Thursday, May 26, 2016

BUY ONE -- GET ELEVEN FREE

The gg has been retired for a number of years now, so my need for wardrobe maintenance and replenishment has diminished.  However,  after being advised by Mrs. gg  that I was starting to look a little shabby, I  decided recently to retire a few of my older shirts left over from my working days and replace them with new ones.  Since the gg is now an online shopper, this  meant taking to the trusty internet to see what was available.  (I won’t reveal the merchant I visited by name, but here’s a hint:  its first name was the father of perhaps the most important person to ever live; the last name is a place too big to fail where I keep what little cash I have.) Much to my surprise, I was shocked to see how the prices of men’s  clothing have gone up in the past few years.   I never paid more than $35 for a dress shirt during my working years, so I was shocked to find out that those same shirts are now going for $79.95.  But wait – the ad I’m looking at says if I buy one at the regular price ($79.95) I can get another one free.  Two for the price of one – now there’s a good deal.  Isn’t it?  Only if you believe the shirt is really worth $79.95 and that is truly its regular price.  This comes down to $39.98 per shirt, still more than my ceiling price of $35: so the gg took a pass.  This new marketing gimmick seems to have really caught hold in the men’s clothing business.  I don’t see this “buy one get one free” marketing technique being used to sell women’s clothing.  The ad people must think we men are dumber than our female counterparts. Well, aren’t we?  The gg used to think this gimmick was only used to sell fireworks.  But now it’s used to sell shirts to grouchy geezers.

gg
Welcome, fellow grouches. Come in, put on a frown and make yourselves at home. According to my family and friends, I've been a grouch for quite some time. I turned 65 a couple of years ago so now not only am I a grouch but an official geezer to boot. A Grouchy Geezer! (But truth be known, I'm a grouch only on days ending in a "Y").

My purpose here is to share some of the things I've observed and experienced over the course of my life that have peeved, annoyed and irritated the crap out of me. Things that helped make me into The Grouchy Geezer. As fellow grouches, I feel sure you, too, have encountered similar things in your lives that have peeved, annoyed and irritated the crap out of you as well. If so, you'll have the chance to share them on this site.

The format is simple. From time to time I will post a pet peeve based on a particular life experience or observation or something currently in the news or in the culture that makes me grouchy.

This will be a free and open board and anyone is welcome to comment. You may comment on my peeve or relate one of your own. Any topic is fair game as long as it is something that makes you grouchy. The only requirement is that you use good taste and refrain from personal attacks. Use of profanity will make me even grouchier and bar you from further access to the site. That means you will have to grouch to your wife, not on here.

None of this is to say that uplifting banter is not encouraged. By all means, if you have something to say that is inspiring or that might force other readers to have to suppress a smile, let us hear it. But don't overdo it; after all, it's our grouchiness that defines and unites us and makes this blog possible.

GG