Tea Drinker Discrimination

I'm a hot tea drinker. I don't drink coffee and unlike many of my fellow coffee abstainer friends, I don't even like the smell. For some reason the fact that I don't like the smell seems to shock people more than the fact that I don't drink it. I'm not a snob, I'm just as addicted to my hot tea as coffee drinkers are to their brew. A morning without hot tea becomes a day with a major headache. Caffeine is addictive no matter how you swill it.

I'm a minimum two huge cups a morning type. I measured my cup recently, it holds two cups of fluid thus I'm getting four cups a day minimum of tea and caffeine.

My tea of choice is PG Tips, a British tea that is very strong. Pam, who's from Great Britain, at the Broadway Diner in Fayetteville turned me onto the tea. I thought initially I'd have to just stop in there to get a cup or two or ten, but turns out you can buy it at Kroger, at least you can buy it at "my" Kroger on the south end of Fayetteville, Hwy. 85. There are 40 bags to a box, it usually runs around $4 - $4.50 for a box. Not a bad price at all for a good cup of tea.

By now you're possibly wondering why I titled this blog "Tea Drinker Discrimination". If you're not, you should be given all the rambling prior to that statement...

One of my pet peeves is restaurants who give unlimited coffee (they pretty much all do) for one price but charge me for each and every cup of tea I drink. They charge the same for coffee as they do for tea usually, yet some, a few, restaurants charge me $2.25 or $1.75 or whatever for each and every cup of tea. I was actually told the other day at one Peachtree City restaurant that no, they didn't charge per cup. If I used the same tea bag over and over they would allow me to have three cups of hot water to go along with the one measly tea bag they were willing to allow me to have. Yep, I could re-use that puny thing they called a tea bag three times. I drink my tea with cream or milk -- reusing a tea bag that's been soaked with sweetener and milk isn't pretty, nor does it taste like anything other than weird water.

Once I discover a restaurant discriminates against tea drinkers I mark them off my list. I never return. I used to politely, nicely, try to let them know why but after a few blase responses (ala, we don't give a flying flip, there aren't enough of you tea drinkers to make a difference) I quit telling them why. I just don't go back.

There are two restaurants that I've marked off my list in Fayette County. One in Peachtree City and one in Fayetteville. I'm not naming names as they're fairly popular with my friends and I like the owner of the one in Peachtree City, would very much like her to succeed. I doubt my aggravation about her tea discrimination would hurt her business anyway. Now I think I may have hurt the business of the one in Fayetteville because they were positively snotty when I raised my eyebrow about being charged. I canceled my dessert order and left the restaurant they were so snippy about it. Since then I have taken enough business from them that I've cost them much more than it would have to just give refills on 10-15 cent cups of hot tea...

Think about it. How many people drink tea like I do? I may have two cups after dinner, maybe three if it's cold outside. It's going to cost them maybe 50 cents for those three cups of tea if I'm drinking the better selection. I'm going to buy dessert. I'm going to be a happy customer. I'm going to come back if the food was good and the service at least decent.

Given the small percentage of people who drink tea and the even smaller percentage who drink multiple cups, what's the big deal about free refills? The vast majority of restaurants don't charge for tea refills, from the nicest upscale places to the lowest end dive. Why do some restaurants try to grab a nickel on tea? What's the cost of a lost customer? What's the cost of having someone pull business meetings to other restaurants? I like to enjoy my meal. I don't enjoy some meals without my after meal, sometimes during meal, hot tea. And no, I don't always drink hot tea with a meal when I'm out. It's a mood thing, and sometimes a weather or time of day thing. I rarely have hot tea with lunch unless it's really cold.

I know all you coffee drinkers and caffeine abstainers are rolling your eyes at the idea of someone walking out of a restaurant, never to return, over being charged for a second cup of tea. It's the principle of the thing. It's part of the enjoyment of my meal. I pay pretty hefty prices for the privilege of eating at many restaurants. I don't mind, I know they need to cover their costs and hopefully make a profit. Tea isn't going to make or break them. But it can cost them if they charge for refills.

