(no subject)

 So, Sunday was my son's birthday party.  As expected we only had 2 kids.  Actually, we were expecting 3, but you know when kids say they'll come to the party and they never ask their parents.  I think that's what happened with the girl around the corner.  She said she was coming, but uhhh...forgot to give her mom a heads up about that.  LOL

So I'm just a little pissed that only 2 kids out of the 20+ kids he invited came.  He invited his whole class (19) and some kids on the bus (I'm not sure how many).  Either my son is causing kids to not like him at school and no adults are giving me a heads up on this behavior, or people don't know how to read an invitation or RSVP.  

My son won't tell me crap about his day.  I trust (or I thought I did) his teacher, recess monitors and other adults at school to make me aware of any behavior problems that are hindering his social life.  Because I'd understand if mostly boys came, or if a bunch of people said they can't make it, but nobody calling at all?  We got two people who said they couldn't come.  The two who came told me they would.  It leads me to hope that most parents just didn't even call.  I'd rather think the parents dropped the ball on this one, than think that nobody likes my son.

That's not to say that I'd be in denial if there were signs that my son wasn't making friends.  I'd totally get on it and help him pick up some qualities kids look for in friends (fairness, sharing, taking turns being a leader).  But like I said, he doesn't tell me anything is wrong and I'm not getting notices from the teacher.

Since we only had 2 moms at the party I got the chance to hear what they thought about the bomb threat a couple weeks ago.  They both said they were happy with how it was handled.  I still am not.  I never again want to wait a half hour to find out if my son is okay (although I'm in for years of excuses for why he didn't call me to say he was where he was supposed to be) and then another half hour until he gets home.  One mom said she found out it only took 3 minutes to evacuate the school which is pretty impressive considering they have kindergarten up to 5th grade.  She pointed out that instead of calling us, they were caring for our kids and that most kids weren't scared, they just thought it was a fire drill (even though they walked to the middle school).  I guess it was much scarier on our end than it actually was.  

My son got his next karate belt, he's gradually going to join the bigger kids class since he just turned 7, and is soon signing up for the black belt club, where he gets a nice black uniform and some weapons like a bo stick and something called kamas, which are like small scythes (not real blades though).  He gets to practice new moves and techniques with these weapons.  We were going to wait until January to sign him up for this but we found out if we sign up in November we get a discount.  We also signed him up for 2 years at karate.  He really likes it and says he wants to stick with it forever.  This is the best thing we have done for him, so far.  He's learned a lot about discipline and self control (although sometimes he still has a ways to go!).

Because I feel snarky

Inspired by: http://rocksteadyash.tumblr.com/post/12403420976/what-retail-employees-want-you-to-know

What shoppers want retail workers to know

We know you hate your job.  But it is your job.  We also don't want to hear how much you hate your job while you are clocked in at said job.  Save it for your friends and family and pets when you get home.  It's not cool to be walking around with my young child and hear choice language on how much your job sucks.  

It is your job to make the displays look nice.  I'm sorry I can't board fold without a board or that by the time I realized I picked up the wrong size socks, I was in the home goods section so I put them on the shelf.  If I brought them all the way to checkout, you'd still have to put them away.  You get paid to put it back.  I don't.  I'm also sorry you only put trash cans at the entrance of your store.  While I was trying to board fold that sweater for you, I had to put down my coffee and I forgot to pick it up again.

When you ask how I am, why is it so hard to answer when I reply "Good, how are you?"  Since when do I have to answer you, but you don't have to answer me?  Also, don't be that employee who actually bitches to my face about his job when I ask him how he is.  That will pretty much guarantee that I'm not going to ask you how you are anymore.

Re: returning items in stores where you bought them.  So when I go to a random trip to my mother's house and I happen to buy something at the Target there, you want me to trek up there and bring it back when there's a Target around the corner from me?  Got it.  Not likely though.

Re: me picking up my phone when I'm in line, I'm sorry it makes YOU feel awkward, but maybe I've just gotten a call from my son's school, or a family member in need.  Maybe I can multitask paying and talking at the same time and it doesn't really matter if I want to talk about how so and so is a whore, because I'm not the face of the company, but you are, and you still think it's okay to talk about the badass fuckin' party you had the other night or how you're so fuckin' hung over when I'm walking by with my 7 year old son.

Re: kids.  I'm not a neglectful mom.  The best mom will probably lose her kid in a store at least once, and suffer the wrath of some poor employee who had to do their job, unless she puts him on one of those leashes, and then she deals with disapproving looks because she has a human being on a leash.  Moms really can't win.  My son has run off twice.  It's not that I'm not trying or that my kid is reckless.  It just happens.  I'm so sorry you have to deal with finding a lost kid but at least you didn't have to deal with the panic of it being YOUR kid.

Re: finding items that are hand written instead of visuals.  Really?  You don't know where you keep your brown belts, but if you had a picture, that would help?

Lastly, here's the thing with receipts: They're easily lost.  When you hand it to me instead of putting it in the bag, it goes into the recesses of my purse which is quite small but apparently bottomless, because I'll never find that thing again.  Here's another thing.  Your website says if I bring in the card with which I made the purchase, you can do my return.  You'd just rather not look it up.

Retail employee, get over yourself.