Daily Dose of BS Feb 12 tipping

I don’t know if you heard that a waitress from Outback Steakhouse got fired for complaining about a customer not leaving a tip.  When I read the headline, Waitress stiffed a tip on a $735 takeout order, then fired after she complained on Facebook. I miss read it as “Waitress stiffed a tip on a $735 order, then fired after she complained on Facebook” To me those are two different items.  If she were stiffed on a $735 order that she brought to the table that would have sucked, if she got stiffed on a $735 take out order, then, does she really deserve a tip?  When does the line of doing my job because it is my job change to I am only doing my job because I am doing it for a tip.  My kids work at a full service gas station and sometimes they get tips for checking air, washing windows, or pumping gas, most the time they don’t but every once in a while someone give a tip.  Do they do their jobs any less or any more based on if they get a tip, no.  They are doing their jobs because they are doing their jobs.  What is that line for tipping or not tipping?  When is doing your job doing your job?  Is our society going to a pay as you use society?  

Daily Dose of BS Feb 9 toll road

What is wrong with the pay as you go method?  The toll road conversation has poked up again.  And I am not sure how I feel about it.  When we drove to DC last summer I borrowed an I Pass from a friend of mine so we wouldn’t have to stop every 15 minutes to wait in line behind the other cars waiting to give money to the man.  The I Pass allowed me to keep on truckin, to not stop, slow down or even pay as much for my privilege to travel on that section of road.  Would a toll road be that bad?  Sure we would pay more for the privilege to drive on certain highways but if the roads were kept up and saved us time, wouldn’t that be worth it?  

Daily Dose of BS Feb 8 record store

As a kid I remember going to Great American Music in Har Mar Mall.  You see I used to live 5 houses from the mall in Roseville, Minnesota and I used to save my money and buy a lot of my music there, started as buying albums, then 8 tracks, then cassettes and finally cd’s.  As I started working I would buy more and more then when I got into radio I stopped going to the record stores, I quit buying music, I started getting my music from work.  Enter digital music services like Spotify, Pandora and Slacker as well as Apple iTunes and you have really no need for hard copies of music anymore.  I for one am sorry to see this go away.  Reports are out now that Best Buy is going to quit selling CD’s to me this is weird, as I think the last time that I bought a CD I am pretty sure I bought it at a Best Buy.  What is your favorite way to get music?  For me it is a tossup between listening to the radio and listening to Spotify.  And I never thought I would ever like a digital music service.  

Daily Dose of BS Feb 7 girl scout cookies

The sugar high began last week with the knocking on doors and sales pitch in hand.  I am talking Girl Scout Cookie time.  I am like most the rest of America and am enjoying the different flavors of yesteryear with the thin mints and the carmel delights, also enjoying the new smore cookies as well, only thing that they are missing is the gooey mess, but they taste good just the same.  I saw a few posts on Facebook the last few days about some consumers are upset that the girls are selling the cookies in front of some of the marijuana dispensaries around the country and doing quite well I might add, one girl sold over 300 boxes sitting outside the shop.  Should she have been able to sell them there?  I think so, as long as its legal, what are your thoughts? 

Daily Dose of BS Feb 6 gas tax

As a passenger in my own car the other day while my daughter was practicing driving in the snow, I was sipping on some coffee out of my coffee mug, I was on heightened awareness because she is just learning how to drive, the road was clear with no cars coming it was safe to take a swig of coffee.  I forgot to look at the road itself, the potholes are atrocious.  And I mean bad, sipping on my black coffee ended up with me burning my lip and chin.  The roads in the state of Wisconsin are filled with potholes, and the Governor is now saying that a gas tax hike could be on the table.  I wish we would have had it as a sliding scale tax of a bit higher when the gas prices were so low last year and have them a bit lower now that our prices are around 260 a gallon.  I wondered what our gas taxes in Wisconsin were so I looked them up we pay a federal excise tax of 18.4 cents a gallon, a state excise tax of 30.9 cents and a Petroleum Environmental Cleanup Fund Act fee of 2 cents.  Would you be willing to pay a bit more at the pump to make the roads better?  I would.  

