Mutual Respect

There really is a war between the ages.  The old condemn the young for not respecting them.  The young condemn the old for not taking them seriously. It's been happening since humans first realized we aged.

I'm 35.  Not exactly young but not yet a senior citizen.  There's a brief moment in our lifetimes when we're in between the warring factions, the "middle" age years.  While it's tempting to pick a side, this period of transition between young and old can be used for much more.  It should be a time of reflection and personal growth.  Our time to look at young and old alike and not make the same mistakes billions of people have made.

First, let's understand that respect is earned.  It is NOT given to you just because you've lived a little longer.  Old people, don't demand respect from the young if you aren't going to give respect TO them.  You may not think the problems of teenager are as serious as your more adult issues, but they're serious enough to that teen.  Don't blow them off because you mistakenly believe they're too young to have anything worth contributing.  Remember, that kid you blew off today will be taking care of you tomorrow.  Keep on their good side.   Young people, you can't earn respect from your elders if you act a fool so learn how to be civil to others.  You will be treated in the manner in which you treat those around you.  Don't assume someone is less important or irrelevant because they have grey hair.  Remember, it's still their world until you reach their age.

Age does not lead to wisdom. Experience does and not every old person out there is wise.  If they were, they wouldn't vote Republican.  So old people, don't assume you're smarter than someone younger than you.  You've probably just had different experiences.  The world also changes constantly and the young are better equipped to keep up with it.  They are your most valuable asset when it comes to technology among other things.  Appreciate that.  Young people, you probably haven't had as many life experiences as your parents. Take the opportunity to learn from their experiences, both good and bad, as you can.  You'll still have to figure most things out on your own, but most parents really do just want to help you so listen to the advice before making up your mind.

The young fear getting old and the old are jealous of the young.  Neither side is perfect or better than the other, but both NEED eachother.  The old help guide the young and the young give the old meaning.

So think on that before you criticize eachother.

Your car's too big.

I don't know about you, but I'm sick of the quad cab with the extra long bed taking up two whole parking spaces and the sidewalk.  Something that big should have to park in the back fifty where the big rigs and RVs go.  It's rude to take up that much space and dangerous to boot.  Ever try backing up when a giant truck is next to you? You can't see if cars are coming because their ass end is sticking out into the lane.  And they can never park them straight because they're trying to squeeze a watermelon in a parking space designed for an orange.

But the real question is why does someone NEED a large vehicle?  I think it's purely ego.  A man who's confident doesn't mind driving a Prius.  It gets him where he needs to go and that's the reason cars were invented.  Only a man with penis issues needs a Hummer.  Or a quad cab with an extra long bed.

It's bad enough we insist on super sizing our meals, our houses, our hair (if you live in the south).  Why do we need to over size our cars too? Are we really carrying that much crap around?  Then we have a hoarding problem.

It pisses me off when some trophy wife in her big SUV has the audacity to complain gas prices are too high.  If everyone traded in their gas guzzling SUVs and pick up trucks for compact cars or hybrids, the demand for gas would go down and so would the price.  As it is, Big Oil knows they can financially rape you at the pump because you NEED the gas.  Because you TELL them you'll pay anything by USING MORE GAS THAN ANYONE SHOULD NEED.

Because you drive an oversized car with 10 miles to the gallon - and that's a generous estimate.  That Hummer only gets like 2.

Ever wonder why car makers don't make cars with 50 mpg?  The technology exists, but Big Oil won't let them cut into their profits.

As for the moron in the quad cab with the extra long bed?  Parking spaces were designed for normal sized vehicles.  There is nothing wrong with your parking space.  The problem is your truck is too big.

Oh how much cleaner the air and happier the commute if more people used public transit!

But the hard truth is, there is no physical need for that SUV or quad cab with the extra long bed.  No amount of soccer games or safety concerns or towing capacity can justify it.  The need for a large vehicle is purely psychological, something for people with low self esteem to feel important.

That's all the desire for material wealth of any kind really is.

Stop being a loser.  Do the environment and your neighbors a favor.  Ditch the big vehicle.

Customer Service: You get what you pay for

Everyone's had a bad customer service experience.  Everyone's encountered that unhappy cashier who doesn't really care if they're particularly helpful or if you had a good shopping experience.  We bitch about it all the time.  Companies force feed "good" customer service techniques on their employees, brag about them in commercials.  Giving bad customer service can even cause you to lose your job, but we never stop to consider WHY customer service is as bad as it is.  What causes someone in the service industry to be rude or uncaring.

People in customer service, whether they are cashiers, waitresses, call center representatives, etc, are human beings that we treat like slaves, work like dogs and pay very little money.  If you worked like a dog and barely eked out a living, you'd be unhappy too.  If you knew your company thought of you as an easily replaceable, unvalued peon, would you care about their image?  No.  And you'd be unable to hide your feelings of discontent even if you cared to do so.

