College Basketball in North Carolina

Every country, for that part each area of a country, has its own sports attraction. As one travels to what is called ‘The South’ will encounter a decoration of Colleges and Universities attire on one’s personnel vehicle, homes, mailbox and on any given Saturday even exposed body area’s up to and including their pets as well. In one area of North Carolina lie 3 such Universities within a few miles of each other. Called the Triangle these lines connect N.C. State University in Raleigh, Duke University in Durham and University of NC in Chapel Hill.

Whenever any of these three teams play against each other has over the years become a local holiday where nearly all radio’s, TV and cell phones are tuned into the game. Bets are wages and rivalries going decades back are brought out with stories of classic game plays are retold 1,000 times over. It matters not what the teams overall standings are. Their ranking, wins/loses or even who is on the team means very little when two of these three teams face each other. Even when Michael Jordon played for UNC he had to play extra hard against Duke and N.C. State.

Many years ago I use to work for a grocery store in Zebulon. And every weekend the manager would setup the radio to broadcast the game over the intercom system. It was a service to all the employees, the customers and the perfect sells gimmick for during those games, that grocery store were full of customers shopping away while enjoying the play by play call of the game. It was truly busy during the half time part of the game as customers quickly paid for their items so they could return home to see the rest of the game while those watching the game ran to the store to stock up on more food and drinks.

A look at what was important to the people was broadcast on the radio sometimes in the early 80’s. The announcer said that the three most important thinks for a person and family are religion, college sports and NASCAR. People from other countries would scream for Soccer, Hockey, Sumo, Wrestling or even Horse Racing which is all important but for those living in ‘The South’ will follow college sports and NASCAR first before even looking towards other professional sports such as Baseball and Football. One of the best reasons is the beginning points of them.

With College sports you have young people who are playing for the love of the game. Sure they want to eventually play on a professional team but for now they are perfecting their skills and abilities. Getting use to playing in front of large crowds and being cheered and booed by fans and abstractors. They are still doing their school work to keep their grades up while using all their spare time to practice for upcoming games. No pay, no commercial endorsements and no free passes in the classroom. These players are donating what little free time they have to participate in an extra curricular activity. Even NASCAR started out as a poor mans sport to which the people who made it a sport cannot afford to attend anymore.

Look closely at professional sports players you see people playing for money and glory with little worry about breaking the law even showing respect. Years ago one player in California chocked his coach, many players continue taking questionable drugs, multiple affairs and illegal gambling with sports and animals. People who have forgotten where, how and whom helped their career to began. Unless it involves publicity stunt to either increase their popularity or to make people forget their mistakes.

Back around the mid 90’s I was in Hayward, California. I had a friend who was originally from the Northern part of England. One day a few of his friends who were mainly from other parts of England and Europe were together having a very energetic conversation. He saw me and asked me over to ask me what I thought was a rather strange question. He wanted to know how I thought about America defeating Germany three games in a row in Soccer. Without even thinking I made the statement ‘We have a Soccer team? High School or College?’ The next thing I experienced was one German man started speaking in German and it didn’t sound like he was too happy.

I was totally unaware that America had a professional soccer team. Needless to say I became aware that soccer games are not held every four years. I became more aware of other countries sports customs and to not only respect those traditions but to clearly see that those traditions in other counties, even different sports cultural areas inside America, mirror every other part of the world’s sports traditions. I saw a few Europeans cheering away for their favorite home team that day just as people here do for their home team. In a way, everyone in the world is more alike than we really realize.

Vendor Rights - part 2

Friday as I was working the store as I usually do everything was going on as it usually does. The topics of sports, family or whatever news topic is relevant at that time. But it wasn’t until the next day that the main topic of interest was the fact that the store manager as well as the assistant manager was fired. Not for any of the usual reasons of drugs, employee disputes, a drop in store sales or the occasional sex with whom or whatever. They were fired because they were too nice.

