Uptight and discourteous...

What the hell is wrong with people?  

I know that there is plenty of bitching going on everyday by everyone, especially on the internet, but bear with me while I do my share of bitching for the day.

Ok, to start out...Today, as I was on my way to the dining facility on Al Udeid Air Base in the wonderful kingdom of Qatar (where I am currently working), I had the pleasure of waiting for every pedestrian to cross the street at their leisure in front of me.  Don't they know that the Ford Focus that I am driving could be turned into a murderous killing machine at any time?  

I don't want you to get the idea that I have homicidal thoughts like this all the time, but where has the urgency gone?  I know, that if I am crossing the street (or dirt trail, as it is here), I do it as expeditiously as possible, not because I fear for my life, but to be courteous.  When I am at the mall, if I need to stop for some reason as I am walking along, I take a look over my shoulder to make sure that if I stop, no one is going to ram me from behind.  The same goes for driving.  I am sure that everyone would agree that you should check the "blind spot" whenever you change lanes.  This is not only for courtesy, but for safety also.  Changing lanes without checking is not only dangerous, but it's damn discourteous as well.

One of the "benefits" of being here in the Middle East and working on a military installation, is that you get to go through a full vehicle search every time you come on base.  After arriving at the search area, you open all doors and the hood so that the security forces can do a thorough inspection of your vehicle while you wait in the "holding" area.  The holding area consists of 3ft cardboard boxes stacked 2 wide and 3 high filled with gravel acting as "walls".  The roof is camo-netting.  After you get done with this you proceed to the front gate of the base and sign in.  This is where the discourtesy begins.  I drive to work by myself, so I am the only one in my car.  The military folks live on base and they get weekly "morale" trips to Doha, where I live, in order to remain sane.  I mention this because the morale trips always end at the time I am coming into work, so I am at the search pit when all the morale trip takers are returning to base.  This would not normally be a problem, except, when we get to the front gate to sign in, I have to park and walk to the sign-in book.  It takes me approximately 2.3 seconds (I even timed it once, so this is an accurate figure) to sign the book and be on my way.  The military members that are returning to base, always carpool and there is 5-6 people in each vehicle.  The driver of these vehicles drives up to the sign in book and lets off one person while they go park.  By the time I get to the sign in book, there are 5 people in front of me.  Now I said that it takes me 2.3 seconds to sign in.  Well, the people in front of me have to sign in everyone in their vehicle.  So, for some reason, it takes them 45 hours to sign everyone in.  Then, if they happen to know the gate guard, they will start chatting and stand there so that no one else can sign in.  All I want is my 2.3 seconds!!!! This is what I mean.  I have nothing against one person signing everyone in, in fact, I would do the same thing, but you can bet dollars to donuts that I would be quick about it and if I saw someone by themselves, I would let them go first.

Another thing that just frosts my shorts...If you are driving down the road and you see someone you know, why the fuck do you stop your car and talk to them in the middle of the road?  If there is no one around, fine, but the second I pull up behind you, you move your ass.  I am not here to spectate while you catch up.  Here is the worst part, If I get impatient (which I am all the time, 24 hours a day) and I decide to honk, then I am the asshole.  Ahhh sweet justice.

I swear, nobody gives a shit about anyone else, the sad part is, they usually no idea they are inconveniencing anyone.  Why am I the only one that thinks of this?  I tell you, one day I am just going to snap.

Some people might tell me that I need to relax, that I am too uptight.  Well, I can tell you that I am not uptight, I know and have proof of uptight people, and I do not act like them.  You want proof, here it is...

Tonight, I was up near the helpdesk area of our building.  An individual that I do not know, was sitting there, we will call him Staff Sergeant Victim.  As I was there doing my thing, a Navy Lt. Commander (O-4 rank, a Major in all other services, lets call him Lt. Commander Ass-Bag) comes storming up to the helpdesk and asks who is in charge of creating accounts.  Staff Sergeant Victim steps up and asks what the problem is.  The Lt. Commander proceeds to start yelling at Staff Sergeant Victim because his Windows 2000 account was created with O-3 (Lieutenant in the Navy, Captain in all other services) for his rank instead of O-4.  Staff Sergeant Victim apologized and said it was a mistake, but the Navy Lt. Commander was not happy.  Here is what was said:

Staff Sergeant Victim:  "I'm very sorry, I must have chose the wrong rank.  I can fix it..."

Navy Lt. Commander Ass-Bag :  "How long have you been in the military sergeant?"

Staff Sergeant Victim:  "A little over 10 years, SIR."

Navy Lt. Commander Ass-Bag :  "You have been in the Air Force for 10 years and you don't know Navy ranks?  I cannot believe that you have never worked with the Navy before..."

Staff Sergeant Victim:  "Actually, sir, I know Navy ranks, it was a mistake.  O-3 and O-4 are close together on the pull down menu, I must have taken the wrong..."

This is not that big of a deal, but what in the hell would make Commander Ass-Bag think that he could get away with this without looking like a total chode?  After he left, everyone that was at the helpdesk, officers, enlisted, and civilians, started talking about what a shit he was.  Do you think this fuck-hole would have complained if is rank was mistaken for O-5, instead of O-3?  Probably not.  This is one of the reasons I had to get out of the military.  It is perfect for self-important assholes like Commander Ass-Bag, it actually encourages that sort of thing.  Now, had Commander Ass-Bag been Admiral Ass-Bag, that would be different.  It is difficult to obtain the rank of Admiral (General in all other services) and I believe that Admiral rank deserves more respect.  The rank of O-4 is a gimme rank.  As long as you are not a total waste (which is strange, considering this asshole), you get it automatically.

Where was I, oh yeah, Commander Ass-Bag is what I would call uptight.  I am not like that.  When I was in the military, If someone created my Windows account with Airman instead of Sergeant, I might send an email to let them know, but normally, I would not do anything.  It is not that big of a deal, and frankly, I am too lazy.  Emails are hard to do.