Final

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,…

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…

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,…

Those days.

Those days. There are those days. When you conclude before noon that you don’t like people. In general. The selfish…

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…

Sublime

Maybe some would consider too boring, but for me it’s a little bit of ordinary and sublime perfection. What’s so…

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…