There's something that happens to a person when they become a customer.  Suddenly, they are incapable of seeing the person waiting on them as being an equal.  No, that person is a servant and therefore beneath them.  It isn't just rich people who are affected like this.  Even those in the service industry will treat their fellow service people as inferiors once they step on the other side of the check out line.  It doesn't matter the psychology behind this.  It's wrong and we should know better.

How many times have you grabbed the wrong item and insisted you be given the sale price anyway?  How many times have you knowingly made a mess at the convenience store coffee counter and not cleaned it up?  How many times have you not tipped your waitress or only left a handful of change?   How many times have you or someone you've seen yelled at their server?  Or threatened to have their server fired if they didn't comply with an unreasonable demand?  People take out all their frustration on cashiers and waiters.  You may not get to be a dick to your boss but you can be a dick to the girl in the drive thru.  Why are customers so nasty?  Because they know they can be and that the cashier or waiter will be unable to do anything about it.  It's a power trip.

Not all customers set out to be assholes, but there are enough of them to leave a bad taste in a cashier's mouth.  When you have a bad experience over and over again, you start expecting it and you become suspicious of every customer you meet.  If your cashier is apprehensive towards you, it's a self defense mechanism and you can hardly blame them.

But the horrible attitudes exhibited by customers is just one of the mental stress factors that negatively affect our service representatives.  The work is hard and the reward is very little.

Service jobs are by definition bad paying ones. There simply isn't any reason for it.  You shouldn't need a fancy college degree to earn enough money to survive on if you're putting in the work.  Service jobs are hard work, but they're paid like it isn't work at all.

Money is an incentive.  Like it or not, people don't get jobs because they want to help others.  They get jobs because they need money to have a roof over their head and food to eat.  The world runs on money.  You work for the money.  So if someone works hard and isn't paid accordingly, they have a right to be upset.

Minimum wage is slavery.  No one can survive on minimum wage.  And no one who works hard and makes little money is going to care that much about their job.  No one who is taken for granted is going to care about doing a good job.  They'll do just enough to KEEP the job until they find something better.

But low pay comes with other draw backs.  It affects the QUALITY of the worker too.  Workers with skills are going to go where those skills will be appreciated - to higher paying jobs.  The only people who voluntarily take a service job are the ones who CAN'T get anything better.  Low skilled, ghetto, stoners, etc.  The kinds of people who will never care about good customer service.  Or you get older, better educated people who have tried to find something better and failed who will never be satisfied with low pay work and will never care about it.

In essence, when it comes to the service industry, you get what you pay for either financially or with respect.  Until we're willing to treat our servers with dignity and pay them accordingly, expect bad service.  Because we've earned it.

Hostages

I don't know why we allow aid workers into war zones.  I know that sounds cold, but there it is.  We know war zones are dangerous.  We know odds are they'll be kidnapped by terrorists.  If you don't want to be a hostage and/or gruesomely beheaded, don't go to the places where that's likely to happen.  If you do choose to go anyway, don't have the audacity to assume your government should pay terrorists to get you back.  It's your own fault you're a hostage.

I know I sound Republican, but it's one of the only things they make sense on.  When you pay the ransom, all you're doing is encouraging more hostage taking and funding terrorism.  Can we admit that funding terrorism is not in anyone's best interest?  And let's be honest.  While ISIS may say they'll give their hostages back if you give them money, you have ZERO reason to believe they won't kill them anyway.  ISIS kills people everyday. It's what they do.  If you find yourself a hostage of ISIS, make peace with God and get ready to die.  That's the only thing you CAN do.

Go ahead.  Call me hateful.  Say if it were me or my loved ones I'd feel different.  If it were my loved ones, I'd hurt.  I'd mourn, but I still know my loved ones are going to die.  I won't expect or demand a rescue mission.  And if I was ever a hostage, I wouldn't expect it either.

Maybe aid workers should be issued cyanide caps?

I know what you're saying now.  We can't in good conscience not help people in need just because it's dangerous.  That's why we'll keep having hostages.  There's nothing wrong with wanting to save the world and I commend those who take risks to do that.

But we still have to be practical.  The ONLY way to stop terrorists taking foreign hostages is to either REMOVE the opportunity by removing foreigners from the scene all together or to make it NOT BENEFICIAL to take hostages by not paying ransom.   It's no use boo hooing or raising a fuss if hostages are taken, because they knew what they were walking into and should be prepared for the consequences.

I pity hostages, but I refuse to reward hostage takers.  We should know better by now that paying ransoms SOLVES NOTHING.  And if you're going into a war zone, you should be prepared to accept the consequences even the ones where bad things may happen to you.  And that's the real end of the debate.