Month: April 2023

The Return of Mr Murderbritches

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Do you remember Mr Murderbritches, the fearsome bobcat in Utah who stuck around long enough to torment his rescuers? In fact, given the chance to sprint to freedom  he didn’t. He was too busy being Mr Murderbritches.

Well it would appear that Mr Murderbritches has a relative in Wisconsin. The distant ( I can’t help but to feel they might be cousins at least ) relative of Mr. Murderbritches   was hit by a car, got stuck in the car’s grill and upon being rescued went full on Murderbritches on his rescuer.

Hey! Happy Caturday everybody and a special Happy Caturday to The Murderbritches family.

Power of Death William Holbrook Beard

The Zoomers

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RDP Wednesday: FLIPPANT

I have read a few articles about people who want to continue to work from home and they have made interesting points.

They’ve put forward reasons for working from home like:

it’s better for the environment because there are less cars on the road. They have more time with their families, they don’t have to waste money on expensive work clothes and they don’t have to deal with workplace drama. It’s obvious- the old school work environment was a trap and a prison and boomers are just to stupid to pull themselves out of it. But times have changed so keep up!

I have a hard time wrapping my arms around some of the points because they come across as flippant.

The reality is, giving up two trips a day in your car when you now have time to ‘run errands ‘ isn’t really doing much to help the environment and it certainly doesn’t do much to reduce the number of cars on the road.

Maybe some people do spend time with their families when they are working from home and in some cases I  know it does ease the burden on daycare costs but I doubt if anyone is going back to the days when Ma and Pa sat in front of the hearth in rocking chairs and their children sat around their feet reading books and playing with their toys. So what does the modern version of family time look like? Everyone sitting in the same room all day and staring into their phones and laptops? That doesn’t sound like quality time to me. That’s  sounds like how I spend my time when my train is slow or I’m stuck at the airport.

As far as workplace drama- yeah, that’s moved from the Office to social media so I’m not sure why  that even comes up.

As far as the cost of your clothes- come on. I think it actually comes down to being able to wear what you want, which is something you can’t do in a workplace environment. Like it or not there is always a ‘uniform ‘ of sorts. In case you’ve lost sight of the fact- pajamas and ‘comfortable clothes ‘ are a uniform too.

Snark and quips aside,  I would argue that it IS possible to go out into the world  where your workplace is. People do it everyday. They manage the transportation, the costs, they use their social skills ( to various degrees of success ) to deal with their co-workers, their clients and their customers.

Arguing that ‘the world has changed’ isn’t really an excuse for insisting your company  allow you to work from home. The world has not changed. It’s changed for some of us and as for the rest of us it’s moving along the way it always has.

I’d rather be part of  the world- for all of it’s problems then to just Zoom in now and again.

 

 

Long Way Home

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Snow & Ice Storm
Fritz Goro

Towards the end of last year, it was the day after an ice storm hit us, a homeless man got into my warehouse through an unlocked door.

It only took me a few minutes to realize he wasn’t able to put his thoughts together. I saw that clearly when  I told him he had to go back outside and he started to cry and said, ” Why? ” and in a flash I realized he wasn’t asking ‘why’ he had to go back outside.

So I asked him if he needed help, should I call a Paramedic and he said yes. I gave him something to wrap around himself to warm him up and he said, ” I’ve been cold a long time. My house is empty. Nobody is there.  I’ve been cold for a long time.”

I sat with him until help came  and the ambulence took him to the hospital.

I have been thinking about him. I’ve been thinking about the house he used to live in when he was part of a family. I think about the house he lived in before he ended up on my loading dock.

I wonder what color the walls in his house were and did he have a dog?  Does his Mom miss him? Does his Dad hope that one day he will call them and he will sound like the Son they used to know and do they still hope he is out there and ready to come back home again.

Maybe there is a new family living in the house he still thinks about. Maybe the walls are hung with pictures of ships at sea and kids in soccer uniforms. Maybe a cat likes to sun itself in one of the windows that he used to look out of in the morning.

But I think I understand what he meant. His old home might house a new family and the rooms may well be bursting with life and the tv is probably always a little to loud but in his mind and now in mine- it is an empty house and it is cold.

Abandoned house
Emanuele Bai2017

Abandoned villa
Emanuele Bai2015

Inspired by: Thursday Inspiration #204 Darlin’ Be Home Soon

Hey Everyone-It’s Happy Clappy Prompt Time!

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WP Daily Prompt asks us to Describe a random encounter with a stranger that stuck out positively to you.

Lucifer by Franz von Stuck

Back in the Mid-1970’s I used to deliver newspapers on my bike, just like those kids did in the Black and White Sitcoms from the 50’s and 60’s.

It was a crappy job because if someone stiffed me for the three dollar and fifty cent tab I had to pay for it out of my route money. I would have to say that out of the 120 customers I had over a quarter of them never paid and the Newspaper ( It was called the Western Sun or something like that ) wouldn’t let me cancel the delivery because only the subscriber could do that.

So basically I was buying the newspaper for a bunch of bottom feeders every month.  I did it anyway because some money was better then no money and I was learning a lesson which has guided me through my life.

If people are willing to sit on their butts and pretend to not be home when the 12 year old kid who delivered the paper that they were probably reading at the time then it’s a good idea to never, ever and I do mean EVER fully trust another living human being.

Not your lover, not your best friend not the lady who lives next door to you and always smiles and waves when you walk by to get your mail and gives you banana bread during the holidays.

Anyone of them could have been that customer on my route or another kid’s route and anyone one of them could have raised kids or grandkids and spread that lesson on- that lesson  that  there are some people you can ripoff just because YOU CAN.

Those people were all strangers to me and even though they were thieves and low life thieves at that ( come on- they were ripping off a kid ) what I learned at their hands was a valuable and positive one.

I learned to be cautious, suspicious of people that I didn’t know and even the ones that I did. I learned respect  is a word that people like to throw around like confetti on New Years Eve, so just because someone puffs up their chest and says they are ‘respectful of others”  ( if they have earned it ) that does not MEAN you should buy what they are selling.

It was a valuable lesson and I’m glad I  learned it.

I guess.