The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

We are right smack dab in the middle of the Holiday Season for 2011.  Houses are decorated, gifts are wrapped, and plans with friends and family are being made to spend time together.  Why is it then, that so many people get hung up on being offended?  I've seen several emails and links about how Christmas traditions and the holiday itself were "stolen" from the pagans and that they'd "like their holiday back" or that mainstream folks have no business celebrating with holly, trees, mistletoe, caroling, or any number of other traditions, especially since they don't know the significance of those things.  Really?  First of all, pagan can be many things.  At its heart, it's someone who doesn't follow the religious beliefs of the main world religions.  Some people who identify with paganism don't follow any religious beliefs at all while others are very religious in their interpretation.  Not all religious pagans worship the same gods.  So, who exactly "wants their religion back?"  Did the Christian Priests absorb the traditions of native peoples into their holiday?  You bet they did.  The new gods took the place of the old ones many times in many cultures and this is no exception.  But, there are more of us than you might think who do know exactly where our traditions come from and celebrate them with gusto.  I've also seen a cynical message that states that the holidays are horrible because by encouraging people to be kind at this time of year, it makes it OK to treat others wretchedly the rest of the year.  You've got to be kidding me.  I don't think even Evel Knieval could make that jump!  Who thinks like this?  But my favorite are the people who rant, rave, and shake with suppressed (and not so suppressed) rage against the "Happy Holidays" greeting.  I've heard someone say that the only appropriate greeting for December 25 is "Merry Christmas" and I've heard others say that using "Happy Holidays" is un-American.  I've received invites to boycott stores that have signs that say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" and I've been forced to listen to people rail against the "pc bullshit" that's being forced down their throats and denying their children their rightful heritage.  Seriously?  A store with a sign that says "Happy Holidays" is denying your kids their rightful heritage?  What planet are you on?  First of all, the word holiday comes from holy day, first used in the 12th century to describe a day free from work in recognition of a holy celebration.  Secondly, there are many holidays being celebrated this time of year.  Remember the song The 12 Days of Christmas?  Those 12 days (Christmastide) run from December 25 to January 5 and during that time is St. Stephen's Day (Boxing Day) and Childermas (Feast of the Innocents) which are celebrated in varying ways around the world. Not to mention New Years which we celebrate lavishly in this country.  Let's not forget the big three - Christmas (December 25), Hanukkah (December 20-28 this year. So much for "Merry Christmas" being the only appropriate greeting.) and Kwanza (December 26-January 1).  Acknowledging all of them does not take away from any of them.  I say "Happy Holidays" because I celebrate multiple holidays during this time of year and I don't always know which holiday other people celebrate.  Whatever greeting someone is kind enough to offer me during this season of celebration, I smile and wish them the same.  How hard is it to focus on the best things this season has to offer like celebration of family, culture, and community, freedom to worship as we choose or not to worship at all if that's our choice, being generous to those who aren't as fortunate as we are, and hope for the coming new year?  People behaving badly. 

