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Temper Temper

I try not to be the cliched “angry old man,” but the truth is I was an angry young man and have only managed a marginal improvement in my temper over the decades. This flaw gnaws at me and I’ve done a lot of exercises and praying to eliminate it. Alas, the last couple of years have undone much of my marginal gains in the temper department. Where in 2019 my temper had been improved to “1, 2, 3, 4, 5….NOW YOU LISTEN TO ME YOU SONSOFBITCHES!” After the last two years of constantly being told what to do my temper has slid back to “1, 2 ….NOW YOU LISTEN TO ME YOU SONSOFBITCHES!”

So it was this sorrowful pilgrim made his way into the local “World Market” yesterday. I like a lot of things at the World Market and, after the Paradise fires, they managed to have a decent staff and a lot of help available for a long time. I refurbished my kitchen and table out of World Market and spent some serious money there. I also like their strange world food selection and am somewhat partial to their wine and beer section.

Once in the store, I picked up a number of items and then saw their “Create a Six Pack of Beer” offer. This is basically single beers from broken cases that they want to sell anyway at $1.99 a pop. Since I am a maybe one beer a week man I selected 4 beers and added them to my cart and went to the checkout.

At the checkout station was a young man barely out of acne who greeted me with the standard robotvox phrase, “And how is your day going?”

“Great,” I replied in the standard pretend exchange of good feelings, putting some eight items on the counter and then the four beers in their little handy carton.

The kid swiped a couple of things over the checkout scanner that is replacing the kid’s job. Then he came to the four beers.

“I’ll need to see your ID.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’ll need to see your ID.”

“Sorry. Don’t think I understand you. Can you lower your mask my hearing at my age is a little weak?”

Lowers mask (Ever so carefully). “I have to see your ID.” (Replaces mask in a small paroxysm of fear.)

Temper situation is now at “1…” and rising.

“Look at me, son. Do you see who you are talking to. I don’t need to show you any ID. My face is my ID.”

“I have to see your…”

“Make something up…”

“I have to….”

“2….”

“Sell me the beer and let’s just move on.”

“I can’t…”

“Who can?”

“I have to get the manager…”

“2… LISTEN TO ME KID. GET THAT MANAGER NOW.”

He picks up the phone and dials in the PA system and mumbles some gibberish into it.

The store, vast and echoing since folks are not that into retail shopping again because Chinese Death Flu, has about six people in it. Four of them are stalled behind me in the checkout line.

My irritation is rising and while we wait for “The Manager” I say, “You really need to examine your young life choices if they have brought you to this job among all those $15 to $20 an hour jobs you could have. You have to ask yourself, boy, if it is worth the humiliation you feel right now and will feel for the rest of your life when you remember this moment. Which you will.”

Still no manager and by now I’m at “2 ….NOW YOU LISTEN TO ME YOU SONSOFBITCHES!”

I step back from the counter and turn towards the echoing vault of this store to say, in my stage projection voice, “PAGING THE MANAGER WHO IS EVIDENTLY HIDING OUT IN THE BACK HAVING A SANDWICH. MANAGER! FRONT AND CENTER! NOW!”

(The folks waiting behind me in the line start to get nervous with somebody who will actually raise his voice in a sacred temple of consumption.)

Then, from some distant pint, I see a thin man with an Alfalfa haircut, making his way to the register. This toad hauls his ass up (By my count he’s the fourth manager in this story in the last year so the company can’t be retaining many employees on any level.)

“What’s this total BS of asking me for my ID?”

“Company says we have to do that to EVERYBODY”

“Really? You’re working for a company that has so little respect for the common sense of its people that they are just issues ze orderz for all? Why would any adult, with the wide choice you have in these little jobs, put up with such shit?”

Alfalfa was waiting for that word “shit” since the company tells this clone he can drop the “concerned about our customers” line of crap they train them in.

“Oh, now you are swearing at me, sir. I shall have to ask you to leave.” Alfalfa is loving this Little Hitler moment. They all love the moment when THEY can get to tell YOU what to do.

“REALLY? I wasn’t swearing at you or this boy here but at the shit policies your company promulgates. But since you insist, why don’t you and this boy take these beers in the backroom and grease them up for your mutual pleasure!”

