&^$#*@!*#^&

I fully realize Pete Townshend is not talking about courtesy, but the song title, “Just A Little Is Enough”, certainly applies where this ever-dwindling commodity is concerned.

I took the train into the city yesterday. The train was less crowded because it was heading downtown later in the day. Still, on the ride in, some guy in dark sunglasses was listening to his smart phone without headphones. The sound of his music all the way downtown was %$^&%$#@ irritating. Why is it ok to subject people to your annoying noise and tell me, please, what the &@%!%^$#* happened to headphones? Clearly, he is an inconsiderate, arrogant jerk! I had wanted to get up and change places, but thought my wife, who was sitting with a friend, might accuse me of making a bigger deal out of it than necessary.

See Richard seethe.

The train ride back home from downtown was a little more crowded. 

Me seething

Three seats away, some other idiot kept listening to his phone without headphones and, as an added bonus, another woman six seats in the other direction, yammered on her phone for the entire train ride! Since I was sitting with my wife and one of her friends, I hadn’t packed my own headphones. At one point, Susan consolingly suggested one of them would surely be getting off the train soon. Eventually, the train car emptied out, taking the ignoramus away and his noise with him. My luck, predictably, the yammering woman stayed until the end of the line, her pointless, self-important interjections becoming louder and louder as the train car emptied out.

See Richard seethe.

I would not subject people to irritating sounds, or impose my private blithering phone conversation on people who are not doing that to me. Am I too %^%$#*&^ considerate? I’m not perfect, but basic courtesy I can do. In fact, I barely give it a thought; it just happens because it’s supposed to.

FYI

1) Don’t block the passing lane, move the !@%^$#* over.

2) Pay attention at the traffic light, when it turns green, *&!@^%$ go. 

3) At least go the %$#*&!@ speed limit.

4) Don’t !@^&*%$# cut in, wait in line like the rest of us.

5) Buy headphones, spare everyone else on the train your *&@!^%$ crappy taste and dunce-like behavior.

Is it seriously too much to ask? As far as courtesy is concerned, just a little is enough.

Swig and Swallow

Every morning, I open the cupboard and robotically take down the bottle of multivitamins. I quickly press down, twist the cap, pour out a pill, replace the cap and put the bottle back in the cupboard. I take a swig and swallow. It all happens in less than a minute with minimal thinking on my part. 

I might try thinking for a change.

There is a second bottle in the cupboard. It contains pills for our wonderful West Highland terrier, Spike. They are vision supplements. The bottle is about the same size, and the pills it contains are about the same size as the multivitamins.

Sweet Spike

I have taken down the wrong bottle, realized my mistake and replaced it. That led to me taking down the wrong bottle, opening it, realizing my mistake and replacing it. That led to me, pouring out the wrong pill, realizing my mistake, putting it back in the bottle and replacing it. That led to me putting the wrong pill in my mouth, realizing my mistake, throwing out the wet pill, closing the bottle and replacing it. The wrong outcome seems inevitable.

I might try thinking for a change.

Yesterday, I opened the cupboard, took out the bottle, put the pill in my mouth, and used orange juice to wash it down. As I tilted back the glass of orange juice, my son was reaching over me to get something in the cupboard. I stepped out of his way and when I looked back at the bottle on the counter it was our dog’s vision supplements. I gulped! My son exclaimed, feigning concern, “What did you do?”

Much to their amusement, I had made the mistake of keeping my family abreast of my close calls. In the same instant my son offered his exclamation, I realized he must have switched the bottles. Such dastardly mischief is not a help.

The human mind is quite delicate and it seems to me that mine, is more delicate than any other in our house. Rather than protect me from myself, my family seems intent on having me swallow the dog’s vision supplement. Have they forgotten sweet Spike could end up with a multivitamin in his belly? 

The odds are in Spike’s favor. By the time I take out the pill, whichever one it is, bend down, open his mouth and push it to the back of his throat, there is more time, hopefully, for me to notice incongruities. I fear I am more likely doomed to swallow the dog’s vision supplement than the dog is to swallow my multivitamin! It appears to be just a matter of time.

If my wife and son have their way, it will be tomorrow! I might try thinking for a change, but where would the fun be in that?