So there.

Big Bank vs Community Bank...

Late last week I stopped by my bank of countless years, Regions Bank, and canceled my three checking accounts. Out of the blue they decided to start charging a monthly fee for my tiny little accounts so rather than pay them to use my money I picked up the phone and easily found a lot of other banks that didn't charge. I had two business accounts and a personal account (no fee on that one). None of them had a lot of money in them, but since the money just sat there for months without being used, thus allowing them to earn money on my money it was silly to stay with Regions Bank.

I planned my day to allow time to answer questions when I canceled my account. I wasn't upset and I really like some of the people at the bank who I've known for years so no way I'd fuss even if I did have a problem! However, no one asked why I was canceling. I walked in, asked the teller who I needed to talk with about canceling my account and was told she could do it. Five minutes later my accounts were closed, I had my cash and I left. Not one question. Not one "gee, we're sorry you're leaving" (even before they saw my small balances!).

As said, I'd found quite a few banks that didn't charge. I had talked face-to-face with some of the various bank reps at the Fayette County Chamber Expo in September. It's a great event and I was able to get a good feel for the people plus got to take home a lot of info to compare.

I settled on Charter Bank. It's a small community bank with branches in Fayette County, Coweta County, and then a few going down into LaGrange and over into Alabama. The only thing they didn't have that I would have liked is ATM fee reimbursement given the small number of locations... but since I never use them that wasn't a biggie for me, but might be for others.

The people were fantastic. Not over the top fake gushing friendly, but real, down-to-earth, gee we really appreciate the fact that you chose us fantastic. I walked out of there feeling that I'd made some friends. I also walked out with a pair of computer speakers and a good thermos. How many banks these days give you gifts for opening an account? I got a kick out of it and had to joke that I was glad they weren't handing out toasters! Then I looked at the list and saw that back in the early part of the year they handed out little bread-toasting sandwich grills... close.

I like the idea of a community bank. I like feeling like I'm more than a number. I like it that while they of course want the big accounts, they still appreciate all the small accounts. I like the free checking, too.

I had forgotten what excellent customer service felt like. Sure, my old bank had really nice people and I liked them. However, their hands were tied when it came to making decisions... understandably so given their size. They didn't know much about me or my account. Only one person in the branch that I've gone into for years remembered my name, and that was because we knew each other outside the bank. I have the feeling that when I walk into Charter Bank they'll remember my name.

I hear SunTrust's commercials saying they give you an individual banker who cares. I like the concept, but somehow I can't imagine that two little start-up businesses like mine would warrant a whole lot of individual attention! I think I have found a bank where I'll get the kind of attention that makes me feel like I matter. That's a rare thing these days in the world of big, bigger and biggest.

I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

Oh, the reason Regions Bank gave me for starting to charge a fee is that the changes in the way ATM withdrawals work will cost them a lot of revenue... they have to make it up somewhere. The new regs don't allow them to overdraft your account when you make a withdrawal but don't have the funds. I gather that in the past if you took out a hundred dollars but only had fifty in the account they'd give you the money, then charge your overdraft fees or the overdraft protection would kick in, which also cost money. Now you have to designate which way you want it to work. I found it ironic that I was being charged a fee on my banking account due to ATM fee changes and yet I never use an ATM card on the Regions accounts... I do on my main personal account, which is with another bank. If things go well at Charter, that account may be moving, too...

On fixing those hurting feet...

Recently I've been experiencing some major (to me) foot problems. I won't go into all the technical gobbledygook I've been told and learned while trying to fix said problems. Basically, the pad of my foot hurts when I put pressure on it right under the toe area. Bones are pushing a nerve which is swelling and causing a lot of pain. My toes were hurting and cramping, and I was walking on my heel to avoid putting any pressure on the pad as it felt like it was badly bruised.

