This weekend turned out ok, I guess. Friday night we headed out to play pool with Mitch and Tom. Tom and I beat Mitch and Terri just about every game.
Saturday was the sacchrine sweet holiday of Valentine's Day. I think Terri and I said Happy Valentine's Day in the morning and that was the extent of it for the rest of the day. We didn't even exchange cards. My Uncle Donny and Aunt Lu came down to visit their son (my cousin) who lives near Oakland. They had been reading through some old stuff on the city and decided that they wanted to eat at Primanti Brothers in the Strip District. I had forgotten how crowded the Strip District was on a Saturday afternoon. The sandwiches were good though. Sunday started the "Nextel" Cup Season. That will take some getting used to. The big one this year involved last year's winner Michael Waltrip. And, since DEI dominates the restrictor plate races that left Junior to step up and claim his first Daytona 500 win. It took his dad 20 years to win the Daytona 500. Junior did it in 5. He also made a really nice move around Tony Stewart to take the lead with about 30 laps or so to go.
Now, to clarify Friday's statements...I don't immediately assume that the kid with the 3 feet of boxers is an idiot (well, ok, in my head I do). The person that set this whole rant into motion was actually in the outer office. I never saw him. I only heard him. He might have had on a 3 piece suit complete with gold cufflinks and a leather briefcase. Or, he might have been the guy with the red mohawk. However, instead of stating his problem calmly and quietly, his voice kept escalating. Then he started tossing around the phrase, "You are disrespecting me. I have never been so disrespected in my life." He came here with some sort of a problem and when the solution presented to him was not satisfactory, he resorted to screaming and yelling about his lack of respect. My point was that I could never see someone like King or even Ford screaming that phrase. If boxer boy walked into the office with the same problem, calmly explained what he needed the solution to be and then not finding the solution to his liking simply said, "I'll be taking this up with your superiors." He would have earned a lot more of my respect. The guy that was actually in the office headed for the elevators saying that the supervisor here was, "a fuckin' shriveled old hag." Now, that's a lack of respect.
So, that counters what I actually meant. Although I do make snap judgements based on clothing, etc. I don't let that interfere with the interaction between our office and the customer. And Buntz, I feel your pain. When I did the tour of duty through fast-food, etc. I was treated like crap. I was actually taunted because I wouldn't work during the week because of college. However, I look at this office to be a little more grown up. Just slightly.
And, to jump on Matt's comment, I think the parents that felt they had it rough need to explain to their children why they felt that way. Terri's little cousins each have their own TV's and Playstation 2's and VCR's, etc. in their bedroom. They are just slightly this side of spoiled, but most of the time you wouldn't know it because her Aunt does a decent job of parenting. I would like my children to have a better (no that's not the right word) easier time than I did, but I don't want to hand them everything and a platinum credit card. Just my two dollars I guess.
Tonight's my first test in several years. I actually cracked the books for this one, albeit just slightly. I didn't think my old trick of skimming the material and half-listening in class would cut it this time. Though, it used to work pretty damn well. Anyway, we'll see how it goes.