Special Bonus Post: Don’t Just Say It, Live It
Posted: April 10, 2013 Filed under: Culture, Musings, Uncategorized | Tags: advice, culture, etiquette, irony, life 2 CommentsJust recently, I wrote about how to address a customer service situation from the customer’s perspective. As luck would have it, I ran into just such a situation these past few days, and I wanted to share it with you all.
I bought a new custom build computer from Microcenter in Fairfax, VA, and there were issues with my order. I won’t go into the gritty details, because this is actually meant to be a positive story. First, let me say that I discovered just how hard it is to follow my own advice. I was angry. I might even go so far as to say livid. So polite and patient were hard come by. I have to give complete respect to almost everyone I dealt with (one technician was a little surly on the phone, but then I was a little surly as well; you get what you give). When I finally went in to pick up my computer, everyone was very polite, and I definitely appreciate that. I did manage to keep my cool, and followed my own rules.
The manager I spoke with, Abdul, was very accommodating, very patient, and very helpful. He listened to my story, he apologized for the inconvenience, and he made things right for me. Let me point out I was very close to never shopping there again after having not one but two computers in a row built there, and he salvaged everything. That’s the power of good customer service right there.
Let me also say this: my old system is going to my wife. I’ve had it for seven years and it still works great. The only reason I’m giving it up is because she needs a new computer. I look forward to my new one. If you need a new computer, or just want new components or anything else and are in the Northern VA area, I suggest you check them out.
Yeah, that’s right. I’m telling everyone I know. Because that’s how happy I am. That’s the power of good customer service, too.
Special Bonus Post: Free Freedom (That’s Really Free!)
Posted: March 26, 2013 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: freedom, liberty, seminars Leave a commentFull disclosure: The following is a personal endorsement for the Institute for Humane Studies Summer Seminars. I love them so much I actually spend my days promoting them. That being said, this is a personal blog, and has nothing to do with IHS. All of the ideas and opinions expressed herein are my own. Seriously, any attempt to tie any of my personal views to IHS would be inaccurate and could have very bad consequences for me personally and professionally. So don’t do it.
I’ve made no secret of the fact that I love liberty. But what does that mean? It’s a good question, and to be honest it took me a long time to sort it out for myself. I’ve spent the better part of a lifetime working on it, and it wasn’t until I got to IHS that I finally started developing a cohesive philosophy of liberty. One of the best resources for that has been IHS Summer Seminars.
If you’re a college student interested in the ideas of freedom, or you know someone who is, I highly suggest checking them out. They’re a full week of fun, discussion (oooh, discussion!), and ideas. There’s great faculty and students at every seminar and an open atmosphere of investigation and exploration.
If you’re looking for specific recommendations, I would have to point you toward either the Liberty & Society seminar at Chapman University July 13-19, where you can enjoy the company of the always fantastic Tom W. Bell, or the Exploring Liberty seminar June 15-22 (also at Chapman University) so you can get to know my good friend (and brilliant economist) Mario Villarreal-Diaz, the only man who could ever manage to explain marginal value in a way I could understand.
The application deadline is March 31, so make sure to apply today!
Don’t Tell Me Not To Not Vote
Posted: September 21, 2012 Filed under: Culture, Politics, Uncategorized | Tags: America, politics, voter turnout, voting 5 CommentsIt’s that time again. Once every four years we see millions, nay, billions of dollars wasted on pageantry, spectacle, and foolishness. It’s not just the direct participants who throw their money away either, as every big corporation in the world wants in on this gravy train, even though the truth is most of them will never make their money back. But what the heck, the people do love their bread and circuses.
Oh wait, they made the Olympics every two years, didn’t they?
Well that’s okay, the people still get their Leap Year frivolity in the form of our presidential elections. Once again I am hard pressed to find much if any difference in the offerings on the left and the right, and I am astounded by the fervor with which others are approaching the coming election. I could sooner see for getting worked up over a table tennis match (that is still an Olympic event, isn’t it?) But that’s not what bothers me the most. What bothers me is when people find out I have no intention of voting and then they say something offensive like “if you don’t vote you can’t complain about the way things turn out.” Yeah, I said that’s offensive. Not just idiotic, but actually offensive, and I’ll explain why.
