Monday Gratitude

Monday’s not usually a big day for gratitude. When the loud, shrill sound
of the alarm pierces my brain at 230 A M…The question of just why I’m getting
up and doing what I do often follows.

Monday’s are always bad because I’m re-adjusting the body clock from
regular peoples time, and usually a later bed time. This morning was just a
little different. I was more tired than usual, more groggy than usual…but as I
made my way out of the development toward the highway…I tuned into to a
national radio program broadcasting out of NY…and I heard the terrible tales of
people without power…water…food and gasoline to fuel their way to work or even
to drive to check on relatives. My plan this morning, driving close to
"E" was to drive a few miles to a station where I knew the gas was a
little cheaper..but after hearing this I switched plans and drove to the
nearest station…a Union 76 in El Dorado Hills…and even though I was paying more
than 4 bucks a gallon, I felt gratitude that the gasoline was plentiful…and
that everyone in my home and my neighborhood was safe and warm and just fine. I
was grateful that there was no gas line…and as I pumped I looked in the dark
distance and saw an eerie sight…it was a group of striking employees…carrying
their picket sighs…walking in the darkness to set up for the early shift in
front of one store, part of a chain, that for years has happily employed
thousands. I felt gratitude that I had a job-that I was paid relatively well
and that for the most part I am a happy productive employee. As I drove in to
the radio station I pondered this strike…how a long prosperous, family owned
company that makes billions in revenue could actually be losing millions of
dollars a year when the counting is done

I didn’t grocery shop yesterday---church, golf and football filled the
agenda…but my wife did…and like many she preferred to drive a few miles to
another big grocery store…rather than cross the picket lines being manned by
people she knew and liked familiar faces she sees every week. I haven’t seen
Raley’s books, but I like the store..it’s clean and convenient and the people
are friendly…but it’s not always the cheapest place and doesn’t always carry
what I'm looking for If thats a collective experience, it could explain why the
store’s lost about a third of it’s market share in the last dozen years.

There's a lot of comeptition in the grocery store business…big box
stores…bigger chains and now Wal Mart….

It's not so much the competition as this:

What Raleys doing now isn’t working and a strike helps neither side.

What happened to residents of the East Coast could not have been avoided.
Whats happening at Raley's could and should have been avoided. Let's hope
before too much good business and good will are eroded, the two sides can come
to an agreement.