MS. CRANKY WORRIES --- WILL A PLETHORA OF ‘7-11’ SHOPS MOVING TO NEW YORK CITY, HURT OUR BODEGAS???

Ms. Cranky loves a good bodega, those little stores all over the city with either bright red and yellow signs or paler, faded-looking signs.  Cranky doesn’t know if the latter signs are bought faded (like, it’s the style) or they become faded.  She’d like to think the latter.

Bodegas have all the little odds and ends one needs from newspapers to snacks to an ice cold bottle of water.  Where Ms. Cranky taught this spring in East New York, there was a shiny clean bodega that even had a small butcher in the back.  They’re usually family-owned and operated.  There is often a cat, whether legal or not.  Neighbors and family members hang out talking; sometimes they sit at a table in the back and play cards or dominos.  A bodega is a cherished New York City institution, so when Ms. Cranky heard that over 100 brand new shiny ‘7-11’s’ were going to open in the city, she felt heartsick.

There’s nothing wrong with a ‘7-11’ (maybe, out on the highway would be nice!). They’re bright and fluorescent-lit and seemingly clean but they’re A CHAIN, a huge chain, and, though you can get very nice staff, they’re not family-run, they’re not intimate, they’re not different one from another and there will be no one playing cards in the back and certainly no cat sitting on the cash register.  Latter story below:

Once there was a wonderful Korean bodega-deli in Brooklyn (‘bodega’ was once used for stores run by Spanish people but is now universally used for all small marts, no matter what nationality). In that wonderful friendly shop, the cat sat on top of the cash register and the two twinkly brothers who ran the place often seemed to not want to move her so they could make their transactions.  The place was on a once very rough corner where Cranky waited for the bus.  It was considered then the most dangerous corner in Brooklyn (now, of course, it’s ‘trendy’).  So, Ms. C. was always glad for respite from her bus wait and the brothers sold single roses for one dollar and Ms. Cranky loved to get one to take home.

But, the real story of this place is that when the two brothers decided to return to Korea after 35 years in business here (to care for their older brother), the neighborhood was bereft.  Because, besides the cat sitting on the cash register and the lovely single roses, the two had been feeding for all those years many a needy person.  They never announced it, no one knew, but when they got ready to leave the area, word got out and there were all these wonderful well-deserved newspaper articles about them. 

Maybe Cranky’s wrong, she hopes she is; maybe the ‘7-11’s’ won’t cause hurt to the bodegas, delis, mini marts, she so treasures but when she read that first article about the chain moving in, it was presented as a big threat so she’s worried and wonders if anyone else is? 

Quality of life is not about bright and shiny, we all know that.

Thanks for stopping by.  Ms. Cranky hopes you have a wonderful weekend and would love to hear your thoughts on the subject of this column.  Ms. Cranky, though everyone knows she’s cheap, err, frugal, has always tried to support small stores as much as she can --- because she likes them, because they’re a comfort, because you can buy one onion when you need it and because people smile and wonder how you are and where you’ve been and there’s usually a cat she can call by name and, sometimes, pet.

Ms. Cranky, Friday, July 27, 2012, Brooklyn, NY --- slightly cooler, rough storms yesterday, hope everyone’s okay.

MS. CRANKY RE-ENTERS ‘SOCIETY’?

Ms. Cranky was riding down from the hallowed Adirondack Mountains where she goes to a Writer’s Retreat each year.  She was still in a wonderful mood and determined to hold onto it.  She had decided that when she got home, she wouldn’t check email or phone messages for a few days.  She would try to stay in this wonderful, as she imagined it to be, ‘Zen-like’ mode.

In the last few years coming out of the Adirondacks, Ms. Cranky has gotten a ride to the train station in Albany from her cabin-mate, Jane and that gives them time to talk as Jane uses her time in the mountains to truly write because she has a full time job at home and not much time for writing.  Ms. Cranky’s myriad of part time jobs, however, are ‘fluffier’ than her cabin-mate’s and don’t really interfere with her writing.