Consider what the average voter turnout is in our country these days, or even over the last twenty years (about as long as I’ve been voting.) Does it still hover in the mid-thirty percentile range? So roughly one-third of eligible voters are actually ready, willing, and motivated enough to go to the polls and let their voices be heard. And is it the responsibility of our civic leaders to inspire us to want to vote? Is it the duty of our elected officials and candidates to office to give us reasons to invest the time and effort, as little as it might seem to some? Is it perhaps the obligation of those who hold the power in the land to find a way to cut through the malaise and disillusionment and reach to the best part of each of us?
No. It seems that the fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our politicians but in ourselves. If we don’t pull the switch and vote for either A or B, we don’t get to complain there was no option C. And even if there was an option C, if we aren’t satisfied with that one, we don’t get to complain about that unless we pull the handle for one of the above. And that’s the problem with the whole system and those who give that simplistic response. There is no option for “none of the above” (a la Brewster’s Millions). In this “damned if you do/damned if you don’t” scenario, you’re either part of the problem or you’re part of the problem.
The message that these people, and our Most Beloved Leaders in both parties, aren’t getting is that there’s a lot of people who are dissatisfied with the entire system. I don’t mean to say they’re dissatisfied in the same way I am (that would be its own brand of hubris); rather they are, each and every one of them, dissatisfied in their own unique way. The only thing we all have in common is that we don’t like any of the options we’re being presented with well enough to vote for them, nor do we dislike them significantly less than the other options. Given a choice between a shit sandwich and shit soufflé, I’ll just go hungry, thanks.
But the system is rigged. There’s no way to step in the booth and say “a plague on both your houses.” The only options available both suck. The first is the one that is hinted at ever so obliquely by the people above, who don’t want to come out and say what they really mean because even they realize how terrible the truth sounds: “If you don’t vote you’re powerless. You don’t have a voice of any kind. Nobody in power takes you seriously. You may only get crumbs of what you want when you vote for the guys they offer, but if you don’t vote at all you get nothing.”
Option number two is to be out in the cold, ignored except as part of a statistic that is used by the nightly news and each party to bash each other over the head, when they’re not busy trying to shame all of America one generation at a time. “Why aren’t Americans voting? It’s a travesty! It’s a tragedy! It’s somebody’s fault who isn’t me!” “The young aren’t voting! The old aren’t voting! The [insert group that is more likely to vote for politician who is currently speaking] vote is being suppressed!”
Here’s a crazy idea. How about next time we decide to elect anyone for anything, we just have one election. One person, one vote. And we have it open for a week, twenty-four hours a day, so there’s plenty of time for voting. Only here’s the catch: there’s no pre-filled voting cards. No letters next to names. You step up and write down the name of the person you want to vote for. Get rid of the parties and see what happens.
I wonder.
Things Everyone Should Do
Posted: August 10, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: advice, experience, life 2 CommentsWhile I am still (relatively) young and hope to do many things in my days, I have had a wide and varied experience of life that has taught me a great many things. In particular, it has taught me that there are some experiences that change you in ways you cannot truly understand until you have had them. Not all of them are good, but I believe they are all necessary in order to be a complete person.
I am sure as I continue down the road of life I will add to this list, but for now here is the list I have compiled, and why I think each experience is important and unique.
Hold a job. If you have never had a job, you will never understand why it is important to have a job, or any of the myriad things that go with it, like showing up on time, listening to your boss, and getting along with your coworkers. They try to teach you that in school, but it’s not the same. After all, they can’t fire you from school. Which leads me to the next item on the list…
Be fired from a job. There seems to be something pervasive in American society today, some perverse sense of entitlement that I don’t think is endemic to just one generation. Believe me when I say that being fired from a job relieves you of that sense of entitlement very quickly. Even if it is because the company went under, staffing cuts, or any number of reasons that are through no fault of your own, simply knowing that you are not in fact indispensable instills a sense of humility in no time. If you are fired for cause, it is a lesson that stays with you for the rest of your days.
