I'm a stranger in a strange land and because of this, I spend a lot of time learning and observing my new home (well, relatively new since pretty soon it will be a year since I arrived in this narrow land.)

Of particular interest to me is the role of women and perceptions of women's roles here. Heavy, I know but I'm guessing it's due in part to my own generalizations of women, men and traditions apparent here that can't be sawed apart, no matter the force applied. Of course I consulted my friend Google and found a very interesting article from ReVista, The Harvard Review of Latin America on the contradictions apparent in women's lives here in Chile. The very first sentence of this article made me want to pack up my bags and leave the country immediately ... it reads:

"Seven out of every ten Chileans (69%) believe that “Having a job is fine, but what most women really want is a house and children,” according to a July 2003 study by the Santiago-based Centro de Estudios Públicos." In my usual P.I. way, I decided to go straight to the source and actually review this study conducted by the CEP, Centro de Estudios Públicos or in English, Center of Public Studies. The CEP is basically a type of think tank and they perform various kinds of studies on behavior, society and culture in Chile. It has several publications and the one I consulted was Estudios Públicos, (Public Studies) which is a quarterly journal containing essays, studies and commentaries by academics and specialists in various fields of study.

And yes, I found that this study, conducted in December 2002, truly does demonstrate the ideological chasms that exist regarding the subject of women and the workplace, not only between groups of people but within the same person!

The majority 40.7% of those questioned in a survey about Women and the Work Place are relatively CLOSED to the subject of a woman working outside the home and only 12.3% are completely open to the fact. And the thing is, these numbers are pretty evenly divided between men's opinions and women's. Interestingly enough, those that are open to the topic of women working outside the home are between the ages of 18-24 BUT what's MORE interesting is that the second most supportive group are 55 and older! I attribute this to the moms and dads that age who themselves put kids through college and are eager to see them succeed in the workplace.

Here's the picture on the following question: "Taking into account all the good and the bad, family life is negatively affected when the woman works full time."



Do you see that big red line? That's Chile! That's the majority of people agreeing with this statement! The bottom five, those who agree the least, are the U.S., England, Sweden, (East) Germany and Canada.

Here's a picture with the opposite lay out ...



Except the question associated with the graph above is the following: "A woman who works can establish as much of a solid and profound relationship with her kids as a woman who doesn't work." And as you can see, Chile agrees with this statement the least. THE LEAST! Am I in the Twilight Zone, people??!!

Sigh. I might be.

This study goes on for 42 pages and if you're interested in seeing it in all its gory detail, you can download it here. It's presented as a Power Point so it's fabulously easy to read. Not all of it is horrible, but it's insightful and quite a demonstration on the conflicting views that Chileans have on various topics regarding women and her role in the Chilean society.

Another topic, independent of this study (though I'm sure it's covered within a study done by the CEP), is that of maternity leave in Chile and how women are perceived as a result of it. President Piñera has created the Women, Work and Maternity Commission which is made up of men and women tasked with providing recommendations on the following: should Chile allow for longer maternity leaves or should Chile allow for all women the right to maternity leave?

The answer, to me, is obvious. All women should have the right to maternity leave, NOT JUST the 50% who have long-term contracts with their employers. As it stands, women who have temporary contracts or who work seasonal jobs, don't share the same benefits and they can easily be fired once their government backed 18 week maternity leave is up. On the other hand, women who have long-term contracts are protected for ONE YEAR after their maternity leave, in which these women cannot be fired from their on-going, full contract jobs. This discrepancy is ridiculous with obvious favoritism towards those fortunate to have a long-term contract.

