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There are things we all have learned to expect in our lives. In a world that is always full of surprises, it is comforting to know that at certain times and places you can know what is just around the corner. It may be pleasant or unpleasant, comforting or uncomfortable, but any way you slice it, you know what you are in for.
For example, think about the people you know. You know which ones are going to make you laugh, do nothing but gossip, and which ones you want to avoid at all costs. The latter ones are usually the ones that drone on and on about nothing in a conversation that was completely unsolicited by you. The only reason you are having it is because you got too close to the little bugger or they snuck up on you. So if you know what to expect you just have to watch your back.
If you drive and live in the San Gabriel Valley you definitely know what to expect while behind the wheel. There are certain things that have become so common place you can bet on them happening every time you get in your car. Just like the boring conversation, if you know what to expect, you just need to take steps to avoid potential problems.
Of course, to the drivers who are causing the problems, there isn’t a problem at all. They have developed an entirely different set of rules while driving than the ones published by the DMV, and it is up to the rest of us to adapt to those rules. Considering that I have watched as many drivers as I have break the most fundamental rules of the road in the presence of the police and sheriffs, maybe there is a new set of rules that I am unaware of.
If they make their own driving rules, and law enforcement finds these infractions so menial that they are not citation worthy, I guess the rest of us, who see them and expect them daily, have to adapt. In this arena, it isn’t a matter of getting where you want go in a timely fashion or just being annoyed, it is a matter of survival. As most of us here know we are home to some of the loopiest drivers on the planet. Those who don’t know are those loopy drivers.
What to expect? Well, where to begin? Stop signs? OK, sounds good. Let’s go there. In the last year I can count on one hand the number of times I have seen a group of cars come to a four way stop and actually be able to navigate it. The loopy drivers obviously don’t know the proper order of progression. They pull up to the intersection first, and then wave an oncoming car to go through. That, or having lived in this area so long they are afraid to make a move for fear of being hit. When the latter happens, time stands still. Somebody has to make a move or we would all be there for eternity.
Stoplights are where the dumbest and rudest drivers come to mingle. I say both dumb and rude because there is no way to tell while driving, but it has to be one or another. The little game that is played here is the “guess if I’m turning left” sweepstakes. Turn indicators and fellow drivers be damned, “I’ll let you know if I’m turning left when the light changes or when I get into the intersection and not a second before”. They probably don’t want to burn out their turn indicator bulbs prematurely.
Expecting this you can make some adjustments to avoid being caught in this little trap, if you approach them from behind that is. One of the most important lessons I taught my daughter while she was learning to drive was to not pull all the way up to the car in front of her at a stoplight. If you allow yourself that little space bumper, you can pull around them to the right when they try to pull the surprise left hand turn at the last minute. Sorry, but if you are across the intersection from them you are doomed.
Enough about driving, I could go on about that topic forever. How about shopping at club stores, in particular Sam’s Club? There are a couple of things there I have come to expect when shopping in the club that Wal Mart built. First, that I will always have to spend extra time looking for at least one item that has been moved. Second, is that I will spend extra time looking for an item that they have stopped carrying on a whim.
I just don’t get what is going on in the head of the person who is handling the merchandising for that store. Whoever she/he is ought to have a sign on their desk, facing them, that reads “People Don’t Like Change”. It is as though they stay up at night thinking of ways to make the shopping experience at Sam’s as confusing as possible.
The same thing applies to the products that they carry. Their knee jerk reaction in removing products that you come to expect when you go there is infuriating, especially when one of those products is the primary reason you went there. Lately I’ve seen more consistency at the .99-cent store, where the one thing that you can expect is not to find the same thing twice.
They really need to take a page out of the Costco playbook and just quit trying to fix things that aren’t broken. Having memberships at both places, if Costco was geographically closer, Sam’s would not be receiving my membership renewal this year. It can be a couple of months between times that I go to Costco, but when I do go, nothing has changed. I can always find the same things in the same places; this as opposed to Sam’s where it is a guessing game week to week.
One place that I usually know what to expect all of the time is my local grocery store, Ralph’s. While I have had minor issues with things like not enough checkers and small cramped aisles at least I know what I’m in for when I go there. That was until my last shopping trip there. I wasn’t expecting the unexpected.
I am a coupon fiend. Once my wife had me trained in the proper usage of these money saving devices I was hooked. I viewed it as a challenge and a game. I would plan my attack on Ralphs with precession, trying to stick to items only involved with coupons. If I just wanted low prices I would go to Valu Mart, but when coupons are involved, you have go to Ralphs because they double their coupons. If you are going to use them, you have to go where you get the most bang for your buck.
For a long time you could use at least two like coupons and have them doubled. “Like” coupons, for you non-coupon users, are identical coupons for the same product. For example, if you buy ice cream that was on sale for 2 for $6.00, and you had two coupons that were a dollar off of each, with Ralphs double coupons you would end up only paying a dollar for each. Great deal right? Especially when you are talking about a good brand of ice cream like Breyer’s or Dreyer’s.
Then the unexpected happened as I was checking out last week. After all of my items had been scanned, I handed over my little coupon soldiers who were going to deliver my usual deathblow to my grocery total. As the checker was scanning my coupons she came to a “like” coupon. She held one of them up and said, “The second coupon will not be doubled”.
“Since when” I asked, being somewhat stunned. I was just there less than a week ago and I know I had used “like” coupons.
“Since March 15th. It’s posted right there” she said as she pointed to a sign the size of a postage stamp taped to the customer side of her keypad.
So many things were running through my mind at that moment I checked out and left. The first thing I was thinking was that why, after over two months, this was the first checker who bothered to mention it to me. The
second was that I wanted to check out some of my most recent receipts to see if they were not doubling and not bothering to mention it to me or if they were being stand up guys and giving us coupon warriors a grace period.
Nope, no such luck. As I looked through my receipts it was evident that Ralphs thought that their miniscule little signs were enough of a warning of their new policy. I am just thankful to the checker who took that brief moment to let me know about it so I don’t waste any more of my hard clipped coupon dollars there. If they were not going to be doubled, again, I would use them at Valu Mart. Considering Ralphs problems in the past concerning pricing, you would think that they would have taken out some full page ads to make everyone aware of it. Just so regular customers like me would not feel cheated two months after the fact.
But maybe I am expecting too much.
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