Tag: fail

Does nobody move for ‘excuse me’ anymore?

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

During my last family trip, I observed a noticeable amount of instances where saying ‘excuse me’ to people, resulted in absolutely no response at all.  And it’s not like I’m taking any off-path routes to get from point A to B to C, I’m talking about very general, public and heavy-traffic walkways or paths, where people clog up traffic, I want to get around them, and they have the space to move elsewhere, but for whatever selfish reason, they exist in the way.

I say excuse me, in a normal, neutral tone, and in some instances, people glanced over at me, and in other either people pretended like they couldn’t hear me, or proceeded to completely no-sell the fuck out of me.  It’s at this point, I say excuse me in a louder, more insistent tone and this usually does the trick to get them to acknowledge my existence, and when I usually just proceed to move at them, will they actually move.

It’s not like I was walking by myself in most cases, and could just as alternatively take longer, wider routes to avoid being close to people in the first place.  In most of these cases, I’m wheeling a stroller, luggage, or, in a rush carrying a toddler that needs to go to the bathroom, but for whatever reason it is, it just felt like a conspicuously high number of instances where it just seems like people have dropped common courtesy of moving the fuck out of the way when people say excuse me.

And when I have to repeat myself, louder and more hostile sounding, all these cocksuckers look at me like I’m the asshole for trying to get somewhere, where they’re the conceited selfish shitheads blocking walkways and thinking their inane conversations or needs are higher priority than others.

It’s not lost on me that this is sounding like an old man yelling at the sky kind of rant, but what’s really wrong with hoping that people have common decency to continue honoring the simple and basic human interaction of moving out of the way when someone says excuse me?  It’s not like I’m barreling through with the intention of initiating contact and shoving people out of the way, I’m simply alerting people that I need to get around them, and to pardon any potential contact and give them a heads up to move if they can.  Fuck me, right??

Anthony Rendon is hilariously unbelievable

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

lol: Angels third baseman, Anthony Rendon, goes on the record, opining that the baseball season is too long and that it should be shortened

We got to shorten the season, man,” Rendon said. “There’s too many dang games–162 games in 185 days or whatever it is. Man. No. We gotta shorten this bad boy up. Let’s go.

Here’s why this quote from this particular player is amusing for all the wrong reasons: Anthony Rendon hasn’t played even 60 games a season, much less close to 162 games, in four straight years.  Granted, 2020 was the COVID-shortened season, but between 2021-2023, he’s played in just a diminutive 30% of games that the Angels have had.

Furthermore, he’s halfway through a contract that’s paying him $245M over seven years and it’s safe to say that he’s basically already on the hall of fame of worst free agent contracts in baseball history.  To say that he’s been a bust is an understatement, the guy has been ducking his job as if his job were to avoid playing in baseball games by any means necessary.  He’s been mysteriously injured for the last four years with no real understanding to what’s been ailing him, and he even got himself suspended for a week, when he got involved with a heckler in Oakland.

As many internet comedians have pointed out, he shortens his own season anyway, so it seems redundant that he’d put himself in the line of fire like this in the first place.  But I think my favorite observation was one that I had myself, that basically nobody seems to hate the game that has made him a gozillionaire, more than Anthony Rendon:

Love something as much as Anthony Rendon hates baseball

The man is truly unbelievable.  I feel for the Angels, because between losing Ohtani, they’re stuck with an albatross like Rendon, who clearly has phoned in his career at this point, and will stick around nursing injuries and pretending like he can’t play for the remainder of his deal, and after banking $245M bones, I don’t even think he’s going to bother doing the thing where he starts trying to play hard again within the last two years of his deal, so that he could possibly try to position himself to getting another big contract.  He’ll be 35 and 36 in the final years of his contract, and considering he already hates playing baseball right now, there’s absolutely no way he’s going to try and stick with a job he hates so much in 2-3 years.

Walgreens is basically the GameStop of drugstores now

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I know this comparison needs a lot of fleshing out, but once my mind formulated this comparison, the ball started rolling faster and faster, and as has lately been the trend of process for me, if it makes it past a certain point, then I pop it off to my main friends group chat, and if things flesh out a little bit more, it sticks on my brain, or I feel like I haven’t tapped into this topic any further, it becomes a brog post; whenever it is that I actually have the time to write anymore that is.

But I was tasked with going to a specific location, as mythical wife got confirmation that they had what she needed, and that I could pick it up when the pharmacy opened at 9 am the following day.  I get to the pharmacy at 9:04 am, and already get attitude from the pharmacist working the counter, first fucking thing in the morning.  Turns out that they didn’t have the prescription ready, and when I explained that I had gotten a confirmation that they had it, I got a quick rebuttal about how he wasn’t there last night, unsurprisingly.

