RUDIMENTS, pt. 964
(shut it down, and get off your high horse)
I once knew a kid who had
joined the Army and then
just that quickly realized it
wasn't for him. Also realizing
that he was in a pickle, he did
something outlandish to get
thrown out of the army and
get a discharge - dishonorable
or not mattered little to him. In
the meantime, he was arrested
and put into the brig for the
duration. I asked him what he
did all that time. He said,
'Nothing. I read the whole
Bible, three times.' And I
figured maybe he did. Still
don't know. He came to work
for me, at Barnes & Noble, in
about the year 2002; an out of
work tree-trimmer when I first
met him. He did his work OK;
except he had crummy taste in
music, which these kids always
insisted on playing. I asked him
why he listened to that stuff.
He said, 'Because that's all
they make.' I hoped he'd read
the Bible more carefully than
that. He finally had to be let
go - one afternoon he let this
older guy who was 'sweet' on
younger boys get the best of
him, got angry, pushed the guy -
an older gent, retired schoolteacher,
who fell into a cart, and everything
went flying. The old guy got a tad
banged up in the ensuing fall, and
everything went to Hell. Someone
called an ambulance, and they
insisted on taking him away, the
whole routine; on a gurney, ice
to his head, neck thing, all that
crap, even as the old guy insisted,
and laughed, that he was fine,
it was all a mistake, etc. Then
Corporate got wind of it, reports
had to be made, and 'Policy'
insisted they both be fired
immediately. That wasn't cool,
but that was policy, no recourse,
no appeal. Just gone. The older
guy ended up selling men's
clothing at Lord & Taylor, in
Westfield; and the kid went
back to tree-trimming. I think
that was it, as I recall. It gets
confusing because at about the
same time they also hired some
weird tree-trimmer kid who was
always half-drunk, dirty-enough,
and often Summer-sleeping the
nights in the back of his pick-up
truck. I think he also did speed,
and pot. Fun bunch. I don't know
what ever happened to him.
-
Point is, how the corporate outlook
made these blanket edicts which
allowed no look back or review of
the farcical situation. I asked why,
and sought for review - to preserve
their ridiculous jobs, but 'Corporate'
said no. It was policy, and it was also
policy to protect themselves from
lawsuits, by one or the other or
both of the factors in the dispute;
at which point I said, 'But see, that's
the point, there really wasn't any
dispute. These two teased back
and forth all the time.' Appeal
denied.
-
See, the funny thing about suburban
Barnes & Noble stores was that,
unlike in the city, you didn't get,
necessarily, the bookish types to
work there. Maybe you got some,
but for the most part you got the
local 'talent.' Which often wasn't
talent at all - high school career
tattoo-bearers; college part-timers,
(occasionally, and not 'real' college);
or, more usual, the same people who,
a month before, were behind the
register at Shop-Rite or working
some shoe-store or outlet deal
selling hoses or potpourri. There
never was too much to deal with.
One or two of the girls were always
local free-spirits, ready, willing,
and able to be serviced or do
service. A few older post-retirees,
looking for spare change or for
something by which to pass
their time before doom came
over to visit. Always some
aspiring musician types, punk
or emo, usually. Classic rock
guys could be recognized mostly
by their carriage, clothing, hair,
and outlook. Always talking about
something or other, AC/DC to
the Eagles to the Beatles. It all
went on. Marauding intellectuals,
impromptu philosophers, religious
afficionados of the Gnostic cults.
They could all be found passing by.
This was, remember, an era yet
mostly before personal phones
and all that attention-diverting
stuff, plus before tablets and
laptops too. So there wasn't at
least any of that ordeal to deal
with - the biggest and latest
brag back then was maybe the
Nano-Walkman they got for
Christmas. Different world; the
ice was thicker, and it snowed
more and stayed colder longer.
-
Now, I sit back and just wonder
about common society - how
are all these super-sensitive
climate-worriers and 'correct
issue' types ever going to come
to grips with what they've
compromised away? To my
mind, these kids I was just
speaking of are now the ones
in those positions of corporate
and commercial power to be
implementing the bulk of all
today's misery-index outlooks,
yet all they do is plod along
with their Human Resource
Dept. groupspeak, shaving
issues down to nothing and
being allied with, at the same
time, the grossest form of mass
cultural consumerism the world
has ever seen - one foot in
each camp doesn't do it justice;
these folks are knee-deep sunk.
Consumerism simply has got to
stop - plastics, paper, toys, games,
entertainment, population, breeding,
vacation, air travel, home consumption
of whatever and all-ever, can simply
just no longer be. We must own
up. We must be adequate to the
task - otherwise I have no
dandy clue as to what they're
all babbling about. Just look for
yourself. These are the same
scaliwags who get off their high
horse perch and think nothing,
after yelling and screaming about
their 'issues' of the moment, to
then jet own to Rio for Carneval, or
Aruba for the sun. And comeback,
to start the tell-off of others, all over
again. Squandered egotism is still
egotism. No one's doing the world
any good by it. I know, I know,
'But that's all they make!'
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