Becoming a good complainer

Many of us think that its so easy to complain. Find something small that bothers you and infatuate it as a terrible breach on humanity or your own personal life, and a bonafide complaint is born. Sure that's simple. But to complain and have others reap tremendous enjoyment out of it, now that takes talent.

Allow me to enlighten you with the incident of the true complainer, one who's complaints know no bounds, who's gripes will attempt to pierce through the happiest moments. Alas, this complainer didn't realize that he was creating a world of happiness to those listening in.

A few men in their 70's were studying the Talmud together. After a rather humorous dispute as to whether they should take a break for a few minutes, a conversation began. "My grandson is staying by us" started Larry.
"Whada ya mean staying, I thought he was visiting for a day!" piped Sid.
"What are you talking about?! I told you he was coming to us two days ago"
"Yeah, but you never said he was staying!"

And now the Larry the complainer:
"Anyway, so my son buys me this picture frame, you know the ones where the picture changes. You plug it in to the computer and it brings up a new picture."
(Gee, that sounds nice)

"Well, you know he paid $90 for it, a fortune!"
(Sounds like he really wanted to get you something nice)

"You know, I'm gonna have to give him the money back one way or another, I always give him money for things, so I'm gonna have to pay him back somehow for this!"

Sid jumps in, "Well is it nice?"

Larry's response "You know, the screen is too small, you can barely see anything. He should have spent $130 for the larger model. Instead he gets the cheaper one!"
(You're killing me Larry)

What we have here is an excellent example of proper complaining. Larry has covered all bases to ensure that the short end of the stick is all his own.

The key here is when you prepare a complaint, make sure you have a follow up complaint in case someone attempts to find something positive in the scenario. A good complainer always has a two handed approach.

NY Subway Thoughts

Just came back from a trip to NY.

Sittting on a NYC subway entering Manhattan, I looked around at all the different types of people going along for the ride. It's been a while since I'de been on one of these cars, but it's hard to forget something that was part of my daily grind.

Looking around, most of the prototypical people haven't changed, they're still reading their own papers and books or listening to their music. The only noticeable change is that adults are now playing with their phones instead of children and their Gameboys.

After years of hiatus, the people are still doing the same thing, sitting or standing, keeping to themselves as they head on in to work. If you've got a seat, you are just as well off as the person sitting next to you.
The guy in the suit, he's probably an investment banker, that woman, a lawyer. Who knows, maybe their just going to court to fight a traffic violation. Who knows what job awaits them when those doors open, one can only guess based on their outfit.

Sure each person will lead different lives once they leave the train and get to their offices or food stands, but for now, Mr. Executive, you are no different than Mr. Carpet Cleaner.

Only in NY can people with dramatically different pasts and dramatically different futures actually come together in one dynamic present. When the train shakes, it shakes for all. When that passenger with that exotic (read: wretched) scent comes in the car, everybody experiences it.
But in a city like Los Angeles, you won't find such mixed breed together in one place. The subway in LA just doesn't have the infrastructure like the NYC system. In NY its quicker, economical and less stressful to ride the train than to drive your car. In LA, even if I'm sitting in the same traffic jam as the other person, I'm still experiencing it differently, whether its in my Bentley, Mercedes, Toyota, or Hyundai.

As I sat, I wondered. Here, on this not so quiet ride, the differences of our focuses are negligible, we are just sitting on the train. The bumps are the same, the ads are the same, and the people are more or less the same.

And so as we sat and stood together, each with our own destinations, I can't help but wonder the differences of each rider, which may only begin once those doors open.
Different, but the same, as the quote goes: Everybody's equal, but some are more equal than others, but only when they get off the train.