Daily Dose of BS Feb 4 yesterdays game

A couple of protests over the weekend in the Twin Cities, other than that, from what I’ve seen - a pretty well-behaved group of football fans.  Yesterday marked the 22^nd annual Schmidt Family Waffle Bowl, every year since our oldest was born we have had waffles on Super Bowl Sunday.  Kind of weird that we do it because it is the only time during the year that we all have waffles.  Since none of us really cared about who won the game I think that we were in the game to see the commercials, and as a commercial skipper that was a hard thing to do.  Every time that a commercial came on you could feel the tension in the room as the anticipation to skip the commercials was surely there.  So, of the handful of commercials that tried, what were your favorites?  For me, I really liked the Tide commercials and the one for Dodge that had the Vikings in it when they reached Minneapolis and found out they weren’t playing turned around and headed home.  As for the game, I didn’t care who won.  

Daily Dose of BS Feb 2 groundhog day

Have you ever had one of those days like in the 1993 movie Ground Hog day? When you wake up and repeat the same boring as hell tasks day after miserable day? I know when I was younger and had other people looking over me, I had days like that, gotta do what the man says. Guess what you don’t need to be stuck in the same remedial job, the same dead-end place the most boring existence, you don’t need to and I will tell you why. You and you alone are in charge of your own destiny; unless of course, you are under 18 then it’s up to your parents. You can get the ball moving in the right direction though. You can not and should not blame others for your failures. Cause guess what it is your decision to do this that or the other thing, quit blaming your spouse, boss, kids, parents, your social standings etc because you can get up and move, take off and never look back or take off and help those in need with a hand up. I have had one good quote in my life and try to live by it every day so that I do not have a groundhog day moment. As I try to live by, "Life is too short to hang out with people you don’t love, work at a job you don’t like, to eat foods you don’t want and to drink s#!ty beer."

Daily Dose of BS Feb 1 bac .05

There is talk of moving the legal limit for the level of intoxication from .08 to .05.  The National Transportation Safety Board says that with the new lower limit it would save lives, nearly 1,800 lives if every state lowered the Legal blood alcohol content for driving to .05.  The American Beverage Institute calls the report agenda driven science at its worst.  That a 180-pound man having 4 beers over 2 hours would be legally drunk with the new limits.  Utah is poised to become the first in the country to move to the .05 bac, but that won’t be until December 30 of this year, I am guessing that they did that date so that they can pick up a few on New Year’s Eve.  The reason for that they want to move it down to .05 because over 100 countries have already moved to the .05.  But to me that doesn’t make sense, because I was always told not to be a follower but to be a leader and if Jimmy jumped off the bridge it doesn’t mean that you do too.  

Daily Dose of BS Jan 31 SOTU

I may be a little groggy this morning, I watched the entire State of the Union speech by President Donald Trump.  I am not sure how I feel about it, there was a lot of grandstanding as there always is.  There were a few points that I had no idea about like lowest unemployment in 45 years.  Let's just think about that for a minute, there are more people working now than ever.  I found out that together, we are building a SAFE, STRONG, and PROUD America.  I agree with this also, we are a safe, strong and proud country.  I believe that the President is trying to do the right thing for our country, in fact, I believe that most of our elected officials are trying to do what they think is right for our country but we live in a world where people are headstrong and willing to argue just for arguments sake, there is no give even the slightest give among most people especially politicians.  I think that we and by we I mean all of us need to work better to compromise and learn to see things from more than just our own eyes, to try to see what others around us are seeing and feeling and all of us work for not only a better country for all but a better life for ourselves, also on these SOTU speeches maybe they could hold the applause until the end so that it could wrap up faster.  

Daily Dose of BS Jan 30 straws

A couple of years ago I was in Boston with my son and I was charged for a bag at a few different places, I thought it was odd, I found out it was a law to cut back on bag pollution or litter.  Boston isn’t the only place that charges for bags there is a growing number of cities that are charging for plastic bags including Chicago.  I wonder if that includes a fee for garbage bags?  The reason I bring up the bags this morning is that the state of California wants to ban just handing out straws at dine in restaurants, meaning you have to ask to get a straw. And if the server just gives out the straw without being asked there is a proposed 1,000 dollar fine.  This is absurd, I am not much of a straw user but when I want one I want one.  I guess if I were to say saying any thing about this law is that it sucks, well not really I guess. 

