Personal Phone Call Peeve
Steve Pittard
Employees and attendants who interrupt and/or hold up the flow of work
because of long personal phones calls. This is quite common in the mall
scene where there are larger numbers of "younger" workers. I went into a
bookstore to purchase a magazine and it took much longerthan I wanted it
to because the clerk was conducting an intimate convertsation with her
boy/girl friend. She was completely oblivious to the ever growing line of
people at the check out counter. After she said "I love you too" about 10
times she begrudgingly hung up the phone and looked at me like I had
violated her personal space by hearing portions of her conversation. (The
whole store could).
At a nearby liquor store , there is this guy who thinks nothing of making
you wait while he gabs on the phone with his bookie. Actually, I have
never seen this guy without a phone in his ear. also, from what I can hear
of the phone conversations this guy isn't a very successful gambler.
Now .. I wonder if the guy in the liquor store is really talking with the
clerk at the bookstore ???? Maybe the "I love you" phrase is a betting
code. Nahh..
Laura Potler
>Peeve:
>Employees and attendants who interrupt and/or hold up the flow of work
>because of long personal phones calls. This is quite common in the mall
softly tap them on the shoulder. when they look up (annoyed, as they always
are), say "where's the manager?"
this *is* exactly what a manager is for. if there's no manager on duty, try
"well, i'm not gonna wait all day". then leave your intended purchases on
the counter for the waitron to put away and exit, stage left.
-l "if they don't want my money, that's just fine with me" p
--
-lp *********************************************************************
* that whole "dogs playing poker" thing is a myth. have you ever *
* known a dog who didn't blatantly telegraph his emotions? *
**************************************************************************
Geoff Miller
us...@clams.cc.emory.edu (Steve Pittard) writes:
>Peeve: Employees and attendants who interrupt and/or hold up the flow
>of work because of long personal phones calls.
I once went to a Supercuts-like haircutting parlor, and the young female
clerk was chattering away on the phone. I stood there for a good two or
three minutes waiting for her to acknowledge my presence and take my name,
to no avail. I was in a big hurry because I was running late. The fact
that what I was running late for was a funeral didn't put me into any
better a frame of mind. (Oddly, Lufthansa's restored Ju-52/3m, on a
promotional tour, was circling noisily overheard at the time. That added
a Kafkaesque air of surrealism, and I'd have been highly appreciative of
this rare sight on any other day, but the noise only served to raise my
blood pressure another notch.)
Finally, I bellowed, "Goddammit, I'm in a hurry!" and shoved the door
open. Looking back on it, I should've focused my anger a little more
directly -- what I should've done was walk up to the counter, stare
daggers at the dumb little airhead, and bellow, "WILL YOU GET OFF THAT
FUCKING TELEPHONE AND GIVE ME SOME SERVICE, YOU DUMB LITTLE BIMBO?
REMEMBER ME? I'M THE CUSTOMER!," hopefully causing her to go pale and
wide-eyed and maybe even reducing her to tears -- and teaching her an
indelible Lesson In Life in the process. But I didn't. I will the next
time something like that happens, though.
Believe it or not, I don't go around looking for excuses to get annoyed at
such people. I'm actually very polite and easygoing most of the time,
probably, at least in part, because I've spent my share of the time working
with the public and I can empathize. But I find that more and more often,
I'm put into the position of having to pull out the heavy artillery in order
to get what I want.
Geoff
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
Geoff Miller + + + + + + + + Sun Microsystems
geo...@purplehaze.Corp.Sun.COM + + + + + + + + Menlo Park, California
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
Laura Potler
>directly -- what I should've done was walk up to the counter, stare
>daggers at the dumb little airhead, and bellow, "WILL YOU GET OFF THAT
>FUCKING TELEPHONE AND GIVE ME SOME SERVICE, YOU DUMB LITTLE BIMBO?
