After the final debate, I made some comments about how I wished they’d just show the debate, have an achor come on the air say, “Thanks for watching and good night” and then let us go about our lives again, confident that as reasonably intelligent citizens we could make up our own minds and not have to have talking heads tell us who did or didn’t win. (Run on sentence much?)
Anyway, today as I’m driving around, I keep hearing all these conflicting polls that state that Kerry is ahead one point here and Bush by one point there based on talking to people either a)coming out of the polls b)going into the polls c)thinking about going to lunch at McDonalds and ordering those chicken selects (95% of voters think Bush is the candidate to protect your Chicken Selects in case you were wondering) or d)none of the above. Seriously, around 11 a.m. this morning I would bet there were at least 897 polls out there, none of which could tell you anything more substantive that it was Tuesday and people were voting. And there was still some doubt about whether or not it was Tuesday. Then, of course, we had the poll that tried to see how people felt about the first few polls and it’s just got out of hand.
Now, I appreciate the hard work the news media does in covering things and I was extremely grateful to have a whole lot of coverage about some things like Septeber 11th. But this whole election coverage just makes me want to tear my hair out and run screaming from the room. Thanks to the cable news outlets, we have to have second-by-second coverage of the polling and speculation based on exit polls on who might or might not be ahead. It’s enough to make your head hurt thinking about it. Why can’t we just come on this evening and start talking about it when, say, polls are closed on the East Coast and starting to close across America when we, say, having something intelligent to talk about.
I know, I know…it makes a whole lot of good sesne, which is probably why my career in the journalism field hasn’t been as successful as I’d hope it would be.
Speaking of careers–I went up to apply for serveral jobs today. One was especially annoying. I went to apply to be seasonal help with a call center for a major department store catalog. The ad in the paper said it was only part time which I figured–hey, any little bit helps during the holidays and while job searching. (I will sell a kidney if I have to to make sure I can afford a gift for Gracelyn and Davis). Anyway, I went up to fill out an application.
I waited my turn in line, only to have the woman behind the desk ask me if I knew it was part time. I replied yes I did, thank you. She then asked me if I’d signed in. I said no and she asked “Well, why haven’t you yet?!?” I let that one go. She gave me a sheet to fill out availability and then a reading comprehension test to take. So, I went off and filled out my availability–putting down “Any” for most of the days. I then took the multiple choice reading comprehension test. After completing it and checking my answers, I went up to turn in my results and see what I needed to do next.
The woman just looked at me. “Are you done?” she asked. I told I was. She then looked at me and said I got done too fast and did I cheat? Ummmm..yeah…the answers to this test are just all over the Internet. Cause you know, I knew I’d be taking this test and figured–sure, why not cheat for a part time job answering the phone and putting in orders? Yes, I am that dishonest. Then, I show her my sheet with my availabilty. She says, “You can’t just put down any. You must put down 12 a.m. to 12 p.m. if you can work any time that day.” Well, she hadn’t told me this, but since I cheated on the test….
So, I fix my sheet and turn it back in. Then I have to fill out an application on a computer which is no big deal. I finish faster than most because she’s amazed again at my speed. Sorry, I just read and type fast…it’s a gift. It’s certainly helped when it comes to blogging.
At this point, I’m ready to tell her where she can take this job and shove it, but I figure it’s better to be polite about it and see what happens than to be rude and doom all chances. So, I leave my info and head out. Yeah, I’m holding my breath for a call there.
I tell you, it was quite an exciting day…
Orange Tinted Glasses 