Here's what works against women in Chile: Employers are complaining of the numerous costs associated with hiring women of childbearing age (i.e. me, you, many women I know). Examples of such costs include not being able to fire women during maternity leave (that whole year), the need to hire replacements when women abuse medical leaves to care for ill infants, and the loss of productivity for the one hour daily the women are given to feed their children under two years. Can I just toss that last one in the garbage since I can't imagine that a company loses all that much in one hour. But those first two are certainly actively putting up walls around any advancement women may have in the workplace. Why would an employer hire a woman when it's far less risky to hire a man - he's only allowed 5 days maternity leave and will be back at work in no time. Because the government pays for the woman's salary during her maternity leave, the option of working from home isn't really an option. I guess the government wants you suckling your baby or something. Or vice versa. And I'm sorry, I've heard firsthand of how women DO abuse the maternity leave bit and literally FLAUNT their immunity in their boss's faces. Despicable on all fronts but especially for women's strides in the workplace. I wish such women would just quit their jobs like they truly want to and allow the rest of us to work our way up the corporate ladder.

THERE MUST BE room for women like me to move their way up in Chile and allow for perception of women in leadership roles to shift. In a perfect world, the women who want to be at home, full time with their kids, would have the ability to do so. Because in that perfect world, the roles and corporate positions that those women merely take up for the sake of taking up, would be freed for women who are career oriented and ready to dedicate their time to the company.

And perhaps THEN there wouldn't be any room for men and women alike to judge women as incapable of excelling in one role or another. We'd be give a break and allowed to excel in whatever we put our efforts in...

Call me crazy.

Labels: Everyday life, Tangents

During a time when the country - no, the world - is obsessed with balls and where they can go (i.e. World Cup fever), I've had a ball-centered weekend myself. Except my weekend has more to do with the REMOVAL of balls. That is, my dog's balls (to my more conservative readers, sorry for such a crude way of putting it!)

Last Friday, G and I had Obi fixed (neutered). While we're completely and totally ok with this decision, it's been a mini ordeal in Chile, a country where neutering a male pet is simply unheard of. Even G wasn't too keen on the idea when we first got Obi so my mission was clear: at least in our home, in our own way, we'd do what we could to be responsible pet owners and do our share to help control the pet population in Chile. It's easy to shrug off the responsibility of helping the pet population (in both dogs and cats) but the reality is that said responsibility starts with each and every pet owner.

So when I set out to "convince" my dear husband that neutering our male pet was the best option, I did my research. According to various reliable, online sources (such as The Humane Society, ASPCA and the likes), these are the most convincing reasons (in my opinion) to fix your pet:

1) Neutering your pet can help it lead a healthier life and in males, eliminates testicular cancer.

2) The female dog won't go into "heat" and the male dog won't feel inclined to wander away from home (in search of said female dog in heat.) The overwhelming sexual urges just don't kick in and your dog is free to be your dear, sweet, family pet. Isn't this the reason you got the dog in the first place?

3) A neutered male dog will be much better behaved because they focus their attention on their human families. On the other hand, unneutered dogs may mark their territory all over the house.

4) Many aggression problems can be avoided by early neutering (Obi was neutered at six months, the earliest recommended age to neuter pets.)

5) Finally, the most important reason: everyday, animals die because there is no one to care for them or are killed by euthanasia because no one wants them. There is simply no excuse for allowing pets to breed unless one is a responsible breeder who knows what he/she is doing!

With all this, G was of course convinced. He let go of the learned reaction he had for so long as a Chilean who grew up in Chile: it has nothing to do with being more manly or less manly. It's a dog, for Pete's sake! We are not removing the MAN'S testicles, we're asking a professional to remove our pet's testicles for the reasons stated above. Further it's not "cruel" of us to "deny" him the experience of a sexual encounter or the experience of being a father. Again, he's a DOG!! He still has his penis and as far as we can tell, it works despite the neutering! Furthermore, having done our research, we know that this particular breed (bulldogs) don't innately pursue procreation. Most female bulldogs needs to be artificially inseminated because it's not part of their DNA to go around shacking up with every dog they see!

