Eyes to See, Ears to Hear

Archive for December, 2006

Outlaws in Harris Teeter
While watching TV the other night, a hilarious commercial came on. You know the 5-second local news commercials where they try to lure you with one of their nightly headlines? Well, WCNC (Charlotte’s NBC station) has a team of ‘Investigators’ and apparently ran out of legitimate claims to investigate. Below is what they ended up reporting on that night.
Simple question… Is THIS really what our society is coming to????

07:37 AM EST on Tuesday, December 12, 2006

By BOBBY SISK / 6NEWS
E-mail Bobby: BSisk@WCNC.com

When shoppers are in a rush, the last thing they want is other shoppers in the express lane who don’t follow the rules.

“It’s one of my little pet peeves,” says Shopper John Walls. He adds, “You’ve got one or two items in your hand and you get in line and there’s someone in front of who has a buggy full of groceries.”

Walls said it made him mad when it happened to him at his local Food Lion.

“You just want to get your stuff and get home,” he said.

Does the express lane sign really mean ten items or less? We decided to put express lanes to the test by going to a few local stores.

We bought 13 items at the Target on South Boulevard and no one said a word. The express lane is ten items or less.

Target Team Leader Dave Kennedy says store clerks are told to allow customers who go over the limit.

“If someone with more items might have 12 items even though our limit is 10 we’re still going to help that guest,” said Kennedy.

Next, we took 25 items thru Wal-Mart’s 20 items or less lane. Our cashier said most people obey the rule. Wal-Mart says it doesn’t have strict limits and most customers adhere and “those with a larger amount of merchandise prefer to go through a check stand that has conveyor belts for added convenience in unloading and checking out their purchase.”

Walls says “You have to sit there and wait and all the other lines are full you don’t have any choice, what are you going to do?”

We talked to Food Lion about Wall’s shopping experience and they tell us “we try to handle each situation separately, based on the current store conditions. We try to work with and serve our customers as best we can.”

We got out quickly at the Harris Teeter express lane. Our cashier was friendly and didn’t mind helping us even though we clearly had more than 20 items. Harris Teeter tells us they don’t “necessarily count the items….but if a shopper noticeably has more items we will direct them to a full service line.”

Kennedy says knowing when to shop might be your best bet.

He adds, “It’s always best to shop early in the day, the later in the day the more guests we’re going to have the busier its going to be.”

At the end of the day, Walls says he just wants people to “read the sign stupid.”

We also checked with a local etiquette expert on this issue. She suggests you say something to the person who has too many items, but if that’s uncomfortable, make sure to mention the problem to the cashier and the store manager. If the problem persists, she says, take your business elsewhere.

I used to have this viewpoint not only in the stores but pretty much everywhere I went. What is that slow person doing in the fast lane? Call the Investigators. Why is this customer service rep taking so long to figure out my account issue? Call the Investigators. Why doesn’t the automatic toilet in one of Southpark Mall’s bathrooms flush? Call the Investigators. Why is Domino’s Pizza taking longer than 30 minutes? Call the Investigators. Why is the power out? Call the Investigators. Why do I only have one bar on my mobile phone? Call the Investigators. Why is it 70 degrees when the weatherman said today’s high would be 69? Call the Investigators.

I realized how much of my moment-to-moment joy of life this was robbing from me. The American culture can be a dark influence in so many ways. This is one of those sneaky ones that can creep in under the haze of busyness. It sure did on me and I’m elated to be rid of it.

Call us redneck if you choose but at least Dana and I can get snug on the couch and watch NFL on Thursday night on the NFL Network!  Yes, that is PVC holding our Dish 500 at the right angle for optimal reception.  Dish Network now has a prepaid plan which kept us out of any contract.  We order prepaid cards, call an 800 number and enter their PINs.  We have been ordering America’s Top 120 which comes out to about $1 a day.  The only up front cost is the system which we got at a great price through dishdepot.com.  Since the RV is a ’99, the cable wired in it is only CAT-3 meaning it can’t carry the digital satellite signal.  So, Jonathan had to whip out his trusty 24V Black & Decker drill and feed one up through the floor.  Believe it or not, it was a lot easier than it sounds.  Remember… we’re dealing with construction in an RV context.

We get perdy durn good rehsepshun don her ‘n Waxhaw!

This is one of the more prized amenities of the RV… a hot water heater.  It is relatively small in comparison to residential units; only 6 gallons!  But, as you may have read it is propane-powered so the temperature is VERY high.  So high we have to be careful with the hot water controls on the sinks and shower.  It is fast to reheat a tank of water after one of us take a shower.  We can both take one and get ready in about an hour.

The propane line comes in from under the RV to the tank located under the kitchen sink.  It is situated next to an outside wall so it can exhaust the propane fumes.

First of all, please do not worry about us because we do stay warm in the rv.  How?  Well, the RV is equipped with (2) 30-lb propane tanks on the front hitch tongue.  Propane lines run to a floor-ducted heating system that is able to heat the RV very well and very quickly.  We currently use it as our back-up heat source.

Our RV park site rent includes electricity so we use (2) space heaters and they are MORE than adequate.  As a matter of fact, we can't run them full blast because they'll break us out in sweat.  The RV is wired for a 30-AMP setup so that posed a problem when we wanted to add the second heater.  Our first one pulls 1500 watts at its highest setting.  We learned a little bit about electricity in our VMS training; enough to know that amps x volts = watts.  So, on a 30-AMP system running 110-VOLT appliances and electronics, that gave us 3,300 watts to use up before we maxed out and tripped the circuit breakers.  As you can tell, our first little heater had the potential to eat up almost half of our total RV electricity.  Add another 1,500 watt heater and, well… you get the picture.

The solution?  On the electrical hook-up post at each RV park site are three plugs: a 50-AMP (our system can't handle that much), a 30-AMP and a 20-AMP.  So, what I did was install an extra outlet in the bottom of the entertainment cabinet in the living room and powered it with a feed from the 20-AMP power outlet outside.  This made it possible for us to run both heaters set on high, if needed, and not trip any breakers.  (30-AMP + 20-AMP) x 110-VOLTS = 5,500 watts available… PLENTY!

Originally Posted October 2, 2006 – It seems as though we just met yesterday yet here we are two years after getting married.  Our story is a unique one and in the context of how marriage is treated, even in the body of Christ, it is one of wonder.  We met at the end of May 2004 and ended up exchanging vows just over four months later on a beach at Trunk Bay, St. John, USVI.  It was a storybook destination wedding with God doing all of the decorating for us!  We took a good minister friend of ours, James Weddington, down with us to perform the ceremony.  We also, flew our parents down for a little getaway.  And, yes, we did put them up in the Marriott on St. Thomas while we honeymooned in St. John.  The ceremony could not have gone better.  It being so amazingly beautiful there coupled with marrying the one you love made our wedding like a dream.
To see more of our wedding and honeymoon, click on 'PHOTOS' on our main page and then on the wedding and honeymoon picture to take you to the gallery.

If the person from yesterday who was looking for a child's fur coat could do some sewing…

Keep in mind that this is a headline that went out to a bunch of missionaries and volunteers at JAARS…