I am totally and unapologetically ripping off Jen Lancaster's post.
She'll understand.
Read this.
So. Anyway. What Jen said.
Showing posts with label rudies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rudies. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Friday, October 1, 2010
OK, but HOW?
I recently watched this video from Ellen.
She's right. Bullying is bad. Suicide is worse.
How do we stop it?
Maybe the first thing I do is tell my kids: "Listen, between you, me & God, we can solve anything. Come to me & Dad if you have a problem. There is NOTHING you can do to make me stop loving you."
Maybe the second thing I do is tell them: "Listen, if I hear that you are being a bully, I am going to knock you into next week."
Isn't that the real problem? We don't think our kid can be the bully. I am working hard to raise good men, but I know that my boys are fully capable of being the bully. If you see them acting like little assholes, tell me.
Maybe the kid from Rutgers didn't know that his parents would have gotten over the video. Maybe that wasn't the problem. He's gone, so we'll never know.
As I've posted before, I was bullied as a kid. Mercilessly.
When I was a kid, I was the only fat one in class. Some years there was one more, but never more than the two of us. I remember one girl named Patty. I've always felt grateful that my name is not Patricia, because Fatty Patty is a horrible nickname.
Fortunately, I have supportive parents who helped me through the bullying. My parents never let us bully each other, either. We beat the crap out of each other (actually, I beat the crap out of my little brothers & sister until they got big enough to hit me back) but unkindness was not tolerated.
Sometimes, however, I was the bully. Not just to my brothers & sister. Occasionally there was some poor schmuck who was below me on the geek food chain. Instead of being compassionate and friendly, since I knew how they felt, I was stupid enough to be mean.
I will never forget in 7th grade how mean I was to a boy in our class named Jim. Jim was chubby, quiet, and really smart in kind of a wierd way. I was as mean to him as I possibly could be. I called him names, I teased him, I talked about him behind his back, I think I even put glue on his jacket. Mean.
He wasn't in any of my classes in 8th grade, and I didn't see much of him during high school.
The summer after my senior year, he came into the McDonald's where I worked as cashier.
O.M.G.
He was tall. Strong. Broad shouldered. Clear skinned. Piercing blue eyes. Shiny black hair. Chiseled abs. He got CUTE!
He didn't give me the time of day.
Served me right.
I still don't know how to stop bullying. Do you?
She's right. Bullying is bad. Suicide is worse.
How do we stop it?
Maybe the first thing I do is tell my kids: "Listen, between you, me & God, we can solve anything. Come to me & Dad if you have a problem. There is NOTHING you can do to make me stop loving you."
Maybe the second thing I do is tell them: "Listen, if I hear that you are being a bully, I am going to knock you into next week."
Isn't that the real problem? We don't think our kid can be the bully. I am working hard to raise good men, but I know that my boys are fully capable of being the bully. If you see them acting like little assholes, tell me.
Maybe the kid from Rutgers didn't know that his parents would have gotten over the video. Maybe that wasn't the problem. He's gone, so we'll never know.
As I've posted before, I was bullied as a kid. Mercilessly.
When I was a kid, I was the only fat one in class. Some years there was one more, but never more than the two of us. I remember one girl named Patty. I've always felt grateful that my name is not Patricia, because Fatty Patty is a horrible nickname.
Fortunately, I have supportive parents who helped me through the bullying. My parents never let us bully each other, either. We beat the crap out of each other (actually, I beat the crap out of my little brothers & sister until they got big enough to hit me back) but unkindness was not tolerated.
Sometimes, however, I was the bully. Not just to my brothers & sister. Occasionally there was some poor schmuck who was below me on the geek food chain. Instead of being compassionate and friendly, since I knew how they felt, I was stupid enough to be mean.
I will never forget in 7th grade how mean I was to a boy in our class named Jim. Jim was chubby, quiet, and really smart in kind of a wierd way. I was as mean to him as I possibly could be. I called him names, I teased him, I talked about him behind his back, I think I even put glue on his jacket. Mean.
He wasn't in any of my classes in 8th grade, and I didn't see much of him during high school.
The summer after my senior year, he came into the McDonald's where I worked as cashier.
O.M.G.
He was tall. Strong. Broad shouldered. Clear skinned. Piercing blue eyes. Shiny black hair. Chiseled abs. He got CUTE!
He didn't give me the time of day.
Served me right.
I still don't know how to stop bullying. Do you?
Saturday, September 25, 2010
E-Commerce and finally getting the last word. . .
My first job out of college was working for Enterprise Rent a Car.
ERAC is a great job for recent grads. I truly enjoyed it. I am glad I don't have to do it the rest of my life, but I highly recommend it as a first job for recent grads. Especially Soc majors. And Poli Sci. Marketing. Psych. History. Basically, for anybody who isn't an engineer or accountant.