I left and later regretted losing my temper. I am praying on it every day but it doesn’t do much good when a teenager tries to tell me what to do. I’m just fresh out of patience with being told what to do by anyone from Biden to the latest pimply-faced soy boy. Then it’s “1…2…”

I’ve labored long and hard for bread,
For honor, and for riches,
But on my corns too long you’ve tread,
You fine-haired sons of bitches.

It’s a flaw. I’m working on it.

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • John Venlet September 22, 2021, 1:04 PM

    Your experience, reaction (time, 1, 2), and unabashed willingness to raise your voice are exactly why my Melis does not want me to grocery shop with her, which, actually, is a winning point to me. Though they, whoever they are, say patience is a virtue, patience should not always be practiced. I pray your prayers, if not directly remedial to your issue, at least get you to 3.

  • Phil in Englewood September 22, 2021, 1:27 PM

    I feel an urge to buy you a beer. Actually a whole case…

  • Theduchessofkitty September 22, 2021, 1:30 PM

    Don’t feel bad. I was asked for my ID at my local grocery store – even though I never drink.

    “Why?” I had to ask. There was nothing in my shopping cart that had the slightest drop of wine, rum, beer or spirits among the ingredients. The poor kid at the cash register was just as confused as I was. After we checked every last item, we both realized what triggered the Alcohol Alarm.

    Maraschino cherries. The final ingredient decorating a piña colada.

    Go figure.

  • gwbnyc September 22, 2021, 2:00 PM

    “Pat and Mike”, written by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin. Directed by George Cukor.

    Total cast appearing in one particular scene composed of Tracy, Hepburn, Chuck Connors, Charles (Bronson) Buchinsky, and Alfalfa Switzer.

  • Mike Seyle September 22, 2021, 2:46 PM

    I can see I don’t belong here. I’m kind of amused at being asked for an I.D. at age 73 and white haired where it’s not bald. I say “thank you.” And then I whip it out. Not, not that. The I.D. And then I hit on the bagging lady, feeling all youngish again, and whip it out again. She is never amused.

  • Ruth September 22, 2021, 2:52 PM

    Is it worse to be carded – or automatically given the senior discount?
    Either way they call me “Little Lady.” All six feet of me!

  • Thud Muffle September 22, 2021, 2:53 PM

    You are being a dick. Stop being a dick.

    • Kevin in PA September 22, 2021, 4:59 PM

      It’s dickhead adherence to stupid-ass rules that bring out the dick in me. I can fully empathize with Gerard on this one.
      I’ve had gray hair since I was 40ish and now in mid-60s I get asked for ID to buy beer?! WTF?
      A couple of years ago, I rode my bike to the supermarket and grabbed a sixer. Asked for ID I was flabbergasted. I said, do I look like I am under 21? “it doesn’t matter, sir. I have to see your ID.” Like a f*cking recording. I simply didn’t have it so I asked to see the manager…..waited and he said the same thing. I argued further that I could go right around the corner to the state-run liquor store and they would not ask for ID…..because they can see I am clearly well past the age of 21!

      • John the River September 23, 2021, 5:52 AM

        Yeah, rode my bike to the store and had that happen. If you’re only getting a few items and you are riding a bicycle then you are stuffing some cash in your shorts and no wallet (no wallet, no license).

        Now I stop at that store a lot and if I recognized the clerk I’m sure the clerk recognized me. After a brief moment I pulled the pen I had in my shirt pocket out and wrote my current age on the palm of my hand. I showed it to her. She smiled and said thank you. I left.

    • Sisu September 23, 2021, 10:30 AM

      Thud Muffle,

      You are the “Putz” (assuming you are a biological male and not just self identifying as one by using the gutter language of males in your life). It is those of us who protest absurd rules that allow you to live a better life than would be possible should the obsequious “tools” and “frigid (insert adj of your choice)” of the race (like you) become the majority. … From a perspective perhaps more aligned with your thinking Gerard was merely “educating” the cashier and “manager” as is the responsibility of the “village”.

    • EX-Californian Pete September 23, 2021, 12:43 PM

      Consider taking your own advice, lest you be a dick AND a hypocrite.

  • Jewel Atkins September 22, 2021, 3:07 PM

    You also have to show your ID for certain cough syrups and other over the counter meds. I’m just thankful my name isn’t Walter White-Heisenberg.