My dear husband is a smart guy and with proper research and argument, if someone's right, someone's right. In this case, I was right and once we had this important discussion, not only was he convinced it was the right thing to do with Obi, but he defended (and continues to defend) this decision to every person who has something negative to say about it.

But frankly, I'm SO SICK of the weird looks, shocked questions and concerned expressions some Chileans continue to give me. Today in the elevator my neighbor made a comment about how "particular" Obi was being because he was barking at her. I told her he had just had surgery. When she and her son asked why, I debated on what to say ... finally I just said "I had him castrated." Their looks were priceless. I'm sure that they had a field day forming a very vivid picture of what my family life with G was like ... I was very proud of myself for causing such shock to my fellow (narrow-minded) neighbors but quickly found myself EXPLAINING why I had done it (basically "blamed" it on cultural differences and that where I was from, fixing a dog was considered normal.) In any case, they continue to think I'm a weirdo and I'm sure I didn't help in easing their opinion that my dog is "weird" too.

Just for the record, my fellow Chileans who think this is such a horrible thing to do to a dog, Obi's a-ok. In fact, the only thing that has him feeling less than stellar is the pain medication. We quickly discontinued it, of course and now he's on his favorite rice and chicken diet.

Of course, immediately AFTER the surgery he looked like this:



In his e-cone and doped on his recent dose of anesthesia, he looks like a pot head, druggie dog! He was super uncomfortable and couldn't find any way to sit ... but he's since then conquered the situation and he's looking more like this:



He's laying low, not really going outside and chilling with me and G in-house. AND he's not even noticing the operated area ... some websites indicated that he might lick or scratch the site, but he hasn't and he doesn't seem to be feeling any kind of pain. He's running and jumping and eating (now that he's off the pain meds).

G and I are happy with our decision and we know that in the long run, our little guy will lead a healthier, happier life as our dear family pet. Yeah, I'm still super annoyed with the majority reaction here but it doesn't make what we did less appropriate. We're being responsible and we're assuring our dog's happy life from now on.

The question is: are you doing the same for your pet?

Labels: dogs, Everyday life, Obi wan Kenobi

I'm about to go off on a tangent with this blog entry and whenever I'm inclined to feel bad about not discussing topics pertaining to Chile, I'm quick to forgive myself as I'd like to draw the reader's attention to the "Welcome" section of my page. I pretty much included a clause that allows me to write about irrelevant topics. Therefore, I feel satisfied in having warned the reader and ready to dive into my tangent. [Will that disclaimer look good on court transcripts?]

Watching the movie "Clueless" really makes me miss a moment in time when my friends and I basically adopted the language of the movie and injected it into our everyday dialogue, whenever we could and with whomever we could. The movie came out in 1995, when my friends and I were either juniors or seniors in high school (I myself was a senior and incidentally, I went to high school with the lead actress in the movie, Alicia Silverstone) but I don't recall quoting it to a pulp until about 3-5 years after its release. The screenplay was written by Amy Heckerling (of "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" fame), a woman who has a pretty outstanding talent for writing about young adults. I say this because, in my opinion, a marker of said talent is when your writing jumps off the screen and into everyday life as was the case with me and my group of friends AND with subsequent women I met in walks of life thereafter.

All right, so what's my point here? Basically a simple walk down memory lane: recalling certain lines of the movie and when we applied them to our everyday lives. A simple trip that I'll enjoy taking you, the reader, on with me.

The most obvious one being the use of the word "Whatever." We all remember Ambular doing her little whatever sign during her debate with Cher (which I'll get to in a second, by the way.) If not, here's a looksie for reference:


Maybe "whatever" was something kids said in the 70s and 80s but if that's the case, I'm willing to argue that the tone of the word was much more "I'm high" rather than "I'm super annoyed with you." I picked it up in the 90s with the latter pitch and of course, it took us by storm and every other word out of our mouths was "whatever." Oh, you don't have nonfat milk? Whatever. You're charging me for returning the movie I rented five minutes after it was due? Whatever. My car ran out of gas and I am now in a ditch at the side of the road? Whatever. Though now my "Whatever" has since evolved into a tone that sounds more like "I'm bored" or "you bore me" more than it does annoyance as it did in the original debut. Hmmm, incidentally I wonder if this sounds similar to the "I'm high" Whatever from the 70s...

