Made it yesterday. I literally had to imitate OJ ( by running through the airport, NOT by killing my (ex)wife…….), and I made it on the plane to Tokyo with 5 minutes to spare. Now I am back in Japan and back at work.
Today was our Secret Santa gift giving and we had some other fun and games going on. However it seemed that when it came time to pass out gifts more than a couple of people did not get any. Later, when I asked why, they said that some people just did not want to participate and thought it was too much money……
WTF?
Cheap, chincy bastards. Who the f**k can’t spend 1-10 dollars on a gift for a co-worker? Hell, if it is that much of an inconvenience , I’ll loan you the fiver, you sick, pathetic, excuses for humanity, you.
Now mind you, some of these same people are folks who have few expenses, live on base, and very seldom venture out. So I cannot believe that somehow participating in a gift exchange is such a big deal. They are also the same people who cannot attend command events because they do not want to pay for a sitter or, God forbid, miss an English class (Teaching one, not learning the grammar they seemed to have missed the first time around in school) and make a 50 dollars or so. That got me back to thinking about Mark’s comments earlier about the Welfare State.
There is definitely an “entitlement mentality” over here. Lately I have seen some examples that are just hideous:
a) Person comes back from 2 weeks TAD, then after only 4 days at work takes off for 2 weeks leave. Then comes back and asks for more……..
b) Guy gets his mother in law sponsored as his dependent. Mom in law gets a job, then quits it 4 weeks before dependency recertification is due…………. only to go back to work as soon as they get the recertification.
c) Command sponsored dependent who gets in a fight out in town putting a Japanese national in the hospital. Sponsor cries foul when he and his entire family are de-screened and sent back home. ” Why are you punishing my kid, all he did was get into a fight!” —-Yea, well that is kind of the whole point…………
d) Guy who volunteered to sponsor folks, then worked with his sponsoree and other folks sponsorees to be the one who sold them a car. Turns out the guy was buying used cars, storing them off base then selling them at a profit to new arrivals…………
e) Folks who time their apartment searches to the very end so they can get the very last drop of transient living expenses.
These are a few of the things that just make me furious. 80% of the people overseas, do the right thing, play by the rules and participate in the base community. 20% wreck it for others by being greedy. They can’t be thankful for what they have, they have to try to milk more out of it…..
“We aren’t saving enough out of our COLA so I can buy that step tansu I want. Why don’t you moonlight for a while on the Dark Side? Palpatine does it and look at all the money he has…..!!!!!”
Not a rational post I know, but sometimes there are things that just piss me off. This is one. Thank you for listening………..Rational thought will return tomorrow.
