Tag Behavior

Thank You, Again

Michael 1 Comment

This year there will be a group of WalMart stores that when the others open after Thanksgiving dinner, they probably will not.  It was big news in our area that workers in these stores will be the representatives protesting having to work Thanksgiving Day.  It filled part of the front page and some minutes of on air news time on the days leading to Thanksgiving. 

We were in a your basic average retail discount department store the night before Thanksgiving picking up some last minute items to make our feast festive when we found out that chain will open at 7am on Thanksgiving morning.  It got us to thinking about how many people work on the holidays now.  It wasn’t always and probably never really has to be.  But even if you closed all of the stores and malls and outlets there would still be many at work.  Last year we paid them our thanks.  We can’t say it any better this year so we’re going to say it again.

Think way back, back to the day when all of those stores were closed on holidays, Sundays and most other days after 5.  But even then there was a corps of people who knew that when the holidays came around they were just as likely to be at work as they were on any Tuesday afternoon.  To these people we say, “Thank You!!!”

Thank you to…   Firemen, policemen, paramedics, and ambulance drivers.  First responders of every kind.  The members of our armed forces.  Hospital workers.  Priests, ministers, rabbis, and other men and women “of the cloth.”  Newspaper production and delivery people, reporters, television and radio engineers, producers, directors, and on-air personalities.  Toll collectors, train engineers, pilots, co-pilots, flight attendants.  Bus drivers and taxi drivers.  Air traffic controllers, airport security, baggage handlers, and airplane maintenance.  Train station and bus depot ticket sellers and collectors.  Hotel receptionists and housekeepers.  Restaurant cooks, servers, bus-people and hosts/hostesses.  Bartenders.  Electric company, gas company, telephone company, water company, sewage company, alarm company, and cable company repair and emergency service employees.   Tow truck drivers, snow plow drivers, and street repair people on a moment’s notice.  Commercial truck drivers and freight handlers.  Couriers.  Nursing home, personal care home, retirement home and home health care workers.  Security guards.  Heating and air-conditioning technicians, plumbers, and electricians when they least expect it.  Gas station attendants and clerks at convenience stores with convenient hours (yes, retail stores but they have always been open).

Did we miss anybody?  We’re sorry if we did.  Please feel free to add them in a comment, extend the list, and keep the thanks going.  We’re also sorry if we couldn’t come up with the official job title or this week’s most politically correct reference.  In our experience, most of these people care more about the service they are providing than the name they are called.  That’s why most of these people are in jobs that risk being scheduled or holidays, weekends, evenings, and nights.  They are the ones likely to do something for you and then say thank you more than they expect to be told thank you. 

Please, don’t forget these folks.  Someday you’ll want to thank them.  Now would be a good time.

Now, that’s what we think.  Really.  How ‘bout you?

 

 

Strike Three

Michael Leave a comment

Twinkie, Twinkie, little cake
No longer now will you bake.
The salaries were much too high.
The union said pay up or die.
Twinkie, Twinkie, little cake
How much did they think they’d make.

Unfortunately there are over 18,000 workers with nowhere to go on the next regularly scheduled business day and who knows how many investors (you remember investors, they are the ones who actually put up the money) have no next regularly scheduled business.

Nobody wins win you have to strike for money.  You can strike to prevent workers from entering dangerous conditions.  Back when mine workers had to send in birds then wait to see if they died from methane gas exposure there were dangerous conditions one should strike against.  Back when seamstresses were locked in textile mills and not permitted to leave until an arbitrary but always high number of garments were finished regardless of a workers physical condition there were dangerous conditions.  When delivery personnel had to handle unbroken horses pulling unarmored wagons across often violent territory, there were dangerous conditions.

Because a worker wants more money is not a reason to strike.  Everybody wants more money.  Even the President of the United States wants more money but he doesn’t go on strike, he gets another job.  For him it was part time author while he wasn’t busy dong presidential things.  If the bakers at Hostess wanted more money, they could have worked harder.  Instead, they were sold a bill of goods by a union (whose officers and employees still have jobs to go to) that if they paid their union dues the union would get them more money.  We don’t recall ever seeing a news article that a union has offered to reduce their dues for workers who have been asked to work for less than what the union demands.  

