On Friday, May 13, 2016 at 10:43:14 AM UTC-4, philo wrote:
On 05/13/2016 04:07 AM, Sam I Am wrote:
On 05/12/2016 10:02 AM, philo wrote:
A guy pulled up to my neighbor's house in a pickup truck. There is a
refrigerator and dolly in the bed. He's standing around looking like
he needs help.
What's the best thing for me to do...close my shades and curtains...or
is simply pulling my shades "good enough?"
I don't want to be rude.

Two competent people can safely unload a refrigerator from a pickup truck.
However, how can you possibly know how competent the truck driver is?

In a situation like this, I'd hide. ;-)



yep, my wife and I went shopping and when I returned home I wrote this



Grocery Line Queue



Let's face it, I'm a ruthless asshole and we are all ruthless assholes.
Some of us simply know how to behave in public. Most of us try.

So here I am in the grocery store and we all hate that experience.
Standing in line behind some €œjerk€� who has too many groceries who
remembers...after the sale...his coupons. Even Guru Raghavendra is
cursing €œthat moron€� and the cashier who is €œnot the brightest bulb€� in
the economy pack of 100 watters.

And time's a wastin'.

Here we are in a country where any possible food we could want is at our
fingertips 24 hours a day and affordable. Half the earth's people will
never have this luxury and it may take weeks or months of grueling hard
labor just to eke out a few crumbs of sustenance.

€œSorry I'm late dear, it was horrible. I had to stand in line for 15
goddamned minutes! I'll never go to that store again! Disgusting!€�

Yesterday, like a million other days was one of the above.

As I finally got my goods on the conveyor, the blank-looking woman asked
me the same required and generic question she's been saying by rote 500
times a day for the last 500 years, €œDid you find everything all right?€�

I was so utterly disgusted by the whole ordeal that I said sarcastically
to my wife, €œ Did we find everything all right?€� Then sarcastically say
to the cashier, €œHow nice of you to ask.€�


Weird. As soon as the words €œhow nice€� came out of my mouth the sarcasm
melted, fell through a crack in the floor and vanished. Really? Oh my, I
really meant it by the time my sentence was completed!


While my 4 kids were growing up, I coached and/or assisted with various teams
in multiple sports. I always informed the parents of my players of the "24
hour" rule.

"If you get upset by something you see on the field, on the benches or in the
stands, and assuming that the situation is not safety related, I ask that you
wait 24 hours before bringing the situation up with a coach, an umpire, your
child, another parent, etc. If after 24 hours you are still upset by the
situation, then by all means contact whoever you think is appropriate."

While it was not a rule that I could actually enforce, it did plant the seed
for parents to think about a "cooling off" period before confronting someone
while in a state of anger. I have been told by many parents that it worked for
them not only in the "sports world" but in other situations also. During the
"delay" they either had a chance to think about both sides of the situation or
realized that the issue wasn't as important as they originally thought.

I often find myself using the 24 rule in my own life. "OK, I'm ****ed. Does
this have to be dealt with right now or should I calm down first?" Most times,
I calm down and then I can deal with the situation more rationally or even
not deal with it at all.


As the groceries were being tabulated, my wife efficiently bagged them
and the cashier and I chatted about everything under the sun. She closed
her line and told the man approaching she was going €œon break.€�

When everything was bagged, carted and paid for we continued talking for
quite some time. When we bid each other adieu and parted good friends, I
saw her running towards the bathroom.