To That One Guest - II

The best part is when they ask me about it, as if I wrote the supplies list. Honey, I'm gay as an Easter parade, no kids, and I've been out of elementary school for more than three decades. I have zero idea why your kids need five boxes of crayons.

My elementary school used to sell kits and my parents would just get those. Often times, I'd have the same pair of scissors, glue, and watercolors for multiple years. Same with crayons, we hardly ever bought new, and my brothers would often get hand me downs from my sister and me. Unless they're bringing extra in to help kids in need? Who knows?
 
That is exactly it. Schools are underfunded and are somewhat unwise in spending what they do have, so they don't pay for a lot of supplies that they know are essential to learning. But they also know that many families can't afford to pay for all those supplies. So they bulk out the list big time, counting on middle class parents to buy without question and then the supplies are spread out. Some schools are sneaky in acquisition and redistribution, some overtly gather the supplies and mix them together for doling out over the course of the year.

It's kinda sad. School funding hasn't kept pace with inflation, and some school costs are rising faster than inflation. Funding schools fully would require a lot more taxes than are feasible for most folks and when there is a good source of funding it gets raided. (Example, state lottery promise vs reality.) There are federal IDEA mandates that when enacted the federal government said would be fully funded but weren't and the partial funding ebbs and wanes with how nasty federal budget battles are, and the schools have to figure out how to bridge the shortfall. Then there's NIMBY when talking about extracurriculars and how some (example, boy's football) get a lot more pomp and circumstance than others and maybe it could be equalized. There's also NIMBY when talking about spreading out the funds fairly instead of rich districts having money to spend on optional stuff while poor districts go without necessities. Teachers pay crazy money out of pocket for needed supplies because there's nothing in the budget. The only place left to go are parents' pockets, but often when parents realize they are buying for others they just don't and send minimal amounts with their own child and the parents that buy without really questioning include parents who really can't afford that charity in the amount printed on the list.
 
My wife worked in an urban school district.
Those lists of school supplies, not so much.
She would buy boxes of pencils, pens, notepads, etc. with her own money for her kids because their parents were lucky to afford the school uniforms.
I donated that stacks of stuff we had in the garage to the school when she died.
Teachers are who keep the poor school districts running these days.
 
TTOG: We were slammed but you decided to come around to the hand-off "Just for hot water" for your tea despite the fact four of us were jumping thru each other dealing with a beastly line.
I said I'd be with you with I could but that didn't stop you from harassing another barista until she finally filled your cup just to make you go the hell away.
TTOtherG: I took your order & was running back & forth bringing your order components & EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. you'd say "oh & can I get..." Until I stood at the far end & asked "Is. there. anything. else?!" before coming back over only to have you hand me your pastry back & ask "I guess I'd like this warmed after all".
Hope you like burnt pastry.
TTYet OtherG: You came up after several kids had placed their order then stood tapping your foot at the hand-off. After a few minutes you harangued one of my baristas into fixing your drink ahead of the others because you'd "been waiting quite a while already!" Not only was it absolute bullshit but you took another guest's drink that was similar but a larger size.
I hope you dropped it in your car.
 
I started 1st grade in 1980, I had to buy supplies every year, but I'm not even sure there was a list. I think it was all common sense stuff. And even if there was a list, it was what was needed on day 1, so one pack of paper and a few pencils, and the parents were trusted to buy additional supplies as needed for their child.

Also, variety of supplies to be used have increased. It was crayons as a young kid, no markers, no color pencils. When I hit the grade where color pencils were needed, crayons were no longer used nor wanted. Markers were never wanted, period. I don't remember needing a composition book until high school, late 80s. One three ring notebook (Trapper Keeper) and a bunch of dividers was good for middle and high school, not several 3 ring notebooks. I remember once I hit 4th grade where things were to be written in pen, the number of pens were two black or blue pens and one red pen every year through late elementary to high school graduation, along with a few pencils.
 
I don't know what sliders are in this context (when I hear slider, I think of tiny greasy hamburgers griddled on a bed of onion), but velcro is audible. And they absolutely took action on those.
 
There was a slide at the bottom to open the three rings and people liked to slide it up and down repeatedly and rapidly.

Weird your were velcro complaint, since many regular 3 ring binders have velcro. I'd have thought that either all would be banned or all would be allowed, not brand specific.
 