When I made my trip to Austin, I rented a car for the 3 hour drive so as not to put my poor Saturn through the strain. I rented from ERAC.
I get a little sentimental about ERAC. I always lovingly reminisce to the 20-something assigned to me. I tell my war stories. I worked for ERAC in Los Angeles in the late 80's. Most of the people who work there now weren't even born in the late 80's.
Lemme tell ya - I've got stories these kids couldn't imagine. Like the time we rented a car to a used-to-be-famous actor whose initials are Tatum O'Neill. She had a shrieking fit in the lobby because we asked for her drivers licence. We weren't going to keep it Mrs. McEnroe, we just need the number. Sheesh. Rude.
Most of the really really rude people were the people in West LA who drove very high end cars and thought they were better than everyone. Many were from the east coast, which for some reason they expected to impress us. (Excuse me, sir? Anyone can live in New York. You don't have to fill out a membership application or anything.)
When I returned my car this trip, there was a customer in the office who was EXACTLY like those assholes in LA. He was going over the rental agreement with a fine toothed comb, and every time he didn't like a word, he made the girl re-print it and sign it.
Rental car contracts are pretty standard. Basically, you agree to borrow the car, pay the agreed upon fee and don't intentionally damage it. If you want, you can pay a little extra to have the rental car company cover any accidental damage. Or not, and if there is an accident, your insurance covers it.
Is that so hard?
Still - a contract is a contract, and I understand that he wanted to understand the whole thing. That is not unreasonable.
What is unreasonable was the way he reacted to every little clause as if the girl behind the counter was trying to personally defraud him.
"I am NOT signing ANYTHING that states I have to pay extra if the gas isn't full. I can't control your gas tanks. There is NO WAY we are doing this deal if that clause is in there."
Patient Rental Girl smiled and reprinted it, then he'd find something ELSE to bitch about. I swear she reprinted that thing at least four times while I was there. I was there about five minutes.
As I was leaving, I couldn't help leaving a parting comment.
I said "Jeezes Chryst, dude. You're renting a car, not buying a house."
There was an embarrassed silence as Contract man stared blankly after me, as did most of the employees and all of the other customers.
The young man who drove me home was silent until we got on the freeway.
Then he said "That was awesome".
It was.
ERAC is a great job for recent grads. I truly enjoyed it. I am glad I don't have to do it the rest of my life, but I highly recommend it as a first job for recent grads. Especially Soc majors. And Poli Sci. Marketing. Psych. History. Basically, for anybody who isn't an engineer or accountant.
When I made my trip to Austin, I rented a car for the 3 hour drive so as not to put my poor Saturn through the strain. I rented from ERAC.
I get a little sentimental about ERAC. I always lovingly reminisce to the 20-something assigned to me. I tell my war stories. I worked for ERAC in Los Angeles in the late 80's. Most of the people who work there now weren't even born in the late 80's.
Lemme tell ya - I've got stories these kids couldn't imagine. Like the time we rented a car to a used-to-be-famous actor whose initials are Tatum O'Neill. She had a shrieking fit in the lobby because we asked for her drivers licence. We weren't going to keep it Mrs. McEnroe, we just need the number. Sheesh. Rude.
Most of the really really rude people were the people in West LA who drove very high end cars and thought they were better than everyone. Many were from the east coast, which for some reason they expected to impress us. (Excuse me, sir? Anyone can live in New York. You don't have to fill out a membership application or anything.)
When I returned my car this trip, there was a customer in the office who was EXACTLY like those assholes in LA. He was going over the rental agreement with a fine toothed comb, and every time he didn't like a word, he made the girl re-print it and sign it.
Rental car contracts are pretty standard. Basically, you agree to borrow the car, pay the agreed upon fee and don't intentionally damage it. If you want, you can pay a little extra to have the rental car company cover any accidental damage. Or not, and if there is an accident, your insurance covers it.
Is that so hard?
Still - a contract is a contract, and I understand that he wanted to understand the whole thing. That is not unreasonable.
What is unreasonable was the way he reacted to every little clause as if the girl behind the counter was trying to personally defraud him.
"I am NOT signing ANYTHING that states I have to pay extra if the gas isn't full. I can't control your gas tanks. There is NO WAY we are doing this deal if that clause is in there."
Patient Rental Girl smiled and reprinted it, then he'd find something ELSE to bitch about. I swear she reprinted that thing at least four times while I was there. I was there about five minutes.
As I was leaving, I couldn't help leaving a parting comment.
I said "Jeezes Chryst, dude. You're renting a car, not buying a house."
There was an embarrassed silence as Contract man stared blankly after me, as did most of the employees and all of the other customers.
The young man who drove me home was silent until we got on the freeway.
Then he said "That was awesome".
It was.
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