Social networking is more important then having friends.

Or so it would seem.

I don't think that there is a single person who would actually say "well actually, social networking is more important to me then having friends" but it's a thing that has happened. Social networking has BECOME more important then having friends and that is without most people even realising it.

People are constantly social networking. On the bus, (not just passengers but drivers too. Yes I have seen it with my own eyes-WHILST they are driving), whilst in work, whilst crossing the road and even when they are out drinking. I have seen so many people who I have gone out with that I haven't seen in ages now and again checking their social networking sites whilst they are with me.

This offends me.

I am not a boring person by any means. I am not a person without friends. The problem is that people without knowing are already so addicted to tweeting, or updating their status on some crap site like Facebook that it's almost a natural thing nowadays for people to forget how insane this actually is. And it is definitely NOT a personal insult if I am talking to someone and the conversation ends and then they check their status or whatever. It is more of the fact that people are seriously starting to lose their identities and individuality by becoming mindless drones. I have always liked people and are friends with those particular people BECAUSE of their individuality and uniqueness. Now they are becoming slaves to the social network.

One of the weirdest things is that people write about ANYTHING. As in the boring things that they are doing. They are not even bothered about hiding the dull. It is almost as if they want acceptance for every single thing they choose to write. No matter how pointless or boring.

Unfortunately it had now become a natural thing to go on the internet and talk to people via some kind of online way rather than meeting people and actually conversing and rather than doing some kind of activity with people. Not to say people aren't doing anything at all-of course they are, but it is happening less now.

And then comes the whole thing of why would you bother going to the effort to meet people when you can just talk to them over the internet. What is the point in making the effort to arrange to meet someone? You have to do yourself up, walk down the street, go to the place of meeting, check to see you're on time etc etc etc.

Is all this really becoming so difficult for people to do??

I CONSTANTLY get people asking me when I am going to "give in" and get a Facebook. I then CONSTANTLY tell them that I am against everything to do with Facebook as I think it is something that has ruined the way we live lives. It's not about giving in. I'm not fighting against it. It is just a thing that I do not agree with.

Most people don't really live at all. They just exist. Now it has gotten even worse with people actually choosing to not just socialise over things like Facebook, but they actually use it to be nosy, stalk other people and to even bully people. Countless times people have committed suicide because they were being bullied online. I have said this before but I don't think you can be bullied online as if someone was writing things about you on whatever social networking site you are using, you can choose not to read it! You can choose not to go on it! You can choose to switch off your computer, laptop, phone or whatever gadget you have and not bother with it! When I was bullied in school, and when all people are bullied anywhere ever-whether it be in school, college, work, anywhere in THE REAL WORLD, they don't have the option to just switch something off where it can be avoided. I understand the curiosity of wanting to see what people have written about you, but who cares?? Why has it become so important?? Why get upset about something some idiot has written about you when they wouldn't say it to you??

Anyway, back to the point, the other night, I saw four girls sat around one table, each one on their phone. Not one of them were speaking to each other. They were ALL on their phones. I thought maybe they were text messaging their other friends but they were spending way too long for that. They were all Facebooking. It was such a weird sight. Just try and picture it. Four girls, all dressed up with alcoholic drinks in front of them, all sat there for ages just on their phones and not talking to each other. It was so strange.

There seems to be a hidden addiction to that particular social networking site of Facebook. From what I have seen and said before, people are always on it. Even in work. They might put "bored in work." Again, who cares?? I'm all up for expressing opinions but with that-what is the point?

Children in school are constantly on social networking sites too. Studies have actually shown that since social networking sites became so popular, the average intelligence of a child has gone down. It distracts children from their education not just in school, but at home as well.

A lot of people seem to go on about how "there are games to play".

And??

Who cares if you get the highest score in something?? It is so pointless! It makes you stupid and a mindless drone. Do you really want to be a mindless drone?? There are a ton of films about zombies taking over the world, but we are actually becoming zombies ourselves. What would it matter if a bunch of people started eating each other if we are already having our souls sucked away from us.

The whole "friends" thing. I am not sure how it works, but you can make friends with people by clicking on some icon I am assuming. So you can make friends by clicking your mouse on your computer. As easy as that. Are these people really your friends?? Would they be OK if you called them at 4am in the morning to talk about life?? Would they even bother to answer the phone?? No. Probably not. These aren't people being your "friends", these are people who are just boosting their pathetic egos by disillusioning themselves that they have "friends".

Are people finding it difficult to make real human friends now??

Not only disillusioning themselves about having friends, but disillusioning themselves about who they actually are. If people aren't stalking someone (stalkers can have a field day through social networking sites), people are DESPERATE to try and look cool/good in their pictures and are DESPERATE for attention and for people to comment on their lives whilst always frantically updating their status in DESPERATE attempts to tell people about their lives. Why??

