#@!*%*! My Survey Says

I think I just blew my chances of winning a $4,000.00 gift card.

This week, I stopped in a well-known department store to pick up some deodorant. As I passed through the haze of smoking employees suffering through the indignity of taking their nicotine break out-of-doors, I heard one of them loudly complain, "That's a bunch of bull-@#!$!" Lovely. So nice to receive a warm welcome to my shopping experience.

And so I complained. When I got home and filled out my shopper's survey for a chance to win a $4 thousand gift card, I politely wrote the management to tell them exactly what I thought of the language. It's bad enough these days that shoppers throw around the f-bomb as if it's just another word, with no regard for children or any others nearby. Honestly, I've heard it used toward the children more often than I care to admit. I don't think I lived such a sheltered life that I just never noticed it before... it's at a point where people just don't care. But employees, at the very least should know better. If not, they should be taught. Repeated foul language is grounds for dismissal. Period.

Now. To their credit, this particular store has allowed its employees to say, "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays" for years. And during the Christmas season, I made sure I let management know I was pleased with that. But it didn't get me any closer to the $4 thousand prize. I'm not holding my breath this time either.

Except of course, when I walk through the smoky cloud.