The stores Upper District Management came to the store and were ordering the Store manager to do more manager duties relating to the employee’s and the vendors who service the store. They wanted the store manager to be more forceful towards the vendors such as keeping no back stock in the store and making sure that even if one item, a package of any kind is placed in a customers shopping cart, that there will be a vendor present in that store to replace that package back on the shelf.

There was a much longer list of items they were requiring the store manager to do but at the end of their conversation the store manager basically said he was leaving the company. He wasn’t going to put up with the list of demands they wanted him to do that would involve putting undo strain to the relations he has with the vendors. So he basically quit but overall he was targeted to being fired or forced to step down as store manager. When the District Management approached the assistant manager they didn’t give him a choice at all. They fired him on the spot without a voice.

And all day Saturday that was the main topic of discussion at that store and the surrounding other stores as vendors of all types shared stories of dealing with this store chain that call themselves ‘Your Neighborhood Food Market’. This store chain recently opened a new store in the North Hills shopping area in Raleigh. A really nice two store grocery store that comes equip with a service elevator for the vendors to use when the store is not storing their back stock in it.

A local beer vendor stated that his boss received a phone call stating that his store has received no service at all for the entire day and wanted someone to come in and service him ‘NOW’. The interesting thing was that there was a beer vendor who stayed in that store for the whole day because of the ‘Grand Opening Sale’. To add insult to injury to this store manage was that he forgot that he had a conversation with the Beer Supervisor early that morning when then the manager was aware that there would be a beer representative in that store all day. And to put the nail in the coffin for the store manager was the fact that the Beer Supervisor had just talked with the beer vendor in the store. And the vendor who was to be in the store all day for the sale was standing right next to the store manager who was on the phone.

This is a common tactic with this grocery store chain. They do have a great deal of sales from time to time but this store primary caters to the rich and the upper middle class. And it’s that mentality that they have for all the vendors who come into their store. Vendors are basically treated like the bastard step-child. A policy that requires a total lack of humanity.

Pet Peeve

One of the growing complaints when I service a few grocery stores from employee's as well as customers who shop there is a growing trend where someone will go inside and do the shopping while the driver will wait outside in the car. The problem with this is that they will wait right in front of the entrance to the store. I was buying a few things as two cashiers were commenting on this truck blocking the stores entrance. As I was getting my receipt and proceeding to leave, a lady customer with a shopping cart fully loaded down with about what looked like a 3 month supply of food was apologizing for her husbands parking habits. This picture was taken one morning while just as I was leaving the store.

Wifes March drawings

My wife who goes by her pen name Ryunosuke has drawn me two March banners for me this time. Enjoy

Radar Fun

I really like using my radar gun. It’s one of the few boy toy items to enjoy at home or out on a drive. My kids also like it for they can not only check how fast cars are going by our house but they can watch, as I do when I’m driving, an occasional car hitting the drakes to the point where the front end of the vehicle tips downward and smoke coming from the back tires. Cool. Of course not all cars have radar detectors so it takes a while before we get lucky. There are incidences where as soon as I squeeze the trigger, a car or two will change lanes and proceed to start driving at least 5 miles slower than the posted speed limit. Giving me a nice long stretch of highway.

Vendor Rights

Never let it be said that once a person has finished school and enters the job market that they will never again experience school life again. For that matter being treated like a student. A while ago I was working at a grocery store known as ‘Your Neighborhood Market’ where a meeting was taking place with all the wine and beer vendors. I wasn’t part of the meeting being held in the back room but I was able to overhear a large portion of that meeting. A meeting being held by a store associate still in her 20’s while all the other vendors in the meeting have ages ranging between upper 30’s to mid 50’s.

This store associate, to be as nice as I can type it, treated these vendors like Henry the 8th at a dating service. She treated them with little to no respect to the point other vendors overhearing this meeting wanted to listen in just for the absurdity of this store’s associates missing the point. But at the end there was a happy ending. But during this meeting she was talking down to them like they were in Kindergarten.

