Fit For A King, Part II

That Sound You Hear? » Laffin' At Life by Chet Atkins
Season 2 Premiere of Lost » September 21
Big News » Some sadly underpaid doc had to poke and prod Dubya today for his annual physical. He's peachy, by the way.

Now, today's story...

Time for the rest of of the Burger King story. You're probably so ecstatic you can't stand it. But, if you haven't read the first part, now's your chance to catch up. I'll wait for you.

Ready? Okay.

My nutty buddies. Liz and Cortney. Well, they were just fuming over this french fry bungling, this injustice incurred upon them. Frightfully unhappy.

Lighten up already.

Like that could happen. I was harrassed for my mockery of the situation and quite simply put through the ringer for holding a different opinion. But life is full of varying opinions so no one's is or should be any less or more important than another's. On that I do not argue.

On the other hand it's the way in which they were raised apparently that bothers me the most. It may be a feminist thing but being of the male gender and thoroughly uneducated in the condition of a woman's role in society, I could just be talking crazy. Likely? But the way I understand it, is they inherited their aggressive natures from their mothers. That being the case, they only fueled each other's fire for revenge.

Desperately they want not to be seen or categorized as a "pushover." And not that I blame them. But in my book, feeling slighted by a fast food employee (if that doesn't have an entire connotation all its own) expresses either some inferiority issues or quite possibly competitive edge that could slice a diamond.

I certainly don't mean to belittle my friends as I don't believe that they are wrong. Perhaps misguided, but as stated previously, everyone is entitled to an opinion. They are two of the smartest people I know leading me to wonder why they were so upset by this, keeping in mind they lost nothing in monetary value. Ego, really, if anything.

Throughout lunch I begged them not to go through with a plan that I can only compare to an 8-year-old tattling to mommy on her little brother for picking his nose. Dare I say that at the table, though. My life would've been stripped from me so fast I wouldn't know what happened. The blog feels safer. There's that cyber distance.

They were not to be talked down, however, as once they emptied their trays it was off to see mommy— er, the manager. Check that, assistant manager. Who couldn't have looked more bored. Truthfully, had I been him (and God save me I'll never don a BK button-up), I would have been cracking up on the inside.

I'm not saying FFG wasn't rude, but in the scheme of things, who really cares? To be a member of a society where people are at peace, you have to be able to lighten up and not take yourself so seriously. FFG may not be Fulbright scholar, but she should be permitted to take the edge off a little.

I don't know her personally. And while I'm not one to speculate, let's just say for argument's sake she was having a bad day. To lighten the mood, to lighten the load of her and those around her, she cracked a joke. She's no Jerry Seinfeld, but she giggled and her co-worker giggled. Mood lightened.

And don't be misled. It was not a joke at the expense of Cortney or Liz. They just chose to see it that way because they felt they had been slighted (I'm still trying to wrap my head around that part too). It was a decent girl with a crappy job trying to get by whose only mistake was allowing her over-zealous customers to hear her remarks.

Anyway, having said my peace for tonight, I'd like to address one more insignificant issue. First, read Cortney's post on this topic. Now let me ask this, and I may be echoing Jason's comment, but is it really now considered "creepy" to be on time to a scheduled lunch? Should I not have sat down? Should I have stood? Should I have stood outside to wait an unknown amount of time? Should I have instead been late?

Here's something. If anything, I find it more "creepy" (even though "unusual" is a more appropriate term) that Liz and Cortney both walked in the door at the same time even though they drove in separate cars.

Ponder that one.

For a final thought, anyone who sided with Liz and Cortney on this (and I'm not faulting you) and I suggest this to them too, you need to laugh at life more. I'm no shrink, but for anybody whose nose gets bent out of shape over an unsurprisingly dull-witted fast food jockey's flub, you really need to inject a little more enjoyment into your life.

If you can honestly tell me I'm wrong, I'd be happy to hear a good argument.

Here's A Quarter: In case you care, and even though it's just as trivial as a BK fry-flinger making a funny, I passed my typing test today for the United States Postal Service. I topped the recommended seven-lines-per-minute benchmark. Actually I doubled it. Interview is next month and a month after that I start training. Woo. Hoo. Stop it.