The general decline in standards today

[2jakes]

Must be all the dope there that mellows them out. Over here it is the many that make the few look bad.:doh:
Both old hippies and young punks. :laser: Fixed a few of them just now....

"Old hippies & young punks think they are so rebellious & original, when they are just banal, boring & smell."


I read that somewhere...not sure where...

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

"Old hippies & young punks think they are so rebellious & original, when they are just banal, boring & smell."


I read that somewhere...not sure where...

Yeah, that sounds familiar but I can't place it either. I think it was somebody infamous.

 

[LizzieMaine]

My sister cleaned houses for a number of years to supplement her income. While sharing some general observations one day, she commented that her "more intelligent" (and usually more affluent) clients were complete slobs, while her "less intelligent" (and usually less affluent) clients maintained much tidier and orderly homes. [huh]

The pattern's always held around here. Back in the days of our gas station, the word was that whenever a luxury-car customer pulled out, someone should go check the restrooms, because nine times out of ten there'd be a mess to clean up. Sometimes they'd even swipe the toilet paper roll off the holder.

 

[Harp]

My favorite Overentitled Upper Middle Class Retiree story of the moment --

We did a survey this week of patrons asking for comments and concerns, and this one took the cake:

"All of your Metropolitan Opera broadcasts need to be scheduled to end 30 minutes sooner so that I can catch the last ferry to Islesboro."

Yes ma'am, I'm right on the horn to Peter Gelb about that. "Tell Netrebko to shake a tonsil on that last aria, there, Pete -- we got this lady here needs to catch her boat."

Divas such as Anna should not be rushed. And when she sings Quando m'en va from La Boheme my heart soars.

... Islesboro? :coffee:

 

[LizzieMaine]

Islesboro is a well-heeled island enclave several miles off the coast from here. It's occupied almost entirely by the kind of people who would complain about operas running too long for them to catch the boat home, and Kirstie Alley.

 

[ChiTownScion]

Another (mainly senior cit.) entitlement gripe: handicapped parking abuses.

Classic case was my mother in law. When she was married to my wife's dad (that marriage ended in divorce after 57 years) she was participating in volksmarsches, a walking activity she and other military personnel and their families picked up while in Germany. She's walk 10- 30k's and earn a medal for each walk. While she was ticking off the state capitals to add to her list that she had walked, she would take the old man's car and use the handicapped tag to grab choice parking spots. A competitive walker.... but she needed handicapped parking?

My own view is that unless I leave a leg on a battlefield, I'll never take one of those spots. If I'm too feeble to walk from a regular parking spot, I shouldn't be out & about. But I realize that my view may be too draconian for the real world. Still, I think the, "I've got a heart condition" card is over-played.

And then there's the designation of parking spots for expectant mothers: since when is pregnancy a handicap?

 

[2jakes]

"It's not hard to tell we was poor-when you saw the toilet paper drying on the clothesline."

George Lindsay "Goober"...

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Islesboro is a well-heeled island enclave several miles off the coast from here. It's occupied almost entirely by the kind of people who would complain about operas running too long for them to catch the boat home, and Kirstie Alley.

Tell them it ain't over till Kirstie Alley sings.

 

[Harp]

And then there's the designation of parking spots for expectant mothers: since when is pregnancy a handicap?

I once parked at a hospital lot and a pregnant woman collapsed, I caught her before she fell
and yelled at a security guard for a stretcher.
So, perhaps such signs are medically prudent. :coffee:

fftopic: Any thoughts on the Bergdahl charge? I had an interesting discussion with several lawyers on the evening train.
Interesting case, the Judge Advocate has a mess to deal with.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And then there's the designation of parking spots for expectant mothers: since when is pregnancy a handicap?

I knew a young woman once who was a month overdue with a baby that ultimately delivered at about twelve pounds. She herself weighed maybe ninety-five pounds soaking wet. She could barely stand, let alone walk, by the last month. Pregnancy can also cause severe sciatic pain in some women, and that's a genuine card-carrying handicap.

We have a real issue here with people pre-empting handicap seating. We have sections set aside in the rear of the house, per the ADA, allowing space for wheelchairs, and it's very common for people with no disability whatsoever to assume they can just plonk down in the "companion" seats and stretch their legs out into the wheelchair spaces, even thought the seats are roped off and marked with the blue wheelchair logo. I take much satisfaction in relocating such people when an actual wheelchair patron arrives.

 

[ChiTownScion]

fftopic: Any thoughts on the Bergdahl charge? I had an interesting discussion with several lawyers on the evening train.
Interesting case, the Judge Advocate has a mess to deal with.

I want to see more of the proposed evidence before I render any judgment. Killing Eddie Slovak during a time of declared war was enough of a travesty, so I'm reluctant to jump on any bandwagon screaming for blood. My own opinion is that military Judge Advocates acting as prosecutors nowadays are a pretty scrupulous lot that try to do the right thing, for the most part. Civilian prosecutors could learn a lot from them.

 

[ChiTownScion]

I knew a young woman once who was a month overdue with a baby that ultimately delivered at about twelve pounds. She herself weighed maybe ninety-five pounds soaking wet. She could barely stand, let alone walk, by the last month. Pregnancy can also cause severe sciatic pain in some women, and that's a genuine card-carrying handicap.

It is true that complications can arise that can make pregnancy difficult and dangerous. I would hope to avoid the appearance of patronizing sexism by the blanket designation of handicap to all cases.

