You know, I'm currently reading Idiot America by Charles Pierce and although it has made me laugh out loud several times, it's also sad in a way because it brings to light how much we've regressed as a nation and come to treasure absolute stupidity and ignorance over intelligence, common sense and good taste.
Example 1--Good Taste
I'm a people watcher. It's what I do. So I've noticed that people, for the most part, dress like absolute slobs.
Case in point.
I was at PF Changs a few weeks back with some friends. I told them to casually look over their shoulders to see the couple seated at the table behind us. Though we didn't see the woman, we couldn't help but notice the guy all dressed up in his Friday night wife beater.
Granted, PF Changs isn't considered an upscale restaurant, but the decor is nice inside and it's classier than most chain eateries.
So put on a goddamned shirt! Is that too much to ask when you go out? Maybe it's just me, but unless I'm at the beach, I don't really want to have anyone's armpits bared to me while I enjoy the faux Chinese fare.
I understand that the economy's bad. However, people can pick up a decent pair of khakis or slacks in K-Mart, Wal Mart or nearly everywhere else. for around $15.
People come in to drop their applications and resumes off all the time with shirts out, pants torn and looking disheveled in general. Oddly enough, they never seem to get hired.
Example 2--Intelligence
You'd be surprised (or maybe you wouldn't) at how many people come up to me at work, hand me a book and ask how much 20% off is.
I sometimes have to bite my tongue and not say "Hey. How about a membership card so you can save even more money to buy yourself a book highlighting SIMPLE MATH SKILLS?!?"
I'm not railing against people of lesser intellect. These are common skills everyone should have when they graduate from grade school.
No wonder the economy almost collapsed. If potential homeowners couldn't calculate a simple percentage, then they sure as hell weren't going to understand how the banks were offering loans they couldn't possibly afford.
Example 3--Common Sense
Again, we all have lapses of it. That's what makes us human. However, there are people out there who just don't apply basic knowledge to things in their lives.
On that one, I don't know if I can top Yoko as being a prime example of someone who just didn't "get" things. In his book, Pierce described it as going with your "gut" instead of using your head. Somewhere along the line, people felt that thinking just really was overrated and opted to go with doing whatever they felt was right.
Yoko never thought things through. At one point, she wanted to be a mortician (this was after her desire to win an Adult Video News award, become a web designer and somehow work as a vet's assistant with no training and no clear love for animals) because "they make $5,000 a week. When asked where she obtained that information, she boldly stated that she "heard it somewhere". Had she any common sense at all, she would have done the first thing I did--which is search for median salaries for morticians.
Turns out the 5 grand a week was a tad askew.
And so are the majority of the public.
Maybe this is why I laugh at how sad and true this video is today (compliments of The Onion):
Obama Drastically Scales Back Goals For America After Visiting Denny's
Though the last line made me laugh a lot too. ;)
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4 comments:
LOL skitcher ... you can't possibly be surprised at Yoko's math skills to be a tad askew when SHE is a LOT askew!
~K~
Hey you know some of us are math-challenged, we can't help it.
When I used to work at this music store, people used to call to ask if we were open....think about that for a second. It took everything I had not to say "Nope the store is closed I'm just here to answer the phone when idiots like you call".
I don't know about the 'burg but here you can't even get into an ice cream place without a shirt. Coming into a restaurant without one is just plain classless and...well...gross. Makes me wonder about the management of that restaurant if they didn't make him put one on, you may want to reconsider going there. After all who knows what the kitchen staff is/isn't wearing.
Oh God I just lost my appetite.
K,
Yoko had ZERO skills...and really should have been taken out back and shot. I was compassionate. I let her roam free.
My mistake. ;)
Karen,
I'm math challenged too...doesn't mean I can't take 10% off of something! ;)
Yeah...I've been there with people calling the store early. I would try to make them feel like morons if they were calling before any normal human being with common sense knew whether a store would be open or not.
Turns out we probably both had a lot of calls...lol.
Oh...this is AMERICA...lol...you can pretty much do whatever you want here since stupidity reigns free (kind of like free range chickens and, although I might not eat them, I'd harvest them and see if I could make a profit...
;)
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