I wait for a few minutes for him to contact another store, and thankfully another location (allegedly) has it, but my morning’s schedule is already thrown off, and I’ll have to be late for something else in order to squeeze in a trip to the other location, after a virtual work meeting and kids’ school thing I need to see first, that I’m already going to be concurrently.

It dawns on me when I get to the parking lot of my kids’ school that Walgreens has basically become the GameStop of the drugstore landscape, because much like GameStop was mostly the last man standing between companies like FuncoLand, Babbages, Electronics Boutiques and all the big box retailers that have died or are still in the process of dying, Walgreens is very much one of the only survivors left, at least here in Atlanta, where every Eckerd and Rite-Aid have gone under, with only CVS really left to oppose them. 

And in my specific area, there are like two Walgreens for every CVS, and much like going to a GameStop, the takeaway from the experience is almost always negative afterward.  Like bringing a box of old console games, and getting offered $15 in store credit, every time you walk into a Walgreens for a prescription, either they don’t have it, they don’t have all of it, haven’t gotten to it, or are determined to service six cars in drive-thru before entertaining the thought of helping a live human being in the store.

Much like GameStop, Walgreens’ prices are inflated and almost feeling exploitative, mostly because they really want you to sign up for their rewards/customer info tracking programming in order to have a chance to get some more digestible costs.

I know I’m not giving a tremendous amount of examples here, but the bottom line is that both of these companies continue to survive and exist, solely because of their general lack of competition, and the fact that they’re the only ones really surviving where their wares can be acquired in hand quicker than an Amazon Prime order.  But having to deal with either company  makes me feel like I’d prefer a kick in the balls first, and if it could be helped, I would much rather seek an alternative before resorting to them at all.  And when you go to either, you just know it won’t be a smooth experience, and walking out of them only will breed resentment and disappointment.

Sometimes there is no funnier reality television than the NBA

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Somehow true: Portland Trail Blazers center Deandre Ayton misses game due to being unable to get to the arena on account of icy weather conditions

I’ve been following sports for pretty much all of my entire lucid life, and in all those years, this is honestly the first time that I’ve ever heard of a scenario where a player basically called out due to the weather.  This is the kind of shit that a college student says when they don’t want to get up for an 8 am class, or a shitty American babysitter says when they’re checked out.

But an NBA player?  Especially one who’s making $32M to play fucking basketball?  Mind blown.

Like, I’m sure because he’s mega rich, he lives a little bit in seclusion, because that’s what rich people tend to like to do.  And I know Portland is a weird place, in terms of people, as well as geography, and they’re kind of subject to the shitty weather conditions that afflict Seattle and the rest of the Pacific Northwest, but you’d think a go-zillionaire like an NBA player like Deandre Ayton would have some sort of contingency plan for icy roads.

Honestly, it’s not entirely on the player too, the team itself could’ve taken better preparation for this, like putting up him and other players in a baller hotel right near the arena or something if there was any indication that the weather was going to go tits up on game day.

Imagine if something like this occurred in the MJ era of the NBA?  Ayton would be destroyed by a Charles Oakley type of veteran meat mountain, on his own team as well as opponent.  Guys like Alonzo Mourning or Karl Malone would be all up his ass crack, giving him shit for having the audacity to miss a game due to icy roads.  He must live at Castle Black or something and the Kingsroad was just too coated with northern ice or something.

Whatever though, unsurprisingly the best part of this whole situation is the backlash it’s gotten on the internet, and when people collectively get mad at something, the clowns occasionally deliver some hilarious observations.  I think my favorites that I’ve seen so far are:

Pretty funny the Trail Blazers of all teams could not blaze a trail for DeAndre Ayton.

And then there was this one that is clearly familiar with Ayton’s game in general, and spun his joke to hilarious effect:

I realize Ayton couldn’t drive to the game, but perhaps he could have done several spin moves, each taking him slightly further from the rim to the game.

In all fairness though, as critical I feel towards the situation and carte blanche to criticize, I have to admit that sometimes, there’s fewer things more entertaining than the bullshit that comes from the NBA players themselves.  Between the Pistons trying their best to become the de facto worst team in league history, and clowns like Ayton calling out due to black guys ice, I can’t say I’ve paid more attention to the NBA in a long time.

It’s like Detroit always has to have a tragically bad sports team

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I don’t follow a tremendous amount of NBA these days, but there have been some interesting storylines that have played out over the course of this season that has had me attuned to the league a little bit more than usual.  The weird In-Season Tournament, the collapse of the Warriors, Draymond Green going ballistic twice and out indefinitely, the seemingly endless beef between Luka and Booker, etc, etc.  But behind all of these microbeefs, has been one thing that has grown into one of the more notable storylines that won’t just be for this season, but NBA history.