I'm no Pollyanna, but I'm no Negative Nelly either

We all have bad days.  The kind of days where you wish you could just go back to bed and pull the covers over your head and get a do over.  (I had one of those days yesterday!  If it could go wrong, it did!)  Most of the time, those days are few and far between.  Why is it then that so many people like to wallow around in negativity?  I know several people who have decent jobs that like to gripe and complain continuously about how horrible it is to work at XYZ Corporation while so many others, who are willing to work, can't find a job at all.  Doesn't matter what they get paid, it's never enough. Doesn't matter who they work with, they're all jerks.  Doesn't matter who the client is, they're all idiots.  Doesn't matter what the schedule is, it's never good enough.  Really?  Ever stop to think maybe the problem isn't your job, it's you?  Same goes for those  women and men who complain endlessly about their relationships (or lack of) with the opposite sex.  All they can talk about is how everyone is a deadbeat or a user or selfish or shallow or just doesn't understand them.  Hmm.  Ever think that maybe if you weren't so bitter and judgmental all the time, you might attract a better type of partner or keep the one you have?  Just a thought.  Family; some days you'd kill for them, some days you just want to kill them.  I understand, really, I do.  I have some issues of my own and then some, but eventually you have to stop blaming your childhood for the direction your life is taking as an adult.  You do have choices. I'm not talking about people who were abused as children. (I am so not qualified to give anyone my opinion on that subject!)  I am talking about the rest of us that maybe had or still have a crummy relationship with family.  Guess what?  There are a lot of us!  You don't have a monopoly on that!  How long are you going to drag around that baggage? Or should I say let it drag you around?  And then there are the people who continuously deride anything and anyone they don't agree with.  Their mantra is "Accept me the way I am!" and they will complain bitterly and loudly if everyone doesn't do just that.  Problem is, they aren't willing to do that with everyone else.  Someone else's political views are different?  They're uninformed and ignorant!  Someone else's religious views are different?  They're narrow minded and ignorant!  Someone's decision to have kids is different?  They're selfish and ignorant!  Someone's sexual orientation is different?  They're not open minded and ignorant!  Funny thing is all these examples work regardless of which side of the argument you're on!   You don't have to agree with other people's opinions, but you also don't have to attack them at every opportunity either.  I like to think of people like this as Energy Vampires because their constant negativity just sucks the life right out of everyone who's around them.  No one wants to be around people who drag them down.  People behaving badly. 

No Service In Customer Service

Everyone has a horror story or two about receiving abysmal customer service somewhere.  Kids that don't have a clue what customer service is and really don't care, companies that locate their call centers in other countries, I could go on and on.  However, there are some places where customer service is so bad, it takes on epic proportions.  The DMV comes to mind.  Since everyone has to register their vehicles, we all end up there sooner or later.  There are specific requirements to getting your vehicle registered and these requirements are posted at the DMV itself as well as on their website.  Invariably some poor soul will show up, stand in line for an hour (since no one's in a hurry who works there) only to discover, once he reaches the window, that he's forgotten one of those required pieces.  It's his own fault that he didn't bring everything, but since there's no sense of urgency by any of the employees, a huge chunk of his time has been lost.  Once, while I was in line I saw this happen.  The man didn't get angry, he just sighed and left.  Instead of moving to the next person in line, the clerk came out from behind the counter with a highlighter and began highlighting the poster that listed what was needed, all the while loudly berating the "stupid people" who forgot and wasted her time.  I guess making us wait longer while she colored, didn't count.  Another place with wretched customer service is the Court House.  The County Clerk's Office in particular.  Once I went in to pay my property taxes in person since they had lost my check. (That's a whole other story!) At 2:30 in the afternoon, they were having a baby shower for one of the girls who worked in the office.  When I finally got a clerk to come up and help me, she acted as if I, and the other people in line, were a huge interruption of her day.  She actually complained that she wasn't getting to see the Mom-to-be open her gifts.  Really?  And my tax dollars are paying your salary?  The one that takes the cake is a local hospital in my area.  The back story is I live in a city that straddles two states.  My cell phone number is the same as a pediatric doctor, who deals with very, very sick kids, except for the area code.  I'm in one state, he's in another.  I get lots of calls from parents who are trying desperately to get in touch with their child's doctor.  I always call them back and direct them to the right place.  Not long ago, I saw that I had gotten a call from a number I didn't recognize and the message was garbled but I understood enough to know it was about a sick kid.  I called the number and got the operator for this particular hospital that will remain nameless.  I explained why I was calling and the woman interrupted me to say she couldn't help me.  I again tried to explain and she again interrupted, this time demanding to know if I was a patient.  When I said no and finally got to explain why I was calling, she very brusquely told me that there was no way to know who had called me since it was a hospital with many phone locations.  Basically her attitude was that she couldn't help me and didn't care.  I managed to keep my cool, thanked her and said I hoped the people who had called were eventually able to figure it out.  She said "Whatever" and hung up on me.  I sent a nasty letter to the hospital that afternoon.  You can't help me?  OK, I can deal with that, but there's absolutely no reason to be rude about it. Would it kill you to pretend to care? People behaving badly.

