Whiners, Occupiers, and Wal-mart Shoppers

I've got to stop complaining. I have kept thinking about what I wrote a couple of posts back about not liking my job. I sound like a whiner, and I'm too old for that. I don't always like my job, but who doesn't? The more I hear about the state of the country, the more I am thankful that my husband and I still do have jobs.

At any rate, since my dad is the only one presently reading this blog (and I'm totally okay with that), I think I owe him an apology for having to read my grumbling and complaining. So, I'm sorry, Dad. I will try to be more positive and uplifting.

Oh, who am I kidding? I probably won't be positive because I seem to only blog when something is bothering me, but I can try not to grumble about my trivial personal issues.

So, I guess I'll just grumble about current events though I can't say I stay too current on what's happening in the world. My own world occupies my immediate attention most of the time, but when I do have time to catch up on what's going on, I find myself discouraged and want to stick my head even further in the sand.

Take this Occupy Wall Street thing. It has me perplexed. I mean, I certainly don't claim to be any kind of economic expert. Far from it, but I'm not sure why they are occupying. Frankly, it sounds like a lot of grown ups acting like spoiled kids who aren't getting their fair share of the candy. But we all know life isn't fair. Now, some of those people may actually have legitimate concerns. However, from what I gather, most of them are upset that big corporations, banks, what-have-you are controlling this country. So, the Occupiers want big government instead? Is that what they are saying? How is that going to be any better. Are there greedy big corporations out there? Well, sure, but isn't it the big businesses that create jobs for the middle and even lower classes? How many people would be out of jobs if McDonald's closed up shop? I really wish I could get an objective opinion from both sides of the issue, but I don't think that's gonna happen.

I recently bought Halloween costumes for my kids to go trick-or-treating this year. (This really isn't a totally random topic change. I promise.) Originally, I was going to be all Martha Stewart and make my kids their costumes. I found patterns for $.99 at Jo Ann's, but when I went to buy the material and notions, I realized I was going to be spending a whole heck of a lot more than I wanteed to; plus, I was going to have to make it, too. Not only was it going to be expensive but also time consuming. This was just for one kid. My other kid hadn't yet decided what she wanted to be yet. To make a long story short, I happened to be in Wal-Mart with the kid who had set her heart on being Cleopatra. Sure, I told her, we'll look at the costumes, but we are not buying one. I ate those words in a hurry when we found the perfect Cleopatra costume with all the adornments, and it was on sale! Later I took my other kid back who found a ladybug costume that she liked. (She's 13. It's her last year of trick-or-treating, and she wants to be a ladybug. I didn't see that coming at all.) Plus, it was on sale, too. Woohoo! All said and done, I got two costumes that I do not have to make for a lot less than it would have cost me to buy all of the stuff to make one. Granted I could have spent no money and let my kids figure something out for themselves as a friend of mine is doing, but that's not me. Anyway, I came away from the whole experience in praise of cheap Chinese manufacturing--I, who used to be so critical of Wal-Mart. (Okay, I still am on some points but I'll save that for another post.) Oh, I didn't mention that I had already bought material from Jo Ann's to make the cleopatra costume when I came across the one at Wal-Mart? Well, since Jo Ann's is one of those big box chain craft stores, I was able to return it (unused, of course) for a full refund. Not too many mom and pop stores can offer that kind of service, unfortunately.

My point being that I think many of these people opposed to big business, opposed to capitalism, etc. would not be really happy with the results should their ideology be put into practice. We enjoy a lot of customer service benefits at these big box stores. Now, not being of any kind of business or economic intelligence, I may be completely off base as to what these occupiers of Wall Street really mean. Based on what I have read and heard and my own experience, I can't say as I'm very sympathetic to them right now. I would invite someone to try to convince me otherwise. I am always open to enlightenment.