>REMEMBER ME? I'M THE CUSTOMER!," hopefully causing her to go pale and
>wide-eyed and maybe even reducing her to tears -- and teaching her an
>indelible Lesson In Life in the process. But I didn't. I will the next
>time something like that happens, though.
why do you think she'd care what you bellowed? she doesn't care how long
you stand there. let's face it, you could have a banana in your navel and
nobody'd look up in most of these haircut places.
peeve: people that think they're intimidating just because they yell.
-l "now if you'd brought a gun..." p
Geoff Miller
l "l" p writes:
>why do you think she'd care what you bellowed? she doesn't care how long
>you stand there.
Hell yes, she'd care. She wasn't consciously ignoring me, she was just
caught up in her own little world, oblivious to her responsibilities.
A touch of Forced Consciousness Expansion would've been both appropriate
and effective.
>peeve: people that think they're intimidating just because they yell.
Sheesh. Your typical 17-year-old girl is very easily intimidated,
especially by large, loud, irate males with murder in their eyes.
David Farley
<peeve about lousy service at hair salon.>
>>
>Finally, I bellowed, "Goddammit, I'm in a hurry!" and shoved the door
>open. Looking back on it, I should've focused my anger a little more
>directly -- what I should've done was walk up to the counter, stare
>daggers at the dumb little airhead, and bellow, "WILL YOU GET OFF THAT
>FUCKING TELEPHONE AND GIVE ME SOME SERVICE, YOU DUMB LITTLE BIMBO?
>REMEMBER ME? I'M THE CUSTOMER!," hopefully causing her to go pale and
>wide-eyed and maybe even reducing her to tears -- and teaching her an
>indelible Lesson In Life in the process. But I didn't. I will the next
>time something like that happens, though.
Just imagine the really nice haircut you would have gotten. If
America's future is in offering "services" SuperCuts ought to be on
the corporate death row. The last time I tried to get a hair cut at
the local one, I walked into an empty shop with three "stylists"
sitting around reading "People" magazine. One of them finally got
up, looked in a book and told me if I wanted to get a haircut, there
would be a 45 minute wait. "Why?" I asked, seeing how I was the only
customer in the store. "Because people have appointments." At the time,
I couldn't wait around for 45 minutes so I asked "Can I make an appointment
for later?" "No - you can only walk in and sign up for a SuperCut."
"Then why do you have all these people on this book with appointments?"
"They were here earlier and they're all going to come back soon." After
this exercise in studied laziness I haven't darkened their SuperDoor since.
Peeve: I only went there because they charge $10. Every other barber in
Hyde Park charges $15-20 and you get whatever haircut they decide
to give you anyway.
Peeve: They're still in business.
--
David Farley The University of Chicago Library
312 702-3426 1100 East 57th Street, JRL-210
dg...@midway.uchicago.edu Chicago, Illinois 60637
Greg Moritz
> Peeve: I only went there because they charge $10. Every other
> barber in Hyde Park charges $15-20 and you get whatever
> haircut they decide to give you anyway.
!Peeve: I got my hair cut by someone who 'owes' me about ten or
twenty haircuts for FREE! because of all of my dedicated
accounting tutoring.
Just about the best haircut I've ever gotten. Keen.
HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! .....
My accounting degree *is* good for something.
> Peeve: They're still in business.
That is because some people don't equate time with money.
They never will.
They also don't equate money with money.
Hence: - the furniture and appliance rental industry.
- 0% loans
- et al
They never will.
Geoff Miller
dg...@quads.uchicago.edu (David Farley) writes:
>If America's future is in offering "services" SuperCuts ought to
>be on the corporate death row.
I don't understand how they stay in business either, unless it's some
kind of brand-name thing whereby people equate Supercuts with the
concept of the genric unisex haircutting parlor, much like the way
everyone calls tissues "Kleenexes" regardless of the actual brand.