I read a straight to the point comment from someone about Facebook and it was:-

"I used to have a life. Until I got a Facebook."

Another thing is so many times I have seen people on a night out, far too busy posing for pictures which they will later put onto their social networking sites. Ask them afterwards if they had a good night, they will say something like "it was OK" but if they weren't so busy posing for their stupid pathetic pictures, they might possibly have had a great night.

People even post pictures of things like food. The food that they are eating. I would LOVE the opinion of someone who has never ever heard of any social networking sites on that particular matter of posting pictures of food. Imagine that. Someone taking a picture of a burger or something and posting it so other people can see the burger too. Instead of being thankful for having food on the table, they are broadcasting their food for others to see. It really is beyond belief.

I saw an amazing billboard advert for an alcoholic drink a while ago and the caption on it was "Update your status-get together." I thought that was so great to see a major alcoholic drink be advertised like that until one day, I saw the same billboard, but this time I noticed in small letters underneath it said "add us on Facebook". Talk about hypocritical. I was so disappointed.

Someone said to me the other day that with Facebook in particular, it is all about a "power thing". You can talk to someone without letting them know you were thinking about them. Their example was that if I liked a girl and had her number and I text messaged her, it would show her that I was thinking about her. Whereas if I saw her on Facebook, it would show she was online and I could say something along the lines of "just saw you online, thought I should say hello."

What utter bullshit.

I would WANT the girl to know I was thinking about her. I would WANT a girl to text me and show me that she was thinking about me! That is all part of the beauty of life. Where the fuck has this egotistical shit come from??

Birthdays and get togethers get missed by me because people don't bother personally getting in touch with me anymore. They just go on their page and say what they are doing and all their "friends" would know. What a shit way to invite people. Rather than calling them, having a chat and personally inviting them and telling them how much they would personally want them to be there, they would rather write it on a stupid website. My birthday now gets missed. Why? Because nobody cares! Unfortunately as well, sometimes, funerals get missed.

The whole point of this post is not me having some crazy rant. I just wished people would live lives and talk to people on a personal level. I know the whole argument is that if people live far, then it is such an easy way to keep in touch. I have known people to have moved to the other side of the world and they said that I should now get a Facebook so we can keep in touch. They already had my number, my Skype address, my email address. How I would have loved to even receive a letter in the post from them as they had my address too. How beautifully personal would it even be just to send an email??  I delete about 30 people a year from my phone. There is only so many times I can ring someone or text them or try and have a one on one conversation with them. People don't seem to do it as often anymore. They would rather check their social networking sites and kid themselves how popular they are rather than personal conversations. I guess talking on the phone or even texting/emailing is too much of an inconvenience. If they cannot be bothered doing that, well THAT is the problem.

That the personal connection between people is fading because of social networking sites.

And to think that a personal connection like that is hardly ever happening anymore actually makes me wish that real flesh eating zombies would invade us and save us from our pathetic selves.

The Hooker, The Thief, Goldilocks and the lost money

The title sounds like a dirty computer game or something.

About four and a half years ago, within the space of four months, I lost two jobs. My day and evening job. I was working in two places. Hard work, lots of hours but I had done that for a long time. (9am-5pm and then around 6:30pm-11pm). Now I can't even get one job, nevermind two.

Anyway, the first job I lost was at a gig venue where I had worked for over 6 years. For the first 5 years, I loved it, I was a supervisor, running my own little bar in the venue next to the stage. It was amazing. A lot of the time, it didn't even feel like work even though some nights it was so busy I almost collapsed through sheer exhaustion.

The last 16 months or so of my time there, we got a new bar manager. I have mentioned her before in my blog. "The Hooker":-

http://muksblogaboutstuff.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/idiots-with-authority-part-2.html

That was my 17th post written two years ago. This is now my 71st post.

The Hooker got rid of a lot of people that she didn't like. Me and her didn't get on from the start. I knew my time was coming soon and she did eventually get rid of me. Unfairly. That was after demoting me from my supervisor position and making her boyfriend (who had a nose bigger then Pinocchios' on a bad day) a supervisor instead. Also trying to humiliate me as much as she could.

Not because we didn't get along but I voiced my concerns to a lot of members of staff, some who were my friends, some who were other supervisors and managers of how I thought she was stealing. In fact, I was CONVINCED that she was doing something dodgy. I didn't have any proof but had such a strong feeling. And it wasn't as if I accused others of stealing all the time. I knew a few people did. But this was to another whole new level.

