“Bill, I think you should just stay put until security gets
here.”
“I’ll be fine, just wait here.”
As he walked closer to the counter, he could make out the
topic that had grown into an extremely heated confrontation that was filled with a
multitude of profanity that could have woven a rope to the moon and back –
twice. From what he could gather the young lady working the counter had
friended a guy on Facebook that was in a relationship with another young lady
and it was that young lady that had shown up to express her dislikes about the
newly established friendship. Bill was amazed, how could someone out of the
blue be so confrontational without realizing the possible consequences of this
type of behavior in such a public establishment. It’s one thing to have an
argument within the walls of your own home, but to be so brazen as to come to a
person’s place of work and flip out all because another girl had friended her
boyfriend. It was a clear indication, that not only did he need to add another
column to his experiment, but his point about social skills and how they were
lacking more and more in the world, was becoming more evident since technology
had found its place in life’s society.
Back and forth the two ladies argued about the accusations.
It wasn’t until the young lady behind the counter pulled out her IPhone from
her back pocket and proved her innocence, that she had not been the one who had
friended anyone, in fact it was just the opposite. It had been the boyfriend
who had been doing the friending, but when his girlfriend found out, and he
denied what he had done, all hell broke loose.
The managers of the food counter where the confrontation took
place were able to quickly dissolve the problem and get the crowd to disburse,
but it didn’t come without consequences. Bill did his best to get closer to the conversation
that was now taking place between the managers and the employee. He was shocked
by what happened next.
The managers were explaining their policy that all cell
phones, camera’s, IPod’s and anything else that was personal technology, was to
be off and stowed away in an employee locker. That the employee had gone
against the contact that they had signed stating they understood this policy
and a first offense was the only offense, even if the phone was off, but because
she had a cell phone in her possession while on the job, she had broken the policy
that resulted in her immediate dismissal.
“THAT’S NOT FAIR! SHE CAME AT ME AND I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING
WRONG!” the employee screamed for all to hear. “This place is a joke!” and then
went storming off.
Bill looked over his should at Lori.
“What’s going on?” Lori mouthed to him trying to get some
inclination as to what was taking place, while in her mind she made a mental
note to herself - make sure her daughters didn’t work at the mall. “Come back
here.”
Bill went back over to the table to fill Lori in on what had
transpired, but with Bill, she knew that the story was going to be told his
way.
“So, what happened?” questioned Lori.
“It seems that there was quite the riff in bedrock. Wilma
believed that Betty had been trying to pursue her man and friended him on the
marble table, but when Wilma confronted Fred about this, Fred beat feet and took
off to the gravel pit, never telling Wilma that he was the one doing the
friending, so Wilma marched over to Betty’s with plans to have Dino attack her,
but instead Wilma got to walk away Scott free and Betty lost her job at the brontosaurus
burger.
“I know I’m going to regret this, but Bill, for some crazy
ass reason I understood what you just said even if though you explained the
situation as if I had just turned on the Flintstones, so either I am tried or
my brain is fried, or it’s late and we need some closure on this experiment of
yours - soon. Do you have everything you’re looking for?”
“Yes, I think I do, let’s go home and share our findings with
our girls.”
“I hope you don’t mean tonight?” Lori exclaimed.
“Sure why not?”
“Because it’s late, I’m bloated from all the soda and
fattening foods I have been eating for the past two hours and now I feel like the
a Macy’s Day Balloon.
The only thing that is missing is the right amount of rope and handlers to
guide me back to the car. I’m also very tired, and on the verge of turning into
- Oscar the Grouch. I think that is enough explaining…don’t make me go Mr.
Slate on you.”
replied Bill in his best John Wayne voice “Ok, little lady you win this time, let’s fire up our gas pony and go back to the
homestead.”
They got all their papers together and headed out the door. It was time to call it a night.
Bill wore a huge smile as he drove home. He was proud to know that he had done what he had set out to do. He had
gathered enough information to sit down with his family and explain some life
issues that were troubling him. He knew that with the way he had set his idea
in motion and documented his findings, this would help him, help them understand
his concern about the future not just for his daughters, but for society as a whole.
***
When Lori and Bill pulled into the yard, they were amazed by
the number of lights that were on in the house.
“I figured the girls would already be in their rooms, doing
whatever it is teenage girls do behind closed doors.”
“Are you kidding, they were going to wait this night out
until we walk through that door. Wanna bet?” Lori said trying to smile over a
yawn.
When they walked through the door, there sat their dog
scooter with his dish in his mouth, to greet them.
“Doesn’t anyone but me, feed the dog in this house?” Bill
called out in a witty voice.
