I Couldn't Have Said It Better

I found the following text at misanthropesunite.blogspot.com and take no credit for it's creation. In fact, I am in 100 percent agreement with its author and wish I could thank him for writing this:

"My wife, newborn son, and I took a trip to Toys R Us before Christmas (not too close to Christmas, and even during the week to avoid the throngs of idiots). While in the store I had to find the little boys room, so my wife kept the two carts we had w/her (one had our son, the other had the toys we were getting for our nephew). While I was walking to the bathroom I was assaulted by the oblivious moron (OM), you know, the person that has absolutely no idea that anything exists outside of his/her own person? There was an inordinate amount of OMs out shopping this day and they were all apparently in Toys R Us.

Anyway . . . so I'm walking to the bathroom and the OMs are walking into the aisles left & right, not paying attention to anything, causing me to swerve like Ted Kennedy trying to drive home after a night of fundraising. By the time I got back to my wife I was pretty upset, so I said to her, rather loudly, "Apparently we are at the Mecca of people who are oblivious to the fact that others exist." My wife then pointed out to me the woman that caused her to share my opinion . . .

While my wife was waiting for me to come back from the bathroom, she, too, encountered an OM by having this OM run into my wife's shopping cart (not the one w/our son in it or this lady would be on a milk carton right now) w/her own shopping cart. My wife said, "Oh, I'm sorry. Am I in your way?" (in a 90% apologetic, 10% you-fucking-idiot-just-say-excuse-me kind of way) and then proceeded to move her cart so the OM could pass. The OM said nothing, looked at some things, then started walking further down the aisle and smashed into my wife's cart again! You see, my wife had moved out of the way, but not enough for the OM to completely pass in a deliberate attempt to get the OM to realize that someone else existed. Of course, this was to no avail. Even if you apologize to some people for their . . . well, let's be honest, their sheer and utter stupidity, they are unable to snap out of their little worlds for even a second. Some people, most people, are simply idiots. Which brings me to Babies R Us (maybe I just need to stay away from R us stores) . . .

So I'm in BRU and walking down the aisle w/formula and diapers. I get to the end of the aisle and uber-redneck has decided the aisle is his (a common plague of the modern idiot). His wife sees me coming right about the same time I say, "Excuse me." To me, this simply meant I wanted to get through. However, uber-redneck, when told by his wife that he needs to move the cart (and after hearing me asked to be excused through his aisle), says, "I know," then continues to sit there. His wife apologizes to me, moves the cart, and allows me to pass. This must be some inbred-what-would-Dale-do-NASCAR-pseudo-tough-guy-macho-redneck bullshit that I simply do not understand. Apparently Cooter thought that he would "show me" by making me wait to walk through the aisle. All he showed me was something I already knew . . . that he was a dumb ass. Thankfully, his wife knew that we were merely shopping and not trying to mark BRU territory.

Seriously, folks, are people that stupid? I really have very little faith in the intelligence and social capabilities of the average human being, but the examples cited above seem to be a little over the top. Then again, nowadays I don't think any example of human stupidity could possibly be over the top."

-Mr. Misanthrope (http://misanthropesunite.blogspot.com/2004/12/hell-is-other-people.html)

Work and Its Effects on Life

You hear it quite a bit in everday life: "Work sucks". It doesn't take a very complicated selection process to be able to locate someone who feels this way. I'm sitting at work right now and you can be certain that there are many many places I would rather be and even more things I would rather be doing.

I'm not sure what most people's reasons are for thinking, "work sucks". General dislike of labor, they are poorly suited to do their job successfully, they are underpaid, etc. I can tell you that my general dislike of work stems primarily from my job having no positive benefit for the world around me. As a Market Reseacher, I pretty much just speed the enhancement the materialism and waste of our world. If someone will buy it, someone will make it, and my work helps the people who might make it, find out who might buy it.

Maybe, to a small degree, the fact that my surveys are online helps save trees and the environment by not requiring paper but in all seriousness, I think that is offset by our DP department who prints data tables for every job (averaging 120 pages per job). I would like to do something to help this crazy mixed up world we live in.

I want to install solar systems for a living, or become a salvage diver and work towards cleaning up public lakes and waterways of the garbage that lies beneath their surface. I would like to do something that I can see tangible results from and feel good about my contributions to society. I am sick of trying my hardest to avoid being part of the problem and barely scratching the surface of being part of the solution.

If anyone knows of a job opening for a 25 year old, strong, intelligent, and motivated male to help the planet and it's inhabitants while being able to earn a comfortable living, please let me know.

Jason Fryer