    • gstaud September 23, 2021, 7:25 AM

      There’s many a time I wish I had a pinchful of fulminate of Mercury handy…..

  • General Beauregard September 22, 2021, 3:08 PM

    There is a great shortage of common sense in use in this country. And the balls to use it. That pimply faced kid would have gained a shit ton of confidence and smarts by following your commands. He’d have also learned that taking risks sometimes pays off, in that he would have earned the acceptance of an Alpha, rather than having to stick his tail between his legs for an Alphalpha.

    Alas, we are circling the drain as a society. You set a fine example GVL. Probably left a lasting impression on everyone within earshot, too. Bless you, and God keep your strength.

  • Plague Monk September 22, 2021, 3:21 PM

    Try going to the self checkout at Walmart with a small tube of superglue. The scanner says that the store manager has to approve the sale of all glues; the person monitoring the group of scanners is not allowed to. This is also required for x-acto knife blades, bottled paints and spray paints, and bleach. Weirdly, I can buy the 100% acetone pint bottles in the cosmetic sections with no hassles.
    I asked him why, the last time I tried to make a superglue purchase. Company policy, even though I have white hair and a beard. I left the items at the register, including the refrigerated items. I’m obviously not mature enough to make those purchases.

  • MIKE GUENTHER September 22, 2021, 3:54 PM

    It’s like that all over the country. At a store in Albuquerque NM, the 80 yr old lady in front of me was refused a bottle of wine because she didn’t have her ID with her.

    The dang cash registers are set up so an alcohol sale won’t go through unless a birth date is entered in the register. My local supermarket in the upstate of SC, they only ask for a physical ID if you look underage, otherwise, they just ask your birth date.

    I know it’s a pain in the ass, but that’s just the way our world is now. I traveled to 44 states for my job and it was the same everywhere. In Memphis TN, a bar that I went to every day while I was in town, they asked for my ID every time I came in.

    A lot of these places are worried about ABC agents catching them not asking for ID and losing their licenses and getting fined.

    • Armchair Sinner September 23, 2021, 9:12 AM

      As Gerard knows, the Amtrak station sits a block or so from my bar, resulting in roving bands of bums and vagrants throughout our college-adjacent downtown. To stem the tide of riffraff, I’ve instructed the staff to follow ABC regs to the letter, especially with respect to the customer showing a valid ID (neither torn, manipulated, nor out-of-date). For the most part, the plan works flawlessly, save the occasional argument: the stinky, crazed bag lady never fails to say, “Do you know how old I am?!” To which the universal and relished reply is, “I didn’t ask how old you are, I asked for your ID.” She then leaves.
      Mission accomplished.
      I sympathize with the anti-ID posters here, but, sometimes, you just have to cut off the problem at the neck. And sometimes, frankly, you enjoy the chopping. It’s the little things in life, born perhaps by necessity– like guarding your perimeter, that make your day, not to mention your filthy lucre.

  • John henry September 22, 2021, 4:17 PM

    I’m with Mike s. I was somewhere buying something that requires I be 21. I (playfully) find the clerk for not asking. I told him “think how good it would feel to me if you acted uncertain”

    Walgreens here has customer facing signs that say clerk must ask for ID if the customer appears to be under 41. For cigarettes.

    I put that buoy astern in the 80s but like to think I might pass for 40 in a pinch. Dark room, Stevie wonder asking.

  • LGc September 22, 2021, 4:26 PM

    I’m with you, piss on all these pansies who think we should continue to roll over and play dead.

    I”m not playing your stupid games. no more, I’ve been nice, for years and years and I”m done being nice. And it’s way past time for everyone else to stop being nice to this idiocy. Ohhh I’ll just give them my ID, Ohhh i’ll just wear my mask so we don’t have a confrontation. I’m done with that.

    I’m also done being polite about declining to do stupid shit. No. (they’ll ask again). No. (they’ll order you). “look into my eyes and tell me if you really really want to go there, cuz you need to decide right now”

    the answer is no

    and you’re a much more relaxed person than I am. I’m at “.listen you motherhumpers……..”

    It’s on them for creating the disturbance, it’s not on us to decline to be sheep.