Both girls came thundering down the stairs wearing looks of
great concern.
“Did you hear what happened?” shouted Carmen, “It’s all over
Facebook and Twitter!”
Bill and Lori looked at one another and then looked back at
Carmen before Bill nonchalantly replied, “Depends on what you’re talking about.
“It’s not that big a deal,” said Nancy, trying to hold back
her excitement, “Just some bitch got my best friend fired from her job because
of something the bitch’s boyfriend did.”
“She isn’t a bitch Nancy! That girl got what was coming to
her for trying to make a move on another girl’s boyfriend. What a slut!”
Lori shook her head in frustration with each cuss word that fell from her daughters lips and finally
interjected, “How about we refrain from the negative name calling shall we girls?”
“You know, since the girls are so wide awake, how about you
go upstairs and get some sleep. I think for me, this is a good a time as any to
share with them what I learned tonight. I’d almost say that it’s perfect
timing, wouldn’t you?”
“I guess I would agree if I only know what is was you were
trying to find out.” Lori remarked while trying not to yawn, “But as much as I
would love to know, I’m going to leave the long talks into the night, to the
three of you. You can fill me in during breakfast. Oh and one other thing
please make sure that Scooter here gets something to eat and a trip outside to
relieve himself.”
“Sure thing mom,” both girls replied in unison.
“Good night sweetness,” bill said as he gave her a hug and a
kiss on the lips, “I love you – sweet dreams.”
“I love you all too.”
As Lori made her way up the stairs, a great sense of guilt
had overwhelmed her. She felt that she should be downstairs, but at the same
time, her husband needed this time to be alone and to share with his daughters
what has been on his mind all week long. That maybe he’d be more open if she
was not in the room. She decided that she would not reveal that she had taken a
place on the top of the stairs and leaned against the wall to hear what Bill
and the girls were talking about.
You could hear the girls walking around putting chips, soda,
and plates, on the table while Bill opened a can of dog food for scooter,
before they all gathered around the table. He put all his papers and notes
together so that as he spoke, he would be able to provide any documentation to
possibly answer any questions that his daughters might ask him.
They finally all sat down and Bill began to speak.
“Well girls, I won’t say that this hasn’t been uneventful
evening. It’s been anything but. As for the event that took place at the Mall,
I saw what happened and I know the outcome.”
“This girl just…”
“Carmen, I said I know what happened and you don’t have all
the facts.”
“Yes I do, my friends on Facebook…”
Bill immediately cut her off, “Carmen! Stop and listen to me,
you need to learn to listen. You also need to learn that just because you see
it posted on Facebook, it is not always so.
“Dad, my friends were there, they saw it all.” She remarked
in her bad attitude tone of voice.
“Really now, so your friends also saw that the girl at the
food counter got fired for not following company policy about keeping her cell
phone in her locker during working hours?”
“Whatever?” She replied with a huge roll of her eyes.
“That’s right; she wasn’t fired for standing up for herself
verbally. She was fired for having her cell phone in her back pocket.”
Carmen and Nancy were rendered speechless.
“See what I mean about having the facts and having the right
facts. It’s very important to understand that in this day and age people can
put anything they want on a computer, factual or not. I worry that with
everyone connected through technology we are losing life’s simpler moments, or
what the youth of today would like to label as the old fashion ways, you know
like writing a letter and mailing it with a stamp, or stopping by someone’s
house and sitting together on the porch sipping some fine sweet tea and catching
up on old times and new or better yet, being able to express yourselves through
differences of opinion by sitting down together and having a one on one face to
face conversation so that everyone can move forward and move past what might be
bothering them. People don’t do that as much anymore and I beginning to think
that I was the reason why my own daughters don’t appreciate simple living vs.
life via the computer – I never educated you on what a simple lifestyle was
like when I was growing up. I just figured that if I let you get this phone and
that computer, you’d know what you were missing, but then I realized that how
would you know what you’re missing if I don’t teach you these things and share
my memories. Believe it or not, when I had to write a book report, I had to use
a pen and write in cursive on a piece of essay paper,” both girls laughed, “You
laugh now, but it’s true. Nancy when was the last time your pen wrote in your
notebook?”
“I don’t Dad; I used my notepad computer and a dragon program to put
my thought in order.”
“There’s point number one that I am trying to make. You are
the generation of technology. Years ago, we would have never had believed that
now you can speak out loud and a thing called a computer would type everything
you say and correct the spelling and grammar as you went along. We had to know
how to spell and do math in our heads. No you have computers and fancy
calculators at the ready to do all your work.”