Quit a job. On the flip side of that, there is something uniquely empowering that is captured in that old country song “Take This Job and Shove It”. There comes a time when you have swallowed just as much as you can, when you have reached your breaking point, and you discover that no amount of money is worth your pride. Being able to hold your head high is something that can never be bought; it has to be earned.
Work many different jobs. I don’t just mean in one field, either. I mean as many different kinds of jobs as possible. You will meet a wide section of humanity this way, you will develop all kinds of skills, and you will view the world in a new and different way each time depending on the demands that are placed upon you. Each new job is a new challenge, a new chance to grow and discover anew both who you are and who you can be. Capture it.
Work in retail. One of the few things we all have in common in American society and most societies in the world, from the richest to the poorest, is that we have to interact with someone in retail on a fairly regular basis. Even if it is just at the checkout line at the grocery store, you will inevitably have to deal with someone in this field. Having some idea of what their life is like will at least engender some empathy, and maybe even sympathy and patience.
Be unemployed. Even if only for a day, being unemployed is a scary feeling. Not knowing where your next paycheck will come from, how you will pay the bills, or even if you will be able to buy food in the coming weeks is a terrible sensation. Regardless of your politics, having that personal gut-level understanding of what it means to be unemployed is truly instructive.
Be homeless. Again, even if it’s only for one day, not knowing where you’ll be hanging your hat that night is terrifying. It makes you reassess all of your priorities, reconsider every choice you made leading up to that point, as well as every option you have. Again, regardless of your politics, a personal understanding of what it really means to not have a place to live changes how you approach the issue, as well as how you approach life.
Go hungry. This is the third part of the “if only for a day” trifecta. Not knowing where your next meal is coming from changes your priorities in a very real and immediate way. Things that seemed important before, like entertainment, planning for the future, or even just “what will I do tomorrow?” get consumed in an eternal and desperate now. Being able to empathize with that essential human drive, and what it can push you to, will give you a better understanding of more of the world than I care to admit.
Learn to cook. I have heard some people claim that for them food is nothing more than body fuel. I still don’t see them eating ramen every night. Cooking is an art, and it is worth doing well. Even if you only cook at the most basic level, it beats cheap take out, both for flavor and health. Also, it will get you dates. Ladies, the way to many a man’s heart truly is through his stomach, but trust me guys, ladies also love a man who can cook.
Learn to clean. According to my wife I still have to sort this one out, but I’m getting there, and I’m not as bad as the bachelor I used to be. Cleaning is a skill, and it is worth picking up. Not only does a clean house help to separate us from the animals (my dog never cleans up after himself), it improves morale and health as well, and just makes you a more attractive person to be around.
Love someone. I don’t mean have a crush on someone, and I certainly don’t mean lust, although there’s nothing wrong with either of those. I mean the soul-deep kind of love that you only experience a rare few times in your life and for some of us only once. This is the sort of experience that you can’t know about until it has happened. You don’t plan to fall in love; in most cases it sneaks up on you, grabs you when you’re not looking and says “Surprise! You’re mine now!” Songs have been sung about it, poems written about it and more than a few movies have tried to capture the idea of it, but every effort is a pale shadow of the real thing, even this description of it. You’ll know when you’ve had it.
Have your heart broken. Yeah, it sounds trite, and that’s because it is, but the truth is you aren’t really an adult until you pay taxes and have your heart broken at least once. Learning to deal with heartbreak is one of the few rites of passage we have left to us, and it is one of the most powerful. How you deal with it says a lot about you as a person, and learning to deal with it better (because nobody deals with it well the first time) makes you a better person.
