Moderately Confused by Jeff Stahler for May 26, 2021

Why are so many people so willing to accept bad behaviour as normal?

Um…like honking in traffic stopped during the pandemic ANYwhere??

I actually enjoyed lock down——not much traffic, quieter, cleaner. Not so happy about people dying, though. (Earth could be grand if she had fewer people.)

I have my bosses convinced that I absolutely have to work from home. I log in at 7 AM, download a bunch of data and run a bunch of reports that are ready by 8:30 when the rest of the work force gets in.

I am ready to go and log into the 9 AM morning meeting. (I eat breakfast during the meeting. I have no need to share video).

If I have to be in the office, I can be there by about 10:45 (after the morning meeting).

There is no way I am going into the office at 7 AM to do stuff that I don’t need anyone else around to do.

I also get to leave early because of my early start time – so my should-be 25 minute commute is about 20 minutes.

I have to admit that I used to resist the idea of work from home and now they’ll pry it from my cold, dead fingers before I’ll give it up. My company has backed it big time and “back to office” is probably going to be very low key. We made it work successfully for over a year and the savings on real estate going forward are going to be massive, which they love.

Normality

Jeez! Cover your grill when you honk.

I avoid honking. Too many people with anger management issues that have guns in their car.

Because bad behavior can be very contagious and difficult to cure.

“Normalcy” is a nonsense word that was invented by the Warren Harding campaign; let’s all use the real word for that situation: normality.

These days, honking at somebody might get you killed.

Lockdown ended around where I live last summer… there were still restrictions, but the traffic came back nastier than ever. At first, when I tried to cross busy streets, it wasn’t unusual to have someone (usually in a big vehicle of some kind) just buzz me as I was crossing with the light.

I’m not so sure it’s normal. Even since before the traffic density returned to pre-quarantine levels, the lingering anxiety of 2020-21 is still palpable on the road. The effect is subtle, but all you need is 1 in 10,000 drivers to get just a bit too aggressive, and the next thing you know everyone’s commute is delayed by an hour or two. Only partly from the first collision, but then also due to several more happening upstream because the initial slowdown was just too much for a few other drivers to handle.