“Wow, I guess I never realized how so much as changed over
the years. Dad, I’d love to see some pictures of what things were like when you
were a young boy and want to know more about what you and your friends did.”
Bill smiled and was beaming with great joy as Lori sit sat at
the top of the stairs and was doing her best to hold back her heartfelt tears.
“Sure Nancy, I’d love to share that with you and with Carmen.
I also wanted to share with you what my experiment was all about.
“How to elude the police when you’re not being chased,” Nancy
said with a big cheesy grin.
“Ha-ha but no. I wanted to see how many young men and ladies
in their late teens and early twenties were hooked on some form of technology
and how much or how little social skills they had. What I discovered was
alarming. For example; even though your friend was fired for having her cell
phone in her back pocket. Five other’s at that same work location had their phones
or IPhones with them as well. A couple of them had them hidden in various
locations and I would catch those willing to take a risk on getting caught, by
taking quick glances at them over the course of two hours. But don’t think I am
just picking on that one location, I observed this problem in all the
locations, and generally it was the women who were guilty of this. As for the
men, they were more into flirting when a nice looking lady walked by or ordered
at their food location and would even go as far as making a taster tray, just
so they could get out from behind the counter and get closer to the ladies doing
their shopping and getting a bite to eat. Some were radicals as they tried to
gain the attention of the opposite sex, while others were more the secret
squirrel types.”
Carmen began to laugh, “You mean like you dad?”
“Sure, like me.” He grinned.
You could see a light was beginning to shine over Nancy’s
head as she paused a moment and then said, “so what you’re trying to say dad,
is that your feeling guilty that maybe we don’t have the social skills that you
wish the world used to have, because we can’t live without our computers and I-something’s?”
Bill dropped his head and softly replied, “Yes girls, I have
felt like I have let you down for a long time and that I can’t get back the
time that I have lost.”
“Dad, the past is the past, you can’t go back to it and you
can’t live a life of would a, could a, should a’s. It will drive you crazy. We
just through since you didn’t really get mad at us for using our phones and
computer all the time, then you were OK with it.”
“Nancy, how’d you get so smart?”
“I don’t know, maybe because I study and get good grades in
school” she replied as she through a look at her sister as if her commented was
intended to hurt her.
“So all writing, and making columns, and going to the mall to
conduct an experiment, this was all because you were trying to find a way to
help us appreciate life before and after technology and how people need to
learn to socialize face to face vs. via the Internet?”
“Yes, I guess you could say it that way. I just miss the days
of sitting down at a table, like we are doing now, and sharing thoughts and
ideas as a family or if you’re with friends. I never see any of your gal pals over here much
to just hang out with you both.”
“That’s because we are on Facebook and all chat at the same
time, vs. all the girls coming over here, because then we would have to feed them
and like mom said, if we can’t remember to feed scooter, how could we remember
to feed our guests.” Carmen winked.
“Wow, I guess I should have given you both more credit that
you are more aware of life and its importance.
I am so glad that you both took the time to get away from your worlds
behind your bedroom doors to talk with me tonight. I really feel better.”
“I have a great idea Dad, how about we plan to do this after
dinner every day. We’ll sit and talk and catch each other up on what we each
did that day, and who knows, maybe Carmen will realize she can live 8 hours
without her phone on her hip, so that she could secure some type of employment.
Hey Carmen, I hear there a job opening at the Mall.”
“NO!” Screamed Lori still perched at the top of the stairs.
“Wow, mom’s still up, guess that means she heard everything.
So I guess it’s time to call it a night. Both of you come over here and give me
a hug good night.”
Both girls got up and wrapped their arms around Bill and told
them how grateful they were to have him as their dad and how much he really had
taught them, even if he felt he had let them down. To them their dad and done
everything in their lives, but let them down. That Bill and Lori were great
parents and they were happy to have them to teach them the facts of life and
preparing for the future.
“Ok, let’s hit the hay, tomorrows another day and it’s getting here fast.”
Bill and the girls put things away and turned off the light
downstairs. How surprised they were when they came up the stairs and found Lori
sound asleep at the top of them. Bill hugged the girls once again before they went into their rooms and
closed the doors. Bill knelt down and whispered into Lori’s ear.
“Hey sweetness, let’s go to bed.”
She held out her hand and with both their efforts she stood
up and they both went into the bedroom to call it a night.
***
As the house was quite once again you could hear just the
sounds of the over sized clock on the living room wall, ticking the evening
hours away while outside in the upstairs hallway centered a perfect distance
between all three bedrooms sat scooter ever so quietly with his dog dish in his
mouth.
