The Yellow Shirt...............

I work, as you may know, at Jim Marsh Kia in Las Vegas (plug plug). We have a variety of polo shirts that we wear, including White, Red and YELLOW.  We are only required to wear the YELLOW shirt on Saturdays.  Now, when I say yellow, I am not referring to a light canary, or even a mustard, or traffic light speed up to get through the intersection yellow. I am talking full blown, neon, glow in the darkness of space, stop traffic, blinding highlighter YELLOW. Even Yellower than that!

When there are fifteen of us gathered for our saturday sales meeting, we brighten up the room, and believe me, it's not because of our sparkling personalities. It is, the YELLOW shirts. 

When we got the yellow shirts, there was much grumbling. jokes about removing stains with a highlighter, radioactive references, and of course, the whole, 'We look like security guards'  narrative. 

(If you have ever been to Vegas, you know that all the security officers in the casino hotels wear bright yellow shirts. .... but, I dare say, not THIS YELLOW).  That being said, I really kinda like the shirts. We were all required to purchase 1 of the shirts. I purchased 3, because I like YELLOW.  I would wear the shirt every day, and actually wear it a couple times a week, prepared for the yellow shaming from my friends,  all in fun. I have even seen a few of them wearing the shirt when not required. ?  It works with my skin tone. 

Every so often on a Saturday, a customer will be on the lot, and out of professional courtesy, I will ask them if they have been helped.  "Oh, yes", they will say.  "The guy in the YELLOW shirt is finding a car for us".... Much like the man in the bowler hat in The Thomas Crown Affair.  Yes, very helpful.

Soooooo, yesterday, being a Saturday, YELLOW shirt day, my day ended by me having to pick a customer up at McCarren airport.  He was flying in to drive his new Kia from Jim Marsh Kia (plug plug) back to L.A.  So, being the extreme customer service kinda guy that I am, I drove the 40 minutes to the airport, dealing with flight delays and the whole bit (his flight was delayed over an hour) and waited patiently for him in the baggage claim area to arrive.  I did inform him that I would be in the brightest YELLOW shirt I believe he has ever seen, or indeed will ever see again. 

The flight board informed me that I had about a 25 minute wait until his flight arrived. So, there I stood, playing words with friends, and candy crush peacefully minding my own business when out of the blue, it began.

A weary disheveled traveler walked up and asked me where to go for lost luggage.  I informed him that I do not work there, and I am sorry, I have no clue.  He then read my shirt: the bold red letters above the left pocket saying Jim Marsh Kia (plug, plug), shook his head and walked away.  Within  30 seconds, a  young couple in party mode (there was no doubt), walked up to me with alcohol induced increased speaking volume, demanded I take them to the shuttle for the Flamingo hotel and casino.  I smiled and said, I don't work here.  They, in no uncertain terms, informed me that I should not be wearing a F****** YELLOW shirt.  They then proceeded to stumble up to a Limo driver, also waiting for his customer and yelled at him, for probably wearing a funny limo guy hat.  I just shook my head, made a remark to him about tourists, and continued my vigil. 

Within another minute, a somewhat looking confused gentleman with his cap on sideways and 46 pounds of gold chains proceeded to ask me, quite forcefully to show him where the international terminal was.  I told him, I wished I could help, but I don't work here.  He paused a moment, and said, "Hey, I was just askin'...do you know where it is?" I told him no, and he walk off in a huff. 

Now, I have been at the baggage claim all of about 7 minutes and have guided people to the rest room, shuttle busses, and baggage carousel 12.  Hmmm, maybe it is time to hide. So, I took a post behind the ATM in the corner.  Alas, the radiance of the YELLOW shirt is not easily dimmed.  More people, more directions, more "Sorry, I don't work here."  

I looked up. Another man headed toward me. My initial thought was to kick him square in the...."Hey, Ron....we made it...."  It was my customer. I hurried him and his girlfriend out of the baggage claim into the safety of my car, and drove to where the paperwork was signed. Delivered the car and put a cap on the night.  

On the way home, I stopped at the Casino to pop in to see who won the fight. As I peered at the board, happy in knowing I had accomplished my mission with my customer, Someone tapped me on the shoulder.  I turned around to face a nice older gentleman. "Excuse me," he said, "Do you work here?" 

Sometimes You are just at a loss...What to do, What to do?

We start everything with good intentions.  We go to the gym every other day for a month, then by month three we are going only when we feel guilty about not going.  We give up bad eating for a month until we lose that 5 pounds and then it's back to the Snickkerdoodles and Lattes. 

It's the same with a blog. You go into it and say, I will write every day or every other day. Something deep and meaningful.  But alas, it is not that easy... especially when you see so much crap out there, and you try to avoid being part of that big old river of crap.  That is why I felt I needed to write something today.  The problem being, I don't  really have anything to touch upon. I don't want to get involved in writing about politics, because it does not matter what side you are on, whatever you express is going to draw negative energy from one side or another. You can't win. So I chose to keep that energy out of my life. 