  • John Henry September 22, 2021, 4:30 PM

    My current peeve is being asked for my vax card in restaurants. Required by Governor exec order.

    3 points

    I always ask the employee, as I am politely showing them my card, to see theirs. In some cases it seems to break their brain and they call the manager who wants to know why I want to see their certificate. “because you are handling my food”

    In the local cheesecake factory when I did this, the hostess said “of course” and whipped out her phone to show me. She was so quick and nonchalant about it that I think it might be restaurant policy.

    At various Wendy’s here, if you order to go, you don’t have to show the card. Even if inside the restaurant.

    Last time I went for a quick lunch, I ordered to go. They put it in a bag instead of a tray. I carried the bag to a table and ate my lunch.

    I’m to old to resist to much but any friction I can cause, well just happy to do my little bit.

    • azlibertarian September 22, 2021, 7:49 PM

      …I always ask the employee, as I am politely showing them my card, to see theirs…..

      Yeah, that’s great, but that’s not enough. If I am to disclose a part of my medical history to a waitress, it isn’t enough for the two of us to show each other our “jab status”. I’m going to need to see the same from the entire staff….everyone from the manager to the dishwasher. And while I’m at it, I want disclosures from the other patrons too. And since we’re all now poking our noses into what was very recently considered one’s private business, why are we only looking at Covid? What about shingles? What about HepB? Let’s hear about all of it.

      I say that if we’re starting down a slippery slope, that we should run at it full speed. When we’ve got enough speed for the wind to blow our hair, we should raise our hands into the air and scream “Wheeee!”

      • Roscoe September 23, 2021, 7:11 AM

        I recently ran up against a “because it’s against our policy” at Harbor Freight, an establishment I don’t normally patronize. (Pro tip: never buy anything with a cutting edge, family planning items, or parachutes from HF.) My son desperately needed a rear hitch rack for his car and the only place in town that had them was HF, or rather they had one on display. I took one of the SKU tags to a “team member” so she could retrieve one from the back. She returned and said they didn’t have any. I told her they actually did have one and I was looking at it.
        ”Oh, we can’t sell that one; it’s a display model. Store policy.”
        “But if you are out of stock, why do you need a display model? Isn’t that misleading?”
        “Would you like to speak to my manager?”
        “Sure.”
        Manager arrives.
        “I would like to buy this display item, since I am in desperate need of one and you have no others in stock.”
        ”Oh, we can’t sell that one; it’s a display model. Store policy.”
        “And the reason for the policy?”
        “It costs us too much to assemble a new display model.”
        “But this item requires no assembly.”
        “Store policy.”
        “So it’s true.”
        “What is true?”
        “That policy is a tool for the wise and a stumbling block for fools.”

    • Brian(E October 4, 2021, 8:44 AM

      Asking for your food ‘to-go’ is a way to avoid paying sales tax (at least, here in MD).

      For some reason, they don’t come after you to collect said tax, should you chose to eat ‘on premises’ (either at a table, or in your vehicle).

      Such as these are subtle but important means to monkey-wrench the authorities, even when the ‘wrenching’ is functionally a ‘in spirit’ only.

  • Lady Cutekitten of Lolcat September 22, 2021, 4:44 PM

    Gerard, that clerk was under constant surveillance, as was his boss. If they needed to continue working there, they did indeed have to follow Company Policy. They weren’t trying to be annoying. That’s the company’s job. 😁

    • Vanderleun September 22, 2021, 5:24 PM

      Doesn’t matter. People have to start ignoring alien orders.

      • ghostsniper September 23, 2021, 4:47 AM

        Better still, people need to start behaving as human beings.
        When people start behaving in accordance to “just doing my job” they have ceased to be thinking, moral human beings, and when they cross that very wide and clear line I take exception to it. Eventually, killing people because of arbitrary reasons will be the order of the day, and that behavior goes both ways. Treat others as you’d like to be treated. It’s a fairly easy metric to adhere to.

    • James ONeil September 22, 2021, 5:26 PM

      They work there. They accept the company’s policy. They represent the company. If they don’t want me getting in their face, one time, before I take my business elsewhere, they should work somewhere else, where they’ll be treated as adults, not infants that can’t tell an eighty something year old from a twenty year old.