Nobody took me seriously. Not one person believed me. Not even my own friends there. They all thought I was being ridiculous. I kind of assumed that someone told her that I thought this. That along with the fact that we never got along and we didn't like each other made her get rid of me. In some ways, it was a good thing because the hairy bitch had really made working there awful and so I was kind of glad to not be there anymore. But of course, that didn't stop the whole injustice of it all.

A few months ago, just after 4 years of my last day there, one of my former work colleagues there (note I didn't say friend) told me that The Hooker HAD in fact been stealing. She had been doing so for ages and it had amounted up to tens of thousands of pounds. The former work colleague didn't call me as soon as it was found out. Nothing like "Mukesh, you were right about The Hooker all along-she's been stealing money for years." But I got told when I bumped into this former work colleague. I couldn't believe it. Not the fact that she had been stealing as I had known that all along, but for the fact that after 4 and a half years, the truth FINALLY came out.

It's crazy to think that nobody believed me. I even stopped believing myself at the time which is the worst thing you can do. But sometimes not just with things like this but with ANYTHING, all you need is one person who believes in you and you can do anything. But this story is just an occurrence which is a lead up to how I unfairly lost my other job 4 months later....

It was just after the busy Christmas period. The day after Boxing day when the sales starts and for some reason in retail stores, people still somehow have a lot of money to spend. Though saying that, most of it may have been credit anyway...

ANYWAY, I was the only staff member who had worked Christmas eve, Boxing day and was also due in the day Boxing day. The dreaded sales day where customers not only go crazy, but also have a ton of returns where they "don't have a receipt as it was a Christmas present." Yep, the joy of retail.

The day before on Boxing day was also a day when people bought back Christmas presents. It was so busy and we took an amazing amount of money regardless of that. We still had money from Christmas Eve in the shop. All in a small safe. At the end of a really busy crazy hardworking day, the shop floor looked like a bomb had exploded in it. People in charge that day were our manager Goldilocks (he had long blonde hair), Jupiter (a really big fat lazy girl) and myself. When all the customers had left the store, Goldilocks asked me if I and the rest of the staff could "take care of the shop floor" whilst he and Jupiter counted all the money. I reluctantly agreed, even though I could have done with a sit down and would have been happy to count the tens of thousands of pounds, it was a wise move as Jupiter would not physically be able to actually do anything apart from sitting down (which was always the case with her). So for practicality, it was a good move. Although in saying that, I was the only person who was in the next morning. Two hours earlier than normal to set all the sale things up. 7am. Some idiot staff member would be starting at 8am to help me. Not that he would be much help anyway. Let's call him the turnip.

Apparently over the Christmas period, we had taken £45,000!! That was when the country was supposed to be deep in recession. All this money wasn't banked as all the banks were closed. All this money was put in a small crappy safe in the working stockroom.

A couple of staff went home whilst the shop was being re-made and the money was being counted. They were temps. Why should they care? There were 5 members of staff left.

After what seemed like hours, everything was done. The shop looked amazing, the money had all been counted by Goldilocks and Jupiter and we were all set to go. I was due back in the store in another 12 hours. I was the only one due back in. The other staff would be fresh from a nice day off. We didn't do any searches when we left as all retail stores are supposed to. Where there is so much merchandise and money. searchers were mandatory. What a mistake that was to not do the searches.

We had all just had exited the building when Goldilocks realised that he had left something behind. He wanted to take the cash counter home as he apparently had "lots of copper which we could use for change". As the banks were closed, for a couple more days, this made sense. But Goldilocks wasn't due in work the next day. Would he be dropping the change in work?? He went back in to get the cash counter whilst we all waited outside.

Goldilocks came back and we were all set to go home. My dad had come to pick me up as there was no way I was waiting for a bus in the freezing cold after that nightmare shift when I was having another nightmare shift the day after. I offered Goldilocks a lift as he lived on the way.

The next morning, I was 45 minutes late. I got there at 7:45am instead of 7am. Turnip was due in at 8am and was already stood outside the shop waiting to get in. I didn't apologise to him for being late. He was a turnip. I don't apologise to turnips.

Anyway, me and turnip rushed around...well, I rushed around, turnip was his usual static self and I tried to get as much done as I possibly could. The time went really fast. When you need time, it always seems to go fast. When it came to just before 9am, the turnip wanted to nip to the shop to get cigarettes. I went into the safe to get the tills out and count the floats etc.

I put all the tills out and waited for the turnip to get back from the shop. When he did, a load of customers came pouring into the shop. It got VERY busy with only 2 of us in. None of the sale signs were up and things were a bit out of control. That's what tends to happen when you stay in bed to have a lie-in.

Working with a turnip in a shop full of customers isn't the best way to start any day. It was going to be a very long day. At the time, I didn't realise just how much of an understatement that would be.

