A gentle kick in the nards....

[friskers96]

Today I hit a low point. Maybe I'm just mentally at a low and my mind is making stuff appear that's not there. Whatever the case may be, today really sucked. I'm a blue collar worker, iron worker, welder, machinist, and pool dude.. I never went to college but I have always made a good wage since I work hard, do my job with the highest expectations of quality, and I have shown I'm a leader and I can think outside the box and run a good size crew. Last year I was let go from a job that I held for 7 years, another company took over our company and cut all but a handful of employees in the west coast office to save some money. This happened at thanks giving last year. Before Christmas I had found another job and life was looking good. Then something happened with my wife and she needed emergency back surgery. My new employer was sympathetic and bent the rules a bit and laid me off. So now we are on the road to recovery and running on unemployment. The welfare office was gracious enough to provide medical coverage for my two boys, but the wife and I are just S.O.L. That's fine, I can deal with that, they wife is covered through her VA benefits so I just need to be cautious and not get hurt. Over the last few months I had to tightly budget our money cause the banks damn near empty and there is 4 mouths to feed, so we are on the epic budget from hell.

Now that my pouty back story is out of the way, I'll get to what happened today. My oldest son today had an awards ceremony at school. He's seven and in the first grade, some know already that he has certain mood/emotional/attention disorders. He should not be able to do well in school, and he was almost placed in special Ed due to his issues. He achieved the highest test scores in his grade, has been A honor roll all year, and just all around rocked the very pillars of the first grade. He knocked back like 5 awards today, scholastic, citizenship, athletics, ect. A real renaissance man. I was so proud of him that I asked him what he wanted for his achievement. He surprised me, he just wanted a special dinner. He wanted me to grill up some steaks the way he likes with baked potatoes. So after the awards, I went on the holy quest of getting him what he wanted, he deserves it.. To save time I'll jump to the bad part, I ended up going to three albertsons stores to get what I needed. They do a BOGO deal on meat, preseasoned steaks, which are usually day old or the edge cuts off of finer cuts, it's not the best but its a cheap way of getting a nice tender cut at half the price. When I get to the second store they have one pack left and I needed an additional package, I was told by the butcher that he was going to get to it in about 20 - 30 min and that I should wait around because they go pretty fast. Ok, so I wait about 45 min and I see him tell other customers that asked about hamburger and stew meat that what was out was what they had, and minutes after they left more would be brought out. People got things from behind the counter with no issues and then the thing that really ticked me off happened. There was 4 London broils out on the shelf. A man came by and picked up all four and then went to the counter and asked if he was able to get 20lbs more... They all off a sudden was not busy in the back anymore and two people bent over backwards to make sure he got what he needed. In passing the butcher stopped and told me that he is extremely busy and that I'd be waiting about another hour for my BOGO pack, and that I would be better off grabbing what was available on the shelf. I looked on the shelf, and a six ounce steak was running $8+. Now the BOGO was 2- 8 oz seasoned steaks for 10 bucks and I'd get two more free. Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but I'm 34 yrs old and I walked out of a grocery store today almost in tears with my head down cause I felt like I was just told I'm to poor to be bothered with, people with fatter wallets were more important and waiting so I needed to get my butt outa the way. Then on top of that I walked out of the store without the steaks feeling like I just let my son down...

Sorry to carry on and vent, but I have really no other outlet to get this stuff out. From now on I'll post more about gaming, promise.

[alderdust]

So sorry to hear you were treated unfairly I work a second job now (retail) and I see stuff like this happen alot. Most of your people are good folks but occasionally you get an asshole like that butcher. On the other hand I'm glad your son out performed his peers I hope it keeps up. Funny thing is that you just telling your son that you are proud of him out weighs a BOGO steak dinner any day. I hope things get better for you and your family and let me know of you need anything seriously.

[friskers96]

Thanks, he got his dinner and his bbq sauce, and a large root beer... He was ecstatic...

[alderdust]

Good to hear nothing like a drink that is pure sugar to celebrate your achievements haha

[LabRat]

So sorry to hear that, man. It can get really frustrating to be treated unfairly. Stop going to that store, they don't deserve your patronage.

[StayPuft]

That stinks, my friend. Sorry to hear that. But, it is great that your son is doing so well. Plus, at least the story had a happy ending. He got his steak dinner. :-)

The best thing you can do is try not to let things like that get to you. Some people are a-holes. To be honest, from my personal experience, it seems like the world is full of more a-holes than it is good people. As far as I am concerned, they are not worth a second thought.

Though, it may not hurt to put in a written complaint to management. A good thing to say in complaints like that is that you were a loyal customer for years, but due to your poor service you will never be coming back. Even if that isn't necessarily true (LOL) a good place tends to take that sort of thing seriously. They don't like to hear they lost any customers, much less a loyal one.

Or you can just forget it, if you so desire. Either way, no harm done, because frankly a company shouldn't be allowed to get away with something like that anyway.

[samuraitrev]

Congratulations on your son's achievements. You must be really proud and I'm glad he got his reward! Sorry to hear you got messed around I'm no psychologist but it sounds to me you've been under so much pressure lately. Initally let go by your employer after being in a 'safe' position. Worrying about your wife's health then concerned how your son would do at school. I think you've been so proud and relieved that your son CAN do well and shine your emotions are scrambled at the moment and that butcher was the 'straw that broke the camel's back'.
Hang in there man, you've got a lot to be proud of, a family that loves you for one. Some folks don't even have that. Oh and you've got us Zombie lovin' freaks too!

Peace and good luck for the future

[goodcop2000]

(06-04-2013 04:44 AM)friskers96 Wrote:  Thanks, he got his dinner and his bbq sauce, and a large root beer... He was ecstatic...

Sorry to hear about your bad experience with the butcher but what a terrific story about your son's school performance. He is lucky to have a dad like you that cares so much about him. Hang in there! My family went through some tough financial times when my wife was getting her nursing degree but we came through and now have two incomes which makes a huge difference. I hope that soon you too can be looking back at these lean times in the rear view mirror.

[Wasteland Jack]

Honestly friskers, I read your post yesterday, but didn't reply because I felt so g-damn angry for the situation that punk put you in and I don't like writing when I am angry.

That was a really sucky thing for the butcher to do. It never feels good when one of your, albeit totally out of your control, downfalls really sinks in. It is enough to be in the situation, but you don't need some snarky horses arse reminding you of it.

However I will pass on the same sentiments as Goodcop2000, you are truly blessed to have a child that makes you so proud that you are willing to go through incidents such as this, just to make him happy, and your family must be proud to have you as a father and a role model. Keep up the great work.

-W.J.

[friskers96]

Thank you guys, I'm still bummed out days after the fact, but I can also see a little more from his point of view. I'm sure what I was requesting isn't considered high priority since it is a day by day sale item. Just the lack of customer service really burned me up, and given the current state of things in my life it just popped the top. I remember when I used to go to stores like Circuit City and Best Buy and could pace the isles for hours trying to get attention of sales associates, approach them and be told their busy, ignored, ect. Now I have never looked like I have any money (more so now that I dont), I dress down and I wear alot of abused older clothes cause their comfy and I never know when I might crawl under something and get messy. At circuit City one time I spent an hour looking at TV's ready to buy one, and I had to hold up a wad of cash and yell who wants it to get their attention, it drives me nuts. I feel like an ass doing something like that but when their is three associates on the floor, two looking busy at a terminal together BS'n about last nights game and another just lurking behind a couple trying to make a decision, what do you do... Guess I never have had good luck at shopping...