AUTHOR: Scott G DATE: 1:19:00 PM ----- BODY:

As time crawls by...

I swear time has been crawling by lately. Work is pissing me off, we don't have the new car yet, and it seems like the days won't pass. Until now I haven't had my driver's license. I don't know why I haven't, but I just never went down and got it. I took and passed the written test the other day and made an appointment for the road test. Hopefully we get the new car on Monday or Tuesday and I can go get some practice in the new car. The road test is in a town about 20-25 minutes away called Hadley. Up until a few days ago I didn't know my town or Hadley even had RMV's in them. I guess it's better than going to Springfield for paperwork or testing. Last night work got me down. The past 5-6 weeks I've been on the new registers called "self checkout". These are where the customers ring themselves up, and I have to assist them with every part. These registers talk and get very annoying and business on them is very brisk. Among the rules governing me on these is that I have to stay in the area of these three. Also I have to clean them (takes a minute), drum up business for them (doesn't help), and I must somehow be busy the whole time with nothing to do. So last night the manager (Brian Whalen) who normally couldn't care less what goes on in that part of the store decides he's going to be an asshole and I'm the lucky subject. I was standing around (which is what you DO on these things) and he gave me "extra work" to do. Finished that in a few minutes and he shut up. The whole part about this situation that pisses me off is that I NEVER ASKED to be put on these stupid registers. I'm supposed to be cashing out the customers, but I got taken off of that because they think I'm well suited for talking to IDIOT customers and assisting them with these things. I can't stress just how much I hate this. Ok, now for something positive. Our new (a year or two old, new to us) 2001 Kia Rio should be ready tomorrow or Tuesday at the very latest. It's color is Atlantic Blue Metallic. It's a nice car, but it's not the fanciest car. My Mom is used to $600 cars she has to replace every so often and we decided after the long ordeal with the Ford Escort that we needed a car that wouldn't add to the stress of everyday life. I've read up on this car and the South Korean manufacturers in general. As usual online you get the horror stories because those people are looking for a soapbox to stand on, but I've found a good amount of positive feedback too. These comments are not driven by anything, just honestly given. The bottom line in that it's an inexpensive car that, if taken care of, should last a good long while. To back it up, this 2001 car comes with a 5 year warranty. I'm just not going to expect too much from this car. Our Escort chugged uphill slowly and I don't expect this car to speed uphill. It's a small engine in a small car. I think a lot people take these cars for more than they are. Don't buy a Kia and expect a Lexus. Trying to get info from written materials like Consumer Reports is useless. They put the car down despite good crash test results and the fact that they claim not to have enough "data". The truth is.. if it's not a Honda or Toyota it gets pissed on by these people. Well I've written plenty and I'm all out of things to think of. I guess it felt good to release some anger within this so I can go to work in two hours calm. I'm thinking of talking to the store manager about getting off what I'm currently doing. Until next time... --------