Express yourself. Sure it sounds self-serving from a guy who writes a blog, but I truly believe everyone has something to say, no matter how trivial it might seem to others. Every life is unique, and will never be lived again. Find a way to capture that life, share it with others, in story, rhyme or song. Tell jokes, make movies, compose dirty limericks, put together a cookbook of your best recipes, or just talk to your friends and family and tell them about the story of you. You never know when you will be gone and we won’t be able to know those stories, so share them while you can. We want to hear them.
Requiem for a Hero
Posted: July 19, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: dad, father, hero, honor, remembrance, requiem, veteran 4 CommentsWhen I was a kid, my daddy never ate Chinese food. I never understood why, especially since mommy loved it so much (I never ate it myself). It wasn’t until I was much older that I asked him why not, since I had tried it myself and found that I actually liked it a lot. He told me he had eaten enough rice while serving in Vietnam that he never wanted to eat rice again, and to the best of my knowledge he never did.
My father was like that. He always had reasons for the things he did, even if he didn’t always explain them, and even if they only made sense to him. He wasn’t a quiet man; he was bombastic, bigger than life, a force of nature that could stand beside you through anything or, more often, shelter you from all the ills of the world. And yet in many ways he was so gentle and loving, he wanted to be everyone’s friend, and he loved all of the animals of the world.
He served his country, as so many veterans in his generation did, with quiet dignity. He did not make a grand patriotic show of it, he did not demand honors or accords; but he always remembered those he served with and those who were left behind. I hope he made peace with his time in Vietnam; if I have any regrets it is that I never took the time to ask.
He was an athlete, not an artist; he loved football, basketball, baseball, golf, even track. Yet when his only son showed no aptitude whatsoever for sports, he turned all of his passion and devotion to encouraging me to pursue my own passions: acting, writing, and the intellectual realm. He taught me so many things: my first dirty joke, my love of music, how to play blackjack and poker, how to lose at blackjack and poker, and how to lose gracefully. He taught me what it is to be a man, and to stand tall even when the world will try to bring you low.
My father took me to my first concert, my first football game, and my wedding. He was my best man, which is appropriate, because in so many ways he is the best man I have ever known. He was not perfect; he had his flaws, but unlike other men who might try to pass those flaws off as strengths, he admitted them and encouraged me to learn from them. He asked me to be a better man than he was; I have no idea how I can.
Robert Neal Bonsall, Jr. passed away on July 16, 2012, and the world is a poorer place for it. He was the first hero I ever had, and he may be the last. Rest well, hero.
On Hiatus
Posted: July 16, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentDue to a sudden personal loss, My Not So Humble Opinion will be on hiatus for the near future. I apologize for any inconvenience. We will return as soon as possible.
My Not So Humble Opinion
Posted: June 25, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 CommentA long time ago, I started talking. No, that’s not exactly accurate. I started mouthing off. For any number of reasons, and I’m sure any second year psychology major can list them all out, I was more or less born a smartass, and nothing has really changed since then. The format has varied from time to time, and I may have added a bit of finesse and style, but the fact of who I am hasn’t altered a bit.
But something funny happened along the way. In the midst of all my smartassery (and yes that’s a word, you can look it up), I actually managed to find an audience. Friends, family, coworkers, cellmates, all sorts of people who were forced to be in close proximity to me for extended periods of time were finding me amusing. (Okay, I’m lying about one of those. I’ll let you guess which.)
Of course, as time and tides rolled along, I lost touch with some of those folks, and they didn’t get their regular doses of Bob that they were so used to, and some of them actually started asking for it. I guess I had something of value, or else Stockholm syndrome was finally kicking in. Either way, I decided the best way to share the joy that is me is through a blog. And why restrict it to just the faithful when there’s a whole world out there just begging for my folksy wisdom?
So here it is: all the ranting, raving, smartass nuttery (yes, that’s a word too) that you know you’ve been craving, straight from my mind to you, unfiltered.
You lucky dog.
. And be sure to leave a review with your not so humble opinion!
My Not So Humble Opinion 