I've long since stopped going to Supercuts, but before I did, every time
I went into one of those places the waiting area was overflowing and I
was told that there'd be a 45-minute wait. So, as I've mentioned before,
I found a clone of Supercuts that's proven to be very satisfactory. But
what mystifies me is why people put up with the wait and the indifferent
service when there are alternatives.
I'm not about to go to a traditional barbershop, because it's my experience
that most barbers are trapped in the early Sixties when it comes to cutting
hair. Still, there are lots of independent stylists around, like the guy
Brian Scearce turned me on to. He wasn't able to fit me in at the time and
he was a few French fries short of a Happy Meal, but it goes to show that
alternatives exist.
Logan Shaw
>!Peeve: I got my hair cut by someone who 'owes' me about ten or
> twenty haircuts for FREE! because of all of my dedicated
> accounting tutoring.
>
> Just about the best haircut I've ever gotten. Keen.
>
> HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! .....
>
> My accounting degree *is* good for something.
!Peeve: I used to go out with a girl named Barbara, who had gone to
cosmetology school when she was 18 or so. Once, she asked me to do her a
favor and offered to take me out to dinner if I'd do whatever it was for
her. I did the favor for her and asked her to cut my hair instead of taking
me to dinner. It was the most enjoyable haircut I've had - we were out on
the balcony of my apartment, it was a nice day, and she was cutting my hair.
The really cool thing was that she cut it in a way that I actually liked,
which makes sense considering I really liked her hair, too.
ObPeeve: In a minute, I'm going to finish editing this file, and then the
'nn' software will try to post it. It, of course, will fail as it always
does. Then, a few minutes later I'll get mail back saying it failed, which I
will save to a file and edit and actually post with Pnews. If Pnews can
do it, why can't nn?
BonusPeeve: Tease software. Tease software is software that promises a
whole bunch of wonderful features and merits, and (on the whole) meets your
expectations, but which has one or two bugs which are so thoroughly and
completely infuriating and frustrating that they make the software unusable.
For instance, nn is tease software. It has a good interface and is certainly
better than all the alternatives. However, there are a few things that
just annoy the snot out of me: you can't hit ^Z to pause the program -
it intercepts the signal and exits. Wow, what a wonderful way to save
system resources and discourage excessive newsreading. Grrrr...
Adios,
Logan
P.S.: Now the followup has failed in nn and here I am using Pnews, just
like I said. Obviously, I'm still peeved.
--
_ / _ I do not
Logan _///_ speak for
Shaw _ / _ Dell
_ / _ Computers
David Farley
>dg...@quads.uchicago.edu (David "long-hair" Farley) peeved:
>
>> Peeve: I only went there because they charge $10. Every other
>> barber in Hyde Park charges $15-20 and you get whatever
>> haircut they decide to give you anyway.
>
>!Peeve: I got my hair cut by someone who 'owes' me about ten or
> twenty haircuts for FREE! because of all of my dedicated
> accounting tutoring.
>
> Just about the best haircut I've ever gotten. Keen.
>
> HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! .....
>
> My accounting degree *is* good for something.
>
I don't mind being David "long hair" Farley except that I now have a
Grandpa Munster style puff of hair growing out of one side of my head
that won't behave itself and lie down. (hmmm - maybe if I rubbed garlic
in it...) I could go whole-hog for the Grandpa Munster look (cape, pinky
ring, pancake makeup) but that really isn't a summertime look. (Although
the library has any supermarket I've been in beaten cold for obnoxious
blasting air conditioning.)
Peeve: My wife keeps bugging me to let her cut my hair because "she
used to cut all her Grandmother's dogs' hair and they always came
out nice." So far I've resisted this temptation. I'd rather look like
like Grandpa Munster than Benji.
Laura Potler
>
>Peeve: My wife keeps bugging me to let her cut my hair because "she
>used to cut all her Grandmother's dogs' hair and they always came
>out nice." So far I've resisted this temptation. I'd rather look like
>like Grandpa Munster than Benji.
