Rambo - First Coffee

You know it’s going to be a particularly brutal day when you don’t get to have your first cup of coffee until 10:16 am. That’s just cruel and unusual punishment for trying to work hard I suppose.  Of course it’s also a joy to finally make it back to the coffee area at work and find a cold swallow of coffee left in the pot and that the Coffee Slobs have struck again.

Who are those mysterious people that refuse to acknowledge the mountains of sugar they’ve dumped on the counter top? Why is there a single piece of plastic wrap just lying out? Why are all the coffee stirrers scattered on the counter, did the box explode? Truly a mystery for the ages.

But I digress, the reason I didn’t have a chance to get a cup of coffee until 10:16 AM is because of you. Not you specifically but, the general you, the General Public, the evil, greedy, self serving general public. I hate you. I’m in a business wherein it seems to be perfectly acceptable for people to refuse to accept any responsibility for their own mistakes. I’m constantly amazed by the sense of self entitlement people have created for themselves. People seem to have developed a, “money for nothing”, attitude and its wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.    Most of us have to earn our money, no one just gives it to us because we think we’re owed it "just because".

Without getting too specific, I am in the insurance industry and I deal with claims on a commercial/retail level. I deal with people who alleged they slipped, tripped or fell in or around a certain retail giant. Be it on a clear dry floor or a clean and flawless sidewalk, people find a way to fall and not accept any responsibility for it. They say, “Well, it happened in your store so you need to give me money”. Our common response is, “Well, what did the store do to cause the accident?” and the usual response is, “I don’t know, but it happened in your store so, you need to compensate me”.       No. We don’t.

 People who refuse to read the labels of their own prescription medication and then discover days after they’ve been taking something that it’s not their name on the bottle. We ask, “Did you read the label when you picked up the prescription?”, and they often respond, “No, but it shouldn’t happen”. I agree, that shouldn’t happen, but it still doesn’t relieve you of your responsibility to check the label before you start taking any medication.

Nothing in this world is perfect and accidents will happen. The world is not made of Nerf and yes, concrete is very hard.  But just tripping on a well maintained and yellow painted curb and landing on your face is not my fault. It’s yours and you should accept responsibility for not lifting your feet or watching where you are going. It’s as if the old adage, “Look before you leap”, has been erased from the American mind.

All they want is someone else to accept responsibility and reward them for having an accident, which was their fault in the first place. That’s why I didn’t get a coffee first thing. I had to talk to you, the general public, on the phone all morning and listen to you moan. Now, go clean the coffee room and try not to hurt yourself.