Adventures and Observations: My Afternoon Trip to Lowes

In a rather routine trip to my neighborhood home improvement store today, I managed to have two experiences that felt, well, “blog-worthy.”  One highlighted the absolute ridiculousness of corporate America, and the other highlighted the absolute shittiness of the human race.  We’ll start with corporate America…

It all started with patio chairs.  I needed 4 of them to replace the rusted ones around our outside lanai table.  So I went online, found the ones I wanted, and headed up to Lowe’s to pick them up and bring them home.  Upon arriving in the patio and outdoor department, I realized that the chairs in the store were $9 more expensive than the chairs online.  I double-checked the website price – the LOWES website price – and confirmed it:  $49 in the store; $40 online.  I went to the customer service desk and waited in line for 7 minutes just to ask if they will price-match their online price.  The employee says “I don’t think we do that” and pulls employee #2 over.  She says “No – sorry, but we’re not allowed to match our own prices. We’ve never been able to do that.”  You’re probably thinking: “WHAT?”  I know – it makes no sense. 

My next step was to work the online system to my advantage.  I could buy the chairs online at $40 each, and then select in-store pick up.  Brilliant, right?  So I purchase the chairs online.  But guess what?  I’m not allowed to pull the chairs off the floor myself, even though they are paid for and right in front of me.  Instead I have to wait for the order to be printed and pulled by the girl (employee #1) at the Customer Service desk.  Then she has to page an employee, who leaves whatever job it was that he was already doing.  I watch as he goes and gets the chairs, brings them up to the Customer Service desk, and drops them off.  The whole process takes about 20 minutes.  Then, I have to stand in line again for about 7-8 minutes in order to have the same girl (employee #1) ask me what she can help me with (really?), and then she had to check the order off before I can leave. 

This seems astonishingly ridiculous, does it not?  How can you not honor your own advertised price?  Explain why it’s a more efficient use of time to pull 2 employees off their jobs and generally eat up about 35 minutes of otherwise productive employee time doing what should have taken almost no staff involvement and less than 10 minutes. 

This isn’t the first time we’ve encountered this issue.  Lowes seems to have taken a page out of the Barnes and Noble playbook.  I get it that you won’t price match Amazon or Overstock, but your own PRICES on your OWN WEBSITE?  It’s like those companies that mail a bill with a 49 cent stamp in order to collect an outstanding balance of 23 cents.  Sometimes it really seems as if companies (and school systems? And Governments?) get so large and so far removed from reality that they can no longer connect with what’s really happening on the ground.  Reason and common sense no longer exist.

While at Lowes, I decided to kill some of that chair-waiting time buying mulch.  I put my 5 bags on a little cart and headed for the check out.  A little lady was in front of me – she was maybe 80.  She moved a little slow, and had a basket of about 5-6 flowers/plants and 2 spray bottles of fertilizer/pesticide.  As she reached the register, she started taking all her plants out one at a time.  The checkout woman was super sweet and let her know that she didn’t have to take them all out, but the little old lady said “oh – I want to make sure you get them all.”  Then the lady explained that she also needed some salt for her water softener, but that it was too heavy for her to carry.  The check-out woman explained that it was no problem – she could pull her car up to the entrance and someone would help her carry the bag to her car.  But the old lady wasn’t sure what size bag she needed.  The check-out woman pulled out a catalog page and showed her the 3 sizes, and she picked one.  Then the lady had some trouble using the credit card reader.  The first time it didn’t take, and then she had trouble seeing the screen.  (The ones in the garden department are really hard to see in the bright daylight – for anyone.)  This whole time the check-out woman was being extremely helpful and patient and sweet with this lady.  Unfortunately, while this was all going on (it took maybe 6 minutes), a line had begun to form.  As they were finishing the transaction, this horrible loud voice from behind me said “YOU KNOW THERE’S MORE THAN 3 PEOPLE IN LINE HERE!” I turned back and gave her the evil eye.  She was maybe in her mid-to-upper 50’s. 

As I walked to the parking lot, I couldn’t help but think:  that woman is a piece of crap.  Here’s this little lady – very elderly – but you know what?  She’s out doing it.  She’s being independent and living her life.  Bless her heart – it takes her a little longer than most of us – but are we really in so much of a hurry that we can’t spare a couple of minutes for those who are older than we are?  I wanted to say to that awful loud woman “Hey toots – you’re not too far away from those years yourself.  I hope someone yells at you and makes you feel bad the same way you just did to her.”

