From the Soapbox: R-E-S-P-E-C-T

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Find out what it means to me

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Take care ... TCB

Sing it Aretha!

Respect is a big deal to me. If you search my blog you will see that I mention the word "respect" in about 40 of my blogs. One thing that I cannot stand is a lack of respect. That doesn't mean you have to like everything but you still need to have a decorum of decency and be respectful.

Everyone has their own foibles. Everyone is different and I understand that. I am sure that what I do and what I am interested in grates some people the wrong way. And I am sure that my sense of humor can be discerning and rub people wrong too. But at least I can claim that I try my best to be respectful. Everyone deserves respect and everyone needs respect. The world would be a much better place if everyone tried their hardest to be respectful. And it is the right thing to do.

So I am sitting in my dad's office watching the charts when suddenly the lights are turned off with no words being said. Now you might think that someone may have accidentally turned the lights off. But this is no mistake since this is not the first time that this has happened. Now it is not like we are completely in the dark here, there is some light but there isn't enough light to read. I would consider it dark but that is just me.

There is someone in this household that is very anal when it comes to saving energy by turning off lights. I can understand that and I can respect that as well. What I don't get is how this person goes around and completes this mission. They just go about doing it without any regard or respect for anyone.

This irritates me because it is showing my dad and I a lack of respect. Even if you are fanatical about lights you still should respect others and what they feel. Even though I do not understand why someone would be so driven to do this and that it irritated me beyond belief, I didn't say a word. I could have easily said something, and I really could have said something extremely rude but I took the high road and said nothing. And I did this out of respect even though I turned the light back on and shut the door.

I wouldn't have been so ticked off if this person would have simply asked. Sure, I still would have been puzzled since I couldn't see any good reason for the light in the office to be shut off but I would have at least humored this person and complied. 

All it would have took was just a couple of words and I wouldn't have felt like I was disrespected. It seems that something so small and simple is now just being skipped altogether. It is a sad trend in society.

From the Soapbox: Better Late Than Never?

As you can tell from yesterday's post, I am not a fan of people who are late. And the more I think about it, the more I want to fully explain myself.

Do you need one of these?

I hate being late. That expression 'Better Late Than Never' is not something I believe in. I would rather not show up at all than be late. For example, if I know that I am going to be more than thirty minutes late to something, like church, I would rather just not go at all. I know that I am not perfect, I have been late for things but let me explain what I believe being late is.

There is a difference between being late and being fashionably late. Fashionably late is when you show up about five minutes late to give the impression that you are a busy and held up with other business. I extend fashionably late to being 20 minutes at the most. Normally I like to be on time and most of the times I am early but sometimes I can be late at the most of 20 minutes. But I don't do it to look busy, sometimes it's good not to be the first person to show.

I understand that life is busy and well, crap happens! There are times when things get away from us and we have to be late. You know, when the car breaks down, when your kid poops his pants up his back, your work schedule changed, your kid needs a nap. You get the picture. That I can understand to why you were late.

Little Miss Late is just another name for Little Miss Inconsiderate

But if you are late because you have crammed to much to do or if you are just plain lazy to be there on time, then that is a problem. And you have a bigger problem if you are chronically late. I can handle it when you are late like this every once in awhile but when it is for every gathering or meeting, than you have a major problem. It is awfully inconsiderate and disrespectful to just show up late (remember, past 20 minutes) and think that everything is fine. Like I said yesterday, your time is as valuable as mine is. Being late like this for most of the time is a sign of selfishness.

What's funny is those that have this chronic lateness problem are usually the same that think they don't have a problem and they don't think that being late is a serious issue. Let me tell you, it is a problem. You are not just affecting yourself but you are affecting everyone around you.

From the Soap Box: Jerks who Tailgate

Day 202

Last night I was driving over to my dad's to work and it was around 11:00 at night. For the last 3 miles I was tailed by some inconsiderate jerk who tailgated me right to my dad's house.

I already knew who it was since I have been tailgated a few times heading to my dad's. And sure enough it was this lousy neighbor that was tailing me once again.

Every time I got to a stop sign he would at first keep his distance when he had to stop but then he had to catch up and ride my butt the rest of the time. It was not like I was driving my car like an old lady. I was going just above the speed limit but that was not good enough for this dork. He could have passed me easily, there is a long stretch of road that he could have but he decided it would be best to make sure that he could see my bumper. I don't care if there isn't any other cars on the road or that it was 11:00 at night. I will obey the law and get to my destination safely. If you want to speed, be my guest, you can go ahead and pass me.