Moving on.

The debate between Amber and Cher during (duh) Debate Class is a really key piece when analyzing the way this movie altered my communication with peers and the world around me. In this scene, the debate is about allowing Haitians to find refuge in the U.S. and what that would mean to America's resources. When Amber's character can't figure out what the hell Cher said in her debate, the following dialogue develops in response to her teacher, Mr. Hall's, request for a rebuttal.

Mr. Hall: .... Uh, Amber, reply?
Amber: Mr. Hall, how can I answer that? The topic is Haiti and she's talking about some little party.
Cher: Hellooooo?! It was his fiftieth birthday!
Amber: [while doing "W" hand motion] Whatever!.... If she doesn't do the assignment, I can't do mine.

Working a little out of order, I'd like to share that I use this version of "hello" on a regular, if not daily, basis. It either means "Helllooooo (you're a total moron)" or it means "Hellooooo (I know you and I love you but you're having a complete and total brain fart right now and I need to draw your attention to it before this conversation goes any further.)" This movie's debate scene really does contain some gems (or so we thought when we adopted their language.)
Now, with - Mr. Hall, how can I answer that? The topic is Haiti and she's talking about some little party - the possibilities are limitless, really. Say someone asks you a question that's loaded, or asks you a question that has 20 possible answers ... this quote totally applies. In fact, I used this just the other day when I was telling a friend of mine that someone had asked me when I thought I'd be ready to have kids. Seriously, Mr. Hall, how CAN I answer that? Who the hell knows?? Is anyone really, truly ready to have kids?
I use - If she doesn't do the assignment, I can't do mine. - when someone doesn't come through on what was promised. For instance,I was promised that we'd get the mock ups of our wedding THANK YOU cards by last week and I certainly did not get them...therefore I'm delayed in sending them out to our guests and those who got us wedding gifts. Do you see how this accurately applies to such a situation? It can also apply when someone doesn't verbally give you the correct facts for any given situation, such as driving directions, steps through bureaucracy and so on.

There's also:

"I have insight, Mr. Hall" - Travis Birkenstock says this in reply to Mr. Hall's question on "futher insight." I use it whenever I have a piece of information to share or when someone has asked my opinion on something.

"Suddenly a dark cloud settled over first period ..." - Cher says this when she discovers she got a C in Debate ... I say this whenever things have taken a turn for the worse or when something unexpected happens. For instance, putting on a shirt only to later realize that it was dirty from the start! (Always an annoying realization and worthy of stating that a dark cloud has settled over first period.)

"Fluke accident during a routine liposuction" - Cher states this when describing how her mother passed away. I say "fluke accident" whenever I've f*cked up in a ridiculous manner.

"I so need lessons from you on being cool...tell me that part about Kenny G again." - Cher says this while making fun of her former stepbrother/future boyfriend. I say this whenever someone is trying to be better than me but failing miserably. As is the case with women who have mullet haircuts. I digress.

"Here's the 4-1-1" - Dionne says this to Cher when giving her the scoop on their teacher, Mr. Hall. 4-1-1 is the three-digit phone number you dial in the U.S. for "Information" on phone numbers, addresses and other details about businesses. One calls "Information" when they want to know the number to the Italian Restaurant in ABC City. Therefore the use of "4-1-1" in daily life is pretty self explanatory.

"He earns minor duckets at a thankless job." - Dionne says this to Cher about Mr. Hall. Since my friends and I started using these phrases right about when we graduated from college, it was pretty applicable to our own situations at the time, earning minor duckets at thankless jobs.

