Music everywhere

Music, Music everywhere and not a quiet place to think. 

I like music, really, I do. 
But why do I have to have it blasted at me everywhere?

I go to the grocery store, there's music playing, and not at a quiet level either.  It's LOUD...   When I'm trying to remember exactly what I can to the store for, I don't want to listen to music playing so loudly I can't think.  

I go to a bar to visit with friends, they have live music and I appreciate the talent but question why they need to make it so loud on an afternoon that I have to scream at my friends and can't hear what they're screaming back at me.  

Why this obsession with noise, whatever happened to quiet time? 

Why do we have to constantly be entertained?

WHY?

Customer Rewards Card? NOT!!!

I'm at the grocery store, find the BOGO's and hurry up and place them in the card, I may not need them right now, but I do love my Naan, and Pistachio's and oooh, I did come here specifically to buy chicken and they had a BOGO on that as well, so I grabbed two packages of frozen chicken breasts and threw them into the cart where they landed next to all the BOGO's I'd already grabbed. 
I filled up the card with a few more items, headed to the checkout, presented my loyalty rewards card and was told that it is being phased out and here's the new one. 
Cashier:  We'll activate it for you right now, and then when you get home, just go online and finish registering it. 
Me: OK, thanks
Cashier:  It's really simple, just give them all the info they ask for.   Here, see you've already got 38 points that you can use at any of the following stores or restaurants or?   And every time you shop at one of the linked stores you can earn more points to use.
Me: Why not just lower the price here at the store?
Cashier: Oh no, we can't do that, but you can buy gas or a meal or shop at a department store and get points towards your purchase somewhere else.
Me: OK, fine I get it, can we just check out now?
Cashier:  Here's your card, now don't forget to go ahead and finish registering the card so you can get those great bonus points.
Me: I just want to get great deals here, I don't really care about the rest of it. 
I go home, put the card aside for a couple of days and then think, alright, let me look at it.  So I do.  I start to fill out the forms and believe you me there were forms on forms on forms.   And then I get to the point  where they want me to allow them to release all the information I just gave them to their 'partners' so I can get in line for any great deals they're offering.
Ummm, you want me to give them my email, birthdate, phone number and everything else that you want everyone in the hacking world to have. 
I get it.
NOT!!!
I stopped right there and tweeted about it, and guess what they tweeted back and told me I could opt out at any time.
Ummm, excuse me, they already have all the info, what makes you sure that they'll not sell it ad nauseum to every scammer, and everyone else out there who wants to sell me the latest greatest deal.

I already don't stay at Marriot Hotels, and I don't want a free stay as a thank you.   I haven't called about the Back Brace as seen on TV, and my computer is not infected by some kind of malware that only some poor slob in a third world country can fix if I allow him or her access to all the info on my computer right now. 

I think I'll just stick to shopping at stores that don't require me to carry a card as proof  and use all the info from that to prove that I'm a loyal customer there.

Really?

So, I'm in the grocery store, pushing my cart, looking at the produce, weighing in my mind what I want to make for dinner for the coming week, and deciding how much room I have in the fridge.   A lady comes up behind me, proceeds to SQUEEZE the tomatoes, and then drops them and says very loudly that "all they have here is crap:".  

I may be an anachronism here but I try to handle the produce with gentleness, picking up tomatoes, turning them gently in my hands to see evidence of bruising or over ripeness or other reason not to buy them. 

It's no wonder produce prices are going up and the garbage bins in the back of the store are almost overflowing with produce that some asinine idiot handled so roughly that it's not saleable.   

I wish I had the room and inclination to grow my own, but I don't so am forced to go the store and buy my produce that some idjit has handled roughly, without consideration for anyone else but them.