      I do explain to them though, why I’m leaving; if they can’t tell I’m well over twenty one, I’m quite sure they’re not competent enough to add up my bill correctly.

      Trying or not, they are quite annoying.

  • James ONeil September 22, 2021, 5:13 PM

    I stopped stopping at a few places because they wanted ID. One’s the nearest Safeway where it’s ‘company policy’. I now go a few miles farther to another Safeway and, oddly enough, policy or not, they never ask for my ID.

    I just checked a credit card stub, for beer I bought at a local convenience store. They don’t, didn’t, ask for ID but the stub says; “CUSTOMER ID VERIFIED 1/23/45. Golly not only now am I almost ten years younger than when I went into the store, I bet a truly surprising number of folks were born on that day in that year.

  • ghostsniper September 22, 2021, 5:26 PM

    I can’t eliminate the idiocy but I can eliminate my exposure to it.
    Kind of easy out here in ruralville where the closet place to spend serious money is 45 mins away.
    That’s 2 gallons of $3 gas in my Blazer, each way. So yeah, gas costs $12 for one trip to the store, so I don’t do it often, maybe every 2-3 weeks or so. Good thing, otherwise I’d prolly be in the shitcan. srsly, I can’t stand that shit. Even just thinking about idiots right now almost gives me hives. I got it bad man.

  • Tennessee Budd September 22, 2021, 6:03 PM

    My state (check the name & guess which one) says that everyone must be asked for ID. I have actually seen WWII vets, of which there are damned few left (and those are showing their age, God bless ’em), have to produce their identification to purchase a beer. After Kasserine Pass, Omaha Beach, and Okinawa, and countless others. Shameful.

    • Unclezip September 23, 2021, 5:36 PM

      Those old boys can brew way better alcohol than anything you’ll find on the shelf. At least, for now, there’s no ID requirement for copper pipe, sugar, and corn…

      • Brian_E October 4, 2021, 8:50 AM

        @Unclezip – just wait. They’ll require ID some day too. They’re already trying to outlaw OTC vitamins/subplements w/o a prescription. It failed this time, but it’s coming….

        Just remember, their mantra is: “Anything that is not required, is forbidden.”.

  • jwm September 22, 2021, 6:17 PM

    I don’t worry about the rising adrenaline, or that drop-gut feeling. The trouble always starts with my anger suddenly evaporating into a strange, eerie sense of calm. That’s the warning that I’m about to uncork. I’ve let it rip more than a few times. Some of them were career changing experiences. No regrets on that count.
    “Can I see your…”
    God, how I hate this age and time.

    JWM

  • Tertiumkid September 22, 2021, 7:46 PM

    You are right this was a failure and I am glad you are working on it.
    A note of apology to the poor young man would be appropriate.

    • ghostsniper September 23, 2021, 4:49 AM

      blow it out your ass, cuck

      • gwbnyc September 23, 2021, 5:58 AM

        – well that’ll leave a mess but the kid’s right.

        an unconditional apology is aporopriate.

        • gwbnyc September 23, 2021, 5:59 AM

          -and appropriate, too.

          • Unclezip September 23, 2021, 5:37 PM

            Never apologize never explain.

  • Mike Anderson September 22, 2021, 7:47 PM

    I identify with the sentiment, I really, really do. BUT.

    All this WuFlu-maskabuki-lockdown-no-vax-shaming mean spiritedness is really wearing on people; I’m surprised thousands more people like us have not just flipped out and commenced to gunnysacking every officious twerp in America. With a club, a gun, or a machete. I’m amazed at the dignity and patience of my fellow citizens who refrain, maybe at the last possible instant, from making America an even lousier place than the twerps have done so far. So I follow their example, and don’t flip out.

    Instead, respond with good humor and wit. When asked for my ID to buy liquor, I comply and ask “Jeez, I’m not TOO OLD to buy this, am I?” Most twerps get it, and Voila! I’ve planted another seed of doubt in a young mind.

    Proverbs 15:1 – “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”

    • azlibertarian September 23, 2021, 8:40 AM

      …I’m surprised thousands more people like us have not just flipped out and commenced to gunnysacking every officious twerp in America. With a club, a gun, or a machete….

