Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large.

Why must it be difficult?

Earlier this week I got blister on my hand (insert joke). This annoying bugger was definitely going to interfere with my weightlifting. No worries; pop that sucker, then tape it up before handling the barbell.

I needed a roll of athletic tape in a hurry. Shouldn’t be problem, given I live within walking distance to a Sports Basement. Except… the store did not have any athletic tape in stock. How is that possible? Even if us weightlifters are a niche within a niche, other activities that are popular in the Bay Area surely create a demand for tape? Rock-climbing gyms! Crossfit was invented right down the street in Santa Cruz.

Anyways, my friend clued me that Target may have athletic tape in stock. And indeed it does. Wonderful. I joked that I sure hope it isn’t locked behind a glass partition (to prevent theft), whereby I would need to call an associate to open. Surely the hottest item on the stolen goods black market isn’t a roll of athletic tape.

So of course it was locked behind a glass cabinet. Why can’t we have nice things? Target is lucky I was in a rush. Otherwise I would have left immediately and ordered the same item on Amazon. Vote with my feet, as it were.

When the authorities fail to punish crime, it ruins it for everybody else. Who wants to go a store where everything is locked up, and the items that aren’t are frequently stolen with impunity? (I definitely saw some shady characters while buying the athletic tape.) When enough people opt out of that shopping experience, the particular store will close. And people will then blame the “greedy” corporation instead of pointing the finger at the actual problem.

It’s long past time to hold the criminals accountable. And if they are under adult age, hold their parents/guardian accountable.

Well, that shipped quickly

The Bay Area is experiencing its usual winter rainstorms. Two mornings ago I woke up to what seems like an overnight power outage. My white-noise machine (it really helps me sleep) was off, and the clock on the microwave was incorrect. (Internet connected microwave coming up?) So much for buried power lines in this subdivision! Could be worse: at least we didn’t break off into the Pacific Ocean.

The power outage did claim one casualty: the tiny dehumidifier in my bathroom. (I’m on the first level of a house, so it can get mighty humid.) As an avid practitioner of austerity, I initially cursed at this misfortune of having to spend money to replace the device. Then I realized the humidifier was a cheap unit I bought at Costco for like $25, three years ago. I’m surprised it lasted even this long, running all the time, 24/7.

Amazon to the rescue, right? There’s a Target within walking distance to me, but the dehumidifiers there are probably locked behind security glass. That’s what happens when you let thieves get away with crime. Stores’ preventive measures instead inconvenience law-abiding customers. Sorry, I can’t be inconvenienced, especially when Amazon is so convenient.

Because my Amazon-ordered (in the morning) replacement humidifier was delivered three hours later. Free same-day delivery, baby! On the week of Christmas, too. Surely the busiest delivery week of the year. Jeff Bezos and the folks at Amazon deserves all the billions for revolutionizing our shipping expectations. Those who complain of Amazon as this shady and evil corporation: are you willing to give up this convenience?

You get handsomely rewarded for providing a service/product that (a lot) people want. That’s how it should work in a civilized society.

Consequences must follow

What really grinds my gears is going to Target and finding the thing I wanted to buy is locked up behind plexiglass. The introverted me will definitely not call for an associate to unlock the damn cabinet. Target often leaves me no choice but to buy the same item from Amazon. Sure I would have to wait two days to get it shipped for free, but at least I don’t have to beg someone to allow me the honor to make a purchase.

It’s a real shame that it has to be like this. Those tasked with making and enforcing laws have abdicated their duty to the public. When criminals can steal with impunity, the law-abiding majority suffers. The few ruins it for the many. We all have to take our shoes off at airport TSA checkpoints because one person nearly snuck a shoe bomb through one time. We all have to pay higher auto insurance premiums to cover the few who do not.

There has to be sufficient punishment to act as a deterrence. America cannot be like Japan: the orderliness, the cleanliness, and the utter lack of common crime is because of the Japanese culture. Lacking that, government must then create strong incentives. Take a look at China: pretty crimes are nonexistent, not because the population is overwhelmingly benevolent like Japan, but it is because there’s surveillance cameras everywhere. Who would be stupid enough to steal anything? Especially in a country with a somewhat arbitrary judicial system.

Not that I am advocating for mass surveillance here in the States. I’m just saying we cannot get to Japan from a bottom-up cultural standpoint. We must catch and punish those who do not follow laws. There’s no room for laxity. Oh, you can’t afford that red light ticket because you’re poor working class? Easy: don’t run the freaking red light in the first place. Choices were made, consequences must follow.

My fellow San Franciscans: you ever go to other parts of this country and be amazed that merchandise at a Target aren’t locked up behind glass? I have. It’s fantastic and sad to see at the same time. The powers at be in San Francisco are actively choosing to not have nice things.

Book 'em, Danno

Today, in things you love to see: a notorious retail thief was convicted last week of stealing from our local Target store. This is a win for those us who follow the rules and pay for the stuff we buy. I sure hope San Francisco will continue enforcing laws and put some actual consequences to offenders. (Please do traffic violators next.) The citizenry deserves to live in a civilized society that is free of these nuisances.

