Story Power

Blogging the Lit Life

Author: Luca T

Preventing Theft

In 2022, stores lost about $86.6 billion to retail shoplifting, and that includes employee theft as well as external theft. Too many people are involving themselves in a crime known as petty theft. Petty thefts occur when the person who is stealing the item or items is legally allowed on the property and the value of the items is less than $1000. A recent study done by the PTO (petty theft organization) shows that 7 in 10 people have involved themselves in a crime known as petty theft. As head president of the PTO, it is my duty to resolve the current issue at hand; therefore, I have decided to implement a plan called BGS (Behind the Glass Shopping). 

The main idea of Behind the Glass Shopping is the customer never sees the product until they have fully paid for every item they are receiving. When a customer walks into the store it will look kind of like a bank. There will be a small space where the public is allowed to be, but the rest of the store where the product is kept will only be accessible to employees. Once the customer has entered the store they will walk up to a tablet and input every single grocery they want to purchase. Once they have entered everything into the tablet they have to sit down and wait until the employee has grabbed every item they have purchased. The Behind the Glass Shopping method resolves the issue of consumer theft, but there is still another issue at hand known as employee theft. Behind the Glass Shopping has a perfect solution for employee theft. Many stores have an ask-for-help button where employees are called over to your specific location to unlock the glass case where the product is behind. Behind the Glass Shopping will use this system by requiring the employees to press the ask-for-help button every time they attempt to take an item off the shelf. This is unlike other stores now where they only have certain items behind glass because now every item will be behind the glass. When an employee pushes the button a BGS employee will come over and unlock the glass door so the employee can grab the product the customer wants.

Behind the Glass Shopping does not discriminate when hiring. BGS will hire any gender, any race, and most importantly any age. We do not do background checks when hiring too. We also do not look at resumes. We take any person who applies to work at Behind the Glass Shopping. Behind the Glass Shopping trusts their employees one hundred percent, and that is why there will be no more cameras in stores. To maximize the profits of big companies all companies will be required to remove all cameras on the property after signing with BGS

Contracts with Behind the Glass Shopping consist of many things. The first is all of the employees of BGS get paid $43.17 per hour. Now, many people may be wondering where the money is coming from. With companies partnering with BGS they will gain millions of dollars because of how much less product is being stolen. That extra money they now have will be the pool where the BGS employees get paid. The pool will be shared among every single company signed with BGS. The second condition with signed agreements is Behind the Class shopping is not at fault or reliable for any sort of stealing. BGS employees are not security guards and are strictly employed to unlock the glass doors. The last condition of the agreement is that every employee has a 90-second cool down after each time they press the ask-for-help button to ensure the Behind the Glass employees are getting enough rest.

The biggest advantage of Behind the Glass Shopping is the boost it gives to the economy. Without all of the loss in revenue, all products would become cheaper. Retailers factor in loss from theft into their pricing models. This means they raise prices slightly to cover the cost of stolen goods. BGS would make the prices of everything in the world drop and would allow people to afford more things. Thus, this is the reason every single store in the world should sign a contract with Behind the Glass Shopping.

Why is Kent so Weird?

Kent’s loyalty to Lear in King Lear is so strong that it becomes strange. In Act 1, Kent gets thrown out by Lear for telling the truth, but rather than being upset or moving on, he disguises himself in order to stay with Lear. Kent remains strong even while Lear keeps making terrible choices and goes insane. He remains there by Act 3, supporting Lear as he rages in the storm. It’s quite odd that Kent seems to have no identity other than serving Lear. Like a loyal dog, he just continues returning no matter how poorly he is treated. It’s disturbing as well as nice in certain ways. Normal human responses, like as pride or dignity, don’t seem to be visible in Kent. Most individuals would leave or at the very least take some time to think about themselves if they were treated the way Lear treats Kent. I could never commit my life to someone who so easily banished me. To be completely honest, I also wouldn’t want someone to do that for me. It would feel more creepy than honorable if someone sacrificed their entire identity and life to follow me around. Because of Kent’s enormous devotion, it no longer feels like loyalty but rather like blind passion. It makes the question of whether Kent is even aware of his identity outside of being Lear’s servant. Shakespeare may have written him in this way to emphasize how uncommon loyalty is in a world full of betrayal, but Kent’s dedication seems more artificial than human as if he lacks the ability to reflect on his own behavior.

Love Me by Lil Wayne

Love Me,” a song by Lil Wayne from the album I Am Not a Human Being II, explores themes of affection, loyalty, and emotional detachment by combining confidence, vulnerability, and social satire. The song, which features collaborations with Drake and Future, exposes the transactional nature of modern relationships and the limiting effects of fame through poetic language. Its emotional reflection on the contradictory need for true affection in a world dominated by shallowness is hidden behind its clear surface.

The isolation that comes with success and power is the main theme of the song. The speaker shows his control through his relationships and accomplishments, demanding affection and loyalty. These statements, however, frequently come across as empty, betraying a deeper desire for genuine connection. This conflict is highlighted by the sentence

As long as my b**s love me

which is both a brag and a cry for love, highlighting the speaker’s dependence on outside approval to cover up his inner loneliness.

