Yes – I admit, it’s all my fault.
See, I have a few character flaws.
*Side Note 1 – I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “No – that’s just not true. You seem so well balanced and while not perfect, as close as one person might be.”
But no, I have a few flaws.
And one of my more glaring flaws is that I hold a grudge.
I’ve been trying to work on it, but it’s not worked.
When I feel I’ve been unjustifiably wronged, I hold a grudge.
And it’s not easily shaken off.
Don’t try to be all cool with me after you’ve wronged one of family.
Nope – I’ll not have it.
*Side Note 2 – there is one particular person that I’m speaking of. But odds are that person doesn’t even read my blog (doesn’t know what they are missing), and even if they did read my blog, they probably don’t know it’s them and they might not even know they had wronged one of my daughters (or actually, perhaps both).
Same thing goes for my wife Lisa. Lisa is a grown woman and can fight her own battles, but if you’re an ass to her, no need to be cool with me. It’s noted and filed away.
It’s a hard thing to overcome, this holding a grudge.
And now that I have attained my superpower – beware.
But remember, I will use my superpower for good, not evil.
Most of the time that is.
And one of my grudges was costly.
Very costly.
The cost has yet to be determined, but it was disastrous on many levels. The ramifications were felt nationwide.
No. Dare I say, worldwide.
Perhaps I might.
However, my actions were justified.
Perhaps if I had just shaken it off or even, what is the expression, “turned the other cheek” then this business would still be thriving.
And don’t get me wrong. This business was a behemoth, it was HUGE.
If you’re of my age, then you’ve no doubt been in one.
I mean, before I caused it’s demise.
And if you are younger than I, then while you might not have been in one, you’ve certainly heard of it, or is it them?
*Side Note 3 – I’m not sure of the proper pronoun.
But make no mistake. My actions were warranted. Justified.
In fact – it might be that my actions were down right called for
I was wronged.
And no amount of apologies (I got none) and no store credit (didn’t get any of those either) will make up for it.
I take you back to the year 2003. I believe it was 2003, not 100% sure.
It’s definitely been about 20 years, and yes, my grudges do last that long.
Lisa and I were not yet married and we were still woo-ing each other and had, as we often did on a weekend, rented two movies at Block Buster.
At that time, I still ran my business out of a store front, and we were on Rt. 1 in Rehoboth and in the shopping center across the street was Block Buster.
It was a Monday morning and I opened my business at 8:30 am and the Block Buster didn’t open until later. One of the movies we rented had malfunctioned and didn’t work in the VCR. No big deal, stuff happens, not upsetting at all. I wanted to leave a note in the movie case rather than just putting in the after-hours return slot. I didn’t write the note the night before and when I pulled up, I didn’t have a pen or a pencil. Once again, no biggie. I put the good return in the return slot and decided I’d take the bad movie with me and bring it in later, I didn’t want another customer to get a bad movie.
*Side Note 4 – besides holding a grudge, I also try to be courteous.
Work ended and I took the bad movie to the store to let them know it didn’t work. After explaining it to the worker …. HERE WE GO ….. he wanted to assess me a late fee, for it was due by the time they opened.
I understand this hourly worker is bound by the store policy and not really able to make those type of decisions, so again, I explained that I returned the good condition movie in the morning, but I didn’t want to just place this bad movie in the slot as I wanted to make Block Buster aware that this movie didn’t work.
Nope. Not having it. The manager, I think, overheard our discussion and instead of understanding my wanted to be courteous, he instead, supported his hourly worker and choose to inform me of their policy on late fees.
Another character trait I have, is that when I am wronged, and it’s a very trivial point such as this $1.35 late fee (I believe that’s what it was) I become overly polite and also very loud in acceptance of being wronged. So I again, explained WHY the movie was late, as I got the correct change out of my wallet and pocket and calmly explained to both of them, “You do realize I’ll not be back, right?”.
What did they care. For, who am I? I’m a nobody on their large corporate scheme.
But, true to my word, I did not go back.
Years later, they are now closed.
And not long after that – the entire Block Buster franchise is now closed.
Block Buster is but a distant memory.
In regards to the Block Buster in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and the manager and assistant manager, gone are their salaried jobs and their corporate benefit package. Gone are their expense accounts and their lavish corporate getaways.
Sorry. Not sorry.
DO I have regrets about crippling an entire company, and perhaps an entire industry just because of that one time I felt wronged.
No. I do not.
SO for anyone else that was wronged due to an improperly assessed late fee.
I did it for you.
I stood up for you.
I really need to work on my holding grudges.
I also remember that one restaurant in Milton. It was a pizza place. The four of us went there and they brought the pizza and paper plates.
Yes, paper plates.
The restaurant was a bit empty and the only other occupied table was a 2-top and they had actual plates.
So I asked the server if we could have actual plates, she left and when she returned she said, (get this), “The manager said ‘no’”.
Seriously.
That actually happened.
I informed the server, “You do realize I’ll not be back, right?” Yes – I actually did say that.
And I meant it. We never went back, and they closed their doors not long after.
What is this power I possess?
Maybe I should loosen up a bit.
Nah ….
Maybe that will be on my tombstone – ‘You realize I’ll not be back right?’
My Take on Life and Events 