Money is the root of all evil

There are days when I realize how much I really love my mom and how great a job she did raising me.
Ha, I realize that sounded a little funny, because I'm not some high-paid executive with a bright future. I'm just her daughter, the one that has all the weird issues, who lives in Chicago, who finally has a nice boyfriend, who believes in karma, whose car got smashed, who loves her life, who is going through so much weird trouble it's insane, who can't imagine what she's going to do after college, who's considering grad school, who loves her mother so much.

I sat on the phone with her for like an hour and a half today, just talking about life and everything in it. Talking about Hunter, our future, his future, my future, our relationship, Emily, the money issue, values, belief systems, life, school, the Dominick's/Safeway regional manager, rent, money, etc. It's hot today here, hot like I've not felt all summer.

Also, in relatively lame news, I may have been exposed to Hepatitis C when I was in the hospital in January for surgery. How fail is that? Some crazy nurse lady was stealing painkillers, injecting them into herself and then leaving the dirty syringes filled with saline for the patients. So I received a certified letter informing me of my possible exposure and then they told me they'd like to test me. Great. Love getting tested for Hep C. It's going to be awesome.
Good news though: out of the 5700 people possibly exposed, only like 7 have it. So hopefully I won't be number 8.


Ah, money, the thing we can't live without. The thing that drives us and drives us nuts.
Hunter is stressed out right now, and I don't blame him. He's hoping to get a second job at Starbucks (free coffee and health benefits!), so that should be nice.
I'm hoping to survive summer school. I've got a small part in an independent film shooting in August and I'm helping one of my professors cast a movie this next week.

Busy enough.

The Dominicks/Safeway regional manager called me today. He apologized, listened to me tell him that I was treated like a criminal, explained the policy (which is absolutely moronic, in my very valid opinion), I told him I understood the policy, but questioned its implementation. This exchange went on for quite awhile. In the end, I got a sort of apology, the promise that the store manager will be hearing from him personally, etc. etc. I told him not to get the workers in trouble, but that it was the manager and his female goon that embarrassed me and hurt my opinion of the integrity of the store. So you know, we evened out. Whatever. At least my emails got the attention of the regional manager. I feel a little bit better about that.

Well, a nice summer party tonight. Emily is out of town, so I'm heading down to South Michigan Ave to a friend's, where we will all hang out.

Good day.

Macbeth, Hamlet and the space between

Whoever answers the email for Safeway/Dominick's has got to be one of the most maddenly moronic people on the face of planet.
I replied that I would like to see the policy.
I receive an answer (some two days later) about military IDs and how all you really need is a picture, an expiration date, physical description and a birthdate. Huh. That's funny, because that's what I had.

Whatever. I'm done with these idiots. I'm satisfied that they have no idea what they're talking about.

I'm still waiting for my license. My temporary one has expired. I am doomed to drive in fear of being pulled over and also doomed to not play trivia on Sundays. Maybe my Passport needs to be over-nighted to my house so that I can at least do that.

Class today. In a funk. Put some of my clothes on hangers. Room still a disaster, but now I don't really know why.

Tired. Rainy. Ate a turkey sandwich. Drinking tea.
Class. Hamlet. I read Macbeth instead.
Life is like that.

....continues

Dear Ms. Barry:

Thank you for your recent correspondence regarding the alcohol policy at your local Dominick’s store.

Thank you for taking the time to bring this matter to our attention. We apologize that you were inconvenienced by our policy. Communication with our customers like you enables our continued improvement.

Please realize that our policy is in no way a reflection on you our valued customer. We continue to focus on partnering with our communities and local law enforcement to ensure that alcohol is not made available to underage purchasers. Our policies regarding identification are not meant to inconvenience a select group of our customers, but to make every effort to protect all of our customers, communities, and associates (who are personally liable for alcohol sales.)

You also expressed your concern regarding the quality of customer service provided by one of our associates at the checkstand in this regard as well as the checkout lanes at the store. We are sorry to hear that we are not meeting your expectations. It is not our intention to upset our valued customers, but to provide them with excellent customer service.

Your comments are important to us and have been forwarded to the Retail Operations Department as well as the Store Manager for further review and consideration. Thank you for your patience.

We are happy to know that you are otherwise satisfied with the overall atmosphere of the store. We continuously weigh options to provide the best shopping experience for our customers. Your appreciative comments will be shared with the staff.

If you would like to discuss this further, please reply to this email or call our toll free number at 1-877-723-3929 and reference contact I.D. 15040407. One of our associates will be happy to assist you.

We appreciate your business and look forward to seeing you soon. Thank you for shopping at Dominick’s.


Sincerely,

Michelle Babel
Customer Service Center



to which I replied:


Hello,

I appreciated a response to my comments, but I wish to know a little more about this policy.
Please realize that this Dominick's is right near a local university and there is an influx of differing state IDs. Perhaps more communication would be beneficial to ensure that the client base is aware of limitations that will be placed on their purchases.

I was completely unaware of it up until my encounter this weekend, which is odd considering I am a frequenter of your store and to date have had no problem with purchasing alcohol.

I am interested to know when (date and year, if possible) that policy was implemented and why it is not being implemented at Dominick's stores on a regular basis, and in that case, what is going to be done to ensure that it is implemented completely, both to save humiliation on your customers' behalf and to save your employees from being bothered as they so obviously were.
I merely hope to save myself trouble again and to spare the emotions of some other unsuspecting customer.

I would like to see the policy if at all possible if it is available on the Web. (I looked on your website and couldn't find anything.)

Thank you again for your attention and have a wonderful day,
Katherine Barry