I Must Be Crazy

I don't give a fuck about my job.  I don't give a fuck about my life.
Today is a day off.  The last few days at work have really sucked.  You see, if I see someone that has some of our merchandise approaching the exit of the store I work at, and I can see that they didn't buy it in that area of the store, I'm supposed to ask to see their receipt, even if they are carrying the stuff in one of our plastic bags.  Obviously, someone could grab a bag, put stuff in it, and walk out while acting as though they bought it.  Although, as I've been obsessively thinking about the events of the past few days, I realize that I've never seen a particular head cashier, who's been working at this store longer than me, ever check a customer's receipt, and that's part of her job.  She spends a lot of time standing by the main exit.  Regardless, she received an award at the last store meeting, because she "seems to never have a bad day."  Maybe she'd have more "bad" days if she was confronting people who were trying to leave the store.  She's also hot as hell, which would explain why she'd get away with anything.
A few days ago, I asked to see a customer's receipt and he was a total prick to me.  It's happened before.  It's not fun.
But, two days ago, a couple of guys exited the area of the store where I was working holding plastic bags with stuff in them.  I didn't ask to see their receipts.  I don't always do it.  I don't like doing it, because I don't like it when people are rude as hell to me, as they sometimes are when I do that.  Later, those guys came back: one of them bringing stuff in one of our bags into the store.  This time, I would confront them.  As they were leaving, I walked up to them and asked to see a receipt.  One of them said, "That's rude" to me.
"That's store policy," I replied.
He got very angry very quickly.  "Don't you see he's got a bag?" he yelled at me.
I walked away and said something about how I don't appreciate being yelled at.  I think his buddy tried to get him to leave as he was leaving, but he said, "No.  He might call the police."  He aggressively got very close to me and continued to yell at me.  I was so worried he was going to hit me, that I backed away from him a few feet.  He pulled a receipt out and yelled, "Do you want to see it?!" multiple times.  Finally, a coworker heard all the yelling and walked over to me, so that he was standing next to me.  The asshole left soon after.  Then I heard one of them laughing loudly outside the building.  I suppose he was laughing at me: the pussy.
I've since realized it's stupid to be a corporate tool.  I should put my ass on the line, I should put my health and safety at risk, for the sake of the owner, who must be rich as hell, highly-paid executives, or wealthy shareholders?  That's crazy.  We have a concrete floor.  Someone could knock me out, and my skull could fracture after it hit that unforgivingly hard floor.  It would be fine if I was murdered; that would be great.  But what if I was crippled?  What if I was injured so badly that I was paralyzed from the waist, or the neck, down?  Then I'd really have a reason to bitch and moan. 
So I need to be smarter about this receipt-checking business.  I should probably ask to see it while I'm behind the counter at least, so there is a barrier between me and him (or them).  Of course, someone could go around the counter, or throw a punch over it.  It should be a judgment call: based on how threatening the person (or people) appear to be.  Most of all, I need to protect myself.  This store rakes in millions of dollars a year, despite what people steal from it.  I need to protect my own skin more than other people's money. 

