Accountability

I am now coming near the year mark since my last post. Hopefully that has stopped any who might actually check this blog. If not, I shall have to wait even longer before my next post.

A few months ago I encountered a situation at work that frustrated me. Actually, it was a series of situations all revolving around the same elements, the coffee pots. Well, it was pots before these incidents, but it is now singular. Because someone decided to throw one of the coffee makers away. Because they said it leaked.

The problem is that it didn't leak. Not at all. It was oddly designed, which lead to much spilled water, but that was because of surface tension, not a cracked pot. I knew this because I had spent many mornings using this coffee pot, and understood that the water spilled when I poured too fast, but otherwise it was fine. At that time I said nothing, and assumed that I had missed something. It was two weeks later that I began to think I was right.

I was heading back from taking a phone call when I passed through the kitchen. I smelled a fresh pot of that addicting nectar and went to grab my cup. I headed over to the coffee maker and immediately saw there was a situation brewing. The pot was full, but the machine was still brewing. Someone had decided that twelve cups was not enough, and they decided to try for 24. I quickly ran over and turned it off, and then grabbed the pot and dumped the overfill into the sink. In the process I spilled a little on the counter and floor, so I started cleaning up. This was when my co-workers started wandering back to the kitchen. They saw me cleaning up spilled coffee and immediately started discussing how this pot leaked, and the maker leaked, and all these other problems that didn't exist.

I stopped cleaning so I could get a better look at them. Surely they were kidding. None of them had seen what happened, and no one asked me what happened. They just immediately started blaming innocent things. I suppose I should be happy they didn't start blaming me, but still, these people had sacrificed a coffee pot before, and now we were down to one. I did not want to risk losing that coffee maker. I began telling them what happened, as much as I knew. I explained that someone must have put too much water in it, or how someone had neglected to empty the pot before making another batch.

They ignored this, instead discussing all the ways the machine had wronged them and their family in the past. I stood there, mouth agape, as they all ignored me and jumped to their own conclusions. Why exactly would you want to listen to the one person who saw what had happened? At this point I immediately thought back to the other coffee maker, who I now realized had most likely been wrongly sacrificed because of the incompetence of others.

I eventually stopped trying to explain to the people continuing to gather in the kitchen what had happened. It wasn't going to matter what I said, these people had found their witch, and they were going to let nothing stop them from burning it.

I know this isn't the best example of accountability, or lack there of, but it does show one situation where people are just looking for something or someone else to blame. No longer will people shoulder the blame and results of their mistakes, instead we look for scape goats. A woman spills her coffee and sues the people that sold it to her. A student fails a class and sues the school for not teaching him.

Now if you will excuse me, I need to contact someone about suing my computer. It has kept me up far too late, and now I am not going to get enough sleep.

Thought for the Day:

It is IMPOSSIBLE to casually work out a cramp in your groin while at work, and also inappropriate. The only thing more inappropriate is to ask someone for help.

A friendly game of 'tag'

Apparently I was 'tagged' in posts from my family to release six weird facts about myself. My first thought is why on earth would I want to do this? Do you people not think I am strange enough without me telling you things that I think are strange?

It was pretty difficult to think about since I find all my idiosyncratic behaviors to be quite normal at this stage of my life. I have been doing these things for some time now, and no longer question why I do them, I just assume everyone else does, too. I have thought about it for awhile now, and I think I can come up with some, so enjoy.



1). I cannot lick envelopes without cringing in fear. I have taken to licking in an up and down motion, not side to side because of a horrible fear of paper-cuts. Some people ask me if I am afraid of that Urban Legend about the cockroach eggs in the cut on the tongue, and I inform them that the cut on the tongue is quite enough to frighten me, thank-you very much.



2). I seem to have a very selective memory. By this I mean that I can remember the most ridiculous things for the longest time, but I am constantly forgetting what I am doing in the kitchen with an empty coffee mug. I have during this week walking into a room at work six times, each time accomplishing a task, each of these tasks not the one I originally intended to do when I entered the room. I am very easily distracted, and need a lot of visual prompts to remind me of what I am doing.



3). I don't like socks. Can't really think of anything I need to say to that.



4). I have become a terrible passenger when there is any sort of inclement weather. This all comes from my drive home from Spring Break in Colorado, when we twice nearly wrecked on the highway, and then I took the wheel and drove for 16 hours. Ever since then I get very tense when I am not driving and there is rain or snow or whatever.



5). I am a media whore. I love books, movies, music and TV shows a lot. This I think most of you know. What you don't know is that I really LOVE bad TV and movies. I am embarrassed to say this but I will often turn of stations like the Disney Channel and watch all their awful shows. Then I have to quickly change the channel when someone walks into the room. I wonder if there is a support group?



