Gee, and I thought *I* was an old fashioned fuddy-duddy...
Ya know, I appreciate the idea of respect, especially to elders and all that, and other people's home, and the national anthem, and you BETTER not wear a hat in CHURCH!, but honestly, other than that, I've never really gotten the whole "no hats indoors" line of CRAP... and it's just that-- CRAP... it's some STUPID, OUTDATED, ANCIENT "TRADITION" that some people elevate to the level of holy writ, and IT'S NOT!
The stupid school in town that I used to go to here in Needville used to bat-sh!t crazy if you wore a hat indoors... had to be THE SINGLE STUPIDEST, NONSENSICAL THING that I have EVER seen or heard of... WHO GIVES A SH!T IF I HAVE A HAT ON, (unless its for one of the previous aforementioned reasons-- guess what-- the flippin' stupid school AIN'T NO CHURCH! I used to wear a ball cap all the time when I was in school, because I usually got on the tractor as soon as I got home and went to work in the field... Plus it kept the relentless sun out of my eyes walking between buildings and all that at the school...
From what I've seen, people that get all bent out of shape about something AS COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY SILLY as wearing a hat "indoors" are just looking to make an @$$ of themselves by raising a stink about it... THAT'S IT. WHAT HARM can it POSSIBLY do to YOU IF *I* wear a hat indoors?? Precisely NONE, that's what! Like I said, if it's your house, yeah just as a courtesy I wouldn't wear a hat, but if we're in a public building, school, or whatever, it's NONE OF YOUR D@MN BUSINESS!!! And I'll tell you to your face it isn't! Just wish that I could have told the old bitty teachers that were always having a sh!t hemmorhage about it at school "NOYDB"...
People getting sideways about ME wearing MY hat indoors is MY PET PEEVE!!!!
Now cell phones in restaurants and especially the theatre, YEAH that SERIOUSLY TICKS ME OFF... Turn the d@mn thing off or STAY HOME! I'm glad to see that Cinemark is now playing a "turn your phone off, it can wait" PSA before the movie, and they end it with "DON'T be the one WE ASK TO LEAVE!" Good for them! If you can't take two hours or so away from teh phone to watch a movie, then WHY THE H3LL DID YOU GO TO THE MOVIES?? SERIOUSLY!!!
At least it's not as bad with the phones in restaurants as it used to be... I remember years ago when cell phones were something of a novelty... they were just becoming popular in purse size, down from the "lunchbox" size "carphones" that were the earliest cellular phones... and of course real estate people were the earliest adopters for obvious reasons... I was with my family in a nice Chinese restaurant and this STUPID WOMAN REALTOR was INCESSANTLY YAKKING on her stupid cell phone... you could just tell she was playing it up for all it was worth, too... she'd make a BIG PRODUCTION out of letting it ring, LOUD AS POSSIBLE, then LOUDLY answering it, and sit there chatting away very loudly for everyone in the restaurant to hear, as if anyone cared... the whole thing was just a "OH, LOOK at ME, LOOK how IMPORTANT I am..." episode... just about the stupidest most annoying thing I'd seen someone do... Realty women tend to be exhibitionists and have serious self-esteem problems and be drama queens anyway, but this was just PATHETIC...
Now that EVERYBODY'S got a cell phone, the novelty has worn off...
I take a very AMISH attitude toward the phone... If I'm at the theater or something, it goes OFF... if you need to get hold of me, it'll wait. At mealtime, the phone goes OFF. I don't care if the President was calling, I DO NOT answer the phone OR accept calls if anyone else does during mealtimes... PERIOD! It'll wait. I'll call you back. If you need something before then, you're just SOL... do it yourself or WAIT til mealtime is OVER. PERIOD!
One other thing I've started doing is, if you want to talk to me, you talk to the ANSWERING MACHINE FIRST... I DO NOT answer the phone, EVER... I let the answering machine catch it, and I listen in. IF i want to talk to you, I'll pick up the phone when you say "hey, this is *whomever*, are you there??" If I don't want to talk to you right then-- if it's mealtime or I'm otherwise busy, leave a message or pound sand, I don't really care which... I'll get back to you later when I get around to it or feel like it... If you're a telemarketer or these idiots trying to sell medical supplies or 'update their records', FORGET IT... the world will turn to dust before you ever hear from me... or before I'll ever talk to you... (as it SHOULD BE)... If you're legit, you'll hear back or I'll answer the phone. Oh, and I'm NOT paying the stupid phone company EXTRA every month for "caller ID"... if you WON'T ID YOURSELF to the answering machine, FINE... go pound sand because you'll NEVER talk to ME on a phone...
Later! OL JR