The Land Of Plenty (Plenty Wasteful)

The United States is a very rich country.  We have an abundance of resources and food that many other countries don't have.  In many cultures around the world, being overweight is a sign of prosperity because the majority of people in those countries are so poor they are never able to get enough food to be overweight.  Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio created a book called "Hungry Planet" that is a photographic study of 30 families from 24 countries.  One of the most insightful things about this book are the portraits of each family surrounded by a week's worth of the food they consume.  You can see a small sample of these portraits at "What the World Eats, Part 1" found at http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1626519,00.html. You should go there now.  It will open your eyes.  In our country, obesity is a national epidemic.  We come up with specialized diets that cut out entire food groups so we can lose weight.  We go to the gym where we walk, bike, and climb to nowhere to burn off the excess calories we consume.  Our grocery stores are packed with huge varieties of food that have to be shipped in from far off places so we can have "fresh" produce at any time of the year.  And yet, Americans THROW AWAY 27% of the food they buy.  An average family of four will THROW AWAY almost 122 pounds of food in a month.  In 1997, the Department of Agriculture estimated that Americans wasted 96.4 billion pounds of the 356 billion pounds of edible food.  That was the last year there was a study done on food waste.   Due to the state of the economy, donations to food pantries are down 9% but people showing up at food pantries for help has risen 20%.  In 2008, the Department of Agriculture reported that 1 out of every 21 American households were "Very Food Insecure."  That means that, at times during the year, the food intake of household members was reduced and their normal eating patterns were disrupted because the household lacked money and other resources for food. This means that people were hungry, "the uneasy or painful sensation caused by want of food."  I work part time in the food service industry and the amount of food that ends up in the garbage can is criminal.  My place of employment offers bottomless fries with most of our entrees.  I cannot tell you how often people will demand more fries and eat just 2 or 3.  The rest go into the trash.  The other day a family came in and the teenaged boy wanted fries as an appetizer.  He ate 2 baskets before his meal came out.  He ended up eating about a quarter of his meal and didn't want a to go box for the remainder because he "doesn't eat leftovers."  It also amazes me when parents let their little kids drink 2 or 3 kid cups of soda before their meal.  Kid cups are 12 ounces, the same size as a full can of soda.  Then, when their meal comes out, the kids take 1 or 2 bites and are done.  Guess where the rest of their meal goes?  You guessed it, the trash.  And these are the people that complain the loudest over the menu's prices.  Guess what?  It's not so expensive if you actually eat what you order!  A friend of mine lives near our city's biggest Farmer's Market.  A few days ago he posted a picture on Facebook of a dumpster full of produce that had been thrown away.  People won't buy produce that isn't "perfect" and they can't give it away once it's very, very ripe.  Into the trash it goes.  Drive through my neighborhood on trash day and see the food that gets thrown away.  How many hungry people could we feed on the food that we so carelessly and thoughtlessly discard?  I hear people complain all the time about the economy and the price of groceries.  People who do not know what hunger is.  Here's a thought: How about you stop throwing 27% of your food budget into the garbage.  People behaving badly.