!peeve: that there were men (several actually) that let me cut their hair.
most came back for more. it was bizarre really. i said "yeah, i can
cut your hair" and they believed me. weirdness.
peeve: the way their hair turned out.
!peeve: i was as good as the average supercuts/hair cuttery cutter. this
is not really a compliment.
-l "um, yeah! i can cut hair! that's the ticket!" p
Tim Mefford
|>
|> I'm not about to go to a traditional barbershop, because it's my experience
|> that most barbers are trapped in the early Sixties when it comes to cutting
|> hair. Still, there are lots of independent stylists around, like the guy
|> Brian Scearce turned me on to. He wasn't able to fit me in at the time and
|> he was a few French fries short of a Happy Meal, but it goes to show that
|> alternatives exist.
|>
That's the beauty of the old striped pole, so to speak. Where else can
you step back in time into an era where the country was simpler,
less complicated, and innocent? Besides, those goofy Cleaveresque
haircuts seem to be experiencing a comeback. Not too long ago I
went to Megacuts dropped down my ten bucks and got my appearance
completely mutilated. I came back home, took a pair of barber's
shears I have and took off another couple inches. This necessitated
the decision to leave it long in back. I guess I'll have to find
someone I trust enough to do the back sooner or later, or maybe just
grow a tail.
Anyway, it looked a hell of a lot better than the 21 year old bimbo had
left it. Think about it. If these Vogue reading, GSL defaulting,
phone chatting, gibbering gibbons can do it, it can't really be that
difficult. I think many years of having to deal with bad haircuts,
stubborn follicles, and big cowlicks make me better qualified to
understand my own hair than six months at some fly-by-night "beauty"
school. Consider some of the choices these people make regarding their
own appearance before you entrust them with yours.
p.s. if none of my e-mail got to Andy, Hi Andy.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"The ripples of sand at his feet suddenly looked like the motionless
crests of waves. Supposing they were sound waves, what kind of
music would they give? he wondered. Maybe even a human being could
sing such a song ... if tongs were driven into his nose and slimy
blood stopped up his ears ... if his teeth were broken one by one
with hammer blows, and splinters jammed into his urethra ... if a
vulva were cut away and sewn onto his eyelids. It might resemble
cruelty, and then again it might be a little different."
-Kobo Abe _The Woman_in_the_Dunes_
------Tim Mefford t...@physics.orst.edu-----------------------------
Geoff Miller
lo...@deathstar.dell.com (Logan Shaw) writes:
>It was the most enjoyable haircut I've had - we were out on the balcony
>of my apartment, it was a nice day, and she was cutting my hair.
And all of a sudden you found yourselves au naturel, writhing on the
balcony in animal passion, right? Don't worry, it happens to all of
us.
Geoff "The pine-scented breeze caressed their naked asses" Miller
Blair Haworth
>lo...@deathstar.dell.com (Logan Shaw) writes:
[alfresco tonsophilia (three lingua in two words, how's that for
bastardization?) elided]
>And all of a sudden you found yourselves au naturel, writhing on the
>balcony in animal passion, right? Don't worry, it happens to all of
>us.
Peeve: Not on the last balcony _I_ had, it didn't. It overlooked one of
the swampier stretches of the Charles River, and any day you the weather
was good enough to use the thing, the only writhing animal passion came
from the mosquitoes when they heard the dinner bell. Not a place to
expose tender vascular bits.
>Geoff "The pine-scented breeze caressed their naked asses" Miller
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
No relation to Chris, perchance?
--
The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Campus Office for Information
Technology, or the Experimental Bulletin Board Service.
internet: laUNChpad.unc.edu or 152.2.22.80
M Holmes
took all our money and gave it away to the Third World. Then they took
all our money and used it to build huge office blocks that nobody will
buy between now and when the Sun goes nova. And despite such spectacular
demonstrations of a complete and utter lack of financial acumen, if a
customer should have the temerity to ask for a loan, they were subjected
to a personal Third Degree much of which would have made Torquemada
jealous.
