Bad Behavior

It's been one of those days, denizens.  Everywhere we turn, we're confronted with bad behavior.  It's enough to make a girl cry.

TBG took me out to our (formerly) favorite bistro for lunch.  He took a big bite of his burger and found a long hair amidst the ground beef.  We left.

It would have been nicer had the manager made an effort to apologize, rather than just whisking the plates off the table,  The brand new waitress was as sorry as she could be, but she wasn't involved in the preparation so her kind words were of less consequence than those of the owner would have been.

Now I have to find a new place to eat.

ESPN is filled with grown men acting badly, too.  The Rutgers men's basketball coach was fined but not fired for cursing, demeaning, and attacking his players with basketballs to the head.  The Athletic Director says those "are not firing offenses."  It leaves me to wonder what it would take for someone to lose his job under that regime.  These are boys under his tutelage; racial and ethnic slurs surrounded by foul language is not the kind of education I'd want for my son.  Worse than that, the assistant who recorded and reported the actions did not have his contract renewed.... until he did.... after the brouhaha made headline news.

(UPDATE: The coach was fired this morning, 4/3/13)

What are the student-athletes to take away from a situation like that?

The next story on ESPN concerned Ed Rush, the head referee for the Pac-12 Conference.  He offered $5,000 or a trip to Cancun for any ref who called a technical foul on Arizona's head coach, Sean Miller.  Apparently, Mr. Rush feels that Coach Miller is too big for his britches and needed to be taken down a peg. This might have worked in the NBA, Rush's former employer, but, again, it's not what I'd like to see around student-athletes.

There was a reprimand and there was an explanation - it was said in jest. I'm not sure that is the best excuse.  If the boss jokes about something, employees are sure to take notice.  Plum assignments might not come your way if you are seen to lean away from the angle the boss is promoting.  Being a ref is a difficult job under the best of circumstances; this is not the best of circumstances.

Following the pattern, my Samsung Galaxy S3 no longer uploads pictures to my computer.  I have a few picture posts for you, but they are stuck in my camera's memory card.  A call to the tech support center left me fuming.  How many times must "Your camera is not recognized by your computer" be repeated before my answer ("How would I know that?") garnered a reply.  "Yes, ma'am, I am going to work with you on that," starts to get old really fast.  "I will have to get you technical support on your phone" apparently means that they will charge me for helping me.  That was not clear to me (was it clear to you?) the first few times the young man said it. Only when he told me that I would see a charge on my bill did I cancel the call.  I hope that I've also cancelled the charge; his English was only marginally better than my Hindi.

I'm not listing the drivers going ten miles under the speed limit in the left lane, or making a right on red through a "No Right On Red" sign, or texting and narrowly missing the elderly lady and her walker in the parking lot. I chalk those up to snowbird mistakes, and calm myself by remembering that they bring needed dollars to our economy.

Of course, that economy is being hammered by the Modern Streetcar Line which was to have been ready this summer but which may take yet another year... or more.... in addition to costing nearly twice its original price tag.  And that still leaves open the question of whether the cars will really work, once they are finally delivered.

We have legislators who are so afraid of NRA funding that regulations regarding assault weapons and large magazines will never be brought to the floor of the House or Senate.  None of my tweets or phone calls or emails or snail mails have received a response, and there have been enough of them for someone to have noticed that I care about the issue.  My Senators are supposed to represent me.  I'd like to hear the why's of their positions on the issues I've raised.  Apparently, ignoring the voters counts as representation for Arizona's senatorial cohort.

Am I too grumpy for words?  Am I over-reacting?  I've tried, since 2011, to be calmer about the things that aren't really that important.  I've just re-read this post and I've come to the conclusion that enough is enough. I have to speak out when I'm offended.  I can't keep it inside any longer.  I just hope that I haven't offended any of you.

It's time for me to work on some Ben's Bells and remember that kindness helps.  Perhaps that will have an effect on my attitude, if not on those people who've been behaving badly.