As a matter of economics, and recognizing that owners are just as greedy as workers, those who lose the most during union negotiations are, well, everybody.  Take this example.  Let’s say that it takes $100 to build a chair. The chair company has 10 workers and each builds 10 chairs a year.  The workers each get $50 a chair and the company spends $5,000 on salaries.  They also pay $3,000 on health insurance.  Electricity costs $1,000 and the wood, glue, and nails cost $1,000.  That’s $10,000 for that company to build those chairs this year.  The owner who puts up all the money sells each chair for $125.   And he makes $2,500 a year if he sells all 100 chairs.  In year 2, the chair makers go to the owner and ask for 10% more this year raising their salary from $50 per chair to $55 or $550 per worker or $5,500 in total salaries.  The owner asks how many more chairs the workers will make.  No more chairs, just the same 10.  So at the end of the year 2, if the owner sells all 100 chairs he will lose $500 from his previous salary.  Instead of risking that, he’s going to raise his chair prices to $130 to make up the $500 difference.  Across the street at the table factory the workers are demanding more money this year.  Why?  Because the cost of living is going up.  Have you seen how much chairs cost nowadays?

It’s a very simple example but it’s the core problem with unions.  Every time someone gets more, somebody else needs more just to keep up.  All for money.

Someday somebody will buy the trademark and rights to the Twinkie name and the world will be happy again.  Except for those workers who will now want more money because the price of milk just went up.

Now, that’s what we think. Really. How ‘bout you?

(For more of our thoughts on unions, See Union Made, June 18, 2012 in Humor.  Yep, in Humor.)

 

 

Wordsmithing

Michael Leave a comment

On the eve of the Presidential election, as Americans ponder the future of the country, while candidates’ supporters prepare to campaign right at the voting places, and as poll workers prepare voting machines, we were wondering, can people be victimized by a hurricane?

It started during a television news program that detailed the current conditions of the victims of Hurricane Sandy.  Isn’t a victim more one who is the receiver of a planned, illicit or improper action?  People are victims of crime.  People are victims of corrupt investment schemes.  Natural disasters might grow from specific conditions but they aren’t planned.  They may be dangerous but they aren’t corrupt.  They are inopportune but aren’t improper.  We got to thinking that the “victims” of Hurricane Sandy aren’t victims but are casualties.  The media may want to use victim to personify the physical, mental, emotional, and financial injuries of those whose paths were crossed by the storm.  The injuries are personal.  Making the cause of them so doesn’t make them more or less severe.  Calling those whose lives have been disrupted by Sandy victims minimizes what they truly are, casualties. 

On the eve of the Presidential election, She of We starts a new job.  She had been at her old one for over a decade and was a key player for her now former employer.  She often received offers from others and one finally came that was harder to refuse than not.  The stages of employee loss are not unlike the stages of grief.  You disbelieve, you question, you bargain, you express anger, you accept.  Her boss went straight to angry and hung out there, giving up anger only when he exhibited selfishness.  “You’re disrupting my life,” he told her upon hearing the news.  Having your house underwater, on fire, in small pieces after an explosion, or just not there is a disruption of life.

On the eve of the Presidential election, instead of sportscasters pondering whether the ultimate winner of the New York City Marathon could have been caught in the last quarter mile they are instead reduced to discussing football games that were and hockey games that weren’t.  That’s because after days of interminable announcements about how good it would be for the city to hold the marathon as scheduled, somebody spoke sense to the mayor to give up the selfish view that nothing is going to stop the famed run and declare it inappropriate to hold while others in New York City have no home to go to after running their own personal marathons.

On the eve of the Presidential election, people are still calling into talk shows and posting comments on line in response to Conan O’Brien’s remarks that “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” is too mean for today’s children.  Today’s children can’t handle the cruel reality of life that while some children will grow up to be famous television personalities, some will get rocks in their treat bags of life.  It’s inappropriate that Lucy is allowed to say the things she says to Charlie Brown but it’s not too mean for television news to show over a hundred houses burn to the ground where children once lived.  The cruel reality is that television networks see the potential for huge ratings and awards of excellence for their stark presentation of a natural disaster.

On the eve of the Presidential election, millions of dollars are still being spent on television, radio, electronic, print, and direct mail advertising.  Candidates selfishly tell us lies about their opponents and themselves while being inappropriately excluded from the prohibition against automated phone sales.  It’s mean that they would rather continue to spend the money on telling us how much we will be victimized by their opponents instead of spending it on reducing the real suffering from the cruelty of life that Sandy wrought.  Just think each time you see or hear a political ad today about how much good could have been done had that money been donated to the millions whose lives have been disrupted. 

