These are the events which led me to write this post:
We have had about ten showings of our house. On all but two of them the realtor and their clients have been more than 15 minutes late and with no notification of their tardiness, which I believe is “required” in such a situation. Oh, due to COVID-19 all showing windows have been limited to 45 minutes in this state. The straw that broke the camel’s back happened last Thursday. With barely an hour’s notice we received word that someone wanted to see the house at 10:30 AM. My wonderful wife works at home, but she dutifully re-arranged her work schedule to accommodate.
We left the house at 10:25 AM. As of 11:00 AM no one had showed. How did we know? We have cameras everywhere around our house that we can monitor from almost anywhere. I called the company that arranges the showings and explained the situation. The rep was very sympathetic and offered to call the agent. When she returned to the line she said the agent would not arrive until 11:40, 70 minutes late and 25 minutes after the end of the showing window. She confirmed that the agent is supposed to call when they are going to be late. We cancelled the showing.
YOUR life is not the only one that matters. What YOU’RE doing is not the most important thing in the world. The time and feelings of OTHERS matter. You don’t have to like your neighbors, but your behavior CANNOT fail to acknowledge their presence. COVID-19 has left many people more unhinged than normal and exacerbated the epidemic, the plague of narcissism, but that affliction is far more common than any pathogen.
I can’t tell you how many times I see people plow through stop signs without so much as slowing down, but I can tell you that it is happening much more often than ever before. I can’t tell you how many times I see people looking at their phone and not the road while driving. Those are symptoms of narcissism.
People who believe that they and their ideology can’t possibly ever be wrong are narcissists. We are peons or as Jerry Seinfeld said, nothing but raindrops on a windshield. Oh, no one really gives a sh*t what you ate for lunch so don’t post any photos of it on “social media,” which is a primary factor in the narcissism explosion. I am DISGUSTED by the behavior I see in this country and no side is innocent. Liberals are no less guilty than conservatives and vice versa. A plague on both their houses…
I don’t know if people behave the same all over the developed world, but I can’t imagine it’s worse anywhere else.
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I am beginning to see 2020 Corvettes “in the wild.” Here is another example:
Given its shape and its color, this car really stood out from the rest of the traffic, even the Bentley driving in the next lane. Do I think the C8 looks as good as a C2 or a C7? No, but I like the way it looks. Remember that a large engine mounted mid-ship dictates many of the design elements of the automobile.
How many of you have seen a C8 Corvette “in the wild?” What do you think of the looks of the car?
#NarcissismIsAPlague
#C8Corvette
#somanycarsjustonelife
#disaffectedmusings
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Disaffected Musings 
I shall not get on my soapbox about the behavior of some people in today’s world. I will counter that I have encountered many people who defer and act politely to keep their social distancing.. Most people are wearing masks and if someone is not wearing one, I have not seen others becoming unhinged and objecting. When I drive, I drive on the offense rather than on the defense. It comes from having learned to drive on a motorcycle. I do not drive aggressively, I just make sure I am in a position of safety for myself and not endangering others to do so. That way I avoid stupid people not paying attention to what goes on around them.
Being late is totally unacceptable. My parents taught me manners and if circumstances happened that put you in the position of being late you called and begged forgiveness, promptly. In the military and in business, thou shalt never be late. My children’s band instructor had a sign in the band room: To be early was to be on time. To be on time was to be late. To be late was fatal. He expected them to be on the field ready to practice, in place before the appointed time. That was the same for me in the military and I practiced the same in business The rest of the world should be educated the same.
I have not yet seen a C8 in the wild. It is easily a well designed and “pretty” car. I will let you know my opinion when I have seen one in the wild.
Glad thou hast returned.
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Vince Lombardi is one of my heroes. For him, if you were “on time” it meant you were 15 minutes ahead of schedule.
I would rather be 10 minutes early than 1 minute late. I just couldn’t refrain from writing about my disgust with today’s behavioral norms. Unfortunately, it will only get worse.
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As a former practicing physician I can say the narcissism is nothing new. I had a new patient who tried to bring her DOG into the office. I’ve had people pay me with checks on closed accounts. I had a patient who tried to commit suicide with Tylenol, ended up in the ICU in a coma with liver functions in the 30,000-normal is 100-curse me out for saving their life on the way home.
But I must say the car dealers who sold my lovely wife her new convertible were nothing but gracious, including giving her flowers and chocolates after the signing. And recently the missus bought Starbucks coffee for an older couple who did not have the app; at the time, Starbucks was only allowing mobile purchases due to COVID.
So some folks still get that we are on this big blue marble together.
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Thanks for offering your perspective. I did not mean to imply that narcissism is new, just that it has become an epidemic.
My wonderful wife and I have paid for the meals of strangers in restaurants who seemed less fortunate and then left before our identities could be known to the recipients. While I firmly believe that my OBLIGATIONS to strangers are limited, it is noble to be generous when and if you can.
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Regarding the rest of the world, one piece of anecdotal evidence, I visited Antigua, Guatemala on a recent cruise. Small city (46K population). As the older kids were released from classes, they poured out of their building, smartphones in hand, faces buried onto their screens as they walked. It’s a world epidemic, it seems. I have photos to prove. >grin<
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Thanks for sharing, sir. Hope you’re well.
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As Robert said to his brother on Everybody Loves Raymond,
“Others, Raymond. Others.”
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As I have written elsewhere, while I believe my obligations to strangers are limited, treating them with utter disregard is simply wrong. You can disengage, but not disrespect unless you are REALLY given a reason to do so.
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