With their 27th consecutive loss within a single season, the Detroit Pistons have entered rarified air of being able to say that they’ve embarked on the worst losing streak in NBA history.  So often times in sports, we see hallowed and/or embarrassing records be reached and either they’re tickled, or in lots of cases, tied.  It’s truly not often that many records really break, if they’re of any substance, and even in today’s NBA where at any given point there are numerous teams trying to tank and deliberately take losses for draft positioning the following year, so the fact that the Pistons have managed to eat 27 losses in a row really is something that probably did involve some luck and determination to allow happen.

Of course, there is still one more record to chase, and I feel like I’m jinxing it because I am the lord king of sports fate and if I address it, I am doomed to be defied but it’s too late because I’ve started writing it and history be damned, this will stand.  But apparently in 2014 and 2015, there was a stretch between two separate seasons where the Philadelphia 76ers managed to eat 28 straight losses, but considering the Pistons are currently playing to a .067 clip, it’s a safe bet that they’ll at the very least catch the record and should for all intents and purposes break it, but like I said, I am tempting fate by writing about it right now.

It’s funny because three games into the season, the Pistons were 2-1.  Fans at home were probably thinking, it’s early, but we’re looking good!  With 10 playoff seeds now, maybe we’ll be able to get in this year!  But then that win against the Bulls back in October was the last W they’d ever see, as they’d then proceed to go through all of November without a single win, spawning all sorts of memes about how the Pistons succeeded in No-Win November, but then proceed to keep on chugging through December without any wins and are in prime position to finish All-Defeat December.

I had to look up some of the official numbers since my knowledge of bad basketball records has apparently grown outdated, but the worst record in history seems to be declared to be the 2012 Charlotte Bobcats, who went 7-59, a winning percentage of just .110.  But in a full 82-game season, the 1973 Philadelphia 76ers went 9-73, a winning percentage of just .101.  As unlikely as it would be in today’s NBA climate, but if the Pistons’ current winning rate were to stay steady, they would finish the season at 5-77, shattering both records with room to spare.

And then the ultimate failure would be that in spite of having the most balls in the draft lottery, anyone else gets picked before they do.  All the hotshot prospects in college right now are probably talking with their representation about their eligibility and NIL money comparisons to hard consider sticking around another year versus risk getting drafted by the Pistons.

It’s just funny though, because it just seems like the city of Detroit is destined to at any given time, have some tragically bad sports franchise.  Like there’s a shared pool of sports talent in the city, and when one franchise is taking the lion’s share, another is starving to death.  Like in the early 2000s, the Detroit Tigers were losing 100 games and threatening the all-time losses record, but then the Pistons won an NBA championship.  Then the Tigers were becoming playoff regulars, while the Detroit Lions had a season where they literally went 0-16 and I think tacked on a few more L’s the following season before upending the Redskins to end their torment.  And now the Lions have secured the NFC North and are playoff bound, while the Pistons are embarking on a journey to become the worst NBA team in history.

Anyway, I know I’m tempting fate by having exerted effort to write about it, but I for one love seeing sports history, especially when it’s a team that I have no real care for, at the risk of making the wrong side of it.  I can’t say that any point in my life I’ve ever really been a Pistons fan, or a fan of any team from Detroit for that matter, so here’s to hoping we’ll see some fresh history coming up in a few days.

No way this doesn’t backfire on Southwest

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Good intentions, unwinnable situation: Southwest Airlines becomes only airline to accommodate larger passengers with complimentary adjacent seats

How it works: plus-size travelers either purchase two fares on Southwest in advance, or purchase one fare; either way, at the airport, they have to speak speak to a representative to discuss accommodation, be allowed to occupy two seats.  If they purchased two in advance, they can be retroactively be refunded one fare, or if they purchase one fare, speak to someone at the airport and get a second one for free; airline reserves the right to exorcise the benefit or shift other passengers based on availability.

First of all, I do think it’s cool that Southwest Airlines for making this choice to be accommodating to larger passengers.  It is a decision made on empathy, positivity and inclusion, and in the calculation of the business world, it’s a choice that will all but ensure that larger travelers will be looking at Southwest first, with them likely to make some bank on the fact that they’ll probably buy two Southwest fares knowing they can be refunded for one of them based on their girth, as opposed to buying two fares on any other airline and not getting any recompense.

But I also just think that Southwest is opening a can of worms, and has created something that will inevitably be abused and met with a lot of opposition, hostility and negativity by all other travelers who don’t fall into the same large category of those that this is intended to accommodate, almost like an ironic reverse form of discrimination.

I’m not the buffest, most swole guy on the planet, not by a long shot, but when I sit back and am in a relaxed sitting position, my shoulders often times creep over the plane of space that is the armrest.  When traveling with mythical wife, this is mitigated because she is petite and I can just raise the armrest and we can lean on each other, or share our adjacent space, but the fact of the matter is that regular old me, could constitute a person who “encroach past the armrest” which is the language that Southwest’s policy declares as being criteria to receive the large person BOGO, as I’d like to call it as politically correct as I care to speak it.

