drips.
It's an amazing trick the bagel/coffee shop girl pulls. I'm jealous and envious of it. She, with her eyes, upper lip sneer, and condescending tone, tells you that you are the dumbass and she, in fact, is the enlightened, the smart one. She can see the car you pulled up in, the BMW SUV or the Honda hatchback and it doesn't matter, you've got it all wrong. You who work for the man and all the material things associated. She just cuts bagels. Somehow, everyone in line seems to want her life, the imagined freedom with it and she knows it, and abuses everyone with it. "Look at my lip ring" she dares, tonguing it at you over your food, "bet you can't have one of these at your job".
Posted by heyhansen at March 5, 2003 09:32 AMOn the other hand, there is a possibility that she sees a line of people who had less trouble paying their bills this month, and the only way she can say, "Fuck you," and not get fired, is to dangle that lip ring.
I have to admit that I'm always puzzled by the large portion that rebels against "working for the man." I admit that used to have that same attitude. I work for Disney, which is about as "the man" as you can get. But all of the frustrations of working in such an ultra-corporate environment seem to melt away every Sunday when I hear my daughter talk about all of the things she learned in school (a private school that runs $3000+/year) that week.
Maybe being a parent has changed (perhaps skewed) my point of view on working for "the man." It certainly has posed with me a new set of questions. Should my goal be to do my part to prepare the next generation to which I have contributed? Can I still obtain that goal and safely demand my individuality at the expense of gainful employment? Is it possible for me to be an individual with an ironed shirt and a clean-shaven face, or is it only possible to be an individual with a body piercing, tattoo or something else that corporations have deemed outside the norm?
Posted by: Kevin at March 6, 2003 03:18 AM