We don’t want to be mean about it.  We’re just saying is that what you really meant to say?

Now, that’s what we think. Really. How ‘bout you?

 

 

Dressed for Success

Michael 1 Comment

Tomorrow there will be new meaning to Casual Friday in at least 30 U. S. cities.  Pittsburgh and Nashville get their turn today.  That would be Football Gear Friday in the 32 NFL home cities plus wherever rabid fans live.

The whole Casual Friday phenomenon which began in earnest at the tail end of the twentieth century was to embrace the beginning of the weekend with a more relaxed approach to office dress.  True casual dress such as shorts and t-shirts never made the grade beyond some uber-casual businesses mostly ending in dot-com.  But a more relaxed look took hold and spawned the whole concept of business casual.  Something you wouldn’t mind meeting clients in during the week day and then heading out for a couple after work without stopping at home for a wardrobe adjustment.  And life went on.  Until…

Until the football fanatics took over.  And football is the perfect sport to stretch the rules with.  Baseball plays every day of the week.  Hockey plays every day of the week.  NASCAR is already as casual as you can get.  But football is ideal.  What a better event to look forward to on a Friday afternoon than the culminating event of Sunday afternoon.  It is the weekend. 

It probably started innocently enough.  A lapel pin in the sport coat, a bracelet festooned with the local team logo, an earring here, a pendant there.  Rivals within the same building would look for the bigger cheering device.  Coffee cups, lunch bags, even briefcases.  Flags were hung outside office windows and banners were draped across reception desks.  The momentum was on and there was no going back!

Accessories soon gave way to golf shirts with team logos replacing the breast pocket.  Team hats would be seen topping tall heads in the elevators.  Scarves and sweaters with patterns embracing the home team came next.   Then it went where Casual Friday had resisted all those years.  T-shirts and sweatshirts with logos, inspirational team sayings, and pictures of favorite players cracked the casual barrier.  Then it was only a matter of the playoffs coming to town that brought replica jerseys into boardrooms where the morning meetings were led by replica mascots.

And so, every Friday in 32 cities plus the outlier cities with the out-placed rabid fans the commuter trains and busses, the freeways and parkways, the offices and factories, the coffee shops and emergency rooms turn into seas of Black and Gold, of flocks of angry birds, of packs of Lions and Panthers and Bears (oh my).  And the day marches by and it might seem a little odd, responsible adults dressing like high schoolers at a pep rally.  But the morning chats are lighter, the desks clear of clutter a little faster, and the trip for a couple after work a little shorter.

Monday will come soon enough.  Have a little fun before the weekend.  Go ahead and take the casual way to work tomorrow.  Or today if you’re in Pittsburgh or Nashville.

Now, that’s what we think.  Really.  How ‘bout you?

 

 

Outscored, Not Outclassed

Michael Leave a comment

This week is high school football week number 7 in our part of the world.  Yes, we know.  If you check your calendar that means they started playing football before they started classes.  It’s ok.  Here, high school football (which should be capitalized but we have to draw the line somewhere) is a cross between a religion (please don’t tell the atheists) and life’s greatest lesson learned (please don’t tell the religious).  We suspect “here” is a lot of places across the country.  It’s a strange, strange thing.

We have nothing against organized competitions for high school and younger children.  As long as one can tear oneself away from that crazy notion of “everyone’s a winner” that we try to foist on the youngest ones, any kind of competition is healthy and a necessary part of growing up.  Here they not only tear away the football players from the idea that “everyone’s a winner,” they rip it apart, crush it, stomp on it, burn it, then bury the remains.

Last Friday night we were watching the 11:00 news.  She of We watches so she can be attuned to the happenings of the world.  He of We watches so he can read the football scores across the bottom scroll.  “There’s another, 41-9!  That’s the third 41 to something in single digits this week!  Woah, look at that, 50 to 2!  I bet the coach is going to have something to say about allowing a safety!  17-14? What kind of score is that?  That’s better?  Did you see that one?  64-12!”

