Final moments of another year gone by, used up, extinguished, time as we feel its peculiar passing. Basically, we don’t…
When
May take a moment to grasp what has gone when you see it all disappear when your last best hope…
Swing
The vastly influential, ever-swinging pendulum of our American culture always finds its maximum arc in both directions. The challenging momentum…
Coffee Culture
Nearly had a ‘moment’ at the coffee station last week, and couldn’t help thinking it’s a sign of our declining…
Share
Know this homeless lady, I mean I say hi, and give her some food a few times now. Probably in…
Friends
Love words, play with them all the time. But never seem to have the exact words that would describe…
December
December stray thoughts, uncategorized… The same questions return. So, the truth is I cannot really measure this past year, the…
If
If rain would clear a man’s soul. If sunlight would purify my thoughts. If there were satisfaction beyond the flown…
Year
It’s that old December, here again, the eager guest that always comes knocking hours too soon, with ornaments ready. But,…
Habit
Even at this rapidly ripe old age, still have silly things I catch myself doing. Like when I clock in…
Matches
So many decades forward now, memory’s expanded warehouse so much fuller, certain days recalled from early childhood are often highly…
The Science of Gratitude
Could gratitude be the most important human trait? Is it why we’re not already vanished from this earth? Being grateful,…
Judgements
Chief Justice Roberts is exactly correct to chastise the Loose Cannon-in-Chief for his irresponsible comments about the efficacy of federal…
Regimes
Saudi Arabia, part two. Some history and perspective. In 1957, King Faisal visited President Eisenhower in the White House. Since…
Atrocity
Saudi Arabia, last part. For proper context, it must be noted, but noted quickly, because it is so grossly abhorrent,…
Atrocity
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/saudi-arabia-seeks-unprecedented-death-penalty-woman-activist-n902771 Saudi Arabia, last part. For proper context, it must be noted, but noted quickly, because it is so grossly…
Murder
A new president’s first overseas trip, and first country visited, is always newsworthy. But actually, no president did leave the…
Thanks
2018, Thanksgiving in a few days. Here’s the short list. This year, I am thankful my little family is okay,…
Words
Words. The word amazing isn’t so much anymore. The word great has lost its size. The word awesome can describe…
Heart
No order to this ramble, disjointed thoughts with no grand plan. Don’t try to map any routes your GPS wouldn’t…
Knaves and Knuckleheads
So then, why do we Americans savor and celebrate the fight of political combat, the never-ending battle between partisan knaves…
Thought Police
Identity politics. Is it working for either Democrats or Republicans? How do I define the term? Identity politics is the…
Nose
Dogs are also individuals, no two alike. When I first take my doggie outside, and she goes through her air…
Story
My father came home from work one night, and told the story so matter-of-factly, over dinner. A typical day at…
Media Bias/Fact Check – Search and Learn the Bias of News Media
Network bias. NBC/MSNBC, CNN, FOX, CBS, ABC, all five networks program and broadcast blatantly transparent bias. This self-evident, reality-based fact…
Armies
A friend recently posted: “Stop being Democrat…Stop being Republican…Be a good person!” Isn’t this the answer to all the current…
Self
The self. There’s no running away from it. You can barely glimpse it, if you look quick enough, sideways, beneath…
Pendulum
If the patterns of social cognitive dissonance follow, the Great Pendulum swinging wilder now, as Bush Sr. gave us Clinton,…
Choose
“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.”, says Carl Gustav Jung, Swiss psychoanalyst,…
Moment
Beyond the occasional, visceral shudder of ‘good grief’, I just don’t really know sometimes, this world I’m in, how things…
Surprises
We have so many disparate experiences throughout our life, it’s always interesting to me what readily sticks in the memory…
Eccentric
Candid Camera, old TV, many decades ago. Basically, a prank show, with the ‘prankee’ finally seeing the hidden camera at…
Heroes
Never mess with a child’s transitory hopes, ambitions, little or big dreams, they must never be conned, short-changed. As a…
Contagious
Often, in the right places- but it may happen anywhere- simple kindness can be contagious. Still believe most of us…
Stereotypes
This won’t be a fun read. Serious subjects. Consider moving on, if easily upset. Could lose friends with this post,…
Gripe
Complaints, gripes, and attitude. Most of us have all three, from time to time, because we’re actual humans at Trader…
Hearings
Today’s hearings, a Rubrick Cube theater of rank politics and dubious morality. These are just my questions, and my take…
Synergy
There is a unique synergy with Trader Joe’s. How so? Like these two customers, we’ll call them Tom and Janet.…
Hard Left Turn
Have no data to support these impressions, just observation. The IBD article linked below has more details. Seldom mentioned, always…
Jigsaw
(Warning: long, essentially pointless.) Whatever it means, jigsaw puzzles always ticked me off. I was the kid who got frustrated,…
Confirmed
Those days.
