Sunday Sound-Off

I like to gripe and complain a lot, and recently I've got a lot to gripe about. However, I also have a lot that I'm thankful for. So, as a way for me to keep myself from getting out of hand with all this ranting and complaining, I am going to challenge myself with "The Sunday Sound-Off". Feel free to join in, by the way. The rules are simple:

• I can complain about anything I want, but for every ONE thing that I complain about, I must also talk about THREE things for which I am grateful.
  
• The items have to be in the same category or related in some way.
  
• I can't complain about gas prices and then be grateful for my daughter, my husband, and my dogs.
  
• I can, however, complain about gas prices and be grateful that we're not in a recession, that there's gas to begin with, and we can still afford it unlike a lot of less fortunate people.
  

So, this week, the target of my rant is the fact that most government workers simply do not care about anything or anyone at all. They do not seem to realize that they are dealing with someone's family, children, and livelihood. Some people's job is solely to serve the customer in one specific task (i.e. financial reimbursements, arranging relocation, find you a house...etc.), but for some reason they cannot even do just that. Their work-load is not huge...it's actually because they just flat out do not care and would rather file their nails instead.

There is no customer service number to call and complain to. You can't ask to speak to a supervisor, because often times there is none, or the supervisor is just as bad. These people do not care about their job, because they have the ultimate job security. They simply cannot lose their job short of doing something illegal (and getting caught). There are no repercussions for them to misinform you or refuse to serve you, because they know you cannot file a complaint against them. And they don't care about your business, because they know you can't turn elsewhere. What's even more pathetic is that it seems to be widely accepted. Just because the system has been flawed for decades does NOT make it right or some valued tradition. If it's flawed, it's flawed...I don't care if the flaw appeared at inaugural day or yesterday afternoon.

However, I am very thankful for angels in the system. There are people that will go out of their way to help you, simply due to their good nature. It is not their job to help, yet they take time out of their way to go above and beyond the call of duty to make sure we're taken care of. There were two such angels that helped us during this disaster of a move - they could have very simply turned the other way like so many others did, but they chose not to, and I am deeply grateful for them.

Another thing that I'm grateful for is the fact that someone out there was enlightened enough to realize that things do not always happen automatically as they should, and place individuals in positions to help. Now, whether or not these individuals actually help is another story (see above), but at least the positions exist and we have a fighting chance against this mass chaos.

And last, but not least, I'm grateful that our government is sane. Yes, I know, weird...but I'm serious. There are governments out there that deprive people of basic civil liberties based solely on ethnicity, religion, or gender, amongst other things. I'm grateful that we live in an age and place where no gross injustice is excused away. There may be flaws in the system, and the people they use to fill up their posts might not be the best of the bunch, but at least they're not trying to kill, brainwash, or imprison us all.

Whew! Now I feel a lot better, letting my anger out. I'm so glad I decided to force myself to come up with three positive things, because by the time I got to the third positive, all the negative had been purged out of me. Simply ranting does not help - all that negative energy stays with you. You need a way to get rid of it, and for me, talking about something positive really did it. It's healthy to get things off your chest and to rant sometimes, we just have to be careful to keep it in check.