Using the Internet to shop has opened up the entire global shopping market to everyone that has an Internet connection. Many companies now offer free shipping, and having the goods delivered to your doorstep, or if it is a gift they offer giftwrapping, a gift card, and delivery to the recipients address. How’s that for convenience?! And best of all, there is no worries about finding a parking spot, or locating your car in the parking lot after a long day at the mall! Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy shopping at the mall from time to time, but sometimes the mall just does not have what I’m looking for, and sometimes I just don’t have the energy to deal with it.

More employers are using personality profiles now to help their employees develop their career path.  One such personality profile program is called DiSC, which is sold by Resources Unlimited.  They are an authorized Inscape Publishing Distributor of the Online Disc Classic 2.0 Profile.  This program consists of 28 questions and only takes about ten to fifteen minutes to complete, and the results are delivered immediately.  This program can be used to help build team work, improve salesmanship, and improve management skills.

I know that a lot of people would object, saying that they want the freedom to choose what they wear, to be able to express their individuality, but I think it would be a great benefit for people to not have to spend a lot of money on work clothes. It would be even better if the company had a uniform laundry service. My uncle used to work as an automobile mechanic in a well known shop and his company provided the mechanics with work clothes and even had them laundered. I think that would be a wonderful benefit to have, don’t you?

When my husband decided to surprise me with the birthday gift of one of those upright style commercial vacuum cleaners I exclaimed that it was the best birthday gift I had ever received, he looked at me quite skeptically. “It is?” he queried. “Well, yes of course it is” I replied. “When you give me a tool for floor care it means that you are going to take on the chore, and I can’t think of a better gift than for you to take on the carpet cleaning chore.

Well, what could the poor man say after that? He said “well, I wasn’t planning on taking on the vacuuming.” My reply was “then you should not have bought me a vacuum cleaner! I was perfectly happy with the cannister style vacuum that I have owned since before we met and the upright styles are too hard for me to push back and forth, so if you expect our carpets to be vacuumed with that, then YOU are going to be the one to do the vacuuming.”

Well he hemmed and he hawed and said that it was easy to use the upright vacuum, much easier than using the cannister style. So I told him that was great news because HE was going to be the one using it. Well, he tried to put on his best game face and he DID use it to vacuum the floors for about a month. Then he declared that it was, in fact, harder to use than the cannister style vacuum and he put in out in the garage, never to be used again. Until, of course, we broke up and I kept the cannister style vacuum!  And when it came time that my cannister style vacuum broke down I ended up buying another cannister style vacuum. The upright ones are just too hard to use!

Part of the chore is to check all of the clothes for repairs that need to be mended, and also to make sure that the clothes still fit. As I mentioned in an earlier post I’ve recently lost weight so I will be having to take a hard look at all of the plus size clothing and determine if any of it can be altered or if I should pack it away in case I gain the weight back, or if I should donate it to a thrift store. I hate making decisions like that! I don’t want to be a packrat, but I don’t want to be a spendthrift either!

It really was very interesting; the customers use their cell phones to scan the bar code of the product they are buying when they take it off of the shelf before they put it in their cart.  The meat counter has microchips in the meat packages to advise the store that the meat package has been removed, so the store can keep track of when they need to re-stock.  When the customer is finished shopping, they press a button on their phone, which produces a “master bar code” which they use to scan at a self-service checkout counter.  Really all quite interesting.  The biggest question I have about the process is regarding how the store expects to keep the customers “honest” and reduce the risk of shop-lifting?  I’d be curious to learn about that part of the equation!

So, as much as I don’t like to think about buying new clothes, I will be having to be hitting the Internet sales and see what I can come up with for good looking clothes that won’t cost an arm and a leg!

My biggest concern about buying glasses over the Internet is getting them to fit on my face once they arrive.  I have a very short temple, for one thing.  I don’t know how that issue (if it even IS an issue!) would be taken care of in the case of buying glasses over the Internet.

I’ve been hearing that they have been discussed on popular radio shows, and that they were mentioned in an article that was discussing ways to save money on eye care in the New York Times newspaper as a good place to get cheap back-up glasses. I checked out their website and found that they had over 200 pairs of glasses for $6.95! And I actually did see a couple of good looking pairs of $6.95 glasses that I would consider buying. I like the shape and the color; they are very much like what I already wear. Pretty soon it will be time for me to get a new pair of glasses, so I will be checking them out for sure!