      I take your point and share your surprise. Only yesterday did one of Jeff Bezos’ minions deliver a box including a movie that I’ve that I’ve been meaning to re-watch….Falling Down….
      https://www.imdb.com/video/vi3282239769?playlistId=tt0106856&ref_=vp_rv_ap_0

      Yeah, its kinda early-90s cheesy, the writing is actually bad (IMO), and for the caliber of actors involved, it looks like most of the actors were after a paycheck more than a story well-told.

      But I have to admit that the underlying sentiment….that we all want to live ordinary hassle-free lives, but inside each of us is a line beyond which we will snap.

  • Nori September 22, 2021, 8:17 PM

    It’s all about forcing us to follow their “rules”.
    Logic and common sense do not apply.
    I always go thru the self-checkout,which is quite more expedient,normally. Until a busy day when I scanned a 40 watt Edison light bulb I discovered on the clearance rack. The scan-o-rama froze and announced “Help is on the way.”
    This was repeated for several minutes,allowing my annoyance to grow.
    Finally,Mr Help did arrive. On examination of the bulb,he noticed the word “vintage” on the package. Apparently whatever dim bulb programs their scan-o-ramas is either unaware,or more likely,required to check ID for any vintage,alcohol or glass light bulb.

    It crossed my mind to bite the bulb in half,chew it,and spit the results at the little camera that records every purchase,but common sense prevailed.
    For now.

  • Jim September 22, 2021, 11:17 PM

    World Market is one of my favorites, too.

    But were they to do that shit here (at their Webster, TX location), those four bottles of beer may well have served their last and highest purpose, being hurled from the checkout back to the beer section from whence they came.

    Only hesitation, being innocent parties whom might’ve been there in the beaten zone, field of fire-wise.

    They’re trying to rule us with fear. Damn right it’s time for us to show ’em how’s REALLY done.

    Jim
    Sunk New Dawn
    Galveston, TX

    • Unclezip September 23, 2021, 5:43 PM

      World market in Salem or took my word (no id) that my birth year was 1903. Still have the receipt..

  • Mike Austin September 23, 2021, 1:56 AM

    Here in Oklahoma City I’m never carded. Full disclosure: I am 68 with long hair—have not cut it for three years—I very seldom shave, and I always open carry either a Ruger or a Smith & Wesson. I would carry my AK but it is a tad bulky. I wonder if cashiers think I’m nuts?

    Since I no longer need to go to the grocery store—I have such things delivered to my door—and I shop Amazon Prime, the only cashiers I see are at the liquor store where I get my vodka, and at 7/11 where I pick up the occasional Marlboros. I’ve never been bothered.

    • Dirk September 23, 2021, 2:58 PM

      Mike Mike Mike, good on you! AK, I gotta see that. Out here we call that “ A bold Move!” Awesome.

      CI

  • brinster September 23, 2021, 4:52 AM

    If you think you’re pissed now, wait until the Haitians start showing up in your neighborhood offering cultural enrichment.

  • John Venlet September 23, 2021, 5:13 AM

    And just think, back in 1968, when I was 8 years old, my dad could give me a dollar and send me off to the Mighty Giant store to buy him a pack of Winstons in their signature red pack. Sure, the clerk asked who they were for; “My dad;” but that was the extent of the questioning.

    As for being carded, today, at the local Meijer stores, whether going through self checkout, or a cashier manned line when buying alcohol, the clerks just take a look at ya, and then click the box that says “Customer is over 40,” or some such disclaimer, if you appear to be of age.

    Ghostsniper is right, this inability to make a decision without some form of “corporate” approval is a form of idiocy, and, if things should really go south in this here USA, well, there will be plenty of idiots willing to do the government’s bidding when purge time comes.

  • CW September 23, 2021, 5:51 AM

    Not a flaw at all. It’s a good thing to introduce the young and naive to what happens when folk of a certain vintage, scarred by life and taught a certain modicum of wisdom through the application of hard knocks to the noggin, impart that wisdom, so thoughtfully, and without unneeded diplomacy, to those in most need of it.

    • Mike Austin September 23, 2021, 6:25 AM

      I was in the “imparting wisdom to the young” vocation for 27 years in three countries. Summation: 1) Some learn easily through lectures, reading and writing; 2) Some learn only with difficulty and only through coercion; 3) Some will never learn no matter the subject, no matter the teacher, no matter the method.

