The Peril of Complacency

    To shield her identity, I’ll call the waitress Jane. That’s not her in the photo. But that’s one of the tables she wiped clean for over twenty years.
    Jane served me and my parents on many occasions. We appreciated her friendliness. Her work ethic was good. She outlasted one manager after another.
    Last year the restaurant added another waitress to the staff. She worked the lunch shift with Jane. The pair of waitresses often chatted by the waitress station. They got along great.
    Too great.
    Dirty plates lingered on tables. Jane’s attention to her customers slackened. This new waitress distracted Jane from what mattered. 
     One day my family showed up for a lunch. A different waitress greeted us. I asked about Jane. The waitress told me that Jane was no longer with the restaurant.
    In other words, Jane had been fired.
    I asked around for details. Nobody had much to say. They didn’t want to jeopardize their jobs. I did learn that Jane had broken out in tears when she was let go.
     Jane is missed. But she has nobody to blame but herself. Jane became complacent.
    A high tech visionary named Andy Grove once said, “Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure. Only the paranoid survive.”

Two Sides of Human Nature

    During the last few days, I endured difficult people.
    Telemarketers called my home. I asked them to remove my phone number from their lists. These people didn’t acknowledge my appeal.They hung up while I was speaking.
    A nurse wrote out a prescription for my father. Her handwriting was messy. I asked her for a readable script. I sensed her displeasure with the request. She assured me the pharmacist would understand the writing. I took her word for it. Later I went to a drug store. The pharmacist couldn’t read the script.
    I greeted a clerk at a check-out counter. She didn’t reply. She didn’t make eye contact.
   Not everyone was difficult.
   I walked into a market. An elderly employee greeted me. I responded in kind. He gave me a shopping cart. (In the photo, he welcomes another customer). His cordiality put a smile on my face.
    Many people in this world are ill-disposed. But lots of them are friendly.

Pulling A Fast One

    Their job was stressful. These workers in Rhode Island separated bottles according to color. Many bottles were filthy. The air smelled bad. Rats scurried around.
    The photo shoot happened at a trash recycling facility. Recyclables arrive there from all over that state.
    These workers were immigrants. Part of me felt bad for them, having to work such a miserable job. Another part of me respected them. They were doing what generations of immigrants have done, busting their humps.
    Last weekend I filled my trunk with recycled trash. I drove to my town’s recycle center. I noticed a young man approaching a recycle bin for bottles. He carried a transparent trash bag. It was stuffed with trash instead of bottles.
    This guy was pulling a fast one. Instead of dumping the trash elsewhere, which requires a nominal fee, he intended to dump the trash in the bottle bin. There’s no fee at the bottle bin.
    I grasped the implication of his action. The trash would eventually end up on a conveyor, much like the one in the photo. Workers would be inconvenienced. They’d be forced to sift away this person’s trash.
     I told the young man that the bin was for bottles. He gave me a dirty look. He mumbled something about his bag containing bottles.
     I contemplated getting in his way and stopping him. It irked me, knowing that a hard working immigrants would have to clean up after this jerk.
    So what did I do?
    I backed down. I said nothing further to the young man. I calculated that it wasn’t smart to get into a confrontation, or to provoke someone into a fight, over a bag of trash.
     He dumped his trash into the bottle bin.
     Now, four days later, I’m having second thoughts. I should have challenged him. If again I see him abusing the system, I’ll step up.
    Sometimes courage requires forethought.

Scruple Attack

    This turtle was different.
    Rather than crossing the road, it sat upon it.  Was the animal luxuriating on the warmth of the pavement?
    One thing was certain, the turtle was in danger. I carried the animal to the edge of the road. A swamp adjoined it.
    I gently lobbed the turtle on a pile of wood located over the water. Oops! The turtle landed upside down. Using a stick, I flipped the turtle right side up.
    Not once did the turtle’s head emerge from its shell. Maybe the turtle was sick.
    I second guessed placing the turtle on the wood. Predators would easily find it. Might the water be a safer place for the turtle? I could submerge it.
    I wondered why I was obsessing over this turtle. Was it a matter of scruples?
    There are varying definitions of the word ‘scruple.’
    Here is a secular definition: ‘An unfounded apprehension.'
    Here is a moral definition (from The Catholic Encyclopedia): ‘An unfounded apprehension and consequently unwarranted fear that something is a sin, which, as a mater of fact, is not.’
    Fretting over a turtle has nothing to do with morality. But it does reveal how scruples can mess a person up.
    I did not submerge the turtle. Moving it away from the road was enough.

Tenacity

     These flowers are dropping. Their beauty isn’t glorious. They are the drabbest looking daffodils I’ve ever seen near our driveway.
    But I’ve got a soft spot for them. They are survivors. Their sprouts broke through soil during a brutal stretch of late winter. To make matters worse, I shoveled piles of snow over the sprouts. It’s no wonder that most of the stems didn’t blossom.
    But three of them did. 
    Tenacity earns respect, even when it’s shown by inanimate objects.

Obstacles

    Most of the seats were empty. A saxophonist performed. He is a music major at a university. His recital occurred inside an obscure room on a campus in Massachusetts.
    He wore a wrist brace. Chances are, he’s dealing with a repetitive stress ailment. I’ll venture a guess as to the reason. Practicing the sax caused the injury.
    A pianist accompanied him. The saxophonist, I was later informed, paid for the accompaniment. That’s a common arrangement. Music students remunerate musicians, even fellow students, who assist them during recitals. The payments aren’t nominal.
    Obstacles stand in the way of most people entering a creative arts career.
    For the saxophonist, the wrist injury is an obstacle. Coughing up money for a pianist is an obstacle. Finding an audience might be an obstacle. The cost of tuition is an obstacle.
    Later, he’ll face more obstacles. They’ll be competition for employment. Performance gigs won’t pay much at first. If he composes music, he’ll earn a pittance in royalties. Blame it on music streaming services like Spotify.
    Will the saxophonist succeed in his career? Nobody can predict the future. But he does have something going for him. So far, he seems willing to pay his dues.
    Talent is rarely enough for achieving success. The other prerequisite is an ability to battle through obstacles.

Calculation Before Risk

    This couple was riding high when they posed. They had opened a restaurant in Boston. The location was trendy. Their reviews were good.
    And their rent payments were high. A few years later they closed their doors.
    When people assume risks, how can they improve their odds?
    The answer is calculation. Small and careful steps are taken as opposed to going all out. That advice comes from Leonard Green. He’s an expert in the field of entrepreneurialism.
    The couple in the photo opened another restaurant. The location was in a city where rents were cheaper. They better calculated their prospects. Now they’re succeeding.
    Mr. Green says, ‘The difference between risk takers and calculated risk takers is the difference between failure and success.’

Blue Harbinger

    A ray of sunshine gleams through branches. It bathes a woman in an ambler glow. Behind her is a bluish hue caused by shade.
   The iridescence is displeasing. This portrait doesn’t work. I regret posing her there.
   A similar color palette often appears on television dramas. Even some movies are using it. A bluish cast—usually the color teal—imbues the backgrounds. Skin tones are jazzed up with orange. Have you noticed this trend?
    The process is called color grading. It is done through digital manipulation. The technique saves money. As a result, artistry suffers.
    When a television show or movie begins, observe the background. Blue is the giveaway. Blue portends low production values, lackluster acting, and weak plotting. Blue means I switch to another show.
    On television dramas, blue is a harbinger of mediocrity.