So the moral of this story is…big box stores are stupid and people are mean.  I really hope Karma comes back for that loud lady and kicks her in the ass. 

The Field Day Theory - Why I Think America Has Gone Mad

You're probably not going to agree with this theory.  You may argue against it, or dismiss me as a moron.  So be it.  I have a theory about why American seems to have gone collectively mad.  I call it my "Field Day Theory."

When I was in Elementary School, one of the events we looked forward to the most was the annual Field Day.  Field Day was a combination of "serious" events (the one mile run, throwing a football with accuracy through a swinging tire, etc.) and some were "fun" events (the three-legged race, the sack race, the crab-walk race.)  We all practiced for the events in the hopes of winning one of the coveted Field Day ribbons - Blue for 1st place, Red for 2nd place, and Yellow for 3rd place.  It was a FUN day full of FUN activities.  Most people didn't win ribbons at all.  In fact, I think one of the highlights of my 4th grade year was my 2nd place ribbon for the Crab Walk race. But we were outside for most of the day, playing and competing on various levels.

Fast forward to today's school environment.  Almost every school I know of still has "Field Day."  The Field Day of today is TOTALLY DIFFERENT.  I've now experienced it at 3 different schools.  For the most part, the "serious" events no longer exist.  All of the events are "fun" events - hula hoop contests; paper-airplane throwing contests; tug-of-war contests.  I want to clarify that there is NOTHING WRONG with any of those activities or with today's version of Field Day, but it's different than it used to be.

What is the major difference?  NO RIBBONS.  Field Day is no longer truly "competitive".  No ribbons are given at all.  Occasionally, medals are given out, but they are participation medals and EVERYONE GETS ONE.

Stay with me here - I have a point...

Field Day to me is a huge, visible example of how our society has changed in the past 30-40 years.  School activities now are designed specifically to not offend anyone, to not make anyone feel inadequate, and to protect each child's delicate self-esteem.  "You're ALL winners!"  "Everyone gets a medal!" "Just being there makes you a winner, even if you sit and play in the dirt the whole time!"

This mindset has permeated into other areas outside school.  Recitals. Club and Rec league sports. Clubs.   Everyone always is a winner.  Everyone always gets into the club.  Kids are always kind and accepting (or they get punished.)

On the surface, this seems OK.  It seems like a great idea until you examine how it impacts how a child thinks and reacts long-term.

Let's take Johnny.  Johnny is a 3rd grader with a younger sister in Kindergarten.  Johnny's parents are comfortable financially, and want Johnny and his sister to have a better life than they did growing up.  The parents are busy, though - they both work, and are involved with organizations in the community.  The firmly believe that their children are perfect, and any misbehavior is typical "kid" behavior. Johnny plays Pee-Wee soccer and sings in the school chorus.  He gets medals for everything he does - trophies even.  He's not the best player, and one time another kid insulted him.  Before he could even respond, the other kid got snatched away and punished (probably with a "time out" or something similar.)  In school Johnny gets bored sometimes, especially since they have to sit still and quiet for 45 - 90 minutes for testing and assessments.  One day Johnny can't sit still and he gets disruptive in class.  The teacher send him to the office so that she can continue the assessments she's in the middle of, and in anger Johnny uses a bad word that he learned watching You Tube videos on his iPad. The Principal calls Johnny's parents.  When Johnny's mom gets to the school, she gets VERY UPSET.  But she's not upset with Johnny...she's mad at the teacher.  CLEARLY this teacher doesn't know what she's doing.  CLEARLY she has it out for Johnny and she should be better able to manager her students.  How DARE she accuse her precious Johnny of misbehaving, and she's SURE he didn't learn that word at home.  It HAD to be at school...and "what kind of school are you running here anyway? I'm in book club with the Superintendent's wife and I'm going to let her know just how things are at this school."  Johnny gets sent back to class with zero repercussions or consequences, empowered by the realization that he's not going to get in trouble if he acts up.  The Principal calls the teacher in after school and chews her out, blaming her for bringing heat onto him and telling her to keep a better handle on her class.  (Which is a whole different blog...)

Over the years this pattern continues.  Johnny gets medals for almost everything.  Johnny never gets in trouble, even if he should.  He's always accepted and always a winner.  He can be in every club and play any sport. Being called names or made fun of or being excluded from a group is now considered "bullying", and it happens next to never.  There's now a "graduation" from every grade, and Johnny even gets medals and certificates for being in school all three years, or for perfect attendance.

