In Case You Were Wondering What I Was Thinking
• Why is it we can evaluate the performance of a civil engineer, a violinist, a neurosurgeon, a librarian, and a botanist, but there are claims that it’s impossible to evaluate a classroom teacher?
• Have someone shop your own business. If a retail clerk or telephone service person doesn’t begin with, “Hello, how may I help you?” and use “please” and “thank you,” fire them. That’s not a skill problem it’s an attitude problem.
• Why are the iPhone and iPad engineered so that they annoyingly have to turn themselves on whenever you plug in a charger?
• Verizon is one of the worst companies I’ve ever seen in relentlessly sending ineffective and annoying solicitations, thinking “important news about your account” will still fool us the ninth time. Marketing morons.
• Boardwalk Empire is great television. Homeland has “jumped the shark,” and so has Dexter. Once outstanding shows, the plots are now implausible and the writers seem to be out of breath. No one wants to admit this, but there you have it.
• There’s a national electric train society for people running model railroads. I’d bet that 95 percent of the membership is at least over 55. They squabble and try to stage coups to gain leadership like kids in a schoolyard. I suspect they have way too much time on their hands and are all used to running their own trains!
• Outside of a true emergency, the reasons some doctors keep you waiting is that A) the office is run worse than Citibank or American Airlines; and B) there is an arrogance that regards patients as damaged and inferior.
• Please stop coming over and asking me if I like the food. I’m an adult. If I don’t like it, you’ll be the very first to know.
• It’s one thing to disagree with someone’s opinion. But it’s another to feel constrained that you MUST let them know, even though you have no relationship with them, as if your demons can’t be exorcised unless you make it clear that you hold an opposing view.
• If you want to see the underbelly of American life, read local “patches” and web sites set up for communities. You’ll find a slice of people who can’t disagree without obscenity, vitriol, and epithets, and their letters are full of bad grammar and misspellings. I can see them pounding the keys in hate as they froth.
• Using the phrase “game changer” with “Presidential debate” is like using the phrase “clutch hit” with a foul ball. Oh, but that our system were based on all voters watching reasoned, articulate debate with superb moderators keeping candidates on point. I’ve seen cage fighting with more organization and purpose.
• No matter what your politics, that smile on Joe Biden is Jack Nicholson creepy.
© Alan Weiss 2012. All rights reserved.
