Adult Children by Stephen Beals for January 06, 2024

Congratulations, you’ve been categorized.

So it’s Okay to lie? And this is going to save me so much time!

“Fine and you?” if you wish to upgrade the answer.

I’m dying, Tabby. We’re all dying, some faster than others.

Tabby is my favorite character on this strip. She is great.

I learned quickly to NOT ask how someone was. I used other pleasant greetings. I don’t want a health report or life story.

I always reply to that with “Do you really want to know, or are you just issuing a greeting?”

That is not what Rousseau meant by the social contract. He may have been that miserable. He was the rare philosopher that married but he and his wife donated each of their 5 children to a Paris orphanage.

Very funny! You could burden everybody with your tales of woe, but only if you can make it sound amusing.

It’s always good….every day you’re alive it’s a good day.

I spend 24 hours a week in a nursing home where all our residents, except the demented ones, are acutely aware that death is near. Their response to, “How are you?” is, “I’m here.” Pretty much says it all.

I never know how to answer that, the honest answer will ruin the social contract. I usually just answer by sending the question back.

One of my favorite responses came from an elderly woman who always gave the same response…“I’m trying to do better.”

Gotta be careful what you ask, especially around older folks. Don’t want to get an impromptu “organ recital”.

The answer is NOT “good”, which is an adjective. The answer is “I’m FINE” or “I’m WELL”, which are adverbs.

My normal response is " Better than some, not as good as others ". I figure as long as I can say that, then life is ok.

That’s always a loaded question.

Oh, well…………and so it goes!

I asked a cashier if she was having a good day. The store had just been sold to liquidators and was closing in 2 weeks. People who worked there for over 20 years were losing their jobs just before Christmas and getting no pension or severance pay, many had already been fired. She was not having a nice day and I felt bad for asking.

I honestly hate being asked that by people who don’t give a flying fig. I never ask my customers that and I even hate when they ask me.

“If I was any better, people would PAY to be me!”