I was just thinking more about linguistic strengthening the other day.
Like, nowadays to agree, everyone says "one hundred percent," to convey in a fresh way complete and total agreement.
Like end of this summer or early fall, though, I was chit-chatting with my one (skinny) (skittish) (undergrad) front neighbor, and when he went to verbally signal agreement, he was like, "One thousand percent."
It seems that at least for some people, "one hundred percent" isn't good enough any more!
It is still so amazing to me how easy the Healthcare Marketplace works in the college town that I now live in.
Providers are the same, rates are pretty much the same, and you just estimate your yearly income for the next year and you're good to go, and you're with all the same people you had before, and all on practically the same basic highly-subsidized plan that's like the thing that they try to herd everyone into.
None of those narrow and eternally-churning networks that undermined basic healthcare access, that I was increasingly facing for years in the city that I used to live in, before I moved.
In terms of healthcare access, my life there had become increasingly unsustainable, in ways that it hadn't before and during the first few years of the Affordable Care Act.
I really don't know what people with economic profiles like mine do there... I guess not get basic care because it's frustrating and you have to fight for it and waste enormous amounts of time, and then flame out in healthcare crises that tend to be associated with bankruptcies?
Just, what a mess.
It's just appalling that our federal government is shoveling so much money into subsidizing basic plans in major metros, when functionally they're not basic plans at all, but much less.
It seems like a mini-trend lately where instead of "thank you," people say "I appreciate you" or "We appreciate you."
It comes off as much stronger than a simple "thank you," like you're actually being noticed and thanked.
I wonder if that will eventually catch on and stay, and eventually weaken.
...at the one (Thai) restaurant where I work now:
1) A(n older) (shorter) (white) (shuffling) (wide-eyed and unblinking) (seemingly developmentally-disabled) app delivery driver comes in and there's a long time until the order is ready, like he doesn't know the system yet and left too much time to come get it, and then his car won't start, and he comes back in and asks us if we have cables and can jump him, which we don't and so we can't, and then he has to call up the app and get on hold a while to figure out what to do, and eventually he comes back in like twenty minutes later and hands us back the take-out, and eventually like twenty minutes beyond that another driver comes to take it away, and later we can see him through the front windows, and someone else has come with cables to come and jump his car.
2) The one (middle) (Thai-American) daughter of the (Thai) restaurant owners comes in in a sports jersey from her high school, and it has her name on the back, and the (Thai) last name is sooooooo long, like (Thai) names tend to be, only it looked even longer since it was crammed onto a jersey and she's so petite.
"It would be cool if they started your last name on your left arm, ran it across the back, and finishing it on your right arm," I was like.
And, she laughed, and she said they actually had to shrink the font in order to make it fit on the back.
3) When it turns out that it's the birthday of my one (older) (Thai) coworker who's a whiz at the phones -- the owners bring in a(n ice cream) cake for everyone -- I say that I should give her the word search puzzles that my mother clips out for me and mails me so that I have something to do at work, and which she does sometimes too, only she says that I can't give her a gift that someone else gave me.
4) When a (young) (South Asian) couple who are just friends finish up eating like 8:45pm one night and are lingering at the table in order to wait for a bus and I go to clear some plates, I notice the bill sitting out, and since it doesn't seem signed, I remind them to do that before they leave, only for the (woman) to say she did sign it and she shuffles the paper to show me, and I see one dashed-off mark on the signature line at the bottom and no numbers at all written above it, like meaning she just signed quickly and left no tip.
So, I do what the (Thai) owner suggested, and was like, "Oh no, was everything okay, my manager will see that and wonder if the food is bad or if I did something wrong," etc. etc. etc., and both of their heads snapped back and they seem surprised and like they caught on, and they assured me that everything was fine as I can see the thoughts forming in their head like they're beginning to get a clue, and when I left the table I could see them picking up the bill and starting to write on it again.
(As I see when I return after they leave, they eventually left $4 on the $46 tab, which is much better than the initial $0.00.)
5) My one (tall) (new) (Thai) coworker tells me that she came here to stay with her mother because she broke up with her husband of five years who cheated on her, and he was a (Brazilian) (minor league) (soccer) player she met back when he was a customer who came into the bank where she worked.
. . .
(On another occasion we talk more, and it turns out that like all of his [soccer] friends of his that she met he's [Afro-Brazilian], and his family lives in a dangerous area of Rio, and that she noticed from him and from when they visited that all of the family members there were in broken families or families where people had cheated, like he had "three moms," and that everyone there was encouraging their kids to play soccer, since they saw that as the way you could make it big and make money... I told her that maybe it wasn't so much that [Brazilians] cheat, but maybe it was a celebrity culture thing, for people who got into sports, and she didn't disagree, but she also said that she can't stand [Brazilians] now.)
...a bit ago at the one (Thai) restaurant where I work now:
1) A (young) (clean-cut) (shinily dressed-up for everyday) (hispanic) couple come in, and the one guy is confused about what type of curry he wants and he can't speak enough (English) to the point where he can explain what he had before and wants now, and so he picks up his phone right there and puts it on speaker and calls a friend who explains it to him in (Spanish), and it turns out that they're friends from church with my one (Pentecostal) (Guatemalan) coworker, who's working in the back and who answered his phone for them, and whose name on the phone is some (Spanish) nickname that's very different from what we call him at work.
Later, too, I notice that their order of crab rangoons has one extra one in it.
