On a TV news show I saw the other day the anchor was interviewing a guy who hosts a blog called “What’s Bugging Me?” It brought back memories of the days when people first began saying that in the 70’s — “Don’t bug me!” or “You’re buggin’ me!”
People still use the phrase, but we don’t think much about its origin, which had to do with actual bugs, insects.
If you live in the South, the phrase makes perfect sense. Who hasn’t swatted through an outdoor gathering attended by a multitude of Mississippi’s boldest bugs — gnats, flies, mosquitoes, wasps and/or bees? For such little things, they’re huge irritants!
We even talk to them sometimes, flapping our hands in front of our faces and commanding “Don’t bug me!” As if the bugs will obey. No, they came to bug us. Literally.
But I was thinking about this guy’s blog and what he might talk about on it, and then I started thinking about what bugs me, not counting the real bugs, that is. If I had a blog called “What’s Bugging Me?” what would I talk about?
One thing that has bugged me lately is the temperature of almost every restaurant or building I have entered. Why do businesses run their air conditioning at full blast when it’s only 65 degrees outside? That’s jacket weather for me, and my desire is to get inside the restaurant to eat in a warmer climate.
But no. I’ll have to chow down on Bubba’s Big ‘Un with my teeth chattering because Bubba gets hot in the kitchen and runs the thermostat down to 60 to cool off, leaving me freezing and wishing I’d opted for take-out. Maybe that was Bubba’s plan in the first place.
Why are they wasting their money paying to cool off a space that doesn’t need to be cold? Aren’t we concerned anymore with wasting power?
Businesses once existed for their customers. I guess now, though, workers who resent having to be there anyway have to be kept chilled to stay in the kitchen, and the customer’s temperature doesn’t count — after all, we’re only there to pay Bubba’s energy bill.
Another thing that bugs me is not getting my proper change back when I buy my Bubba’s Big ‘Un. I’ve noticed in the last year, especially at fastfood drive-thru’s, that the clerk often just rounds up the bill and shorts you the change. If you owe $9.83 and give Bubba’s clerk a $10 bill, she doesn’t give you your 17 cents change.
The first few times it happened, and it’s not just at Bubba’s, the clerk would say, “I’m sorry, I don’t have any change” or “I don’t have any pennies today.” It didn’t seem worth arguing and holding up the line, so we’d agree and drive on. Now when we don’t get change, there’s not even an explanation and sometimes it’s more than 17 cents.
I’m assuming, then, that if they can round up, I can round down. I can just say, “Sorry, I’ll have to give you $9 instead of $9.83. I don’t have any change. Bye, hon!” She’ll get used to it as we did.
But the biggest thing bugging me right now happened in New York City. Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist (read that as a Communist) was elected by 50.4 percent of NYC’s voters last week, most of them young, first-time voters. Many New Yorkers don’t vote anyway, believing that theirs is a Democratic-leaning city so a random Democrat will go in who will suit them fine and life will go on as usual.
But that’s not what happened. A Democrat and a Democratic Socialist are two different things, and apathetic New Yorkers are about to find that out.
Mamdani attracted young deluded voters by promising that everything would be made free— free college tuition, free childcare, free public transportation.
He’ll assert rent control so that property owners can’t raise rent. But that also means they won’t improve properties or build more. So the city will build 200,000 “affordable units,” meaning subsidized housing, that the city will have to pay for, since contractors don’t build houses out of the goodness of their hearts.
The mayor wants to raise minimum wage to $30 an hour, which means my Bubba’s Big’Un will go to $20 and I’ll stop buying it. Mamdani also plans to lower taxes and make New York City affordable for all, even if they don’t work.
To do all this, he’ll raise taxes on business and the wealthy—who will respond by moving themselves and their money to a state that doesn’t over-tax work and production, leaving NYC holding the bag.
Two things bug me here. First, I’m, bugged that young people are so foggy about economics that they believe this can work. It never has because it can’t. “Free” is an illusion. Somebody has to pay for it.
Second, I am bugged that when, not if, the scheme falls apart, that “Somebody” left holding the bill will be us. Taxpayers in Mississippi will be called on to rescue a city that chose to self-destruct.
Then I’ll be flapping my hand in front of my face and yelling “Don’t bug me!” I need to start that blog ASAP.
