Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Tales from the Trenches: Are people really thoughtless and disgusting?

On Saturday, Kim and I went to the opening game at the new football stadium for the local university. What a treat to go to an event and see the facility when it is pristine. (Yeah, yeah and the game, but I'm going with a theme here.) We were right of center field, 15 rows up. We were in patron seating.

Can I tell y'all a secret? The patrons? They were pigs. P. I. G. S. Got a soda? They left the cup behind. So many water bottles were strewn about that near the end of the game, the kids were gathering them up and lining them up along the abandoned benches. Wrappers. Napkins. Peanut shells. Do they realize the hazard that peanut shells present to folks that are allergic? I'm guessing not.

So, they took the once pristine stadium that took several years in planning and building, 17,000 yards of cement, 408,000 bricks and they trashed it. Why? Well, obviously someone must clean it up, so why not give someone job security, right?

In a stadium that was jam-packed with a sold out seated crowd of 27,000, but probably accommodated 1000 more on the student lawn seating, I suppose it could be much worse. Even if we hadn't won 41-0, I mean, where is the respect?

The plastic bag lined, cylindrical things at the exits? Those would be for garbage. Please utilize them. Thank you.

Smiles in my day:
- Joe did the red rover and hung out with us today.
- Selling the lady this morning the beautiful and huge Fire and Light shallow copper colored glass bowl with the smaller bowl to match. Selling the salad tongs to her to, telling her what a gorgeous centerpiece a salad would be in that fantastic, handcrafted dish. Then, the salad bowl a good 2 feet in diameter, and the complimenting pieces needed wrapped. It took me a half hour, but she was rather impressed. I carried it out for her and she was thrilled to tell me it was her first trip. We had impressed her. We had impressed $440.00 out of her, as well. It was the sale that saved our day in the little off-shoot store.
- My daughter volunteering to sit between the two boys that kept "touching each other, mommy," because no one else volunteered. "You wanna know somethin', Mom?" "What, baby?" "They still ended up touching each other anyway."
- The folks waiting on their porch this morning for K- to gallop by. Hilarious, I tell you!
- My friend, Kim, and my husband telling me about how the walking I've been doing has been toning a bit here and there. Kim told me that I looked FABULOUS! That made me more than smile. God love her.
- Hubs just showed me this. Alice in Chains is coming out with a new album 9/29! This is huge, since Layne Staley died in 2002. The new lead singer? Sounds just like Layne. We are so excited for this! (It's the big things in life, you know.)

2 comments:

Rach said...

It's been my experience at any stadium that hosts an outdoor sporting event that people do just what they did at your new stadium. Lane Stadium is routinely trashed. After the games, you will see kiddos hopping the benches looking for souvenir cups and they will inevitably leave with a stack a mile high.

I confess I've left a souvenir cup once or twice (I've been attending games for over 20 years) because I knew the kids would be coming behind to get them and I didn't need yet another one in the house.

That said, I desperately wish people would take the time to recycle the plastic bottles and that they would be far more careful with the peanut debris. We always have nightmares heading to games because my nephew is severely allergic to peanuts.

As for that salad bowl, that is some GORGEOUS glass. Ahhh. I LOVE beautiful things. It must be such a blessing to be in a place surrounded by such beauty on a daily basis. :o)

Jamie said...

I had no idea that Alice in Chains has a new album coming out!

Yes, people are pigs. It's not that they are thoughtless, it is that they are lazy. And yes, disgusting.