Don't make life difficult for those who make your life nice

While we were on vacation last week, we saw a municipal employee emptying the trash cans, then carrying bags up a large number of stairs to haul it them off. We asked him about this as at every other beach we've been to, the trash is collected by a truck that drives along the beach. He said that is how they do most of them, but there are 26 locations in the area where we stayed and the next town over where they are not allowed to do that. We got the impression they are too bougie to allow that. We told him how badly we felt for him as the bags are heavy. Also, it's Florida, and it gets very hot in summer. He said it was not pleasant. This made me so irritated. People emptying the trash help your beach stay nice. Why on earth would you make their job harder?

I was reminded of when we visited Palm Beach, Florida several years ago. Heavy construction is not allowed "during season". When is "season" you ask? Why, the winter, aka the most comfortable time for construction workers to labor. But, that might disturb the ritzy folks for whom all this stuff is being built.

A little common sense advise: don't make life difficult for those who make your life nice. It's not logical and it's not being a good human either. 

The Value of Wise Counsel

This week my coworker and I somehow ended up on the topic of finances. She said several years ago she decided to surprise her boyfriend by putting him on the deed to her house after they were living together. She said he hadn't asked her to do it, she wanted to because she was in love. When she told her financial person this plan, she asked her "Are you married?". When my coworker said "No", the financial person said "You aren't doing this." My coworker said she was taken aback, but she followed the advice. When she and the boyfriend later broke up, she was so thankful she did. 

This scenario illustrates the value of 2 things to me:

1. Having wise counsel

2. Being willing to listen to wise counsel, even when it's not what you want to hear

This combination can save us all much heartache in life. 

"And get off my lawn"

 I have made it a habit to double check my receipt before I leave the grocery story. This way if there is an issue with a digital coupon, price, etc. that I missed during checkout, I can fix it right away. Sure enough, when I looked at my receipt Monday, there was an item that wasn't given the digital coupon price. I went to customer service and explained the issue. The employee asked me to show her my account online, which I did. When she asked me if I had the app, I told her I did not. She said the app has some features that are easier to access than on the website. I told her "I have reached the point where I don't want one more app, one more password, and get off my lawn.". She cracked up. She told me she was doing to use the "get off my lawn" part. I told her that's not original to me, but she is welcome to it.