My son (18) sent me a text from work today (target, pronounced "Tarzhay" for all you plebes):
Hope coffee with [my friend, in town fr. Southern Utah] went well, just on lunch. So damn sick of easter crap lol. Sold one of those scam credit cards today, managers seem pleased.
My son discovered the interest rate on those credit cards the other day - he was genuinely shocked (which made me feel all optimistic about his future financial well-being).
My reply:
Coffee was great. Glad to hear your evil corporate masters are pleased with your participation in the commercial blasphemy of this pagan, er, Christian holiday. Does Walmart have a credit card? [Bwaahahahahaaa!]
All hail the machine!
y-chromosome donor parental unit
I'm also starting to get all hopeful about the odds he'll attend (and graduate) college next year - only college students and graduates get to make jokes about evil American corporate empires and laugh without sounding rueful. [Crossing my fingers, as I type with one hand]
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Welcome to the machine, son.
7 comments:
If it becomes necessary, I can fill your youngun' in on what it's like to work in the retail business for twenty years. But it is the kind of story from which you should be trying to shield him.
the first time i heard someone say they were going shopping at "tarzhay" i had to ask. it's ok though, the place i was from was just small enough that we didn't have a target store [yet].
Arch - think innoculation. A little hurt now could save a lotta' hurtin' later on.
Fluffy - I think it's sort of funny. Target has positioned themselves as the community-responsible alterantive big-box store, which is something they'd never be able to get away with, were it not for the more obvious monstrosity that makes them look desirable by compare. As the 21% interest on the "Tarzhay" credit card demonstrates, however, evil corporate machines have more in the way of commonalities than differences.
Of course, sometimes even seemingly little differences matter a lot. Sort of like voting for the Democratic presidential candidate.
Yeah - sometimes those little differences can be all the difference in the world.
when i worked at American Eagle, one of the sales points we were supposed to use in hawking the store credit card was that it was made out of clear plastic. because, you know, being able to see through a credit card makes it better.
oh yeah. he'll be ready very soon. i gotta say, though...my daughter didn't get motivated till she was 22. (she thought waitressing would make her rich...all those tips!)
What a lovely daughter you have, Catnapping.
My son is in for some harsh lessons about the nature of personal economics, I'm afraid. But those were hard lessons for all of us, weren't they?
I waited tables for years - put myself through my undergraduate degree doing it (and a little barbacking). There was a critical moment in my life when I could've said "screw the education" and gone into management.
Another bullet dodged.
My smallish town has gone from having neither horrible retailer to having both in the matter of a year. Wal-[fucking]-mart, currently under construction, is in easy walking distance from my house. Ever mention I hate my town? You know, in the past five minutes?
Waiting tables is good money, though I've never done it. Maybe I'll tend bar if the science gig falls through. I like mixing stuff.
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