A Question...Or Two

It's so cold my trackball is frozen!

Why do people walk around in freezing weather without hats, gloves, scarves? I know there are less fortunate people that simply don't have. That I understand and I'm not talking about them. I'm referring to the people who are wearing designer clothes and almost mow you down because they're cold and you're in their way yet they don't have any protective gear on. Or the ones that just so happen to be parents and they're dressed warm but their kids aren't. WTF?

Case in point, to say today is cold would be an understatement. I woke up to temperatures in the single digits. Include the wind chill factor and the temperature was something like 4 degrees below zero. I'm dropping junior off at school and there's this woman in a three-quarter fur coat, fur hat, coach boots and leather gloves with (what else?) matching fur on the wrists. Snug as a bug in a rug I assume, yet her daughter was in a jacket...yes a jacket not even a coat! With a hat and no gloves. The poor child pulled her sweater over her hands to keep warm. I'm glad to say I wasn't alone. People were giving her the escalator look with such contempt, of which the woman could care less. She kissed her daughter goodbye and sashayed her warm ass down the block, while her daughter shivered up the stairs to the school.

I wanted to knock the woman's front teeth out! It's a parents' job, a parent's responsibility to look out for their children. To put their best interest first before their own. This clearly wasn't such a case! I was disgusted. I prayed for the child and hope she'd be okay.


A matter of etiquette vs. common sense

It's not even a Monday and people are starting their stuff! It's too cold out! After dropping junior off at school, I walk to the bus stop. On my way I pass a couple who are sitting on a bench several yards from the bus stop, and stand in the bus shelter that cuts some of the frozen wind. Luckily within 5 minutes, the bus turns the corner and I along with other passengers who were at the bus shelter walk toward the bus. Next thing I know that same couple brushes past me to board the bus. I was pissed; I said something like "Damn." The guy turns and says, "Well we were waiting and you walked right in front of us". I responded, "I had no idea you were waiting for the bus. You were sitting down relaxing on bench quite a way from the bus stop." He said, "No man. We were waiting for the bus. What you think?" I was already agitated and said, "I thought you were chilling seeing as you were sitting on a steel bench which has got to be freezing instead of waiting in the bus shelter that would provide some cover. That's what I think." His girlfriend told him to forget it. Our voices were carrying and I think she was embarrassed. I looked at the bus (the line had dissipated by now) and said (sarcastically mind you) after you, there's plenty of room on the bus for all of us. The guy must've thought 'he won' and smiled (with about half his adult teeth missing) and said "Thank you." and proceeded to board the bus. On the bus, I kept thinking the same thing over and over. 'Why couldn't I have been born rich?!"

Seriously, is there some unknown bus line etiquette that I don't know about? If you're in the vicinity of a bus line do you need to check with all nearby people to see if they plan to ride? Or should you bring your butt and wait on line like everyone else? I mean if we could all lounge around and still be first on line, that would be great, but we can't so grow up! Damn. And my week was going so well. I'm not going to let it bother me. I'm recovering well, have a three day weekend ahead of me and Obama's going to be sworn in on Tuesday, all is great! I just had to vent. There I'm good now. In the words of Jill Scott, I'm living my life like its golden.