I tried fixing it myself with padding, soaking, massage but nothing helped so I trekked over to see my fave podiatrist. He's great. He told me the problem, said I needed a cortisone shot to stop the swelling. I said no, we tried pads. No help. Second visit I did the shot with pads and taped toes.

Shot didn't help and it wasn't exactly fun although not as bad as I've heard. I'm a wimp when it comes to needles, will pretty much do anything to avoid a shot, so you should know I was hurting pretty bad to acquiesce to the thing... especially since I don't like anything foreign being pumped into my bod.

When I went back for the next visit we tried the "boot". It holds your foot stable. Hated it.

I had to do a show in Florence, South Carolina --- three days of standing on concrete from 7 something in the morning until after 6 p.m. I spent the day switching shoes. Crocs, the boot, two different sets of tennis shoes... nothing really helped. The boot made me walk lopsided and my knees started hurting and swelling.

My son, who was with me, has bone spurs in his feet and he limps at times from the pain. He was also going back and forth to a podiatrist. 

The second day I was there a couple walked up and we got into a friendly conversation with the husband. At one point he glanced down at my son's feet and said 'bet you have bone spurs'. We both did a double-take. He then said he probably had problems with painful corns and he'd bet he had plantar faciitis. Wow... right on the mark.

We were properly awed. He then looked at my tennis shoe encased feet (no boot at the time) and correctly told me where I was hurting.

Then he told us that we were wearing the wrong size shoes. Ummm... measured at the shoe store, bought the shoes, they seemed to fit... Turns out he owns a shoe store, Jack's Comfort Shoes, and boy did he know feet and shoes!

I won't go into all the stuff he told us, although I'm sure you'd like to know, right? He correctly 'diagnosed' every ache and pain our poor feet shared with us every time we put pressure on them!

We wanted to go to his store and buy some shoes but couldn't due to time constraints. We both spent part of the following week doing some Internet research, verifying the things that he'd told us.

The next week we planned to be in Columbia so we made plans to go early and visit his shoe store, get fitted properly.

Didn't quite work out. However, we did find a place in Columbia that had pretty much the same philosophy. We went there and had them measure and suggest shoes. They didn't quite come up with the same thing the Florence shoe store owner did, so I had them change out my shoes until they worked like the guy from Jack's said they should. They added extra arch supports for my high arches and put in the little med-pads to spread my bones while I walked. We played with it until I knew it was right.

I spent three blissful, pain-free days walking on concrete floors, same hours as the Florence show. I was shocked and amazed. I really didn't quite 100% accept what the Jack's owner had said until I experienced it!

Last week we found a store here in Tucker, Georgia that has a comparable philosophy and "fits" properly. None of the stores, including the one in Tucker mentioned one important thing that the guy in Florence insisted upon --- and that is that you make sure your heel doesn't slide around in your shoe.

See, most of us measure based on length and width. We may find a shoe that fits us in both aspects, but it leaves our heel moving a little to a lot from side-to-side. My son has bad dryness on his heel --- he thought it was dry skin. The guy in Florence (and I'd use his name but I lost the business card, arrrggghhh) said it was due to his foot moving around in the shoe.

My heel didn't slip out of the shoe, but when I fit the width for the top of my foot I always had room to move sideways. If my heel didn't slide back and forth, the top of the shoe would start to pinch after I'd worn it for a while. I'm not talking about slipping up out of the shoe. It's the kind of movement you don't notice until you're paying attention.

I also thought my pronating was due to my legs, knees, posture, etc. After getting fitted and tested, I realized I had high arches. I pronate, slide inward, when I don't have proper arch support. Duh.

