Half-Assed

by theobfuscatedone

When I make a commitment to do something, I do it.  I put all of my skill and knowledge into whatever my task is.  I do not do the minimum required.  A paper has to be as good as I can make it before I am willing to consider turning it in.  If someone asks me to do something, and I agree to do it, I put my whole self into the project.  For fuck’s sake! even my emotions are always full strength.  That last one is maybe not always a blessing.  I do not do half-assed.

When other people do things half-assed and I am affected by it, I get pissed.  People in positions of authority not following through on their (MINOR) promises is enough to enrage me.  At the university I attend, the administration is apparently totally devoted to the half-assed style of management.  Their ability to follow through is on par with my cat’s ability to speak English.

I understand that people have off days, are new, etc.  The problem is when people spend the majority of their time doing the bare minimum.  Companies whose customer service is more aptly termed customer no-service should be burned to the ground and the ashes used to entomb the managers.  Perhaps that is extreme.  Some of you might be saying that not everyone in a company is incapable of common decency and follow through.  I do not disagree.  I’ll make this concession: If an employee of a soon-to-be-ashes company can demonstrate a desire to actually serve the paying customers and be enthusiastic about the destruction of their former employer, I will consider, CONSIDER, sparing them.  Be aware that if I spare their lives and they welch on the promise to follow through, their punishment will be much more severe than simple entombment.  Remember, I don’t do half-assed.

I wish I could send this rant to all the people I’ve come across who have exhibited a distressing tendency to do the minimum.  Unfortunately/fortunately once I come across that sort of person, I make every effort to avoid any interaction with them in the future.  Too bad I can’t always make that happen.

I have many pet peeves.  My tolerance for bullshit, willful stupidity, laziness, and general lack of common sense is extremely limited.  On the pet peeve spectrum, doing things half-assed is at the most aggravating end.  It’s there because the predilection to do things half-assed is a gateway pet peeve.

The hat I’ve been working on, made to match my perfectly fitted fingerless gloves, is just about finished.  I’m preparing for cooler weather in the hopes that if I do, it will come sooner rather than later.  I really want it to rain.  I really want to not sit in my apartment and wonder if, by staying in it, I am actually voluntarily roasting myself to succulent, golden, deceased perfection.  Classes have started and, while things are not as good as they could be, they are not truly horrible either.  The brown recluse spider roommate has been turned into a brown recluse spider corpse (Thanks T!)  My apartment is a bit disheveled but not to the point where I look at it and want to cry.  With my knitting and the last few seasons of M*A*S*H, I am able to escape the seemingly endless cycle of bizarre and mostly distressing experiences (See: brown recluse spider roommate, watching my smashed thumb nail inch closer towards severing itself from the larger thumb, receiving a phone call from my insurance/doctor conflagration asking me to schedule an appointment for a cardiac ultrasound because my doctor thinks I have a heart murmur [the only problem with this was the fact that my doctor never told me that she thought I might have a heart murmur and hearing it from the ultrasound tech was a bit of a shock.  I also did not appreciate the tech’s hard sell.  Vindication occurred when my doctor called me {Holy Shit! doesn’t even begin to cover that shock} and told me I had done the right thing by refusing.  Don’t worry folks, I don’t have a heart murmur.] Last but not least, my bus pass was stolen.)

Resist the temptation to settle for mediocre.  Being sort of cute is less fun than being totally adorable.  Average is for settlers and quitters.  Being wholeheartedly amazing is a better life choice.  Go forth and dazzle the universe.