A Flag T-Shirt Isn't Patriotism

Having just come off a three day weekend celebrating our nation's Independence with cookouts, picnics, trips to the lake, festivals and fireworks, I've once again been made aware of a few annoying habits people have when it comes to "patriotic" holidays.  I see them on Veterans Day, Memorial Day and Independence Day. These annoying habits reduce true patriotism to phony, jingoist, flag waving without any substance.  First of all, I am horrified that so many people don't have any idea what these holidays are really about.  Independence Day is the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence where 56 men basically put on paper that they were committing treason against England.  (Punishment for treason was death.)  By doing so, they put in motion a series of bloody events that made us a free country, free to govern ourselves.  Veterans Day started as Armistice Day, celebrating the end of World War I, and is now a day honoring all veterans of all wars.  Memorial Day is a day to remember and honor all soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice and gave their lives in war.  Flying the American Flag on your car on one of these holidays does not make you patriotic.  It's the same as flying the flag of your favorite sports team on your car on game day.  Patriotism is much more than that.  I also can't stand the people who see these holidays as simply a three day weekend where they can go to the lake or throw a big BBQ where the kids run around with super soakers and the adults look at it as an excuse to get drunk and fire off bottle rockets.  Really?  People gave their lives, both soldiers and civilians, so we have the right to elect our government instead of having a monarchy and all its trappings forced on us by hereditary succession.  We live in peace, so we're able to pretty much do whatever we want to do without worrying about showing our papers at checkpoints.  How hard is it to take a moment and remember why these are holidays?  How hard is it to teach this to your kids?  I also can't stand the people who use these holidays as an excuse to push their political agenda.  For instance, I kept seeing posts on fb about The Pledge of Allegiance with the line "My generation grew up reciting this every morning in school with my hand on my HEART. They no longer do it for fear of offending someone! Let's see how many AMERICANS will re-post this and not care about offending someone."  Here are some facts about the Pledge of Allegiance.  It was written in 1892, by Francis Bellamy, a Baptist minister and Christian Socialist.  (Look that one up!)  It's original form was "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."  In 1923, "my flag" became "to the flag of the United States of America" to avoid confusion for immigrants between their birth countries and the United States.  In 1940, the Supreme Court ruled that public school students (mainly Jehovah's Witnesses who see a flag salute to be idolatry) who did not wish to recite the pledge could be forced to.  Against their will.  A wave of intimidation and violence against Jehovah's Witnesses followed.  (Do we really want to go in that direction again?)  Then in 1943, the Supreme Court reversed their ruling stating "that public school students are not required to say the Pledge, concluding that "compulsory unification of opinion" violates the First Amendment." In a later opinion, the Court held that students are also not required to stand for the Pledge.  It wasn't until 1954 that the words "under God" were added on the basis that Abraham Lincoln used the words "that the nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom" in his Gettysburg address.  Most people who rant and rave about how the tradition of the Pledge of Allegiance is being trampled on, don't have the first clue about its history.  And, it has NOTHING to do with Independence Day, Memorial Day or Veterans Day.  It doesn't matter who is in the White House or which party has majority in congress, we're ALL Americans and we all should respect and honor our National Holidays instead of just "celebrating" them.  People behaving badly.

Cell Phone Misuse

Cell phones.  We all have them and they make life a thousand times easier.  Need to call home because you're running late?  Need to check your bank balance?  Need to make a doctor's appointment before they close?  No problem!  Cell phones make it possible.  I remember when we didn't have cell phones and to make any calls away from work or home you had to stop at a pay phone.  Of course, that was back when every gas station, mall and restaurant actually had pay phones.  You had to dig out a dime. (Because there was no such thing as dollar thingys that spit your bill back at you if it was wrinkled.)  When the cost went up to a quarter, people were outraged!  Ah, the good old days.  Now, we can make a call wherever we are.  Sometimes that's not a good thing.  Once I was in line waiting to board a plane and the woman in front of me was having a long conversation with someone who apparently was located at our destination.  Everyone around her was treated to the details of her hotel (which smelled funny), the exorbitant price of her latte, and how she needed to get her brows done.  When the conversation turned to where she and the mystery caller should go for dinner that night, the man in front of her turned around and asked if she needed any recommendations from the rest of us.  Apparently she didn't realize that she was holding everyone else hostage to her conversation.  Ever notice those signs at some coffee shops that state they won't wait on you if you're talking on your cell phone?  I always tip them extra because there are few things worse than being stuck in line behind someone who is trying to order a specialty coffee drink using the Mime Method.  Really?  You can't be bothered to put your call on hold long enough to order and instead resort to hand signals, eye rolls and exaggerated silent lip movements?  And you expect the barrista to get it right?  I work with a lot of high school and college kids in my part time second job and, almost without exception, every single one of them is constantly on their phone.  Sending texts, receiving texts, checking Facebook, playing games, etc.  Did I mention we work for the public?  Half the time they aren't even aware of what they're doing and they don't seem to grasp the concept that our customers CAN SEE THEM!  They're always so puzzled when one of those customers gets upset about the crappy customer service they're giving because instead of taking care of the customer, they're on their phone!  It's not an age thing you twits!  It's a customer service thing!  I hate people who find it necessary to be on their phones during presentations, at church or anytime someone else is speaking.  It's just plain rude.  Were you raised by wolves?  What really annoys me are the people who "drive" and use their cell phone.  Notice I put the word drive in quotation marks?  That's because when you're on your phone yapping or, God forbid, texting, you are incapable of driving!  Today, for instance, I was on my daily commute and for 5 miles there were signs stating that the right lane over an upcoming bridge was closed.  Everyone got over except for one bozo who was too busy jabbering on his phone to pay attention to the signs.  He just about caused an accident when he suddenly realized his lane was ending in 15 feet and veered over, cutting off a semi.  (Those things don't stop on a dime you know.)  Once I watched a teenage girl swerve all over the road, back and forth into oncoming traffic.  When I was finally able to get around her, I saw she was busy texting instead of busy driving.  I hope, for her parent's sake, that she's stopped doing that because if she doesn't manage to kill herself, she's going to kill someone else.  No conversation is worth dying for.  People behaving badly.

