Ethics

Affronts to Dignity

By Ed Brayton

At the risk of sounding like Andy Rooney, I have to tell this story. So I'm in a restaurant the other day, waiting behind two women at the hostess stand to get seated. The hostess comes and one of the women asks her if they do anything special for someone's birthday. The hostess says they all come out and sing and give them a cake. The woman says it's her friend's birthday. The hostess seats them and comes back to me. And I said to her, "If anyone ever came out and sang to me in a restaurant on my birthday, someone is getting stabbed with a steak knife."

I can't be alone in this, can I? Those idiotic little spectacles are such an affront to one's dignity. It's just one of my many pet peeves. I think of it the same way I think of those infernal audience participation songs at wedding receptions - if you think I'm gonna take part in it, you are in for a rude awakening. It isn't gonna happen, and if you try and force it on me there may be blood spilled.

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on June 02, 2008 (boomark / email).