Maybe that sounded a little more exuberant than it actually plays out.  What amazes us about scores like that is not that there are so many of them but that there are any of them.  School sports is a place to teach the children about competition and that indeed the world is a place where everyone is not a winner.  But what happened to sportsmanship?  What happened to “win with class, lose with grace?”  For the winning team it’s just another version of “everyone’s a winner” only this version is “you’re always the winner.”  It has the same end results.  We’re creating a world where these young children when they become young adults are unprepared for conflict, discipline, and getting things right because they never had to. (See Your Turn to Keep Score, Jan. 16, 2012.)

In a sound bite world He of We heard the ultimate sound bite about all of this.  In that same news cast with the scroll filled with winning scores in the 40’s and 50’s and the losing scores in single digits was one of 14-3.  The two teams are “perennial powerhouses,” one a twice in a row district champion and on a 23 game winning streak, the other the runner-up for those two years.  The winning coach was interviewed and asked what it was like after five weeks to finally have to make a decision in the fourth quarter? (Arrogance alert #1)  He responded that he knew it would come back to him “when they got to play a good team.” (Arrogance alert #2) 

We hope the players in the five teams previously beat by that “perennial powerhouse” go on to learn that not always being a winner doesn’t always make you a loser.

Now, that’s what we think.  Really.  How ‘bout you?

 

 

Murder is Insulting

Michael Leave a comment

Muslims are insulted by the anti-Islamic film that an ex-con, anti-Islamic extremist produced and posted clips of to YouTube.  To demonstrate their chagrin they felt justified in burning down the American embassy in Libya and killing the American ambassador there.  Americans in 20 countries in the Middle East and elsewhere where Islam is practiced have been victims of abusive attacks over the past week.

There have already been hundreds of thousands of words published condemning the killings and these other aggressive acts.  Our few hundred words here won’t add any clarity to what is a mounting sentiment to use any excuse to attack and kill Americans.  So we won’t decry the Muslims’ retaliatory actions.  God will see they don’t get their 700 virgins or their entry to paradise or their first taste of a hamburger or whatever they think will be their reward for killing Americans even though it was one of their own who smeared Mohammed then ran and hid behind our First Amendment.

No, what we are going to say is what parents throughout America should be telling their children when they do something terribly, horribly wrong.  You’re going to bed without your dinner.  Let us explain.  The United Sates directly provides over 40% of the food bought and sold in the Middle East.  When considering re-exports of American goods by other countries to this area, over 90% of their food comes from the United States.  Other than Iran and Sudan, the United Sates has no restrictions against exporting to Middle East or North African countries.  Yet these are the very countries where Americans are being attacked because the populace perceives that the USA insulted them through an amateurish film posted on an Internet site where anybody can upload video files.  Well, we’re insulted also. 

If there is not enough outrage in our leaders to send in whatever troops are necessary to neutralize those who are killing Americans, then send in whatever troops are necessary to destroy what food stores are present in those countries.  Then there should be embargos instituted against them and against all other countries that allow re-export to these American haters.  After a few months of having nothing to eat maybe they will understand our outrage when we open our morning papers and find out that one of our ambassadors was murdered because somebody’s feelings were hurt.

If someday there should be a very large contingent of apologetic, hungry people in Egypt, Libya, Indonesia, Afghanistan, or any other part of the world where ‘Death to America’ is scrawled on the sides of what used to be American consulates and embassies, perhaps our answer should be “Gosh, we’re sorry.  We were insulted and since you set the appropriate retaliation for insults at murder we figured it was time to play by your rules.  Too bad.   Go to bed without your dinner.”

And to those bleeding hearts here in our country who feel bad for the poor little fire starters, feel free to join them living in dirt, filth, and squalor.  Maybe while you’re busy badmouthing us, they’ll be happy for the chance to burn you alive too.

Now, that’s what we think.  Really.  How ‘bout you?

What’s a Covet?

Michael Leave a comment

My there are certainly a lot of them.  So many you’d swear (or affirm) that they are even somewhat religious in their beliefs.  Of whom are we speaking?  The atheists.   And they’re at it again.

A school district in Pennsylvania has a monument outside the doors of its Junior High School that someone supposed violated the tenant of the separation of church and state.  You’ll recall we debated where that separation is specified in our Constitution, Bill of Rights, later amendments, or earlier Declarations and couldn’t find it anywhere.  (See We Hold These Truths (Jan. 13,2012) and Liberty and Justice for All (March 26, 2012).)  Obviously the people who are threatening lawsuits didn’t read our posts.  Neither did the school district because they are planning to comply with the requests to remove the four foot tall work that has been guarding the school doors since 1957.