Lil Wayne uses poetic elements including hyperbole, metaphor, and juxtaposition to deepen the song’s emotional depth.

I’m on that good kush and alcohol

The first sentence is more than just a statement of excess. Alcohol is an attempt to numb emotional suffering, while “good kush” becomes a symbol for escape. When combined, they represent the speaker’s flight from the emptiness of his connections.

The emotional tone of the song is further enhanced through juxtaposition. The speaker’s appearing trust is contrasted with the commercial and basic character of his relationships in lines such as

And all my b**s love me
And I love all my b**s

Even while the word “love” is used repeatedly, it is not genuine, highlighting the gap between his desire for loyalty and the reality of his relationships. A larger statement on the distancing effects of fame, where connections are frequently limited to surface-level interactions, is reflected in this tension.

Lastly, the speaker’s emotional distress is made worse by hyperbole. The ridiculous statement

If I die, bury me inside that booty club

captures the writer’s desperate attempt to hold on to brief joys. The emptiness of his immoral activities is highlighted by this exaggerated vision, which also betrays a fear of being forgotten or unloved.

Beloved House On My Street

There is a house on my block unoccupied by anyone right now, an old man named Bart used to live there until he died in 2021. He would tell my siblings and me the same story whenever there was a block party or event outside with the entire block.

A widowed mother used to live in the house before him. One night the baby was crying, so the mother grabbed the baby out of the crib and headed downstairs. While walking to the stairs the mother tripped at the top. She and the baby fell all the way down the stairs and passed away. Bart claimed that he would randomly hear the babies cry at night weekly.

Not only did a baby die in the house. But the house looks to me exactly how I would imagine the house to look in the book. It is an old, small, brown,  wooden house.

“Door”

The issues of migration and identity are discussed in Exit West by Mohsin Hamid’s intentional word choice. Throughout the book, Hamid uses the term “door” repeatedly, giving it a strong significance. In Exit West, the word “door” is changed from simple entrance to a representation of change, fear, and hope. It symbolizes both escape from danger and the unpredictability of the future.

Hamid shows how a simple, common object can turn into something amazing in certain situations by utilizing the word “door.” These portals are both magical and terrible to refugees like Nadia and Saeed; they lead to freedom but also to the unknown, where safety is uncertain. Every time Hamid writes the word “door,” he serves as a reminder that for millions of people worldwide, simply passing across the border can change their lives. The story’s themes are captured in this one word, which causes us to consider boarders, changes, and what it means to leave one life behind in order to pursue another.

“It Doesn’t Matter”

Throughout the book, Meursault uses the phrase “It doesn’t matter” often to reflect his detached attitude and lack of emotion. Initially, specifically during times of loss and sadness, he uses this word to set himself apart from society standards and expectations. By the book’s end, though, it has transformed into an effective statement of his independence.

This statement, spoken by Meursault after facing his fate, indicates an honest acceptance of life’s basic meaninglessness. It shows his rejection of the social constraints to justify pain or uphold moral standards. Rather, he accepts the idea that nothing can genuinely have meaning—not even life and death—because existence itself is random.

The statement also refers to a larger existential topic, which is the idea that people must find meaning for themselves in a heartless the universe. By stating that “it doesn’t matter,” Meursault breaks free from the demands made of him. In this acceptance, he finds a sense of calm and liberty, even in the face of death.

In the end, this scene shows Meursault’s character’s transformation, from emotional distance to a deep realization of independence through acceptance. It highlights the main point of the book, which is that living really can bring comfort even in a lack of answers from the universe.

How Do You Refer To Your Parents?

The very first sentence in The Stranger by Albert Camus says “Maman died today”. At first, I believed Maman was just what Monsieur called his mother, like a nickname such as mama or mom. It was not until he said “And the truth is he’s taking Madame Meursault’s death very hard”(13) that it came to me that he had been referring to his mother by her first name all along. Not only was he calling his mother by her first name, he was also referring to her as if she was one of his acquaintances. How can someone refer to their parents and have no respect for them? I think Monsieur calling his mother by his first name really shows how little he actually cared about her. If my mother died I wouldn’t go around saying “Yeah Jen died yesterday” I would be saying “My mom died yesterday”. Even if it was one of my friends I would say “[Name] my friend died yesterday”.  Monsieur treats his mother as an object, not a person he truly cares about. It is very obvious how much he doesn’t care about his mother because of how easily he goes back to his normal life after his own mother died.

Now, just because Monsieur calls his mother by her first name doesn’t mean he is a disrespectful son. His mother could’ve been very neglectful or not important in his life when he needed her the most. I’m not saying I would ever refer to my own mother by her first name, but I can see scenarios why Monsieur would call his mother Maman. If Maman never truly mothered Monsieur why should he refer to her as his mother? Monsieur at one point in his life viewed her as his mother, but at the end of his mother’s life, she was just seen as a coworker to him.

I think the point of Albert Camus referring back to Monsieur’s coworker reflects on how that’s exactly how he views his mother. Monsieur even had sexual relations with his coworker and still had no feelings for her. I believe Monsieur could also just see everyone the same no matter what importance they have on his life.

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