Points from the meeting were like this.
• Clean your shelf space.
• Put all your trash in the trash can.
• Keep everything in your space.
• Do not bother other space outside of your area.
• If you need help, ask a store associate.
• Don’t steal shelf space from the area next to you.
• Be on time, don’t come late.

It got to the point that the Wine and Beer vendors were starting to ask her if this was really relating to them; especially to the way she was talking down to them. She fired back about if they do not follow store policy they would not be allowed back into the store and possible faces lose of display space in the store. By then the Store Manage came to attend the meeting to where the vendors began asking him about the importance of this meeting. Ignoring the store associate who was there. She was ‘pissed beyond belief’.

The Store Manage, who is after all a nice guy. No one there has any problems with him because he is basically like the Sheriff of Mayberry (famous TV show), laid back with little to no stress. He stated that there were problems being reported that a vendor was taking space from other vendors and leaving a mess around his shelf space and his back stock. He then said he wanted to speak to him personally about the matter and ask for him by name.

Everyone looked around but eventually all eyes fell on the female associate who was giving the meeting. The vendor who was causing all these problems in that store was off on that day. The store associate who was giving the meeting knew that but continued to have the meeting. One beer vendor asked the Store Manager why we were talked down like little Kindergartners by someone who was almost half their age when the one vendor who needed to be talked to wasn’t even there.

The Manager said that it was store policy to talk with all the vendors. The one vendor in question will be spoken to about this matter when he comes back to work. By that point the meeting was over whether the female store’s associate giving the meeting liked it or not. She even raised her voice and demanded that they returned to the meeting or face severe consequences. No one listened to her as she continued to talk until the Manager told her to her face that this meeting shouldn’t even have taken place if the vendor in question was not there.

And throughout the next few days that was one of the stories the wine and beer vendors were telling other vendors and associates in other stores about that meeting. Eventually the vendor in question was talked to but not in the manner that all the other vendors were. And I can be honest in saying that a lot of vendors refuse to shop in certain grocery or department stores because of the way they are treated as vendors in those stores. Even I have a few grocery stores I will never shop in due to the way I was treated there. As a vendor told me years ago, “Why do I want to support a place that treats me like crap?”

Brain Overload

Recently we took our two boys to the Lego store in Raleigh, NC. Sort of a belated Christmas present plus we just received our tax refund. At first they had a great time at the mall eating French fries and playing with the toys from the meal proceeded by a trip to the video game store for a new Nintendo DS game. Then came the walk to the Lego store. As we got closer to the store we walked so that they couldn’t see the front of the store until we came to the escalator that was located in front of the store entrance.
From the top of the escalator the boys noticed the store to the point they almost lost the ability to speak. They almost flew down the stairway to the front of the store. The smiles on their face said it all. The only time they weren’t happy was when we wanted to take their picture before going into the store. Once inside they froze up.

So many Lego sets, displays and people shopping in such a small store made it almost impossible for us to move around together. That and as soon as the boys picked out a Lego set they wanted indeed up changing their minds for another set. My oldest son looked like he was totally lost. Like a kid locked in a candy store, he had no idea which one to pick or chose from. He wanted everything in the store but he didn’t know which one to pick first. Our youngest had no problem. He just grabbed the Lego Power Miners huge monster set. He filled up his empty canister of Lego pieces and he was ready to head home to build his set.

Meanwhile our oldest was walking around looking totally lost. He did finally settle for the train set consisting over 1,000 pieces but he later settled for the Buzz Lightyear set. He filled up his empty canister and after pulling them both out of the store we proceeded to head home as two boys talked non-stop of all the fun they had and constantly asking us to carry them back to the store in the near future.

All in all, it was a great day for all of us. Especially for my wife who bought more Lego sets just for her to play with, plus countless number of pictures she took of all the Lego artwork that was all throughout the store. As for me, I took a nap and later worked on a music video top post on You Tube.