I've become a convert and I know when I slip my foot into a shoe whether it 'fits' properly. I picked up some pads at the Village Shoe Service in Tucker and have rigged some of my shoes (including my Crocs) so they have arch support and extra padding where I need it. The guy in Florence said he won't sell Crocs, horrible for your feet. My podiatrist said they're fine to use as slippers around the house. I compromised by adding the supports!

OK, long post and I didn't cover a fraction of what I learned over the past couple of months about my feet!

I'm still pain-free and am in the process of replacing every single pair of shoes I have (given time and dollars!). Once I learned how my shoes SHOULD fit and feel, it's not necessary for me to spend a small fortune on each pair. However, I'm willing to spend whatever is needed to get good support and continue to walk without pain.

Oh, one quick note --- I'm not wearing clunky medical ugly shoes. I'm in a pair of 'normal-looking' Brooks tennis shoes. And as for dress shoes, there are many, many that are comfortable and stylish, pretty, dainty looking.

Bottom line -- go at least once to a GOOD shoe store, not one where they pull out the old silver thing to measure your foot. Go to one where you get on those machines, can discuss your specific foot issues, get someone with years of experience and training to help you find the right shoes. Go to a store where they'll add the little pads under the cushion to give you the support you need.

And a tip -- never go shoe shopping early in the day. Your feet swell as the day goes on. Shoes that fit in the morning may hurt in the afternoon.

I highly recommend Village Shoe Service in Tucker, Georgia (http://villageshoeservice.com/) and
Jack's Comfort Shoes in Florence, South Carolina 1506 2nd Loop Road, phone (843) 662-4551
(I hope that's the right store! All I remember is that the store had the name "Jack" in it... if you find more than one with Jack in the title, call and talk to them about how they fit shoes).

AARP Survey: 70 Percent of Americans Believe the Country Has Not Lived up to Kennedy's Inaugural Request

RJ Note: Many Americans volunteer their time and money through many great causes. Fayette County citizens have such a big heart when it comes to serving others that I can't begin to mention them all. Just know each and every one of you is appreciated.

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Seven in 10 Americans do not believe the country has lived up to President John F. Kennedy's inaugural challenge to "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country," according to a survey released today by AARP Create The Good.

The problem might be the way they are being asked: though 73 percent of respondents said they would choose to give time over money, they reported that requests for monetary donations had increased more than requests for time in the last year.

The poll comes as President-elect Barack Obama calls on Americans to renew their commitment to community service and as the nation celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service.

"The results tell us something very promising: that Americans are ready to answer the call to serve," said Tom Nelson, AARP's chief operations officer. "Across the nation, Americans of all ages gave back today in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King. But this is not just a one-day activity - rather, it is a commitment to make making a difference part of our lives."

To help Americans answer the call to serve, today AARP launched its new Create The Good Web site (www.AARP.org/CreateTheGood), where thousands are already connecting to flexible opportunities, tools and online communities, and making a difference across the country.

"We believe that small actions yield big results," said Nelson. "Whether you have five minutes or five hours a week, there are simple things you can do to help."

Although survey respondents felt that requests for monetary donations (34%) have increased more compared to requests for volunteer time (11%), when asked what they would choose to give to solve a national problem, they overwhelmingly selected time (73%) over money (16%). Younger respondents were more likely to say they would prefer to give time compared to older respondents.

Though respondents overwhelmingly thought older people volunteer more (71%) than younger people (15%), there was no statistically significant difference between the proportion of younger and older respondents who said they had volunteered in the last year.

More than half of respondents (52%) rate volunteering to help others as an important goal and almost seven in ten respondents (68%) said that they have volunteered in the last year.

The survey was conducted via telephone by ICR from among a nationally representative sample of 1,011 adults age 18 or older. The margin of error for total respondents is +/-3.08% at the 95% confidence level. Full survey results are available at: http://www.aarp.org/research/family/volunteering/volunteering_perceptions_09.h tml.

Visit Create The Good today at www.AARP.org/CreateTheGood to get connected to tools, people and hundreds of ways to make a difference.

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