is frustrating the customers which may decide to go to stores where there are people able to assist in getting you checked out in a timely manner with fewer frustrations. There are so many people looking for work right now and here stores are eliminating entry level jobs that students and semi-retired people want to do.

Self-checkouts are great when things work well, but they can be a frustration as well, and maybe stores should think about how these checkouts are impacting the customers that shop in these stores. A cost savings for the store could also mean an income lose for the company as people will find other ways of purchasing the items.