Those days. There are those days. When you conclude before noon that you don’t like people. In general. The selfish…
At the Checkout
Murder
Here’s the question, you won’t like it, no one does. Makes most people squirm, uncomfortable, look away, change the subject,…
Pendulum
(Warning: long. This commentary/rant is essentially about intra-family strife. Or, how a culture continually self-discovers.) Does our ravenously restless American…
Priorities
An inexplicable and loathsome example of Left Coast lunacy, that specific psychiatric condition of cognitive dissonance, also known as the…
Neighborhood Store
What does being a neighborhood grocer even mean? Just a feel-good slogan? People can buy their food anywhere, right? What…
Spinner
It’s a head-spinning age, Everything’s in a hurry to get to the Next Thing, constantly, without breath or forethought. The…
Something’s missing.
Our beloved customers enjoy telling us we’re out of something. Come on, they do. Holding up that empty Half &…
Spam Call
This is my new approach to live-person spam callers. Now, for a quick chuckle, I let them get well into…
Customers opine…
One
Sublime
Maybe some would consider too boring, but for me it’s a little bit of ordinary and sublime perfection. What’s so…
Dog Whistle
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog-whistle_politics (Dear friends, warning: long, and extremely sensitive, contentious, but relevantly important subject. Seriously consider skipping!) No doubt, none of…
Persuaded
Old attorney story, there are different versions, original source is uncertain. Murder trial, but there was no victim body found.…
Humpty
Trumpty. Good news, bad news. Good news? Sure. He is hamhandedly not political, which is always humorous. The bad news?…
Fix
True addiction is fairly easy to recognize, compared to more ambiguous diagnosis or assessment. Whatever the specific dependence, the last…
Refuge
After all, work typically isn’t thought of as a refuge, a place to get away, to recharge. That’s usually what…
Wheel
Emotions. Do we ever feel only one emotion at a time? What are the main human emotions? Figure attached is…
Food Court
Disclaimer: this isn’t specifically about TJ’s, it’s about food and people, although the Demo Station may also apply. Have come…
Gag Me With Your Bag.
In a more perfect world, customers’ bags wouldn’t be putrid Petri dishes of uncharted bacterial gruel, or, toxic cesspools of…
What?
