Ron & Jen’s Great Escape – Nov. 30, 2022 – Ron St. Pierre and Jen Brien

by Ron St. Pierre and Jen Brien, contributing writers, commentary

PLEASE WEAR GLOVES IF YOU’RE TOUCHING MY FOOD

It’s 2022 and for the life of me I cannot understand why I still see people at fast food joints, pizza joints, whatever JOINTS touching my food OR food in general without gloves on. Honestly. Here we are. Post pandemic (so says Biden) and you’d think we would have learned something. Germs, germs, germs! And, honestly, a lot of people have poor hygiene habits. No offense, but I’m serious. The kick in the pants here is this – these people, with their bare hands, touching my food, expect a tip. A tip for what? Doing your job? Touching my food with hands that could have been ANYWHERE, DOING ANYTHING. Truly, the possibilities are endless once you start thinking about it, resulting in a loss of appetite. I love to tip. I love to lift people up… BUT! to the dude at my FAVORITE PIZZA PLACE I saw putting my pizza in the box with hands that looked like he shoveled manure for 8 hours, please… wash your hands. Put gloves on, and respect the paying customer. Does a grown man or woman really have to be told this? I’m sure this is going to offend some people (those that don’t wear gloves and are in food service) but to you I say, “GROW UP”. If people are being told to stick a needle in their arms and have God knows what injected in them to protect YOU from COVID, the least you can do for me is to toss on some gloves.

PS. It is cold and it’s flu season as well.

Just sayin’.

Your pal, looking for a new favorite pizza joint…

Jen

SAYONARA SEARS?

Is this the last Christmas for SEARS? Sears was once the world’s largest and most successful and most important retailer. Since filing for bankruptcy in 2018, the number of “full line” Sears still open is a measly 15. The closest to us is Braintree, Mass. It’s been a slow, quiet demise for the chain whose groundbreaking catalogue and anchor slots at many malls nationwide once made SEARS the Walmart and Amazon of its day. SEARS on Main Street in Pawtucket near the Providence line was a “go to” one stop holiday shopping destination but it was razed along with Anderson Little and Sullivan Bowling Lanes back in 2015 to make way for an LA Fitness and a parking lot. Ron’s mother took him there to buy a Beatles wig when he was 8.

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VISITING SANTA

Jen’s visit to Santa was in Woonsocket. Santa’s Hut was at the end of Main Street by the bridge. Ron’s Santa visit was at SHARTGENBERG’S Department store at one time the largest retail store located on Main Street in Pawtucket. Neither Santa said we’d shoot our eye out.

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PEACOCK  PARADE

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was a huge success for NBC. 27.7 million viewers tuned in to the iconic holiday event. It was the Peacock network’s highest rated entertainment program of the year. The parade was reportedly boosted by an appearance by Mariah Carey who “performed” her holiday hit, “All I Want for Christmas Is You”. We use the word “performance” lightly as he lip-syncing presentation got trolled on Social Media.

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WORD OF THE YEAR

All kinds of “___ ” of the year start rolling out right after Christmas. Merriam-Webster’s beating everyone to the punch with its choice of “words of the year.” The publishing company has chosen GASLIGHTING for the word’s rise in usage of the past several years as misinformation  and conspiracy theories spring up on the internet. GASLIGHTING is defined both as the “psychological manipulation of a person” and the “act or practice of grossly misleading someone”.  Merriam-Webster describes it as a “word for our time.” We’ll say!

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Ron St. Pierre is a veteran broadcaster whose career has spanned over four decades. Ron has programmed, performed on and managed WHJJ, WPRO, WWRX, 790 The Score in Providence, as well as WBZT and WKGR in West Palm Beach and WABC in New York City. Ron also anchored sports on WPRI Ch 12 in Providence. He is a member of both the Rhode Island Radio and Television and the City of Pawtucket Halls of Fame. He was born and raised in Pawtucket.

Jen Brien has over 20 years of radio broadcast experience having hosted shows on WPRO and WHJJ with Ron as well as her own shows on WRKO and WBZ in Boston, WXTK on Cape Cod and WHAM in Rochester, New York. Jen was born and raised in Woonsocket and served six years in the Army MP Canine Unit.

Hazel, Ron’s dog, makes regular appearances.

“Ron and Jen’s Great Escape” podcast, a more lighthearted look at the events happening around us, can be found on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts, with new episodes premiering each Wednesday and listen to Ron and Jen’s Great Escape call in radio show Friday afternoons 2 til 4 on 101.1 FM, 1540 WADK and streaming everywhere on WADK.COM.

Go here to read all Ron & Jen’s columns: https://rinewstoday.com/ron-st-pierre-jen-brien/