As I turned into my dad's street I rolled my eyes because I knew it was that stupid neighbor up the street and I knew he would be RIGHT behind me as I pulled over. I quickly veered out of the way and as he passed by I showed him a sign of displeasure. I know, I know, very mature right? But that is my cross to bear. As he passed by he gunned his car and drove to the house on the corner about half a block up. He screeched into his driveway as I got out of my car.

As I was walking up the walk to my dad's house I noticed that he was walking toward me. He must have seen me "wave" as he passed by. I opened the screen door and looked over and he was definitely heading over. I was about to knock on the door but instead I turned to the guy and waited for the guy to get closer. He saw that I was just waiting for him and he stopped and walked back to his car. I stayed and watched him go into his house before I went inside.

Maybe I just don't understand the mentality of those that like to tailgate others. Are they just trying to keep me safe by driving real close to make sure I am paying attention. Do they get a thrill in doing it? Do they really think that shredding 13 seconds off of their commute will really impact their life? I mean that is an extra 6 and a half minutes saved a month!

I cannot stand tailgaters. I am positive that these are the same people that beat their pets and talk during movies. The same people that drive like they own the road, the same people that don't pick up their dog crap and just leave it on your lawn. The same inconsiderate and uninformed people that bandwagon sports team and political stances. The same people that throw their cigarette butts out their car window and the same people that call Family Guy the funniest show on TV  (OK, now I am just being cruel here). They are the same people that think their farts don't stink.

Well, guess what? Your farts DO stink.

And just for your information. I have insurance and a crappy car. So if you want to hit me from behind when I slam on my brakes because you are tailgating, go for it!

From the Soap Box: Schmidtheads

Day 143

I am happy to say that I do not have many enemies. Or at least I don't know of many enemies. Perhaps I do have some that I just don't know about.

Have you ever met a person that you have totally disliked the moment you met them? Or the moment you heard their voice? That person is your arch-nemesis and I discovered mine a few years ago

I won't tell you his full name since he does have an online presence and I am sure he is one of those guys that googles himself to see if anyone is talking about him. It only took one phone call from this guy for me to affectionately call him "Schmidthead".

He is one of those people that feel that he is entitled to everything. Every time we came out with a special he would call in and berate us and then want something in return. And he wouldn't even ask us nicely either. He would just come right out and demand stuff. Most of the times he would even have the nerve to say You owe me this. I don't even use everything you give me but I deserve what new people are getting. Which was not entirely true either. I would calmly explain that his account had certain features that the new accounts do not have. And then he would then have the nerve to say I don't use them so I don't need them. I want the new one!

He was my most aggravating client. I had his phone number memorized and would curse when his number came up on caller ID. He would also send numerous e-mails in an attempt to bypass me.

One time I told him that if he wants the new account he can cancel his old one and move his stuff and then get a new one. He obviously didn't like my offer and wanted to speak to my boss. My boss told him the same thing and then Schmidthead called me back and demanded an apology from me. He wanted me to apologize because I was treating him horribly. I gave him the most fake and sarcastic apology ever just to get him off the phone. And then he went on and on about how I should do my job.

Now to put this in perspective, he was only angling to save 3 dollars a month. 3 WHOLE DOLLARS A MONTH!

The guy was a complete imbecile. Unfortunately he would call in every month looking for the next deal. You know if he was just nice to begin with, I would have made him happy. But condescending is not going to get you much from me. If you show me respect, I will return it. If you show me disrespect, the Karma Police will get you.

And it did. He tried to get a dedicated server for his pathetic website and pathetic uploading software (which he tried to sell to us) and we gave him an excellent price. More than what I would offer him. He rebuffed it and told us that this offer was insufficient. So I had the pleasure of calling him back and telling him that the price we gave him was off the table. He was furious. It was awesome. Thanks to the Karma Police, I had the last laugh. He finally relented and still got a deal but it was nowhere near as nice as the first one.

Every time I run into someone that behaves like this and has this egotistical entitlement attitude, I call them Schmidtheads.



I am so glad that I don't have to deal with the actual Schmidthead anymore. Unfortunately there are more people like him that are killing society.