Regular visitors around here may have noticed that it’s been quiet for a while. Sometimes life gets in the way and we can’t post, I’m sure you all understand. Sometimes life hands you great material for posting and the first thought one of us has it, “that’ll make such a good post!” Then we might go days without such inspiration.
Then sometimes life kicks you in the teeth and there just isn’t anything to say. That’s what’s been happening lately.
Yes, it’s true, folks. For the first time in well over a year, I have a Saturday and a Sunday off. In a row. I have a weekend.
One of the greatest disservices ever done to workers in this country was the introduction of the phrase, “The customer is always right.” The credit for that tidbit of wisdom goes to Stanley Marcus of retailer Neiman Marcus. Thanks, Stanley.
The customer is NOT always right. Anyone who has ever worked in retail, food service, or front line customer service of any kind can tell you that. In our society comprised of increasingly entitled, unintelligent, lazy, self-centered, and generally ignorant people, giving them something so blatantly easy, so totally pandering to grab onto as “The customer is always right” has done nothing but harm.
That has never been more obvious than in the last few days when the vine video in this article, if you can call a 6 second loop a video, went viral.
One of the pleasures of working for a church that is also a historic site is that I get to talk with a lot of very interesting people from all over the world. Although we do get some rude people, for the most part it is a really positive experience, and today was no different.
Today, I got to have an extended conversation with a total stranger about faith, and about the commonalities of our two faiths, Christianity and Islam.
Last week Teri and I found ourselves in the position of needing some things for the office. I made a shopping list and on Monday she did the ordering. Buying office supplies is one of the things I’ve never minded about the various administrative jobs I’ve had, it’s shopping with someone else’s money.
Anyway, who was more surprised than the two of us when we discovered that one of our usual vendors, the one that happened to have the best prices this time, was having a rather odd Gift With Purchase. A casserole dish.
Continue reading “Office supplies, a racist casserole dish, and Teri”
I tried for over three years to find a decent job in IT after I was laid off. Looking for work, and generally trying to improve my IT knowledge and skills, became my new job. I went back to school to improve my IT skills. I gained several new certifications, picked up many more books and attempted to improve my skills as best I could. Over three years of job fairs, workshops, endless resume rewrites, countless applications, all sorts of professional and personal networking, honing of cover letters, (you name it, and I did it) but nothing worked. In three years I got less than five interviews. I tried everything. Of course, plenty of people had advice for me on how to find a job. Some was good, a lot was bad, and much of it was contradictory.
Tomorrow, June 10th, is Portugal Day. It is a big holiday in Portugal in honor of Luis de Camoes, the writer of Portugal’s national epic poem, Os Lusiadas (The Lusiads). Since there is such a big Portuguese population here in southern New England, it is a big deal in these communities. And since my father is Portuguese, I try to remember these important days.
I saw this while leaving work today.
So maybe tomorrow, in honor of the holiday, I will enjoy some good home-cooked Portuguese food, and maybe some wine.
-Geoff
[ETA to make some additions and corrections – Geoff]
I honestly am just in shock now.
As if the events in Boston have not brought enough insanity to our world, now the last 12 hours have taken the crazy to whole new levels.
The two bombers lived in our neighborhood here in Cambridge. And that is just for starters.
We opened early today – about 8 AM – and stayed open until about 7 PM, when our second service ended. So a long day today. But a reporter from Channel 6 in Providence stopped in to talk to our new minister as well as a few Marathon runners. You may see yours truly doing security in the background.
-Geoff
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Easter is a special time of year at King’s Chapel, as it is the only time that the stained glass window is visible. So Saturday night I opened up the shutters, and then Easter morning I got a picture when the morning sun was shining through it.
I took some pictures of all the Easter flowers too. You can see them below the cut.
The Books are Taking Over... 