And the trivia ‘tweaks’… The first was the Glockenspiel At Marienplatz in downtown Munich, and here is a bigger pic of it!
Today was ONE of those travel days…
ci·vil·i·ty
[si-vil-i-tee]
–noun, plural -ties.
1.
courtesy; politeness.
2.
a polite action or expression: an exchange of civilities.
3.
Archaic . civilization; culture; good breeding.
Origin:
1350- 1400; Middle English civilite
Middle French
Today, in my opinion, civility is a lost art…
Coming back from Japan I had an interesting conversation with the purser on the 777; she been a flight attendant for almost 30 years, lots of it on overseas routes. What started the conversation was a line for the bathroom, a young pregnant Japanese lady and a rude Chinese man.
We were calmly (well more or less) waiting our turn, the bathroom finally came open, and the young Japanese Lady went to step in, only to be rudely pushed aside by the Chinese man with a comment that none of us understood.
The purser happened by at that point and I said something to her about it, and asked that the Chinese speaking flight attendant come and say something to the Chinese man. The flight attendant (female) showed up, and was obviously nervous about confronting this guy.
We asked her to talk to him about pushing to the head of the line and what he said to the Japanese Lady and the rest of us. He finally comes out of the bathroom, she politely asked him why he pushed in ahead of the line. His comment back to her was obviously rude and crude as she blushed and started to bow.
At this point a couple of us ‘cornered’ the guy against the overwing door and he suddenly got real passive… We told the FA to tell this guy that kind of crap does NOT fly in the US, nor on a US airplane, and WE weren’t going to put up with his attitude. She did so, and this guy didn’t move from his seat for the rest of the flight.
Any Hoo… I end up standing in the galley talking to the purser, and she tells me it’s getting worse every day. Not only the Chinese, who apparently don’t believe in lines and routinely push to the front/insult anyone who blocks them; but younger people who ‘demand’ service, trash the airplane, drink everything they can get away with, play porn videos on the airplanes, etc.
She said it is almost routine to have an incident on every flight now, and said most of the flight attendants have ceded control of the cabins to unruly passengers, rather than get into a knock down drag out in the aisles.
So… this morning I have to go get food (that I forgot on the way home)… Lots of RABID football fans out, some of them either getting an early start on the boozing or just never quit from last night.
I grab what I need, I’m heading for a checkout line and I stop to let an older man with a cane go ahead of me. This punk (I’m not gonna say what I REALLY thought of him), goes around BOTH of us to jump the line.
The older man says to him, excuse me, but you cut in front of us; the punk responded that he didn’t give a s**t HE had things to do and we were too slow…
And proceeded to unload his basket, ignoring us completely. We just kind of looked and each other with a what can you do expression…
And then the punk’s buddy shows up, and goes to push around us…
I move over and tell him we are already in line and he can wait, he makes a smart ass comment to me and goes to push around me, when the older gent turns around lets loose with a string of invective like I haven’t heard in 30 years!!!
He calls both the punks everything in the book and then some, and says if punk #2 tries it, he’s gonna shove his cane so far up his ass he’s gonna be choking on the tip…
And he’s holding the cane like he’s ready to perform that act! Punk #2 wanders off to another line, we turn back around and the cashier is about to blow a gasket trying to keep from laughing…
I look down and the old gent’s sleeves are pulled up and I see tattoos on both arms, so I ask him what branch? Turns out he’s a retired USMC Gunny, retired in the early 70s and he’s NOT a fan of the younger folks either.
He also said he ‘should’ have given the first punk a piece of his mind! He told me he’s seen a real downturn in both civility and politeness in the last 20 years, and really the ONLY place it’s still in effect is on military bases, since the kids who are in the military still get civility drummed into them in boot and in dealings with others on base.
In retrospect, I can only agree with him… It seems like the gun culture IS truly the only polite culture left!
In other news, this is the 100th anniversary of Ronald W. Reagan’s birth.
We could really use somebody like him right now, and I don’t see anybody waiting in the wings that even comes close…
Sigh…
Five lessons about the way we treat people…
Friday Feb 4, 2011 is world cancer day
A small request.. Just one line.
Dear God, I pray for a cure for cancer. Amen
All you are asked to do is keep this circulating, even if it’s only to one more person.
In memory of anyone you know who has been struck down by cancer or is still living with it.
A Candle Loses Nothing by Lighting Another Candle..
Please Keep This Candle Going
Attendees AD, Matt and his lovely wife, Christina, Evyl , Jenn and their son, JPG and Holly, LawDog, Chris, Farm Girl, Vine and Phlegmmy who was our gracious hostess with the mostest… There were a couple of others who floated through, and I missed their names and blogs (my apologies). Alan phoned it in, since he was tied up with work, the Nerds (in spirits) were there (and the beer was GREAT)…
People rolled in and out as time permitted, the conversation(s) were varied, the story telling hilarious, and the picture below deserves a ‘little’ more comment than Phlegmmy gave it…
It was TRULY a Squirrel moment…
When you have SEVEN dogs underfoot, in laps, running around outside and they ALL start going nuts, there has to be a reason…
Said squirrel, in fear for it’s life, jumped about 10 feet and disappeared into the eave of the house. That not being a kosher move, suitable weapons were procured; Evyl and LawDog were posted up to take the shot (as you see), Vine was dispatched to light the target, and the rest of us were dispatched into the house to ‘scare’ the squirrel back into the target zone…
Now us ‘short’ people had to make do with finding objects to beat on the ceiling with, Matt on the other hand, was able to just reach up and pound on the ceiling with his fists!!!
Unbeknowst to us, Holly was in the powder room as we started pounding on the ceiling in the adjacent room; when she appeared, there was a ‘bit’ of confusion and words to the effect of WHATINTHEHELLISGOINGONINHERE???
After we told her, she went “Oh, well y’all handle it” and went back to her chair by the fire 🙂
Sadly, the mission was a failure, and said critter never returned to the sight of his indignity…
(note- if something starts smelling in the ceiling, it just might be said critter died of a heart attack with all the pounding)
Evyl had a few of his holsters there, and many ohhs and ahhhs occured over them; and I’m sure a few orders were placed too, I know I’m ordering one!
Guns were fondled, and a “funny” thing was noted (and actually provoked some laughter as we watched others); as people were handed guns, they automatically checked them clear, even if they’d just watched someone check it clear, and if they were going to check the trigger, they checked it again! And not just one or two people, EVERY body, male, female young and old!
THIS is a safe group, because we’re all paranoid; and I’m proud to say I agree with it!
I know others are posting too, but I just want to say I really appreciated the hosting, food, beer, conversation, coffee, and the chance to meet with old and new friends! Happy Birthday LawDog!
Now back to reality… sigh…
S**tty internet connection…
Blogmeet…
Having fun…