18. June.2021

He's a berserker

Lake Waubesa. Photo by author.

In Kevin Smith’s classic movie Clerks, there’s a scene where Randal and Dante are discussing whether or not to skip out on work to crash a wake. Randal is for it, Dante is not.

And we get this:

Screen capture from Clerks courtesy of Twitter.com/TheDiaryProject

Randal and I are alike in a lot of ways. I often describe crowded places as too people-y. I’ve come to loathe going to parties, and I at least try to cut out early. At this point in life, I find forced small talk exhausting. In short, when the world shut down, I didn’t feel like I was missing a whole lot. I was still reporting for work in person, seeing my family, and that was enough.

Funny thing, though; like the Grinch when his heart grows, something changed. I started missing people. Okay, maybe not stilted one-on-one interactions, but actually seeing other human beings. And crowds. I missed crowds.

As the months wore on, my family—and my state— slowly reopened. We have been able to (more or less) function normally for a while now.

Restaurants? Sure.

High School soccer games? Wear a mask in the bleachers, but yes.

What was missing in this equation? Large-scale sporting events and concerts. That changed this last week when my family drove to Milwaukee to see the Brewers take on the Pirates. It was a Friday night game, and attendance was okay (18,000ish).

After all this time, it may as well have been 180,000, and it felt…good? I don’t know what’s happened to me, but man it felt awesome to be amongst the masses again.

Maybe I like people and gatherings. For me, that would be the ultimate irony.

Oh, and the Brewers won, 7-4.

On to the good stuff:

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Here is an amazing deep-dive into the inner workings of Rolex. Whether you’re a fan of luxury fashion or vertical integration, this is fantastic.

The Twitter mob took a tweet about a 14-year-old working at Burger King and went completely off the rails.

I may be showing my age here, but I don’t think there’s anything patently wrong with a teenager wanting to work. I don’t know that he should be doing it in a fast-food restaurant, but that’s not my call.

What I do know is that people were coming to all sorts of rash conclusions; that he was an abuse victim, that he has been swallowed whole by the dystopian capitalist hellscape we’re all in, etc.

Learning time management, how to deal with conflict, and responsibility are life skills. So too is valuing one’s labor. At 14, his options are slim. My guess is he moves to a higher-paying gig as soon as he’s legally able. The kid might be a workaholic, but he doesn’t look dumb.

I know I’m building a house of cards here with this hot take, and I can almost feel the bricks with “ok boomer” scrawled on them being thrown through my windows.

So tell me what do you think. Am I off the mark here? Should kids work in their early teens? If they want to work extra shifts, is that such a bad thing?

In The Air:

Photo courtesy of Instagram.com/Rdflyinghigh

• Airline networks are changing rapidly as carriers continue to chase domestic revenue. Southwest announced over 30 new routes (and a couple of new destinations) in a single day.

• Not to be outdone, American also announced massive expansions in both Tampa Florida, and Austin Texas.

• Meanwhile, it’s out with the old, and in with the new for inflight entertainment.

• We did it! After 461 days, traveler throughput at TSA checkpoints finally cleared the 2 million mark again.

In Your Ears:

Jack Nicholson. Photo courtesy of Reddit.com

• One of my favorite series on Medium is Steven Hale’s “Songs For Insomniacs.” You never know what you’re gonna get, and his picks consistently hit the mark.

  Give it a whirl, you won’t be disappointed.

• My playlist for the week.

• Duran Duran’s self-titled debut turned 40 this week. Billboard takes a look back on the record’s long road to success.

Also This:

Yes, those are Crocs, and yes, they really are collaborating with Balenciaga to make stiletto heels…

Two For The Road:

Freakin’ Kevins…

15 million boxes of Girl Scout cookies went unsold this year.

Thanks for being here,

Kevin—

What caught your attention this week? Got a rant or rave? Let me know in the comments or send me an email. I read all the responses. You can also read more of my work on Medium, and connect with me on Twitter.