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This blog is the work of an educated civilian, not of an expert in the fields discussed.

Monday, December 26, 2011

Annoyances

Someone noted to me recently how little things sometimes really annoy him. I can relate, in part since they seem so avoidable and petty. Death by a thousand cuts. Sometimes, real bad things happen because of little things. Like in an interview or in court, something pretty trivial in the scheme of things can lead to not getting a job or getting a conviction, though writ large, it is totally unjustified. But, being right or generally fair is not always the path to good results.

And, bad service. Harms the experience and little things can avoid the overall negative experience. We had a bad experience at our annual Christmas dinner at the Chinese restaurant. No, we aren't Jewish -- it's one of the few places open and it's a nice place. Unfortunately, this time, though it was a bit less crowded than usual for the holiday, we had to deal with bad service. I was going to say a "victim" of bad service or "victimized," which is true in a fashion, but seems overblown.

We have a sympathetic soul in our party who doesn't like to criticize wait service personnel, so when she flagged the situation as not positive, it was a flashing light. Again, little things. The waiter cannot do too much to deal with the food not being cooked fast enough.  However, not serving drinks (it's advisable to do this early, since overpriced drinks might be refilled) or even putting noodles on the table for quite some time (and then not providing dipping sauce) is his responsibility.  Later, we got the wrong type of rice as well. I can go on, but one doesn't like to whine. It is just used as an example. One that can applied to any number of situations, including how you treat someone you know. 

And, in each case, little things can spend a message. Anyways, I also realized Buckler is a near beer. Tastes pretty good though and I'm in good company in drinking it. Also, when some place has a somewhat petty policy (spend over $30 and still cannot get the .75 left on a gift card), it isn't the fault of the cashier.  I'm sure they love hearing about the stupidity of the arraignment repeatedly though.  Human nature, but still.