So, they were riding along chatting away when, out of nowhere and in a road repair area with Jane going exactly as fast as she was allowed to drive according to the signs came this guy in a black SUV (thanks for contributing to our warm air, buddy boy) and he rode on the tail of Jane’s car (and, Jane is a calm type compared to Ms. C. but even she got upset).  This jerk generally terrorized us for several miles and when we finally got out of the repair zone, he made it a point to ZOOM fast around us, pass us in the right lane and look over and gloat in our direction.  Ms. Cranky hollered a few unsacred, not Adirondacky, words at this bozo and slowly it seeped in what might be ahead for her in the so-called ‘real world.’

Ms. Cranky bid her lovely cabin-mate goodbye at the Albany Amtrak station, a place she loves, a beautiful bright new train station.  And, she was, once again, in a lovely what-she-thinks-is a Zen mountain mood when she got directions from a very attractive and affable conductor and boarded the train. 

Cranky admits to carrying a lot and she was just starting down the aisle with a myriad of bags and pulling a suitcase when this lovely-‘looking’ mature couple came in through the side door.  They actually had gray and white hair, he even looked distinguished but, just as Cranky was starting to walk down the aisle to get a seat, they cut her off, did a ‘vee’ formation (ala subway behavior) and traipsed up the aisle ahead of her!

Was Cranky suddenly invisible?   She might have been very slightly slimmer from all her walking and swimming but she was 5 6/12 and not exactly teeny, if you get her drift. 

         Then, to add to her upset, as Cranky followed behind these people, the man with white hair, stood and stood and stood some more blocking the aisle, trying to decide where to put his bags, talking to the woman, all smiling.  They must not have been married, Cranky surmised, as he seemed to be really trying to impress her.  But, he was not impressing Ms. Cranky and, in fact, looked at her waiting with all her bags held aloft and totally ignored her a few more times!

Cranky was just about SNORTING by now.  Perhaps, she truly was invisible.  Maybe something weird had happened up in the mountains.  But, mostly she was hurt and surprised.  This was only Albany but, as she thought about it later, they were heading to New York.  They might, she feared, be ‘New Yorkers.’  Welcome back, Ms. Cranky.  Welcome back to being ignored and demeaned.

Cranky would like to re-live this whole incident over again but she was in too good a mood at the time and taken off guard.  In hindsight, Cranky’d love to have said when the man and woman vee-ed in front of her, then clogged up the aisles like, forever --- “Hey, I’m here too and I was just starting to go down the aisle.  Can you really not see me???  Or, are you just pompous idiots?”

It was just a ‘little murder’ of the soul but little murders add up.  And, besides, and this is very hard to say, the ‘couple’ got the last good window for Ms. Cranky’s favorite train trip, along the Hudson.  Cranky’s window was a mere slit but sometimes she ventured back to the other train car and found a free seat next to a full window.  She might have been hurt and ignored but she couldn’t let this time and the lovely view go, no never, first things first!

Hey, thanks, as always, for stopping by.  It’s good to be home.  Ms. Cranky loves our city and her borough but some rude behaviors get to her.  Her neighborhood was delightful to see again.  Her ‘morning’ glories across from the subway exit were out at night.  The air had, thankfully, cooled the last few days and her cat was waiting for her by the door.

What more could one want? --- A brilliant Writer’s Retreat in the beauty of the majestic mountains and morning glories at night? 

Well, a little thoughtfulness added in would be nice, especially, on the part of a middle-aged couple who should have known better.

Come again.  Ms. C., July 24, 2012

 

MS. CRANKY HAS AN UPBEAT MORNING --- (HEY, IT HAPPENS!)

Two small events happened that put Ms. Cranky in a good mood.  One is an ongoing one but one she doesn’t always get to participate in when she’s not working ‘regular,’ like 9-5 hours and that is the nice people who pass out the free papers at the subway stations.  Where do they train them?  Where do they get these people?  The papers are, of course, the METRO and AM  NY.  The METRO guy at Ms. Cranky’s local subway station is real pleasant but Cranky hadn’t seen this guy as she works at lot of very odd jobs with funny time frames --- walk the dog at midnight?  Sure, sure.  Work the polls from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. --- hey, why not???  Friday night babysitting, Saturday afternoon cat sitting, so this morning was the first Cranky had seen the newspaper guy in a long while and he was, once again, charming and smiling like Ms. Cranky was the best thing he could imagine seeing and when he handed her the paper, he wished her not a good day but a ‘beautiful day,’ Ms. Cranky melted (but, of course, it was already 92 degrees at 7 a.m.) but, she literally, melted with good feeling.

This made Cranky recall the amazing woman at the Chambers Street “A” subway station who dispenses the AM paper.  She’s at the front of the train going into town right at Chambers St. and it’s worth the price of the ride just to meet her in the morning.  The woman’s there no matter how hot or cold and she dispenses her free papers with a smile and a ‘good morning’ and, once again, it feels like she’s genuinely delighted to see you and Ms. Cranky wonders why whoever trains these free paper crews couldn’t train some other, ahem, personnel who are not very personable where Cranky always wants to say --- “I’m so sorry I asked you a question, it must have really hurt you to answer!”   But, she rarely says things like that, not wanting to make a grouch any grouchier.  The latter people look when they direct their vision to you like they’ve maybe got a bad stomach ache and maybe they do. 

Then, Cranky attended this superb resume writing class at the Unemployment Office led by this wonderful teacher who teaches us the tricks of getting resumes across the complicated skein of computer programs.  Cranky took this as a repeat class as she found she needed to hear it again and the guy was great.   Ms. Cranky has found the unemployment people at this point in her life wonderful and supportive, unlike the first time she was laid off, back in Ronald Reagan’s reign of terror.  Then, and Ms. Cranky had never lost a job before so she cried a lot, the people who waited on her and her fellow citizens seemed to enjoy pouring more salt on your wounds.  Cranky used to go to the Unemployment Office and expect to see a shooting when someone would just lose it --- first by losing a job, then by being treated like scum by a bureaucrat with a regular income.  But, things have improved, at least in her local Brooklyn office where from Security Guard at the door straight through, everyone is helpful and welcoming.  It’s so easy to be nice and it has to be as easy as looking dyspeptic.

But, the second enhancement to Ms. Cranky’s good morning, well, maybe the third by the time she threw in the whole Unemployment staff, is such a simple thing but one that has made people so happy.

At a local bus stop where Cranky wiles away too much time, she takes public transportation all day and often night long, just two weeks ago, out of nowhere, --- no warning, no mention, no fanfare --- arrived one day a bench, a plain silvery bench, no back to it, nothing fancy but simply a bench near the bus stop that could sit 6 people if nobody’s too chubby.  And, this was the second time Cranky got to use it and  the second time the wonders of having this simple addition to one’s daily life sparked friendly conversation from other bench sitters who were thrilled, like thrilled, to have this city-borough-MTA-whatever gift dropped out of nowhere near the corner of Court Street and Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn.  Ms. Cranky knows that she is a push-over for small nice things but, about this bench, many people seem truly pleased. 

Ms. Cranky always says --- “It takes so little to make me happy” and it does so the gifts of the nice newspaper guy wishing her a beautiful day, the memory of  the other newspaper woman up in Manhattan making everyone feel welcome and good about themselves, the kind  and smart people at the Unemployment  Office--- who would have thought?  And, this simple, simple placing of a bench near a bus stop so we could sit a bit while we waited.  It takes so little, it really does.

Have a good day, evening, week, whatever.  Please feel free to write me any nice little tidbits about smiling people and brand new benches and I’ll put them in my column and, of course, give you credit!

Thanks, as always, for stopping by and please come again. 

Ms. Cranky, Monday, July 9, 2012

Ms. CRANKY IS ENCOURAGED TO BUY NEW CLOTHES FOR A JOB INTERVIEW AND WE ALL KNOW HOW CHEAP (ERR, FRUGAL) SHE IS

Ms. Cranky has talked about this subject before but, no worries, this is from a 5 cent different angle.  Some might know that Ms. Cranky hates that things are marked $8.99 and $4.99 and that major TV hosts announce these prices as if, they too, are fooled that the prices aren’t like really $9 and $5 bucks.  Ms. Cranky doesn’t think her hallowed Barbara Walters does it but some of her charges do, really smart people and they act so excited about the price.

Ms. Cranky was recently deposed by a good friend to a chain store to pick up new pants and a t-shirt for a job interview.  Ms. Cranky hates to shop, will not try on (too painful) and does not like to spend money period.  But, she had made the mistake of telling a friend she was going on a job interview the next day and thought maybe her best pants wouldn’t work.  Ms. Cranky’s very best and quite nice black pants from Penney’s had to have the cuffs repaired and Ms. Cranky couldn’t find her black thread, though of course she did after the pants were repaired, so she hitched up the cuffs with brown thread instead although brown thread’s still better than the tiny gold pins Cranky usually uses!

She wears these pants on state occasions when she meets and greets people at events and she smiles a lot and thinks that no one is noticing her cuffs at that time.  They’re out for a good evening and it’s not about Cranky’s garb.

But, her friend was adamant that she could not go ‘frayed’ into the job interview, ouii, and pushed her, well, very much encouraged Ms. Cranky to go along only a few blocks down to a major chain store and get new clothes for the interview. 

Ms. Cranky did as she was told but was horrified by the not too good materials in this place and the prices were definitely not cheap.  Ms. Cranky favors Penney’s but it was too far away.  She looked at a few things, grabbed a pair of black pants in a size she hoped would fit and a few men’s tee shirts that were on sale.  Cranky thinks that men’s clothes are made better, are roomier, etc. and that women get the short shrift in clothes.  Women’s clothes, she thinks are more skimpily made with materials that don’t hold up. 

But, Cranky was, though not thrilled to be in the store in the first place, shocked at how high the prices were for stuff not that good and, then, to add to her already jaundiced view of things, the price wasn’t $19.99,  it was, instead, $19.94!!!  How adorable!  Where do they come up with these great ideas anyway?  Wait till they gush about that price on television.  Maybe the chain store had read Ms. Cranky’s other columns and decided to reform.  Wow, sometimes you just don’t know where the surprises are coming from.

Ms. Cranky would love to hear what you think about these ridiculous pricing notions and wonders --- ‘are we really dumb enough to fall for this?’ 

By the way, the interview went quite well and Cranky got excited about the creative possibilities of the job.  And, she got to walk in Riverside Park after, a mystical place she adores but by the time she wandered home, Cranky’s new pants were pretty wrinkled up, the man’s tee shirt, though, was just fine.

Ms. Cranky, June 2012, thanks for stopping by and come again!

MS. CRANKY ON PRICES THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT

Ms. Cranky was on a trip away that lasted only one day and 14 hours but in that time, there were all these price things that got to her (you should know that Cranky has yet to feel better about the ‘sale’ on gum --- a sale for $1.49 plus tax!  Whatever happened here???  At this rate, she’ll have to stop offering gum to everybody.)

But, for this trip, Cranky was running a bit late because she usually hits the GNC vitamin store hidden in a corner of Penn Station and gets a huge bottle of water for $1.50.  Cranky knows that sounds like a lot but it’s a large and very cold bottle and Ms. Cranky is in love with its design.  The newsstand charges as much for a bottle a third its size.

But, last Saturday morning because she was late she went to purchase a small bottle of water from a ‘gourmet’ shop and it cost $2.50!!!  Cranky thought the woman said ‘$2.15’ and would have given her the rest as a tip.  But it was actually $2.50 for this small bottle, a pretty bottle okay, but, …. The woman behind the counter was great; Ms. Cranky said --- “I don’t believe the price but I’m thirsty and I’m getting on a train so what am I to do???”  The young woman answered with a sigh and stoicism ---    “Nawwwthing” she smiled!  Cranky thought --- ‘I think she’s heard this complaint before.’

At the next train station, Cranky already knew not to buy the coffee --- it was way over-priced and probably weak, the man who tried to sell it to her another time said --- “but, it’s cheaper than Dunkin’ Donuts” and Ms. Cranky, as nicely as she could, replied --- “but, Dunkin’ Donuts is way overpriced and I never buy theirs.”  So, she bought a little cake or something from him as she didn’t want him to feel bad. 

Then, last Saturday evening while out of town, Ms. Cranky went out of her way to get to this funky pizza parlor that served everything under the sun and was lots of fun.  If you sat in a little booth right inside the door,  you could watch the world stream by; it was located on a most active street and you never knew who might pop in.

Of course, when she finally got to this favorite place, as so many ‘favorite places’ of Cranky’s memory it had changed hands --- the old familiar booths were gone and in their place were those larger, louder, golden, glitzier booths which Cranky always found a bad sign, like she also thought huge laminated menus were a very bad sign. 

Cranky’s beloved little booth was gone, an empty spot remained to remind her and the counter was in a different place.  The long-standing Italian ownership looked to have retired.

But, Ms. Cranky soldiered on as she was, by now, really hungry and ordered a sandwich from a huge menu overhead.  She was really excited and pulled out her money when she heard a different and more expensive price quoted to her.  The money she held out was suddenly not enough.

Cranky said --- “But, I thought that was the price, pointing above to the huge sign done in bright red fluorescent paint.  But, the ‘new owner’ pulled open a brand new 'laminated' menu from the counter and showed her the new and, of course, ‘enhanced’ price.

When Ms. Cranky asked why the big sign above read differently, he just shrugged his shoulders.  It was late Saturday evening by now, there weren’t a lot of other places to go and, so, there was, once again, ‘nawwwwthing’ she could do

On her return to Penn Station but one day and 14 hours later, Cranky wanted to pick up some little thing to munch on, maybe one of those great pretzels they sell there.  Her dear friend, Alyson had bought her a lovely lunch for her train ride but she thought she’d use it for supper instead and pretend she was still on vacation, like a no cooking, no dishes vacation.

Cranky doesn’t treat herself a lot but she was still ‘officially on vacation’ and she had to walk right past the cute little pretzel stand to get to her subway line.  She quickly ordered and was handed a bag and, once again, pulled out money according to the price quoted on the sign above and, once again, she was given a different and, of course, inflated price. Why are they never lower prices!  Wouldn’t that be fun???

When Cranky asked --- “What about the price on the sign?” she was told by the young woman clerk ---- “Oh, the prices just went up today --- this morning.” 

Ms. Cranky mumbled that “I seem to be hearing this a lot lately, pulled out more money from her pocket, paid and walked away towards the subway and home. 

At least at home the prices stayed pretty much the same.

MS. CRANKY,

The week of June 4, 2012, keep those coupons handy and thanks, as always, for stopping by!  Ms. CRANKY would, of course, love to hear your stories of mysterious changing prices.  Stay well.

Ms. CRANKY --- ON WALKING TOO FAST

Ms. Cranky traveled to another city this weekend for a party and other fun things and found herself hurtling through the streets in her New York City way and saying, ‘pardon me, excuse me’ to the many people in this smaller city who were taking nice walks, talking with each other, even, shockingly, ambling.  Ms. Cranky couldn’t stand how slow everything seemed; didn’t these people want to get to where they were going?  Didn’t they know that walking was for going from point “A” to point “B” as fast as you could without, hopefully, knocking someone down in the process. They were behaving like those “Sunday drivers” on expressways.

On her second day away, Cranky found herself slowing down but not much, you know the old NYC philosophy --- do as much as you can at every minute, fill in all the spaces, don’t leave a second when you’re not doing, going, learning or attending some special event that ‘can’t be missed.’  But, sure enough, by the second day away, Ms. Cranky was walking a bit slower, looking around more and just imbibing the beautiful weekend. 

On her third and last day, Ms. Cranky actually paid for coffee!!!  Out, in one of those over-priced bistro places that are too cute for words.  Ms. Cranky prides herself on making fabulous coffee in her home with coffees mostly bought on sale and so, is a coffee snob and as many already know, very, very frugal (call her cheap if you must!).  But the place where she was staying had a problem this time, like Ms. Cranky thinks maybe her friend took the pledge against coffee in the few years she hadn’t stayed at her lovely abode.  Maybe she had 'gone on the wagon’ so Cranky was forced to go out and buy a cup of coffee and, she found herself, after the shock of the price, loving the big old round cup and, instead of doing her crosswords obsessively or reading something she ‘should be reading,’ Cranky just sat, she sat and sipped her quite-good coffee and didn’t take her reading materials out of her bag!