 

[HudsonHawk]

If I'm too feeble to walk from a regular parking spot, I shouldn't be out & about. But I realize that my view may be too draconian for the real world. Still, I think the, "I've got a heart condition" card is over-played.

Handicap parking spaces aren't just closer to the front door, they're wider with more room between them. Not everyone needs it because they're too feeble to walk an extra 30 feet, they need the room to get in and out of their vehicle.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Which leads into yet another gripe. How many times have you seen people leave carriages in a handicap parking space instead of returning them to the "corral?" It's bad enough when people do this with a regular space, but to deliberately leave one in a handicap space is the height of self-centered jerkness.

 

[LuvMyMan]

Which leads into yet another gripe. How many times have you seen people leave carriages in a handicap parking space instead of returning them to the "corral?" It's bad enough when people do this with a regular space, but to deliberately leave one in a handicap space is the height of self-centered jerkness.

This happens very often and at most places. I think it happens due to many people just not having any decent brain activity while out in public. Not that the guilty party would have a higher level of brain activity at home...lol!

For a few time periods of my Husband's medical problems, he was in a wheelchair. Not very often would I desire to have to wrestle him out of the car at a retail business, and wrangle the wheelchair out of the back seat area to take him into any place to go shopping. But to have the room in between cars parked, was important at the time. Thankfully physical therapy has him walking with little to no assist currently.

 

[Zombie_61]

Another (mainly senior cit.) entitlement gripe: handicapped parking abuses...My own view is that unless I leave a leg on a battlefield, I'll never take one of those spots. If I'm too feeble to walk from a regular parking spot, I shouldn't be out & about. But I realize that my view may be too draconian for the real world. Still, I think the, "I've got a heart condition" card is over-played...

There are certainly a lot of people who take advantage of being able to legitimately use a handicapped parking space, but the reality is that in many cases you can't tell what physical limitations someone might be dealing with simply by looking at them. I have a condition known as Post-Laminectomy Syndrome (chronic pain after surgery to repair a herniated disk). On a good day, except for a slight limp, most people would look at me and think I was perfectly healthy; on a not-so-good day, my mobility difficulties are varying degrees of more obvious. Still, even when I'm using a cane, I imagine there are some people who see me and think I'm faking it just to get a better parking space. By the way, I only use the handicapped parking spaces on bad days; on a good day I'm sure there are other people out there who need that space more than I do.

Also, I'm convinced doctors enable some people (knowingly or unknowingly) by making it easier for them to get their handicapped placard or license plate. When I first asked my doctor about getting a temporary placard, he was the one who suggested I get a permanent placard. In retrospect I believe this was his way of telling me I'd probably have this condition for the rest of my life, but on that day he was so indifferent about the whole thing that I imagined almost anyone could get a handicapped parking placard regardless of whether or not they actually needed one.

Which leads into yet another gripe. How many times have you seen people leave carriages in a handicap parking space instead of returning them to the "corral?" It's bad enough when people do this with a regular space, but to deliberately leave one in a handicap space is the height of self-centered jerkness.

I've actually seen people walk farther to abandon their empty cart in the middle of the parking lot (with the other abandoned carts) than they would have walked if they'd taken it to the nearest cart corral. You can't fix stupid.

 

[Harp]

I want to see more of the proposed evidence before I render any judgment... My own opinion is that military Judge Advocates acting as prosecutors nowadays are a pretty scrupulous lot that try to do the right thing, for the most part.

I would not be surprised if his JAG advised a mercy plea and I personally hope that the kid does not draw life.
The old saw, Military justice is to justice what military music is to music echoes.

 

[Nobert]

Leaving a shopping cart in a handicapped space makes no sense to me. It's appalling for the obvious reasons, aside from that, I, personally, at the age of 42, still like to get up a good head of steam and ride the shopping carts with my feet on the under-carriage. That usually involves taking them all the way to the designated space rather than the nearest convenient one.

 

[dh66]

Not wanting to open the floor here to debate about levels of handicappedness and whether or not they merit a parking spot, but all this reminded me of an episode that occurred many years ago (back in the 80s). A group of us had ventured out to the local mall, as teenagers are prone to do, and we encountered what seemed like an ordinary citizen making illicit use of the handicapped spot. One of my friends felt compelled to step up and call this guy out for his tresspass. The guy proceeded to pop out his prosthetic eye and shove it about an inch from my friends face, asking if that were handicapped enough for him. The rest of us nearly **** ourselves laughing. To this day I will never forget the look of complete horror on my friends face.

As far as disabilities go, one person's end of the world is another's no big deal. We have a child with an 'intellectual disability' (or whatever the p.c. term for it is) and qualify for a handicap permit because such children are known to be difficult to wrangle in a parking lot. We do not choose to use this option, partly because we have 'typical' children who are capable of helping out, and largely because she is physically perfectly capable of walking and getting in and out of the car by herself. We do know families in the same boat who have played this card though. Not being the parent of their child, I shall refrain from judgment.

As for spaces for expectant mother's, having lived with one a few times I can certainly vouch for the validity of this need. Imagine being puking drunk, with a sore back and a bowling ball shoved up your *ss, and having 800 yards of baking blacktop on a hot summer day with temps and humidity in the high 90s between you and the a.c.

 

[jamespowers]

Which reminds me James, why do you still live there? I am quite sure, all you neighbors have moved here! Then again, most of your state has moved here, probably why the pot law made it through.

You answered your own question. I am sending the degenerates out of here to make this place better so I staying.