6). I have a very vivid imagination, which also lead me to over analyze situations. I can sit down and ponder what every voice inflection in that last phone call meant, staying up all night thinking about what you meant but didn't say, and what each situation might actually lead too. It is pretty annoying, because if I feel so inclined I won't take anything for face value, but will instead obsess over what you could have really meant. And usually people really mean what they tell me, but I won't let that stop me from going crazy!

Right. That wasn't so bad. At least I don't think any of you are going to call the men in white coats.

More please

I remember going to a friends place one Saturday afternoon so we could go get some food. He immediately began telling me about this poker game he was in the night before. He had started playing on-line poker after not being able to get into any good games with people he knew. He had, over a month, turned 100 dollars into 800 dollars. Not too bad. But during his session that previous evening he told me about how he had been up to $6000 at one point, before eventually giving much of it back.

Immediately I began to imagine what I could do with $6000, a new computer, nice furniture, perhaps even a new car. I began to verbally assault his idiocy for losing that much money. Six thousand dollars in one setting! He came right back saying why should he stop when he was doing so well?

Tonight at work I listened to some co-workers complain about how dead it was all day, which surprised me since it was Casimir Pulaski day (maybe later I'll rant about this fake holiday) and all the schools were off. I figured it would at least have been a good day, if not great. A short while later the daytime expo came by and complained about how tired he was, saying it had been 'a killer' day. I told him that I heard it had been slow, he responded "Yeah, but you servers are never happy, you always want more no matter how good you are doing."

When is enough, enough? Even I tend to think at the end of a good night, what if I had gotten one or two more tables? Then what? What if I could get one more great hand and double that six grand? At what point can we be content with what we have, realizing that more money and better possessions are just going to create a desire for even MORE money and even BETTER possessions? I guess I should be thankful that I have NO money, and really LOUSY possessions...of course I could use a new couch...and tv...and phone...........

Finally!

Since the week before my Christmas Break my computer has been acting...fishy. First I thought I could have received a virus. After weighing my options I decided that since I had the time I was going to wipe my hard drive, reinstall windows and go from there.

For about a week things seemed to be going well, but only a week. Then it started glitching again, not even running certain programs. I was not happy. I had only built this computer this past summer. and until this I had no problems. I tried many things, consulted with all my knowledgeable friends, and we all drew a blank. I decided that I needed to shut my computer down before some irreversible damage was done. I only started it to try some diagnostic programs and other fixers. Tonight I think I finally had a solid lead on my problem. Hallelujah.

And that's why I haven't posted in awhile. Sorry, I was dealing with a delicate situation. In other news, I have found out some...odd...news. I am going to try to avoid names where possible because I would rather this doesn't show up in any search engines. Basically, a T.V. show that comes in and fixes restaurants is coming to the restaurant that employs me.

Serious?

Saturday the producers for this show sat at one of my tables, with me only finding out who they were when they were finished. I suppose I should tell you that I really want nothing to do with the show. I am amused that it is coming to a place I work at, but I am really not looking for any 15 minutes of fame here. The producers seemed to think differently. When I next worked there my manager informed me that they inquired about me, and asked if I would be on the show.

Really.

Really?

Reeeaaalllly.

What is that about?

Yesterday was my birthday. When I first started this blog I intended my first post to be about an incident involving Conjunctivitis and Holy Water. I assure you it was quite interesting, but you will not get to hear it now because of my intense procrastination. Suckers.
It seems now that I should post something about being alive another year, and how much I've grown and what has changed. Maybe even throw in some New Year's resolutions, since it is in fact a new year. Typically these are things you want to do to improve yourself, but I am feeling quite different about them.
You see, I am 27 this year. This may not seem that old to many people, and it is true that it really isn't, I am still young. Understand this though, I have NEVER been older than I am right now. On top of that, I am older than 100% of people younger than me. This is a frightening statistic. I am going to stop thinking about people younger than me right now, and focus on those that share my birthday. For this I used the website famousbirthdays.com, which gave me some more frightening information. Under my birthday the have listed Haley Bennett as a famous person who shares my birthday, but was born in 1988.
What bothers me is I don't know who this is, and after looking her up I still cannot believe that she deserves to be on a list of famous people. Also included is Millard Fillmore, former President of the United States. I believe that is a makes him worthy of the list. Also listed is Paul Revere...of course they list his birth year as 1938, so there seems to be some discrepancy there which is a little odd. I think that he may in fact be the leader of some band, and I am sure that if he is my father will tell me quite soon. I look forward to finding out.
Well, this was quite pointless. But I did manage to fill some space, and hey, look, I finally posted something. Woot(.com)