13 years ago, exactly in May 2006, I started this blog so I could write about all things that I dislike in life… I had a top 100 item list and each post were relating to one of those items… Nothing earth shattering, but very cathartic for my soul. I never got physically violent in my stories, but it felt good to bitch about it in an open forum. It was also fun to see how many people shared my dislikes…

In the Summer of 2013, my blog was hacked and used to send hundreds of thousands of spam emails, the host stopped my account and then after much trials and tribulations, all the content was wiped out and I lost everything… it was a big blow, but I decided then to use this space to show some of my photographs, some stories about traveling, etc… then I stopped using it again, wrongly choosing Instagram as a main social media… Today I’m no longer loving Instagram with their stupid rules and random algorithm…

So, lately, I’ve been feeling the need to share on here again, a few recent incidents that have made the few hair on my head rise and make my eyebrows take that angry position all over again on a more permanent basis… perfect time to start writing again I thought…

Today I’d like to talk about a huge pet peeve, which is: shoppers waiting in line for minutes over minutes to cash out and then don’t have their wallet at the ready when the cashier announces the amount to pay… THAT drives me crazy, and it happens all the time… First looking for the purse, then fishing for the wallet, then trying to find whatever card they need or looks for the exact change by going through all the coins they have in the change purse they also carry… As a cashier, I find nothing more insulting than someone throwing coins on the counter as they try to count that $3.25… One toonie, clink on the counter, two quarters, clink clink on the counter, here’s another quarter, clink on the counter, meanwhile the cashier is looking down the line at all the eyes on him/her, a nickel, clink on the counter, a fistful of dimes, cli-cli-cli-clic-clink of the counter… then defying type looks at the cashier to now pick up and count all that change… puts the wallet away, but wait, there’s $0.15 missing… Are you sure??? Yes I’m sure!!! Then flicks three more nickels on the counters and slaps that wallet shut…

There you go, the new rightful owner of a Venti dark roast… Bravo.. and thanks for the attitude… it will serve you well in life. Loser.

Myself, I go to Starbucks every morning, I use the app on my phone, always easy, fast, reliable. The baristas at the 3 different Starbucks I frequent know me… they’ll know it will be very quick, not many words will be exchange, usually polite acknowledgements, and I’ll be out of their faces before they know it. Yesterday, the lady in front of me ordered her drink and breakfast sandwhich… Her wallet in hand, at the ready… loved it… Then the barista told her the amount to pay and it went south fast… She opened the wallet, took a stack an inch deep of different cards and started going through them like when we were kids with our hockey cards, flicking fast from one to the next…. The one she wanted wasn’t there, drops that stack, start looking into another section, more cards, flick, flick, flick… I’m seeing the colours of all the different rewards cards known to man, but not the famous gold Starbucks card, nor a debit or credit card… Ok… moving on to yet another section of that wallet, which by the looks of it should have its own postal code as it took so much real estate in that purse… Ok.. here we got… I see the Visa logo on the top of that new stacks, we’ve hit jackpot… flick-flick-flick-fl… BINGO… TD DEBIT CARD… My mouth is starting the salivating process knowing that in less than a minute, I’ll have my Grande Dark Roast No Room in my hands for my first sip of the day… It’s almost here…

Oh no… Now she goes: Sir can I tap? Sir? Can I Tap? Sir? Sir? and then he turns around from getting the sandwich which by the way is now ready and he says yes, that she can tap… It should be an easy end to the story now, but no… the tapping has now commenced… Quick tap on the corner of the pin pad… another quick tap, this time turning the card around… tap… tap… tap… and suddenly a growling noise rises from me and words come out: you need to let the card rest on the pin pad for a little bit longer for it to work… and then the magic finally happened…

So yeah… purchasing… learn it and use it well… the people behind you will appreciate it.