A judge in Virginia must has thought he possessed the wisdom of Solomon when he came up with the bright idea of removing the first four commandments since they are the ones that are most religious.  This came up while trying to negotiate a settlement between a Giles County school district and the ACLU.  It seems the CLU claimed that their Americans were miffed over the district having the 4 + 6 Commandments in a hallway where a picture of them was posted for a year and a half as part of a display of American government and morality.  We certainly don’t want to mistake those two for each other.

Back North, another Pennsylvania school district that has a plaque of the Ten Commandments at the entrance to its high school has also been threatened with a law suit if it doesn’t remove the material within 10 days of the threat’s delivery date.  The school board president said they have to wait to construct a response regarding the fate of the monument that has stood since 1955 until a meeting with the district’s attorneys later this month.

Unfortunately we can’t say this is anything new.  It was in 2003 when workers removed 800 pound granite tablets listing the Ten Commandments (Moses would have had a hard time with those himself) from 4 schools in a suburban Cincinnati school district.

We say let it go.  Clearly we don’t need them anymore.  They are as obsolete as killing, stealing, patricide or matricide, adultery, and wholesale deceit including perjury.  You can tell by the way these offensives as almost never ever committed anymore.  Coveting is so obsolete the average high schooler probably doesn’t even know what it means and it almost never shows up in spelling bees.  But the aetheists still have some work to do because we have firm proof that there are some people who still won’t work on Sunday. 

At least they won’t until after the Super Bowl.

Now, that’s what we think.  Really.  How ‘bout you?

 

Do you take this chicken…

Michael Leave a comment

So they say it’s not a gay marriage issue, that if they left the order stand for 100 chicken sandwiches that would be all anybody talked about instead of the issues.  So what do they talk about instead?  They talk about how that rich person who bought 100 chicken sandwiches has decided to change his catering choice for an upcoming political meeting and donate 90 of the sandwiches to a local homeless shelter and keep 10 for himself to see what they taste like.  In a roughly 500 word article in Newsday posted on August 19, some 3 weeks since a private individual voiced his views on gay marriage all that was printed was chicken sandwiches and gay marriage.  That sounds like us somebody isn’t talking about the issues.

Well here’s something to talk about.  Maybe that is the issue that nobody wants to talk about while everybody else is busy ignoring the elephant in the living room.  No, not gay marriage and not chicken sandwiches.  Stay with us here. 

Do you know if you type “Supporting Gay Marriage” into your Google search bar you will be returned over 9.6 million results including a 600Kb article in Wikipedia that includes a list of everybody who has come out in public support?  A search “Opposing Gay Marriage” returns only a few fewer than 2 million results.  Clearly more people support it so we can assume it must be right.   Keep staying with us.  If you type in “Supporting child pornography” you get 128 million results.  “Opposing child pornography” yields only 1.99 million results.  I think we can rethink our previous assumption.  Don’t go away yet.

That exercise illustrates that the more controversial an idea is the more people will want to talk about it. And there isn’t a clear right or wrong as often as there is no question what it right or wrong. 

The only clear right in any of this is that we all have to right to express our opinion.  Unfortunately there are many issues that because they are the “darling” issue of the media or those with access to the media, many people will want to make certain their views match those of the famous and sometimes infamous.

If the short order cook at your neighborhood bar, the one who makes the chicken sandwiches, came out in opposition to gay marriage you’d probably say, “who cares?” and move on.  But because someone who has made a fortune out of making chicken sandwiches remarks how he interprets the Bible’s view on marriage some other rich guy is going to give away 90 sandwiches instead of feeding them to the local politicians.  And that becomes news.

It’s not about gay marriage.  It’s about finding fault with someone who seems to be successful without the help of the ACLU.  It’s about following the crowd instead of finding your own opinion. 

And it’s about deciding that becoming outraged over shootings, snipers, unemployment, lost savings, and foreclosures is more important than chicken sandwiches.

Now, that’s what we think.  Really.  How ‘bout you?

 

What We Did During the Summer Olympics

Michael Leave a comment

After Missy Franklin’s record breaking 200 meter backstroke victory, the interviewer reminded us that she is still a high schooler returning to classes in less than a month when she remarked to the swimmer, “When they ask you what you did on your summer vacation you’re going to have some stories.”  

