Halloween Candy
It’s August isn’t it? Still summer, correct? Not in the commercial world….it’s still 60 something days until Halloween, but already the candy adorns the shelves.
On a shelf near you now (if you are in the USA)
A Brit in the USA has written about her views on Halloween in the USA…… I’ll be honest, I thought it was hilarious last year (despite the plethora of candy being shoved in plastic pumpkins). I might even dress up this year….
Yearbooks
Yearbooks are pretty much American school things, though I seem to recall something similar attempting to rear its head in the UK at some point, though I suspect it didn’t do terribly well.
Apparently the Yearbook is V V V V important in the USA, and this Facebook conversation that I picked up on demonstrates how terribly important it is, not just to the kids, but to the parents. And, in some ways, it also amused me, but in a nicely amused way. So many views and opinions on Yearbooks – I had no idea the passion behind them!!! Oh, the trials and tribulations of being a parent in the USA!
How times have changed since this yearbook!
FB Status
‘So …. the much awaited 2013 Yearbook arrives – disappointed to say that despite the fact that we have spell/grammar check in today’s technology, the yearbook is CHOCKFUL of errors including noting students on incorrect pages, typos throughout including the misspelling of the word Journalism. So after 4 years of writing papers, proof reading, etc – this is part of my boy’s reward (ultimately, diploma most important here)?! Heartbreaking…hoping class of 2014 receives a better product.’
Response 1: Frustrating to say the least. In my son’s school they put Brandon’s name instead of Brian’s for his 3rd place finish at the State track meet.
Response 2: One year Reservoir High’s yearbook had Reservoir misspelled on the cover of it! LOL!
Response 3: Actually would like to see a few less pictures… so the ones they do include are large enough to make out.
Response 4: I have complained several times to the appropriate people at school about the numerous mistakes made every year. My daughter’s picture went missing from her sophomore yearbook and I was refused a refund!
Response 5: Not to mention that the Dance Team, that practices 12 hours per week, performs at Football, pep rally, basketball, and competes all winter and Spring, culminating with a state championship showing of 6 routines, placing in 4 of them mind you, does not even get a single page or team photo except for a few candid’s at the spring trip. There was a page titled silks and drill team with not a word or picture on it about the dance team. Unbelievable! Oh, but the book club which meets once a month got a half page spread. Also, my daughter’s name was misspelled different ways almost every time it was listed. So sad for my daughter that the activity that she poured her heart and soul into for 4 years, did not seem to even exist in this book her senior year.
Response 6: Orchestra didn’t even get a page… ridiculous.
Response 7: I did see a page that said Orchestra, but most of the pictures on that page were actually of the concert and jazz bands.
Response 8: One picture of the teacher and the orchestra. No words written about the group, symphonic didn’t really get recognition either! But if you notice, the sports pages were pretty detailed…
Response 9: Sad.
Response 10: Set them straight ladies. You paid good money for those yearbooks.
Response 11: We offered our “mom’s” assistance in proofreading after seeing the atrocities in the 2006 yearbook. What can we do? It has not improved in all these years? This definitely needs adult supervision.
🙂
Or not.
Minimum wage USA / UK
I chanced upon details about the USA minimum wage recently and it read thus: ‘One of the goals of the 1963 “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom” was a $2 minimum wage. In 2013, that would equate to $15.27 an hour. The current federal minimum wage is $7.25.’ (Courtesy of Tom Coale, District 9B.)
Which made me wonder how this compares to the UK minimum wage….
This was the latest from the BBC: ‘The national minimum wage is to rise by 12p an hour to £6.31 for adults and by 5p to £5.03 for 18-to-20-year-olds from October, the government has announced.’
How does that equate for each country? At the current exchange rate, $7.25 dollars is £4.66.
So that’s why we tip in the USA…..
Ziploc bags come in all sizes
Bugger, I only have one size 😦
Who knew there were so many Ziploc bags to choose from?!
ukdesperatehousewifeusa 
I need to mind my P’s and Q’s when I message you about something. Ha,ha! (candy)
I loved my yearbook and I have a yearbook page in my FB photos as well. I still looked at mine from time to time to remember people and what they wrote.
Our minimum wage is shameful and it’s one more reason why I would be better off in the UK.
Minimum wage is a topic of debate today!
I look forward to Harry’s yearbook!
NB: most people who are in “gratuity intensive” jobs are not eligible for minimum wage (i.e. waiters). They get something like $3 per hour or so.
That sucks even more. Wow.
Not really. They end up making far more than minimum wage. Many kitchen staff resent that a waiter can make more in a four hour shift than they make in 8.
It’s an interesting conundrum….
Also; I used to work for M&M Mars and I can tell you that Halloween is, by far, the biggest time of the year. Their sales volume is literally hundreds of times normal volume. We started preparing for Halloween in March and the rest of the summer revolves around staging everything to get it all right. Upside: We all had to dress in costume (not had to but strongly encouraged) and each IT team would do a different theme. One year we were the Pirates of the Carribean and since we were in charge of supporting everyone’s Blackberries, we named our ship “The Blackberry Pearl”. We even transformed our section of cubicles to look like a pirate ship with cannons, mainsails, music from the movie and a fog machine. Sadly we had to turn the fog off pretty quickly.
Hahaha!