Self delusion creates survival.
I have admitted that I feel too much. Feel for myself and my family; feel for others.
There is a guy who comes into the liquor store to buy, buy, buy.
He works part time for a convenience store kind of place. He would come in once a week or so and stock up for the store.
Wander through the aisles, pick up a boat load of bottles and boxes, meander up front to get checked out.
I have a problem with this approach.
Some restaurants and businesses call an order in. We pack it and they come and pick it up.
Easy. Clean. Makes sense.
Others insist on coming in to shop. Some pile their carts HIGH, even get two carts on occasion, then bludgeon through the check out.
Takes forever to scan the bottles, forever to box them up, backs up other customers in line, and is truly a pain in the ass.
This guy was not guilty because he was the picker upper. He does not put the order together, as far as I know.
Quiet guy. Precise. Businesslike but likable.
Couple of months ago his boss comes in to pick up the order - she was annoying and annoyed - and she tells us this dude retired.
I felt good about that. I like the guy, and I am happy for anybody who can afford to throw off the chains of despicable employment to actually live a life.
Suddenly he shows up again.
I ask what's going on, I thought you were retired.
This is the story he gives me. The store needed help, he came back to the part time gig. Tells me he is actually glad to be back to work.
I heard him tell this story a couple of times because other customers in the store recognize the guy and ask him what is up.
The story is bullshit. In my humble opinion.
I think he tried retirement and found he couldn't afford it.
When he got tired of eating dog food he came back to work.
I bet he hates it.
This story applies to most of us. Either we cannot afford retirement at all or, when we give it a shot, we will discover poverty gets worse when your income is halved.
We all come up with some bullshit story to explain why we are still working at the age of 107, and pretending that we enjoy it.
Every time I hear stories like this it gets to me. I feel for the human race that has been reduced to a subsistence level from birth to death.
I feel for people who are forced to create delusional stories to hide the hatred they have for their lives.
Other than that I believe life is good.
Why can't you just believe this guy. Maybe he lives alone and was bored being home all day, every day alone, with nothing to do. Maybe his story is true. If so, you should be happy for this guy. Try living by that old saying, "Don't judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes". No everyone is a cynical as you are.
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