Driver's Ed Isn't On The Curriculum

So many people believe driving is a right instead of the privilege it really is.  They get behind the wheel of their vehicle and suddenly they are King of the Road.  (In their own minds at any rate.)  They have no thought for the other drivers who are sharing the road with them and do completely stupid and dangerous things.  I live in a small town that has narrow turning lanes on the main thoroughfare.  They are narrower than the driving lanes, but they are still plenty wide enough for even the widest vehicle.  It amazes me how many people can't be bothered to pull completely into the turn lane, leaving the rear end of their vehicle hanging out in traffic.  If they're afraid that they're going to be hit by oncoming traffic, they're completely oblivious to the fact that the traffic behind them is about to ram up their rear.  Or that they've stopped traffic behind them while everyone else has to wait for them to make their turn.  What about the people who don't turn on their headlights when it's pouring the rain?  If you have to turn on your windshield wipers, you need to turn on your lights.  It has nothing to do with whether you can see, it's all about making sure other drivers can see you!  Especially if you drive a white, grey, beige or silver vehicle.  (That would be the majority of us!)  It's also the law.  I drive 45 minutes to work every day and most of my commute is on the interstate.  It drives me crazy that some people drive continuously in the left lane.  I've heard Troopers say that this is the biggest cause of interstate accidents after drunk driving.  If people are passing you on the right, get over!  I don't care if you think everyone else is driving too fast or you have your cruise control set, the left lane is the passing lane.  That means you use it to pass slower traffic, not to take a Sunday drive.  Another peeve is people who can't make a left turn correctly.  Instead of squaring off and turning into their lane of the side street, they cut across the whole mouth of the road.  I can't tell you how many times I've almost been hit while I've been waiting to turn right.  And the offenders usually look at me like I have no business being on my side of the road!  If it's so hard to turn left with the power steering we have in cars today, I'd hate to see how these people would fare in the cars I grew up in.  You actually had to steer those boats!  The one that really annoys me is people who don't use turn signals.  I'll be driving along behind someone and suddenly, with no warning, they'll slam on their brakes before they make a turn.  Using your turn signal lets everyone else know what you're about to do.  It's helpful on the interstate as well.  If you have your turn signal on, I get the idea that you want to move over and I will let you!  They come standard on all vehicles and are pretty idiot proof to use.  It doesn't matter if you're pulling into your neighborhood, your kids are fighting or you're yapping on your phone, use them!  It also doesn't count if you signal while you're making the turn.  That's just being lazy.  People driving badly.