Daily Dose of BS Jan 29 foodstamps

Governor Scott Walker has said on many occasions that welfare is supposed to be more like a trampoline rather than a hammock.  Last week Walker called for a special session for lawmakers to consider a package that would impose more restrictions on food stamps and Medicaid.  The efforts to ban the purchase of junk food and pop with food stamps is ongoing.  This and the whole passing of drug testing is where the work for welfare movement in the state of Wisconsin are heading.  The state is also looking to the “idle population” back into the workforce.  The state of Wisconsin already has an unemployment of 3% how much lower could we go?  What do you think the right choice for the state should be? 

Daily Dose of BS Jan 26 felony

Headline story this morning in the Tribune “Felony cases spiked in 2017” lead by drugs and bail jumping.  The La Crosse County DA’s office filed 1,184 felony cases last year up 21% from the year before.  Most of the cases were non-violent bail jumping and extradition cases, add to that a growing number of felony drug possession cases, even the smallest amount of meth and heroin is a felony.  Then mix in the people who are released and while released are committing more crimes and we have more felonies for the year.  The numbers also show that last year the number of burglary charges jumped by 90 % last year to 110 as well as the growing number of forgery cases.  According to the La Crosse Police, the drug issue within our community are one of the primary driver of our property crimes.  What should be done? 

Daily Dose of BS Jan 25 phones

The happiness, self-esteem and life satisfaction of American Teens are closely tied to their phones.  In a study that was published Monday is says that by 2016 73 % of all teens carried a cell phone of some sorts.  It goes on to say that between 1991 and 2016, teens who spent more time on electronic communication and screens — social media, texting, electronic games, the internet — were less happy, less satisfied with their lives and had lower self-esteem. TV watching, which declined over the nearly two decades they examined, was similarly linked to lower psychological well-being.  It makes me think that we are raising a bunch of kids that are losing out on the life skills that many of us treasure, like face to face communication, human contact and looking at someone while having conversation.  

Daily dose of BS Jan 24 school shootings

Over the past two days there have been reports of high school shootings.  Two days in a row and 11^th so far this young year.  Why is it that I am just hearing of these now?  11 school shootings so far in 2018?  And for what reason?  I don’t get what possesses these kids.  I am not sure if the coping mechanism is different with today’s kids then it was when I was a kid but I tell you what when I was a kid I was disappointed many times.  I never shot and killed anyone I never pulled a gun on anyone, I never wanted to kill or maim anyone.  I was brought up with the mantra of sticks and stone can break my bones but words will never hurt me.  I have said that nursery rhyme many times while growing up.  Guess what it worked, I made it through my childhood.  But the one lie in the old nursery rhyme is that sometimes words do hurt, I think that we and by we I mean us all we do need to watch what we say but we also need to have thicker skin and not take everything to heart, I do realize that is easier said than done.  Is it so hard to be nice to one another? 

Daily Dose of BS Jan 23 newspaper

Is it wrong to expect my newspaper at least on my step?  For the longest time I have had the perfect paper delivery person.  I would get my paper before 5a so I would be able to grab it and then head to work.  Right around the middle of December that changed, the person who used to deliver for my house must have quit or retired or something, now I get my paper much too late for me to read before work.  And on weekends it doesn’t come until after 9.  By 9 the day is half over, the paper should be read and coffee drank by 730 on a Saturday and Sunday.  With the rain yesterday, my paper ended up on the sidewalk in front of my house, not leading up to my house but the sidewalk that runs parallel to the home.  When I was a kid and had a paper route, things were different, you called the newspaper, you talked to someone there, and your complaint got taken care of, by the person who delivered the paper, or their mom if they were already in school.  Don't get me wrong, I love the paper but want it delivered to my house, not at my house. 