Dog's Worst Friend

As I mentioned yesterday, decisions, decisions.  There are so many to make.  Do I work on my next book, that probably no one will be interested in, or do I type out another one of these?  This one I feel is somewhat important, which is why I'm currently ignoring the book.  Writing, for me, is a way to reinforce a thought.  I've got a thought, or something to do, that I want to remember.  Just writing it down is a way to help remember it, even if I don't read it again.  I want to remind myself of something in particular. 
The title here is, of course, a flip on "man's best friend," which is what dogs are, and that's correct.  I love dogs.  They are fantastic.  I believe I mentioned that dogs are allowed to be in the store where I work, and that is, by far, the best thing about my job.  It is my goal to pet a dog every workday.  I recently petted 5 dogs in 1 day.  I think that was a personal record. 
I attached Michael Vick's photo to this, because he is infamous for being involved with dog fighting, which is an obvious example of dog cruelty.  By the way, he's an example of how "important" pro football is.  His crimes didn't stop him from playing again.  What other crimes haven't prevented players from playing pro football?  Assault (against men and women) and rape.  All animal cruelty is heinous and wrong, but when it is directed at pet animals, there is an additional problem.  Pet animals (dogs, cats, etc.) have learned to trust humans.  I've seen medieval paintings that depicted humans with dogs.  So these animals have had a relationship with people for hundreds, or even thousands, of years.  That's quite a long time to establish trust.  So the dog or cat trusts people, lets his or her defenses down with someone, and the person abuses that trust by maliciously harming the animal: horribly heinous.   
Humans are cruel to dogs in all sorts of ways.  They starve them.  They chain them to a small spot that they never get to leave.  They leave them outside in the cold.  They breed dogs.  No one should be bringing dogs, or cats, into the world.  There are tons of unwanted dogs and cats languishing in shelters.  Breeders betray these animals by bringing more dogs and cats into a world where they are not wanted.  The breeders ensure that shelter animals will have a harder time finding homes.  Puppies are cute, but I usually feel a tinge of sadness when I see one, because someone brought that puppy into a world that is already populated with many unwanted dogs.  Some people are only interested in puppies and not non-puppies.  These people are like biological parents: cruel and selfish. 
Unfortunately, I have witnessed dog cruelty in the store where I work.  Some people control the dogs that are with them extremely closely.  They are constantly watching, criticizing, and scolding them.  This is a form of cruelty.  I think it's possible these people have a fetish that has them needing to control living beings.  Perhaps they'd rather closely control people like that, but they can't find someone who'd submit to their control.  I've also seen people choking their dogs.  I saw a man walking a dog at my workplace, and he choke, choke, choked the dog repeatedly while walking him or her.  That's why I feel it's important for me to write this.  I wanted to say something to him, but I didn't.  I didn't want to get into trouble at work.  I let that dog down.  I'm hereby challenging myself to say something if I see something like that in the future.  I have confronted strangers while not at work, to protect animals, at least a few times.  I've told myself that I'm willing to get into fistfights over animal cruelty.  If that is what is required to protect an animal, then it is the right thing to do.  Fuck the law.  Laws were established to protect people: not animals.  There are a few laws that exist to protect pets, but not nearly enough.  "Food" animals, like pigs, cows, and chickens, have extremely little protection from laws, because many people have decided that their lives don't matter to them.  My life, certainly my job, is nothing compared to the massive issue of animal cruelty.  Animals can't call the police if they are the victims of cruelty.  They need people to help them. 
I hate animal abusers.  I only saw him do this one particular day, but I'll probably never forget it.  He was at the store where I work with a woman and a puppy.  The puppy was in a shopping cart.  He pulled the leash, which was attached to a collar around the puppy's neck, repeatedly.  Perhaps he enjoyed choking the puppy.  He has since returned to the store a number of times, but that's the only time I saw him bring the puppy.  The last time I saw him, he had a few kids with him: not surprising.  Animal cruelty, which includes purchasing meat, goes with biological parenthood (It's cruel to bring people into a fucked-up world.) like peanut butter and jelly.           

You Can't Protect Them

I write this as, once again, the tears are welling up in my eyes.  Once you've brought a baby into this world, it's too late.  You can't protect them from all the evils, and the shit, of this world.  You can't protect them from pain, loneliness, sadness, frustration, disappointment, bullies, child molesters, rapists, murderers, terrorists, disabilities, autism, OCD, depression, suicide, cancer, AIDS, etc..  I could go on and on.  You can't protect them from the feeling of "I should be doing this or that, I should have done this or that."  Only death brings relief from the pain, and misery, of life.        

Bad Groundhog Mommy

What happened to your cheek, baby?

Betsy is a bad groundhog mommy.  As far as she is concerned, her daughters can't go out while she is out.  One of my favorite groundhogs ever, Runty, cautiously approached her mother.  I saw trouble brewing.  Sure enough, she chased after Runty.  Runty ran like her life was at stake; maybe it was.  Betsy chases all of her daughters around.  I guess they're not cute enough for her anymore, and maybe she thinks they should leave the area.  It's a real shame.  Young groundhogs have so much to fear around here.  Of course, yesterday was Independence Day, which meant that idiots were setting off fireworks.  I hate that crap.  I saw the poor, scared groundhogs.  Why must we terrorize the animals of this world so much?
Sometimes the young groundhogs cry when their mommy is chasing them.  I don't blame them.  They have so much to fear.  The damn out-of-control kids around here seem to want to terrorize animals more than anything else.  Thank goodness I'm here to protect them.  I've told kids to leave animals alone twice, and I'll do it as much as I need to.  If their fathers have a problem with that, they better watch it.  I don't care how tough he thinks he is, I won't back down when it comes to protecting animals.  It's wrong for the little bastards to chase and throw rocks at wild animals.  I'll put the fear of god into cruel kids if I need to.
I feel bad for the stray cats in the area, but they scare the hell out of the young groundhogs too.  They're so cute, but they live in a world that frightens them so much.
Betsy is not the only bad groundhog mommy; Sheila was too.  I saw her attack one of her youngsters.  This is such a violent world.  Kill or be killed, they say.  I'm all for peace.  I'll attack no person or animal for no reason.  But if I need to defend myself, or another, I'm ready.  I'm in shape, and I know how to fight.  I won't start trouble, but I'll end it if I have to.
The groundhogs are smart.  I watched Betsy run to the fence which marks the end of the apartment complex.  Then she went under it and into no man's land, which is a narrow wilderness area that stands between this apt. complex and a Wal-Mart.  She'd be safe there.  I wonder if a groundhog dug that hole that goes under the fence.  They are good diggers.  I love 'em all.