Hi!
What a time to be alive!
Okay, these photos..
The top one depicts a classic situation during spring and fall, where I call home.
Where I live there is an abundance of giant equipment that has to get from point A to point B and sometimes point C, D and E, pretty much daily, on any given road, at any given time. The thing they have most in common? They move painstakingly slowly.
Other drivers, those in regular vehicles, can sometimes get very impatient, honking, making multiple attempts to pass, sometimes, putting themselves and others at unnecessary risk.
It's not like the farmer can pull an Antman, and shrink. They can't all of a sudden make it go faster, or fly, or anything else. Your incessant honking, bobbing and weaving, and bird-flipping aren't going to change that. It can't do what it can't do.
When you come across this kind of a whoa-up, you basically have two choices.
1) Get yourself all worked up, get your blood-pressure up, get stressed, get mad, you know, morph into a Karen. Allowing yourself to believe that you, and whatever you are doing, somehow, in this moment, on this road, are more important than anyone else. More important than the oncoming traffic you keep sticking the nose of your car in front of. More important than those driving behind you who are left to try to predict what your road-raging ass might lead you to do next. And, definitely more important than the person driving the equipment. You don't give a crap that they know what they are doing and are doing it as fast, as effectively and as safely as possible. They need to get to their destination intact, so once there, they can be successful in completing their job.
or.....
2) If you are going to be late, call whomever is waiting, and let them know. Then, find a good podcast, or some music, or an audiobook, sit back, and roll with it. Trust that the person in charge of that massive machine knows what they are doing, and that if you are patient, a clear path forward will reveal itself. No anger, no dangerous shortcuts, no bird-flipping, no putting others, unnecessarily, in harm's way.
We can apply this to so many other facets of our lives.
Things happen. we decide how to react.
When the road to accountability, especially for the privileged and powerful, seems to be jammed with giant equipment that moves at a snail's pace, we have those same two choices as to how to react. Although it's slow, it is moving. I choose to trust that the people driving are moving as fast, as effectively and as safely as possible. They need to get to their destination intact, so once there, they can be successful in completing their job. I would rather they tread with care, so every stinking step sticks for life.
The second photo.
New slippers! Why giant, goofy slippers? Because silly is awesome and they will make an excellent addition to my collection. Right beside my moose heads, monkeys, and poop emoji ones.
Do they serve some deep purpose? No. No, they don't. They keep my feet warm and make me smile. That's it.
I think over the last few years, what with the world getting basically flipped on its head, revealing both the best and worst of humanity, almost everyone became stuck in some form of fight or flight mode. I think it hits different people differently, and with different intensity.
There for a while, everything was a huge decision. How to get groceries, where to get them, how to leave the house when we needed to, how to interact with others, hell everything, and I do mean every thing was big. Things we didn't think twice about before, now felt like a life and death decision. We forgot how to laugh.
We seem to be coming out of it. But, along the way, I think we've lost some of our silly. Our goofy felt so frivolous for so long, it feels like we are hesitant to let it back into our lives. Not everything is life and death. It's time to reclaim our silly and let our goofy fly. It's okay to laugh until your stomach aches and your face hurts. Hell, it's essential.
The third photo.
A tabletop at Hooters! What a cool idea!
I know Hooters has been around forever, but not here! The first one in our area just opened recently.
Yes, I, me, a feisty feminist, went to Hooters. For one, I'm a firm believer in not evaluating a book by its cover. Outwardly, on its face, the entire premise of the place seems deeply misogynistic. But, I wanted to see if that's really how it was.
First off, the uniform seems harsh. I mean, between the butt-flossing shorts and the scoop-necked t-shit barely covering a bra pushing glitter-laden boobs to chin level, I'm not sure how these young women can work in any kind of comfort. The clothes are kind of revealing, I'm hoping that corporate offers staff other options if they aren't comfortable, or feel exposed.
One thing they do, that as a former server, pisses me off is the way they administer their tip out. A tip out is when a portion of a server's tips are shared with bartenders, cooks etc. A practice that has gone on forever. What is new to me is this. These servers tip out 6% of each table total. Which is fine. But.. if that table doesn't tip, the server STILL has to tip out 6% of the table total. Again, even if there is 0 tip, the server has to tip out 6%.
The moral of the story? They are likely far from the only ones that have this practice. So, TIP!
You could very well be literally taking money out of your server's pocket otherwise. If you don't want to tip, don't go out. Plain and simple.
As a whole, the Hooters experience was okay. The food wasn't great, but not the worst I've had. Upon chatting with staff, I discovered that they are pretty good about allowing flexibility in scheduling to accommodate staff who are students or parents, or just need flexibility.
Do I think there would be some ugliness around size discrimination, and other expectations when it comes to the image of "Hooter Girls"? Let's just say, I don't think you'd have to peel back much of the onion to make you cry.
I'll leave it at this.
I hope they treat their staff with equality and respect. I hope they improve their food menu. I hope they have different options available for uniforms.
I wonder if they allow you to serve tables when you're pregnant? It would be interesting to find out.
So, inconclusion...
Be patient, don't karen and be kind.
Take part in every laugh you can find.
Tip your servers, if you don't, they could be as good as fined.
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