And, still later, when I ask how their food is, I explain in (clear) and (simple) (English) that if there is a problem with the food, it's because of my one (Pentecostal) (Guatemalan) coworker and we will have to punish him, and I gently hit the fist of my one hand into the palm of the other while I stand by the table, and the (guy) of the couple chuckles.
2) I bring in some meat sticks that I had bought from the local university's meat science program, and I cut them up and leave them on a plate for everyone.
They're only okay but they mostly go, and when I try to pass around the last ones to get rid of them, the one (younger) (female) (Guatemalan) coworker has a light bulb go off and she takes the final piece and walks over to the deep-fryer and fires it into a basket, and she deep fries it before eating it.
And, she says it's much better.
"I wish we had know that earlier," I tell my one (chubby) (Thai) coworker, and she tells me that our one (older) (Thai) coworker who's a whiz at the phones tried microwaving it, and it was better that way, too.
3) When we do another puzzle that involves countries and capitals, my one (chubby) (Thai) coworker says that the (Asian) countries are easy for her and my one (older) (Thai) coworker who's a whiz at the phones, but other countries, not so much.
Like, they both thought the capital of Australia was Sydney, and I had to say it was Canberra, but they knew Jakarta for Indonesia down cold.
1) A(n odd) (Middle Eastern-looking) (native English-speaking) (lighter-skinned) (graduate student-aged) woman comes in late with this (curly-haired) (vaguely Middle Eastern) guy of the same age, and I tell them that it's late but eating in is still doable if they order meals that are quick to prepare, and especially he seems like he wants something elaborate but they do order the simpler dishes and eat, but they take their time and talk in (English) forever, and even after we close and shut the sign off and bring her a box, they are still sipping their beer that they've been sharing forever, and I go to pick up the credit card bill that he had paid and signed for and it's like less than a $2 tip to round up to $40 on like a bill that's $38 and change, so after doing one more thing, I go over and am like, "Sorry the restaurant is closed now," and they seem surprised, and the woman asks if they're the last table.
(They are, and I tell them.)
(I swear, some of these student-types want a late-night diner type of place, and act as if they have one even when they don't.)
2) The next night, my one (chubby) (Thai) coworker picks up a bill from where a (young) (codependent-appearing) (South Asian from South Asia) couple were sitting, both on the same side of the table, and where they had each gotten an entree and shared a dessert and on top of that had gotten one entree to go, and while she walks towards me holding the bill and some stuff from the table she's bussing, she just rolls her eyes and goes HHHHHHHHHHH and shakes her head, and I know the tip is shit, and we pass each other and do our jobs, with no more interaction than that.
(Later when I look at the bill, it's $1.10.)
3) At a table towards the end of the night, this one (perky) (East Asian-American) mom comes in and says she's so happy to see the staff wearing masks, and she's there with a (younger) (East Asian-American) (college student?) (son?) and his (Middle Eastern heritage?) girlfriend, and at one point she wants two straws if they're pre-wrapped, and the mom and the maybe-girlfriend want no spice in their food but the maybe-son guy wants some, so I say that I can bring the chili out for him to add in separately if he needs it, and I do, later on when their food is brought out, without him asking me.
"No thank you," he's like when I do that, "I think I'm good."
"Come on," I'm like, "This is your chance to be macho."
And, the mom just cracks up.
4) Towards the end of the night, a group of six (American-born or -raised) undergrads of various races including (white), (East Asian), and (South Asian) come in and I encourage them to order quick because it's the end of the night, and they do, and later I hear that they're talking over their phone to the projected seventh member of their party, and one of them is like, "Sorry, but I don't know if you want to come, it's getting kind of late and the restaurant is closing," all considerately.
And, they eat in a reasonable amount of time and leave in a reasonable amount of time, all without lingering overduly, all considerately.
And, as I go to bus some stuff from around them right before they leave, they're debating whether to wait for a bus or walk back to campus, and the one is really pushing to walk back to campus to get some exercise after they all ate so much.
"You know," I was like, butting in, "It's really safe out here, but I'd still be careful, our food is good, that sometimes people get mugged for the leftovers!"
And, they all look at me quizzically, and none laugh.
. . .
(I think that undergrad kids who grew up in the U.S. and have experience working at service jobs are more considerate than international students or graduate students, who often come from wealthier and more-privileged backgrounds.)
1) The handle of a long-time reusable canvas grocery bag got detached and I can't really use it for groceries anymore, so instead I start using it to put around my workshoes or my boots, whenever it rains out and I need to carry a pair of shoes into work to have something to change into...
My other reusable canvas grocery bag that I carry in is still fine and I carry my takeout dish for my shift meal in it, as well as puzzle magazines, usually, so it seems like a good idea not to have shoes with their dirty bottoms just throw in there as-is.
2) Like a month or so ago at work, my one (chubby) (Thai) coworker tells me that she actually prefers to be the one who mops at the end of the night, rather than sweep or spot-clean the bathrooms. Although it seems like the most work, she likes to pop in earbuds and listen to music and wind down while doing that, she says.
3) I'm fairly sure that I received the new and overdue issue of a magazine that I subscribe to since I remember that I picked it up from where I usually keep it and set it aside on my table, only when I go to look for it, I can't find it there, and it doesn't turn up in my (small) cottage over the course of the week, so I start to suspect that I had a mundane and hyper-realistic dream about receiving a new magazine issue, and did not in fact receive one in real life.
(It never turns up, and I have to contact the company to send me a new one... They say they had a lot of problems with that issue, and then like ten days later, I get the both the overdue one and the replacement copy in the mail within a day or two of each other.)
. . .