This policy just seems like it’s begging to be abused by all sorts of people, mostly active, muscular, tall and other physically large people whom might not necessarily be overweight, but still with bodies capable of taking up a lot of space.  And considering the fact that airline seats are tuna can sized to begin with, I don’t think it would take a tremendous amount of arguing for people to think they can lay claim to the large person BOGO as much as a person who tried out for My 600 Lb. Life.

Already, there are instances of the backlash of giving larger folks free bonus seats, as cited by the example of a woman and her kids who were bumped off an oversold flight because one or more larger passengers were getting free extra seats.  And this is where it’s really a nobody wins situation, because I understand that large passengers go through a lot of shit already, flying in an airplane doesn’t make it any easier, but at the same time, as a person with a lot of miles flown in my life, I know the general frustration of the traveling process to begin with, and can understand the frustration that must bubble up when you have to sit next to a large person who encroaches on your space or denies you the ability to board outright.

Furthermore, as altruistic of a policy this is meant to be, it’s still going to be subject to the opinions of live human beings that oversized travelers will have to subject themselves to when they are at the airport and wish to plead their cases.  Imagine the general sense of spectacle and embarrassment many already go through having to go to the counter to discuss the large person BOGO, but imagine how much worse it would be if the person at the gate is having a bad day or is someone who’s in no mood to be empathetic of a large person’s size, and then they deny the second seat, or they prioritize parties over a large person. 

Nobody wins in these cases either, and it’s only a matter of time before Southwest gets sick and tired of dealing with all the headaches, complaints, accusations of abusing rules, and other negative connotation before they decide to punt on the program outright, and large passengers are back to either purchasing two seats and taking a financial hit, or risking denigration and humiliation when they get seated next to a Karen who live-tweets their misery at being sat next to a large person on an entire flight.

Again, it’s cool that Southwest is trying to be more inclusive than all the other airlines, but the airline industry is already one of the most miserable and volatile experiences for people in the first place, trying to rock the boat to this magnitude just seems like an idea that’s just begging to backfire with catastrophic results.

I am so over shopping for presents

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I understand that over the last year or two, I’ve been coming off like a tremendous Scrooge.  I will be the first to admit that I am suffering from depression in the span of that time, because at the root of everything I feel that my life is very difficult, and largely in part due to the feeling financially insecure, and the gamut of factors why it is as well the results of it.

In this span, I have been largely incapable of enjoying holidays in the manner in which they really should be enjoyed, because when you’re in a position that I’m in, holidays mean a lot more work, a lot more effort, a lot more money, with the latter variable being largely in part of why I’m often times so anxious and fretting over the most.

But to the point of the subject of this post, I’m really over shopping for presents, mostly because I just don’t know what the fuck anyone and everyone wants, but I feel obligation to provide gifts to a lot of these people, because it’s the most efficient way of demonstrating that I care and I really do care and I really do want to show my appreciation, but the truth of the matter is that I just don’t know what people want and/or I do, but it’s something that’s ridiculously expensive and I don’t have the means to get it and that’s a whole result of sucking as well.

Anyway, I have a list of people whom I want to get something for, and the vast majority of it is blank currently, because I just don’t know what to get anyone.  These days, or maybe that it’s always been the case, people are capable of getting what they want, when they want, to a degree that by the time the holidays roll around, there’s nothing left to ask for.  And not knowing what to get someone seems like the worst possible outcome, because if I knew what to get everyone, I wouldn’t be typing up this conversation piece in the first place.

Yet I feel obligated to get things for everyone because I know that the most of them will be doing the same for me.  Honestly if it were up to me, there would be no gifts shared, so that neither party feels obligated to exchange gifts and go through the time, effort and finances to demonstrate with gifts the importance of one another to each other.  I try to do that for others by giving them time, effort, favors when called upon, or being there in times of need.

But the point is, I’m sick of gifts.  I’m sorry if that sounds horribly crass and blunt and really curmudgeon but that’s where I’m at right now.  I’m tired of not knowing what anyone wants because I don’t have the capacity to be around everyone that matters to me to pick up hints and ideas for what I can provide for them, and it’s driving me insane sitting in front of my computer and trying to rack my brain fruitlessly for ideas of gifts that will inevitably end up being shitty because the rationale for them will be so convoluted and stretched that they’ll suck and people will try their hardest to be nice and try to not feel in the backs of their minds that they were given a stinker.

I want nothing, so that I can be absolved of the feeling obligated to return the favor, so that I can spend my sparse time, shits to give and money on more important thing than gifts, which is exactly what I’d really like the most.  There is a direct correlation with my depression and those things being in more copacetic places than they are now, and I just don’t know what to do to improve things and this is not how I want to be feeling at a time of the year where people are expected to be happy, festive and grateful for things.