Jim and I were at Chipotle recently and we ended up sitting at a table near the cash register. It was out of the way, but a good spot for people watching.
As we ate, I noticed a number of people walk past us and go down the hall to the restrooms – then come back to the cash register to ask for the code. The doors to the restroom rooms were locked, it was would seem. One poor soul went from restroom to cashier to restroom and back to the cashier – then the restroom again. I guess they transposed the number of the 4 digit code and couldn’t get in.
I came up with two theories:
- The door was locked to minimize the number of people that went in there and used the restroom – thus reducing the amount of cleaning that would need to be done in a given shift. The inconvenience would be the deterrent. And having worked at a gas station/convenience store for a summer and a winter break – I can tell you that people will do unspeakable things to a public bathroom that they wouldn’t do in their own home. Or perhaps they would – which is maybe worse.
- Or, they would force people to come to the register – and thus be on camera – before heading to the restroom. This would deter illicit activity or at least provide some degree of evidence if needed.
Neither of these are really solid answers since it’s easy enough to bypass the code by just waiting for someone else to go first and the catching the door as they exit. Whatever behavior they are trying to control, well, it misses.
On the flip side, it wasted the time of the cashier and added a degree of difficulty to using the restroom. Which I find amazing and deplorable. When I have guests over I make sure that both of my bathrooms are clean and well stocked with easy to reach toilet paper – and that the sinks have soap and towels. I even have a step stool near the sink for kids if they can’t reach.
Making it difficult to use the bathroom – for any reason – is pretty terrible. And brings to mind the transgender bathroom bills. Seriously, when you gotta go, you gotta go. Everyone else should just get out of the way – because we’ve all been there.
And making it difficult to use the bathroom at Chipotle? Really?
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I was reading through my news feed at lunch and saw a news story about one of the most prominent “flat earthers”. These are folks – and they count a few celebrities among them – that are convinced that the earth is really flat and any… globalists?… are part of a vast conspiracy to hide the truth.
I watched about a minute of this before I had to close the video in disgust and horror. The part I saw was where one guy talked about how he thought the flat-earth theory was a hoax and then spent months of sleepless nights researching before he “realized” it was the Truth. The earth – according to all the evidence he could find – was flat.
Here’s what I’ve learned from that:
- You can find evidence to support anything on the internet, no matter how utterly wrong and contrary to reason, logic, common sense, or common decency.
- Some people will believe anything.
- Some people really are that f****** stupid.
- I’m going to add that to the questions I ask whenever I meet someone new. “Do you think the Earth is flat?” If they say yes, I’m done with them. Forever.
Why do people gravitate to the least reasonable answer? My guess is that it gives them a sense of community and of superiority – of knowing the secret that the “sheeple” can’t understand.
Seems like a huge waste of time to me, though.
Everyone knows the earth is a cube.
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Jim and I went out to dinner with our friend George over the weekend. We went to pizza hut and got a large pan pizza with pepperoni and sausage.
Now, there are a lot of places to eat in the area and a lot of options for food at pizza hut. Jim and George are both very polite people and I could see we were headed towards a three way “I’m fine with whatever you want” situation – since I’m pretty polite too.
However, I’m not as patient as they are. And when faced with decisions where there this is no wrong answer, I can usually be trusted to make some kind of decision. Especially if I’m hungry.
This isn’t the first time I’ve done this – there was a trip to a garden center that ran into the lunch hour and when a decision took a little too long for me, I decided that we were going to Bob Evans. Everyone likes Bob Evans – and I was driving.
This time, though, I think I could have been a little more patient. George and Jim were both smirking a bit about my very predictable choices and engaged in a little, well, “bland shaming”. Yeah, I own it. Pop-tarts and all.
The way I see it, the more predictable my choices, the more it frees up the rest of my head. Kind of like Einstein with ten of the exact same suits – set aside the trivial thoughts and the more interesting your brain can be.
I did mix it up by ordering the Hut Favorite as a crust topping – which surprised them both – and the pizza was as delicious as the table was sticky.
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I ran some errands this past Saturday and spent the rest of the day out in the sun in my backyard. Just me, my music, and the sky. May not get another day like that, but I’m hoping it will last me. And I’m kicking around the idea of a beach trip for my birthday in January. I’ll be 45 and that seems like enough of a milestone to warrant something special.
For now, the windows are open as the last of the Summer heat begins to fade into Fall. And I’ll sleep well tonight.