At about 10am (when it felt like it should be 3pm), the securicor man came to collect the money. The back doorbell rang. It was still really busy. It rang again. Too busy to leave the shop floor. Again *RING RING* OK OK I am coming. I didn't want to leave the turnip on his own on the shop floor but I had to get the back door. I rushed to it, opened it and was greeted by the usual gormless face of the man who had come to collect all the money we had taken the past few days. Every time that happened, I always wondered why I was being paid so little for all the amount of work I did.

Then came another *RING RING*. This time it was the turnip ringing from behind the tills signalling for help. As well as the gormless one, the turnip had no patience either. *RING RING* as if I hadn't heard it the first time. I told the gormless one to wait as the shop was busy. The gormless one gave me a gormless look.

I came back a minute later and opened the safe. The same safe I had opened before when I took the floats out...and there were no takings.

There were no takings! What the hell??

Were they there before when I took the floats out? I didn't even notice. They must have been? But the safe is pretty small so I would have noticed them surely? And if I didn't notice any money in there before why didn't I do anything?

So I turned to the gormless one. "There's no money."
The gormless one replied "It could have been taken by another security guard".
Yes he was as idiotic as he was gormless. "It is 10am. You are the first security guard here in 4 days."
Again no help whatsoever- "I wonder where it all is then?"

Then there was another "RING RING" from the turnip. The shop was littered with desperate people wanting some cheap bargains and I was needed. The gormless one went. I really didn't have time to think. The assistant manager would be on in an hour and a half. I would have to ask her. She was as useless as the turnip but she was the assistant manager whether I liked it or not. For some reason, she thought she was sex on legs. One time my belt had broke and I said "my pants are falling down" and she replied "is that because you have a huge hard on because I am stood next to you?" She wasn't sex on legs. She looked like a horse and in fact, when I first saw her, I knew her from somewhere and couldn't put my finger on exactly where it was. Then I realised where it was from. She had finished fourth in that years' Grand National. We shall call her horseface.

So for the next hour, the shop was so busy with "I've been waiting ages" and "Can you see if you have this in? How about that? Or what about that" and "Is that all my games are worth? I can get more on EBAY" etc etc shut the hell up etc.

At about 11am I rang horseface who had been on her days off (Christmas Eve and Boxing Day-the two busiest days in retail). Now she is one of those people when there is a crisis, she would just make things worse. I didn't understand half of what she said on the phone when I told her. It was just pure panic. When she came in, she first did her make-up. A thing I was used to. I then went in the back and we tried to figure out what could have happened to the money. She didn't even know how much there was and when I told her "£45,000" she nearly fainted. As little help as she always was "Have you checked the safe properly?" The safe was so small, you wouldn't be able to fit more than 5 chickens in. "How many bags were there?" I realised then that I hadn't seen any of the money as the night before I didn't count it and the morning after, I hadn't seen it. So I didn't know the answer to that. We conceded that we would have to call Goldilocks and also the area manager. That day I didn't leave the shop until 8pm.

What ensued after that day for 6 months was constant questioning, re-questioning, sleepless nights, even more questioning. The money was and yet to this day NEVER found. There were no cameras in the whole store which was stupid in itself. The store didn't report it to the police probably because of their own stupidity and not to give the store a bad name. That is the only reason I could think of why they didn't report it to the police which I only found out after I rang them myself to see how it was going. They didn't even know what I was talking about and when I explained to them, they just said "Why didn't you report it at the time?" They were just as useless as the people I worked with.

Could Goldilocks have taken it all the night before? Is that why he wanted me to be in on my own for an hour in the morning? To frame me as I would have no witnesses to back me up? Could Jupiter be in on it? Could the gormless one have taken it when I left him on his own for a minute? But then he would have had to know how to get in the safe. Was it possible for the turnip to have taken it? He wasn't in the night before but was the day after and he did go to the shop before the store opened. But he didn't go near the safe. So it was impossible for him to have taken ALL that money. But the powers that be didn't see it that way and I got made redundant because I didn't do a search on the turnip that morning when he went to the shop. Goldilocks got made redundant because he didn't do a search on the staff the night before. The gormless one made a statement saying that when he came to collect the money, he had never seen me before in his life. He had seen me about 50 times before at least. I didn't understand that. Why lie? Goldilocks and his girlfriend had a baby, went on holiday and bought a LOT of stuff. How the hell could he afford that?

It was an injustice. Somebody, somewhere had this money and I had lost my job because of it. But the point with this second story is that after the whole hooker stealing for years and the truth eventually coming out, I have always said and believed that with this story too-the truth will one day come out. It always does.