Citizen Me
Jade stopped by again yesterday to service the water heater and its tubular appurtenances. He replaced a gasket and the heater cone. The latter being a thingy he identified during his last call that had been improperly installed two years earlier by another serviceman. A lesser serviceman. A serviceman who should have known better, been more careful. A serviceman who no longer works for us, Jade said, ruefully.
Consequently, for this call, I was only charged for a gasket and an hour of labor (no charge for the new cone), plus the $89 just for stopping by. That last is clever, isn’t it? The second he pulls into the driveway I’m already on the hook for $89. I could run out of the house in my bathrobe screaming I want him to go away, I never want to see him again, refuse to let him perform one second of work, and I’d still owe him $89. Nevermind that I don’t wear bathrobes. You get my point.
Cabbies don’t do that. A cab shows up in my driveway and I say, “Sorry, my bad, I don’t really want a ride to the airport after all.” And I don’t owe him a penny. Plumbing and heating contractors, electricians, etc. — these guys want money just to appear. I should’ve tried that shtick with my former employers: “Merely exiting my pajamas, showering, and driving to work is gonna cost you, pal.” Nevermind that I don’t wear pajamas either.
TMI!
Winter’s arrived, but less like a lion and more like a sloth. Only a smattering of stubborn snow patches remain around town. The mountains hold theirs, but this is usual. Cold at night — teens — but 30s by day.
As of Tuesday, the Will Of The People has it that adults may now enjoy marijuana in Alaska without fear of legal retribution. Well, at least by state law enforcement agents. The Feds are another matter. I admit to being deeply confused by this — how a state (Washington, Colorado, Alaska, etc.) can get away with telling the federal attorney general, in so many legal words, he can go pound salt. My guess is it’s because forcing acquiescence is sometimes easier than obtaining permission? Who knows. I certainly don’t. I have never claimed to be a legal scholar or anything even remotely close. I don’t understand a fraction of the laws I’m subject to, much less the basis of their enactment or abolition. (By the way, have you noticed how infrequently the latter occurs? Lawmakers make laws. That’s what they do. If you ask me we need more people repealing laws. Laws which no longer makes sense, if they ever did. I’m talking to you Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Utah). Nor do I understand the shenanigans engaged behind congressional doors by those who have been appointed to draft laws which are supposedly — supposedly — enacted to make We The People a safer, or nobler, or a more just citizenry.
If you do, I humbly admit you are a better citizen than I.