Day Three Hundred and Twenty Six - Support Sanity

I've worked for a number of people in my life, a few of whom were certifiably crazy. The craziest ones had to be, hands down, the managers of chain stores. It's those people that you wonder 'how in the hell did you ever get promoted? Not only are you insane, you're also incredibly incompetent.' They're the people that honestly make you question your own sanity by wondering what it is you're not seeing because someone had to see value in this person at some point in time, right? It's a mystery that still boggles my mind.

And then there is the lady that owns the kitchen supply store I work at. There is only one of them. It's her store. She doesn't manage it, she owns it. It's her baby. And it's awesome. It's full to the brim with knickknacks and cookware and bakeware and pinstriped aprons for men. It's got 15 different varieties of salt and a sauces section that makes my mouth water every time I read a label. And over 30 varieties of coffee, whole or ground in the store, which make the entire place smell like heaven the whole time.

More important than the awesomeness of the store, however, is the awesomeness of the people who work there. There is my boss, the owner, who has her quirks (she's a little OCD) but she's got a good head on her shoulders and makes rational decisions. She's a little too trusting, but I'm determined to make sure she doesn't get bitten by that if it's at all within my power. She's quirky and down to earth and not crazy. And the coworker I met today, I kid you not, is an over the top Russian with a heavy accent and one of the weirdest senses of humor that I've ever come across. In other words: awesome.

I understand that my conclusion may sound oddly political, and that's for two separate reasons. 1) I hate Walmart and all that it represents and avoid it like the plague if at all possible, and thusly promote local stores and products and entrepreneurs whenever possible. 2) I think I've become so incredibly saturated by the deluge of political ads everywhere in this state that its become part of my subconscious. Anyway. My conclusion in this: when normal, albeit quirky, people do things - they may not always work super smoothly, but they do work and everyone wins. When people get promoted in chain stores for reasons that Plato himself could not work out, everyone loses. Buy local. Support sanity.