Phesant, anyone?

From 1985 - 1992, I worked at Hardee's North at 12 & Locust Sts. in Quincy, IL.  Late one evening, a young lady that worked with me came through the drive-thru and ordered a meal.  I recognized her cheerful voice over the drive-thru speaker, and I called her by her first name,and I asked her to "drive around to the window" to pick up her order.

Within the past week of this visit, this lady had bought a new Ford Escort that she was proud of.  When she pulled up to the window in her new car, her hands were gripping the steering wheel so tightly that her fingers were white from the lack of circulation. 

***HER NEW CAR HAD NO WINDSHIELD!***

Covering her face and body, and all over the entire interior of her car was tons of feathers - and the guts from a phesant!  She was driving on the highway when a phesant flew through her windshield.  There wasn't a speck of glass still in that window frame.  This girl had a huge, Cheshire-Cat grin on her face, and her eyes were WIDE open.  I knew she was in shock.  Her mother lived 2 blocks from this Hardee's, so I had her pull her car over, and I called her mother to come to the restaurant to pick her up.  I couldn't let that poor gal continue down the road with phesant guts plastered all over her hands...face... body... car...  

- Michael

Disappointments and Expectations

I saw this post on FaceBook, and - you know me! - I had to reply:



My response:

In response to that statement:

Uh. No.

I wouldn't be true to myself if I didn't respectfully take umbrage with that statement.

In this era of "Dumbing Down of America", kids are texting but they honestly do not know how, or care to write proper English. At an alarming rate, people are increasingly taking short cuts, rather than do something the right way, they use read-made kits and any other method devised by lazy people to avoid rendering anything with character, finesses, attention to detail and quality.

They are also either completely destroying or hideously remodeling many of our historic buildings and places that were once our national pride, and they are replacing those things - if they replace them at ALL - with something of considerably less quality than what they thoughtlessly ripped out. (The historic, grand San Francisco Fox Theatre comes to mind as an example. That space is now a parking structure!)

Even though they are a near-extinct breed, there a FEW people out there who still stick to the details, and require sophistication and quality. As an example, each year, I attend many local outdoor art fairs, including the #1 and #2 art shows in the country. The acceptance process for artists to enter these shows is grueling, to say the least. Only the finest are accepted. The artists that do make their way into these shows are exquisite in their craftsmanship and their attention to detail. It will be a bad day, indeed, if these artists ever fall into the patterns that I mentioned earlier in this post.

"To each his own", but as for me and my camp, I still expect people to do their best in everything they do.

Personally, I am blind in one eye, my right arm that is 50% functional, and it is 4" shorter than my left arm, and I desperately need a replacement ankle (maggots ate most of my first ankle!)

If I can surpass my able-bodied peers in many things that I do, and I was given less than half of the faculties that they were given, shouldn't they be doing twice as much as I can accomplish (instead of doing nothing at all, and making poor excuses as to why they are lazy)?

The moral of this storied saga:

I don't expect "too much" from people. I don't expect them to give me any more than I give in return. Since they are not willing to uphold their end of the bargain, with a few exceptions, they will continue to disappoint me.

Personally, I believe that in general, the days of detail and quality went with the Fabergé egg:

"That level of detail is from a time that once was, is not now, and will never be again."

::: Jumping down from my big soap box! ::

:)

- Michael