I had an argument with a Cuban this morning. I stopped for gas, and the pumps were too slow again. This is not a design fault, some Citgo stations slow the pumps down on purpose. I simply told the guy his pumps were too slow. He tried the “Dodge of Felons”, which amounts to saying you are the first person who ever said anything was wrong. I told him I was not aware it was a contest, but his pumps were still too slow. He said he knew the business because he spent “4 million dollars” on it. I told him I was not impressed because he probably borrowed the money. I further told him I did not think he should be avoiding dealing with problems “like a child”, and asked him his name. He said it was “Fidel Castro”. Twice. One thing led to another, and of course, he tried the classic tricks when the juvenile tricks didn’t work – he accused me of being racist against Cubans.
I am nationalist, but not racist. I told him he was a stupid man for calling me racist. When I stepped outside, there were about twenty Cubans standing there waiting for me, which is why I bother to write so much about it. They all told me he has desperately needed what I said for a long time now and they were glad I told him off. Ha, you don't think I was dumb enough to piss off a mob, did you?
Normally I couldn’t care because I’ve learned not to stop for gas in the mornings, but I had to. His 4 million dollar gas pumps caused me just enough delay to get caught in the lines before the turnpike, and it took me an extra half hour to get into the office. Where I discovered Mike had called in. And the GC wanted a form filled out concerning the accident yesterday. More proof Miami is full of unthinking idiots, you ought to meet this Dave with Coastal Construction. Nobody said construction attracted a cerebral workforce, but this guy was plainly raised by his mother. The form asked for information we don’t give out, and the information was plainly irrelevant to an insurance claim – the guys marital status and number of dependents is nobody’s business unless they are covered. On site insurances, family members are not covered. When I told him we don’t keep that info at the sites, he was too stupid to catch on. Then to prove he is even stupider, he stated the form had to be filled out because it was the form. I think he must drink a lot to avoid thinking.
Anyway, I told him I would contact the office, but they were not going to tell him that information either. Then he gets antsy about security, saying the SSN was there. So what, buddy? That is government information. Whether or not he has a wife and kids is another matter. This guy lost all hope of getting any respect from my direction all in the first day. Their insurance provider, AIG, has an agreement with various Miami clinics, but that agreement has absolutely nothing to do with us. These clinics need a reference number to admit and bill the patient, which is fine, but it still has nothing to do with us. I fill out a report to the GC, but I do not start phoning around the state for that number. That is the job of the clinic, to call AIG and get numbers if that is what the clinic wants. Nydia, at the clinic, called trying the ruse of getting me to waste a long distance call for the number. No, Nydia, we are on to that one. So she called our head office to see if they wou
ld fall for it. No dice. So she must have called the GC, or this Dave would not have been over. I think he is used to acting tough, which might work, because he is certainly no good at acting smart. He looks like a guy who graduated from a trade school ten or so years back, realized he was not a good tradesman, and is not trying to break into management without the proper skills and attitude. He is definitely theory X. Ed was out for a safety lunch, consisting of baloney subs and diet sodas in the parking lot. It just surprised me because we’d just had that job accident.
I found the video movie “Stripes” for a dollar. I’ve never seen it. I made a pot of coffee, had a huge fish and macaroni supper and found a box of microwave popcorn. See you much later.
Nothing to report. Here is a magazine cover from 1952, so you can see how much the articles have changed in fifty some years:
