The Things I've seen...

As many people may or may not know, I am pretty much working all third shifts now. It has been a different experience for me. I have been given much material to write about but never had the time, and when I did have the time the motivation to write about what I've seen hasn't been there.

Third shift is pretty different in a 24-hour gas station. You get to meet a lot of interesting people and some of them are quite intoxicated. This makes for some hilarious discussions as I have interacted with some truly unique people. Now to any new readers, I want to make one thing clear. While I am going to point out the stranger people I have met I don't want to give the impression that I am sitting on a holy pedestal judging them and laughing because I am superior. I am not by any means. These are truly people where "the shoe fits oh so well" and I challenge anyone to not thing the exact same thing if they met them. Without further ado, the things I've seen:

- One of my favorites came in sometime within the last two weeks. He had a mullet style hairdo and the mullet tail almost went down to his waist. The real kicker though was the ICP jersey with matching pants and hat. ICP is short for "Insane Clown Posse" and to describe it best they are a vulgar rap group of Beastie Boy style. So to see someone with a mullet sporting their gear was truly unique, as if his mullet wasn't epic enough on its own.

- I don't like using the term white trash. There's something about it I just don't find dignifying. Unfortunately I cannot think of a better phrase to describe two different ladies I've had in the store in the last month. The first had a tank-top, shorts and a sweatshirt longer than both. The second had a t-shirt that was so short that she was showing more midriff than any rebellious high schooler I've ever met. Both had to be mid thirties, and also smelled of recent alcohol consumption. Like I said don't get me wrong my heart goes out for these people, but at the same time it's just crazy to wonder how they got to where they are now.

- The latter of the two told me that peanuts could be used to interfere with a police breathalyser test. She had seen a program on TV about it and was convinced it worked. As she was traveling a lot that weekend she was sure to buy some. After that night when I got home I questioned my dad on the matter as I had never heard anything to this nature. He mentioned that for awhile last month the court had put up disclaimer signs stating that this in fact was not true at all. Besides, I have a strong feeling that cops are not going to let you go if you are blatantly drunk, regardless of whether the breathalyser works or not.

- My new quote of the week comes from a customer I had last night who was discouraged by the recent tax increase on cigarettes. This is a tough area for me. Do I think smoking is bad? Absolutely. Do I wish people would stop? Yes I do. They would be healthier and it would save them so much money. However, at the same time I feel it's important to respect a person's choice, especially if they haven't aligned themselves to Christianity. It's not right to impose my beliefs on someone that doesn't follow them. To that end it is frustrating to see cigarette prices go up and frustrate the people who buy them day in and day out. We have a tough economy and I don't see all these tax increased helping anything out.

Anyways, the customer had a strange yet hilarious remark in response to these new taxes. He said, "Cigarettes? Shoot it's getting cheaper to rent a hooker and bum one off her!" All I could think when he said that was that somehow I imagined that's exactly the response that Granholm wanted when she signed that tax bill. Way to fix the problem.

Speaking of government stuff, let's segue way. That was nice.

- Three businesses in the Lansing area recently decided to go out of business. One can imagine the surprise they had when they received a notification from the city that they had not paid their "Going out of Business Tax" and as a result they owed the city money. Now I thought that when your profits do not exceed your costs and you cannot pay your monthly bills that you go out of business. So two things - Who's the genius that thought to tax that, and how are these failing businesses going to pay it? I really don't understand why so many businesses are leaving Michigan.

- This whole government fury over the last month at the AIG bonuses? I'm not buying it. They had to know. You don't give a company bailout money without asking them how they are going to use it. You don't approve the bailout if you don't agree with how they are going to use it. They knew where the money would go and approved it, then turned sides when the people became outraged as the media discovered how the banks were using the bailout money. So this whole "we didn't know this would happen and we're furious" thing? Baloney.

- Fun facts: In the first few months that Obama has been in office he has spent more money than all the Presidents combined spent in the same amount of time. In fact by the end of this year if his budget passes he will spend more in one year than Bush did in eight. Interesting.

- Government financing: How is the U.S. funding all its spending? We're selling bonds to foreign investors. In fact we've sold so many bonds specifically to China that their government contacted the White house and told it to make sure the value of the dollar didn't go down. That's the first time any government has directly said that to ours. We've sold so many bonds that if the value of the dollar goes down we are cheating our bond payments. Interesting.

My concern here is that sometime in the coming future China is going to call on America to payback the bonds. When we can't we will be official Chinese property. Two things - How many people are aware of this and should we learn Cantonese or Mandarin for our future national language?

- With all that chaos and uncertainty in the government we're forced to ask one question: Where are we putting our faith? If my last few points have made any sense than one thing should be clear. Don't put your faith in the government or in money. Put it in God. Instead of voting for the changes we want to see we need to be living those changes out in our own lives, because that's the only way we can hope to see those changes making a difference.

As for me, that means smiling at every customer whether I want to or not. That means always being the listening ear and not getting mad every time someone stumbles in at 3 in the morning when I have tons of cleaning to do. Thirds are a different creature and while I do enjoy them I am starting to feel the tug to get back into vocational youth ministry. I think it's time to move on. We will see what God has in store and as I move forward I will not forget the new heart I have found by working among the hurt. I only hope that as I figure out my next step I'll be able to transfer that heart to others.