In Case You Were Wondering What I Was Thinking

In Case You Were Wondering What I Was Thinking

• It’s not crises that wear most people out—there’s often an adrenaline rush of performance—but rather the hum-drum, day-to-day living in a boring, non-challenging existence that crushes them.

• A common currency without a common, central government is not going to work, no matter who tries to rescue whom.

• One-issue voters (e.g., on abortion, or same-sex marriage, or collective bargaining) are unhelpful in electing the best qualified candidate for President.

• I believe in tipping, and generously. People who rely on gratuities have a right to earn a living. But I’ve never understood a tip jar that sits at a cashier’s station for someone merely ringing up your bill and giving you change.

• The most uninspiring, non-innovative, low-energy leadership to be found today is almost a dead heat between banks and newspapers. Who ever though someone could be worse than the airline industry?

• A 5’4″ female flight attendant standing in the aisle as a blocker while the pilot uses the rest room is simply ludicrous symbolism, I don’t care if she’s a black belt in extreme head-butting. (Of course, TSA, as a whole, is a mass demonstration of symbolism.)

• Amtrak employees are far more likely to be pleasant and helpful than flight attendants. However, I’ve found Virgin America to be the closest thing to the old Pan Am service domestically that exists.

• I love fine dining, but if you get the chance go to the sports bar in Chicago’s Union Station and get the half-pound BLT on a warm torpedo roll. Staggering. (Make it your only meal of the day.)

• Lance Armstrong’s goose is finally cooked. (Or at least performance enhanced.)

• Read the billing from your lawyers and accountants, and don’t be afraid to push back. I just found a form submitted to the IRS for the purposes of helping me obtain my VAT refund from the UK was billed at $500. The firm reduced it as soon as I challenged it.

• A $5 rebate isn’t worth it if it requires $200 of your time and energy to process.

• I like fair and even athletic competition, so I could never be comfortable with boxing, figure skating, gymnastics, or similar subjectively judged events. Why soccer doesn’t use instant replay is completely beyond me.

• The more we insist on labeling entire generations, the less we understand individuals within them.

© Alan Weiss 2012. All rights reserved.