Then these financial geniuses and whizz kids figured taht they'd better
find ways to get the money back. And since the shareholders were getting
uppity, a Rights Issue was out of the question, so they decided to bleed
the customer.
And banking has become a strange thing in the last three years. First
there came charges on credit cards. Not only are people required to pay
usurious interest if they don't pay the whole whack at the end of the
month but now they have to pay for the joy of just having the card.
Then came charges for standing orders and cheques. And now some banks
are beginning to charge if you take money from your own account from a
terminal of another bank.
Things were bound to get crazy though, and yesterday, they did:
A friend went into one of the Scottish Bank branches yesterday to pay a
phone bill. She had the money in cash:
Teller: I'm sorry, but we'll have to charge you two Pounds if you pay in cash.
Friend: (stunned and bafled) With cash? Money? Into a bank?
Teller: Yes, there's a charge for paying cash. If you paid by cheque,
that'd be different...
Friend: But last week, I paid the Gas bill by cheque, and you charged me
for that.
Teller: Well there's a two Pounds charge for paying cash.
So there you have it. Banks will charge you not only to keep your money
there, or do anything with it but also to get it in there in the first
place.
Now, using the Amazing Friends Of Fernando Poo FutureVision Software, I
can predict the next stage:
It's a dark and misty night. Robbers have spent all night tunneling into
the bank vault from the derelict building next door. They've just blown
the safe, and are passing large mailbags in a bucket-line out to the van
parked upstairs. They're going to be very rich soon......
The door to the derelict building creaks open, the light of a torch
highlights the dust motes in the air. A light is switched on and they
see....
A smiling young girl in a crisp white shirt and grey blouse and matching
skirt.
"I'm sorry sir, but there's a charge on bank robberies....."
FoFP
--
So let's not talk of love and flowers | -- "Urban Guerilla"
And things that don't explode | Hawkwind chart single,
We've used up all of our magic powers | withdrawn after the 1974
Trying to do it in the road... | Tower bombings
A. Jing Hippy
|>
|> ObPeeve: In a minute, I'm going to finish editing this file, and then the
|> 'nn' software will try to post it. It, of course, will fail as it always
|> does. Then, a few minutes later I'll get mail back saying it failed, which I
|> will save to a file and edit and actually post with Pnews. If Pnews can
|> do it, why can't nn?
|>
|> BonusPeeve: Tease software. Tease software is software that promises a
|> whole bunch of wonderful features and merits, and (on the whole) meets your
|> expectations, but which has one or two bugs which are so thoroughly and
|> completely infuriating and frustrating that they make the software unusable.
|> For instance, nn is tease software. It has a good interface and is certainly
|> better than all the alternatives. However, there are a few things that
|> just annoy the snot out of me: you can't hit ^Z to pause the program -
|> it intercepts the signal and exits. Wow, what a wonderful way to save
|> system resources and discourage excessive newsreading. Grrrr...
|>
|> Adios,
|> Logan
|>
|> P.S.: Now the followup has failed in nn and here I am using Pnews, just
|> like I said. Obviously, I'm still peeved.
OK, Geoff, I just want to be sure that I'm completely clear on the concept.
Is this, or is this not, a compunerdy peeve? What about a compugeeky peeve?
What is the difference, after all?
Peeve: Being slow on the uptake.
+--------------------------------------------------+
|Dave Cochran, Data General Corporation, RTP, NC |
|coc...@dg-rtp.dg.com |
+--------------------------------------------------+
|"No! I meant a *Bud* light!" -- David Koresh |
+--------------------------------------------------+
Thomas A. Dennis
Miller) writes:
>Finally, I bellowed, "Goddammit, I'm in a hurry!" and shoved the door
>open. Looking back on it, I should've focused my anger a little more
>directly -- what I should've done was walk up to the counter, stare
>daggers at the dumb little airhead, and bellow, "WILL YOU GET OFF THAT
>FUCKING TELEPHONE AND GIVE ME SOME SERVICE, YOU DUMB LITTLE BIMBO?