Ttog. A special thanks to you for allowing me to catch up on my back stock as I pretended to be in the back room looking for the very specific Pokémon backpack for your entitled grandson. Even though you shoved your phone in my face saying “See, see, see? It says you have one”, does not make it magically appear, particularly 3 weeks after school started and our bts shelves are empty. Just out of spite, I printed out all my planos and labels for tomorrow’s workload as you paced outside the warehouse doors waiting for the backpack. Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta.
 
There was a slide at the bottom to open the three rings and people liked to slide it up and down repeatedly and rapidly.

Weird your were velcro complaint, since many regular 3 ring binders have velcro. I'd have thought that either all would be banned or all would be allowed, not brand specific.
This was the late 70s, and (according to Wikipedia) the original patent had just expired, so the stuff was showing up everywhere. Oh, and Velcro-strapped shoes were also banned. As I recall, the ban started with one curmudgeonly teacher (who I had other issues with) and spread to the whole school as parents tried to fight back because they couldn't afford replace school supplies and shoes so soon.


And now I'm off to read the ASTM standards pertaining to Velcro strength. Because that's the kind of stuff I do at my day job, and I didn't know these existed yet.
 
Ttog. A special thanks to you for allowing me to catch up on my back stock as I pretended to be in the back room looking for the very specific Pokémon backpack for your entitled grandson. Even though you shoved your phone in my face saying “See, see, see? It says you have one”, does not make it magically appear, particularly 3 weeks after school started and our bts shelves are empty. Just out of spite, I printed out all my planos and labels for tomorrow’s workload as you paced outside the warehouse doors waiting for the backpack. Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta.
My head voice would totally say: "Ooh, look! See, see? I really don't have one!" Lol.
 
Ttog. A special thanks to you for allowing me to catch up on my back stock as I pretended to be in the back room looking for the very specific Pokémon backpack for your entitled grandson. Even though you shoved your phone in my face saying “See, see, see? It says you have one”, does not make it magically appear, particularly 3 weeks after school started and our bts shelves are empty. Just out of spite, I printed out all my planos and labels for tomorrow’s workload as you paced outside the warehouse doors waiting for the backpack. Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta.
I sometimes wonder if guests think our back room is tiny. I had a guest, near the end of my time there, she said the same that online said we had it. It was the usual "0 on floor, 0 in back (1 on hand)" mismatch. She said that last time she wanted something, someone went into the back room and found it. I told her that even if the 0 on floor/back was wrong, the computer was not giving a location and therefore it'd be just about impossible to find in the back room. Do guests really not think about how big the back room must be for a store that size, how door locations show it runs the length of the building, turns a corner and keeps going?
 
I sometimes wonder if guests think our back room is tiny. I had a guest, near the end of my time there, she said the same that online said we had it. It was the usual "0 on floor, 0 in back (1 on hand)" mismatch. She said that last time she wanted something, someone went into the back room and found it. I told her that even if the 0 on floor/back was wrong, the computer was not giving a location and therefore it'd be just about impossible to find in the back room. Do guests really not think about how big the back room must be for a store that size, how door locations show it runs the length of the building, turns a corner and keeps going?

Just for the record, 0 on floor, 0 in back (1 on hand) is something that there is a good chance it is in the back. If flex gets that, it's a quick scan of the wacos for the fillgroup or an RFID scan down the appropriate aisle if applicable. What that on hand count often tells you is that the last time the product was delivered/pulled there was some leftover for backstock, but something went wrong and the backstock wasn't properly located. Not always, but often enough that it's more than worth flex's time to take a quick look.

Of course, I would never get an in-store guest's hopes up that I could find it for them though.
 
Very near the end the audits were screwing that count up, but before TMs were auditing and leadership was telling them to rush through it, can't find it, zero it and move on, that was very accurate. I got one hell of a talking to when fairly new because I told a guest on the phone that we had 29 laundry detergent because the quantity was "0 on floor 0 in back (29 on hand)" and he threw a fit when he came in and those 29 weren't there. Three leaders told me that meant there weren't any.
 
Very near the end the audits were screwing that count up, but before TMs were auditing and leadership was telling them to rush through it, can't find it, zero it and move on, that was very accurate. I got one hell of a talking to when fairly new because I told a guest on the phone that we had 29 laundry detergent because the quantity was "0 on floor 0 in back (29 on hand)" and he threw a fit when he came in and those 29 weren't there. Three leaders told me that meant there weren't any.

29 laundry detergents is extremely high. Unless your store misplaced a shipper of them somewhere, no you don't have them. But, just having an on hand count doesn't not mean that the store doesn't have them. It just means you tell guests you don't have them. I find that shit everyday though.
 
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