What unnamed, all-powerful, perhaps space based force field with hyper-laser focus and apparently irresistible dominance, controls a Trader Joe’s customer…
The Office
Just another personal rant about our conflicted culture. I see everyone fighting, our country aching with discontent. So much bellyaching,…
Carts
Yeah sure, you didn’t know? Everything has a life, even us carts. It’s a bang-up life, we like to say.…
Gulfs
Even considering the plurality of common experience, of course there are still vast gulfs of understanding between many Americans. Our…
Dream
Ran into God last night. Parked my car, there He was. Why in a parking structure, God only knows. We…
Haiku: Nine in Kind
Crescent moon scant smile Tilted sideways recalling At dusk some old tale. Skateboard land surfers Mopeds and bikes and scooters…
Wacky
Dear colleagues, it’s Grocery, so that means wacky customer behavior, right?. Forget it, the two are inseperable, every day. Lady…
Ocean Bound
(Warning: very…zzzzz…long, like a boulevard. Bring backpack, snacks.) Imagine being a human-drone, high above the broad and deep coastal basin,…
Sample Nation
It’s the little things, together, then they become a big thing. A standard. An experience, memorable and positive. We make…
First
My young man at home will get his work permit next year. At this point, he wants Trader Joe’s to…
Checkout
The dilemma of the checkout. The Grand Finale. The last chance. Why is Trader Joe’s checkout a dilemma? Dueling objectives:…
Critter
Yeah, OK, think it’s easy being me, ‘Willie the Wildcat’, store ‘critter’? Please. It’s no party, you have no idea.…
The King
Yeah, you got it. The Best. #1, and no one else even close. I’ve been The King here at Trader…
99%
I’ve posted before about the customers, humorously, and also their best attributes. Generally, I love and pamper my customers, and…
WWJD?
WWJD…about Trump? Challenge? Chastise? Condemn? Perhaps all three? Maybe. My guess…. Jesus, wise and perceptive, recognizing Trump’s intrinsic addiction to…
Bunny
We were in Douglas Park, the pooch and I. Sun was going down to dark orange, a dozen ducks were…
God, god.
The contradiction Has been pondered forever The ‘problem’ with God. All Powerful and All Good, but cannot be both Without…
Five Haiku @ 65
(Five Haiku @ 65) Busy spouse, teen son Three strangers all summer now Each in our shadow. The days lounge…
Spy vs. Spy
(Warning: long, political) Only afforded my limited layman’s view, but it seems to be true that ‘Intelligence’ is always a…
Worry
Worry. The bogyman of our thoughts. It has an inexhaustible imagination. Worry can think of things gone wrong in the…
Cognitive Dissonances
(Warning: long, political) Perception and reality. Seldom the same. For example, if you ask people to guess how many Americans…
Dust
(Double-warning: long, and philosophical😊) How literally do I take the established scientific fact that my physical existence is the direct…
Titanic
The careening Trump presidency. Can’t compare it to a roller-coaster ride because those are sometimes fun. As eash asinine, avoidable…
No Fun
For too long now, the Web, overall, has stopped being fun. Today, it’s a tedious, annoying visit nearly every time,…
Spin
This isn’t fact-based news, just an opinion essay. That’s also what this is about: news and non-news. By now, we…
Mishaps
(Warning: long) Mishaps? In demo? Sure, plenty. When you do something for a good long while, it all happens. Power…
Musings
Musings at dawn, no special reason, about the roles we play. Masculinity and humanity. They shouldn’t compete, but sometimes they…
Public Markets
Like with any local carnival, the variously generated sounds heard in public markets, the high-pitched, frenzied buzz, the unharmonized, clamoring…
Still Here
(Warning: long) Sure, I’ve thought about quitting. Moving on to something else, the next chapter, after mostly working TJ’s demo…
Cinnamon
On a day of suffocating heat, dry thoughts, and dusty dreams, what beats a tall glass of nearly brain-freeze chilled…
Insult
Well into this age of faceless folly, getting hit by a driverless car now becomes a new version of adding…
Plan
(Warning: long) When I was a boy, I noticed one day how close the word good is to God. And…
Unalienable
(Warning: long) If you don’t believe it, you can try it out yourself: ask a young person why we celebrate…
Seniors
(Warning: long) Seniors. Our elderly customers. If you aren’t one yet, you still have some outs for not realizing something…
Stray
Stray thoughts on a Sunday afternoon… We don’t have a 20 TRILLION dollar national debt because we haven’t taxed enough,…
Smart
(Warning: long) Colleagues, please feel free to let me know where I’m going wrong. But my question today: does our…
Over Details and Degree.
Eccentric. It isn’t necessarily a negative customer attribute. It can also be, uh, endearing? Sometimes? Occasionally? Once, on that rainy…
Moments
Awhile ago I thought about trying to write something on the worst moments in the store. But I forgot about…