"I was surfing the crimson wave. I had to haul ass to the ladies'." - Cher says this to Mr. Hall in defense of an alleged tardy to class. I use "I had to haul ass to the ladies'" generally speaking when I have to get somewhere STAT. Anywhere, mind you. Not just the bathroom. And just to clarify, the crimson wave has NOTHING to do with my use of the quote. Just so that's clear.

"That doesn't make any sense. I'd have to get off the freeway, I hate that." - Elton says this to Cher when arguing about who will take who home after the Val party. I say "I hate that" when ... I highly dislike or hate something. True, the three words are generic, but in my mind, TRUST ME, I'm giving mad props (or snaps as we're talking about Clueless here) to the movie.

"I-a not a Mexican!" - Cher's housekeeper yells this at her when Cher tells her that she doesn't speak "Mexican" (as opposed to Spanish.) Since the housekeeper is from El Salvador, obviously she flips out. I just used to say this all the time because several times I was met with blank stares when I told people I was from Chile. It was as if being Latin was equal to being Mexican. In fact, my friends used to say this to me all the time, thinking they were being funny.

"That was way harsh, Tai." - Cher says this to her new friend, Tai, when Tai says something really mean to her. It's applicable in real life in similar situations. Not that it necessarily needs to be used when a PERSON is mean, but in general when any given situation is plain whack. It can be shortened to "way harsh Tai." A crowd favorite.

It's crazy to think how certain movies affect individuals. I wonder how many movies have affected entire generations! But I don't think it's unheard of. I am willing to bet that everyone has a movie or two that really speaks his/her language. Or whose language they understand so well, said language is adopted. This was the case for me with Clueless... though some phrases I've dropped, there are many I continue to use. Further, there were terms in the movie I outright refused to adopt as well! "Betty," or "I'm outtie (perhaps Audi like the car, who knows!) and "As if," among others.

Had I studied linguistics as opposed to Communications in college, this would have been a really interesting thesis ... but I digress. I have to haul ass to the ladies.

Labels: Tangents

Why in sam hell is soccer not more popular in the U.S.? What's the matter with us? We're the only country that doesn't use the metric system (though we tried) and we're the only country that doesn't really, truly care about soccer.

Let me rephrase. We care about soccer for our kids. We like them to partake in AYSO and all the yuppie moms feel like they're cool and different for having their girls playing soccer alongside the boys. That much I get, and coming from that world, that much I can obviously relate to.

It's true that we're a product of our environment and with that being the case, when I lived in California I was totally in tune with the Super Bowl and the World Series. After all, even for those of us who didn't follow football and baseball during their respective regular seasons, the two championship series were reason enough to paaaartay Lindsay Lohan style. With that, what's not to love about sports in the US?

Truth be told, I do know a thing or two about baseball and had been known to watch entire games all on my own. I can thank an ex-boyfriend who was an obsessive baseball fan for that. But I could never get into football, even though I also ended up having a (different) boyfriend who was ALL about the dumb sport. Frankly, I could never be bothered. It seems so mundane, awkward and ... what's the word I'm looking for ... Neanderthal (ish). Clearly not for me.

Now that I live in Chile, I'm taking note of this fabulous little game called soccer (or "futbol" as it's known everywhere but in the U.S. - go figure.) I don't know much about the sport, really. I know the basics: one team tries to kick the ball into the goal which is protected by the goalie from the other team. You can't use your hands, there's 11 players on the field and halfway through, each team switches sides. Those of you who are experts out there, feel free to correct me and add more insight to my thwarted soccer knowledge.

The real reason I am taking note is because the World Cup starts tomorrow... and starting right now, tonight, the night before, I'm ALL OF A SUDDEN SUPER STOKED on this! Who am I? It's contagious, what else can I say? First of all, more than half of my social media peeps are talking about it nonstop - how can I ignore that? Second of all, Chile apparently has a really, really good team. At least for Chilean standards and considering the history of Chilean World Cup teams. I hear that much of this is thanks to the new coach, which brings me to the next reason I'm particularly keen to the World Cup lately... my brother-in-law works for Bielsa, the Chilean World Cup soccer team's coach and I just think it's SUPER cool to watch the news and catch glimpses of him on tv!

