Cultural Appropriation & Antiques

Today Geoff and Amanda and I went to the Boston Antiques & Design Show in Wilmington, MA.  We’d never been to this show before and we actually heard about it in a book we found at a used book sale at MIT.  The book was awesome, it’s here if you want to check it out, but it may have mentioned that the show is held in a Shriners Auditorium.  Shriners, like the guys wearing little fuzzy red fezzes.

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VICTORY!

There’s been a lot of victory going around in the last few days, not the least of which was a few minutes ago when Geoff and I finally conquered the Massachusetts version of the ACA website.  In the spirit of the season, it’s time to share some good news.

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A lesson in contrasts

I think it is safe to say that the march of human rights has made steady though inconsistent progress over the last 100+ years. In the last 48 hours some interesting stories have popped up that have reminded me not only of how far we’ve come but also of how far we have to go.

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The customer is not always right

One of the greatest disservices ever done to workers in this country was the introduction of the phrase, “The customer is always right.”  The credit for that tidbit of wisdom goes to Stanley Marcus of retailer Neiman Marcus.  Thanks, Stanley.

The customer is NOT always right.  Anyone who has ever worked in retail, food service, or front line customer service of any kind can tell you that.  In our society comprised of increasingly entitled, unintelligent, lazy, self-centered, and generally ignorant people, giving them something so blatantly easy, so totally pandering to grab onto as “The customer is always right” has done nothing but harm.

That has never been more obvious than in the last few days when the vine video in this article, if you can call a 6 second loop a video, went viral.

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Faith in humanity being restored

Slowly.

I have to admit that the Texas Anti-Woman Law and the Zimmerman verdict coming within hours of one another made me really unhappy with humanity for a while.  Then there was the announcement that The View was hiring Jenny McCarthy to fill its patented Obnoxious Vapid Contentious Blond Host seat.

That about did me in.  How does somebody like her get paid $$$ to sit on TV and spew that dangerous crap when Geoff and I are working constantly, are far smarter and funnier, and we’re barely making ends meet?

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MEMO

July 14, 2013

TO: The State of Florida

FROM: Common Sense

RE: Last Night’s Court Decision

Please remedy the error in last night’s court decision.  If the unfortunate laws cited in the case are not overturned forthwith, please refer to the the following remedy.

CC: Texas State Legislature, re: The Bill That Shall Not Be Named

 

Office supplies, a racist casserole dish, and Teri

Last week Teri and I found ourselves in the position of needing some things for the office.  I made a shopping list and on Monday she did the ordering.  Buying office supplies is one of the things I’ve never minded about the various administrative jobs I’ve had, it’s shopping with someone else’s money.

Anyway, who was more surprised than the two of us when we discovered that one of our usual vendors, the one that happened to have the best prices this time, was having a rather odd Gift With Purchase.  A casserole dish.

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