Lp1331 1p1331 wrote:

We have had those wheel/tire rentals here (San Antonio) for probably at
least 15 years. The OP as I recall is in Houston, so I can't beleve they
are anything new there. Besides the utter stupidity of the deal, if I
ever bought a vehicle with those ugly pieces of crap, I'd have them off
of it so fast it would make a Nascar pit crew look like slow motion.
A few years ago the owner of a fair sized strip center in an
older/poorer section of town had us service all the furnaces. They were
all regular residential type furnaces, upflow in closets, so I was
inside each business. One was a furniture/appliance rental place that
had two suites. I had never actually been inside one before-- it was
mind boggling. In the furniture section they had lamps-- just plain
ordinary table lamps-- for $2.00/month. I have seen nicer ones at yard
sales for that much or less. For that matter I've even seen them at the
curb for the trash pickup.

Amazing/sickening...

There is not just one simple cause for this type of thing. With some it
is just plain stupidity. There are a lot of HS grads that couldn't tell
you what 10% of 100 is without a calculator, and probably about as many
that couldn't WITH a calculator. The worse thing is that a lot are
second or third generation stupid.

That last part is a big one, and it's effects are seen very widely, not
just poor and minority, but middle and upper class levels as well. All
end up spoiled, be it by welfare or by parents stroking their own egos
buying the kids ridiculous stuff.

Kids follow examples and if the
parents have absolutely no sense with money, it's pretty likely the kids
will be the same. The other thing is that they want everything right
now, and think they have some God given right to have it. The idea of
saving up for something is totally foreign to them. AEM is
right on point about requiring basic everyday skills being taught, and
learned, in HS.

Most, but certainly not all boys know the basics about
car upkeep and such,

Perhaps in Texas, but certainly not in a lot of places. A friend of mine
is a science teacher at a "magnet" school that supposedly gets the
"gifted" kids. The horror stories he's told about these "gifted"
students who have no idea how to use a socket set, or worse yet, have no
idea how to use a ruler! I mean, come on, didn't you learn how to use a
ruler in elementary school or earlier???

but everyone should also have to know basics of
food preparation, including buying and storage of foods as well as just
cooking., and also how to do basic laundry using a standard W &D.

Absolutely, no discrimination or sexism, everyone needs to get the full
spectrum from Baking to Welding, Woodworking to Sewing.

I
gotta give them credit for one thing tho-- you'd be hard pressed to find
one out of a hundred that doesn't know every single function and feature
of their cell phone. Got plenty more
to rant about, but will save it for another time. Larry