And let's not disregard the media. HOLY sh*tballs the media is having a field day with the World Cup. Each and every television network has a team in South Africa and they do "special reports" everyday about everything under the sun related to South Africa and/or soccer. We're spewing World Cup out of our noses and South Africa out of our rear ends. And the department stores are having a ball with advertisements that speak to the consumer who just "can't possibly watch the games on a small-screen tv." It will be interesting to know just how many tv's have been sold since World Cup fever began ...

Finally, speaking of frenzy and contagion, even the government is helping out! Chilean Labor Minister has said that her Ministry would like employers and employees to reach an agreement so everybody can enjoy the matches of the Chilean team. Is that insane, or what? Trust me, this is NEVER the case in the US with the Super Bowl or the World Series. The rationale behind this request is that workers will be more motivated to work if they are allowed to watch their national team in the most important championship of the sport. The end result? A motivated employee is a productive employee. But it's not just the professional world! The Chilean Education Ministry has authorized elementary schools and high schools to allow their students to watch the matches during school hours. To the point that they even suggested starting the school day at 7:15 am. Wha-wha-what? Higher education isn't about to be left behind either... Most universities have placed big screen tv's throughout campuses so that students can watch the matches. In some universities they even agreed to change class TIMES so that everyone could watch the games!

If this is what's going on with "regular" games, I can't even imagine what Chile will come to if La Roja (what Chileans affectionately call the Chilean soccer team) makes it to the second round!

I'm imagining a "Turn around and go back. We're closed until further notice" sign at the airport and borders for all new arrivals.

Labels: World Cup

I know I'm going to age myself here yet again, but there's a commercial I remember from 1987 (when I was 10, mind you) for Heinz Ketchup (note that in searching for this video I just now realized that that the actor in it is Matt LeBlanc. Who knew?)



Don't ask me why, but from the first time I ever saw this commercial, I took note of the message and have constantly reminded myself of this tried and true cliche over and over again. Seems rather heavy that a 10-year old would take to heart such a sophisticated message and further, that said 10-year old was able to see past its use in a commercial advertising the thickness of ketchup. I can't say that many things (experiences or people) have truly shaped my life, but believe it or not, as weird as it sounds, this commercial really did shape my ideology, at least in some aspects, and sort of gave me this comforting philosophy I could grab on to whenever I was feeling anxious or desperate for something to happen NOW.

So you can just imagine what it feels like for me to live in a country where it would seem that the general population lives their life going against the grain of this message.

For instance, the manner in which most Chileans drive. I've seen it all, really. Running red lights, swerving around pedestrians crossing the street - so close that the car actually rubs against them, needing to make a right hand turn at the next light but too impatient to wait their turn so they get into the left hand lane to zoom past the line of waiting cars, only to block traffic as they try to turn right FROM THE LEFT HAND LANE. All this sh*t annoys me and I fight with people constantly (from the safety of my car with windows rolled up, naturally). But one of the things that bothers me the most (aside from the 92% of Chileans thinking that turning on their hazard lights all of a sudden gives them the right to stop ANYWHERE on the road), is to see a car that is driving behind me at a comfortable pace, suddenly speed up to go around me only to fit him/herself SNUGLY in front of me and continue driving. WTF? I seriously wish I could ask the person what the motivation is behind doing something so.lame. He didn't gain any distance on me, nor did he find himself with tons of road in front of him giving him a chance to gun it down the road. All I can conclude is that, to him, it's all about doing things quickly, getting sh*t done, no matter how he goes about it. Therefore, shaving the four seconds he gained by going around me, makes him feel like king of the world. If he's in such a hurry, how 'bout leaving the house earlier, buddy? Novel thought. So as you can imagine, I end up driving behind this dumb a** a pretty long while... until he decides he needs to make a right hand turn so he gets into the left hand lane in order to get there sooner.

