Wednesday 16 May 2012

Crotchety,A%*@ Retentive Old Man

I used to have a certain view of older people when I was twenty something.By older,I meant anyone over forty.They were all stodgy,conservative old men and women with perpetual frowns,set in their ways who would wear any colour suit to church-so long as it was black.

But somewhere along the line,after I passed fifty,I seem to have turned into a crotchety,retentive old man.When I ssay "retentive",I'll leave it to my readers to figure out the word that goes with it to make a complete phrase.

The twenty somethings I've had to deal with over the past couple of days are beginning to make me fear I'm turning into Walter Matheau or Jack Lemon.I never thought it would happen,but I don't seem to understand young kids.

We've  spent the last couple of days out building a golf course in South Calgary and the days have been very hot and dusty.Rather unpleasant work for everyone.But after only four hours,two of our staff simply left without bothering to finish out the day.In truth,I think we were better off without them.As an older person I don't know why someone would bother coming to the work site if they didn't intend to put in a whole day.Don't like the work,then don't come back tomorrow-believe me not many of us are going to miss you.The one kid looked to be just short of twenty and was complaining all morning-"the works too hard,its too hot,when do we get a break,I'm not getting paid enough"etc.Guess what kid.We are all hot and breathing dust and I have sore knees and didn't get enough sleep and I have gout too-you'll get that when you get older,if selling cell phones in the mall doesn't break your back first.The second of the two?He was hot and dusty too.But it was really the supervisor trying to explain to him that,no matter how hot you are,you really can't take off your shirt in the middle off a golf course surrounded by high end family homes.And,guess what-you can't urinate anyplace you want either.Kids and their values,these days.Well,I'm not going to miss him much either,brilliant conversationist that he was.Can't seem to say a seven word sentence without using at least three  F bombs.Maybe next time I see him I will expand his linguistic horizons by bringing up the subject of fire trucks.That way he can actually learn to rhyme without having to waste his intellect on learning another letter of the alphabet.One weants to make certain they've mastered F before going on to G.But the thing that got me most was watching this...whatever, take out his lunch,filled up with a nice green salad and a fine cheese and ham sandwich on fresh brown bread and saying"My,F-bomb,b word put the wrong kind of F-bomb mustard on my F-bomb sandwich.Maybe it's just me,but when someone cared enough for me to make me a lunch like that,it was a great thing and I appreciated it.But at least as I was standing there working for the rest of the day I didn't have to be burdened by that sort of attitude from a co-worker.After all,the attitudes packed it in early.Praise the Lord for small blessings.But I seem to be becoming what I hoped I never would.The thing is though,it seems to fit me better than I thought it would years ago.Just as long as I can keep wearing that bright orange tie to church...or no tie at all if that suits me on any given Sunday.

Good night from hot,dusty,attitude infested Calgary Alberta,Canada.

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