Be Prepared.

BE PREPARED

It was Lord Baden Powell, founder of the Boy scouts, who suggested  “Be prepared” be the motto that young scouts should live by. I was in the scouts for a while when I was a boy and “Be prepared” seemed like good advice to me. Still does.

Not being prepared often leads to miserable outcomes. In general, most people prepare for life’s varied situations. They have life insurance, house insurance, car insurance. They make sure their car is safe with good brakes, sound tyres and functional steering. When going on a trip they usually prepare checklists of things to be done before the trip and things to be taken on the trip.

These are all fairly common preparations. However, in recent years  some people cause me increasing angst by being totally unprepared in certain life situation. It is a Pet Peeve of mine. I would have said it is a Pet Hate of mine but hate is a very strong word. Not only that, a few weeks ago, I was with two friends, one of whom asked, “What’s your pet hate?” Before I could say that I did not have a pet my other friend said, “Brutus, my Doberman, absolutely hates cats.”

When I was a boy I often read the English Women’s Mirror, to which my Aunty was a subscriber. I read it because it had a comic section devoted to The Phantom. This was a few years before the Phantom later appeared in comics at our local news agents. The other reason I read the English Women’s Mirror was they had a regular section where they asked a film star or other celebrity a series of questions about their life. One regular question, usually asked last, was, “What is your pet aversion?” Well I was only about 10 years old at the time. I knew what a pet was but had no inkling of what an aversion was.          After a while I figured it out.

Obviously, my friend was not asking us what our pets hated but  what  makes us annoyed. Well, when we finally got his point, I unloaded with my personal source of annoyance.                                                My Pet Aversion.

I get annoyed  at check outs in Super Markets when the customer in front of me carefully watches the Check Out worker scan each item. Finally, the Check Out worker scans the last item, hits the cash register button and then tells the customer how much they need to pay. Now, if it was me, I would immediately hand over my cash or place my bank card in the credit card reading machine.

However, what usually happens is that, having been told how much they owe, the customer then reaches down and fishes around inside a shopping bag. Eventually they pull out a smaller bag or wallet and poke around a bit more until they locate their cash or card. Only then do they proceed with the payment process.

They are Not Prepared. They knew as soon as they started placing items on the mobile check out bench that they would need to produce cash or card to finalise the shopping transaction. I wait with the cash or card in hand, but not these people. Only after every item has been scanned do they start searching around for what they need to complete the deal. They are not prepared!

Risking the wrath of the militaristic Feminazis Army I must say that in almost every case these unprepaired offenders are women. Men tend to have  cash or card in  hand as they wait for the bill. Women tend to wait until they know how much it is going to cost before they start rummaging around looking for cash or card.

It is he same at the service station. You pull in and wait patiently behind another vehicle. The owner gets out, moves to the rear of the car, takes off the petrol tank cap and then puts the fuel hose in the vehicle. After a few minutes the  hose is removed and the petrol tank cap replaced. This is when they should proceed smartly to the service station pay station and hand over their cash or card. But No! The unprepaired person then walks around the car, back to the driver’s side door, opens it up and rummages around looking for their cash or card. Having finally located their cash or card  they should  then smartly proceed to the pay station. No! Often they do not. After walking a few metres away from their car towards the pay station they stop and then backtrack, either to check how much petrol they took on board or to check the number of the bowser they used.

Quite often, having paid their petrol bill, these unprepaired people walk slowly back to their car, unmoved by the lengthy line up of waiting cars. Only after they are comfortably seated in their vehicle do they then start they start looking around for their car keys.

I know it is a First World problem but these unprepaired people are very frustrating.