Tuesday, May 01, 2018

What, indeed

I used to work with a guy whose favorite saying was “What does it all mean?”, and I remember how it would both crack me up and make me wonder it myself, for various reasons. This was a smart guy, smarter than most, and he was a manager of a full service coffee shop-type restaurant. I was one of his assistant managers, and he was highly regarded (at the time) by upper management, so I was very fortunate (career-wise) to be a part of his team. Of course I knew that this was not going to be the life for me, and I was equally surprised as to why he was here when he could be doing just about anything in an engineering or science field. Our jobs were not very glamorous nor financially rewarding for the amount of hours and labor that we put in to it, but it was work at a time when things were not economically as strong as they are today, and in an industry that would never lack for customers -- plus there was always free food if you wanted it (Survival -- first order of business!). That saying of his has stuck with me to this day. What does it all mean? We live, we work, we sustain, we provide, we survive, we die. Don't worry, this will not be one of those philosophical rants. Not yet. It just occurred to me as I woke up today but stayed in bed (it was warm and cozy) while I ran through my thoughts...about the new job, about my financial woes, about my family, about things that I need or want to do around the house, about people and how they act/react to things, about the current political and economic climate, and so on. I see the tv in the distance. It's after 6am, which means Morning Joe is on. But I find that I'm not as easily swayed in jumping up to turn it on as I used to be. Things have changed. They always do, I know that. Robert Frost was so right when he wrote "nothing gold can stay." It's not profound on the surface, but it sure hits the spot when you think about it. Your favorite thing can never stay the way it is. And why does that always have to be? This tv show was off the radar for so many years, but it was the like the best-kept secret among talk shows, which allowed it to be bold, creative, and thought-provoking. But as the word got out, it began to evolve, as if to placate the new fans as well as the long-time viewers. Which led to the romance with ratings, which leads to addiction to get more, which steers you away from what made you so great in the first place. It happens to everything. "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" is a recent example. When it first aired, it was on once a week, hosted by Regis Philbin, and it was compelling, especially to us trivia geeks. Then it changed, when the buzz was out and people cried for more. It aired "special" episodes outside of its normal viewing time, and they would tweak the rules, and the audience and contestants would also evolve. Then they changed the host, and tweaked the show even more, aired it more times during the week, adding more confusion to the lives of those who enjoyed it as a welcome escape but could no longer keep up with the changes -- and then, it hit a saturation point and viewers moved on. The show itself moved to syndication, which translated into more money for the producers, but by now it had lost its edge with those that enjoyed it for what it once was. {sidenote: we now have daily HQ Trivia, and I find myself looking for tell-tale signs of evolvement, as I know it will, too, change for the worse sooner or later, until it burns out} What does it all mean? We stop here, as the day begins and the new job calls, but we will come back to expand on this -- and hopefully not after another 3-yr break...