I don't talk religion, because that melting pot is dangerous ground as well. You get labeled as racist, which makes no sense at all, because religion is not race. 

You can't talk about crime because again, even if the facts point to a certain race or gender, you are racist. 

You can't talk about lifestyle (or life choice / gender identity) because then you are labeled "something or other phobic." 

Personally I don't care if you agree with anything I ever say or not. You are entitled to your thoughts as I should be to mine.  But, If one expresses an opinion that is different from yours, blasting a blogger with hate comments serves no purpose. Instead of spewing hate in one line comments, why not start a blog of your own and spell out your concerns. Ahhh, the problem there is you don't want to get the hate comments either. It's a vicious circle which is why I don't write too much anymore.  

Granted, I don't get a lot of hate comments, because I try to keep my blog's topics along the lines of interesting stuff rather than op-eds. 

I draw my observations on reading other people's blogs and seeing some of the comments.  It's terrible and disrespectful. I am sure if some of these people met these bloggers face to face that they would not dare to actually say some of the things they say in the anonymous world of the internet. 

So, I suppose I will limit this blog to Music industry advise, and the occasional life experience.   (Oh, and since I sell Kia, I will answer any questions you have about these wonderful vehicles).

A revamp is in order, and I am going to take a little time to figure this out. 

In the meantime. Be nice. 

Have a great day!

Wow, we can talk about something else now!

IT's election day! Haleluya! The news cycles will squeeze every drop out of this wet rag. It's all we have heard about every day, all day for 2 years! What will all the news anchors and experts talk about now?  I'll be back after this AD!

How about this?  I work for Kia. Proud to be a multiple Kia owner. This year Kia is coming out with the 2017 Kia Soul TURBO.  That's right. The Hamsters are about to be supercharged. I am sure you have seen the Soul everywhere. They are one of the most popular selling cars in the free world. They are fun to drive, get great milage and are very affordable. But, now, they are going to be a little fire breathing monster. 201 HP out of a 1.6 Litre. Here's the deal, not only TURBO, but also leather, navigation, push-button start, cooled seats, the whole nine yards. 

Remember that Kia also features the 10 year, 100,000 mile drive train warranty and the 5 year 60,000 bumper to bumper PLUS at no added cost, 5year, 60000 mile road side assistance.  Email me for info..cashatkia@centurylink.net

Now back to our show....

I am sure that the end of this election coverage is nowhere in sight. We will go from who will win, to who won and what the hell are we going to do now?  If HE wins, he's not a politician..If SHE wins, she is the ultimate politician....The future of the USA depends on one of these two.  Makes one feel like a long tailed cat in a room full of Rocking Chairs. I guess all one can do it cast your vote and hope for the best. Again, I am not going to tip my hand. I voted for who I thought would be best. But as vile as this election has become, no matter how I voted, the other side will go to lengthy and ugly remarks about why I am an ass****.... That's my whole point, we live in a Democratic Republic where everyone, even you is entitled to vote for who you think is best.....Even if you ARE wrong. 

Have a great day.

Do you want your car making life changing decisions for you?

OK. I sell cars. I work for Jim Marsh Kia in Las Vegas. (plug plug).  I get asked almost on a weekly basis when we will have a self driving car.  The answer to that is, when they come out.  Part of me would love a self driving car revolution because it would open a whole new market for me as a sales person. On the other hand, I don't know if I want to be in, or sharing the road with self driving cars.  I am not sure how the tech works. I know that it has to do with satellites and cameras and sensors and any number of systems that can fail while you are doing 80 MPH per hour and taking a nap while depending on your tech to make decisions like when to stop when a forklift falls off the truck in front of you. 

We are a tech dependent race. As we have seen in the news, tech is a playing field for hackers who have nothing better to do than screw with people's lives without a care. So if someone pushes a button 2000 miles away and makes your self driving car plunge into the ocean, this is not a good day.  How does it handle finding a parking space? What about that detour? That child that is running in the street to catch a puppy that ran out?  Too many grey areas here. If you are in a car, you should be driving, and in control.  There have already been instances with self driving cars killing people.  It's all great in Sci Fi, "Thank you for taking Johnny Cab"...But do we really NEED a car that drives itself? 

Did we learn nothing from 2001 A Space Odyssey?  "Open the Pod Doors HAL..."    
"I'm sorry, I can't do that Dave.."
I can see it now, headed toward your garage door, and it does not open because your car has decided to take over and wreak havoc in your neighborhood?  I remember the first self driving car I ever saw. Christine.  How soon we forget. 

Who gets the ticket when your self driving car blows through a Red Light?  Who is to blame with insurance when your self driving car rear ends someone?  Too many questions. 

Remember about 10 years ago when they said Electric cars will change the way we drive forever? That half the cars on the road will be electric by 2015? How'd that work out?  I feel as though this whole self driving car thing will go the same way. They will be rare and very expensive.  I'll wait for the Flying Cars to hit before I get terribly excited. Because, "Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads...."