"SMILE! You're On-----"

On my post this time I was going to tell you a little something about my past and my personal life, but...I decided not to, or at least, not at this time. I think that's because I got to thinking that it really isn't anyone's business what has happened to me in life anymore than it's important for me to know what's happened to anyone else. Privacy is becoming a scarce commodity in this country anyway.


The world of George Orwell's 1984 novel became reality long ago with its hidden cameras, and those "not" so hidden, just everywhere these days. You can't walk into a department store or a gas mart or, well, just about anywhere these days without security cameras watching your every move. I'm amazed they haven't stuck them in the bathrooms yet, but, perhaps they have and we just don't know it? I mean, what do we really know about these places that claim all of their friendly customer service, but don't trust their customers?

And it isn't that our society doesn't deserve this treatment. When you go into a department store and find the items you bought at one price have soared to another, it's mainly because of thief. Honest customers have to pay for the merchandice that others have stolen and got away with. It's not a fair system, but it's a workable one for companies because if someone doesn't pay the difference, they go out of business. Not only do we lose here by not having the convenience of that particular store and the merchandice therein we want to obtain, but so do sometimes hundreds of their employees that would be put out of a job.

When the news media relates stories of thief it's usually about "big businesses" whose employees have worked scams against the public or embezzled large amounts of money or people that have robbed a bank. They tend to leave out all of the smaller thieves whose actions amount to just as much as the others total. These are people who get gasoline and drive off without paying for it, and identity theif, mail fraud, in-store thief and shoplifting. Just how much do you think a place that serves food products, a McDonalds or a Pizza Hut, or a deli place loses every year just from employees eating their product and not paying for it? Literally millions. That's why that pizza you're getting costs you $20., when the total cost of everything that went into it (including labor) due to these huge companies buying in bulk may not have been over a couple of bucks.


So...the next time that a clerk comes up to you in a department store and asks if he can help you with something, be nice to him. It's their job to walk around and check the shelves and talk to people. It's his job to watch out for thief, and don't take the offensive attitude towards them. They're just trying to be helpful. And you know?


HONEST people have absolutely nothing to hide.