>REMEMBER ME? I'M THE CUSTOMER!," hopefully causing her to go pale and
>wide-eyed and maybe even reducing her to tears -- and teaching her an
>indelible Lesson In Life in the process. But I didn't. I will the next
>time something like that happens, though.
Here's a better idea: instead of yelling at the clerk--which they may use to
have you banned from the premises, and will no doubt provide them with grist
for customer-service horror stories--walk right past them and find a
higher-ranking worker, preferably in the "employees only" area. (If the clerk
gets off of the phone just long enough to tell you that "You can't go in there"
IGNORE THEM. It's a free country.) Go up to the manager, supervisor or
whoever has the biggest office or desk, smile sweetly, and say, "Your customer
service representative is busy making a personal phone call. Could you help
me?" If they're busy, interrupt them. If they get pissed off at you for
tresspassing, leave; you don't want to patronize their business anyway. If no
one is in the back room, lurk around for a while, until the clerk gets off the
phone and comes looking for you; poke in file drawers, play with everyone's
desk toys, sing loudly and off-key.
If you can get them fired, great; if they overcompensate to try and keep from
getting shitcanned, even better.
--
Tom Dennis | "Our children have left us and we have no heads
Urbana, IL | We drink and we sing and we drink and we die."
(217) 384-2504 | Denis Leary, "Traditional Irish Folk Song"
242 lbs before cooking
>OK, Geoff, I just want to be sure that I'm completely clear on the concept.
Obviously. "Argue with a fool and people may not be able to tell you
apart." Keep this in mind next time you're considering replying to
Baldwin. But you had something else on your mind, didn't you ...
>Is this, or is this not, a compunerdy peeve? What about a compugeeky peeve?
Well, let's take a look at it, shall we?
>|> ObPeeve: In a minute, I'm going to finish editing this file, and then the
>|> 'nn' software will try to post it.
Ah, the old "my newsreader is broken" peeve. In almost all its forms,
this peeve is so mundane, so common, so meaningless that most people
don't even notice. I didn't until you brought it to my attention.
We all use newsreaders, and sometimes they don't do what we want.
Logan didn't get propellor-headed over this (I'm not even sure he's
capable), and my decision is that this is a news peeve, not a
compu-twathead peeve, even if it was worded from a Unix-centric
perspective.
>|> BonusPeeve: Tease software. Tease software is software that promises a
>|> whole bunch of wonderful features and merits, and (on the whole) meets your
>|> expectations, but which has one or two bugs which are so thoroughly and
>|> completely infuriating and frustrating that they make the software unusable.
Once again, there's no indication of flood-water pants or holstered
calculators, here. Logan didn't go into the intricacies of anything
that couldn't be understood by the average sit-com viewer. "Computers
are good, but sometimes they don't do things right." If this were
three decades earlier, and Mr. Shaw had a little more horsepower under
the skullcap, he could have authored "2001." That he considers this a
"tease" simply means that his mind is on over-moussed bimboes in white
VW Cabriolets. A symptom, but not indicting evidence, of nerddom.
>|> For instance, nn is tease software. It has a good interface and is certainly
>|> better than all the alternatives.
Now he's skipping rope on the ragged edge of the nerd abyss. Use of the
word "interface" is circumstantially damning, except it's become a
buzzword that every talking head on the marketing-and-sales floor uses
without the slightest idea of what they're talking about. *In fact*,
Logan used it in just such a manner, wording his accusation in such a
way that the non-computer-literate would understand: There's only one
interface that makes a damn bit of difference, and that's the one I
can see.
>|> However, there are a few things that
>|> just annoy the snot out of me: you can't hit ^Z to pause the program -
>|> it intercepts the signal and exits.