And so will we.  We’ve learned a lot from sitting in front of the television each evening watching the stories and the competitions.  And there’s still more to come.  So what have we learned so far?

The swim team seems more like a team than the women’s gymnastics team.  Their smiles came more easily and seemed more genuine.

We know hockey.  Field hockey is not hockey.

The women’s gymnastics teams should be called the girls’ gymnastics teams.

Even though the television commentators won their share of medals in past games they can’t pick a winner any better than we can.

We want to see the rules for water polo.

The women beach volleyball squads hug after almost every point.  The indoor volleyball squads barely hug after each game.  Must be because of less sun indoors.

We want something on the screen to tell us if a race or game or bout is a preliminary heat or a medal round.  Please.

Wow that diving platform is high!

Some of the men gymnasts have more upper body strength than some of the weightlifters.

Those berets are still stupid.

Not everyone’s a winner.  But the ones who don’t get a medal are almost always gracious towards the winner and runners-up. 

Maybe everyone is a winner after all.

Now, that’s what we think.  Really.  How ‘bout you?

 

The Real Reality Summer Wardrobe Rules for Real People

Michael 1 Comment

Summer is in full swing.  Hot, humid, sunny, temperatures in the mid 80’s to mid 90’s.  And people are taking full advantage of those summer rules – or disadvantage. 

We had the opportunity not long ago to attend an all day, outdoor music festival.  We were graced with a rather comfortable day.  In between days reaching into the upper 90’s and days of ponderous rains leading to flash floods, we managed to pick the one day of the three day festival to attend that had temperatures staying in the 70’s, no rain, dappled sunshine through broken clouds, and a very slight breeze.  The perfect day for outdoor festing.  Except for the other people there.

To be fair, not all of them detracted from an otherwise enjoyable afternoon and evening.  Just the ones who left their fashion sense at home.  After a day of watching what people consider appropriate public attire we are forced to invoke the Real Reality Wardrobe Rules.

 

For Men:

Sleeves are mandatory.  Not areas formerly occupied by sleeves, the entire sleeve.  They are the cross pieces that put the T in T-Shirt.  They are needed.  They are required. 

In that sleeves are mandatory, so are the shirts that they come on.  Nobody wants to see anybody other than a cute infant half naked in public.  Even in guys that haven’t traded in their six-pack for a quarter keg, the shirtless look just isn’t a good one other than at poolside or if necessary, in your own man cave.  We don’t expect women to wander about with their nipples exposed, men shouldn’t either.

Hair long enough to be in a ponytail on a male only looks good on a male pony.  And only at the tail.  You’re old.  You’re gray.  You’re bald.  Don’t add to the insanity by having hair halfway down your back and certainly not in braids!  Shave it off, put your shirt on, and move along. 

Flip flops are not shoes.  Leave them at the pool, with your shirt.  Mandals are fine, but like the rest of you, grooming is essential.  Just because your feet are the farthest away from your brain, don’t be brainless about your feet.  Well groomed, trimmed, washed, and buffed feet are also healthy feet.

 

For Women:

For different reasons, but the just as above, nobody wants to see you half naked in public.  Check your hems, watch your buttons.  Unintentional flashes of skin is sexy.   Intentional undressing is slutty.

Have someone check your behind from behind when you’re sitting down on the grass.  Just say no to crack. 

Swimsuits are for swimming, or for backyard tanning.  Would you go to a production of the local symphony wearing a tankini?  You’re outside, in public, whether at a concert or at the grocery store.  Grow up, wear clothes.  (If you’re having difficulty with that, see For Women, Rule #1.)

High Heels and soft grass do not mix. If you are at an outside wedding and you are dressed to the nines, you’ll have to move slowly and carefully.  Accidents can happen but they don’t have to.  If you are at an outdoor concert with 10,000 people in shorts and t-shirts, wear something lawn-appropriate.  Aerating the amphitheater grounds with your stilettos will not get you a discount to the next show.

Tattoos can be art.  If you have a back full of body art, ask somebody besides one of your friends to give you’re an opinion of the quality of the work.  If it’s art, flaunt it.  Go ahead and wear that backless sun dress.  If it’s of poor quality, badly composed and inexpertly executed, cover it up until you find a good artist to fix it.    

 

It’s hot out there.  You can be too.  Pay a little attention to the person in the mirror and watch how many pay attention to you on the outside.       

Now, that’s what we think.  Really.  How ‘bout you?