Can you?  What am I talking about?  I’m talking about those things that people no longer seem to care about of just plain forgot.  You have no clue what that might be?  I’ll give you a few samples:

DIRECTIONS ON GOING TO PLACES

How may times have you called up a store or a restaurant to ask for directions on how to get there?  You would think that the owners or managers of these establishments should have enough common sense to make certain that the person, hostess, receptionist or whoever, knows where they are supposed to be situated and how to advise the caller where they are supposed to be situated so that they will know how to get to where they are supposed to be situated.  This is a typical situation.

Question:  Where are you located?
Answer:     21050 Elm Street.
Question:  Great.  Now what is your cross street?
Answer:     Duh.  I’m not sure.
Question:   What is your nearest exit on the Freeway?
Answer:     I think it’s Metropolitan Avenue.
Question:  Do I turn right or left after I exit the Freeway?
Answer:    I’m not sure.
Question:  Okay, is your street going north/south which means your cross street goes east/west?  Right?
Answer:     Huh.
Question:  At this point I accept the fact that I must be talking to a moron and boxing the compass is not their thing so I simplify the questions.  What other businesses, restaurants or gas stations are you near?
Answer:     There is a gas station about three blocks away but I don’t know what kind of gas they sell.
Question:  Can you give me something else to work with, you know, like a better landmark?
Answer:     It’s in the direction of the river.
Question:  Great.  Is it on the left side or the right side?
Answer:     It depends on whether you’re going to the river or coming from the river.
Question:  Now I’m ready to ask that person how THEY manage to get to work.  But after thinking about it and calming down, I merely ask to talk to whoever is in charge.

Their excuse for the stupidity is blamed on the internet and the fact that you can get an address and directions, just by looking it up on your iPad, Laptop, iPhone and other devices. Some devices require only the address and it tells you how to get to where you’re going.  You don’t even have to look at your screen and it tells you every step of the way.

TELEPHONE INFORMATION

There was a time when you could call up and get a live person who would give you the number and or address of the person or business you are trying to contact but not necessarily the directions on how to get there, for a charge of course.  These days you have to talk to a computer where the charge is in excess of two dollars and most of the time the computer, duh, gives you the wrong number.

In order to circumvent this annoying problem and to save valuable time, I make sure to speak clearly and to to enunciate all of my words.  No matter how hard I try, the computer, gets the state, city, name of the person or name of the business wrong about fifty percent of the time.

Now I’m pissed so I shout into the phone, “Operator”, to which I get the response, “First tell me what city and state you are looking for”, or words to that effect.  I really have no desire to talk to the computer so I insist, “Operator, agent, representative, live person”.  After a few tries I get a live person who gives me the number and I, thinking that because I got it from a live person, it has to be correct.  Wrong.

Invariably, that number which the live person gave me is either wrong or turns out to be a fax machine with a high pitch screech that attacks my eardrum.  Now I’m really pissed and I start cursing at the computer, as though it cares and understands what I’m talking about, all to no avail, and I have to take a half hour break just to calm down, before re-starting the process.  Or I say, “The hell with it”, and simply look it up on my iPad.

RESPECT

Once upon a time this was the normal practice when dealing with and interacting with people. Way back when, like in grade school for instance, if you were told to report to the Principal’s Office or the Dean’s Office, you would be scared shitless.  Now it’s, “Fuck that shit”, or more typically, “Who the fuck cares?”  Respect for law enforcement, firemen, street-crossing guards or anyone in uniform was implicit.  Now it’s, “Watchu mean mutha-fucka?”, or more typically, “What the fuck you talkin’ sbout?”  Even the parents of these bratty kids behave that way and maybe that’s where the bratty kids learned that kind of obnoxious behavior.  You think?

Did this crass and disrespectful behavior happen overnight?  Of course not.  It has been a slow deterioration over the last fifty or sixty years commencing at a time when protests of the Vietnam War were the rage.  Don’t get me wrong.  Protests can be a good thing.  But when interacting with other people, you should try to do it the old fashioned way and include some respect.  You’ll be surprised at the results.

DELIVERY OF THE MAIL

I can remember when we got three deliveries per day, one in the morning, one around mid-day and one around five o’clock or so.  That was then.  Over the years that changed to two deliveries per day and eventually to only one delivery per day.  Then something happened. If you didn’t include the apartment or suite number, the mail person would refuse to deliver your mail, even if they knew your name in their sleep.  No excuses.  No apartment or suite
number, no mail, period, end of story.  I can understand it if you just moved into the building but when you have been getting your mail all the while and the mail person knows you and you may even give them a small gift for the holidays, they still won’t deliver your mail.

ANYTHING THAT YOU CAN REMEMBER AND CARE TO SHARE, DROP US A LINE.