Shit. I could've waged a decent defense until I saw this sentence.
The "hit ^Z" comment could be made to slide simply by using the "lacks
depth of knowledge" comment, as above. The fact that he bandies terms
that have specific but non-intuitive meanings in his system of choice
pegs this article as compunerdly.
>|> Wow, what a wonderful way to save
>|> system resources and discourage excessive newsreading. Grrrr...
Too late to save yourself now.
Recommended sentencing: mandatory display of a pocket protector, a bad
haircut, a case of zits, and black electrical tape on the glasses.
>What is the difference, after all?
A geek is a competent nerd. You need no special skills to be a nerd,
other than such acute tunnel-vision that it shows in every aspect of
your life. A geek, using an etymologically correct analogy, is
someone who not only knows *of* biting the heads off chickens, but can
do it, as well. Hope this helps.
>Peeve: Being slow on the uptake.
That's what makes you such a good playmate.
drew
ba...@abingdon.sun.com
--
Is that animal testing as in...
"Hey, God, we just power cycled this new model aardvark and it blew a fuse.
Should we repair it and put it in for soak testing or just shove it in the
rejects bin for spare parts?" ...or the other sort? -Al Crawford
Jenni Crawford
>
>this *is* exactly what a manager is for. if there's no manager on duty, try
>"well, i'm not gonna wait all day". then leave your intended purchases on
>the counter for the waitron to put away and exit, stage left.
Well, I tried something like this once. Of course, I should have
known better than to try it at an airport, but there you are. A
certain person whose name I will not mention for the usual reasons, is
a bit paranoid (although he would probably prefer the term
"over-cautious"). The last time I went on a trip, he insisted that I
get some sort of traveller's insurance or he would be afraid to let me
cross the street because I would obviously get hit by a bus that has
no insurance, and then I would have to go to the hospital and I
wouldn't have any insurance, and then they would leave me to rot on
the sidewalk/pavement and it would all be my fault because I should
expect things like this to happen in The Land Of The Permanent Bus
Peeves. But I digress.
Anyway, being me, I left the insurance thing until the last minute,
the last minute being located at National Airport. I picked up
one of the little flyer things, filled it out, wrote a check, and
went up to the desk where there were four people working (in the
same way that "Men Working" are working) and stood there. After a
couple of minutes, since I was the only one at the counter at that
point, I said, "Excuse me." The person closest to me, who looked
like she was in charge, said, "Hang on," while she continued her
leisurely perusal of some papers that happened to be lying about.
After a couple more minutes, I raised my voice a little, and said
in my coldest tone, "Perhaps it would be more convenient for you
if I took my business to [x other place that does the same thing]?"
She said, "Yeah, it probably would."
Perhaps it was that I was 23 and didn't look like I was about to
pull a gun, and she was probably 40 and looked like she had
reached the height of her ambition by working in an airport
insurance booth, I don't know. But she got her wish. I went
elsewhere.
Peeve: There is a man who often does laundry when I am waiting for
my clothes to dry. He always peeks in at his clothes while they
are washing, usually 5 or 6 times a cycle. Usually, he does
it while blowing cigarette smoke on my nice clean clothes. Now, it
wasn't that long ago that I was a smoker myself, however, even
then, I liked to be able to *wear* my clothes before they had to
smell like stale smoke. But even so, why does he feel the need
to look at his laundry so often? Does he think it does really
exciting things in there when he's not looking? It's not like he
actually *does* anything when he looks at it, he just lifts the
lid and looks at it for a bit, and then closes the lid. And no,
I'm not talking about Mike Holmes.
Jeffrey B. Zurschmeide
>I'm not about to go to a traditional barbershop, because it's my experience
>that most barbers are trapped in the early Sixties when it comes to cutting
>hair.
Why not, Geoff? They'll be the only people with living memory of the *real*
Howdy-Doody...
JZ