Daily Dose of BS Jan 22 shutdown

This latest governmental shutdown has had an effect me, the teacher for my Psych class sent some links to check out about substance abuse and the big government shutdown banner was across the top of the page.  Makes me think that someone thought about this prior to the shutdown and made the banner available for the government website so that when the shutdown happens that whoever goes to that government website knew for a fact that that website was part of the shutdown.  Have you ever given any thought the question, is my job essential? I’m not sure mine is. In fact, I know mine is not. I have few friends who are being affected because of the shutdown. If the government truly wants to make a difference instead of a point have the whole government shutdown. I am guessing that that will not happen cause the man never goes without. Could you imagine the people in Congress or the Senate say no to a paycheck? There may be a few out there who will as a gesture give it up but really? It isn’t affecting them anyway it is cutting to the core the backbone, the people who are in the trenches and are busting their hump for the man. Let’s put politics aside and unite as a country and put these people back to work. The gesture is there we “shut down” the government now let’s show the world that America is open for business.

Daily Dose of BS Jan19 food stamps

Governor Walker made a quick stop in La Crosse yesterday to talk about a proposal to overhaul welfare in the state making the requirements some of the toughest in the country.  The proposal would force parents on food stamps with school-aged kids to work or be on the job training, also adding the requirement of photo id for food stamp recipients.  Walker defends the package as a way to get more people off public assistance and into the workforce.  Democratic Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling.  “It’s sad and desperate that he thinks the best way to win re-election is to go after struggling families who are trying to get ahead,”  Walkers proposal also would require drug screening, testing and treatment to be eligible for public housing, and Forbid anyone living in a home worth double the median value home, about $321,000, or owning vehicles worth more than $20,000 from receiving food stamps and other Medicaid benefits. 

Daily Dose of BS Jan 18 walmart

America’s opioid epidemic kills more people per year than breast cancer, and yesterday Walmart pharmacy rolled out a product that provides a safe way to get rid of extra prescription opioid drugs.  Kudos to the big box store for coming up with what I hope is a dent in the problem with opioid addiction. The product called DisposeRx turns any form of opioid including powders, pills, tablets, capsules, liquids or patches into a gel that can’t be converted back into a usable drug.  Walmart will be handing out this new product with each new opioid prescription and existing customers can ask for one at any time.  About a third of all prescribed prescriptions go unused, I think that this is a great first step.

Daily Dose of BS Jan 17 junk email

Am I the only one who is sick of the thousands of junk emails that we get each and every day?  I have a few email accounts, my gmail one, my business one and my radio station one.  Between the different accounts and texts and various things that we get everyday I am guessing that we are reading a book a day, and that is just the messages that don’t get kicked out of our message in box from the spam filter.  After the first round of defense, I for one look at my inbox and delete about ¾ of my emails before even opening them up.  Who is reading this email?  Who is thinking this is a really good idea, send our account numbers to some Nigerian Prince so that they can smuggle money out of their country?  Why would I want to buy counterfeit prescriptions from Canada, Mexico or Alabama?   Why is some company in India trying to sell me SEO products for my business?  This type of marketing must be working because they are still trying to get us to pony up and buy this that and the other thing, or to send our social security numbers so that we can claim our 4.6 million pound prize from Google Belgium.  I hope your smarter than to send your information to someone asking for your info via the internet with a Dear Sir or Madam, or a phone call, but  if your not please send your check or money order to Daily Dose of BS 1407 2nd Ave N, Onalaska Wisconsin 54650.

Daily Dose of BS Jan jan 16 viral videos

Last year on an icy La Crosse day my boys wanted to ice skate in front of our house, at first, I said no then thought what the heck.  I videoed them and it had over 2 million views, a video that I took of my kids went viral.  The kids were excited, we heard from friends from around the country after it hit Good Morning America.  There are a lot of things that go viral, and you never know what will and what won’t.  I saw a video on Facebook at the beginning of winter that had some people put their faces in fluffy snow then videoed the outcome it was cool as the face implant looked like their face, I tried that yesterday expecting it not to work, guess what it did.  There are other viral videos out there of people doing stupid things like the cinnamon challenge where you eat a tablespoon of cinnamon or the hot pepper challenge.  Dumb.  But the newest in viral stupidity is the laundry pod challenge.  Who is raising our kids?  Don’t they know that this is stupid?