Thoughts from a grumpy, getting older, local citizen

Thoughts from a grumpy,

getting older, citizen

To the Editor:

There are some things that really bother me as I get older and as I go al

ong through life I have a hard time understanding what causes all of us to do the things we do and why certain things are the way they are.

Why is it that when I get ready to park in any parking lot in Mendocino County there are always several selfish drivers that can’t seem to park between the lines of the spaces? I understand that the designers of parking lots are for the most part idiots and apparently these same designers all drive Subaru’s or Priuses that don’t need much room. But honestly how hard is it to park between the lines? Are we so self-adsorbed with our lives we can’t think about the other people that are sharing this living space with us?

Why is it that when we are driving and in a hurry to get somewhere, everyone in front of us is an idiot and must be a Sunday driver with nothing better to do than to hold us up? But when someone is crowding our rear bumper they are automatically maniacs, unsafe and shouldn’t be on the road.

Why can’t there be a standard to things we do, such as where the fuel filling cap is located on an automobile. Let’s make a decision and either put them all on the left side or all on the right side. It is incomprehensible to me that every auto manufacturer has a different idea of where to locate the filling spout.

Why is it when the communist, socialist, granola crowd in our county all got together and decided that it would be best for the rest of us to no longer use plastic bags because of the damage they were doing to the environment (which I agreed with, by the way). They decided to dispense with all bags unless one is willing to cough up an additional fee? Why is it all right to buy a paper bag to cause harm to the environment but it’s not all right for businesses to give away a paper bag (which is biodegradable by the way) to cause harm to the environment?

Have you had a chance to send a package to parts unknown from Ukiah? Apparently Fed-Ex doesn’t open until 9:30 in the morning, there are no time schedules on the door to their depot at the airport so who really knows what their hours are, I’m not sure they even know, it seems to be when the plane arrives. Big Brown (UPS) doesn’t open until 11 a.m. and closes at 1 p.m. then opens again at 3 p.m., the counter is manned from 1 to 3 p.m. but the gentleman behind the counter is not allowed to take money or help in any way during this time, but one can drop off packages if you don’t need help. I swear to you that is the truth, it doesn’t have to make sense, it’s just our policy. USPS is open from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. and seems to the least expensive, but if your package doesn’t fit in your mail box, you

have to do your own pickup. If the package is too heavy for the mail carrier to handle, well then you will find yourself “out-of-luck.” We don’t even want to talk about DHL which doesn’t even have a depot let alone an agent, you might be lucky to get a mechanic if you were to beat on the building walls long enough. What happened to customer service? We have finally arrived at a time when the “bean countering bureaucrats” are running the world…. But there is an alternative, I found that Staples will handle your packages from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. or later, I’m not sure how much later and they may even open earlier than 8 a.m. They will give you the option to ship it with any carrier you desire, so one has some price options. One can also insure the package at Staples if one so desires. Apparently the management of Staples wants to do as much business as possible, what a novel idea. Customer service….who would have thought.

Then there are cell phones…..How did we ever get along without them? I can remember a time when there were no cell phones and as I recall we did pretty darn well without them. When someone was late we just assumed that they got held up and would be along soon. We didn’t have to put up with telemarketers, missed dialed numbers, annoying texts etc. etc.

What about the new Ukiah COSTCO, the one that’s supposedly coming to the Airport Boulevard Shopping Center, the same one that’s coming any day….or maybe not. I am all for a Costco closer than Santa Rosa, Eureka or Woodland but if I were the CEO of Costco and I had to deal with the brain trust of the Ukiah City Council and staff, I sure wouldn’t move to Ukiah, I would drag my feet until any contract obligations where over. Then I would open talks with the City of Lakeport or the County of Lake who I bet would welcome Costco with open arms. I’m sure Lake County or the City of Lakeport would love to have those jobs and especially those tax dollars that a Costco store would generate and Costco wouldn’t have to pave half the town to set up business.