I point any defeatist attitudes towards the island nation of Japan. There I can leave stuff in the backseat of our rental car, with the full expectation that the items will still be there upon returning. We - the United States - can and should also have such nice things. To say otherwise is simply tyranny of low expectations.

To the people who say Target’s insurance will make the company whole - therefore the few thievery should de-facto be tolerated: do you actively try to get into car accidents? Your auto insurance will repair your vehicle fully, am I right? That asshole in a truck not merging properly: I’m going to let him hit me. That will teach him! I am in the right!

Retail-theft is not a victimless crime. Regular, law-abiding shoppers are victims when we have to summon a staff person just to buy a tub of detergent. The workers are victims when they witness the thefts happening, and can do nothing about it (nor should they, from a safety perspective). The community can potentially be victims when the problem becomes so bad that entire stores shut down.

I don’t know about you, but I rather enjoying have a Target within walking distance.

Paul Blart, library cop

Every time I’ve walked by the local public library lately, I’ve noticed a security guard out front. I guess that’s a permanent fixture now? What a sad commentary on the state of things here in the Bay Area, that even a freaking library needs someone menacing to stand at the entrance. Let me guess: teenagers were doing wayward things inside the library during the afternoon hours. I can’t imagine anyone would actually rob a library. Used books on the secondary market aren’t that lucrative.

The local mall not only has its own security guards, but some of the shops inside - the ones with highly prized merchandise - feature their own security detail at the entrances. (Yo dawg, I heard you like mall cops…) This is a fantastic situation for rent-a-cop businesses: look at all the jobs being created! But for the patronizing public (read: me) it’s a jarring reminder of the reasons these security people have proliferated. We’ve seen the videos: the concerted looting, and rowdy teens (respectively or not).

Target closed down its self-checkout aisle because too many folks were scanning and leaving without paying. We really cannot have nice things around here. The utter tyranny of the minority of people breaking the law, and ruining the entire experience for the rest of us.

We laugh at China for being a policed state, with cameras everywhere. Have anybody noticed the we - at least in the San Francisco Bay Area - are getting there as well? I mean, at least here it’s not government sponsored! There’s private security guards at stores (and public libraries, apparently), and there’s private security cameras outside homes, businesses, and inside public transportation. We’re are absolutely being surveilled whenever we go outside. A price worth paying for being safe?

Shopping spree

Black Friday for our local Target store is not the Friday of Thanksgiving. Rather, it’s the weekend of move-in day before the start of Fall semester at nearby San Francisco State University. The horde of freshmen, with their family in tow (keepers of the credit card, obviously), attacking the shelves for their everyday dorm-life needs. That includes a SodaStream for one guy, and a whole vacuum cleaner for another person. The latter of whom is a guy I very much personality align with. A dirty room is simply unacceptable.

Whilst witnessing the purchasing madness going on (I was going to the Whole Foods at the same mall), I thought to myself, “Gee, I hope the crew at Target knew to stock up for this occasion!” “What if everyone wanted a coffee maker?” You see, our Target is not as big as the typical one. Under normal operation there is no way it can handle thousands of freshmen moving in and buying stuff. Heck, I can still remember going there not too long ago and was unable to buy the particular socks I wear. Not in stock.

The manager of that Target should be fired if the store were ill-prepared for Fall move-in day.

Seeing countless SUVs lining up towards the dorms with the entirety of a student’s living needs is a reminder that summer is almost over. I don’t know, it sure felt like a quick one to me. Work-wise it’s been bit of a lull since June, honestly. I am actually looking forward to having jam-packed days of action, and a bustling campus full of students and staff. The 2023-2024 school year is the first one since the official end of the pandemic, (Federal COVID emergency declaration ended in May of this year) so I am wondering if the campus can return to its former glory of packed buildings and halls.

Like back when I went to school at SFSU in the late aughts.

Not out of the woods yet

You may think the supply chain crunch from the pandemic is over, but it’s not really in reality. Two evenings ago I was at the local Target to buy milk, and there were zero whole milks on the shelf. Organic or inorganic, grass-fed or corn-fed, didn’t matter. The only milks on the shelf were the 2% and 1% variety. I guess most people, like myself, do not consider low-fat milk to be milk at all. Honestly, you might as well just drink water.

In my job, computer components break, and we have to call Dell or Apple for replacements. Recently a brand new Dell laptop had a faulty AC adapter. No big deal, right? It’s under warranty, Dell will replace the adapter no problem. Well, the problem is the supply chain. As of writing, we’ve been waiting for the replacement adapter for three weeks now - supply of which is severely backordered. Obviously, being a proper IT department, we had spares on hand for the user. Imagine if you’re a regular customer, though: your newly purchased Dell laptop cannot function going on three weeks. Hugely unacceptable.

And that’s why I recommend Apple. At least you can go to a local Apple Store to complain!

I’ve read that if you bought a new Land Rover sports-utility vehicle, and were unlucky enough to need a windshield replacement, you might be shit out of luck. There’s a supply shortage of windshields, and Land Rover rather concentrate on what little stock they have towards making whole vehicles (more profit in that enterprise). So what does the owner of a six-figure Range Rover to do? Apparently, Land Rover dealerships are buying back the cars, presumably enough compensated for owners to get another new Range Rover.