Ask Grandpa: Quit on the first day? Lack of maturity!

Ask Grandpa
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Grandpa,
Many years ago, I had applied to drive a school bus. I was turned down because I had a minor arrest record for possession of marijuana. I now qualify for the expungement of my record. Once expunged, the company cannot find that I had been convicted unless they kept my old application, right? I mean, what are the chances of that? I want to apply, get the training and get hired, then on the first day of school call in and quit. That would leave them as stranded as they left me when I needed a job. When I quit, I will tell them that they had turned me down in the past so I am showing them what it feels like. My question is: Can they make me pay for the training to get my CDL (commercial drivers license)?

Grandpa says: With the lack of maturity you are showing, I doubt you would even get the job. Your immature need for revenge speaks a lot about your personality. I seriously do not believe you are sufficiently beyond your need for instant gratification to stop smoking marijuana long enough to pass the mandatory drug screening for all CDL applicants. School bus drivers are held to a higher standard because they carry the most precious cargo on the planet. I would not want to see a revenge crazed fool carrying my grandchildren to school. Do you honestly believe that you would be the first numb-skull to quit on the first day of school? Can you not know that the bus company has substitute drivers for just such situations? I suggest you either acclimate yourself to life on this planet or return to the fantasy world from whence you come.

Grandpa,
How is this for a scam? I just got in the mail a page of coupons from (a sandwich shop chain) offering a large sandwich for $5.99. Another coupon on the same page offers two of the same sandwich for $12.99. And three of that sandwich would cost $17.99. Do the math! It would be much cheaper to buy the sandwiches individually, yet the coupons say only one coupon per visit. For two sandwiches you would spend an extra 50¢ each.

Grandpa says: I would not classify that as a scam, per se. You are given the true facts up front about what the items would cost before tax. If a consumer chooses to not do the math, that’s not the fault of the vendor. Way back when I was in grade school, I read a story about a fruit vendor pushing a cart selling bananas. He had a sign on his cart that read bananas were 12¢ per pound, or two pounds for 25¢. Customers who would have normally bought one pound of bananas were out-smarting him by buying one pound and then another pound to save that penny. Who was really the wiser, the slick customer or the merchant who allowed himself to be out-smarted? It is a basic truth of marketing that individuals will use a coupon to buy a more expensive item. Caveat emptor.

Got something stuck in your craw? Ask Grandpa. Address your letters to Ask Grandpa c/o The Voice, PO Box 123,
Aurora, IL 60507 or send an E-mail to askgrandpa@thevoice.us.

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