They're Everywhere!

We've all had encounters with moochers. They're in the classroom and the workplace. The person who is a few cents short of a dollar. Who has run out of smokes, forgot their lunch, needs a pen (paper, pencil, stamp, envelope). They need a light, need a ride, they just need.

Remember Wimpy, from Popeye? "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today." The mooch has been protrayed as a lovable character who just doesn't have it all together, and if you'll just help 'em out, they're your friend for life. They just need a little boost along the way.

Unfortunately, the mooch in the electronic age is more of a blood sucking leech than a lovable fictional character. They weigh you down with their needs. What prompted this blog today was a situation a good buddy on the job had happen to him. He's a very nice sort of person. Open and friendly. Literally the type of person who would give the shirt off his back if someone needed it.

Our office has one of these mooches. She always needs cigarettes, gas money, drink money, food money, and her cell phone somehow always isn't working so that she needs to borrow someone else's to make calls.

She refuses to use the landline telephone provided for local calls because she can't take that phone outside to smoke.

So, she asks work buddy if she could use his cellphone to call a restaurant for food for her children. She took the phone outside to smoke and made eight different calls, none of which were to her kids or a restaurant. He would've eventually found those calls on his outbound log, but he found out about it a lot sooner when one of the people she called called his number asking for her.

She did that to him once before, using over an hour of cell time one work day, borrowing the phone two seperate times. He was nice and gave her a second chance. She won't get a third chance.

The thing that annoys me the most about this woman, is that she uses her kids as an excuse for everything. 'I have to leave early because my kid had her first period.' or 'I couldn't get to work or call in because my babysitter didn't show up.' or 'I have this website up to monitor my kids'. OK, we get it, you have kids. The world doesn't owe you anything because you have kids.

Am I being harsh? Yuppers. What she did to this guy was extremely rude and selfish. He has a kid, too. He's always on time, does his job, and works very hard for his money. He shouldn't have to subsidize her or anyone else.

Believe me, she doesn't ask me to borrow anything, 'cause I have turned her down. No rides, no use of my phone, no nothing. After the word went out today on the floor about her abuse of this wonderful guy, it's likely no one else is gonna give her much help anymore either.

There's a sayin' about one bad apple. It might not spoil the whole barrel, but it sure as Hell makes the barrel stink, and the other apples not as appealing (no pun intended).

A Slap in the Face?

As we come closer to the 10th anniversary of 9/11, it's likely that many cities and states will do something special to commemorate the day. Especially in those cities that were attacked: NYC, Washington DC, and that field in Pennsylvania where Flight 93 went down.

One of those events will be in NYC at the site of the original twin towers that fell. And that's what's causing this blog to be written. Check out this link, and then come back. I'll wait.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/upshot/9-11-first-responders-left-10th-anniversary-event-142149351.html

Welcome back. Is your blood boiling as much as mine? I can understand having the survivors of the victims there. But to leave out the first responders who didn't think twice about going into harm's way to try to save lives? Is it just me or something completely skrewed about this?

I've said it before, and will say again that the police as a whole have a thankless job. So do fire fighters. When the fire department shows up, it's never 'Thank God you're here!" It's more "Hurry up! What took you so long?" It takes a lot to be a first responder in a crisis like that and subject yourself to danger time after time.

Frankly, if I were a survivor of a victim of the twin towers, I'd gladly give up my ticket to give a first responder the opportunity to be present. I understand that logistically, there isn't enough room for every firefighter and police officer in NYC to be present. By the same token, surely the fire station that was first there that was the closest, and the nearest police stations could represent all the first responders!

That day 10 years ago was difficult enough for people the nation over. It doesn't need to be made worse by deliberately snubbing the very first people who rushed to help.