Also, there's the quick fixes applied to any and all things. If something breaks around the house, a heater, a lamp, the tv - what have you, the first part of the solution doesn't involve taking it in for repair, or even considering buying a new item. The first option, because it's the quickest, is to try to fix it yourself. Duct tape here, a nail and hammer there, a little rewiring here and pretty soon the thing is "as good as new." Of course this comes with a price, such as only being able to plug it in to the wall from the outlet in the bathroom ("the electrical current in there is lighter" - probably from a fix-it job on the light fixture back in the day), or the having to watch tv at an angle or something because the pressure to left helps align the collapsed tube inside. The same item will probably go through about two to three rounds of home fixes before its decided that it was too old anyway and that a new one is in order. In my world, the moral of this story is that sacrificing a little time at home without the broken item and allowing someone more qualified to actually take a looskie and fix it, would probably have resulted in quicker turn-around AND money saved. But, that's just me.

Yesterday after class, when I arrived at my parked car in the school's parking lot, I realized that the person who parked next to me had parked at an angle, completely blocking my entrance into the car. You know, so that I had to open the passenger door and climb in that way. No, he/she hadn't scraped my car or even remotely touched it, but in a technique I'll never truly grasp, he/she managed to park the dumb car about an inch away from mine. I'm not even going to try and assemble the math involved with accomplishing such a feat, but it REALLY.PISSED.ME.OFF. But let me tell you why ... this person, like me, had class on Tuesday mornings, maybe even had class all day long. Like me, this person had to get up super early, fight traffic, fight the crazies who make right hand turns from the left hand lane, dodge pedestrians, go around the hazard-light-using lame-O's who stop in the middle of a busy intersection, and all the countless things that make driving in Chile hazardous to one's health. So what gives? Running late I guess and in running late, arriving to find that the parking lot closest to campus is full, except for this one, teeny, tiny, cramped spot next to my car. ANY NORMAL person who wouldn't mind parking just a little further away would rationalize that in parking their car in this teeny, tiny spot, the person next to them (me, in this case) wouldn't be able to get out. Of course we now know that this f*cktard didn't rationalize and parked there anyway. I can forgive that he/she might have overslept and because of this was running late. I can understand that he/she might have been faced with a nana who also arrived late at home and couldn't leave the baby alone until she arrived. I can relate to a car that didn't start until about the 5th attempt. WHAT I DON'T UNDERSTAND and what I CAN'T FORGIVE is the imprudence and stupidity that erupts from being impatient! Because this person was late and couldn't be bothered with taking an additional 30 seconds to park just a little farther where there were more spots available, he/she decided to remain close, park in the glove-compartment of a spot which left me crawling through my car to reach the driver's seat. God forbid he/she actually walked through the scenario.

Naturally, I left them a note on the windshield. It read:

"Hey Partner,
Did you bother to see how you parked? You left me with no room to get into my car and I have to now crawl in through the passenger side. What's the matter with you? Where did you learn to drive? Iraq?
You're about as ridiculous as they come."

Here's what went through my mind right before writing this note. "It's almost 2 pm. I'm really hungry. The drive to my house will take about 40 minutes and I have to go to the ATM first. I should hurry up because I need to get to work AND I need to take my dog out. Plus I have a test on Tuesday and I'm so behind on reading. I should really get going."
However, I decided to take the two minutes it took me to open my notebook, find a blank sheet, whip out the writing instrument, write this note in ALL ITS GLORY, rip the sheet out and place it on his/her windshield; put everything away, close my school bag, walk around the car, crawl into my seat and drive off.

Smug? Yes. Unnecessary? Maybe. Satisfying? Hell yeah.

Labels: appalled, Everyday life, Masters program