Things start to change a little in high school for Johnny.  Not everyone plays every sport.  Johnny has played soccer for years and was always told he was great, but when he tries out for the High School team he's not good enough and doesn't make it.  He's devastated.   When he acts up in class, the school police officer talks to him and his mom can't talk or threaten him out of trouble.  There are several groups of kids that's he's not friends with, and sometimes they are mean to him.  They say mean things to make him feel bad, which makes him angry.  Mom and Dad feel bad for him, so they buy him an expensive car and lots of other "things" to compensate.  They chalk his less-than-stellar grades up to social issues and assume it will clear up as he gets older.

In college, Johnny's world REALLY gets rocked.  He wants to join a Fraternity, but guess what?  He doesn't get in.  He's not a great athlete or a great student, and he's struggling.  It's frustrating and shocking and upsetting that this world isn't really what he always thought it was.  People play pranks on him, and sometimes say mean things.  He gets sadder and angrier.

The fact is that Johnny was so insulated his whole life that he simply doesn't know what to do.  No one ever told him he wasn't good enough.  He was always accepted into clubs and groups.  No one ever was mean to him. He got medals just for showing up to things - he sometimes didn't even have to work at all.  He got things - cars, electronics, etc. - all the time, and didn't really have to do anything to EARN them.  He was never expected to do great things, because he was rewarded by just being average.

Johnny doesn't know who to blame for all this anger, so he turns it outward:  to his parents, to his teachers, to the kids in that fraternity.  Being relatively young and emotional, the lack of acceptance and lack of constant praise and reward gets bigger and bigger in his mind.  His anger gets worse.

Now - I'm not saying this situation would necessarily lead to a shooting.  In fact, most of the mass shootings around the world has nothing to do with this scenario. Not directly anyway.  Imagine if Johnny finds a religious/political organization online.  They LIKE him.  They WANT him.  They tell him he is important and can make a difference in the world.  Can you see how appealing that would be to someone in his shoes?

Or if it didn't go that far, how easy it would be for Johnny to break into his dad's gun cabinet (his Dad hunts) or even to go down to Wal Mart and buy a gun? Then shoot himself, or shoot his parents or shoot a bunch of teachers.

To quote the movie The Incredibles:  "When everyone is special, then no one will be."  Kids that grow up without any competition, without any consequences, and without having to learn how to deal with mean people from an early age grow up lost.  There are tons of articles on how today's college graduates are finding it hard to get jobs because they are so used to people GIVING them things. They honestly have never been told that they have to work for it, or try harder, or that they might fail.  And that some girl may make fun of your tie or your shoes.

In life, not everyone wins.  You don't get into every club.  You don't win medals just for showing up.  Everyone doesn't have to like you, and people sometimes are not nice.  If you screw up, there are consequences for that.  Kids who grow up in our society today don't know any of that.  They don't understand it, and they don't realize it's reality. It's no wonder they freak out.

Lord knows I am by no means a perfect parent, but I am trying my best to teach my kids how to work for things, how to earn them.  We set our expectations high - for their grades and for their behavior.  There are consequences when they misbehave or are disrespectful.  They don't get the newest and most popular electronics.  My son is begging for an iPhone.  He has a small flip phone for emergencies, but "all his friends have iPhones."  We told him he needs to get through 6th grade.  If he makes good grades all year and shows us that he is mature and responsible, we'll discuss getting him an iPhone.  DISCUSS.

When our daughter has problems with her Spanish class, we tell her that SHE needs to go to the teacher and discuss what's going on.  It's HER RESPONSIBILITY to work things out and get the help she needs - we will only intervene if the teacher refuses to help her.  We don't bail her out...her grade is on her shoulders, and only by behaving like a respectful, responsible young adult is she going to get it fixed.

If someone says mean things and calls names on the bus, we give them tools and strategies to handle the situation.  We don't yell at the bus driver, or go up to the office.  We only intervene if we must, because if we're constantly jumping in and "fixing" things for them, how will they ever learn to do it on their own?

It all starts with Field Day.  Make people work for those ribbons.  Only give them out to certain people.  Give the kids incentive to work harder to win one next year.  Don't raise "children" - raise PEOPLE.  People that will grow up to be adults.