      It is the 3rd group whose only chance at learning comes later in life and outside of the classroom, through those “hard knocks to the noggin” you mentioned. I was in that group. I learned, but my head still hurts. And I’m 68.

      • lpdbw September 23, 2021, 7:05 AM

        I learned the 3 types this way:
        1. Some learn by reading and listening to teachers.
        2. Some learn by observing the behavior of others, and the consequences of their actions.
        3. Some have to learn by peeing on the electric fence themselves.

        • Mike Austin September 23, 2021, 7:35 AM

          I learned about “peeing on the electric fence” by watching my brother do that very thing.

          As for other “life lessons”, well…I learned about “Not having other gods before God” by having other gods; I learned about “Not making idols” by making idols; I learned about “Not taking God’s name in vain” by taking God’s name in vain; I learned about “Keeping the Sabbath day holy” by not keeping the Sabbath day holy; I learned about “Honoring my father and mother” by not honoring my father and mother; I learned about “Do not murder” by murdering hundreds, thousands, millions, in my heart; I learned about “Do not commit adultery” by committing adultery; I learned about “Do not steal” by stealing; I learned about “Do not bear false witness” by bearing false witness; I learned about “Do not covet” by coveting.

          But I learned.

  • Dirk September 23, 2021, 7:35 AM

    I love it, good on you GV. This worlds gone bonkers, with silly shit.

    Dirk

  • Sam L. September 23, 2021, 7:55 AM

    If that’s a “flaw”, may I suggest you have it BRONZED and carry it with you to employ “as needed”?

  • G706 September 23, 2021, 8:01 AM

    This show your ID business is driven by the same big business/government tyranny that gives us online censorship, mask mandates and vax passes. It’s enforced by entrapment of store clerks with police stings using under age buyers. Just a thought, how much illegal drug use is because under 21 kids can’t show a fake ID at the country store across the county line and buy beer like we did when I was that age?

    • John Venlet September 23, 2021, 8:23 AM

      G706, businesses have been working as government proxies for years, specifically, the IRS, as tax collectors.

    • Brian_E October 4, 2021, 9:03 AM

      …how about requiring ID for things like – registering to vote, and voting.

  • MMinWA September 23, 2021, 8:36 AM

    Of all the hills possible to die on, showing my ID isn’t in the top 100. In fact, if it’s a lady asking, especially a young one, I look at it as a chance to practice my mad flirting skillz.

    Recently at a TSA check, my x-rayed wallet revealed a flat knife I’ve been carrying. Had to surrender it or go to some place to mail it back to me. I asked the TSA dude, the rare white man as TSA is definitely a make work project for minorities, really man what the hell would I do with that on a plane and he laughed.

    If you want to get worked up by some of the absurdities in today’s world, knock yourself out. It just needlessly raises the cortisol in your system which is not a good thing.

  • Vanderleun September 23, 2021, 9:07 AM

    “Just a thought, how much illegal drug use is because under 21 kids can’t show a fake ID at the country store across the county line and buy beer like we did when I was that age?”

    Good point. Lots I would think. Lots.

  • Tony September 23, 2021, 9:11 AM

    Oh man that is a flaw and you need to work on it or stay home.
    Pick your battles you crabby old shit.

    • Other Crabby Old Shit September 23, 2021, 10:32 AM

      He did; we do, you sheeple you.

      • Tony September 23, 2021, 11:19 AM

        You know, now that you mention it, I am being stupid. I apologize.

        • Mike Austin September 23, 2021, 2:18 PM

          Ok then. No more such outbursts, agreed?

          I have “outbursts”, it is true. And far, far worse than you exhibited. But always in private.

        • Tony September 23, 2021, 2:29 PM

          “You know now that you mention it I am being stupid I apologize”

          I’d just like to say that I am really sorry.

  • Sisu September 23, 2021, 10:43 AM

    I stopped buying beer at the supermarket about three years ago; then with the scamdemic I decided beer does not offer adequate antiseptic properties. But for two years prior I stopped the line every time waited for the manager who after the first two interactions would come over, grimace and tell the cashier to just put any date into the system – they have to key a birthday into the system as if the cashier would never lie about that (and if he was tardy I’d just leave the case at the register). Got to the point the cashiers would just key a date in. … Bottom-line Gerard you are doing G-d’s work by reminding all about the “freedoms” He endowed each with.