Instead, on a misty Monday morning, Cranky simply looked out the windows and actually stared into space.  She found herself not doing anything. And, by the time another friend came to pick her up to go to lunch, Ms. Cranky had made a pledge of her own --- to go back to New York City and Brooklyn which can be pretty rushed on its own, albeit in a sweeter, more tree-filled way, and she vowed that she would begin making SPACES in her life, spaces where she just sat and looked out a window or stared into space and let the clouds in the sky drift by. And she vowed to let the thoughts in her head drift in and out and she would drink a cup of coffee out once a week (that shouldn’t break the bank) and sit with her fellow citizens and just be, JUST BEEEEEE. 

Ms. Cranky thanks you for stopping by as always and especially on Tuesday, May 22, 2012.  It is Cranky’s dear friend Alyson’s birthday and she is so glad Alyson was born. 

Cranky hopes Alyson has a great, great day and gives herself all the spaces needed to dream of a well-deserved fine future.

Ms. Cranky --- see you next time!

 

THE ART OF ZEN BUS DRIVING

Ms. CRANKY had to get pretty far to a performance a few weeks ago and, as ‘luck’ would have it, it was a weekend when the subways near her house were being repaired and she would first have to take a ‘shuttle bus’ and, from there, two subways.

Shuttle buses are usually fine; in fact, sometimes Ms. CRANKY thinks they’re better than the subways.  But, this particular bus did not work that way.

First it was packed, packed and Ms. CRANKY who loves little kids got a bit tired of being hit by their action toys when they fell into her while their father was on his cell phone or IPod or one of those, totally ignoring his pokey children.

But, the worst part was, and this was a slow day for traffic, that the driver inched along, like truly innnched along and there was no traffic to speak of.  So, it became a looonnng way to the subway station, a long lightly-trafficked way but this driver, he had looked somewhat ‘monastic’ in hindsight Ms. C. thought, seemed to be lost in a meditative trance.  CRANKY couldn’t believe it as she hates to be late and always sets out real early but it looked like, no matter how much time she gave herself this evening, she could still be late.

Cranky wondered if she should say something, she wondered if the pale young man was ill or had he driven way too many packed shuttle buses that day and had simply zoned out?   Ms. C. wondered if she got close enough to him, impossible with this crowd, if she’d hear him intoning --- “OHM, OHM.”

Cranky, as those who know her know can attest, can be a bit restive and impatient at the best of times but she wasn’t this evening as she had given herself so much extra time to get to where she was going but as the bus painfully plodded along, she began getting a bit, well, nuts.

When they finally reached Borough Hall and the beginning of the next two subways, Cranky was very relieved.  She didn’t even mind that it poured rain on her as she finally made it to Bushwick and ran to her performance place where bunches of  artists were celebrating the first anniversary of a wonderful group of storytellers, a lovely place to be on any night but especially in the rain with a bunch of excited writers.

Yet, Cranky still wondered and she mentioned it in her piece that night --- what was it about that shuttle bus driver???  Is it even possible to drive a packed city bus, filled with every kind of person including children plunging toys into Ms. Cranky’s ribs, at such a slow speed???  Can one mediate while driving a large heavy ctiy bus?  And where did this guy come from???

How did he pass the MTA driving test? 

And, the most interesting question for Ms. CRANKY, remained --- how of all the shuttle buses in the entire city, did she get on this one???  HOW???  You know --- ‘Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, etc.’ (from the movie CASABLANCA).

To figure this whole thing out, Ms. Cranky may just have to put herself into a trance! --- Excuse me --- “Ohm, ohm. “

Ms. CRANKY thanks you for stopping by and warns you to be careful when you get on a bus --- if the guy is real slim with his hair shorn, maybe you should be careful --- wait for the next bus or get ready to meditate.