Employee-of-the-month

Yesterday (Friday, November 13, 2009) I cashed out at the Canandaigua Weggers, while a young girl was celebrated as the employee-of-the-month.
She pumped her fist embarrassedly as people cheered.
Well, I’m glad she received the recognition, but as a fellow employee at a bank-branch kept saying long ago, when her boss congratulated her: “How about a raise?”
And “Oh boss; do I get a gold star?”
For 16&1/2 years I drove bus for Regional Transit Service, and during that time I became one of their favorite employees, all because I showed up on time, never was sick, and was little trouble to management.
Yet I was receiving the same wage as the inveterate scumbags.
A friend recently commented about a proposed dress-down day to improve morale where he worked.
“This is how it works,” he said to his bosses.
“I work, you pay me. And I ain’t wearin’ no silly hat, nor Hawaiian shirt.”

• “Weggers” is Wegmans, a large supermarket-chain based in Rochester we often buy groceries at. They have a store in Canandaigua. (“Canandaigua” [“cannon-DAY-gwuh”] is a small city nearby where we live in Western NY. The city is also within a rural town called “Canandaigua.” The name is Indian, and means “Chosen Spot.” —It’s about 15 miles away.)
• For 16&1/2 years (1977-1993) I drove transit bus for Regional Transit Service, the transit-bus operator in Rochester, NY. My stroke October 26, 1993 ended that.