  • EX-Californian Pete September 23, 2021, 10:47 AM

    Anger. It’s not an asset, it’s a detriment.
    I had a pretty bad temper when I was young, and it caused more trouble than I care to relate.

    Fortunately for me, I had a hardcore old-school instructor who refused to advance me any farther than a yellow belt until I got rid of my temper problem. He’d yell “temperance, not temper” after getting me riled to the nines during a full contact spar, often punctuating it with insults, and sometimes the ever-dishonorable slap instead of a strike. It made me hate his guts for months, and made me want to quit.
    I refused to quit out of spite and stubbornness. (and probably ego) Many months later, the anger and hatred were gone- replaced by a brand new kind of strength that felt huge and almost holy.

    I learned (the hard way) how a temper takes you off balance, it clouds focus, it makes you clumsy, and narrows your field of vision. Kind of like a being drunk, but on adrenaline instead of alcohol.
    I’m sure that the majority of all murders and violent crimes are from out of control tempers.

    Gerard, it seems more like you just have what I call “impatience with stupidity syndrome” instead of a temper- and I think most of us share it. You take the good time and effort you make yourself as good of a human being as you can, yet have to suffer the frustration of being surrounded by a society of ignorant, spineless, hopeless, woke snowflakes who seem to just take up space and waste oxygen.

    Maybe next time some twit cashier asks for your I.D., show them your concealed carry permit, your NRA card, an AARP card, or CA Handgun Safety Certificate. Or ask them “how old do I look to you?” and then ask them if they trust their own eyes.

    If you think it was a PITA dealing with that cashier over a couple brewskis, just wait until you go to buy ammo at the local gun store! You’ll go through one or more of the following;
    Standard Ammunition Eligibility Check
    Basic Ammunition Eligibility Check
    Certificate of Eligibility Verification

    Now head to an FFL, because it’s illegal to buy from anyone else.

    1) Show your I.D- MUST be a “REAL” I.D. (with the little bear and star on it)
    2) Complete the CDOJ “eligibility check.” Pay for it.
    3) Sign a Dealer Record of Sale of Ammunition.
    4) Go through the Automated Firearm System check- to make sure you own a “registered” weapon in the same caliber as the ammo you’re buying.
    5) Pay another dollar for the ammo transaction- while the state records how much and what type ammo you have. (and how often you buy)
    6) Don’t forget to keep your “Ammunition Transaction Number” when the FFL gives it to you!
    7) Smile and look happy and friendly during the transaction, as you’re (by state law) being recorded on camera- you don’t want to look “disgruntled” because of those “Red Flag” laws they can use against people.

  • Bear Claw Chris Lapp September 23, 2021, 12:20 PM

    Yes, it’s not good for us to do that. Been there, done it, got the t shirt wrote the book but we are all human and some days we lose it.

    It has become ridiculous with these man made rules. The pharisees had a lot of man made rules and that is why Jesus came to save us from ourselves. The immediate future looks pretty damn scary to me, but, we will go through it, over it, under and around it and come out on the other side better and stronger for it. Those issuing these decries may not get on the other side of it I do not know.

  • james wilson September 23, 2021, 1:38 PM

    Tocqueville saw this coming in 1831, and considered it inevitable.

    After having thus successively taken each member of the community in its powerful grasp and fashioned him at will, the supreme power then extends his arm over the whole community. It covers the surface of society with a network of small, complicated rules, minute and uniform, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate, to rise above the crowd. The will of man is not shattered, but softened, bent, and guided; men seldom forced by it to act, but constantly restrained from acting. Such a power does not destroy, but prevents existence; it does not tyrannize, but compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd.
    Equality has prepared men for all this, inclining them to tolerate all these things and often even to see them as a blessing. They derive consolation from being supervised by thinking that they have chosen their supervisors.

  • Nori September 23, 2021, 9:41 PM

    Moar hobbits. Less orcs.
    Better shires.

  • Dr. Chaotica September 24, 2021, 7:14 AM

    I have been assured by all the best people that requiring photo ID is racist.