Wildlife Observations: Unemployment and Angry People

This is a serious blurb.

The downswing of our beloved economy dwelt in the heart of every man and woman in America, in a word that dare not speak its name. Our president was told not to say the "R" word, but we all knew in 2008 that everything was already in the crapper. Creedy CEOs were put on trial, their gifts and severances listed like shock n' awe statistics, and major corporations were exposed for their audacious fetes of look-what-I-can-get-away-with-ness. The housing market collasped. And people everywhere were consumed by such negativity and paranoia that hardly anyone was shopping. The once self-appointed land of plenty was now the land of store closings, lay-offs, and bankruptcy. And people everywhere went from civil to personally offended.

I have encountered more people at the end of their rope and poised for a fight right here in "The Triad," where I make my home, than anywhere else. North Carolina is holding tight with rising unemployment rates. People are either having the rug ripped from underneath them or else clinging to their money like a man with a toupee: it is their identity and they cannot be parted from it.

I spent two lovely mornings at the unemployment office this week already. Turns out defering student loans for the sake of economic hardship is a real pain in the ass. I saw every kind of person in line at the ole Economic Security Commission. We were all there at the "new facility," right across from the landfill. There were regular folks, poor folks, and lazy asses who want the county to pay them to be lazy. It was a real slice of life. Highlights included the abandoned country grandma peering in the window, the drug dealers on parole, and the prissy lady who cut in line. You got to go through the line, ma'am, just like a'body else.

My favorite this week are the angry people. A wealthy customer at my store ripped me a new one for not having an answer to her question. She presumed that this was an opportunity to release her pent up anger regarding her peri-menopausal knowledgeability in comparison to incompetent teenage store clerks. She, in short, told me that she was beyond help. I am not a teenage store clerk, and am furthermore more competent than her prickly ass, but I shirked her with quality customer service. Guess the economy made her moody. Oops, not my problem.

A middle-aged man in a flashy new car FOLLOWED me to a store late this afternoon, and rather than parking and going about his business, he waited for me to acknowledge him. So he could lambast me. He began with, "What the F is your problem?" and tried to scold me like a child. He refused to tell me what in fact had made him angry, and cursed me with every word in the book. I thought, this man is going to get out of his car and beat me up or worse, and so I cut him off with, "I'm sorry you are mad," and walked away. He threw in a JC and a "you bet your ass," for good measure before he sped away toward Walmart. I needed to go to Walmart. Instead I went inside a nearby store and called the police. I knew I hadn't disobeyed the rules of the road, or maybe angry guy thought I looked just like the girl he'd recently dated who blew him off. But I'm not a bad driver or the girl who used him for free drinks, and I'm better for it. Guess the economy made him mad and drunk. He was clearly already angry about something else, and again, not my problem.

A special thank-you to the Kernersville Police Department, who were there for me once again, and to the Target Kernersville team members. You guys make it real, and you've got heart.